28 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Messrs. F. L. Hess and R. M. Overbeck, of the U. S. Geological 

 vSurvey, are on a six months' leave of absence and are engaged in ex- 

 ploration of deposits of ores of the rare metals in Bolivia, for private 

 interests. 



Miss Martineau Knight, geologic aid of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey, has been employed by the Roxana Oil Company of California as 

 office geologist. 



Dr. S. KoNiSKi of the Department of Commerce and Agriculture of 

 Japan, and Technical Adviser to the Japanese delegates at the Peace 

 Conference, visited Washington in December. 



Prof. T. H. Laby of the University of Melbourne visited the scien- 

 tific laboratories of Washington in December, while on his way back 

 to Australia from England, where he has been doing research work on 

 war problems. 



Mr. A. G. Maddren resigned from the U. S. Geological Survey in 

 December, to enter the employ of the Vulcan Oil Company. He will 

 make a detailed study of part of the Ranger oil field, Texas, under the 

 direction of Ralph Arnold. 



Senator Medill McCormick of Illinois has been appointed a regent 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Mr. John D. McChesney, disbursing clerk of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey since its organization, died on December 5, 191 9. 



Mr. C. C. OsBON, statistical clerk in charge of peat and asphalt in 

 the mineral resources branch of the Geological Survey, has resigned to do 

 statistical work for the Marland Refining Company. 



Prof. Louis Valentine Pirsson, professor of geology at Yale Uni- 

 versity, and a non-resident member of the Academy, died on December 

 8, 1 9 19, in his sixtieth year. Professor Pirsson was born in New York 

 City, November 3, i860. His entire academic career of thirty-seven 

 years was spent at Yale. His work was principally in petrology, par- 

 ticularly of the igneous rocks of Montana and New England. He had 

 been a member of the Academy since 1900, and was also a member of 

 the Geological Society of Washington. 



Mr. Henry S. Rawdon, ph3^sicist in the metallurgical division of the 

 Bureau of Standards, went to Europe in November, to spend about 

 three months in collecting information on permissible limits for sulfur 

 and phosphorus in steels. 



A wireless message from South America states that Dr. Gaillard 

 Sherburne Rogers, geologist of the U. S. Geological Surv^ey, was 

 drowned on November 18, 1919. He was engaged at the time in the 

 examination of oil and gas concessions in Colombia. Dr. Rogers 

 was born on March 21, 1889, in New York City. He joined the Geo- 

 logical Survey in 1911 and had devoted his attention particularly to 

 the geology of oil and gas deposits. He was a member of the Academy 

 and of the Geological Society. 



