XOTES 



509 



D. H. Beyea, Lievt. Col. Frank T. Wood- 

 BLKY. Messrs. Russell M. Bexxett, Rob- 

 ert D. Carson, Periival W. A. Fitzsim- 

 MONS, Lloyd Hemingway, Morton C. 

 Kahn, John T. Pikie. F. A. PritDV. and 

 Ernest Windle. 



Dr. James Douglas, a trustee and bene- 

 factor of tlie American ]\Iuseuni of Natural 

 History since its orfjanization in ls()9, died 

 at his home in New York City on .lune 2.1. 

 liUS, in his eighty-first year. By the terms 

 of his will, dated December 4, 1017, the sum 

 of $100,000 was bequeathed to tlie Anieriran 

 Museum. Dr. Douglas was tor many years 

 rated as one of the foremost metal and min- 

 ing authorities of the world, lie was born 

 in Quebec, Canada, and received his educa- 

 tion at Queen's University, Kingston, and at 

 the I'niversity of Edinburgh. For his, work 

 in the field of hydrometallurgy, in which he 

 was associated with Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, fa- 

 mous for his copper research, McGill Uni- 

 versity, ^lontreal, awarded him the degree 

 of Doctor of Laws. After some years spent 

 in giving instruction he resigned the profes- 

 sorship in chemistry which he held in Morrin 

 College, Quebec, to become a mining engi- 

 neer, and in 187.5 came to Phcenixville, Penn- 

 sylvania, where he took charge of a copper 

 plant. Later he became identified with the 

 copper industry of Arizona, New Mexico, 

 and Sonora, Mexico, as well as with the rail- 

 roads, and together with his early associates 

 in business, the late William E. Dodge and 

 the late D. Willis .Tames, was largely respon- 

 sible for the development of that region. 

 He was president of the Copper Queen Con- 

 solidated Mining Company, one of the larg- 

 est copper producing companies of the 

 country, and also of the El Paso and South- 

 ern Railroad and allied lines. In addition. 

 Dr. Douglas was a historian and writer of 

 note and a philanthropist. His writings in- 

 clude Canadian Independence, Imperial Fed- 

 eration and Annexation, Old France in the 

 Xew World, and New England and Neiv 

 France — Contrasts and Parallels in Colonial 

 Ilistnr;/, besides numerous technical articles 

 relating to minerals and mining. He was 

 ]>rominent in many organizations, including 

 the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 

 of which he was president twice, the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society, the American 

 Geographical Society, and the Society of 

 Arts of London. 



In honor of Mr. Joseph II. Choate, Pro- 

 fessor Henry Fairfield Osborn has prepared 

 a nu^morial volume, wliich contains an ac- 

 count of Mr. Chiiate's <'onn(>cti()n with the 

 American Must'uiii t'roni ls(;;i to liil7. An 

 address whicii lu' dt'lixcrcil in ls74, giving a 

 resume of the history of the Museum, is in- 

 cluded, and the volume (doses with his last 

 jiajier on tlie saiiii' subject, which was pub- 

 lished in ilii' .\.MEKi('AN Museum Journal 

 for May, lit 17. Copies of the memorial have 

 l)oen distributed to the following persons and 

 institutions: ]\Irs. Josejih II. Choate; Messrs. 

 .1. I'. Moigan; Frcilcrick F. Brewster; 

 'i'lniuuis \)i' Witt Cuyler; \'iscount James 

 P>ryce: the Libraiy of Congress; Salem Pub- 

 lic Library; the Harvard Club; the Associa- 

 tion of the Bar, Xew York City; the Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art; and the trustees and 

 library of the American ^Museum. 



As all available space in the new National 

 Museum at Washington is occupied at pres- 

 ent by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, 

 the building has been closed to the public 

 by the board of regents. It will be reopened 

 when the new office building of the bureau, 

 at Vermont Avenue and H Street, is ready 

 for occupancy. 



President Wilson has authorized a loan 

 of one million dollars from the special de- 

 fense fund placed by Congress at his dis- 

 posal to the Forest Service for fire-fighting 

 expenses, in recognition of the fact that 

 protection of the national forests is an im- 

 portant and essential war activity. Early 

 drouth, high winds, electrical storms, and de- 

 pletion of the regular protective force as a 

 result of the war, have combined to make the 

 present fire season in the Northwest the most 

 serious with which the Govei'iiment has ever 

 had to cope. 



Ox Bastille Day, July 14, in conunemora- 

 tion of the national holiday of the French 

 Republic, the French flag was raised at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, and 

 a cablegram was sent by President Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn to Paris, carrying the 

 greetings of the staff of the American Mu- 

 seum to their scientific colleagues in the an- 

 cient Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 

 an institution which entered a perioil of great 

 achievement following the first Bastille Day. 

 An immediate response from the director of 



