provisions of the decree every subject shall have at least one class period of an hour each week. Enrollment in the school is open for all those who have passed the fifth-year examinations in the Pedro II Secondary School or in any similar institution under Government supervision. Candidates with certificates that they have completed required studies in Portuguese, French, English, Latin, arithmetic, geography, general history, and Brazilian geography and history, and employees of museums in other cities of the Republic may also enroll. Students who have successfully completed the museum course will be given preference in appointments or promotion to specified positions in the National Historical Museum. The program of study arranged for the course included the political and administrative history of Brazil during the colonial period, numismatics, the history of art, the history of Brazilian art, applied archæology in Brazil, Brazilian numismatics, epigraphy, chronology, and museum science. The National Museum will have charge of the course and the teaching staff will be appointed from among the employees of that institution. In this connection it is interesting to note that Miss Berta Lutz, who for some time has been secretary of the National Museum, came to the United States in April for three months of intensive study of museum management and methods. Miss Lutz, who held a fellowship from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, carried on her investigations under the auspices of the American Association of Museums. On her trip through the central and eastern sections of the United States, Miss Lutz visited more than 50 institutions, including trail-side and other open-air museums, in which she is particularly interested.

The popular course in music opened by the University of Rio de Janeiro on April 20, 1932, is the first of its kind to be established in Brazil. The program as outlined in the press covers practically every phase of the history of music besides presenting a detailed study of Brazilian musical folklore. The various subjects scheduled for treatment during the course include the origin of music, the music of the ancients, Greek and oriental music, primitive Christian music, the Gregorian chant, popular medieval music, the beginning of polyphony, musical notation, counterpoint; the opera, oratorio, and other musical forms of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries; German musical drama of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; songs, and symphonic and chamber music of Germany, Austria, France, the Scandinavian countries, Bohemia, and Russia during the same period; contemporary music in different countries; and Brazilian music during colonial times, the empire, the era of Carlos Gomes, the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the beginning of the present century. (Those who have listened in person or by radio to the concerts of Latin American music given at the Pan

American Union will remember Carlos Gomes as the gifted composer of numbers often repeated by request. The two most popular selections from his many compositions that have figured on the programs are the overture to Il Guarani and the grand scenes from Salvador Rosa.) The principles of musical æsthetics, the musical folklore of Brazil, and the general characteristics and tendencies in modern music likewise form part of the studies. Classes are held once a week, and the tuition is free.

The scope of courses offered by the School of Medicine of the University of CHILE was broadened during the latter part of April by the creation of a course in the history of medicine. The first session was held on April 25, 1932; at that time brief remarks were made by the dean of the School of Medicine, who stressed the importance of the new subject, and an introductory lecture was given by the professor in charge.

Early in the year President Olaya Herrera of COLOMBIA issued an Executive decree providing for the creation of a teachers' college to offer a graduate course for normal school teachers. One of the principal objects of the decree was to prepare for changes to be inaugurated in the educational system of the country during 1933. In view of the establishment of the new institution, no other normal schools will be opened for the present. Subsequent orders issued by the Minister of Education provided that the college would open on March 15, 1932, and to be eligible for the 1-year course, students must be between 20 and 35 years old. The teachers attending the school were chosen by the Departmental supervisors of public education, three being sent from each Department. They were to be selected on the basis of their ability and qualifications for assuming later the responsibilities either of teaching or directing normal schools or of general supervising. Students receive free tuition, traveling expenses, room and board, and a monthly stipend while attending

the school.

In order to provide adequate preparation for science teachers in secondary and normal schools in COSTA RICA, President González Víquez, near the close of his term of office, issued a decree creating a School of Sciences, where instruction will be offered in mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geography, mineralogy, and geology. Each course will cover two years. Enrollment in the school is open to normal-school graduates and persons having a high school diploma from some national institution or an equivalent education in a foreign country.

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In MEXICO interesting innovations in the regular educational programs were the opening of a correspondence course in hygiene for rural teachers and the adoption of new methods of music instruction. The correspondence course in hygiene and the care of the sick especially adapted for rural teachers was opened by the educational division of the Bureau of Public Health on May 18, 1932. By establishing this course, the bureau will prepare the teacher to instruct not only the school children but the adult members of the community as well. The lessons will be arranged in simple and interesting form and be essentially practical.

In order to coordinate the instruction of music and provide for a larger number of pupils the advantages of musical instruction under the best teachers, the Department of Public Education has decided to broadcast a course in music from its station in Mexico City. Since it is intended that the rural school in particular should benefit from the plan, the department is endeavoring to equip all the rural schools /with receiving sets. Broadcasts are to be made daily.

Recently the Fine Arts Council of the Ministry of Public Education approved the adoption of a new program of musical instruction in the primary schools. As the students progress, they will be given an opportunity to learn the regional music of the country and to become familiar with the tunes and rhythms of the ancient indigenous tribes. This not only will serve to broaden the pupils' knowledge and heighten their enjoyment and appreciation of local themes, but will be an important factor in preserving some of the now fast disappearing music of the native peoples.

