September 10, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



339 



teclinical industries located throughout the 

 country. Heretofore this testing required 

 about three days for a single instrument on 

 account of the difficulty in heating a furnace 

 to an exactly uniform temperature. A new 

 method has now been developed which permits 

 a satisfactory standardization of a radiation 

 pyrometer within one hour. Many sugges- 

 tions are given for minimizing the errors to 

 which the pyrometer is subject, and it is 

 shown that this type of instrument suitably 

 designed, adequately calibrated, and correctly 

 used, is a trustworthy pyrometer having many 

 advantages over other types of temperature 

 measuring devices, both for scientific and 

 technical use. 



The government's herd of buffalo on the 

 Wichita National Forest, in Oklahoma, which 

 is also a federal game preserve, has been in- 

 creased by the arrival of ten calves, according 

 to a report received by the Forest Service from 

 the supervisor in charge. The herd, which now 

 comprises sixty-two specimens of the almost 

 extinct bison, is in good condition, says the 

 supervisor, and promises to continue increasing 

 at a rapid rate. Eight of the calves are 

 females, bringing the number of heifers and 

 cows up to thirty. The bulls number thirty- 

 two and have been placed by themselves in a 

 pasture which has just been fenced in for them. 

 Three years ago the buffalo herd on the Wichita 

 Forest was little more than half as large as it 

 is now. It is said that the other game animals 

 in the preserve, including the elk and antelope, 

 also are increasing, due to the protection 

 afforded, not only against hunters, but against 

 wolves, wild cats and other predatory animals, 

 which committed serious depredations from the 

 establishment of the preserve in 1905 until 

 measures were taken to stop them. In pro- 

 tecting the game from predatory animals, the 

 wardens and forest officers are also promoting 

 the interests of local stockmen, who graze sev- 

 eral thousand head of cattle on certain allotted 

 areas within the preserve. 



Nature says of the Harvard College Observ- 

 atory : " Anything concerning this famous in- 

 stitution can not fail to be of interest, and 

 thus we welcome a reprint from the Harvard 



Alumni Bulletin, March 10, 1915, of two art- 

 icles, one by the director. Professor Pickering, 

 and the other over the initials ' J. D. M.' deal- 

 ing with the observatory and its work respec- 

 tively. Founded in 1840 by W. C. Bond, with 

 the help of thirty subscriptions of £20 each, 

 the endowments now amount to £200,000, and 

 the annual income exceeds £10,000, yet, we are 

 told, 'there has never been a time . . . when 

 funds . . . were needed more than they are to- 

 day.' In addition to the well-known Axequipa 

 Station in Peru, where the 24-in. photographic 

 doublet has been mounted, a station in Jamaica 

 has recently been founded for visual work. No 

 fewer than seventy complete quarto volumes 

 of Annals have been published and eight others 

 are in preparation, whilst about 200 circulars 

 have been issued. Concerning the progress of 

 the Draper Catalogue, we are informed that 

 down to March 1, 1915, Miss Cannon had classi- 

 fied no fewer than 188,350 stellar spectra." 



UNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Captain C. F. Balleine, fellow of Exeter 

 College, Oxford, who was killed in action on 

 July 2, bequeathed £1,000 to the college. 



According to the London Times Sir A. H. 

 Church has bequeathed to fellows of Lincoln 

 College, Oxford, £500; to the Waynflete pro- 

 fessor of mineralogy in the university £100 for 

 the purchase of apparatus and mineral speci- 

 mens, together with the testator's optical in- 

 struments, mineral specimens and chemical 

 apparatus; and £100 to the curators of the 

 Ashmolean Museum. 



De. T. C. Hebb, professor of physics at the 

 Northern State Normal School, Marquette, 

 Michigan, has been granted his sabbatical year 

 and will devote it to study at Columbia Uni- 

 versity. 



New appointments at Bedford College, Lon- 

 don, as we learn from Nature, include : assist- 

 ant lecturer in physics. Miss M. O. Saltmarsh; 

 demonstrator in physics. Miss M. Baxter; 

 demonstrators in physiology. Miss Hartwell 

 and Miss Tweedy; demonstrator in geology. 

 Miss I. Lowe. 



