conquer a tyranny still more remorseless. Our future brightens, and shall endow Gaul and Briton with a common birthright to remain a splendid heritage for all time.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

THE hundredth annual meeting of the Swiss Association for the Natural Sciences will be held at Lugano from September 7 to 11. The committee on organization states that the continuation of the meetings is of value equally to science and to the country. Public lectures will be given as follows: Parthenogenesis and apogamy, by Professor Ernst, of Zurich; The Swiss national parks, by Professor Schroeter, of Zurich; Man from the point of view of medicine and natural science, by Professor Nägeli, of Zurich; On the constitution of the chemical elements, by Professor Berthoud, of Neuchâtel. The association meets in twelve sections: (1) Mathematics; (2) Physics; (3) Geophysics, Meteorology and Astronomy; (4) Chemistry; (5) Geology; (6) Botany; (7) Zoology; (8) Entomology; (9) Medicine; (10) Pharmacy; (11) Engineering; (12) Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

DR. SAMUEL AVERY, formerly director of the chemical laboratories in the University of Nebraska, and for several years chancellor of that institution, has been commissioned major in the Chemical Warfare Service, N. A., and placed in charge of the University Relations Section. Dr. Avery has been granted a leave of absence by the regents of the university for the period of the war.

COLONEL JOHN M. T. FINNEY, chief surgical consultant of the American Expeditionary Forces, has returned home on a mission connected with his work overseas.

PROFESSOR E. C. FRANKLIN, of Stanford University, Professor W. J. A. Bliss, of Johns Hopkins University, and Professor C. M. Carson, of the Michigan School of Mines, are engaged for the summer on military work in the Chemistry Division of the Bureau of Standards.

DR. W. R. DODSON, dean of the college of agriculture of the University of Louisiana, and E. S. Brigham, commissioner of dairying of

Vermont, have become members of the Food Administration staff in Washington. Dr. Dodson has charge of problems of interest to both the Food Administration and the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Brigham will head the butter and cheese section. Dean H. L. Russell, of the College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin, who has rendered service to the Food Administration in the capacities which Dr. Dodson and Mr. Brigham now assume, has been recalled to Wisconsin by pressing duties at the university.

DR. WILLIAM C. FOWLER has assumed office as health officer of the District of Columbia, succeeding Dr. William C. Woodward, who resigned to accept the position of commissioner

of health of Boston.

DR. J. N. LANGLEY, professor of physiology in the University of Cambridge, Sir F. W. Dyson, astronomer royal, Dr. Horace Lamb, professor of mathematics in the University of Manchester, and Sir E. Rutherford, Langworthy professor and director of physical laboratories in the University of Manchester, have been elected foreign members of the Royal Academy "dei Lincei," Rome.

DR. BARTON WARREN EVERMANN, director of the museum, Dr. John Van Denburgh, curator of the department of herpetology, and Mr. Joseph R. Slevin, assistant curator, department of herpetology of the California Academy of Sciences, have returned from a collecting trip through northern California and southern Oregon. The principal object of the trip was to make collections of reptiles, amphibians, and birds' nests and eggs for the academy museum. The trip was made by machine and the party camped out most of the time. Very large collections were obtained.

MR. E. P. VAN DUZEE, curator department of entomology of the California Academy of Sciences, is spending the summer in northern California making collections for that department. Dr. Roy E. Dickerson, curator, department of invertebrate paleontology, has been given leave for the remainder of the present calendar year in order that he may take up

certain technical work for the Standard Oil Company.

THE memorial statue of the late Dr. Edward A. Trudeau, founder of the Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium, now known as the Trudeau Sanatorium, Saranac, was unveiled on August 10. The principal oration was made by the Rev. Philemon F. Sturgis. The statue is a gift of former patients of the sanatorium, and bears an inscription indicative of the love and gratitude of the donors.

HENRY GEORGE PLIMMER, F.R.S., professor of comparative pathology in the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, died on June 22, aged sixty-one years.

DR. NEWELL ARBER, demonstrator in paleobotany at Cambridge, died on June 14 at the age of forty-seven years.

