many occasions shown the deep interest he takes in its work. Age sits lightly upon him; he took an active part in the recent most successful Special Clinical and Scientific Meeting in London, and will be in the chair at the annual meeting to be held at Cambridge in 1920. Sir Clifford Allbutt has been Regius professor of physics in the University of Cambridge since 1892. So great is the respect, and, if we may be permitted to say, the affection, in which he is held by all ranks of our profession, that very many will without doubt wish to join in this presentation to him. It has accordingly been decided to limit the amount of individual subscriptions to one guinea. The treasurer of the British Medical Association is now prepared to receive subscriptions of this or lesser amount from any member of the profession. Cheques should be made payable to the 'Sir Clifford Allbutt Presentation Fund,' and crossed London county, Westminster, and Parr's Bank."

SIR JOHN ROSE BRADFORD will give a discourse at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on Friday, May 30, on filter-passing virus in certain diseases. On the following Friday Sir Ernest Rutherford, who has recently succeeded Sir J. J. Thomson as Cavendish professor of experimental physics at Cambridge, will deliver a discourse on atomic projectiles and their collisions with light

atoms.

THE Cornell University Medical College conducted during the month of May a series of special lectures, as follows: May 6, Dr. Burton J. Lee, "Surgery of the breast; " May 3, Dr. Lee, "Military surgery, particularly blood transfusion; " May 20, Dr. Henry H. M. Lyle, "Military surgery, organization at the front;" May 27, Dr. George W. Hawley, "Military surgery, compound fractures."

MAJOR JOSEPH LEIDY, M.R.C., U.S.A., medical director, Department Gas Defense, delivered an address, illustrated with lantern slides, on "Poison Gas in War" before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on May 12.

PROFESSOR JOHN C. MERRIAM, of the University of California, acting chairman of the

66

National Research Council, delivered an address before the Washington Academy of Sciences on May 15, on Cave hunting in California." The address was illustrated with lantern slides.

DR. WILLIAM E. CASTLE, of Harvard University, gave during Health Promotion Week at Northwestern University three free public lectures on genetics and eugenics. The subjects of the lectures were as follows: May 14, "Heredity and health," illustrated by lantern slides. May 15, "Principles of race improvement," illustrated by lantern slides. May 16, "Can we breed a better human race?"

DR. JOSEPH JACOBS recently presented to the Crawford Long Infirmary, on the campus of the University of Georgia, Augusta, a life size portrait of the late Dr. Crawford W. Long, discoverer of surgical anesthesia.

WALTER GOULD DAVIS, director of the Meteorological Bureau of Argentina for many years before 1915, when he resigned from that position, died on April 30 in Danville. Vt., where he was born in 1851. His earliest scientific work was in civil engineering, especially in railroad surveying through the White Mountains. While still a young man he went to Argentina as assistant to Dr. Benjamin Apthorp Gould, director of the astronomical observatory at Cordoba, and later became di

rector himself. From Cordoba he was transferred to Buenos Ayres, and placed at the head of the National Weather Bureau, which he organized and built up. His work in this office gave the Argentine Meteorological Service a high scientific rank, and won its director an international reputation.

ALEXIS ANASTAY JULIEN, curator in geology at Columbia University from 1897 to 1909, died on May 7, aged seventy-nine years.

A. MCHENRY, the Irish geologist, died on April 19. He was for more than forty years on the staff of the Geological Survey.

DR. L. S. DAUGHERTY, for sixteen years professor of biology in the State Normal School, Kirksville, Missouri, and later in Missouri

Wesleyan, author of "Principles of Economic Zoology," died on February 28.

FERNAND PRIEM, the French paleontologist, has died at the age of sixty-two years.

THE deaths are announced of the Danish astronomer, Hans Emil Lau, and of A. M. Liapounoff, professor of applied mathematics at the Academy of Petrograd.

