SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 807 



held at Mexico City from September 8 to 14. 

 The sessions will be held in the lecture hall 

 of the National Museum in Mexico City. An 

 organizing committee has been formed, the 

 president of which is Senor Justo Sierra, sec- 

 retary of public instruction and fine arts for 

 the government of Mexico. The congress will 

 deal with questions relating to the ethnology, 

 archeology and history of the new world. 



The Eockefeller Institute for Medical Ee- 

 ■ search, which has been supplying the anti- 

 meningitis serum gratis for several years, has 

 ■announced that it may discontinue, at any 

 time after the expiration of the nest six 

 months, its preparation and distribution on a 

 large scale. The consensus of medical opin- 

 ion, based on the employment of the anti- 

 meningitis serum in widely separated epidem- 

 ics of meningitis, is to the effect that it is of 

 undoubted value in reducing the mortality 

 and preventing the severe consequences of the 

 disease. The serum is without eifect in any 

 other form of meningitis than that caused by 

 Diplococcus intracellularis (Weichselbaum) 

 and its favorable action is most pronounced 

 when it is applied early in the course of the 

 disease. Hence it is desirable that state and 

 municipal laboratories, engaged in the prepa- 

 ration of diphtheria antitoxin and allied 

 products, should undertake the preparation of 

 the serum and provide means for controlling 

 the bacteriological diagnosis of meningitis, as 

 they now do diphtheria and some other dis- 

 eases. Unless the bacteriological diagnosis is 

 controlled by competent authorities, the serum 

 will, undoubtedly, be applied in some cases of 

 meningitis due to causes which are not subject 

 to its action, and not a few cases of epidemic 

 meningitis will be deprived of the benefits of 

 its use. The serum is administered by being 

 injected into the spinal canal by means of 

 lumbar puncture, which operation is also re- 

 quired to secure the fluid for the bacteriolog- 

 ical "diagnosis ; and several separate injections 

 of the serum are required in treating a given 

 case. The effective employment of the serum 

 is likely, therefore, to be restricted on account 

 of the experience and skill required in its 

 administration and the high cost of the com- 



mercial product, unless the preparation, dis- 

 tribution and, when necessary, administration 

 are undertaken by state and municipal au- 

 thorities. 



The department of plant pathology of the 

 jSTew York State College of Agriculture an- 

 nounces the establishment of two more indus- 

 trial fellowships. This makes four industrial 

 fellowships which have already been estab- 

 lished for the investigation of the diseases of 

 plants. The two new fellowships are: The 

 Herman Frasch fellowship, established by the 

 Union Sulphur Company of New York City. 

 This provides for the investigation of the use 

 of dry sulphur as a fungicide both to the 

 plants and in the soil. This fellowship car- 

 ries an annual appropriation of $3,000 a year 

 for four years and provides for a senior and 

 junior fellow. Mr. G. E". Jensen, formerly an 

 assistant in the department of plant pathology, 

 Cornell University, recently research fellow in 

 the University of California, has been ap- 

 pointed to the position of senior fellow, and 

 Mr. F. M. Blodgett, a senior in the depart- 

 ment of plant pathology, Cornell University, 

 has been appointed to the junior place. Two 

 thousand dollars is to be used as salaries for 

 the fellows and $1,000 a year for carrying on 

 the work. The John Davey fellowship, estab- 

 lished by the Davey Tree Expert Company, of 

 Kent, Ohio, provides for the investigation of 

 heart rots of trees. It carries with it an 

 annual appropriation of $750 a year, of which 

 $500 is used as salary for the fellow and $250 

 for carrying on the work. Mr. W. H. Eankin, 

 who graduates from Wabash College this year, 

 has been appointed to this fellowship. 



The following is a list of the men of sci- 

 ence and others who will accompany Captain 

 E. F. Scott upon his Antarctic expedition: 

 Lieutenant E. E. G. E. Evans, E.N., second 

 in command (western party) ; Dr. E. A. Wil- 

 son, chief of scientific stail, zoologist and artist 

 (western party) ; Lieutenant V. L. A. Camp- 

 bell, E.N., leader of the eastern party; Lieu- 

 tenant H. L. L. Pennell, E.N., magnetic and 

 meteorological work in Terra Nova; Lieu- 

 tenant H. E. de P. Eennick, E.N. (western 

 party) ; Lieutenant H. E. Bowers, Eoyal In- 



