992 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 861 



An expedition to southeast Arabia lias been 

 planned by the Danish Royal Geographical 

 Society, the object being the mapping of parts 

 of Oman and the studying of the ancient me- 

 morials and commercial prospects of the 

 country. 



A CABLEGRAM has been received at the Har- 

 vard College Observatory from Kiel, stating 

 that Wolf's Periodic Comet v?as observed by 

 Professor Max Wolf at Heidelberg, June 19, 

 1911, 4792 in. 



E. A. IS" 46"" 16^ 

 Dee. + 13° 28' 



The comet is visible in a large telescope. 



The second annual midsummer State Farm- 

 ers Institute will be held at the University of 

 Illinois on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs- 

 day, July 11, 12 and 13. The attendance at 

 last summer's institute was about 2,500. Ad- 

 dresses to the general session will be given by 

 the following: 



Hon. J. K. Dickinson, secretary, State Board 

 of Agriculture, on ' ' Agricultural Advancement. ' ' 



Professor J. H. Skinner, dean of the College of 

 Agriculture, Purdue University, on ' ' Rural Prob- 

 lems and Rural Progress. ' ' 



Hon. B. P. Harris, president of the Hlinois 

 Bankers ' Association, on ' ' The Banker Parmer, 

 his Influence on Agriculture." 



Dr. Charles E. Marshall, Michigan Agricultural 

 College, on ' ' The Parmer and the Scientist. ' ' 



Hon. W. E. Morse, assistant general manager, 

 Chicago Northwestern R. R., on ' ' Advantages of 

 Closer Cooperation between the Railroads and the 

 Parmer. ' ' 



The following geologic investigation is be- 

 ing carried on in Oklahoma: Professor D. W. 

 Ohern, of the University of Oklahoma, and 

 Mr. Carl D. Smith, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, are conducting cooperative parties in 

 the Vinita and Claremore quadrangles in the 

 northeastern part of the state. Professor 0. 

 H. Taylor, of the University of Oklahoma, is 

 studying the igneous rocks of the Wichita 

 and Arbuckle Mountains. Professor J. W. 

 Beede, of the University of Indiana, has a 

 party in the northern part of the state and 

 will endeavor to trace out the Pennsylvanian- 

 Permian contact from the Kansas line to the 



Arbuckle Mountains. Professor 0. A. Reeds, 

 of Bryn Mawr College, who has already spent 

 four years in the Arbuckle Mountains, will 

 continue his studies in the lower Paleozoic 

 rocks of that region. The Ohern, Smith and 

 Taylor parties are cooperative; being main- 

 tained by the U. S. Geological Survey and 

 the Oklahoma Geological Survey; the Beede 

 and Reeds parties are under the direction of 

 the Oklahoma Geological Survey. The U. S. 

 Geological Survey, the Oklahoma Geological 

 Survey and the Oklahoma State Board of 

 Agriculture are cooperating in the endeavor 

 to ascertain whether or not potash or other 

 soluble salts are present in the western part 

 of the state. A number of deep wells are 

 being drilled, under the direction of the state 

 board of agriculture, in the Panhandle of 

 Oklahoma, in the hope of finding artesian 

 water. The federal Geological Survey and 

 the Oklahoma Survey are paying the expenses 

 of a man to collect samples at frequent in- 

 tervals from these wells. These samples will 

 be analyzed for potash or other fertilizer ma- 

 terial. Mr. Chas. R. Eckes has charge of the 

 work. 



VNWEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Princeton University has received gifts 



amounting to more than $100,000, of which 



$40,000 is for a lectureship in public affairs 



to be held by the Hon. George B. McClellen. 



Dr. Robert A. Harper, professor of botany 

 in the University of Wisconsin, has been 

 elected Torrey professor of botany at Co- 

 lumbia University. 



New appointments and promotions at the 

 Johns Hopkins University are as follows : 

 In the Philosophical Faculty : Harry F. Reid, 

 Ph.D., now professor of geological physics, to 

 be professor of dynamic geology and geog- 

 raphy; John A. Anderson, Ph.D., now associ- 

 ate, to be associate professor of astronomy; 

 Knight Dunlap, Ph.D., now associate, to be 

 associate professor of psychology; J. Elliott 

 Gilpin, Ph.D., now associate, to be associate 

 professor of chemistry; William Kurrel- 

 meyer, Ph.D., now associate, to be associate 