WE learn from Nature there was held recently a conference of chemists in Paris attended by Professor Chavanne (Belgium), Professors Moureu and Matignon, M. Kestner and M. Poulenc (France), Senator Paterno and Dr. Pomilio (Italy), Mr. Henry Wigglesworth, Col. Norris and Dr. Cottrell (United States), and Sir William Pope, Professor Louis and Mr. Chaston Chapman (Great Britain). It was decided to form an interallied confederation for pure and applied chemistry which should organize permanent cooperation between the various countries, and coordinate scientific and technical knowledge as well as contribute to the advancement of chemistry in its fullest extent. The interallied council is to consist at the moment of six representatives from each of the nations mentioned above. The first meeting, will be held in London on July 15-18, when the interallied council will be the guests of the Society of Chemical Industry. For the time being the secretary of the inter-allied federation will be M. Jean Gerard, 49 rue des Mathurins, Paris. Particulars of the London meeting can be obtained in due course from Dr. Stephen Miall, 28 Belsize Grove, N. W. 3.

THE Salters' Company has established an Institute of Industrial Chemistry to assist in promoting the training and welfare of students who desire to pursue an industrial career, and of workers engaged in the chemical industry. The London Times states that during the present interval of reconstruction the committee of the institute is awarding several post-graduate fellowships to young chemists whose training has been interrupted by some form of war service, and who consequently require to devote an appropriate period to further study, in order to equip

themselves for an industrial post in a manner calculated to render them useful to their future employers. In pursuance of this policy, fellowships have been awarded to Messrs. W. H. Gough, B.Sc., and W. A. Haward, B.Sc. (Imperial College of Science and Technology), Captain L. J. Hudleston, B.Sc. (Reading University College), Lieutenant K. H. Saunders, M.C., and Mr. Gordon M. Wright, B.Sc. (University of Cambridge), Mr. P. N. Williams, B. Sc. (University of Liverpool), and Lieutenant Dudley C. Vining (Finsbury Technical College), who will continue their training at the university college indicated. Substantial support in the work of the institute has been received from firms prominent in the chemical manufacturing industry.

THROUGH the generosity of the late Mr. Wm. H. Graflin, of Baltimore, a scholarship, to be known as the Graflin Scholarship, and three assistantships for the year 1919-20 have been established in the department of chemistry of the Johns Hopkins University. The Graflin Scholarship will be awarded annually to a candidate having a training equivalent to that leading to the Ph.D. degree and who therefore has had experience in research. It may be awarded twice to the same candidate. The holder of the scholarship will receive $1,000 a year and will be expected to devote his entire time to research. The three research assistantships each pay $750 a year and are open to chemists having the equivalent of a Ph.D. degree. The holder of a research assistantship will not be required to do any formal teaching but will be given the opportunity to devote his entire time to research and to assist in the direction of research. Applications for the above position for the year 1919-20 should be sent to the department of chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, 321 Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore, Md., before August 1.

THE University of Arizona through the Arizona Bureau of Mines is offering an eight weeks' summer course in field geology and mining, to begin July 1 and end August 18, 1919. The work will be under the supervision of Professor C. J. Sarle, of the department of

geology, and Professor M. Ehle, department of mining of the College of Mines and Engineering. It will include geodetic and topographic surveying, mapping of areal geology, making of geologic cross-sections, studying of mines or prospects and undeveloped ore deposits, and making mine examinations and reports. The region selected lies in the connected Chirichua and Dos Cabezas Mountains, fault-block ranges in southeastern Arizona. The choice of the field was based upon the varied structural features, diversity of formations and their great range in age, rich in metallization and mining development, ideal summer climate, fine camping sites, and accessibility. Maps and bulletins covering the area worked will be prepared by the professors in charge and will be published by the Arizona Bureau of Mines. Such students as are especially well prepared may collaborate on reports, and data secured may also be worked up into theses. The university will furnish a full field equipment, including housing, camp cook, surveying instruments and conveyances. The class is limited to sixteen, and is open to students of all universities and colleges who have had at least a course in physical and historical geology and mineralogy. Applications should be received by June 1. For further information address the director, Arizona Bureau of Mines, Tucson, Arizona.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NEWS

WE learn from Nature that Mr. Lawrence Philipps has offered University College, Aberystwyth, the sum of £10,000 to found a plant-breeding institute for Wales in connection with the agricultural department of the college. He has guaranteed a further sum of £1,000 per annum for ten years towards the maintenance of the institution. The governors of the college have appointed Mr. R. G. Stapleton, who was for some years connected with the college as advisory botanist, to a chair of agricultural botany and to the directorship of the new institution.

