356 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. ISTo. 1001 



one place in Garden Island Bay the land ap- 

 pears to have advanced 2,000 feet in the 

 spring of 1912. The mud lumps are commonly 

 20 to 30 rods broad and stand 20 or 30 feet 

 above the adjacent bottom. Their growth 

 occupies from a few hours to several years 

 and is usually irregular. Generally a mud 

 lump rises in a few weeks or months to a 

 height of 4 or 5 feet above the surface of the 

 water. Then it remains quiet and is beaten 

 down by the waves in the course of a few 

 years. Many of them subside, however, and 

 some disappear over night. Those that rise 

 slowly are considerably worn before they stop 

 growing, while those that rise more rapidly 

 and in protected places are capped by lami- 

 nated silt having a maximum thickness of 

 10 feet. Among the most conspicuous and 

 impressive features of the mud lumps are the 

 mud springs that are active on many if not all 

 of them. The discharge from these springs 

 consists of salt, watery mud and gas — in fact, 

 gas escapes at many places on the surface of 

 the Delta of the Mississippi, the vents appear- 

 ing to be most numerous and largest on and 

 near the mud lumps, though the rate of flow 

 rarely, if ever, exceeds a few cubic feet an 

 hour. Gas rises in bubbles in all the mud 

 springs, though its rate of issue varies. The 

 United States Geological Survey has issued a 

 report entitled " The Mud Lumps at the 

 Mouths of the Mississippi," by Eugene Wesley 

 Shaw — a copy of which may be obtained free 

 on application to the director of the survey, 

 Washington, D. C. 



UNIVESSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 The observance of Washington's birthday 

 at Lehigh University was marked by the dedi- 

 cation of Coppee Hall, the new home of the 

 arts and science department. The building is 

 named after Dr. Henry Coppee, who was the 

 first president of Lehigh University. 



Teachers College, Columbia University, 

 celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary on 

 February 20 and 21, with an educational con- 

 ference which brought together nearly one 

 thousand alumni and former students of the 

 institution. During Friday and Saturday a 

 series of educational conferences was held at 



the college devoted to different divisions of 

 the educational fields as follows : Administra- 

 tion and College Teachers of Education, Sec- 

 ondary Education, English, History, Geog- 

 raphy, German, Mathematics, Science, Ele- 

 mentary Education, Kindergarten Education, 

 Eine and Industrial Arts, Household Arts, 

 Nursing and Health, Household Administra- 

 tion. The speakers included superintendents 

 of schools, deans of university schools of edu- 

 cation, directors of normal schools and spe- 

 cialists from various educational fields, col- 

 lege, secondary and elementary. Saturday 

 night nearly 800 alumni gathered for a dinner 

 at the Aldine Club. The program of the 

 science round table was as follows : 



"Use of Literature in Science Teaching," by 

 Clarke E. Davis. 



' ' Trend of the Times, " by J. Newton Gray. 

 "A Method for Teaching Nutrition in the High 

 School. ' ' 



"Chemistry for Second-year High School Girls,-' 

 by Henry T. Weed. 



"General Science — A Method and Its Difficul- 

 ties," by Eoland Hugh "Williams. 



"An Experiment in Teaching Heat," by Carl 

 J. Hunkins. 



Professor A. L. Dean, of the Sheffield Sci- 

 entific School, Tale, has accepted the call to 

 the presidency of the college of Hawaii, at 

 Honolulu, and will take up his duties there 

 next autumn. 



At the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy Mr. J. M. Barker has been appointed 

 instructor in civil engineering and Miss Edith 

 A. Beekler. lecturer on public health labora- 

 tory methods. 



Dr. H. E. Baker, E.R.S., feUow of St. 

 John's College and Cayley lecturer in mathe- 

 matics, has been elected Lovmdean professor 

 of astronomy and geometry in the University 

 of Cambridge in siiccession to the late Sir 

 Eobert Ball. 



The Manchester University Council has 

 appointed Dr. Charles Alfred Edwards to the 

 chair of metallurgy and metallography. 



Dr. E. E. Fournier d'Albe, assistant lec- 

 turer in physics in the University of Birming- 

 ham, has been appointed special lecturer in 

 physics in the University of Punjab, Lahore. 



