Maech 23, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



287 



Turkestan and Blagoveshcliensk. Of the sev- 

 eral new universities which are under consid- 

 eration, the first to be opened will be those of 

 Perm and Eostov-on-the-Dou. The scheme 

 for the University of Irkutsk is to be brought 

 before the Duma in the autumn of 1917, and 

 another university in the Par East is planned 

 for either Vladivostok or Habarovsk. All the 

 towns which have been chosen as new centers 

 of education have already voted sums of 

 money, larger or smaller, according to their 

 wealth. Some of the old universities — ^viz., 

 those of Odessa and Tomsk, have been allowed 

 to increase the number of their students. Per- 

 haps the most marked reforms are in medical 

 education, since Russia is faced with a greater 

 need for medical staii than any other country. 

 A new degree of candidate of medical science 

 has been founded which, together with eight 

 months' hospital training, entitles the holder 

 to practise. The holder of this degree occupies 

 an intermediate place between the fully quali- 

 fied doctor and the so-called feldscher or nurse 

 (male or female), who is allowed to practise 

 in the absence of a doctor. There are also 

 schools for four more classes of medical staff — 

 disinfectors, maternity nurses, nurses for nerv- 

 ous cases and masseurs. These reforms are 

 already being set in motion, and are to be 

 carried out in the course of the next three 

 years. 



DINNER IN MANILA TO VISITING 

 SCIENTIFIC MEN 



A CORRESPONDENT Writes from Manila: 

 On February 5, 1917, Dr. John A. Brashear, tlie 

 noted American maker of photographic lenses and 

 silver-on-mirrors. Dr. A. Swasey, president of the 

 firm that made the mounting of the big Cordoba, 

 Lick, Yerkes, Victoria telescopes, and Dr. John E. 

 Freeman, the American hydraulic engineer, were 

 entertained at a lunch given in their honor at the 

 Manila Hotel by prominent scientists and engineers 

 of Manila. To meet in the far-off Philippine Is- 

 lands so many friends, enthusiastic for astronomy 

 and for the application of modern machinery and 

 methods to engineering problems was a delightful 

 surprise to the distinguished visitors. Jose Algue, 

 director of the Weather Bureau, welcomed the 

 guests and acted as toastmaster. The speaker of 

 the occasion was a personal friend of Dr. J. A. 



Brashear. Speaking of optical instruments made 

 by Brashear, Eev. M. Selga, well known in Amer- 

 ica for his connection with the leading American 

 observatories, made the following remark: "There 

 is hardly any remarkable astronomical observatory 

 in America that is not eqtiipped either with a 

 silver-on-mirror, or a lens, or a comet-seeker, or 

 an alt-azimuth or a spectrograph constructed by 

 Brashear. The 8" doublet of Swarthmore College 

 Observatory, the 15" of the Dominion Observatory, 

 Ottawa, Canada, the 18" of the Flower Observa- 

 tory, Philadelphia, Pa., the 20" of Chabot Observ- 

 atory, Oakland, California, the focus of the astro- 

 nomical admiration of the visitors at the Panama- 

 Pacific Exhibition, the unique 30" photographic 

 refractor of the Allegheny Observatory are but few 

 among the many high-grade refractors turned out 

 by Brashear. You are all acquainted with the 

 spectrographic investigations of the late Dr. 

 Young, at Princeton, of Dr. G. H. Hale at Ken- 

 wood, paving the way for the advance of solar 

 physics and the establishment of the Mt. Wilson 

 Solar Observatory, of Dr. F. Sehlesinger at the 

 Allegheny Observatory with the Mellon and Porter 

 spectrograph, of Dr. Frost with the Bruce, of 

 Plaskett at Ottawa, of Dr. Slipher at Flagstaff, 

 and specially of Dr. W. W. Campbell who with the 

 Mills spectrograph has surveyed the northern and 

 southern skies for the spectral characteristics of 

 the stars. Now, one of the vital parts, either the 

 prisms or the lenses, of these unparalleled spectro- 

 graphs are from Brashear. ' ' The guests gathered 

 around the table at 12 o 'clock and the steamer was 

 to take the scientific party from Manila to Hong- 

 kong at 3 P.M. Few minutes were left to Dr. 

 Brashear to talk on the stars, to Dr. Swasey to 

 give his views about the Far East and to Dr. Free- 

 man to report on the past, present and future con- 

 dition of the Panama landslides. The speeches 

 were short, but they were a source of pleasure and 

 delight to more than a hundred guests and will be 

 long remembered. 



THE KANSAS CITY MEETING OF THE AMER- 

 ICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 



As has been already noted in Scienge the 

 American Chemical Society will meet at Kan- 

 sas City from April 10 to 14. The society and 

 hotel headquarters will be at the Hotel iluehle- 

 bach. The final and complete program will 

 be sent on or about April 3 to members re- 

 questing it. The program of general arrange- 

 ments is as. follows: 



