emy is allowed to retain the usual dollar allowance if it collects the annual association dues of such member after April 1, but the allowance is not effective for that year if the member pays his dues before April 1. The operation of academy affiliation is illustrated by the above table, for the years 1920 and 1921. It appears that the affiliation arrangement for academies has thus far been very unprofitable in a financial way, but it is hoped that the financial loss by the association and the corresponding contributions toward the support of the academies may prove justifiable as expense incurred in promoting the advancement of science and education in the United States. The present status of the membership of the association (March 31, 1921) is summarized below, together with corresponding data for 1920. The expenses of the Chicago meeting, including those of the preliminary announcement, were nearly $4,000, of which about onehalf was raised through local subscriptions secured by the Local Committee. The printing of the General Program cost $1,002.50 and the printing and mailing of the preliminary announcement cost $955.35. Preparations for the annual meeting are exceptionally well in hand this year, the local committee having already begun its work, and 1 The sum of the corresponding numbers in columns 3 and 6 does not agree exactly with the number in column 5, because members sometimes have to be transferred from the account of one academy to that of another because of change of residence. Active life members Annual members credited with dues for current year Members in good standing, total. 8,387 Members in arrears for two pre vious years and current year. Members in arrears for $2 on 1920 account and for current year Members in arrears for one previous year and for current year. Members in arrears for current year only Names on list, total 220 29 ..... 618 773 2 On April 21, this number had been increased to 9,852. 3 On April 21, this number had been decreased to 870. 4 It should be noted that this number is considerably larger than the normal expectancy on account of dropping for nonpayment of dues. The list during 1920 still contained all those names that should ordinarily have been dropped at the beginning of that year. On October 1, 1920, names were dropped for which there was an arrearage of 3 years, as well as those for which there was an arrearage of 2 years. it seems certain that the Toronto meeting will be very successful in every way. BURTON E. LIVINGSTON, THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES BEING THE UNION OF THE COMMITTEES APPOINTED BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL AND THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE The following is the present membership of the Committee: Representing the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES John C. Merriam, president, the Carnegie Institution of Washington John M. Clarke, director, New York State Mu seum J. McKeen Cattell, Editor of SCIENCE Representing the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL John C. Merriam John M. Clarke J. McKeen Cattell Vernon Kellogg, secretary, National Research Council C. E. McClung, director, Zoological Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania Representing the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE John C. Merriam Henry S. Graves, former chief, U. S. Forest Service Isaiah Bowman, director, American Geographical Society Barrington Moore, president, American Ecological Society V. E. Shelford, professor of zoology, University of Illinois Chairman, John C. Merriam Secretary, Albert L. Barrows, National Research Council, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C. Assistant Secretary, Willard G. Van Name, American Museum of Natural History, New York, N. Y. Program THE purpose in organizing this Executive Committee is to promote, by scientific effort and through education, the most reasonable use of our natural resources for the economic, industrial and social development of the country. The American people have been richly endowed with natural wealth and have quickly availed themselves of their endowment. The first easy and quick production for the pressing needs of the growing population, followed by rapid strides toward the realization of wealth, have brought large elements of the natural resources to the danger line, some to more costly and lessened production, while others are threatened by extinction. Commercial production will of necessity be governed by economic law; use will be dependent on production, but both must be free of waste and governed by intelligent foresight. There are important natural resources whose commercial uses are less obvious but whose depletion is a grave disturbance of the balance of nature. This is a problem of the public welfare. Its solution should marshal not only scientific knowledge and the economic interests of the country but also the moral forces of the body politic. Organized effort to safeguard our natural heritage must come quickly. As use becomes greater, abuse and wastage must be diminished. This Executive Committee does not assume a supervisory attitude in matters of conservation but seeks to advise, coordinate and sub- · stantiate outstanding organizations. It sets forth the following program as expressive of its purpose: 1. The problem is a basic one in public welfare. It should therefore challenge intelligent attention, command public confidence and receive necessary financial support. 