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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1041 



" The Effects of the War on Economic Con- 

 ditions," Chester W. Wright, associate pro- 

 fessor of political economy, March 4. 



The Rice Institute announces its first series 

 of unversity extension lectures to be given on 

 the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays and 

 Fridays. The scientific lectures, given on 

 Wednesdays, are as follows: 



Electricity, illustrated by numerous experi- 

 ments, a course of six lectures by Harold Albert 

 Wilson, professor of physics. 



The Geology of Texas, a course of three lec- 

 tures by Edwin Theodore Durable, consulting geol- 

 ogist of the Southern Pacific Company. 



Applications of Chemistry to Industry and 

 Commerce, a course of three lectures by Arthur 

 Romaine Hitch, instructor in chemistry. 



As an ansvcer to the impression which seems 

 to exist, that all the public lands of any value 

 ihave long ago been taken up. Secretary Lane, 

 in an advance statement from his annual re- 

 port, calls attention to the fact that since 

 Jilarch 4, 1913, settlers have made entry on 

 nearly 20,000,000 acres of public lands — an 

 area equal to that of Connecticut, Massachu- 

 setts, New Hampshire and New Jersey com- 

 bined. During the same period practically as 

 much more coal and other mineral land of the 

 west has been examined in detail in 40-acre 

 tracts by the Geological Survey, and most of 

 it has been thrown open to settlement or pur- 

 chase. Some of these lands, such as those 

 which include workable deposits of phosphate 

 or oil, are still withdrawn pending suitable 

 legislation for their disposal or use. Another 

 important activity in public-land classifica- 

 tion to which the secretary calls attention is 

 the designation of lands for entry as " en- 

 larged " or 320-acre homesteads. Designa- 

 tions under this law approved by him, cover 

 33,453,056 acres. The extract from the secre- 

 tary's report contains a series of maps of 

 twelve public-land states showing in graphic 

 form (1) the areas withdrawn from entry in 

 these states between March, 1913, and July, 

 1914, (2) the areas restored to entry, (3) the 

 designations under the enlarged-homestead 

 law, and (4) land taken up by settlers. Thus, 

 for example, the map of Montana shows the 

 total area for the state, 93,000,000 acres ; lands 



withdrawn from entry, 67,741 acres; lands re- 

 stored to entry after examination, 3,171,558 

 acres; lands designated under the enlarged- 

 homestead law, 11,022,854; acres and lands 

 entered by settlers, 7,417,291 acres. The other 

 states in which public-land activities have been 

 large and which are discussed by the secretary 

 are Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, 

 Idaho, Washington, Oregon, North Dakota, 

 Arizona, California and Nevada. 



Attention is called by The Observatory to 

 the fact that at the congress of the representa- 

 tives of the national ephemerides held in 

 Paris in 1911 a scheme of cooperation between 

 the various countries was planned, so as to 

 assure in the future a greater production of 

 useful work and to avoid a superfluous repe- 

 tition of the computations. This end was to 

 be attained by a plan of exchange and division 

 of work, although each Almanack was to re- 

 tain its own distinctive features. The ephem- 

 erides for 1916 mark the inauguration of this 

 arrangement. The Nautical Almanack Office 

 has been supplied from abroad with the follow- 

 ing: The ephemeris of Mercury from Berlin. 

 The apparent places of polar stars from Paris. 

 The apparent places of stars from Berlin, San 

 Fernando and Turin. Details of eclipses and 

 elements of occultations from Washington. 

 The positions of the satellites of Mars and of 

 Jupiter's fifth satellite from Washington; of 

 Jupiter's four principal satellites from Paris; 

 of Saturn's satellites and ring from Berlin; 

 of the satellites of Uranus and Neptune from 

 Washington. Physical ephemerides of the 

 sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jup- 

 iter from Washington. The Nautical Alma- 

 nack Office has in its turn supplied, under this 

 arrangement, the greater part of the Green- 

 wich ephemerides of the sun, moon and plan- 

 ets. In the table of the mean places of stars 

 the magnitudes are taken from the Revised 

 Harvard Photometry, instead of, as previ- 

 ously, from Newcomb's Fundamental Cata- 

 logue. The spectral types, as given in the Re- 

 vised Harvard Photometry, are now also 

 added. From 1916 onwards, the fundamental 

 meridian adopted by the Connaissance des 

 Temps will be the meridian of Greenwich. 



