24 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 784 



studies may result in determining the mode 

 of transmission of this disease. 



The course of lectures delivered by the 

 Kaiser "Wilhelm professor in Columbia Uni- 

 versity, Professor Carl Kunge, of the Univer- 

 sity of Gottingen, is to be published in book 

 form by Columbia University. The subject 

 of the lectures is "Graphical Methods in 

 Mathematics and Physics." The lectures 

 treat of a subject which has not received sufii- 

 cient attention either in this country or 

 abroad. A considerable amount of the ma- 

 terial contained in the lectures is original with 

 Professor Eunge. The methods studied have 

 many important applications in astronomy, 

 physics, engineering and various departments 

 of technology. 



The proper manipulation of the microscope 

 requires an adequate knowledge of the optical 

 and mechanical principles underlying its con- 

 struction. As an adjunct to their treatise on 

 the "Manipulation of the Microscope" by 

 Edward Bausch, the Bausch & Lomb Optical 

 Company has recently issued a chart of the 

 microscope stand. Side by side are shown a 

 perspective view and a vertical cross-section 

 of the most modern type of instrument. The 

 different parts and accessories are lettered and 

 named and the path of the rays and the forma- 

 tion of the various images is shown. The 

 chart, 3' 6" by 4' 7" in size, is executed in 

 colors and mounted on cloth, with rollers at 

 the top and bottom. It is a useful addition 

 to the equipment of the laboratory and is now 

 being distributed to the leading scientific in- 

 stitutions of the country. 



Dr. Joseph E. Pogue, who is in charge of 

 the Division of Mineralogy in the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, has recently described in the 

 Smithsonian " Miscellaneous Collections " a 

 remarkable specimen of pyrite studded with 

 crystals of gold and partly covered with plates 

 of galena from the Snettisham District near 

 Juneau, southeast Alaska. The pyrite is in 

 the usual form of a cube, but what is very 

 remarkable is that there are on it more than 

 one hundred and thirty well-defined crystals 

 of metallic gold. These are also in the cubical 



system and from one third to one half buried 

 in the pyrite, never more, and seem to have 

 no definite relation to the crystallization of 

 the pyrite. Similarly crystals of galena and 

 chalcopyrite are found on the pyrite. The 

 structure and relation of the galena to the 

 pyrite is of considerable scientific interest and 

 is described in technical detail by the author. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



An endowment fund of $500,000 for Trinity 

 College has been raised. 



Mr. N. T. Kidder has assumed the expense 

 of the addition now being built for the Gray 

 Herbarium, Harvard University, amounting 

 to about $11,000. The corporation has voted 

 to have this addition called the Kidder Wing. 



Albert P. Sy, Ph.D., has been appointed 

 professor of chemistry and director of chem- 

 ical laboratories at the University of Buffalo, 

 to succeed Dr. H. M. Hill, who resigned last 

 summer. 



Dr. E. C. Moore, superintendent of schools 

 at Los Angeles, Cal., has been elected to the 

 newly established professorship of education 

 at Tale University and has accepted. 



M. E. Balize, of Nancy, has been appointed 

 professor of organic chemistry, at Paris, and is 

 succeeded at Nancy by M. Grignard. 



M. Lameere has been appointed professor of 

 zoology and comparative anatomy at Brussels. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



•^ THE LUMINOSITY OF TERMITES 



In Science of October 22, 1909, XXX., 574^ 

 575, Mr. Frederick Knab points out that the 

 mounds made by certain Brazilian termites, 

 or possibly the termites themselves, are lu- 

 minous. 



Although I have seen many thousands of 

 the mounds made by termites in all parts of 

 Brazil, I do not remember ever having ob- 

 served this luminosity. A specimen of the 

 nest materials was lately sent me by a Bra- 

 zilian friend from the vicinity of Queluz, in 



