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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1168 



Dr. 0. L. Fassig, in charge of the IJ. S. 

 weather bureau station at Baltimore, has gone 

 to San Juan on a special mission to extend and 

 reorganize the weather bureau service in the 

 West Indies. In the Virgin Islands a station 

 is to be established, two stations are to be 

 started in Haiti and one at Puerto Plata, 

 Santo Domingo. The station in San Juan 

 will probably be designated as the station in 

 charge of the West Indies Service. 



At the annual meeting of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History on May 2, the following 

 officers were elected: President, Edward S. 

 Morse; Yice-presidents, ISTathaniel T. Kidder, 

 William F. Whitney, Charles P. Batchelder; 

 Secretary, Glover M. Allen; Treasurer, Wil- 

 liam A. Jeffries; Councillor for one year, 

 George H. Parker; Councillors for three years, 

 Thomas Barbour, Henry B. Bigelow, John W. 

 Farlow, S. Preseott Pay, Kobert T. Jackson, 

 John E. Thayer, Charles W. Townsend, Wil- 

 liam P. Wharton. In addition to the annual 

 reports of the officers, the award of the 

 Walker Prizes in Natural History was made. 

 The first prize of $100 was given to Alfred C. 

 Eedfield, of Cambridge, for his essay on " The 

 Physiology of the Melanophores of the Homed 

 Toad"; the second prize of $50 was awarded 

 Adelbert L. Leathers, of Olivet College, for his 

 essay on " An Ecological Study of the Chiro- 

 nomidse and Orphnephilidse, with special ref- 

 erence to their Feeding Habits." 



At the meeting of the New York section of 

 the American Chemical Society held in Eum- 

 ford Hall on May 11, the program consisted 

 of a symposium on " Chemical Education and 

 Its Eolation to the Profession." The speakers 

 were Eaymond F. Bacon, director, Mellon 

 Institute, " The Professional Status of the 

 Chemist," and Herbert E. Moody, professor, 

 College of the City of New York, " The Call 

 for the Chemist." 



At the meeting of the Geographic Society 

 of Chicago on May 11, Dr. Henry C. Cowles 

 lectured on "The Trees of California, a 

 Eiddle of Forest Geography." 



The foundation stone of the Carmichael 

 Hospital for Tropical Diseases was laid a year 

 ago. We learn from The British Medical Jou,r- 



nal that during the last year the hospital has 

 been nearly completed, the donations, amount- 

 ing to £5,000, for the construction of the top 

 story having been provided by the Calcutta 

 firms belonging to the Bengal Chamber of 

 Commerce. The total subscriptions to the en- 

 dowment fund have risen from £20,000 to £40,- 

 000, which will allow of the completion and 

 partial endowment of the hospital, and, in ad- 

 dition, annual subscriptions of over £5,000 for 

 research, contributed by the great industries of 

 Bengal and Assam, will be available when the 

 school can be opened — possibly in October, 

 1918. Meanwhile, plans are under considera- 

 tion for the addition of 80 ft., to the height 

 of three stories, to the north wing of the lab- 

 oratory. This will accommodate an out-patient 

 department and dispensaiy on the ground floor, 

 and hygiene laboratories for practical and 

 theoretical teaching for the university di- 

 plomas in public health. A full course for this 

 diploma has not yet been provided in India, 

 although instruction in the prevention of trop- 

 ical diseases, which are the most important 

 from the public point of view in India, can 

 obviously best be imparted in such laboratories 

 as that provided in the Calcutta School of 

 Tropical Medicine. On the third floor there 

 will be space for further research laboratories, 

 which wiU soon be required on account of the 

 success of the endowment fund in providing 

 several research workers in addition to the gov- 

 erment staff of the school. Omitting the cost 

 of the biological laboratory of the Medical Col- 

 lege, which has been included in the new build- 

 ing for administrative convenience, the Cal- 

 cutta school possesses in its laboratory, hospital 

 and endowments, property of the value of £90,- 

 000 of which £40,000 has been provided by the 

 government of India on the advice of Sir Par- 

 dey Lukis, Director-General of the Indian 

 Medical Service, and an equal sum raised by 

 the endowment fund, of which Sir Leonard 

 Eogers is the honorary secretary. The remain- 

 ing £10,000 has been found by the Bengal gov- 

 ernment, whose finances have been severely 

 handicapped by the war. It is hoped that the 

 Bengal government will be able to contribute 

 some substantial help towards the hygiene ex- 



