July 28, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



111 



there are no monuments, and marked trees are 

 very scarce. 



In Bulletin 401 of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, entitled " Eelations between 

 Local Magnetic Disturbances and the Gene- 

 sis of Petroleum," by George F. Becker, the 

 condition of knowledge with reference to the 

 torigin of petroleum and other bituminous 

 •substances is reviewed. Some oils, says Mr. 

 Becker, are undoubtedly organic and some 

 are beyond question inorganic. They may 

 "have been derived from carbonaceous matter 

 of vegetable or animal origin, and they may 

 liave been derived from carbides of iron or 

 other metals. It is also barely possible that 

 the hydrocarbons exist as such in the mass of 

 the earth. While studying the subject, Mr. 

 Becker was led to inquire whether any rela- 

 -tion could be detected between the behavior 

 of the compass needle and the distribution of 

 hydrocarbons. Not much could be expected 

 :from a comparison of these phenomena, for 

 magnetite exerts an attraction on the needle 

 whether this ore occurs in solid masses or is 

 disseminated in massive rocks; moreover, 

 many volcanic rocks possess polarity. In 

 .glancing over a map of the magnetic declina- 

 tion in the United States Mr. Becker found 

 that the irregularities of the curves of equal 

 declination of the compass were strongly 

 marked in the principal oil regions. The most 

 marked agreement is found through the great 

 Appalachian oil field, which is the area of 

 ■greatest variation in declination. In Gali- 

 :fornia, also, strong deflections accompany the 

 chain of hydrocarbon deposits. These obser- 

 Tations are to some extent also supported by 

 •conditions in the Caucasus, where great mag- 

 ■netic disturbances exist. While the theory of 

 the inorganic origin of the hydrocarbons is 

 •not proved by this study, yet the contention 

 that great oil deposits are generated from iron 

 ■carbides is strongly borne out by a study of 

 the map of magnetic disturbances in the 

 United States. The map shows that petro- 

 leum is intimately associated with magnetic 

 xlisturbances similar to those arising from the 

 3ieighborhood of substances possessing sen- 



sible magnetic properties, such as iron, nickel, 

 cobalt and magnetite. 



The Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation states that under the supervision of 

 the health department of the Canadian con- 

 servation commission, Canada is to have es- 

 tablished in the immediate future, a national 

 laboratory for the manufacture of sera, vac- 

 cines, toxins and antitoxins. A subcommittee 

 of the federal cabinet has approved of the 

 proposal and has recommended speedy pro- 

 vision for the construction and equipment of 

 the laboratory. This proposition has been en- 

 dorsed by the Canadian Medical Association 

 at several of its recent meetings. 



We learn from Nature that a conference 

 was held recently in the zoological laboratory 

 of the University of Utrecht for the purpose 

 of founding an International Embryological 

 Institute. Austria, Belgium, England, 

 France, Germany and Holland were repre- 

 sented at the meeting by workers in the do- 

 main of vertebrate embryology; and letters 

 were received from Switzerland and the 

 United States in support of the scheme 

 adumbrated by the conveners of the meeting. 

 Professor E. Bonnet, of Bonn, was elected 

 first president of the institute, and it was de- 

 cided that the first aims of the new institution 

 should be (1) the collection of complete series 

 of well-preserved embryos of every mammalian 

 order, and (2) a more intimate cooperation 

 between embryologists, for the purpose of at- 

 taining a uniformity in nomenclature and 

 the solution of the special difiiculties in this 

 field of investigation. 



" The Production of Puller's Earth," by 

 Jefierson Middleton, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, has been published as an advance 

 chapter from " Mineral Resources of the 

 United States, 1910." The fuller's earth re- 

 sources of the United States, says Mr. Middle- 

 ton, have attracted considerable attention for 

 several years because of the increasing de- 

 maud for this material for use as a clarifying 

 agent for mineral and vegetable oils. The 

 original use from which it derives its name, 

 the fulling of cloth, is now of minor impor- 



