Mabch 23, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



291 



next biennium, and $1,250,000 for the Kansas 

 State Agricultural College. The three normal 

 schools were given approximately $970,000, and 

 the various other schools and sub-experiment 

 stations $242,000. The total appropriation for 

 all designated educational institutions was a 

 little less than four million dollars for the two 

 years beginning July 1, 1917. 



The will of the late William W. Lawrence, 

 president of the National Lead Company, pro- 

 vides that on the death of Mrs. Lawrence a 

 sum of over $200,000 will go to Princeton Uni- 

 versity. 



A BILL has been enacted in !N"ew Jersey des- 

 ignating the scientific departments of Rutgers 

 College as the State University of New Jersey. 



Arrangements have been completed between 

 Northwestern University Medical School and 

 the Chicago Fresh Air Hospital for a course 

 of instruction in tuberculosis for the members 

 of the senior class in the medical school. The 

 class is divided into sections, each receiving 

 clinical instruction for a period of four weeks. 



To meet the increased cost of supplies and to 

 permit an enlargement of educational facili- 

 ties, tuition in the medical school of George 

 Washington University has been increased 

 from $150 to $175 a year, and in the dental 

 school from $125 to $150, to take efEect next 

 fall. 



Dr. Scott Nearing has presented his resig- 

 nation at Toledo University owing to criti- 

 cisms made by citizens of the city of his anti- 

 militaristic activities. It will be considered by 

 a committee of the trustees. 



In accordance with the reorganization plan 

 at the Creighton University College of Medi- 

 cine, the bio-chemical and physiological lab- 

 oratories have been merged into a single de- 

 partment under the direction of Professor S. 

 Morgulis. Dr. William A. Perlzweig, of the 

 Rockefeller Institute, has been appointed as- 

 sistant professor of bio-chemistry in the de- 

 partment. 



Dr. Ethan A. Gray, medical superintendent 

 of the Chicago Fresh Air Hospital, has been 



appointed assistant professor of medicine in 

 Northwestern University. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



A RELIEF MAP OF THE UNITED STATES 



To THE Editor of Science : Mr. Kinkaid's 

 proposition (Science, March 9), to construct 

 a relief map of the United States " 300 feet 

 square or 600 feet square " would be, judging 

 from my own experience, a pretty costly one. 

 A relief map of the state of New York 35 feet 

 long, east and west, and 26 feet broad, north 

 and south, now in our museum, cost $17,000 

 to make. Estimating broadly the dimensions, 

 area and cost of a map of the entire United 

 States on the same scale, the map would be 

 237.5 feet long, and at the same proportion 

 of cost the expense of making it would be 

 $1,045,500. This is on the scale of one mile 

 to the inch. If the scale were one half mile 

 to the inch, the cost would be, in the same 

 proportion, $4,182,000. 



And where in Washington or elsew^here 

 would Mr. Kinkaid put such a map of the 

 United States, 600, or even 300 feet long? 

 There is no building large enoiigh to hold it. 

 Buildings 600 feet long and 300 feet wide are 

 not bagatelles. Perhaps one might be built 

 for a million dollars, but it is doubtful. 



Surely for this proposition, as Mr. Kinkaid 

 suggests, " the main problem is to find the 

 philanthropist." But before going out to hunt 

 him, let us remember that only 40.2 per cent, 

 of the United States has been covered by topo- 

 graphic surveys in such detail as to give an 

 adequate basis for such a relief map as he has 

 dreamed of. John M. Clarke 



State Museum, 

 Albany, N. Y. 



an ancient reference to the emerald ' 

 Odr college librarian. Professor Chipman, 

 while arranging a coiirse on " Books and Li- 

 braries " happened to call my attention to a 

 translation of the oldest known manuscript 

 which could justly be called a book, an 

 Egyptian parchment entitled " The Instruc- 

 tion of Ptah-hotep."^ In glancing it through 

 I came across this interesting sentence: 



1 Translated by B. G. Gunn. E. P. Dutton, 1910. 



