164 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 13, No. 8 
the solubility of calcium carbonate, which is an important constituent of 
rocks. Organisms vary specifically in the secretion and removal of certain 
elements from sea-water, temperature also playing a part. The speaker 
briefly sketched the réle of certain organisms in removing certain elements, 
and alluded to the great variety of specific and selective reactions accomplished 
by the different organisms. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
JoHN Otiver LA Gorcer, associate editor of the National Geographic 
Magazine and trustee of the National Geographic Soriety, has been elected a 
vice-president of the Society. 
Mr. La Gorce has been associated with the National Geographic Society 
since 1905. 
N. H. Darron has returned to his office in the U.S. Geological Survey 
after an absence of nearly two years completing the field work on the geologic 
map of Arizona. The University of Arizona recently conferred on Mr. 
Darton the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in ‘recognition of his 
investigations on the geology of the Southwest.”’ 
Two additional societies have been elected to affiliation with the AcADEMy. 
They are the Washington Section of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, and the Helminthological Society of Washington. 
The President recently signed a proclamation making a National Monu- 
ment of three groups of towers in southwestern Colorado and southeastern 
Utah. This reservation was originally suggested by Dr. J. WaLrer Fewxss, 
Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the preliminary work has 
been done by the Bureau of Ethnology in coéperation with the National 
Park Service of the Department of the Interior. The monument is called 
The Hovenweep National Monument, the name being derived from the Ute 
word meaning “‘the deserted valley” and having been applied to a neighbor- 
ing canyon many years ago. 
The report of the Treasurer of Yale University includes the statement that 
a gift of securities having an appraised value of $25,475 has been received 
from Mrs. Estretue Ippines CiLEevEeLANp, being the entire estate of her 
brother, the late Professor JosepH Paxson IppriNnas, formerly of Washington, 
for the establishment of the ‘‘Iddings Fund” for the promotion of research in 
petrology. 
The Department of Geology, U. 8. National Museum, has received as a 
gift from Dr. FRANK SprinGeR the paleontological collections of the late 
Orestes H. Sr. Joun. The collection contains a large and extremely 
valuable series of Selachian fishes including many type specimens, the most 
notable of these being a specimen from the Coal Measures of Kansas, con 
taining the complete dentition of a large shark of paleozoic time. 
The Petrologists’ Club met on Tuesday, March 20. The subject for the 
evening was Pegmatites, discussed by Messrs. I’. L. Huss, W.'T. ScHALLER, 
and E. V. SHaANNoN. Various authors have ascribed different connotations 
to the term pegmatite, but in general it refers to texture rather than composi- 
