SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Lectures before the Physics Club of the Bureau of Standards have 

 been deHvered as follows since the preceding report in the Journal:^ 

 February 2 and 16, L. J. Briggs: The resistance of the air; February 

 9, J. S. Ames: Einstein's gravitation; March i, W. J. Humphreys: 

 The physics of thunderstorms; March 15, R. W. Wood: Spectroscopic 

 phenomena in very long vacuum tubes; March 27, Saul Dushman: The 

 ionization gage; March 22 and 29, and April 5, M. D. Hersey: Irrever- 

 sibility in physics, with special reference to elastic lag; April 12, M. D. 

 Hersey, J. R. Freeman, and others: Symposium on irreversibility 

 in physics; April 19, and May 3 and 10, Edgar Buckingham: Elements 

 of theory of dimensions. 



Messrs. W. L. Abbott and E. C. Leonard report from Haiti that a 

 successful collecting trip to Gonave Island has been completed. Rain- 

 fall on that island has been very deficient for three years, and the 

 original forest has practically disappeared and been replaced by grass 

 lands. 



Dr. John Alfred Brashear, astronomer and manufacturer of 

 astronomical instruments, and a non-resident member of the Academy, 

 died at his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 8, 1920, in his 

 eightieth year. Dr. Brashear was born at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, 

 November 24, 1840. He began life as a blacksmith in a Pittsburgh 

 mill, but his interest in research soon led him into the manufacture of 

 astronomical and physical instruments, a vocation which he combined 

 with astronomical research, particularly upon the sun and moon. 

 His work had been recognized by his election to honorary member- 

 ship in a number of American and foreign astronomical societies. 

 His interest in recent years had been mainly with the advancement 

 of educational facilities. He became a member of the Academy in 

 1 9 15, and was elected a non-resident vice-president in 19 19. 



Dr. Austin H. Clark, assistant curator in the Division of Marine 

 Invertebrates of the National Museum, has been appointed curator 

 of the Division of Echinoderms. 



Mr. E. H. Finch, geologist of the Land Classification Board of the 

 U. S. Geological vSurvey, resigned at the -end of March to accept a 

 position with the California division of the Dutch Shell oil corporation 

 and has left Washington for California. 



Mr. Gerard Fowke, a collaborator of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, left St. Louis on April i for Honolulu. He will make an 

 archeological reconnaissance of the Hawaiian Islands with a view to 

 future intensive Avork by the Bureau. 



^ This Journal 10 : 115. February 19, 1920. 



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