THE deaths are announced of A. Kolisko, of Vienna, professor of pathologic anatomy, and of Leopold Meyer, professor of the diseases of women and children, of the University of Copenhagen.

IT is reported that one of the most complete hospitals in the world, expected to take a large part of the work of rehabilitating American soldiers wounded overseas, is being erected in Detroit by Henry Ford at a cost of three million dollars. The hospital is being built on a twenty-acre tract of land and will have a floor space of 50,000 square feet. It will be a four-story structure, with the exception of the diagnostic building placed in the center, which will be six stories high. There will be 1,300 windows in the building, 40 porches around it, and a roof garden.

By the will of a Mr. Ramsay, resident in Scotland, but who formerly had large financial interests in Toronto, the hospitals in Toronto and other public charities in that city will benefit to the extent of $750,000.

MCGILL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, at Etaples, France, is to be removed to England, as it has been bombed from German airplanes on several occasions.

THE War Department authorizes the statement from the Office of the Surgeon General that, at the request of General Pershing,

twenty additional nutrition officers have gone to Europe to supervise rationing of the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces and to introduce methods that will further protect the food of the troops from waste, spoilage and contamination. This brings the total of such officers now on duty in England and France to twenty-nine. The first six of these specialists went abroad in March. Their work was so satisfactory that in a few weeks more were asked for. The investigations made by these men resulted in improved mess conditions, both in camp and in the trenches, and demonstrated the necessity for continuous supervision, hence the recent sailing of the twenty. One of the principal problems facing these men is the adjusting of the present garrison ration to current needs. This ration was fixed long before the present conditions of modern warfare, and experience has shown that adjustments must be made in order to feed the troops satisfactorily without waste or spoilage.

THE Journal of the American Medical Association states that the leading physicians of São Paulo have organized a society to study questions of heredity and means to improve the human race. Its aims and purposes are set forth in an eight-page pamphlet, especially emphasizing the aim to enlighten and educate the public in matters relating to hygiene and eugenics, for the welfare of the individual, of the community and of future generations.

THE Royal Geographical Journal states that M. René de Saussure, great-grandson of the celebrated Swiss naturalist, outlines in the March, 1918, number of the Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles of Geneva, a scheme for a Central Meteorological Bureau for Europe to be established after the war. He suggests that the time is opportune for the foundation of such a bureau, as it would enable the heads of the national meteorological services of belligerent countries to exchange necessary data without direct correspondence. But as he acknowledges that such a central bureau must be under the control of an international committee, this point loses its force, since such a committee must meet before the

bureau can be established. Until the future of the International Meteorological Committee, which has done good work for a generation past, is settled it is quite clear that no step of the kind suggested can profitably be considered. M. de Saussure estimates the annual cost of a central bureau charged with receiving data from stations in all parts of Europe, preparing a daily weather-map, forwarding it by post and telegraphing the data for a provisional map daily, at only 48,000 francs, or less than £2,000. We are sure that such a sum would be totally inadequate for the purpose, even if the bureau were situated, as is suggested, in Switzerland. The greater part of M. de Saussure's paper is taken up with the description of a new method of representing air-movement on maps which he thinks might be adopted in the work of the projected bureau.

THE Council of the Society for Practical Astronomy have notified the members and those interested in its work that, by a vote of the council, all further activity of the society, including the publication of the Monthly Register, is postponed until after the war. No new members will be admitted, and membership fees for the current year, 1918, will be refunded by the treasurer. Upon resumption of activities, the organization of the society will be the same as it was at the close of 1917, the membership consisting of those who were members in good standing at that time. This decision has been reached after careful deliberation, and in spite of the example set by the scientific societies of our allies. The council feel confident that this step will meet with the unanimous approval of the members. Communications relative to any society matters, and particularly those concerning improvements in reorganization after the war, will be welcomed, and may be addressed to the president, Mr. Latimer J. Wilson, Bausch & Lomb Observatory, Huntington Park, near St. Paul St., Rochester, N. Y., or to the secretary, Lieutenant Horace C. Levinson, 4049 Lake Park Ave., Chicago, Ill.