THE first school of practical forestry in

Scotland has been opened at Birnam, in Perthshire. The school building that has been erected at Birnam is itself an example of what can be done in forestry, being entirely built of home-grown wood. At present the school has twelve students. The course will cover two years and will consist of both practical work and lectures. The Duke of Athol has placed his woodlands at the board's disposal for practical instruction and the aim of the school is both provision of technical instruction and the furnishing of openings for discharged service men.

WILLIAM D. ENNIS, who has since his release from military service been acting professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, has been appointed professor in marine engineering in the post-graduate department of the United States Naval Academy.

DR. TOBIAS DANTZIG and DR. G. A. PFEIFFER have been appointed instructors in mathematics at Columbia University.

DR. JAMES DREVER has been appointed Coombe lecturer in psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

PROFESSOR F. SODDY, F.R.S., of the University of Aberdeen, has been elected to the second chair of chemistry recently established in the University of Oxford.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE ON THE AURORAL DISPLAY OF MAY 2, 1919 TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: The following observations of the auroral flash visible in Washington on the nights of May 2 and 3, 1919 and observed by us between the hours of 3:30 a.m. and 5 A.M. may be of sufficient interest for record. There is one point mentioned later which to us seemed very striking.

The general appearance of the phenomenon reminded one of a searchlight display. The streaks of lighted sky were at times very similar to the streaks of diffused light along the paths of searchlight beams. The brightness of the auroral streaks was comparable in brightness to that of the path of the searchlight beam on clear nights when seen from a great dis

tance. (This brightness is of the order of 20 microlamberts for a 24-inch 75-ampere searchlamp near by). The streaks appeared over a region of the sky extending some 20 degrees to either side of Polaris and from the horizon up to Polaris and slightly higher. The individual streaks varied in width from several degrees to a fractional part of a degree. There were a few streamers that extended upward very much farther than the others. These did not lie symmetrically with respect to Polaris but to the eastward were more numerous. Over these streaks of lighted sky as background appeared a wavering sheet of lighted sky of lower brightness, whose undulations seemed to travel from the horizon upward. When the brightness of the streaks was great enough the light was a decided green, otherwise it appeared a faint greenish blue.

The point of greatest brightness during this display was a small patch of sky situated in one of the streaks slightly to the eastward of the vertical line passing through Polaris. This patch was probably 2 degrees wide and very much less in vertical thickness. Its distance from the horizon was probably between 5 and 10 degrees.

This gave an exact semblance of a searchlight beam piercing a cloud. The brightness of this patch was many times the brightness of the streak in which it was situated, and was of a very striking green color. We had hoped to photograph this, but during the few moments while the camera was being prepared it disappeared together with most of the streaks. The streaks reappeared quite distinctly but this bright patch did not.

Other data which we chance to have on record for other work are: Temperature 11:45 P.M. 16° C. Temperature recorded nearest the time of appearance of Aurora (2:50 A.M.) 15°. Winds-practically none. Sky-generally clear.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS, WASHINGTON, D. C., . May 9, 1919

ENOCH KARRER,

E. P. T. TYNDALL

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I have just come in from viewing what to me was a remarkable auroral display. Earlier in the evening, about ten o'clock, while walking from a friend's house, I saw the ordinary display of an arch of light across the north with streamers extending to a considerable height. This lasted for about half an hour. Perhaps a quarter of an hour after its disappearance I noticed a long band or cloud of dim light across the sky which I at first took to be an after-image on the retina. But the image did not move with the eye, and soon it became quite bright. This display extended from a point on the western horizon, about 25° or 30° north of west, high up across the sky over to a point on the eastern horizon about 20° south of east. The band of light widened as it left the horizon, at the highest point being about 15° wide, extending from declination 55° to about 70° declination.

