664 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1036 



of artificial respiration. Begin at once. A 

 moment's delay is serious. 



Continue tlie artificial respiration. If neces- 

 sary, continue two hours or longer without 

 interruption until natural breathing is re- 

 stored. If natural breathing stops after being 

 restored, use artificial respiration again. 



Do not give the patient any liquid, until he 

 is fully conscious. 



Give him fresh air, but keep his body warm. 



Send for the nearest doctor as soon as the 

 accident is discovered. 



The members of the committee reporting to 

 the Bureau of Mines are as follows : Dr. W. B. 

 Cannon, chairman, professor of physiology. 

 Harvard University; Dr. George W. Crile, 

 professor of surgery. Western Eeserve TJni- 

 versity, Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Joseph Erlanger, 

 professor of physiology, Washington Univer- 

 sity, St. Louis; Dr. Tandell Henderson, pro- 

 fessor of physiology. Tale University; and Dr. 

 S. J. Meltzer, head of the department of phys- 

 iology and pharmacology, Eockefeller Insti- 

 tute for Medical Eesearch. 



AWASDS OF TSE JOHN SCOTT MEDAL 

 The city of Philadelphia, acting on the 

 recommendation of The Eranklin Institute, 

 has awarded the John Scott Legacy Medal 

 and Premium to Elmer Ambrose Sperry, of 

 New York, N. Y., for his gyro compass. On 

 battleships under action, the shifting of large 

 masses of magnetic material precludes the 

 use of the magnetic compass, and even on 

 ordinary iron vessels, the material of the ship 

 and its disposition must be compensated for. 

 The gyro compass is entirely non-magnetic 

 and is unaffected by the proximity of iron. 

 For some years Mr. Sperry has devoted prac- 

 tically his whole time to overcoming the 

 numerous physical difficulties involved in the 

 adaptation of a gyroscope to a ship's compass 

 in the place of a magnetic needle. He has 

 been able to make an instrument which auto- 

 matically corrects for the speed and direction 

 of the vessel, and which is unaffected by the 

 rolling of the ship in a heavy sea. His com- 

 pass may be made in the form of a master 

 compass which may be made to actuate sec- 

 ondary or repeater compasses mounted in any 



desired part of the vessel. On naval vessels, 

 such an arrangement is very desirable, as the 

 master compass may be installed behind heavy 

 armor plate and protected from damage, and 

 may still be available when all the secondary 

 compasses are destroyed. 



An award of the John Scott Legacy Medal 

 and Premium has also been made to Arthur 

 Atwater Kent, of Eosemont, Pa., for his 

 " unisparker." The unisparker is an essential 

 element of the Atwater Kent Ignition System 

 for automobiles, and consists of a contact- 

 breaker, governor and distributor, arranged in 

 one structure. The contact-breaker is in the 

 primary of a non-trembler coil circuit and is 

 so designed as to be operative only when the 

 engine runs in one direction, thus preventing 

 backfiring. The governor automatically ad- 

 vances and retards the spark according to the 

 requirements of the engine. The distributor 

 is in the secondary circuit of the coil and 

 distributes the sparks to the several cylinders. 

 All the parts of the device are especially de- 

 signed for durability. The contact points are 

 of tungsten and are of large area. The cur- 

 rent in the primary circuit can be reversed at 

 will, changing the polarity of the contacts and 

 preventing their disintegration. 



PBOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACAD- 

 EMY OF SCIENCES 



In January, 1915, the National Academy 

 of Sciences will begin the publication of 

 Monthly Proceedings. The members of the 

 editorial staff, with the fields of science repre- 

 sented by them, are: 



Astronomy : E. B. Frost, Yerkes Observatory, Wil- 

 liams Bay, Wis. 

 MatheTnatics : E. H. Moore, UniveTsity of Chicago, 



Chicago, 111. 

 Physics: Henry Crew, Northwestern University, 



Evanston, 111. 

 Chemistry, Biological and Organic: J. J. Abel, 



Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 

 Chemistry, Physical and Inorganic: A. A. Noyes, 



Mass. Inst. Tech., Boston, Mass. 

 Geology: H. F. Eeid, Johns Hopkins University, 



Baltimore, Md. 

 Paleontology : Charles Schuchert, Yale University, 



New Haven, Conn. 



