October 13, 1911] 



^CIENGI] 



485 



astronomy and geodesy in the Instituto Ido- 

 grafico della E. Marina at Genoa. 



Dr. Emil Heinricher, professor of botany 

 at Innsbruck, has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. 



Dr. Richard C. Maclaurin, president of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Pro- 

 fessor Arthur A. Noyes, of the department of 

 chemistry; Professor Charles E. Cross, of the 

 department of physics; Professor C. M. Spof- 

 ford, of the department of civil engineering; 

 Professor C. H. Peabody, of the department of 

 naval architecture, and Professor Dougald C. 

 Jackson, of the department of electrical engi- 

 neering, have returned from visits made 

 abroad during the present summer to inspect 

 foreign schools of technology and laboratories, 

 in view of the new buildings to be erected by 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



We learn from the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association that the New York Post- 

 Graduate Medical School and Hospital is 

 preparing to send out an expedition next 

 spring for the purpose of studying tropical 

 diseases. A special fund of $15,000 for this 

 purpose has been given by Col. Eobert M. 

 Thompson, of New York, and John H. Mc- 

 Padden, of Philadelphia. Capt. Joseph P. 

 Siler, M.C., U. S. A., lecturer on tropical dis- 

 eases, will have charge of the expedition. 



Professor A. W. Johnston, of the depart- 

 ment of geology of the University of Min- 

 nesota, spent the summer in a section of 

 northern British Columbia within the arctic 

 circle heretofore unexplored. 



Professor Edward Lee Hancock, professor 

 of applied mechanics in the Worcester Poly- 

 technic Institute, died on October 1, at the 

 age of thirty-eight years. 



The Eev. Mariam Balcells, member of the 

 Jesuit order, professor of mathematics at Bos- 

 ton College for the past two years, previously 

 director of the department of solar physics at 

 the Observatorio del Ebro, Tortosa, Spain, 

 died on October 2, at the age of forty-seven 

 years. 



Dr. N. V. UssiNG, professor of mineralogy 

 in the University of Copenhagen, has died at 

 the age of forty-seven years. 



M. GiROD, professor of botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Claremont, has died at the age of 

 fifty-six years. 



The death is also announced of Dr. Karl 

 Waitz, professor of physics and astronomy at 

 Tiibingen. 



The Bureau of Mines will hold a national 

 mine safety demonstration at Pittsburgh on 

 October 30 and 31. The program is as follows : 



October 30 — 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 M.: Demonstra- 

 tion and explosions; exhibit of explosives, safety 

 lamps, fuel testing, etc., at the Bureau of Mines 

 buildings, in the Arsenal Grounds, Fortieth and 

 Butler Streets, Pittsburgh, Pa. 2:30 p.m. to 

 5:00 P.M.: Demonstrations and explosions in the 

 Bureau of Mines Experimental Mine near Bruce- 

 ton, ten miles south of Pittsburgh, Pa., reached by 

 Baltimore and Ohio E. R. train, leaving Pittsburgh 

 at 2:00 p.m., eastern time. 



October 31—9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.: First aid 

 exhibit. 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: Explosion, 

 rescue work and mine gas. 11:30 a.m. to 

 12:00 M. : Presentation of prizes by President 

 Taft. 12:30 p.m.: Luncheon to President Taft at 

 the Hotel Schenley. 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.: Presi- 

 dent Taft will review river pageant. 7:30 P.M.: 

 Dinner to President Taft at the Hotel Sehenley. 



A Eeuter message from Adelaide states 

 that Mr. Brown, the South Australian gov- 

 ernment geologist, reports that the uranium 

 ores recently discovered in the northern por- 

 tion of South Australia possess great import- 

 ance. 



The world's production of quicksilver last 

 year was 3,747 short tons, of which the United 

 States produced 773 short tons. Quicksilver 

 is usually quoted in " flasks," a flask contain- 

 ing 75 pounds. The American production 

 therefore represents 20,601 flasks. Of this 

 amount California furnished 17,211 flasks. 

 In 1850 the quicksilver production of that 

 state was 7,723 flasks, but California's greatest 

 production was in 1881, when the yield was 

 60,851 flasks. In 1910 only two countries pro- 

 duced more quicksilver than the United States 

 —Italy 882 tons and Spain 1,102 tons. These 



