SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 509 



num, refractories, sulfur and pyrites, tanning materials, wood chemi- 

 cals. The consulting staff, mentioned in this column of June 19, 

 1918 (p. 416), consists at present of Dr. E. R. Weidlein, chief. Prof. 

 N. R. Moody, and Dr. Thomes P. McCutcheon, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania. 



The Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports has finished its 

 work of formulating programs for the minimum importation of ores and 

 minerals, and the members of the committee have taken up other 

 work. Prof. C. K. Leith has been appointed mineral adviser to the 

 War Industries Board from the standpoint of the conservation of 

 shipping, Mr. J. E. Spurr is in charge of the war minerals investigation 

 work of the Bureau of Mines, and Mr. Pope Yeatman continues in 

 charge of the Non-Ferrous Metals Divisions of the War Industries 

 Board. 



The New National Museum has been closed to the public by the 

 board of regents, as all available space in the building has been occu- 

 pied by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. It is expected that the 

 Museum will be again opened when the new office building of the 

 Bureau, at Vermont Avenue and H street, is completed. 



Dr. Cleveland Abbe, meteorologist of the Weather Bureau and edi- 

 tor of the Monthly Weather Review, was removed from office by the 

 Secretary of the Interior on July 3, 1918. The chief of the Bureau, 

 Prof. C. F. Marvin, in transmitting the order, stated that the dis- 

 missal resulted from Dr. Abbe's "long-standing and [generally well- 

 known friendly sympathies for the imperial German government," 

 and that investigations leading to dismissal were initiated by sources 

 outside of the Bureau and carried forWard by the Department of Jus- 

 tice. Dr. Abbe has denied that he is disloyal and has requested an 

 opportunity to reply to any charges presented. 



Dr. Olaf Andersen, petrologist at the Geophysical Laboratory, has 

 resigned in order to accept the position of government geologist and 

 director of an experimental sihcate laboratory for the Norwegian Gov- 

 ernment, in Kristiania. Dr. Andersen will leave in September or 

 October. 



Dr. S. J. Barnett has resigned as professor of physics at the Ohio 

 State University and has accepted the post of physicist in change of 

 experimental work in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington, beginning his work there on 

 July 15. 



Dr. F. E. Breithut, assistant professor of chemistry at the College 

 of the City of New York, is on leave of absence and has been com- 

 missioned a major in the Chemical Warfare Section. 