2. This movement is at present representative of the scientific membership and functions of its parent societies, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The committee may be enlarged from time to time by the addition of members of experience and wisdom; but its work must be of a character truly to represent its parent organizations. It should keep in close touch with their governing bodies, and annually present a report to their councils. The results of the work will carry the weight of the associated leaders of science in America. 3. Essential to the purposes of the undertaking is a competent and vigorous executive, composed of a director or executive secretary with necessary expert and clerical assistance. The functions of this executive are provisionally outlined thus: (a) To assemble, classify and correlate all outstanding activities in the scientific and industrial conservation of natural resources; with the purpose of bringing these into effective juxtaposition and concentration and thus produce an active army of organized workers directed to a common end without duplication of effort or cost. The former is essentially statistical; the latter is directive and requires a skillful exercise of judicious procedure and tactful guidance. (b) To effect active cooperation with the officers and directorates of existing organizations concerned with natural resources. (c) To assemble available data relating to the status of our natural resources, to enlist therefor such industrial and other agencies as are actively engaged therewith, to interpret these data in relation to protection and reserve, as well as to the economic and social welfare of the state, and to provide a broad scientific basis for legislative action by the state and the federal government. (d) To initiate and judiciously enforce by education recognition of the principle underlying the protection and use of natural re sources. It is held that this recognition can be made most effective and enduring by implantation in the minds of the children of the elementary schools; that in schools of higher grade, in colleges and universities, and in schools of engineering and applied science this principle can be enforced by correct teaching in already established courses. Extravagance of statement and emotionalism must be cautiously avoided. Teachers must themselves be taught not only to inculcate this principle but to do it wisely. Advantage must be taken of existing channels of educational approach through the state educational organizations and the state executives, in which the Division of States Relations of the National Research Council may helpfully cooperate. It is held that the proper teaching of the conservation principle is a most effective safeguard for the future of this nation. This undertaking will therefore involve uninterrupted effort with the eventual aid of proper texts, the probable establishment of a bureau of lecturers who may reach the public outside the schools, and the utilization of all modern accessories to effective educational appeal. Financing. It is desirable, if possible, to secure a permanent fund of $500,000 whose income would be available for the work in contemplation. In that event, a separate foundation could be established, or the fund could be given to the National Academy, the National Research Council, or the American Association for the Advancement of Science with provision for the use of the income for the work of this committee. In case the funds are in the form of annual contributions, it is desirable to plan in advance for a certain income to cover a period of not less than five or ten years. Reasonable SCIENTIFIC EVENTS THE INCREASING USE OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAPS THE project of covering the 3,000,000 square miles of the United States with accurate topographic surveys was definitely adopted by the federal government in 1882. The project was large, and the work is even now less than half completed. The standards of accuracy and refinement in topographic surveying have been constantly raised by the topographic engineers of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, with the view of meeting adequately every use to which the maps can be put. The law provides for the sale of the maps made by the Geological Survey at the cost of printing, a charge that must be considered merely nominal when it is realized that the cost of an edition of a printed map may be only a small percentage of the cost of surveying the area it represents. The government itself is making a large and increasing use of these topographic maps, but the expenditure of public funds for these surveys is otherwise fully warranted only as the public uses the maps. To promote this use, the Geological Survey has recently given more attention to the wider distribution of the maps. The distribution of a government map depends largely upon publicity, though the necessity of adopting commercial business methods in handling orders for the maps when a demand is created must not be overlooked. To inform the public of the existence of authoritative maps published by the federal government a special effort is now being made to reach the communities in every area that is covered by a map, and to this end every map as issued is brought to the attention of the local and state press. Other methods of promoting wider distribu tion involve the cooperation of boy-scout masters, schoolboys, and hotel managers, as well as of a large number of bookstores as local agents. Helpful publicity has also been gained through the voluntary cooperation of the press. The printing in a single publication of a brief statement regarding the Geological Survey's maps often results in orders for a hundred or more maps and many inquiries for the State index