244 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 10 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Messrs. William Bowie and H. G. Avers went to Ottawa, Canada, in 

 March, to consult with the superintendent of the Geodetic Survey of Canada 

 in regard to the coordination of precise-level nets of the two countries. It 

 is proposed that the two nets be adjusted together in order that the eleva- 

 tions on the boundary may agree in the maps and reports published in the 

 two countries. 



Prof. F. W. Clarke of the U. S. Geological Survey, and Dr. H. S. Wash- 

 ington of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, have been elected Fellows of the Geological Society of London. 



Messrs. HippolyTE Copaux, of the School of Industrial Physics and 

 Chemistry of Paris; PiERRE Lelaudoux, of the Tunisian Phosphate Com- 

 pany; EuGENio DoNEGANi, of the Sicilian Sulphur Company; and Georges 

 Flusin, of Grenoble, visited the scientific institutions of Washington in April. 

 They are in the United States to make a study of the fertilizer situation. 



Mr. William Valley Hagar, junior hydrographic and geodetic engineer 

 in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, died at Tarrytown, New York, March 

 24, 1921. Mr. Hagar was born March 25. 1888, at Weybridge, Vermont. 

 In 1912 he was appointed an assistant engineer in the United States and 

 Canadian Boundary Service and was transferred to the Survey in 1913. 



The will of the late Miss Caroline Henry, daughter of Professor Joseph 

 Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, gives $1,000 to the 

 Institution and names it as residuary legatee of an estate with provision 

 for several beneficiaries during their lifetime. 



Dr. A. S. Hitchcock of the Smithsonian Institution left Washington 



in April for a trip to the Philippine Islands, Japan, China, Indo-China, 



Singapore, and Java, for the purpose of studying the bamboos. He expects 

 to be absent about eight months. 



Mr. Douglas Karr, junior hydrographic and geodetic engineer in the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, died at his home in Passaic, New Jersey, March 

 20, 1921. Mr. Karr was born in New York City March 1, 1891, and was 

 appointed an aid in the Survey in 1913. He was retired on account of phys- 

 ical disabiUty only a short time before his death. 



Mr. A. H. Miller, of the Dominion Astronomical Observatory of Canada, 

 is at the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey engaged in a determination of the 

 Washington periods of a set of pendulums for the purpose of determining 

 the difference in the constant of gravity between Ottawa and Washington. 

 This determination is to supplement and strengthen a determination of the 

 difference in gravity between the two stations made just before the War. 



Mr. William Palmer, taxidermist in the National Museum, died on 

 April 8, 1921. He had been connected with the Museum since its earliest 

 days. The numerous specimens, both casts and mounted animals, in the 

 exhibition series testify to his skill. The exhibit of the vertebrates of the 

 District of Columbia in the National Museum is almost entirely his work. 



Dr. H. S. Washington of the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institu- 

 tion of Washington, has been elected a foreign honorary member of Viden- 

 skabs Selskabet i Kristiania (the Norwegian Academy of Sciences) in the 

 section of geology, mineralogy, and physical geography. The other American 

 members are W. M. Davis and J. F. Kemp. 



