April 21, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



609 



qualities of lightness and rigidity recommend 

 it. Aluminum is the most abundant of all 

 the metals. It is an essential constituent of 

 all important rocks except sandstones and 

 limestones. It is found chiefly in the silicates 

 such as the feldspars, micas, clays, etc. ; and as 

 the hydroxide in the mineral bauxite, from 

 which it is now produced on a commercial 

 scale. Its oxide makes up between 15 and 16 

 per cent, of the earth's crust. In spite of this 

 great abundance the metal itself was, up to 

 1880, a chemical curiosity, and one of the early 

 reports of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey quotes it at $1.25 a Troy ounce — $15 a 

 pound. The reason for its rarity and high 

 price was the lack of a commercial method of 

 extracting it easily and cheaply from its chem- 

 ical combination with oxygen, for which it has 

 a remarkable affinity. With the introduction 

 of electrolytic processes the metal has now 

 taken a high place among the commercial 

 metals, and from a production of 83 pounds 

 in 1883 its consumption amounted in 1909 to 

 the enormous total of 34,210,000 pounds, 

 valued at approximately 23 cents a pound for 

 ingot metal. 



VNIVEMSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Harvard University has received the hun- 

 dred thousand dollars required for the Wolcott 

 Gibbs Memorial Laboratory which is to form 

 the first building of the new chemical labora- 

 tories to be erected south of the university 

 museum. It is understood that half of the 

 sum was given by Dr. Morris Loeb and Mr. 

 James Loeb. It is estimated that about $65,- 

 000 will be needed for the construction of the 

 building. The rest of the $100,000 will be 

 used for maintenance. 



At a stated meeting of the trustees of 

 Princeton University on April 13, gifts 

 amounting to more than $90,000 were an- 

 nounced. 



Dr. Daniel K. Pearsons, the Chicago phi- 

 lanthropist, whose benefactions to the various 

 colleges and benevolent institutions have ex- 

 ceeded $6,000,000, celebrated his ninety-first 

 birthday on April 14 and marked the occasion 

 by distributing- $300,000, including $100,000 to 



Berea College, $25,000 to Deane College and 

 $10,000 to McKendree College. 



The North Carolina legislature at its last 

 meeting appropriated to the University of 

 North Carolina $200,000 for equipment and 

 increased the appropriation for maintenance 

 to $87,000 a year. The trustees have decided 

 to erect first a medical laboratory costing 

 $50,000. 



As has been announced in Science a biU 

 proposing one board of control for the three 

 educational institutions of Kansas was vetoed 

 recently by Governor Stubbs. He had proposed 

 to the legislature a commission form of govern- 

 ment for the institutions, five members to take 

 the place of the eighteen now acting as re- 

 gents, but a bill was passed providing for a 

 board of three, each to receive $2,500 a year, 

 to give their whole time to the management of 

 the State University at Lawrence, the State 

 Normal School at Emporia and the State 

 Agricultural College at Manhattan. As these 

 institutions have within their walls approxi- 

 mately seven thousand students. Governor 

 Stubbs believed that one man competent to 

 plan the educational and business program for 

 each of them would be worth much more than 

 $2,500. This opinion was confirmed when he at- 

 tempted to fill the positions and found out that 

 the present incumbents, serving for no salar- 

 ies, would not agree to continue their serv- 

 ices. The leading educators of the country 

 telegraphed to Governor Stubbs, in response 

 to inquiries, that the one-board principle was 

 advisable, but the methods about to be pur- 

 sued by Kansas in adopting that system were 

 faulty, particularly in the number of members 

 proposed and the remuneration oilered. The 

 strongest opinions against the measure came 

 from states where a similar plan is being tried 

 or has in the past been tried. Governor 

 Stubbs did not care to take upon himseK, he 

 said, the responsibility for disorganizing the 

 educational system of the state and therefore 

 he vetoed the bill. 



Governor Lee Cruce, of Oklahoma, has ap- 

 pointed a board of education consisting of sis 

 men, to take charge of all of the state educa- 

 tional and charitable institutions. This board 



