SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN FRANCE AND

ENGLAND

THE Paris correspondent of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry writes: "Scientific research is at this moment passing through a serious crisis. It is going to lack personnel. The alarm has been sounded by Professor Daniel Berthelot, the son of Marcellin Berthelot. In a recent speech he called attention to the utilitarian direction of all scientific research, and more especially chemical. We have here in France many schools of chemistry, but they are all schools of industrial chemistry. Almost without exception they are concerned with producing the industrial chemist, and, little by little, we are seeing the laboratories attached to professorships abandonedlaboratories such as that of Fremy at the Museum of Natural History, which have been the nurseries of the research chemists. The necessity which the younger generation feels of earning a living as soon as possible is the cause of this state of affairs. Add to this that most of the laboratories lack funds and can not bear the costs of theoretical research whose economic profit may be far distant. The public authorities, however, seem willing to consider these questions, and to-day, for instance, you may see in the French parliament, a deputy, Mr. Maurice Barres, offer one of the arguments which you Americans have so wisely brought to the solution of the social problem: 'It is useless to quarrel with wealth; it is better to use its activity to create more; and in this creation of wealth we chemists have a large duty to fill.'”

The London correspondent says: "In applied chemistry we are faced in Great Britain with a state of uncertainty and chaos without parallel in the recollection of any of us. No one can form any just estimate of the future supply or price of coal or other fuels; no one has any sure data upon which to base an opinion as to the future of the principal metals and other raw materials. Accounts from Germany and Austria are singularly conflicting and it is not easy for us to know whether in chemical industry we are to export to those

countries at a reasonable profit or whether we shall suffer from acute competition from those countries. And in our own financial state nothing seems certain beyond the fact that grievous and necessary taxation will continue for a long period and will hamper the development of business and the starting of new enterprises. We have recently lived through times. infinitely more anxious, and our neighbors in France and Italy have far more difficult problems to solve than we have. Our anxieties are as nothing to theirs and the state of political industrial and financial chaos in Germany, Austria and Russia is such as to be beyond conception. We are not merely perplexed by this; the aspect continually changes and it is hopeless for us to try and imagine what will happen in the east of Europe. In time some. sort of settlement or stability will be achieved, but the details of the process are beyond the wit of man to imagine."

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES

FOR the twentieth consecutive year the Journal of the American Medical Association publishes this week statistics dealing with medical education in the United States. In all medical schools during the last session there were 14,088 students, or 1,036 more than during the previous session. These increases are in the first, third and fourth year classes, smaller second year classes following the small freshman enrolment in the fall of 1918 caused by war conditions. The increased enrolments have been most marked in Class A medical schools, the number enrolled this year having increased from 87.9 to 89.6 per cent. of all students. The percentage in Class B schools decreased from 8.3 to 4.8, and in Class C schools it increased from 3.8 to 5.6.

The number of graduates this year was 3,047, or 391 more than in 1919. The number of graduates of Class A colleges was increased by 470, while the numbers graduating from Class B schools decreased by 116. Of the Class C colleges, there were 37 more graduates than in the previous year. The number of graduates holding degrees from colleges of

arts and sciences increased from 1,180 to 1,321, which is 43.5 per cent. of all graduates.

The number of medical colleges is eightyfive, the same number as last year. In 1904, when the Council on Medical Education was created, the United States had more medical schools than all other countries of the world combined. While the number of colleges has been reduced from 162 to 85 during the sixteen years, the number enforcing an entrance requirement of two years or more of collegiate work increased from four (2.5 per cent. of all colleges) in 1904, to seventy-eight (92.9 per cent.) in 1920. The number of medical students was decreased from 28,142 to 13,052the lowest number-in 1919; but during the same period, the number who had higher preliminary qualifications was increased from 1,761 (6.2 per cent. of all students) in 1904, to 13,408 (95.2 per cent.) in 1920. The number of graduates was reduced from 5,747 to 2,656the lowest number-in 1919; but the number having higher preliminary qualifications was increased from 369 (6.4 per cent. of all graduates) in 1904, to 2,842 (93.3 per cent.) in 1920.

