SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 215 



Coast and Geodetic Survey. This is the first publication of a projection 

 of this type by the Survey. Besides its useful property of equal area, 

 the projection has smaller scale and direction errors than the polyconic 

 projection map which has been used frequently for political, census, or 

 statistical purposes. 



Mr. A. C. Bent, of Taunton, Massachusetts, visited the Division of 

 Birds of the National Museum on February' 25-27, for the purpose 

 of picking out eggs to illustrate the second volume of his work on the 

 life histories of North American birds. 



The term of office of Surgeon General Rupert Blue expired by law 

 on January 15. Dr. Hugh S. Gumming, of Hampton, Virginia, was 

 nominated as his successor, and the nomination was confirmed by" the 

 Senate on February 24, 1920. Dr. Blue will remain with the Public 

 Health Service and will continue his research work on influenza and 

 allied problems. 



Mr. C. F. BowEN, former geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, 

 has been appointed chief geologist of the Standard Oil Company of 



New Jersey. 



Mr. William BaylES Coffman, assistant classifier in the Water 

 Resources Branch, U. S. Geological vSurvey, died at Emergency Hos- 

 pital on January 21, 1920, in his twenty -fifth year. He had been with 

 the Survey since December, 191 7. 



Dr. C. Wythe Cooke, of the U. S. Geological Survey, has been 

 granted leave of absence to accompany Mr. O. B. Hopkins, of the 

 Imperial Oil Company, on a six months' trip to Colombia. 



Dr. AllERTOn S. Cushman, of the Institute of Industrial Research, 

 will deliver the 1920 course of lectures on "Chemistry and civilization" 

 under the Richard B. Westbrook Foundation at the Wagner Free 

 Institute of Science, of Philadelphia. 



Dr. Arthur L. Day, director of the Geophysical Laboratory, Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington, who has been on leave of absence since 

 October i, 19 18, returned to Washington to resume active charge of 

 the Laboratory on April i, 1920. 



A unique addition to the exhibit of vertebrate fossils at the National 

 Museum has recently been made in the form of three beautifully pre- 

 served skulls of an extinct peccary, collected by Mr. J. W. Gidley 

 from a cave near Cumberland, Maryland. 



Mr. Charles S. GrindlE, examiner of interferences in the Patent 

 Office, has resigned to become a member of the patent law firm of 

 Watson, Coit, Morse and Grindle (formerly Foster, Freeman, Watson 

 and Coit) with offices at 916 G Street. 



Mr. D. F. Hewett, of the U. vS. Geological Survey, will spend three 

 months in private work in Cuba while on leave from the Survey. 



