JaiXUAry 20, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



119 



These annual social gatherings are organized 

 by the Students' Union, of which Professor 

 Gowland is the president, and they form a 

 kind of reunion for old students, many of 

 whom were present at the gathering, which, 

 notwithstanding the fog, was attended by 

 about 500 guests. The company included 

 Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Arthur Riicker, Mr. 

 Morant, Professor Judd (the dean). Professor 

 Tilden, Professor Perry, Professor Callendar, 

 Professor Gowland and Mr. G. W. C. Kaye 

 (secretary). There were many interesting ex- 

 hibits in the various departments in chemistry, 

 physics, astrophysics, mechanics, metallurgy, 

 mining, geology and biology, under the direc- 

 tion of their respective professors. The Solar 

 Physics Observatory was open by permission 

 of Sir Norman Lockyer, and a cinematograph 

 exhibition was given, while the college com- 

 pany of the Corps of Electrical Engineers 

 showed a searchlight. Dr. W. Watson, F.R.S., 

 delivered a lecture during the evening on 

 ' Radium and 20th-century Alchemy,' and this 

 was followed by a concert. 



We learn from the London Times that the 

 committee appointed by the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science to con- 

 sider the probability of ankylostoma (miner's 

 worm) becoining a permanent inhabitant of 

 coal mines in the event of its introduction 

 has presented an interim report. The com- 

 mittee consists of Messrs. G. H. F. Nuttall, 

 M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. (chairman), G. P. Bidder, 

 M.A. (secretary), A. E. Boycott, M.D., J. S. 

 Haldane, M.D., F.R.S., and A. E. Shipley, 

 M.A., F.R.S. The following is the summary 

 of the committee's report : — There are many 

 channels by which ankylostoma might be in- 

 troduced into British coal mines. The condi- 

 tions found underground in these mines are 

 such that the worm would, in many cases at 

 any rate, probably become firmly established. 

 In view of the expense and difficulty of eradi- 

 cating the worm from any mine in which it 

 has become established, it is of the greatest 

 importance that preventive measures should 

 be undertaken without delay. Complete 

 eradication does not yet appear to have been 

 ever accomplished. The necessary prevention 

 is best accomplished by the provision of proper 



sanitary accommodation in the main roads un- 

 derground and at the pit's mouth, by regula- 

 tions to prevent pollution of the pit by human 

 faeces, and by the establishment of a limited 

 quarantine system for workpeople from in- 

 fected areas, with compulsory notification of 

 cases to the home office. 



Although only ten years had elapsed since 

 Messrs. Whitman Cross and R. A. F. Penrose, 

 Jr., of the United States Geological Survey, 

 made a careful study of the geology of the 

 Cripple Creek district of Colorado, the people 

 of that state were last year so strongly im- 

 pressed with the economic importance of a 

 scientific examination of the ground opened 

 by mining operations during that period that 

 they urgently requested a resurvey, agreeing 

 to bear half the expense of the work. The re- 

 examination began accordingly with a thor- 

 ough revision of the topographic map of 

 Cripple Creek by Mr. R. T. Evans, who acted 

 under the supervision of Mr. E. M. Douglas. 

 The study of the geology and mines of the 

 district was undertaken jointly by Messrs. 

 Waldemar Lindgren and Frederick Leslie Ran- 

 some, who were assisted by Mr. L. C. Graton. 

 The examination began in June, 1903, and the 

 field work was concluded in April, 1904. Prac- 

 tically every accessible mine in the district 

 was examined in greater or less detail. A 

 preliminary report on the work, prepared by 

 Messrs. Lindgren and Ransome, has just been 

 published. It is issued in advance of the 

 final laboratory examinations and is a sum- 

 mary of those facts that bear upon the eco- 

 nomic development of the region and are of 

 immediate importance to the miners. 



The Medical Record states that the con- 

 struction of the new government laboratory 

 building at Manila has advanced sufficiently 

 far to iiermit of its being occupied by a num- 

 ber of branches of the Bureau of Government 

 Laboratories. The bureau is composed at 

 present of the following divis-ions : (1) A 

 serum laboratory at which are manufactured 

 vaccine virus, rinderpest serum, etc. (2) A 

 library in which are to be stored and cata- 

 logued all the scientific books in possession of 

 the government. (3) A well-appointed chem- 

 ical laboratory. (4) An entomological divi- 



