Mabch 2, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



213 



stimulation of greater interest in this problem. 

 The speakers will be engineers and public offi- 

 cials of prominence and information regarding 

 the practical phases of drainage will be made 

 available to those in attendance. The organi- 

 zation and financing of drainage districts, the 

 surveying of drainage areas, the design of sys- 

 tems and improved methods of construction 

 are among the subjects to be considered. The 

 meeting will be in charge of the department 

 of civil engineering, college of engineering, 

 Urbana, Illinois. 



" Aspects of Modern Science " is the gen- 

 eral subject of a series of lectures being given 

 by members of the faculties of the University 

 of Chicago, at the North Side Center of the 

 University Lecture Association of Chicago. 

 The series was opened on February 19 by Pro- 

 fessor Robert A. Millikan, of the department 

 of physics, who spoke on " Modern Views of 

 Electricity." On the evening of February 26, 

 Associate Professor William Draper Harkins, 

 of the department of chemistry, discussed the 

 subject of " Radium, the Breaking Up of 

 Atoms, and the Evolution of the Elements." 

 On March 5, Professor John Merle Coulter, 

 head of the department of botany, will lecture 

 on " The Revolution in Agriculture," showing 

 how the investigations of heredity and of the 

 soil have revolutionized agricultural practise 

 and bid fair to solve the pressing problem of 

 food production. On March 12, Associate Pro- 

 fessor Walter Sheldon Tower, of the depart- 

 ment of geography, will discuss " The Meaning 

 of Modern Geography," and, on March 19, Di- 

 rector Edwin Brant Frost, of the Terkes Ob- 

 servatory, will present some of the " Revela- 

 tions of the Spectroscope." The closing lec- 

 ture, " The New Geology," on March 26, will 

 be given by Dean RoUin D. Salisbury, of the 

 Ogden Graduate School of Science, who will 

 present some of the newer theories concerning 

 the earth's history, especially its origin and its 

 age. 



which provides large funds for federal aid to 

 the states for the teaching of agrictilture, trade, 

 industries and home economics. 



Me. and Mrs. Max Epstein, of Chicago, 

 have contributed to the medical school enter- 

 prise of the University of Chicago $100,000 to 

 erect and furnish the equipment for a univer- 

 sity dispensary. This will provide a structure 

 in which will be reception rooms, rooms for 

 diagnosis and treatment, rooms for hospital 

 and dispensary social service work and work- 

 ers both professional and volunteer. 



Mr. Frank G. Logan, of Chicago, has given 

 to the University of Chicago a fund providing 

 an income of $3,000 a year for three research 

 fellowships, one in pathology and bacteriology, 

 one in medicine and one in surgery. 



At a recent meeting of the faculty of the 

 Long Island College Hospital it was voted to 

 admit women students on the same terms as 

 men. 



It is stated in Nature that Mr. E. J. C. 

 Rennie, son of Professor Rennie, of the Uni- 

 versity of Adelaide, has been appointed acting 

 lecturer in electrical engineering in the Uni- 

 versity of Melbourne. He will take the place 

 of Mr. E. B. Brown, who is about to engage in 

 munition work in England. 



Dr. C. E. Moss, of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, has been appointed professor of botany 

 in the South African School of Mines and 

 Technology, Johannesburg. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



President Wilson signed, on February 23, 

 the Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Bill, 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



PHOSPHATE EXPERIMENTS 



In Science, January 5, 1917, pages 18 and 

 19, Professor C. A. Mooers writes as follows 

 concerning the results of Tennessee experi- 

 ments with different phosphates : 



Neither now nor in the past have these results 

 allowed us to advocate, as intimated by Dr. Hop- 

 kins, the use of unaeidulated bone meal. From 

 the standpoint of economy, the data obtained here 

 have been decidedly in favor of acid phosphate. 

 In Dr. Hopkins's article omission was made of the 

 fact that in the table referred to — Bulletin 90, p. 

 89, Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station — 

 every $1.00 invested in acid phosphate gave on the 

 average a calculated profit of $4.28 where the 



