Febkuabt 28, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



559 



The society, by vote at tlie same meeting, 

 adopted tlie following preamble and resolution, 

 and instructed the secretary to send copies 

 thereof to the executive authorities of the 

 United States, Canada, Mexico, Newfound- 

 land and the West Indies; to the governors 

 of Alaska, the Philippines, the Hawaiian 

 Islands, Porto Eico and the Canal Zone; to 

 the directors of the several weather bureaus 

 and geological surveys; to the secretaries of 

 the Smithsonian and Carnegie Institutions, 

 the Seismological Society of America and the 

 Committee on Seismology of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 The preamble and resolution, which were 

 drawn up and signed by a committee consist- 

 ing of Professor T. A. Jaggar, Jr., Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology; Professor 

 James P. Kemp, Columbia University, and 

 Dr. Edmund Otis Hovey, American Museum 

 of Natural History, are as follows : 



Whereas : The United States, Canada and Mex- 

 ico possess in the Cordilleran Belt, Alaska, the 

 Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico 

 and the Canal Zone a wide iield for investigation 

 of active volcanoes and earth movements; and 



Whereas : Geological science needs permanent 

 records, made in the field, of physical phenomena 

 accompanying earthquakes and eruptions both be- 

 fore and after the event ; and 



Whereas: Such record has direct bearing on 

 prediction, and on protection of life and property, 

 therefore be it 



Resolved, That the Geological Society of Amer- 

 ica strongly recommends to the several North 

 American governments and to private enterprise 

 the establishment of volcano and earthquake ob- 

 servatories. 



Taking into consideration the serious 

 damage caused by fire at previous exhibitions, 

 the executive committee of the Turin Inter- 

 national Exhibition of 1911 has decided to 

 open an international gompetition for prepara- 

 tions best adapted to render incombustible the 

 wood and cloth structure of the exliibition, and 

 will award a prize of lire 4,000 and two gold 

 medals and two silver medals in this con- 

 nection. The preparations must be such that 

 they can be applied without visible alteration 

 of the color and resistance of the materials. 



The President has sig-ned a proclamation 

 creating the Jewel Cave National Monument 

 within the Black Hills National Forest, South 

 Dakota. This remarkable cave, which is 

 located thirteen miles west and south of 

 Custer, the county-seat of Custer County, in 

 a limestone formation, is believed by geolo- 

 gists to be an extinct geyser channel. The 

 National Monument will embrace an area of 

 1,280 acres. This cave, which was explored 

 as late as 1900, has been found to consist of a 

 series of chambers connected by narrow 

 passages with numerous galleries, the walls of 

 which are encrusted with a magnificent layer 

 of calcite crystal. The opening of the cave 

 is situated in Hell Canyon, the walls of 

 which are high and precipitous. The surface 

 of the country in which the cave is located 

 consists of a high rolling limestone plateau 

 about 6,000 feet above sea level. The area is 

 almost entirely covered by a forest of bull 

 pine, a considerable portion of which is mer- 

 chantable, while the remainder consists of a 

 vigorous young growth. The Jewel Cave 

 National Monument will now be given perma- 

 nent protection by virtue of the Act of June 

 8, 1906, which provides that objects of scien- 

 tific interest may be declared National Monu- 

 ments if such action is deemed necessary for 

 their preservation and protection. 



VNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 By the will of Mrs. Amy Sheldon, of New- 

 port, a bequest of $300,000 to Harvard Uni- 

 versity is made in the codicil. It is requested 

 that the money be used for the rebuilding or 

 enlargement of the university library build- 

 ing known as Gore Hall, but if the corpora- 

 tion does not desire to use the money in this 

 way it may do otherwise. In addition to this 

 bequest the university is to receive a portion 

 of the residuary estate, to be known as the 

 Frederick Sheldon fund, the income to be used 

 for the promotion of traveling by students 

 after graduation. 



By the will of Eoyal L. Smith, of Platts- 

 burg, N. T., various public bequests are made 

 and the residue of his estate is to form a 

 trust fund to educate the boys of Clinton 