THE sundry civil appropriation bill, carrying appropriations for the Bureau of Fisheries, became a law on July 1. The principal

features of special interest are as follows: New positions: One field assistant, $3,000; 1 assistant for developing fisheries and for saving and use of fishery products, $2,400; 1 storekeeper, Pribilof Islands, $1,800; 1 clerk, $1,200 (in lieu of $900); 1 foreman, Bozeman station, $1,200; 1 foreman, Clackamas station, $1,200; 1 superintendent, Key West biological station, $1,800 (in lieu of $1,500); 1 apprentice fishculturist, Springville station, $600. Miscellaneous expenses: Administration $10,000; propagation of food fishes, $400,000 (increase of $25,000); maintenance of vessels, $95,000 (increase of $5,000); inquiry respecting food fishes, $50,000; statistical inquiry, $7,500; Alaska general service, $100,000; protecting sponge fisheries, $3,000. Special items: Berkshire trout hatchery, for increasing hatching and rearing facilities, including construction and repair of ponds, improvements to water supply, and for equipment, $2,500; St. Johnsbury station, for establishment of an auxiliary station on Lake Champlain, $5,000; Pribilof Islands, for purchase or construction of power lighter, $20,000.

The Civil Service Commission announces that there are many openings for women as ship draftsmen in the Navy Department at Washington and in navy-yard service throughout the United States. Applications will be received and papers examined at any time, and the applicants who qualify will be offered immediate employment. The pay ranges from $4 to $6.88 per day. The commission lists a total of 13 acceptable forms of training and experience for the four grades into which the register of eligibles will be divided. The applicant may offer either "at least two years' experience in a drafting room, engaged on work of developing plans for buildings or structures involving steel work, architectural work, or mechanical drafting work, or graduation from a course in architecture mechanical or structural engineering at a college or university of recognized standing" or "graduation from a technical school or college of recognized standing supplemented by a certificate that the applicant has satisfactorily taken and passed a short course in naval architecture

conducted by an institution of learning, one whose regular course is naval architecture and whose special short course in naval architecture referred to above shall have been approved by the commission." The other minimum requirements all include experience in shipbuilding.

THE London Times, in recording the centenary of the British Institution of Civil Engineers writes: The Institution of Civil Engineers, our premier engineering society and the parent of several other institutions of rather more specialized character, celebrates the centenary of its foundation. It was on January 2, 1818, that it was established by eight young men, who met for that purpose in the Kendal Coffee-house in Fleet Street. It was fortunate in securing as its president, two years after its birth, Thomas Telford, the foremost engineer of his day and one of the leading engineers of all time. Although he was not present at the inaugural meeting, he may fairly be ranked as its founder. Holding the office until his death in 1834, he devoted much of his time during his life to furthering its interests, and at his death bequeathed a sum of money for the establishment of the Telford Medals and Premiums, which have ever since served to encourage the presentation of original communications at its meetings. It was in his time also, in 1828, that its position was established by the grant of a Royal Charter, which contains the famous definition of civil engineering as being:

The art of directing the Great Sources of Power in Nature for the use and convenience of men, as the means of production and of traffic in states both for external and internal trade, as applied in the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks, for internal intercourse and exchange, and in the construction of ports, harbors, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power for the purposes of commerce, and in the construction and adaptation of machinery, and in the drainage of cities and towns.

IT is announced from Ottawa that the minister of naval service, controlling fisheries, has decided to close some fourteen lobster hatcheries scattered about the coasts of the Mar

itime Provinces. The question of lobster hatching has been a subejct of investigation for the past four years. Arrangements are being made to start an educational campaign among the fishermen to induce them to protect all berried lobsters and to cooperate with the department in protecting the fishery and saving the lobster industry.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NEWS

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY is endeavoring to raise a fund to meet the emergency war conditions and subscriptions have been received amounting to over $250,000, $94,000 from the alumni of the school of applied science and liberal arts, $89,000 from the professional schools and $67,000 from the undergraduate body on $25 subscription payroll over a period of five years at $5 per year. Part of the plan is to secure an endowment of $500,000 for the engineering school in connection with a cooperative plan of education between the industries and the university. Mr. Mois H. Avram, lecturer on industrial engineering in the university, has been active in this work.

