July 15, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



73 



with Section H on Thursday, August 25th/ W. 

 W. Newell, Cambridge, Mass., Secretary. 



The American Psychological Association will 

 meet with Section H on Thursday, August 25th. 

 Professor Hugo Miinsterberg, Harvard Univer- 

 sity, President; Dr. Livingston Farrand, Co- 

 lumbia University, Secretary. 



The National Geographic Society will meet 

 with Section E in the Natural History Building 

 on Thursday, August 25th. 



The Botanical Society of America will meet 

 in 26, Rogers Building, on Friday and Saturday, 

 August 19th and 20th. On Friday, at 8 p. m. 

 Professor John M. Coulter will give the address 

 of the retiring President ; on Saturday, at 9:30 

 ^a. m. and 2 p. m., there will be sessions for 

 reading papers. 



A Conference of Astronomers and Physicists, 

 similar to that at the dedication of the Yerkes 

 Observatorj"-, will be held at the Harvard Col- 

 lege Observatory on Thursday, Friday and 

 Saturday, August 18th, 19th and 20th. 



THE COEAL-BOEING EXPEDITION TO FUNAFUTI. 



Natural Science takes from the Sydney Daily 

 Telegraph the following information regarding 

 the coral-boring expedition to Funafuti which 

 will this summer resume work at the old bore 

 at a depth of 698 feet. Lining pipes, which 

 were on the former occasion lowered to a depth 

 of 650 feet, will be reinserted and extended to 

 the full depth. Boring can be begun on the 

 unproved rock, which is expected to be similar 

 to that met with during the previous 30 feet of 

 the old bore, namely, a white calcareous rock 

 of about the consistency of hard chalk. Pro- 

 fessor David expects that the bed-rock will be 

 reached within a depth of 200-300 feet from the 

 bottom of the old bore. Early in August it is 

 hoped that H.M.S. 'Porpoise' will bring from 

 Samoa apparatus for putting down a bore in the 

 bottom of the Funafuti lagoon. Commander 

 F. C. D. Sturdee intends to moor his ship taut 

 at low tide at a spot in the lagoon, which will 

 be about a mile and a-half westward from the 

 main village. A boring platform will be fixed 

 at the bows, whence pipes will be let down to 

 the bottom of the lagoon, which at the spot 

 selected is about 100 feet deep. As soon as the 

 pipes strike the bottom of the lagoon a power- 



ful stream of water will be forced down by 

 means of a flexible hose connected with a large 

 Worthington steam pump. It is hoped that 

 then, if the bottom of the lagoon consists, as is 

 thought probable, of soft and loose sedimentary 

 material, a fair depth may be attained in the 

 few days available for the use of the warship 

 for the purpose. "Work will be carried on at 

 the lagoon day and night. It should be possible 

 from time to time, by shutting off the water jet 

 and lowering a sand pump inside the pipes, to 

 obtain small samples of the formation which is 

 being penetrated. If this bore in the lagoon is 

 successful it will much enhance the value of 

 the main bore put down with the diamond drill. 

 The reason why it is proposed that the bore in 

 the lagoon shall be situated only a mile and a- 

 half from the shore, instead of near the center, 

 is that one of the chief difiiculties will be the 

 danger of the ship dragging at her moorings. 

 This would be intensified near the ceuter of the 

 lagoon, where the full force of the squalls, trade 

 winds and strong currents would be experi- 

 enced. At the spot contemplated, however, 

 the warship should be not only out of the main 

 current, but also somewhat sheltered on the 

 coast by the thick belt of cocoanut palms and 

 other trees with which the main island is densely 

 wooded. After finishing the boring experiment 

 in the lagoon, the ' Porpoise ' will proceed to 

 the Gilbert Islands, and on her return, early in 

 September, she will be ready to pick up the 

 diamond drill party and convey them to Suva. 

 Should, however, the main diamond drill bore 

 not have been bottomed up to the date of the 

 return of the warship to Funafuti, arrangements 

 have been made by the London Missionary So- 

 ciety which will admit of their steamer, the 

 ' John Williams,' due at Funafuti in November, 

 carrying the party either to Suva or New 

 Guinea, whence they would return to Sydney. 



DIETAEY STUDIES. 



Pkofessoe "W. O. Atwater and Mr. C. D. 

 Woods have published, through the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, interesting studies of 

 the diets of families living in a congested por- 

 tion of New York City, together with studies 

 at a mission and a day nursery in the same 

 region. The abstract of their 117-page paper in 



