Miscellaneous Intelligence. 471 



G. W. Littlehales : The extent of knowledge of the oceanography of 

 the Pacific. 



C. F. Marvin : Marine meteorology and the general circulation of the 

 atmosphere. 



Wm. H. Dall : On the distribution of Pacific invertebrates. 

 H. A. Pilsbury : Land mollusca of the Pacific. 

 W. G. Farlow : Marine algae of the Pacific. 



D. H. Campbell : Problems of the Pacific Floras. 



J. W. Fewkes : The Pacific as a field for anthropological investigation. 



The following biographies of former members were presented: 

 Theodore N. Gill by Wm. H. Dall ; Edward S. Holden and 

 Simon Newcomb by W. W. Campbell. 



The report of the committee on the Panama Canal slides was 

 given by the chairman, Charles R. Van Hise. This was fol- 

 lowed by a paper on " The mechanics of the Panama slides " by 

 H. Fielding Retd. 



Another interesting feature of the meeting were the two public 

 lectures on the William Ellery Hale Foundation, delivered by 

 Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn on " The origin and evolu- 

 tion of life on the Earth." 



2. The Northwest and Northeast Passages, 1576-1611 ; edited 

 by Philip F. Alexander. Pp. xix, 211 ; maps and illus- 

 trations. Cambridge, 1915 (University Press). — The series of 

 Cambridge Travel Books, of which this volume is one, has been 

 undertaken for the use of the schools, with an object of present- 

 ing the English voyages of the sixteenth century which record 

 "the deeds of the seamen who laid the foundation of Britain's 

 sea power and her Colonial Empire." The period now covered 

 includes the last quarter of the sixteenth, and the first decade, of 

 the seventeenth, centuries, and describes, with interesting illustra- 

 tions, the voyages of Frobisher, Davis and Hudson, in the 

 attempt to accomplish the northwest passage, and the voyage of 

 Barents who attempted the northeast passage. 



3. University of Washington, Bureau of Industrial Research. 

 — A Bureau of Industrial Research has been recently established 

 at the University of Washington in Seattle with Dr. Henry K. 

 Benson as director. It will attempt to coordinate the research 

 activities of the University, with a view to the best utilization of 

 the resources of the State. A fellowship of $2000 dealing with 

 the iron and steel industry has been established, and others are 

 contemplated. 



4. /Summer " Assembly in Science " at the Scripps Institution, 

 La Jolla, California. — A " Summer Assembly in Science " at the 

 Scripps Institution for Biological Research at La Jolla, on the 

 sea coast near San Diego, will be tried this year by the Uni- 

 versity of California. " The purpose is to disseminate among 

 teachers of biology and physical geography and others interested 

 in modern science the discoveries and new points of view which 

 are resulting from the investigations of this research department 

 of the University, to acquaint the scientific pilgrims with the 

 richly varied sea-life of the California coast, and to teach them 

 how to read for themselves the books of nature as inscribed in the 

 picturesque sea-coast of the San Diego region." 



