June 15, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



609 



emergency and deficiency items, which together 

 amount to $91,660, are subtracted, there is left 

 a net appropriation of $743,651 for the year 

 1917-18. 



In addition to the above appropriations the 

 general appropriation bill this year provides a 

 specific item of $42,000 for printing the publi- 

 cations of the College of Agriculture. Here- 

 tofore no special appropriation for printing has 

 been made, but the college printing has been 

 paid for out of a lump appropriation known as 

 the legislative printing fund. The printing for 

 the next fiscal year must be limited to the 

 amount of this specific item. 



Included in the $743,651 in the general ap- 

 propriation bill are a number of small items, 

 of which the aggregate sum is $34,000, for new 

 construction and improvements. The largest 

 of these is an appropriation of $12,000 for the 

 addition of a unit to the central heating plant. 

 When this unit is installed the old heating 

 plant in Eoberts Hall is to be removed and the 

 boiler room remodeled to provide additional 

 space for the general purposes of the college. 

 An item of $8,000 is included for remodeling 

 this boiler room. To put in additional roads, 

 sidewalks and drains and general improve- 

 ments to the grounds, $5,000 is provided; for 

 a new piggery with detached pens, $7,000; for 

 a packing shed on the pomology grounds, 

 $1,000, and for small storage houses for the de- 

 partment of plant breeding a small item is in- 

 cluded. 



AN INSTITUTE OF APPLIED OPTICS FOR 

 FRANCE 



Mr. E. S. Hodgson writes in Nature that a 

 scheme is on foot in Paris to establish an In- 

 stitute of Applied Optics, with the object of se- 

 curing closer cooperation between theory and 

 practise in the optical trade. It has been sug- 

 gested, according to an article in La Nature, 

 that the scope of the institute should fall into 

 three sections, viz., (i) a college of optics, pro- 

 viding a thorough theoretical and practical 

 training for opticians, and promoting among 

 its students a taste for optical research; (ii) a 

 central optical laboratory, where tests of 

 glasses and optical instruments would be made 

 for men of science, public bodies and manufac- 



turers and research work of general interest 

 carried out; and (iii) a special trade school in 

 which the students could obtain a thorough 

 training in the practical branches of the trade. 



It is proposed that the institute should pub- 

 lish transactions in a form following, the 

 Zeitschrift fur InstrumentenJeunde. The stu- 

 dents of the college of optics would be re- 

 cruited from the educated classes — army and 

 navy officers, students or ex-students of the 

 universities and technical colleges, astrono- 

 mers, illuminating engineers, manufacturers 

 of optical instruments and doctors interested 

 in physiological optics. There would be two 

 distinct branches of instruction, viz., general 

 optics and instrumental optics. The courses 

 would be supplemented by lectures on all 

 modern optical questions. The period of 

 study is suggested as one year. 



The central laboratory would serve as a test 

 laboratory for manufacturers of optical instru- 

 ments and for glass manufacturers, as a prac- 

 tise laboratory for the students, and as a re- 

 search laboratory for the college staff. 



The professional, or trade, school would take 

 young people for three years and give them a 

 thorough training in (i) glass-working, and 

 (ii) construction and fitting up of optical in- 

 struments. The scheme has received the favor- 

 able consideration of various government de- 

 partments and of certain scientific and learned 

 societies in Paris; indeed, the publication of 

 the transactions of the institute is already as- 

 sured. While it would be difficult to install the 

 machinery and plant necessary for the trade 

 section of the institute, it is suggested that the 

 program of the courses should be considered 

 and the principal courses commenced in the 

 school year of 1917-18. 



THE CROCKER LAND EXPEDITION 



Dr. Harrison J. Hunt, a member of the 

 Crocker Land e.xpedition, arrived in Copen- 

 hagen on June 2, reporting the expedition 

 still in northern Greenland. Direct news 

 from Donald B. MacMillan, head of the ex- 

 pedition, announcing that he and his com- 

 panions had only enough supplies to last them 

 until August of this year, has now been re- 

 ceived by Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn, presi- 