Centenary of girls' school.-On May 30, 1932, the Merced School for Girls in Bogota, which has the distinction of being the first educational institution for women established in COLOMBIA after it became independent, celebrated its centenary.

Occupying a spacious, well-equipped building in the center of Bogota, the present school has little outward resemblance to the institution which began life in an abandoned Capuchin Convent a century ago; yet neither the changes in its curriculum nor the improvement of its quarters can alter the pride of students and alumni in its early history and particularly in its establishment, one of the cherished projects of the Liberator.

The old Colegio de la Enseñanza, which dated from colonial times, had proved unequal to meeting the educational needs of the early nineteenth century. With far-sighted vision Don Rufino Cuervo, then Governor of Bogota and the preeminent philologist of his day, succeeded in securing a modest annual income sufficient to establish a school which should provide an adequate education for women. At that time it was the intention that the new institution should

extend its benefits solely to the daughters of veterans of the War for Independence.

It was Vice President Márquez, then acting president in the absence of General Santander, who had the honor of issuing the decree authorizing the establishment of the school. To him also are attributed the first regulations, grants of funds sufficient for its maintenance, and the appointment of Doña Marcelina Lagos as its first principal. Strangely enough, while the school was not established until 1832, over a year after the death of the Liberator and under entirely different circumstances, both its founding and establishment in the Capuchin convent were in accordance with a decree which he had issued more than 10 years before. Bolívar, then as always keenly interested in the education of women, wished to establish a school where impoverished daughters of men killed or wounded during the War of Independence might receive an education. The decree provided that the convent should be used for such an institution, and authorized that a legacy of 25,000 pesos be used for that purpose exclusively. Although the provisions of the decree were never carried out, in 1832, when the problem of women's education was again discussed, the building selected by the Liberator was that chosen for the new school.

LABOR

Brazilian regulations on work of women in industry.-Detailed regulations on the work of women in BRAZILIAN industrial and commercial establishments were issued by Getulio Vargas, Chief of the Provisional Government, in a decree dated May 17, 1932.

Beginning with a declaration of the right of all workers to equal compensation without distinction as to sex, the decree provides that women shall not be employed in public or privately owned industrial and commercial establishments between the hours of ten at night and five in the morning, forbids their employment in specified industries, and guarantees them safeguards during pregnancy and childbirth.

According to the regulations, women shall not be required to handle articles above a given weight nor be employed in work carried on underground, in subterranean mining operations, quarries, private or public construction work, or in dangerous or unhealthful tasks listed in a supplementary order. Restriction on any or all of these last, however, may be lifted by order of the Minister of Labor, Industry, and Commerce when it is proved that as a result of the adoption of new methods of work or manufacture or the introduction of preventive measures the danger or unhealthful condition has been eliminated.

While the regulations provide that women shall not be employed in night work, exception is made in cases where the members of the family owning the establishment are the only persons employed, or where night work is indispensable to avoid an interruption in the normal operation of the establishment in case of unavoidable circumstances which do not recur periodically or to avoid the loss of raw materials or perishable substances. Women employed on the staffs of hospitals, clinics, sanatoriums, and insane asylums and directly responsible for the care of the sick, those over 18 years of age working in telephone or radio companies, and those who occupy responsible administrative positions and do not participate in the normal continuous work of the establishment are also excepted.

Pregnancy alone shall not be considered a justifiable cause for the dismissal of a woman from her position. Expectant mothers shall not be required to work during the four weeks prior to and following childbirth. Upon recommendation by a physician these periods may each be increased to six weeks should conditions so demand. Women nursing their own children will be granted special rest periods of a half hour each twice a day during the first six months following childbirth.

Establishments which employ 30 or more women over 16 years of age shall maintain a day nursery for the children of their employees. During the period of from four to six weeks prior to or following childbirth women shall have the right to compensation equal to one-half of their average wages during the previous six months, and shall not be demoted because of their absence from their regular duties.

The amount of the compensation during the time it is impossible for her to work will ordinarily be taken from the funds established by the Institute of Social Insurance. If, however, money is not available from this source, the amount must be paid by the employer.

THE ARGENTINE RED CROSS AND ITS WORK

An excellent summary of the history of the Red Cross in Argentina, which in 1930 completed 50 years of work, was made by the Revista y Boletín de Información de la Liga de Sociedades de la Cruz Roja, Paris, in its June, 1932, issue, and from it the following review has been taken.

On June 10, 1880, the National Red Cross Society of Argentina was definitely organized, largely owing to the zeal of Dr. Guillermo Rawson, and four days later its constitution was approved by the Government, which the year before had signed the International Red Cross Convention of Geneva.