816 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1119 



control of many matters relating to the health 

 of the people distributed over eight or ten de- 

 partments of the government. Practically 

 every European nation, with one or two small 

 exceptions, has organized national health de- 

 partments, but Canada lags behind. He spoke 

 of the progress made in the United States 

 toward a department of health; also in Japan. 

 There was urgent need for such a department 

 in Canada, as at the close of the war there 

 would in all probability be a greater influx of 

 immigrants than ever before in the history of 

 the country. He believed that 40 per cent. 

 of the babies dying in Canada every year 

 could be saved. It was promised by the gov- 

 ernment that the matter should receive due 

 consideration. The Canadian Medical Asso- 

 ciation first began to urge a federal depart- 

 ment of health on the Canadian government 

 in 1901. 



The N'ational Museum has recently received 

 a one-kilogram fragment of a stony meteorite 

 that was brought up in a seine by a fisherman, 

 in Lake Okechobee, Florida. The stone is of 

 interest on account of the unusual conditions 

 under which it was found, and being also the 

 first meteorite thus far reported from that 

 state. 



At the meeting of the Buteshire Natural 

 History Society held on February 8, in the so- 

 ciety's library at the Bute Museum and Labo- 

 ratory, Dr. Marshall, president, in the chair, 

 the curator, Mr. L. P. W. Eenouf, explained 

 at some length the aims and objects of the 

 laboratory and museum under it new regime. 

 Briefly these are to get together a complete 

 collection of the fauna and flora of Bute and 

 its more or less immediate waters, to supple- 

 ment the actual collection with a card index 

 of occurrences over an extended period so as 

 to have a complete local history of the species, 

 and to provide accommodation for any one 

 desirous of working at any of the problems of 

 natural history. Emphasis was laid on the 

 exceptional advantages offered by Bute for 

 such an undertaking, its size, position and in- 

 dustries combining to make it an ideal site for 

 the work. The laboratory offers aU the neces- 

 sary facilities for research work and possesses 



equipment for the carrying on of both marine 

 and fresh-water investigations, and the mu- 

 seum already contains the nucleus of a very 

 fine collection. Intending workers should 

 apply to Mr. Renouf, who will be glad to sup- 

 ply any particulars. 



The fourth season of the Indiana Univer- 

 sity summer school of field geology will begin 

 on June 15, 1916, under the direction of Dr. 

 J. W. Beede. The party will continue the 

 study of the Clay City, Indiana, quadrangle. 

 This is regular work in geologic surveying, 

 including the mapping of the stratigraphic 

 and economic geology, the study of the paleon- 

 tology, physiography and geography of the 

 quadrangle. This field work furnishes the 

 data for papers and theses which are pub- 

 lished by the students. In as much as the re- 

 sults are of educational and economic value 

 to the state, the expenses of graduate students 

 having sufficient preparation are met. The 

 party is housed in tents. 



Mrs. Isaac L. Rice has purchased from Cor- 

 nell University fourteen acres of land at 

 Irviugton-on-Hudson as a site for a $1,000,000 

 hospital for convalescents to be erected as a 

 memorial to her husband, the inventor and 

 philanthropist. The buildings, it is said, wiU 

 cost about $250,000. Mr. Bice, who was presi- 

 dent of the Holland Torpedo Company and of 

 the Electric Boat Company, died in November 

 last. 



The mining of copper began in Alaska in 

 1901 and the total output of the metal to the 

 close of 1915 is 219,913,375 pounds, valued at 

 $34,919,581. Of this amount, according to the 

 statistics recently completed by Alfred H. 

 Brooks, of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey, 86,509,312 pounds, valued at $15,139,129, 

 was produced in 1915. This is more than four 

 times the output of 1914, and by far the great- 

 est in the history of the Alaska industry. 

 Thirteen Alaska copper mines were operated in 

 1915 compared with seven in 1913. A total of 

 369,600 tons of ore was mined in 1915 which, 

 in addition to the copper, carried gold to the 

 value of $153,121 and $455,204 worth of silver. 



