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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1000 



that the oldest medical school in Australia, 

 that of the University of Melbourne, will cele- 

 brate its jubilee this year. Work actually 

 commenced in 1861, but its original buildings 

 were not opened till two years later. The roll 

 of medical graduates already numbers about 

 1,100, and over 380 medical students are now 

 attending full courses of instruction. The 

 Melbourne School has from the first insisted 

 on a five years' course, and its degrees have 

 been registrable in the United Kingdom since 

 1890. The celebrations will commence on 

 Thursday, April 30, and will last three days. 

 The university is asking the state government 

 to provide funds for the appointment of as- 

 sistant professors of anatomy, physiology and 

 pathology, the proper staffing of these depart- 

 ments being regarded by the faculty of medi- 

 cine as the most pressing want of the school. 

 Old graduates are being invited to contribute 

 varying sums annually for five years to a per- 

 manent fund, the interest of which will be de- 

 voted to the promotion of clinical research in 

 the teaching hospitals of Melbourne. A his- 

 tory of the medical school is being prepared. 

 The jubilee celebrations will include an in- 

 augural ceremony in the Wilson Hall of the 

 university; a series of short addresses on the 

 history, needs and prospects of the school; 

 demonstrations in the laboratories, museums 

 and hospitals; a jubilee dinner, and a theater 

 party. A portrait of the dean of the faculty. 

 Sir H. B. AUen, is to be painted for presenta- 

 tion to the university. 



The conclusions reached as a result of six 

 years' exploration in the Yukon-Tanana 

 region, Alaska, by L. M. Prindle, have been 

 published by the United States Geological 

 Survey in Bulletin 525. It has been found 

 that the placer-gold reserves of the Fairbanks 

 district, even if only those deposits that can be 

 mined by methods now in use are considered, 

 are still very large. There are, however, still 

 larger deposits of auriferous gravels whose 

 content of gold is so small that they can be 

 profitably handled only by improved methods 

 of mining. These facts and the existence 

 within the district of extensive alluvial depos- 

 its, which have not been thoroughly prospected, 



make the outlook for placer mining in the 

 region exceedingly hopeful. It is therefore by- 

 no means certain that the plac«r-mining in- 

 dustry will continue to decline as it has de- 

 clined in the last two years. A large expansion 

 of the industry in this field can be brought 

 about only by lessening the operating costs 

 through improved means of communication. 

 As compared with alluvial mining, the lode- 

 mining operations have been insignificant and 

 have yielded no great body of facts upon 

 which to base conclusions as to the persistence 

 of the lodes. The facts presented in the 

 report, however, show that the geologic condi- 

 tions on the whole appear to be favorable to 

 the occurrence of lode deposits and that these 

 are not limited to the localities near Fairbanks 

 which have been prospected. 



The International Conference on the Safety 

 of Life at Sea, first suggested by the German 

 emperor and convened by the British govern- 

 ment, has now held its final meeting. We 

 learn from Nature that as a result of its la- 

 bors, a very important convention has been 

 signed by plenipotentiaries of the following 

 states : The British Empire, including Aus- 

 tralia, Canada and New Zealand, which were 

 represented separately, Germany, France, the 

 United States, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain, 

 Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium and Den- 

 mark. The text of the convention has not yet 

 been published, but the chairman of the con- 

 ference, Lord Mersey, has outlined its princi- 

 pal points in a speech moving its acceptance 

 by the delegates. The convention must be 

 ratified by the different states* prior to Decem- 

 ber 31, 1914, and comes into force on July 1, 

 1915. An international service is to be estab- 

 lished and placed under the control of the 

 United States for the purpose of ice patrol 

 and observation and for the destruction of 

 derelicts in the North Atlantic. The masters 

 of all vessels are to cooperate with this serv- 

 ice. Safety of construction has been dealt 

 with under the headings of " New vessels," and 

 " Existing vessels." The convention provides 

 that the degree of safety shall increase in a 

 regular and continuous manner with the length 

 of the vessel, and that vessels shall be as effi- 



