SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 427 



Mr. F. B, Laney, who was detailed in 19 13 to the Bureau of Mines 

 for cooperative research on complex and refractory ores, has returned 

 to the Geological Survey where he will continue his research work on 

 the metalliferous ores. After five years at the Colorado, California, 

 Utah, and Pittsburgh stations of the Bureau of Mines, he took charge 

 of a government metallographic laboratory at Pittsburgh where he co- 

 operated with the Ordnance Department of the Army during 191 8 and 

 1919 in the microscopic examination of metals and alloys used in the 

 manufacture of ordnance. 



Dr. Willis T. Lee has returned to the Geological Survey after six 

 months' leave of absence, during which he was head of the department 

 of geology and director of the School of Engineering Geology of the 

 University of Oklahoma. 



Wesleyan University at its recent commencement conferred the degree 

 of Doctor of Science on Dr. F. B. UiTTELL, astronomer of the Naval 

 Observ^atory. 



Mr. E. Russell Lloyd resigned on July 12 as geologist in charge of 

 petroleum resources in the Division of Mineral Resources of the Geo- 

 logical vSurvey. He is now geologist for the Ohio Cities Gas Company. 



Mr. Francois E. Matthes, of the Geological Survey, gave a series 

 of lectures in Yosemite National Park during the month of July, under 

 the auspices of the university extension division of the University of 

 California. The subjects were as follows: July 8: Origin of the 

 Yosemite Valley, as indicated in the history of its waterfalls. July 9: 

 The highest ice flood in the Yosemite Valley. July 12: The origin of the 

 granite domes of Yosemite. 



Mr. Carl W. Mitman has been appointed Curator of the Division 

 of Mechanical Technology in the Smithsonian Institution, 



Mr. C. H. Ober of the Coast and Geodetic Survey has been granted 

 leave of absence to go with Dr. Alexander Rice's expedition to the 

 Amazon River. 



Mr. Sidney Paige has resumed his duties at the Geological vSurvey 

 after six months' leave of absence spent in professional work in the 

 northern part of South America. 



Mr. John L. Ridgway, chief of the section of illustrations of the 

 Geological Survey, has returned from a month's leave of absence spent 

 in a trip to the Pacific Coast. 



Dr. Charles C. vScalione, formerly a lieutenant in the Research 

 Division of the Chemical Warfare Service, has been appointed assistant 

 catalytical chemist in the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory of the 

 Nitrate Division, Ordnance Department, at the American University. 



Dr. H. L. Shantz, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, has been ap- 

 pointed botanist with the expedition to South and Central Africa which 

 sailed from New York in July under the direction of Mr. Edmund 



