Febbuaey 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



211 



THE MAGNETIC SURVEY OF CHINA 



Mr. Don C. Sowers, sent out in November, 

 1908, by the Department of Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, to secure magnetic observations in 

 China and Chinese Turkestan, returned to 

 Washington last December. 



Besides the leader, the party consisted of 

 Professor C. G. Fuson, of Canton Christian 

 College, a Chinese interpreter and a cook. 

 Leaving Peking January 30, 1909, they went 

 as far as Honanfu by rail; thence traveling 

 by Chinese carts, pack animals, mule chairs, 

 etc., the party proceeded along the great 

 northern trade route of China, passing out of 

 China proper at the end of the Great Wall 

 in northwestern China, thence across the Gobi 

 Desert to Urumtsi, the capital of Chinese 

 Turkestan. Continuing in a southwesterly 

 direction, skirting the Taklamakan Desert, 

 along the south side of the Tien Shan Moun- 

 tains, the expedition finally reached Kashgar, 

 in the western part of Chinese Turkestan on 

 July 28. Turning here to the southward the 

 Himalaya Mountains were crossed via the five 

 passes of the Karakorum trade route, the 

 highest trade route in the world, arriving at 

 Leh, India, in September, and at the railroad 

 at Rawal Pindi, northern India, October 13. 



The overland journey from the terminus 

 of the railroad in China to the place where the 

 railroad was again reached in northern India 

 was over 4,500 miles in length and required 

 eight and one haK months to accomplish it. 

 It lay through a little frequented and, until 

 recent years, unexplored portion of the globe. 

 It is a region full of interest for the geog- 

 rapher, historian and scientist. 



The party was everywhere shown the utmost 

 courtesy and every possible assistance was 

 rendered by Chinese ofiicials as well as by 

 representatives of foreign governments. 



Connection was made at Dehra Dun with 

 the magnetic survey of India, at present in 

 progress under the direction of the British 

 government. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Surgeon Charles P. Stokes has been nom- 

 inated to be surgeon-general of the navy, to 



succeed Surgeon General Presley M. Rixey, 

 who retires. 



On the evening of April 2, at the Waldorf- 

 Astoria, a dinner will be given in honor of 

 Dr. Charles P. Chandler, head of the depart- 

 ment of chemistry of Columbia University, 

 whose resignation after forty-seven years of 

 service will go into efl^ect next June. 



The Geological Society of London will this 

 year award its medals and funds as follows: 

 the Wollaston medal, as already announced, to 

 Professor W. B. Scott; the Murchison medal, 

 to Professor A. P. Coleman; the Lyell medal, 

 to Dr. A. Vaughan; the Wollaston fund, to 

 Mr. E. B. Bailey; the Murchison fund, to 

 Mr. J. W. Stather; the Lyell fund, to Mr. P. 

 E. Cowper Eeed and Dr. R. Broom. 



The council of the Eoyal Geographical 

 Society has decided to award a special gold 

 medal to Commander Peary for his journey 

 to the North Pole, and for having undertaken 

 such scientific investigations as his opportuni- 

 ties permitted; and a silver replica to Captain 

 Bartlett for attaining eighty-eight degrees 

 north latitude. It is expected that Com- 

 mander Peary will lecture before the society 

 on May 4. Later in the month he will lecture 

 before the Berlin Geographical Society, which 

 will confer on him its gold medal. 



Professor W. Bateson, who vacated a fel- 

 lowship at St. John's College, Cambridge, on 

 resigning the professorship of biology in the 

 university, has been elected to an honorary 

 fellowship. 



Mr. John D. Rockefeller, having learned 

 of the distinguished services to medical sci- 

 ence which have been and are being rendered 

 by the researches of Professor Paul Ehrlich, 

 of Frankfurt, Germany, has presented to the 

 board of directors of the Rockefeller Institute 

 for Medical Research the sum of ten thousand 

 dollars to be placed at the disposal of Professor 

 Ehrlich for furthering his investigations into 

 the chemical therapy of the protozoon diseases. 



The New York Evening Post states that 

 Professors H. N. Morse, H. C. Jones and S. F. 

 Acree, of Johns Hopkins, have received their 

 sixth annual grant from the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion of Washington for the prosecution of 



