778 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1118 



"Among the various items of increase in na- 

 tional preparedness which it is hoped will be 

 afforded by the present session of Congress is 

 that authorizing an appropriate increase in the 

 personnel of the military services. One item 

 of interest to the medical profession of the 

 country is that calling for an increase in the 

 medical corps of the l^Tavy from its present 

 strength of 347 to approximately 500. The 

 openings at present afforded young graduates 

 in medicine for entering the medical corps of 

 the Navy will be materially increased in pros- 

 pects and rewards, therefore, if such an in- 

 crease is provided. An examination will be 

 held on June 19 next, for appointment in the 

 medical corps to vacancies already existing. 

 A candidate for appointment must be between 

 4wenty-one and thirty years of age, a graduate 

 of a reputable school of medicine, and must 

 apply for permission to appear before an ex- 

 amining board. These boards are convened at 

 various places over the country, and assign- 

 ments to such boards are arranged to suit the 

 convenience of the candidate. Duty in the 

 medical corps of the navy is one that affords 

 plenty of rewards to the ambitious worker, as 

 well as attractions of a varied nature in per- 

 sonal and professional work. Pay begins at 

 the rate of $2,000 per annum, with ample al- 

 lowances, and promotion and increase in pay 

 and allowances follow every few years. It is 

 hoped that the young men of the United States 

 will take advantage of this attitude of the na- 

 tion, now on the threshold of expansion in na- 

 tional ideals of preparedness, and find in the 

 service of their country an outlet for their fu- 

 ture life work. For detailed information as 

 regards the coming examination on June 19, 

 1916, applicants should address the Surgeon- 

 General, U. S. ISTavy, Navy Department, "Wash- 

 ington, D. C." 



Eadium, uranium and vanadium are closely 

 connected in occurrence in the principal fields, 

 Colorado and Utah, but in 1915, although the 

 European war caused a great slump in the 

 production of ores of radium and uranium, it 

 •caused a considerable increase in the produc- 

 tion of ores of vanadium. According to re- 



ports for 1915 received by the United States 

 Geological Survey and compiled by Frank L. 

 Hess the output was 23.4 tons of uranium 

 oxide and 6 grams of radium contained in the 

 carnotite ores produced, and 635 tons of vana- 

 dium contained in the carnotite ores shipped 

 and in the chemical concentrates from the 

 roscoelite ores. In 1914 the ores produced con- 

 tained 87.2 tons uranium oxide, 22.3 grams 

 radium, and 435 tons vanadium. The United 

 States has much the largest known radium- 

 bearing deposits of the world, but the market 

 for radium is mostly in Europe, for, though 

 Americans like to feel that they are sufficiently 

 progressive to take hold of and use to the full 

 new discoveries, inventions and processes, yet 

 the European municipalities and hospitals 

 have been buying and utilizing most of the 

 radium produced. When the war began, 

 therefore, causing European money to flow 

 into other channels the demand for radium fell 

 off so greatly that there was practically no 

 market for radium or m-aniuju ores in the 

 early part of 1915, and very little market dur- 

 ing any part of the year. Mining of carnotite 

 ores, except by the National Eadium Institute 

 (Inc.) imder the supervision of and in co- 

 operation with the Bureau of Mines, and ex- 

 cept for such work as was necessary for assess- 

 ment work to hold claims, was nearly stopped. 

 The institute mined nearly the 1,000 tons 

 of ore contracted for from the Crucible Steel 

 Mining & Milling Co.'s claims in Long Park, 

 Montrose County, Colo., and obtained 70 tons 

 of concentrates, carrying about 3 per cent, of 

 uranium oxide, by concentrating material 

 carrying 0.7 per cent., which had been thrown 

 on the dumps. The institute fully accom- 

 plished its purpose to work out a practical 

 process of producing radium at a cost much 

 below the market price of the element and 

 crystallized out radium salts containing 6 

 grams of the element. It delivered during the 

 year 3.006 grams of radium (element) at a cost 

 of $37,599 per gram. Near the close of the 

 year 1.1 grams of radium (element) was con- 

 tracted for by a private company for $132,000, 

 or $120,000 a gram. This comparison shows 

 the great success of the work of the Bureau of 