Near the horizon the light was quite bright, growing gradually dimmer as it slowly widened out towards the highest point. At the westerly end the south side of the band was cut off sharply by a nearly vertical line. Elsewhere the boundary was not very sharply drawn. In about fifteen minutes the light began to fade, but before entirely disappearing it brightened up again nearly as bright as before. Soon after, it faded again, entirely disappearing in the upper portion. For fifteen minutes or so the two ends remained, extending to a height of about 45° from the horizon. The eastern end broke into two parts as if cut in two. The lower part shot up from the horizon like a streamer, inclining a little to the south, the sharp demarcation of the south side of the western end persisted. The two ends remained stationary during the entire time. At the seeond maximum of brightness the upper part moved farther north extending nearly to Polaris. During the display none of the ordinary auroral display across the northern horizon was to be seen. If there was any it was too faint to be seen in the vicinity of street lights.

I have seen a number of remarkable auroras but have never before seen or heard of anything like this one. The bright band of light extend

ing from north of west clear across the sky, almost to the zenith, down to south of east, made a very beautiful and impressive sight. It was very much admired by those I called out to see it.

I should like to know if this display was noticed in other parts of the country and if others have observed similar phenomena at other times.

G. IRVING GAVETT

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON,

SEATTLE, WASH.,

May 2, 1919, at 11:30 P.M.

THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I have read with much interest Dr. Felix Neumann's article published in your number of April 4 and I heartily agree with him that the creation of a new section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to be devoted to the history of science, would be most desirable.

I think it is hardly necessary to demonstrate the necessity of such historical studies, but I beg to submit the following arguments in support of Dr. Neumann's proposition.

1. The history of science has a real and full signification only for scientifically trained people, and it appeals equally to scientists of all kinds, hence it is natural that its study be promoted by such an association as the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

2. Such historical studies, however, are very different from scientific studies proper; they require a special turn of mind, a special equipment and special methods without the use of which no high standard of accuracy can be obtained, hence it is necessary that they be promoted by an independent section.

3. Such independent sections have been organized many years ago by the Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte and by the Società italiana per il Progresso delle Scienze, notwithstanding the fact that societies exclusively devoted to the history of science exist both in Germany and in Italy. GEORGE SARTON

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON

QUOTATIONS

THE OBSTRUCTION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH IN GREAT BRITAIN

THE passage through a standing committee of the House of Commons, without amendment, of the so-called "Dogs' Protection Bill" has rudely awakened to a danger too lightly regarded, every one who in any way realizes the importance of the issues involved. In the Times of April 8, Sir Philip Magnus tells how the past master of parliamentary tactics who introduced the bill was able to bring it up for second reading unexpectedly, at the close of a sitting and to secure, almost without discussion, its reference to a standing committee. The committee was aparently composed in the usual way, mainly of members selected with reference to their political affiliations, without any regard to their competence to deal with an essentially scientific question; three or four medical members were added and a contingent of nominees of the members in charge of the bill, who could be trusted to know his own supporters. In two short sessions, and with the help of the closure, the bill passed through this committee without amendment. The next stage will be that it will come before the House for third reading at the next opportunity, which may occur any week.

The effect of the bill, if it should pass into law, is plain enough. It would render any one who made an experiment of any kind upon a dog liable to prosecution. Its enactment would cripple progress, so far as this country is concerned, in some of the most important fields of medical investigation. The whole weight of informal opinion must be brought to bear to prevent such a calamity. Letters of protest and warning have appeared in the Times of April 5, 7, 8 and 9, from Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer, Dr. Thomas Lewis,' Dr. Leonard Hill, Professor Langley and Professor Starling. The Morning Post of Apri! 7 published under the heading, "A Blow to Medical Science," an admirable statement of the case against the bill. The lay press is fulfilling a valuable function in thus enlightening general opinion.

So far as our own readers are concerned, we are preaching to those who need no conver