Museums In England Research Articles

ENERGY AND WAR*

School Science and MathematicsVolume 44, Issue 5 p. 431-434 ENERGY AND WAR* Homer W. Le Sourd, Homer W. Le Sourd Milton Academy, Milton, MassachusettsSearch for more papers by this author Homer W. Le Sourd, Homer W. Le Sourd Milton Academy, Milton, MassachusettsSearch for more papers by this author First published: May 1944 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.1944.tb06115.x * A popular lecture delivered on December 10 at the New England Museum of Natural History and illustrated by materials and films listed at the end of this report. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume44, Issue5May 1944Pages 431-434 RelatedInformation

Recent explorations in the mountains and Glaciers of Alaska

This public lecture, illustrated with colored motion‐pictures of the beauty‐spots of the country traversed, gave an account of the author's exploration of the Mount Hayes Region in Alaska, under the sponsorship of the New England Museum of Natural History, Boston. The Expedition of the summer of 1941 was not only a contribution to the geographical knowledge of Alaska, at a time when such knowledge was becoming of crucial value to the United States, but was also a successful demonstration of the value of airplanes for such work. Not only were planes used in reconnaissance and photographic flights over the whole region but all supplies were parachuted to the party, which kept in constant touch with the main base by two‐way radio. Work that would have required three months by former methods was finished in three weeks. A thousand square miles were covered by aerial photographs. These included some areas that were practically unknown and hitherto entirely unmapped because of their inaccessibility. Despite the use of leased planes the cost of the Expedition was but one‐third of that which would have been required by older methods.

A New Kind of Museum Exhibit

THE New England Museum of Natural History in Boston, Mass., has been the first to turn a trade innovation in lighting to the service of museum galleries. In the particular case described by Bradford Washburn in the Museums Journal(39, 450; 1940) you gaze at a stoat watching you from the edge of a summer wood. As you look, the lights fade, become momentarily dim, and when the full light shows again the summer scene has gone, snow covers the ground, the trees are bare of leaves, and the stoats have changed into their winter dress of ermine. The case really contains two groups, a summer and a winter one; but the spectator looking at the summer group perceives it, when it is brilliantly lit internally, through a transparent sheet of Belgian ‘black’ glass. When the internal lights fade and the second group is illuminated, the black glass becomes opaque and acts as a mirror in which only the snow scene is visible, exactly overlapping the summer scene, of which it is a replica in reverse. Many technical difficulties had to be surmounted before the new exhibit was satisfactorily completed; but its dissolving habitat group at once made a great impression. One wonders if the average mortal really needs such bait in order to be induced to look at a representation of Nature: and the result-half his mind is thinking about the trick of the thing; only the other half is giving itself to the study of the Nature group.

News from China

A CORRESPONDENT in China sends us the following items of scientific news:Prof. Chenfu Wu, of Yenching University, Peiping, has been granted a travelling professorship by the Rockefeller foundation for use during his furlough year 1933-34 to complete his catalogue of Chinese insects. He will spend part of his time at Cornell University and the rest visiting museums in England and on the Continent.—Prof. Chihwei Luh, of Yenching University, Peiping, has been granted a fellowship by the China Foundation, which he will use at the University of Chicago during his furlough year 1933-34 for further work in neuroanatomy and psychology.—The Alpha Chapter in China of the Biological Honor Society Beta Beta Beta held its annual meeting on June 9 at Yenching University for the initiation of new members and election of officers. Prof. C. L. Liu, of the Biology Department of the Peiping Normal University, presided over the initiation.—At the eighth annual meeting and dinner of the Peking Society of Natural History, held on April 28, Dr. H. H. Hu, of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology, was elected president of the Society, to serve for the year 1933-34. At the same meeting, announcement was made of the election of Dr. Sven Hedin as honorary member of the Society. The special event of the Society's annual meeting and dinner was the awarding of the King senior medal to Dr. C. Ping, director of the Biological Laboratory of the Science Society, Nanking, in recognition of his work on palozoological subjects and also of his work as a teacher of young Chinese scientific workers in whom he has awakened and cultivated a truly scientific spirit. Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd, of Stanford University, California, has been elected a corresponding member of the Society.

Thirty-Eighth Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union

THE eleventh meeting to be held in Massachusetts took place September 9-15, 1940, at Boston and Cambridge. Headquarters were at the Hotel Statler in Boston and most of the business sessions were held there. The public sessions were held in the New England Museum of Natural History, Tuesday morning; in the Hotel Statler, Tuesday afternoon, and in the Institute of Geographical Exploration of Harvard University in Cambridge, on Wednesday and Thursday. Business Sessions.-The meetings on Monday, September 9, included two sessions of the Council, a meeting of the Fellows at 4 p. m., and a meeting of the Fellows and Members at 8 p. m. The evening business session was attended by 23 Fellows and 32 Members-a total of 55 present. There were elected two Fellows, one Corresponding Fellow, one Patron, eight MVembers and 195 Associates. On October 1, 1940, vacancies in the various membership classes were as follows: Fellows, 3; Honorary Fellows, 3; Corresponding Fellows, 18; Members, 19. The Treasurer's preliminary report was accepted and the meeting authorized the Finance Committee (acting without the Treasurer) to review and approve the final audited report which would be available at the end of the current fiscal year (September 30). This final report (approved November 30) appears farther on. The Treasurer stated that corresponding expenses were even lower than in 1939 when they were about 25% lower than in 1938. Various economy and efficiency measures promise to give the A. 0. U. a balanced budget by the time of the 1941 Denver meeting. The Trustees' report showed that the Endowment Funds, totalling $29,618.12, were in good condition. The Secretary's report indicated that on August 1, 1940, the paidup members of the Union were as follows: Associates, 1,386; Members, 126; Fellows, 46; Patrons, 2; Fellows Emeriti, 3; Honorary Fellows, 22; Associates-elect, 74. Total, including 81 Corresponding Fellows, 1,740. In addition there were 215 subscribers. This represents a good increase, compared with the previous year, in both the number of Associates and subscribers. Twenty-nine resignations had been accepted during the year and 195 Associates elected. Roll call was held for the 24 members deceased since the last meeting: 1

The Library World Volume 22 Issue 6

We believe that at last we stand at the beginning of a new era. On 28th November, in his capacity as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, Mr. Herbert Lewis introduced into the House of Commons a “Bill to Amend the Public Libraries' Acts, 1892 to 1901, and to repeal so much of the Museums and Gymnasiums Act 1891, as authorises the provision of museums in England and Wales.” This, then, is the Government Bill that wo have looked for for many years; some of us for nearly half‐a—century. It means so much for libraries that it is difficult to realise that such a Bill is in being and has the weight of the Government behind it, and that it will quite probably pass quickly —a private Bill would have had no chance whatever.