WORK OF THE BUREAU OF MINES

DR. F. G. COTTRELL, director of the Bureau of Mines, announces the appointment by Acting Secretary of the Interior Hopkins, of F. B. Tough as supervisor, and R. E. Collom and H. W. Bell as deputy supervisors, to administer the operating regulations on oil and gas leases under the Department of the Interior. Mr. Tough will be stationed at Denver, Colorado, and will have personal charge of operations in the Rocky Mountain fields, as well as supervisory charge of operations on government lands in all fields. Mr. Collom will be stationed at San Francisco, California, and will have charge of operations in the California oil fields. Mr. Bell will be stationed at Dallas, Texas, and will supervise operations in the Louisana fields.

Mr. Tough is a graduate mining engineer. He has had seven years' experience in actual engineering and practical work for the Southern Pacific Company in the California oil fields and as petroleum technologist with the

Bureau of Mines for four years. While with the Bureau of Mines, he covered practically all the oil fields in the United States, and has done much work in correcting water problems in Illinois, Colorado, Wyoming and California. He is the author of Bulletin 163, "Methods of Shutting off Water in Oil and Gas Wells." For the past year and a half he has been in charge of the conservation work in the Wyoming fields, under the cooperative agreement with the Rocky Mountain Petroleum Association, which has contributed $30,000 a year for the Bureau of Mines to demonstrate methods of drilling and operating wells in order to minimize the waste of oil and gas and damage to oil and gas sands. This work was so satisfactory that the Rocky Mountain Petroleum Association, consistng of the Midwest Refining Company, the Ohio Oil Company, and the Continental Oil Company, voluntarily suggested a renewal of the cooperative agreement for the second year and Mr. Tough will continue to supervise this cooperative work.

Mr. R. E. Collom is also a graduate mining engineer. He has had a number of years' experience in the mining camps, but has spent most of his time in the oil fields of California. He was deputy supervisor for the California State Mining Bureau, where he worked principally in the Santa Maria oil field, from which position he was transferred to San Francisco as assistant chief supervisor. Mr. Collom has been with the Bureau of Mines for one year, during which time he has been in many fields in the United States, and was in charge of the Dallas office of the Bureau of Mines for several months. He worked in the Texas and Louisiana oil fields, particularly in the Wichita Falls and Ranger Districts, where, with the assistance of W. A. Snyder and J. B. Kerr, a number of operating problems were solved and valuable recommendations made to the oil companies. Mr. Collem is the author of a manuscript to be published by the Bureau of Mines relating to development problems in the oil fields.

Mr. Bell is a graduate mining engineer

who spent a number of years in the mining camps, and then became interested in the oil business in Coalinga field, California, where he had much practical experience. For the past several years he has been with the California State Mining Bureau as deputy supervisor. He has recently been appointed as petroleum engineer with the Bureau of Mines, to take charge of the Dallas office, Texas. Government leases in Louisiana will be taken care of in conjunction with the demonstration work in Louisiana and Texas.

The supervisory work under Mr. F. B. Tough will cover the operating regulations to govern the production of oil and gas under the Act of February 25, 1920. These regulations cover only the active drilling, production, and gaging of oil and gas, the supervision of which has been assigned to the Bureau of Mines by the Honorable John Barton Payne, secretary of the interior. Other regulations relating to the giving of leases and permits, collection of royalty moneys, etc., are under the supervision of the General Land Office.

The operating regulations, before being submitted to the secretary of the interior, were submitted to representatives of the oil industry in the states concerned at a conference held in Washington under Assistant Secretary of the Interior Vogelsang, on April 1 and 2. These regulations, therefore, have the approval of representatives of the industry with practical field and business experience in oil and gas. The administration of the regulations will be undertaken by experienced engineers.

