20 



SCIENCE 



[N. ,S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1097 



The fifth annual meeting of the Oklahoma 

 Academy of Science was held at Oklahoma 

 City, Oklahoma, November 26 and 27, 1915. 

 Thirty-five papers, dealing with various 

 phases of biology, physics, chemistry and geol- 

 ogy were presented. The address by the re- 

 tiring president, Mr. Chas. W. Shannon, di- 

 rector of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, 

 dealt with the work of the Oklahoma Academy 

 of Science and its connection with the scien- 

 tific work of the state. The following oiScers 

 were elected for the ensuing year: 



President, Chas. N. Gould, Oklahoma City. 

 First Vice-president, L. Chas. Raiford, Still- 

 water. 



Second Vice-president, L. B. Nice, Norman. 



Secretary, G. K. Stanton, Enid. 



Assistant Secretary, Ethel L. McCafferty, Enid. 



Treasurer, H. H. Lane, Norman. 



Curator, Fritz Aurin, Norman. 



The next meeting of the academy will be held 

 in November, 1916, at the time and place of 

 the meeting of the Oklahoma State Teachers' 

 Association. 



The Stanford University Medical School 

 announces the thirty-fourth course of Popular 

 Medical Lectures to be given in Lane Hall on 

 alternate Friday evenings as follows: 



January 14. ' ' Medical Eeseareh and Its Eela- 

 tion to General Medicine," by Dr. George H. 

 Whipple, director of the Hooper Foundation for 

 Medical Research. 



January 28. ' ' The Economic Aspect of Dis- 

 ease, ' ' by Murray S. Wildman, Ph.D., professor of 

 economics. 



February 11. "Disease Carriers," by Dr. W 

 A. 'Sawyer, secretary, California State Board of 

 Health. 



February 25. "The Relation of Hospitals to 

 the Community," by Dr. George B. Somers. 



March 10. "Locomotion in Health and Dis- 

 ease," by Dr. Walter F. Sehaller. 



March 24. "Mental Hygiene," by LUien J. 

 Martin, Ph.D., professor of psychology. 



nology, Eadclifie College, Moimt Holyoke Col- 

 lege and the Tuskegee Industrial Institute each 

 receive $5,000. Five hundred dollars are be- 

 queathed to the Gray Herbarium, the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, the Society 

 for the Protection of Native Plants, the Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association and to the Massa- 

 chusetts Forestry Association. 



A GIFT of $75,000 has been announced to the 

 Harvard Medical School. This is the balance 

 of the bequest of Morrill Wyman, who estab- 

 lished the Morrill Wyman Medical Eeseareh 

 Fund, the income of which is to be applied in 

 promoting investigation concerning the origin, 

 results, prevention and treatment of disease. 



The executors of the estate of the late Lord 

 Strathcona have notified Queen's University, 

 Kingston, that the $100,000 left to that uni- 

 versity is now available and ready to be paid. 



A VALUABLE collection of periodicals, mono- 

 graphs and other medical books, consisting of 

 more than 4,000 voliunes, has been presented to 

 the Johns Hopkins Hospital by Dr. Howard 

 A. KeUy. 



Professor Hejiey A. Perkins, of the depart- 

 ment of physics, is acting president of Trinity 

 College during the absence of President 

 Luther. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



By the will of Miss Eose HoUings worth, of 

 Boston, the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE ORIGIN OF THE "NITER SPOTS" IN CER- 

 TAIN WESTERN SOILSi 



In a recent issue of Science, under the above 

 title, Sackett and Isham^ discussed this im- 

 portant question but conveyed no actual in- 

 formation regarding either the meaning of 

 the term " niter spot " or its origin. They 

 merely select for discussion a single point out 

 of the great mass of available material so that 

 the general scientific reader to whom an ap- 

 peal is thus made through the columns of 

 Science is left in doubt as to what it is all 

 about. In order to clarify the matter for the 

 average reader, it seems advisable to submit 

 some definite information on the subject in 



1 Sackett and Isham, Science, Vol. XLII., p. 

 452, October 1, 1915. 



