SEPT. 19, 1921 SCmNTlFlC NOTES AND NEWS 379 



556th meeting 



The 556th regular meeting (42nd annual meeting) of the Society was held 

 at the National Museum at 4 .45 p.m., April 19, 1921. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 

 President of the Society, dehvered a lecture on The Indians of the Vosemite 

 Region, California. The lecture was illustrated by a large number of slides 

 showing the distribution of the dialects of the stock, the history of the In- 

 dians, the landmarks of the region, and the present survivors. At the close 

 of the lecture the annual meeting of the Society was held. 



The Secretary, John P. Harrington, reported that the Society has at 

 present 51 active members, 6 life members, 4 associate members, and 2 

 honorary members, making a total membership of 63. New members added 

 during the year were: Mr. W. E. Meyer, Mr. M. J. Caples, Mr. R. E- 

 Montgomery, and Miss Ellen Hayes. One active member was lost through 

 death: Dr. Edwin LEE Morgan. The Treasurer's report showed a bal- 

 ance to the credit of the Society of $139.56, and total assets of $667.47. 



The following officers were reelected for the ensuing year: President, 

 C. Hart Merriam; Vice President, Neil M. Judd; Secretary, John P. 

 Harrington; Treasurer, J. N. B. Hewitt; Board of Managers, Charles 

 L. G. Anderson, Felix Neumann, Francis La Flesche. 



John P. Harrington, Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The topographic survey of the Virgin Islands was completed by the U. 

 S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in June. 



An interdepartmental conference was held on July 25 at the Interior 

 Department to discuss the status of patents arising within the government 

 service. The purpose of the conference was to coordinate and formulate 

 the views held in the various bureaus and departments on this subject. 

 After discussion, a committee of five was appointed to report in detail ways 

 and means for the suggested coordination, and another committee of three 

 was appointed to develop a plan for a general clearing house of information 

 for the departments with respect to licenses, shop rights, and titles in patents 

 which the Government has acquired or may acquire. 



Mr. Walter G. Campbell was appointed acting chief of the Bureau of 

 Chemistry in August. 



A geological party of four, consisting of Professors R. A. Daly and 

 Charles Palache of Harvard University, Professor G. A. F. MolEngraaf 

 of the University of Delft, Holland, and Dr. F. E. Wright of the Geophysical 

 Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, will spend the coming 

 winter in southern Africa, in a geologic and petrologic study of the Bushfeld 

 igneous complex in Transvaal. 



Dr. H. C. Dickinson, chief of the automotive investigations division 

 of the Bureau of Standards, has been granted a leave of absence to become 

 director of research for the Society of Automotive Engineers. He will con- 

 tinue to assist in the work of the Bureau in a consulting capacity. 



Dr. Graham Edgar, professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia, 

 has been associated with the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory at the 

 American University during the summer, completing some work which he 

 began there during the War. 



Major Louis Albert Fischer, chief of the division of weights and measures 

 of the Bureau of Standards, died on July 25, 1921, in his fifty-eighth year 



