524 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 849 



typical crystal forms and their variations for 

 a large range of mineral species. 



That 126 persons bitten by rabid animals 

 in Wisconsin have been treated during the 

 past fourteen months at the Pasteur Institute 

 established in connection with the hygienic 

 laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, is 

 shown by the report of Dr. M. P. Eavenel, the 

 director. Over 170 animals supposed to have 

 suffered from hydrophobia were examined by 

 the experts at the laboratory, and the spread 

 of the disease has been checked to a great ex- 

 tent. The patients treated came from 61 

 cities and towns in the state. Six persons are 

 under treatment at the present time at the 

 laboratory. The entire Pasteur treatment is 

 given the patients at a cost of $25, about one 

 fourth the cost at institutions not conducted 

 by the state. Punds are being asked the pres- 

 ent legislature sufficient to allow the labora- 

 tory to administer the treatment free of 

 charge. 



The production of natural gas in the United 

 States in 1909, as ascertained by a joint can- 

 vass made by the United States Geological 

 Survey and the Bureau of the Census, is 

 estimated by B. Hill, in charge of this work, 

 under the supervision of D. T. Day, to have 

 been $55,000,000, an increase of only about 

 $359,626 over that of 1908. There were no 

 great cLarife"? '^^ the industry during the year, 

 the production continuing to dediue in Kan- 

 sas, and an increase being made in Oklahoma 

 and in the Caddo field in Louisiana and in 

 Texas. An interesting feature was the sup- 

 plying of Fort Worth and Dallas from the gas 

 fields of Clay County, Texas. For the year 

 1910 the total production is estimated at $57,- 

 000,000, an increase of about $2,000,000 over 

 1909. During 1910 a feature of great interest 

 was the development of what promises to be a 

 very large supply of natural gas in the Buena 

 Vista Hills, Kern County, Cal., east of the 

 Sunset-McKittrick oil field. Arrangements 

 were made and practically completed during 

 the year for piping this gas to Bakersfield and 

 other towns in San Joaquin Valley. 



An International Congress of the Applica- 

 tions of Electricity is to be held in Turin, 



Italy, on September 9-20. Nature states that 

 this congress, as its title implies, will deal 

 with questions of practical import, so that 

 electrical engineers will be able to participate 

 largely in the discussions. The chief en- 

 deavor of the organizing committee, which is 

 under the chairmanship of Professor Luigi 

 Lombardi, has been so to draw up the pro- 

 gram that the congress may be international 

 in character as well as in name. To attain 

 this object, the cooperation of the Interna- 

 tional Electrotechnical Commission, with its 

 local committees now established in many 

 countries, has been obtained, as well as the as- 

 sistance of the societies and associations in all 

 countries dealing with electrical matters. 

 With the help of these organizations, ofiicial 

 reporters have been selected, and already many 

 assurances have been received that numerous 

 papers will be presented to the congress from 

 all parts of the world. The initiators of the 

 congress are the Italian Electrotechnical So- 

 ciety and the Italian local committee of the 

 commission mentioned above. The congress 

 is under the patronage of the Duke of the 

 Abruzzi, who is the president of the committee 

 of honor, upon which Professor Elihu Thom- 

 son and Colonel Crompton, the president and 

 honorary secretary respectively of the com- 

 mission, have been elected members. Papers 

 may be presented in French, English, German 

 and Italian, and the discussions will be car- 

 ried on in all these languages. 



The annual meeting of the British Medical 

 Association will be held in Birmingham from 

 July 25 to July 28. The president this year 

 is Dr. H. T. Butlin, consulting surgeon to 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and the president- 

 elect Professor Eobert Saundby, professor of 

 medicine in the University of Birmingham. 

 The president will deliver his address on Tues- 

 day, July 25; the address in medicine will 

 be given on July 26 by Dr. Byron Bramwell, 

 president of the Eoyal College of Physicians 

 of Edinburgh, and the address in surgery on 

 July 27 by Professor Jordan Lloyd, of Queen's 

 Hospital, Birmingham. For the purposes of 

 the scientific business of the meeting sixteen 

 sections have been authorized by the council. 



