June 14, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



951 



sistant with a salary of $750 in the Bureau 

 of Fisheries. 



The eastern branch of the American So- 

 ciety of Zoologists will hold its next annual 

 meeting during convocation week at the Shef- 

 field Scientific School, New Haven. 



Foreign journals report that the movement 

 for the institution of an Italian Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, proposed at 

 Milan last year, has now taken form and 

 development under capable organizers, inclu- 

 ding Professor Eomiti, of Pisa. The first 

 meeting will he held at Parma in September 

 next, when it is hoped that the sister associa- 

 tions of Europe and America will send dele- 

 gates. Italy has many associations for the 

 advancement of special sciences, but, as Pro- 

 fessor Eomiti has put it, she has yet to form 

 an association which shall 'represent the 

 synthesis ' of them all. Attempts were made 

 in 1839 and 1875 to start such an association 

 on the British and German models, but they 

 have had no successor. It is hoped and be- 

 lieved that the attempt which has now been 

 renewed will result in the establishment of a 

 permanent institution. 



Dr. Lawrence P. Plick, director of the 

 Phipps Institute, Philadelphia, and chairman 

 of the committee on the International Con- 

 gress of Tuberculosis, which is to be held in 

 Washington in the fall of 1908, announces 

 that he has received $35,000 in subscriptions 

 to a fund of $100,000 which he is raising to 

 meet the necessary expenses. The subscribers 

 include Messrs. Martin Maloney and William 

 H. Henscri, of Philadelphia; Messrs. Henry 

 Phipps, George Blumenthal and Henry 0. 

 Prick, of New York, and Mr. Henry L. Hig- 

 ginson, of Boston. 



Mr. William Urban, of Brookl3rQ, N. T., 

 has recently presented his collection of min- 

 erals to Colgate University as a memorial to 

 his friend, the late Rev. Edward Lathrop, 

 D.D., who had been for some years before his 

 decease president of the corporation of the 

 university. The value of the collection is 

 about $2,500, and it will be installed in the 

 new Science Hall, which bears the name of 

 Dr. Lathrop. 



The library of Mr. Stuart M. Samuel, M.P., 

 which Messrs. Sotheby will sell on July 1, con- 

 tains the author's autograph manuscript of 

 Gilbert White's 'Natural History and An- 

 tiquities of Selborne,' in the form of letters 

 to Thomas Pennant and Daines Barrington, 

 and arranged in a folio volume. The MS. 

 remained in the possession of the author's de- 

 scendants until 1895, when it was sold at 

 Sotheby's and acquired by the present owner. 



The Norddeutscher Lloyd and the Ham- 

 burg-Amerika Lines have agreed to allow to 

 members proceeding to the Fourteenth Inter- 

 national Congress of Hygiene and Demog- 

 raphy, to be held at Berlin, September 23 to 

 29, a reduction on the price of tickets. 



An exceptional opportunity for the study of 

 evaporation in relation to climate is afforded 

 by the Salton Sea. As our readers are aware, 

 the sea was created by the accidental turning 

 of the Colorado Eiver into the Salton Basin, 

 a dry valley in southeastern California lying 

 below the level of the ocean ; and now that the 

 river has been restored to its original channel 

 the sea has begun to dry away. The time 

 required for its complete dissipation is esti- 

 mated at from ten to fifteen years, and during 

 that period the accession of water from all 

 sources will be nominal. It will thus consti- 

 tute an evaporation pan on a grand scale, and 

 the measurement of its progressive lowering 

 will give valuable information to engineers 

 charged with the planning of reservoirs. The 

 matter is also of importance to meteorologists, 

 and arrangements have been made for a joint 

 investigation by the U. S. Weather Bureau, 

 the U. S. Eeclamation Service and the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. To determine the relation 

 of the evaporation to temperature, atmospheric 

 humidity and wind, a group of meteorological 

 stations are to be maintained in the Salton 

 Basin; and the endeavor will be made to de- 

 velop a general formula for the estimation of 

 evaporation in any locality where the ordinary 

 climatic factors are known. A reconnaissance 

 of the region has just been made by a board 

 composed of F. H. Bigelow, C. E. Grunsky 

 and G. K. Gilbert, representing severally the 

 bureaus mentioned above. 



