



* K Y}_3o| 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



At a meeting held on November 25 in the main auditorium of the 

 New National Museum, Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale University, 

 addressed the Scientific-Technical Section of the Federal Employees 

 Union on the subject of "The purchasing power of salaries." The 

 speaker elaborated his theory of a stabilized dollar, pointing out that 

 an invariable unit of value is of even greater importance than invariable 

 units of other quantities, such as length and mass. The Section voted 

 to appoint a Committee for a study of the proposal for a more stable 

 unit than the gold dollar, with instructions to report back a resolution 

 granting or withholding endorsement according to the findings of the 

 Committee. 



Dr. P. G. AgnEw, physicist in the Electrical Division of the Bureau 

 of Standards, has resigned to become secretary of the American En- 

 gineering Standards Committee, with headquarters at the Engineering 

 Building, 29 West 39th Street, New York City. 



Dr. Louis A. Bauer, director of the Department of Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, gave an illustrated lec- 

 ture on "The solar eclipse of May 29, 191 9, and the Einstein effect" 

 before the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at the University 

 of Toronto on December 2, and at the College of the City of New York 

 on December 4. On December 3 Dr. Bauer, assisted by Dr. S. J. 

 Mauchly, gave a lecture on the magnetic and electric work of the 

 Department before a special meeting of the Mathematical and Physical 

 vSociety of the University of Toronto. 



Mr. N. H. Darton, geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, will 

 spend two months in the Dominican Republic early in 1920 to investi- 

 gate oil conditions for a New York company. 



Dr. W. S. Gorton has resigned from the Bureau of Standards, where 

 he has been engaged in work on potential-transformer testing and 

 automotive engine ignition, to accept a research position with the Wes- 

 tern Electric Company in New York City. 



Dr. Carl P. Hartley, pathologist in the office of Forest Pathology, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, resigned in October to accept a position as 

 pathologist with the Instituut voor Plantenziekten en Cultures, Buiten- 

 zorg, Java. 



Mr. W. B. Heroy, formerly of the U. S. Geological Survey, and re- 

 cently on the staff of the McGraw-Hill Company, publishers of tech- 

 nical periodicals, has resigned to accept a position as geologist with the 

 Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation, with offices at 120 Broadway, 

 New York City. 



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