THE REORGANIZATION OF THE NELA RE-
SEARCH LABORATORIES

THE Nela Research Laboratory was organized in 1908 under the directorship of Dr. Edward P. Hyde as the physical laboratory of the National Electric Lamp Association. The name was changed to Nela Research Laboratory in 1913, when the National Electric Lamp Association became the National Lamp Works of General Electric Company. For some years the laboratory was devoted exclusively to the development of those sciences on which the

art of lighting has its foundation, but in 1914 the functions of the laboratory were extended by the addition of a small section of applied science, which had an immediate practical objective.

The section of applied science is now being largely extended as a separate laboratory of applied science under the immediate direction of Mr. M. Luckiesh, who becomes director of applied science, and a new building is being constructed to house this branch of the work, which will be carried forward with a staff of several physicists, an engineer, an architect and a designer, together with the necessary technical and clerical assistants.

As has already been noted in SCIENCE, Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, formerly president of Dartmouth College, and more recently professor of physics at Yale University, has accepted an invitation to assume the immediate direction of the laboratory of pure science, under the title of director of pure science. The work of this laboratory, which will be continued in the present building, will be somewhat further extended under the new organization.

The Laboratory of Pure Science and the Laboratory of Applied Science will together constitute the Nela Research Laboratories, and will be coordinated under the general direction of Dr. Hyde, who becomes director of research.

THE LISTER MEMORIAL

Ar a public meeting held at the Mansion House, London, in October, 1912, the following proposals for commemorating the work of Lord Lister were adopted: "The placing of a memorial in Washington Abbey, to take the form of a tablet with medallion and inscription; the erection of a monument in a public place in London; and the establishment of an International Lister Memorial Fund for the achievement of surgery, from which either grants in aid of researches bearing on surgery or awards in recognition of distinguished contributions to surgical science should be made, irrespective of nationality." Nature reports that a meeting of the general committee was held in the rooms of the Royal Society on

Monday, July 19, to receive and adopt the report of the executive committee appointed in 1912. The chairman, Sir Archibald Geikie, stated that the sums received in respect of subscriptions from the British Empire and foreign countries amounted to £11,846 5s. 10d. A memorial tablet, executed by Sir Thomas Brock, was unveiled in Westminster Abbey on November 1, 1915, and steps are being taken for the erection of a monument in a public place in London. In order to carry out the scheme for the establishment of the Interna

tional Lister Memorial Fund for the Advancement of Surgery, it was resolved that: (a) Out of the general fund a sum of £500, together

with a bronze medal, be awarded every three years, irrespective of nationality, in recognition of distinguished contributions to surgical science, the recipient being required to give an address in London under the auspices of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. (b) The award be made by a committee constituted of members nominated by the Royal Society, Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Edinburgh, and University of Glasgow. (c) Any surplus income of the general fund, after providing for the erection of a monument and defraying administrative expenses, be either devoted to the furtherance of surgical science by means of grants or invested to increase the capital of the fund. The Royal College of Surgeons of England has consented to become the trustees and administrators of the Lister Fund and to carry out its objects, subject to the above provisions of the scheme. The subscription list is still open, and the honorable treasurer of the fund is Sir Watson Cheyne, Bart., to whom donations may be addressed at the Royal Society, Burlington House, London, W. 1.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY has conferred the degree of doctor of laws on Dr. John J. Abel, professor of pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and on Dr. Harvey Cushing, professor of surgery in Harvard University.

DR. WILLIAM W. KEEN, professor emeritus of surgery at the Jefferson Medical College, president of the International Surgical Society, recently in conference at Paris, presided at the opening sessions.

PROFESSOR M. T. BOGERT, of Columbia University, recently nominated a tariff commissioner by President Wilson, has declined the appointment.

DR. JOHN G. ADAMI, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, formerly professor of pathology and bacteriology in McGill University, has been elected to an honorary fellow

ship in Christ's College, Cambridge.

THE Journal of the American Medical Association reports that having reached the age limit, Dr. Amalio Gimeno y Cabañas, professor of pathology at the University of Madrid, senator and at one time minister in the cabinet, was given an ovation in the university amphitheater at a special gathering for the purpose. He was presented with a medallion and a banquet followed.

