284 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Mr. H. D. McCaskey resigned from the U. S. Geological vSurvev itr 

 March to assume charge of the Bora Da Orchards at Central Point, 

 Oregon. 



Prof. E. B. M.ATTHEWS, of the National Research Council, and Mr. 

 M. O. Leighton, National Ser\dce Representative of Engineering 

 Council, have been authorized by the recently created Board of vSurveys 

 and Maps to organize an advisory council to the Board, consisting of 

 representatives of engineoring, geographic and other organizations, 

 which shall represent the pubtic and the professions in the presentation 

 and discussion of unofficial demands and needs in connection with the- 

 mapping work of the United States. 



Dr. M. E. Pennington, formerly chief of the food research laboratory 

 of the Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, has^ 

 become manager of the research and development division of the 

 American Balsa Company, Inc., at 50 E. 42d Street, New York City. 



Dr. H. C. Puckett, of vSeattle, Washington, visited the laboratory 

 of the Division of Physical Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, in 

 March, for the purpose of examining the teeth in skulls of various 

 primitive peoples, and gathering information which will aid in deter- 

 mining the cause of early decay in human teeth. He finds but little 

 indication of decay in the teeth of aborigines, a fact accounted for, he 

 believes, by the coarseness of the food they consumed. White flour, 

 soft foods and insufficient mastication are considered by him to be 

 responsible for the relatively large proportion of defective teeth among 

 highly civilized peoples. 



