510 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 980 



tion to this there are bounties on bear, lions 

 and wolves in most of the western stock states. 

 Wyoming, in ten years, has paid out, it is said, 

 over $65,000 in bounties on wolves alone and 

 $95,000 more on coyotes and mountain lions. 

 Through his activity against these pests, the 

 forest ranger, it is said, has saved the stockmen 

 many thousands of dollars during the year, 

 while the protection to game animals, such as 

 deer, elk and antelope, is of almost equal 

 importance. 



With the middle of September the fire sea- 

 son on the national forests has come prac- 

 tically to an end with less damage than ever 

 recorded. There is always some danger from 

 carelessness of campers or of settlers burning 

 brush and clearing land, but the real danger 

 season extends only from the middle of June 

 until the middle of September. Forest ofBcers 

 throughout the west are congratulating them- 

 selves on a season so markedly free from 

 heavy losses. They feel that the immunity 

 from loss has been due to two principal causes, 

 partly to a favorable season, but largely to a 

 much better organization for fire prevention 

 than has been attained heretofore. The ef- 

 fectiveness of the organization is shown par- 

 ticularly by the fact that while there were in 

 all approximately 2,260 fires, as against 2,4Y0 

 last year, yet the area burned so far this year 

 is only about 60,000 acres as against 230,000 

 acres in 1912, and 780,000 in 1911. The vari- 

 ous causes of fires have not changed greatly 

 in their relative proportions. Railroads and 

 lightning head the list, with campers next. 

 There has been, however, a marked decrease in 

 the number of fires caused by burning brush, 

 which, according to the forest officers, indi- 

 cates a closer cooperation with the settlers in 

 and near the forests and with timberland 

 owners in fire prevention and control. It is 

 still true, nevertheless, that a large proportion 

 of all fires started are due to human agencies 

 and may generally be charged against care- 

 lessness. Fires caused by lightning are of 

 course not preventable, but the system of look- 

 outs by which they may be detected imme- 



diately after being set is greatly lessening the 

 loss from this source. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The Harvard Medical School has received 

 $50,000 from the estate of George S. Hyde. 



The Flora Stone Mather Memorial Build- 

 ing of the College for Women of Western 

 Reserve University was formally dedicated on 

 September 30. The building is the gift of 

 Mr. Samuel Mather and his children and is a 

 memorial to Mrs. Mather, daughter of Amasa 

 Stone, the refounder of Adelbert College, and 

 the sister of Adelbert Stone, for whom Adel- 

 bert College is named. Mr. Mather has built 

 the building, equipped it completely through- 

 out, and has added to the gift the sum of 

 $50,000, as an endowment. The Flora Stone 

 Mather Memorial Dormitory, the gift of the 

 alumnae of the College for Women, will be 

 built upon land situated south of the gym- 

 nasium. Immediately following the services 

 at the new memorial building the land upon 

 which the memorial dormitory is to be built 

 was dedicated. 



The College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

 Arts, Mayaguez, Porto Rico, is this year offer- 

 ing an apprentice course in general agricul- 

 ture. The plans for the course were approved 

 at the April meeting of the board of trustees. 

 The dominant feature of the course is that 

 each student is employed eight hours per 

 day in ordinary manual labor on the farm. 

 From one to two hours are devoted to special 

 class instruction. The work done by these 

 students will be the ordinary manual labor of 

 the farm, except that the work will be diver- 

 sified so as to give each student as broad and 

 varied experience as is possible. 



Dr. John Casper Branner, professor of 

 geology, was installed as president of Stanford 

 University on October 1. 



At the University of Illinois the following 

 appointments have been made: L. H. Provine, 

 superintendent of construction with the Stone 

 and Webster Engineering Corporation at 

 Seattle, professor of architectural engineering; 

 L. A. Harding, professor and head of the de- 



