NOTES. 399 



ices to science, occurred Xovember 24. Berthelot's activity during more than half a 

 century has covered nearly every branch of chemistry, and has included a number 

 of important contributions to agriculture. His latest publication, Les carbures 

 d'hydrogene, is a work in three large volumes, comprising an account of his labors 

 on these compounds during the last half century. Some of the other important lines 

 of Berthelot's work have been his researches on the synthesis of natural fats, his dis- 

 covery of polyhedric alcohols, his investigations on explosives, on the fixation of 

 nitrogen by i>lants, and in the domain of thermochemistry. The calorimeter bomb, 

 ■which is coming into considerable use in the study of the fuel value or heats of com- 

 bustion of foods and feeding stuffs, is a product of his labors in the latter direction. 



Dr. Charles P. Strong, assistant surgeon in the Army, has been appointed director 

 of the Government biological laboratory recently established in Manila. His work 

 will be mainly along lines relating to animal pathology. 



Prof. A. E. Shuttleworth, formerly chemist of the Ontario Agricultural College 

 and Experimental Farm at Guelph, Canada, has resigned from that institution to 

 accept the position of superintendent and chemist for a Sugar Beet Company, in 

 Ontario, Canada. His assistant, R. Harcourt, has been appointed to till the vacancy. 



Clarence T. Johnston, assistant in irrigation investigations in this Department, will 

 spend the winter in Egypt studying irrigation works and practice in that country. 

 Mr. Johnston will go directly to Cairo, where he will meet the English irrigation 

 oflBcers and make plans for his tour, possibly joining one of the field parties. He 

 will go up the Nile about 500 miles above Cairo, and will inspect the canal systems, 

 levees, dams, etc., including the famous Assuan Dam across the Nile, which is 

 approaching completion. Special attention will be given to pumping machinery, 

 tools used in irrigation work, the maintenance of canals and levees, and similar engi- 

 neering features. Mr. Johnston will arrive about the time that the Corvee or forced 

 labor enters upon its work of repairing the canals and putting the levees in shape for 

 the season. He will return, probably, some time in February via northern Italy, 

 southern France, and Spain, taking in the irrigated sections of those countries. 



Regierungsrath Freiherr Dr. von Tubeuf has been appointed director of the bio- 

 logical section of the royal board of health at Berlin, in place of Dr. B. Frank, 

 deceased. 



Prof. Dr. W. Palladin, formerly of the University of Warsaw, has become extraor- 

 dinary professor of vegetable anatomy and physiology at the University of St. 

 Petersburg. 



Dr. E. Eidam, director of the Agricultural-Botanical Experiment and Seed Control 

 Station at Breslau, has retired and has been succeeded by Dr. W. Remer as director, 

 with J. Schleussner as assistant. 



B. Minari, agricultural chemist of the soil survey of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture and Commerce at Tokyo, Japan, has recently visited this country and 

 gone over the soil work which is being carried on by this Department and a number 

 of the experiment stations. Mr. Minari states that the soil survey of Japan, which 

 was started several years ago, is being actively prosecuted and will eventually cover 

 the whole country. 



Miscellaneous. — An office of agricultural information (office de reivmgnements agri- 

 colea) has recently been established under the ministry of agriculture of France. It 

 takes the place of the former bureau of agricultural statistics and food products. The 

 object of the office is to collect statistical information in regard to agriculture and 

 agricultural products in France and foreign countries, the market conditions, general 

 agricultural conditions, imports, public sales, agricultural labor, and similar lines; to 

 make practical studies on such subjects as the methods of packing and preserving, 

 transportation, etc., of agricultural products; the conditions of buying and selling, 

 business customs, etc., in France and foreign countries; to prepare monographs on 

 agricultural topics; to collect technical and commercial information of interest to 