maps, which are sent free, showing the areas already mapped. The periods of maximum demand for these government maps are the beginning of the vacation period and the beginning of the school year. THE ROYAL SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE 1 THE annual conversazione of the Royal Society was held at Burlington House on May 11, and was so well attended that it was practically impossible to see a tenth part of the exhibits and demonstrations. Fortunately arrangements are always made for an earlier press view of the latter. This year amongst the thirty-nine demonstrations figuring in the catalogue there was none having any direct bearing on medical science, though the exhibition contained much of great general interest. Mr. L. T. Hogben, of the Imperial College of Science, demonstrated the effects on tadpoles of feeding them with pineal gland. Hitherto there has been no proof of any physiological function exercised by the pineal body, but Mr. Hogben has succeeded in showing, in tadpoles at least, that it has some controlling power over the pigment cells. Macroscopic and microscopic preparations showed that in the pineal-fed tadpoles there is a very evident contraction of the melanophores, an effect that is not produced by feeding experiments with any other endocrine organ. Mr. C. Tate Regan, F.R.S., gave a demonstration of part of the life-history of the common eel, founded on the researches of Dr. J. Schmidt, who showed that the freshwater eel of Europe breeds in the Atlantic, southeast of Bermuda. A series of larvæ, from the middle and western North Atlantic, with long and slender pointed 1 From The British Medical Journal. teeth, were exhibited, together with a photograph of the metamorphosis into the elver. The accompanying models illustrated the changes from the yellow eel with its thick lips, small eye, and compact pectoral fin, into the thin-lipped, large-eyed silver eel with pointed pectoral fin, the latter form of eel being that which migrates to the ocean to become mature. Dr. John Rennie demonstrated the mite, now named Tarsonemus woodi, which has been claimed by Bruce White to be the causal agent of Isle of Wight disease in bees. White showed that the mites perforate the trachea, and by their numbers obstruct the spiracles and thus deprive the bees of the power of flight. Mr. J. E. Barnard gave a demonstration of the microscopic appearances of sections by ultra-violet light. Certain structures, owing to their differences in chemical composition, give different fluorescent tints, and the images obtained are often dissimilar to those obtained by ordinary staining methods. The light filter used was a glass made by Chance, which is transparent to the ultra-violet radiations, and the quartz substage condenser was of the "dark-ground" type. A most interesting and instructive astronomical model designed for educational purposes was exhibited by Dr. William Wilson. This model, which has received great praise from leading astronomers and teachers, not only demonstrates the more familiar motions of the sun, earth, and moon, and the various phenomena resulting therefrom, but is capable of simple analyses of each particular motion. The apparatus is most ingenious. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS DR. GEORGE E. DE SCHWEINITZ, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania, was elected president of the American Medical Association at the meeting held last week in Boston. Other officers were elected as follows: Frank B. Wynn, of Indianapolis, vice-president; Dr. Alexander R. Craig, of Chicago, and Dr. William Allen Pusey, of Chicago, were reelected secretary and treasurer, respectively. Ar the recent commencement of New York University, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Dr. George David Stewart, professor of surgery at the university. THE honorary degree of Doctor of Science was conferred upon C. L. Marlatt, assistant chief of the Federal Bureau of Entomology, and chairman of the Federal Horticultural Board, by the Kansas State Agricultural College at its fifty-eighth commencement on June 2, "in recognition of his contributions to our knowledge of insects and his efficient services in initiating the policies and directing the work of the Federal Horticultural Board." THE degree of doctor of engineering will be conferred by the Stevens Institute of Technology on Dr. Sven Wingquist, the Swedish engineer, who comes to the United States by invitation of the institute on the occasion of the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. DR. WM. CURTIS FARABEE, president of the American Anthropological Association, has been elected a corresponding member of the National Academy of History, Ecuador. THE Adams prize of the University of Cambridge has been awarded to Dr. W. M. Hicks, St. John's College. THE friends and former students of Professor A. Swaen are planning to place a tablet in his honor in the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Liége where he has taught for thirty years. DR. T. W. FULTON, scientific superintendent of the Fishery Board for Scotland, has retired after a service of thirty-four years. MR. BRADLEY STOUGHTON has resigned the secretaryship of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, which he has held since 1913. Mr. Stoughton's resignation is in accordance with his personal belief that the office of secretary of the institute should not be permanent, since too long a tenure of office is likely to create relations that can not be terminated agreeably. terminated agreeably. During Mr. Stoughton's tenure the membership of the institute has increased from 3,500 to over 9,000. |