May 4, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



425 



duction of the primitive art motif into modern 



Dr. Spinden will begin forwarding speci- 

 mens to ISTew York as soon after his arrival in 

 the field as possible. He will start in Guate- 

 mala and extend his investigations to western 

 Honduras, Salvador and Nicaragua. In these 

 localities are small groups of Indians most 

 interesting for their civilization and culture, 

 although comparatively little known. Dr. 

 Spinden will not only obtain examples of de- 

 signs but will also learn the details of the art 

 of weaving and study the dyestuffs used by the 

 native artisans. The costumes worn by the 

 Indians of Central American countries are 

 not only picturesque, but have many details 

 of construction which might be successfully 

 adapted. The fundamental ideas on which 

 these garments are based are said to be unique. 



Dr. Spinden will also get all possible infor- 

 mation concerning the native food products 

 with a view to calling attention to their eco- 

 nomic value, which is often very great. Speci- 

 mens of these alimentary substances will be 

 collected for display in the Preparedness Ex- 

 hibit which the American Museum now has 

 under way. Dr. Spinden will be accompanied 

 by S. G. Morley, of the Carnegie Institution 

 of "Washington, who is likewise interested in 

 the archeological features of the expedition. 

 The work is undertaken with the official sanc- 

 tion of all the Central American governments. 

 Most of the traveling will be on mule back 

 through mountainous and sparsely settled 

 regions and over native trails. Dr. Spinden 

 left New York on April 16 and expects to 

 return in about three months. 



RESEARCH WORK OF THE LEANDER 

 McCORMICK OBSERVATORY 



The visiting committee of the Leander Mc- 

 Cormick Observatory of the University of 

 Virginia met in Washington on April 17. 

 The director reported that the scientific work 

 accomplished during the year was as follows : 



1. The determination of the parallax of 

 fifty stars, results thus having been obtained 

 on one hundred and twenty -five stars since the 

 parallax work was started two and a half years 

 ago. A preliminary value of the parallax of 



Barnard's star of large proper motion was 

 found to be 0".47. 



2. More than 10,000 observations of meteors 

 were made by amateurs during the year 1916, 

 and were sent in to the McCormick Observa- 

 tory for discussion and publication. This 

 probably makes the largest munber of meteor 

 observations ever collected in any one year, 

 except perhaps during the years of a meteor 

 shower. 



3. A plan of cooperation has been entered 

 into with Harvard College Observatory 

 whereby the 26-inch refractor is to be used for 

 the visual observation of variable stars while 

 they are at minima. More than one hundred 

 and fifty stars are on the program, these stars 

 being mainly long period variables. 



4. Photographs have been made with an ob- 

 jective grating and with yellow light in order 

 to find the photovisual magnitudes of the 

 Harvard Standard regions. 



5. Micrometric measures by C. P. Olivier of 

 two hundred double stars have been published 

 in the Astronomical Journal. 



Grateful acknowledgment was expressed for 

 financial assistance from the Leander McCor- 

 mick estate, from the special Adams fellow- 

 ship from Columbia University for parallax 

 work, from the J. Lawrence Smith fund of 

 the National Academy of Sciences for re- 

 search on meteors, and for the gift of a wire- 

 less apparatus and a computing machine from 

 Mr. John Neilson, of New York. 



THE ENGINEERING COMMITTEE OF THE 

 NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 



The following engineering committee has 

 been appointed: George P. Swain and Edgar 

 C. Marburg (representing American Society 

 of Civil Engineers), Pope Yeatman and Albert 

 Sauveur (representing American Institute of 

 Mining Engineers), C. D. Young and "William 

 F. Durand (representing American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers), Prank B. Jewett and 

 Clayton H. Sharp (representing American 

 Institute of Electrical Engineers), Lewis B. 

 Stillwell (representing American Institute of 

 Consulting Engineers), John A. Brashear, 

 George K. Burgess, J. J. Carty, Howard E. 

 CoiBn, John E. Preeman, Hollis Godfrey, 



