Mat 4, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



429 



ber of pre-Columbian specimens were exca- 

 vated in aboriginal village sites and the results 

 of these investigations showed that the Indian 

 inhabitants of the Virgin Island group did not 

 belong to the same race as the inhabitants of 

 Porto Eico, as has always been thought. 

 Skeletal remains of contemporaiy animals 

 were found in the kitchen-middens and were 

 of the greatest zoological interest, among the 

 finds being the remains of a flightless bird 

 hitherto unl^nown from this region. 



After spending a considerable time in 

 Alaska as head of the John Wanamaker expe- 

 dition of the University of Pennsylvania Mu- 

 seum, Louis Shortridge has sent a report of 

 his acquisitions to the museum. Mr. Short- 

 ridge was formerly a chief of the Ohilkat 

 tribe of Indians of Alaska, and is familiar with 

 their language and mode of life. He reports 

 having acquired three sacred war helmets, said 

 to be the last in Alaska, a large collection of 

 dishes, baskets, tools, boxes and sacred bundles, 

 used by the medicine men. All these will be on 

 display at the museum. 



Dr. Frederick H. Getman lectured before 

 the chemical department of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University on April 11 and 18, on 

 " AUotrophy and the Metastability of the 

 Metals." 



Professor E. G. Aitken, of the Lick Ob- 

 servatory, gave a lecture before the depart- 

 ment of astronomy at Smith College on April 

 31, entitled " Unity of the Universe." 



At the bimonthly meeting of the Society of 

 Sigma Xi, Duluth, held on April 17, Dr. E. L. 

 Tuoby addressed the members on the subject 

 "Why People Die." The usual dinner pre- 

 ceded the address. 



Professor Madison Bentley, of the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois, lectured before Wilson Col- 

 lege, Chambersburg, on April 14. His subject 

 was " Orientation in Man and Animals." 



Professor Arthur Gordon Webster, of 

 Clark University, gave a lecture at Wellesley 

 College last week on " Physics and War." 



The services of the late Dr. S. Weir 

 Mitchell, for many years a member of the 

 board of trustees of the University of Pennsyl- 



vania, distinguished as a man of science, a 

 man of letters and physician, are to be com- 

 memorated by the placing of a memorial tablet 

 in the reading room of the university library. 



A special memorial service in memory of 

 the late Professor H. W. Conn was held at 

 Wesleyan University on April 29. Dr. 

 Shanklin presided and addresses were made 

 by Professor C. E.-A. Winslow, of the Public 

 Health Department of the Yale Medical 

 School, who spoke on the work of Professor 

 Conn for the welfare of the public and Pro- 

 fessor W. ]Sr. Rice, who spoke of Professor 

 Conn's thirty -three years' service to Wesleyan. 



Dr. Ephraim Cutter, the microscopist and 

 food expert, died on April 25, at West Fal- 

 mouth, aged eighty-five years. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation announces the death of D. Vitali, 

 formerly professor of pharmaceutic chemistry 

 at the University of Bologna, aged eighty-five 

 years; of L. Penix, professor of pharmaceutic 

 chemistry and toxicology at the University of 

 Bologna, aged fifty-five years, and of A. 

 Corona, professor of experimental physiology 

 at the University of Parma, aged sixty-five 

 years. 



We learn from Nature that Dr. J. 0. Hesse, 

 director of the Associated Quinine Factories 

 of Zimmer and Co., for many years the lead- 

 ing authority on the chemistry of quinine and 

 other cinchona alkaloids, died at Feuerbach, 

 near Stuttgart, on February 10, in his eighty- 

 second year. 



The permanent secretary of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 

 has sent us the following statement of the 

 registration at the 'Eew York meeting: The 

 actual registration was 2,136, including 103 

 members of the afiiliated societies, according 

 to the following geographical distribution : 

 Alabama, 3; Arizona, 2; Arkansas, 2; Cali- 

 fornia, 16; Colorado, 3; Connecticut, 73; 

 Delaware, 6; District of Columbia, 156; 

 Florida, 3; Georgia, 16; Idaho, 0; Illinois, 

 54; Indiana, 24; Iowa, 18; Kansas, 16; Ken- 

 tucky, 3; Louisiana, 5; Maine, 17; Maryland, 

 77; Massachusetts, 240; Michigan, 36; Minne- 



