392 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 584. 



come to light, tlie largest of which, weighing 

 4.61 kilograms, is at present in the National 

 Museum. A broken surface shows the stone 

 to be indistinctly chondritic, of a very light 

 gray color, and under the microscope is found 

 to consist essentially of olivine and enstatite, 

 with a very small amount of plagioclase 

 feldspar. It evidently belongs to Brezina's 

 group of veined chondrites (Cwa), and will be 

 known as the Scott County meteorite. 



For the above information the writer is 

 indebted to Mr. J. K. Freed, of Scott City, 

 Kansas. This fall adds one more (the 

 twelfth) to the remarkable list for which 

 Kansas is becoming noted. 



George P. Merrill. 



THE WALTER REED MEMORIAL FUND. 



To THE Editor of Science: It is gratifying 

 to note, that the executive committee of the 

 Walter Reed Memorial Association, under the 

 able leadership of Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, is 

 making a final effort to raise a fund of $25,000, 

 the income to be paid to the widow of Dr. 

 Eeed and the principal to be reserved for a 

 permanent memorial in the city of Wash- 

 ington. 



It may not be amiss to recall the fact that 

 Dr. Reed's greatest achievement for science 

 and humanity was his contribution to the 

 cause, spread and prevention of yellow fever. 

 The experiments which he planned and con- 

 ducted in Cuba in 1901, demonstrated con- 

 clusively the causal relation of the mosquito 

 species Stegomyia fasciata to yellow fever, 

 and have given man control over that fearful 

 scourge. The practical value of this brilliant 

 demonstration has been proved by the com- 

 plete eradication of yellow fever epidemics in 

 Havana, New Orleans, the Gulf states, the 

 Isthmus of Panama and wherever his teach- 

 ings have been subjected to a crucial test. 

 Competent critics are agreed that his work is 

 the most valuable contribution to medicine 

 and public hygiene which has ever been made 

 in this hemisphere. The results to humanity 

 are incalculable and as well expressed by 

 General Wood, the military governor of Cuba : 



Hereafter it will never be possible for yellow 

 fever to gain such headway that quarantine will 



exist from the mouth of the Potomac to the 

 mouth of the Rio Grande. * ♦ * Hig discovery 

 results in the saving of more lives annually than 

 were lost in the Cuban War and saves the com- 

 mercial interests of the world a greater financial 

 loss each year than the cost of the Cuban War. 



The full significance of this statement will 

 be apparent when we recall the fact that, 

 according to competent authorities, yellow 

 fever in the United States alone, from 1793- 

 1900, prostrated not less than 500,000 persons 

 and carried off over 100,000 victims. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Horlbeck, of Charleston, S. C, the 

 great epidemic of 18Y8 in the states of Louisi- 

 ana, Mississippi and Alabama resulted in the 

 loss of nearly 16,000 lives, and the estimated 

 total loss to the country resulting from this 

 epidemic was not less than $100,000,000; in- 

 deed the actual cost of the epidemic of that 

 year to the material resources of the city of 

 New Orleans has been estimated by Dr. 

 Samuel Chopin at $10,752,000. 



In view of the great economic importance 

 of Dr. Reed's discovery it is somewhat sur- 

 prising to learn that by far the largest num- 

 ber of contributors are of the medical pro- 

 fession, and that so far the executive com- 

 mittee has failed to enlist the sympathy and 

 support of the commercial interests, especially 

 in the Gulf states, which will be most bene- 

 fited by Dr. Reed's great work. While the 

 medical profession has erected monuments to 

 Benjamin Rush and Samuel D. Gross, who 

 rendered distinguished services to American 

 medicine and surgei-y, it must be conceded 

 that Dr. Reed's beneficent work deserves a 

 broader recognition and men of science should 

 not be expected to sustain this laudable under- 

 taking without material aid from other 

 sources. Dr. Reed was a native of Virginia, 

 and it seems peculiarly fitting that his work, 

 which affects the lives, happiness and material 

 interests of the people of the south Atlantic 

 states, should be appreciated by popular sub- 

 scriptions. There should be no difficulty in 

 raising the modest sum of $25,000, and the 

 writer expresses the hope that men of science 

 will bring the merits of the case to the atten- 

 tion of their friends able and willing to con- 

 tribute to this noble cause. Mr. C. J. Bell, 



