March 3, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



357 



LABOR AND HEALTH ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



Hon. John Barrett, American Minister to 

 Panama, discusses ' The Panama Canal and 

 its Problems,' in the Review of Reviews for 

 February. He points out what is well known 

 to all who have made any study of the matter 

 at all, viz., that ' the average white laborers 

 of the United States can not possibly stand 

 the tropical climate,' and favors the plan of 

 securing Jamaica negroes to do the work on 

 the canal. Up to the present time the gov- 

 ernor-general of Jamaica has insisted on con- 

 ditions, under which alone these Jamaicans 

 can go, that have not commended themselves 

 to our Secretary of War and to the chief 

 engineer of the canal. It is stated that the 

 Jamaicans themselves are anxious to secure 

 work on the canal. Plans are also being dis- 

 cussed for bringing in Porto Ricans, Chinese 

 and Japanese, and there is said to be a grow- 

 ing feeling on the isthmus that the Chinese 

 may be the laborers upon whom the Canal 

 Commission will have to depend. Unless we 

 are mistaken, however, the Chinese laborers 

 imported by the French engineers to work on 

 the canal did not prove satisfactory. 



Under the lead of Col. Gorgas, who made a 

 brilliant record as health officer at Havana, 

 splendid efforts are being made to kill the 

 mosquito-carriers of yellow fever and ma- 

 laria, but both sufficient money and an ex- 

 tended organization to prosecute the work 

 are lacking. During the past six months 

 there have been about fourteen cases of yel- 

 low fever. 



NOTE. 



A paper on the ' Geography of Manchuria,' 

 in the Journal of Geography, for January, 

 1905, contains a brief discussion of climate. 

 The author is Professor N. M. Fenneman, of 

 the University of Wisconsin. 



R. DeC. Ward. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Sir Michael Foster has decided to offer 

 himself for reelection to the next parliament 

 as member for the University of London. He 

 seeks reelection as a representative of science 

 and higher education ; if reelected he will take 



his seat as a member of the liberal party. A 

 committee, with Sir Thomas Barlow as chair- 

 man, has been formed to promote his election. 



The Prussian Academy of Science has 

 awarded its Helmholtz medal to Professor 

 Ramon y Cajal, professor of neurology at 

 Madrid. 



The Munich Academy of Sciences has 

 awarded the Liebig medal for researches in 

 agricultural chemistry to Dr. Adolf Frank, 

 of Charlottenburg. 



The Royal Astronomical Society has award- 

 ed its Jackson-Gwilt bronze medal to Mr. 

 Tebbutt, who for many years has carried on 

 alone astronomical research in an observatory 

 at his home in New South Wales. 



M. Janssen, director of the observatory at 

 Meudon, and M. Moissan, professor of chem- 

 istry at the Sorbonne, have been elected mem- 

 bers of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sci- 

 ences. 



Professor Svante A. Arrhenius, of Stock- 

 holm, Professor W. F. P. Pfeffer, of Leipzig, 

 and Professor W. Spring, of the University of 

 Liege, have been elected honorary members of 

 the German Chemical Society. 



The Physical Society of Frankfort has 

 elected Professor E. Bamberger, of Zurich, 

 and Professor J. Briihl, of Heidelberg, to 

 honorary membership. 



M. ViGER has been elected president of the 

 French Society of Horticulture. 



M. Radau has been appointed president of 

 the French Bureau of Longitude. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation calls attention to the fact that the new 

 French Cabinet contains two physicians. Dr. 

 A. E. Gauthier, who is at the head of the de- 

 partment of public works which includes rail- 

 roads, etc., and Dr. J. Dubief, minister of com- 

 merce. The latter was chief of the Marseilles 

 Insane Asylum, 1886-1893, and then of the 

 Rhone Asylum until elected deputy a year or 

 so later. He has been a member of the com- 

 mittee on labor since 1902. The under-secre- 

 tary of finance is also a physician, Dr. Merlou, 

 who has served as deputy since 1889. 



