IfOVEMBEE 24, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



101 



The state geologist was instrumental in 

 lecuring the establishment by the last legis- 

 lature of a State Highway Commission, of 

 which he is ex-officio a member. He has given 

 much time to the work of the commission, 

 which is preparing plans for expending an- 

 nually on road improvements a million and a 

 quarter dollars. 



The field work of Dr. Samuel Weidman in 

 areal geology in northwestern Wisconsin was 

 mainly confined to the study of the glacial 

 geology. The moraines of the older drift 

 sheets were traced out and the relation of 

 these moraines to the alluvial deposits studied 

 in detail. Besides the glacial geology, the 

 structural features of the Paleozoic, the Pots- 

 dam, Lower Magnesian, St. Peter and Trenton 

 formations were also special problems of in- 

 vestigation. 



II. Natural History. — This division, under 

 Director Birge and Mr. Juday, has given most 

 of its time to beginning a series of careful 

 quantitative chemical and biological studies 

 on the plankton of Lake Mendota. During 

 two weeks a party of eight were engaged in 

 investigating the oscillations of the lower 

 water of Green Lake as indicated by the tem- 

 perature. Some 5,000 temperature readings 

 were taken, which show regular oscillations of 

 the water following strong winds. The survey 

 installed in April a Callendar sunshine re- 

 ceiver and recorder for registering the vertical 

 component of sun and sky radiation, and series 

 of temperatures have been taken twice a day, 

 in Lake Mendota, so as to correlate the gains 

 and losses of heat in the lake with the heat 

 received from the sky. In all of this work the 

 survey has been assisted by the U. S. Bureau 

 of Fisheries and the Wisconsin Fish Commis- 

 sion. Through an appropriation made by the 

 latter body, Mr. J. N. Loshinski was enabled 

 to devote a month to making additions to the 

 survey's collection of Wisconsin fishes. He 

 gave special attention to securing specimens 

 of local species and varieties of whitefish. 



III. Soils. — The Soil Survey has been con- 

 tinued in cooperation with the Agricultural 

 College, under the direction of Professor A. R. 

 Whitson. The survey is also cooperating with 



the Bureau of Soils of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture. During the summer the de- 

 tailed field work of Fond du Lac, Kewaunee 

 and Juneau Counties has been completed and 

 is well under way in Columbia and Buffalo 

 counties. The reconnaissance work in the 

 northwestern part of the state is being con- 

 tinued and has now covered practically all of 

 Bayfield and Douglas counties and a large 

 part of Washburn and Burnett. The great 

 value of this work, as preliminary to the ex- 

 tension and investigational work being carried 

 on by the Agricultural College and Experi- 

 ment Station, is becoming more and more 

 obvious as the work progresses. 



IV. Publications. — During the year the sur- 

 vey has issued a bulletin (No. XXI.) on the 

 fossils and stratigraphy of the Middle Devonic, 

 by H. F. Cleland; one (No. XXII.) on the 

 dissolved gases of the lakes, by E. A. Birge 

 and C. Juday; and one (No. XXIII.) on the 

 soils of the northwestern area, by S. Weidman. 

 The U. S. Department of Agriculture has also 

 issued reports of a joint soil survey of Mari- 

 nette County, by S. Weidman and P. 0. Wood, 

 and of Waushara County, by J. W. Nelson 

 and G. Conrey. State editions of these bulle- 

 tins will soon appear. 



There is in press a general geological and 

 road map of the state, by W. O. Hotchkiss and 

 F. T. Thwaites, besides several reports on soils. 



Two reports are nearly ready for the press: 

 one on the Peat of Wisconsin, by F. W. Huels ; 

 and one on the Lake Superior Sandstone, by 

 F. T. Thwaites. 



THE WILL OF MR. JOSEPH PULITZEB 

 By the will of Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, the gift 

 of a million dollars to Columbia University to 

 establish a school of journalism is confirmed. 

 A second million dollars is to be paid to the 

 university for the school of journalism and 

 for prizes which it is instructed to award, if 

 within seven years of his death the school 

 shall in the opinion of his executors have been 

 in successful operation for three years. In 

 the meanwhile the income is to be paid to 

 Barnard College for scholarships in memory 

 of his daughter unless the deaths should have 



