Mat 26, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



741 



three nations of the world were represented in 

 the association. One of the most important 

 of the recent undertakings of the association 

 is the maintenance of four observatories for 

 the study of the variation of latitude. These 

 observatories are located on the thirty-ninth 

 parallel of latitude, in the United States, Italy, 

 Turkestan and Japan. Ukiah, California, is 

 the location of the observatory in this coimtry. 



The Bulletin of the American Mathematical 

 Society notes that on account of the war two 

 mathematical periodicals have suspended pub- 

 lication, L'Education Mathematique, which 

 concluded its sixteenth and last volume with 

 the issue for July, 1914, and the Revue de 

 Mathematiques Speciales, last issued in Sep- 

 tember, 1914, in completion of its twenty- 

 fourth consecutive year. 



At the eighty-seventh annual general meet- 

 ing of the Zoological Society of London, ac- 

 cording to the report in the London Times, 

 the Duke of Bedford, who presided, said that 

 during 1915 they had repaid the bankers £5,000 

 instead of the usual £2,000 and had invested 

 over £4,000, chiefly in war loan. Thus in a 

 full year of war they had improved the finan- 

 cial position of the society by £9,000. They 

 had stopped all new work; they had postponed 

 improvements in the gardens; they had re- 

 frained from making costly purchases; and 

 they had greatly reduced expenditure on the 

 library and scientific publications. But de- 

 spite increased cost of provisions they had not 

 allowed the animals to suffer in condition. 

 The council had decided to keep up the flower 

 gardens, believing that the bright presentment 

 of the return of spring and promise of sunny 

 summer days are legitimate distractions at this 

 time. That the gardens had proved attractive 

 in the past year was proved by the fact that 

 for the fourth year in succession the number 

 of visitors had been over a million. During 

 the war the families of sailors and soldiers on 

 active service were admitted free and on Sun- 

 days woimded men in uniform were also ad- 

 mitted free. 



The third meeting, for the year 1915-16, of 

 the Pennsylvania Chapter of Sigma Xi was 

 held in the Wistar Institute of Anatomy on 



Wednesday evening, March 29, 1916. Supper 

 was served in one of the large laboratories on 

 the third floor of the institute to ninety-five 

 members. Afterwards Dr. Greenman presided 

 and Dr. Allen J. Smith spoke on " Leprosy " 

 in the Library on the second floor. Under the 

 title of the " Rat in the Service of Biology," 

 Dr. H. H. Donaldson reviewed the neurolog- 

 ical investigations at the Wistar Institute for 

 the last ten years, describing some of the ad- 

 vantages offered by the albino rat for biolog- 

 ical studies. The members were then con- 

 ducted on a tour of inspection of the institute. 

 Special interest was manifested in the colony 

 house, containing 5,000 rats, used in the ex- 

 perimental work. 



The Berlin Society of Social Hygiene, 

 shortly after the beginning of the war, post- 

 poned indefinitely the awarding of the prizes 

 ($200 and $100) for the best essays on " Influ- 

 ence of Social Betterment of Families on 

 Eugenics." The society has decided to award 

 the prizes on July 31, 1916. 



On Tuesday evening, April 11, iNTorthwestern 

 University celebrated the fiftieth anniversary 

 of the founding of Dearborn Observatory. The 

 observatory was founded by the citizens of 

 Chicago in December, 1862, and within a 

 month of the inception, the world's then great- 

 est telescopic lens was purchased. In ITovem- 

 ber, 1865, the group of contributors perfected 

 the organization of the Chicago Astronomical 

 Society, and on December 28 called Professor 

 Truman H. Safford to the directorship. On 

 his arrival the telescope was shipped, reaching 

 Chicago on March 25; it was in place on 

 April 11, 1866. On that evening the members 

 of the society and guests assembled to make 

 the first observation. Under Professor Saf- 

 ford's direction the work of the observatory 

 went forward actively until the Great Chicago 

 Fire of 1871 prostrated the city and robbed the 

 observatory of its support. Professor Elias 

 Colbert, who had been assistant director, later 

 assumed active charge, and with the exception 

 of a few months in 1876, when Professor S. W. 

 Burnham was acting director, remained in 

 charge until the appointment of Professor 

 George W. Hough to the directorship on May 