EXCAVATION was started on July 18 for the foundation of the additional building to the University of Nebraska Medical School, Omaha, to be erected at a cost of $150,000. The new building will be four stories in height, red brick and will house the laboratories of pharmacology, physiology and biologic chemistry.

THE Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force of Great Britain announces that the sum of £25,000 has been placed at the disposal of the government by Sir Basil Zaharoff, for the purpose of endowing a professorship of aviation. This donation is in continuation of donations previously made by Sir Basil for the foundation of chairs of aviation at the universities of Paris and Petrograd, in order to assist in the progress of aviation among the allies, and it is hoped that the occupants of the chairs will continuously exchange views. It is proposed that the professorship shall be called the Zaharoff professorship of aviation. and that it shall be a professorship of the Uni

DUE to the absence of Dean Vaughan in war service, a reorganization of the administration staff of the University of Michigan Medical School has been necessary. The present officers are as follows: dean, Victor C. Vaughan, M.D., LL.D., Colonel, M. C., N. A. (absent on leave); assistant dean, Charles W. Edmunds, A.B., M.D.; acting secretary, Rollo E. McCotter, M.D., and assistant secretary, Ethel Bradley Flick.

THE following new appointments have been made in the various departments of Western

THE CRITERION OF SUBSPECIFIC INTERGRADATION IN VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY

INTERGRADATION is now generally accepted, both in codes of nomenclature and in practise, as the criterion of zoological subspecies. A second means of determining subspecific relationship, the degree of difference, so strongly advocated by Dr. C. Hart Merriam1 and others, has been found unsatisfactory; still more so a third, the natural outgrowth of the latter, that of general resemblance, which makes the species practically equal to a subgeneric group. Dr. Ernst Hartert and a few others have em

Webster Godman Simon, A.M., as instructor in mathematics. In the School of Medicine, Carl J. Wiggers, M.D., as professor of physiology. The following promotions have been made in the Dental School: Harold Newton Cole, Ph.D., M.D., assistant professor of dermatology and syphilology; Gaius Elijah Harmon, M.D., C.P.H., assistant professor of hygiene and bacteriology (now senior instructor in hygiene); Bradley Merrill Patten, A.M., Ph.D., assistant professor of sistology and embryology.

IN the Georgetown University Medical School Dr. Clarence R. Dufour, who resigned as clinical professor of diseases of eye and ear, has been appointed emeritus professor; Dr. Isaac S. Stone, professor of gynecology, who resigned after twenty-six years of service, has been succeeded by Dr. J. Thomas Kelly, and Drs. James M. Moser and John A. Foote have been appointed assistant professor of pediat

rics.

DR. R. O. CROMWELL, formerly assistant plant pathologist at the experiment station at West Raleigh, North Carolina, has been appointed extension plant pathologist at the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, at Ames Iowa.

DR. SAMUEL T. DARLING, of the International Health Board, has been appointed professor of hygiene and director of laboratories in the School of Medicine and Surgery in São Paulo, Brazil.

evident inaccuracies as treating the American cedar waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum, as a sub

species of the Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrula.

What constitutes subspecific intergradation, however, seems still to be debatable, if the diversity of usage among current authors is to be taken as evidence. Briefly stated, there are three ways in which intergradation takes place : (1) By a gradual change over contiguous geographic areas; (2) by an abrupt change in an intermediate area; and (3) by individual variation, whether or not the ranges of the two forms adjoin. The first of these is the kind of intergradation so commonly seen on continental areas where one form passes insensibly into another in the intermediate territory, and is so well-known as not to need illustration. The second is much less common and often results in the presence at certain localities of typical examples of both forms, together with all shades of intermediates; but the only question likely to arise in treating a case of this kind is the allocation of the individuals which occur in such places,-whether they shall be treated all as the one form to which they collectively most approach, or whether the more or less typical examples of each shall be referred to their respective races. The third kind of intergradation, that of individual variation, is of almost as frequent occurrence as

1 SCIENCE, N. S., V., No. 124, May 14, 1897, pp. 753-758.