PROFESSOR ALBERT S. FLINT, of the department of astronomy of the University of Wisconsin, retires from active work this month after thirty-one years of service on the university faculty. He will continue his association with the department as emeritus professor of astronomy.

DR. MARCUS BENJAMIN, editor of the publications of the United States National Museum in Washington, has received from the French minister of public education the award of the Palms, with the rank of " Officier de l'instruction publique."

THE Canadian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has awarded $5,000 to Professor J. C. McLennan, of the University of Toronto, for his research into the properties of helium.

THE Prussian Academy of Science has granted Dr. Agnes Bluhm 1,000 Marks to continue her experimental work on problems of heredity.

DR. SAMUEL W. HAMILTON, of the Utica State Hospital, has been appointed chief medical di

rector of the Hospital for Mental Diseases, Philadelphia.

CHARLES S. HOWARD, formerly an instructor in the department of electrical engineering and physics at the U. S. Naval Academy, has accepted a position as junior chemist in the Quality of Water Division of the Water Resources Branch of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.

MR. W. D. COLLINS has left the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture to take charge of work on quality of water for the U. S. Geological Survey.

DR. CHARLES L. PARSONS, secretary of the American Chemical Society, has returned to Washington following the adjournment of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry at Rome, where he acted as the American representative.

W. S. W. KEW, of the U. S. Geological Survey, is studying the oil conditions of northwestern Mexico for private parties while on furlough from the government service.

R. B. MOORE, chief chemist of the Bureau of Mines, and Dorsey Lyon, supervisor of mining experiment stations, are going south to inspect sites suggested for a mining experiment station to deal with problems of non-metallic mining, as provided for at the last session of Congress.

THE Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry records changes in positions as follows: A. J. Lewis has resigned from the Bureau of Standards, where he was engaged in paint and varnish analysis as assistant chemist, and is at present with the H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, N. Y., as research chemist in paints, varnishes and enamels. Dr. Fred C. Blanck has resigned as food and drug commissioner of Maryland and associate in chemistry in the Johns Hopkins University to accept a position as director of inspection in the Del-Mar-Via Inspection District of the National Canners Association, with headquarters at Easton, Md. Dr. R. L. Sebastian, formerly engaged in magnesite investigation with the U. S. Bureau of Mines, Berkeley Station, Calif., has accepted a posi

tion as research chemist with the Barrett Co., Frankford, Pa. Mr. Arthur C. Metcalf has resigned as junior chemist, Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, to become chemist for the Republic Packing Corp., Lockport, N. Y. Mr. Ferdinand A. Collatz has resigned his assistantship in the department of biochemistry, University of Minnesota, to accept a research fellowship with the American Institute of Baking, Minneapolis, Minn.

WE learn from Nature that the civil list pensions granted during the year ended March 31 include: Mrs. Howell, in recognition of her late husband's eminent public service in the Geological Survey of Great Britain, £50; Miss Juliet Hepworth, in recognition of her late brother's services to meteorology and oceanography, £50, and Mrs. K. Macdonald Goring, in recognition of her husband's services to biometrical science, £85.

"TRENDS in Psychology" was the subject of an address delivered on July 22 at Stanford University by Professor W. V. Bingham, of the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

Ar the request of the Röntgen Society, Dr. W. D. Coolidge, of the research laboratories of the General Electric Company, gave an address on July 15 at University College, London.

DR. RICHARD A. BERRY, professor of anatomy in the University of Melbourne, has been appointed Stewart lecturer for 1921 in that university. Professor Berry has recently, in conjunction with Mr. S. D. Porteus, director of the research laboratory of the training school at Vineland, New Jersey, issued a report describing a practical method for the diagnosis of mental deficiency and other forms of social inefficiency, and will devote his Stewart course to this subject.

DR. J. BUCQUOY, president of the Paris Academy of Medicine, has died at the age of ninety-one years. He had attended the meetings of the academy to the day before his death, which was due to a street accident.

THE death is announced of Dr. T. Debaisieux, one of the most eminent surgeons of Belgium, and emeritus professor of sur