August 5, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



173 



ico during September. Dr. Coulter will pay 

 particular attention to the ferns of the Jalapa 

 region, Dr. Chamberlain will continue his 

 studies on Mexican eycads, chiefly in the 

 mountains about Tierra Blanca and Tuxtepec, 

 Dr. Land will collect liverworts in the Tux- 

 tepec region, and Mr. Brown will study cacti. 

 Professor A. S. Hitchcock, systematic 

 agrostologist, TJ. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, is making a trip through Mexico in the 

 interests of his work upon North American 

 grasses. He is visiting, where possible, the 

 type localities of the species of grasses based 

 upon the work of the earlier botanists, such 

 as Humboldt, Haenke, Schiede, Liebmann, 

 Bourgeau and Schaffner, many of which spe- 

 cies extend into our southwestern states. 



Dr. H\rry D. Chichester, assistant fur-seal 

 agent, who has spent the past eight months in 

 Washington, is now in San Francisco pur- 

 chasing supplies for the Seal Islands which 

 wiU be sent to the islands on the last steamer 

 which goes up in August. Dr. Chichester will 

 return to Saint George Island on this steamer 

 and remain until the fall of 1911. 



Professor E. S. Breed, of Allegheny Col- 

 lege, sailed for Antwerp on July 30, to attend 

 the eighth International Zoological Congress 

 in Graz, Austria. He will spend the prin- 

 cipal part of the coming year studying in 

 Germany, having been granted sabbatic leave 

 of absence. 



Among members of the faculty of the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan who are abroad the pres- 

 ent summer are: Professor W. P. Lombard, 

 physiology ; Professor William H. Hobbs, geol- 

 ogy; Professor G. L. Street, anatomy; Pro- 

 fessor E. C. Case, zoology, and Professor Fili- 

 bert Roth, forestry. 



A TABLET in memory of Richard Hakluyt, 

 the navigator, was unveiled in Bristol Cath- 

 edral on July 7, the address being made by 

 Sir Clements Markham. 



Mr. J. B. C-^ruthers, assistant director of 

 agriculture of Trinidad, died on July 17. He 

 was mycologist and assistant director of agri- 

 culture of Ceylon from 1900 to 1905. Prom 

 1905 to 1909 he was director of agriculture 

 and government botanist to the Federated 

 Malay States, and under his guidance the 



planting of Hevea rubber over extensive areas 

 in the east was carried out. He assumed 

 duties in Trinidad in September of last year. 

 The Experiment Station Record states that 

 an experiment station is being organized under 

 the auspices of the Association of Sugar and 

 Sugar Cane Producers of Porto Rico. This 

 association was formed in San Juan, February 

 26, 1909, and is financed by a tax of twenty- 

 five cents on each ton of sugar refined or two 

 and a half cents for each ton of cane produced. 

 One of its standing committees is the agricul- 

 tural committee, which has for one of its 

 duties the establishment of model farms, ex- 

 periment stations and a technical sugar school. 

 Mr. J. T. Crawley, formerly director of the 

 Cuban station, has been selected as director 

 of the experiment station, and wiH enter upon 

 his duties in August. It is planned to secure 

 in the near future a chemist, a plant patholo- 

 gist, an entomologist and a field expert. A 

 suitable location for the station is being 

 sought. Mr. D. W. May, special agent in 

 charge of the Porto Rico federal station, has 

 been appointed an honorary member of the 

 agricultural committee and is acting in an 

 advisory capacity in the establishment of the 

 station. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation states that the University of Pitts- 

 burgh will establish in connection with its 

 medical department a laboratory and school 

 for the study of backward children. The 

 scope of the work will include psychologic 

 studies of mental defectives and delinquents, 

 both children and adults, epileptics and the 

 nervous unfit of all kinds. It wHl also in- 

 clude work in the university laboratories and 

 the training of nurses and prospective teachers 

 in work of this kind. The work will be under 

 the direction of Professor J. H. White, of the 

 department of psychology, Dr. Edward E. 

 Mayer, of the department of neurology, and 

 Dr. E. Bosworth McCready will be the medical 

 director. The school is to be called the Hos- 

 pital School for Backward Children. 



The Harvard Summer School of Medicine 

 offers a series of special lectures, open without 

 charge to all members of the various Harvard 

 summer schools, as well as to the medical pro- 



