964 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 783 



November 24, 1909. 

 Deab Mb. Sangeb: — 



I hope most earnestly that you will be success- 

 ful in your efforts to raise money for a new 

 chemical laboratory. That Boylston Hall has 

 been inadequate for purposes both of research 

 and instruction has long been lamentably evident, 

 and that Harvard University should not be prop- 

 erly equipped in this field is the more to be re- 

 gretted, in view of the rapidly increasing impor- 

 tance of chemistry in industry and medicine. It 

 is well known that the industries of America are 

 behind those of Germany in the use of chemical 

 processes, and better chemical facilities at our 

 universities would help greatly towards curing 

 this defect. It seems unfortunate that the mag- 

 nificent research in chemistry being conducted at 

 Harvard should be hampered by the lack of labo- 

 ratory room. Yours very truly, 



A. Laweence Lowell 



Professor C. R. Sanger. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES! AND NEWS 

 In the present issue of Science are printed 

 the address of the retiring president of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, and of the vice-president 

 of the section for mathematics and astronomy, 

 Professor 0. J. Keyser, of Columbia Univer- 

 sity. In the issue for next weelv will be 

 printed the proceedings of the Boston meet- 

 ing, which promises to be of more than usual 

 interest and importance. 



The Chicago Geographical Society has 

 awarded the Helen Culver gold medal to Com- 

 mander Eobert E. Peary, for distinguished 

 services in exploration, and to Professor 

 Thomas C. Chamberlin, of the University of 

 Chicago, for distinguished services in geo- 

 graphical research. The medals will be pre- 

 sented at the annual dinner of the society on 

 January 26. 



The Paris Academy of Sciences has awarded 

 medals for aeronautic achievements as follows : 

 gold — Wilbur and Orville Wright, Bleriot, 

 Parman, Count de Lambert, Santos-Dumont, 

 De La Vauix, Voisin and Count Zeppelin; 

 enamel — Bremuet, Paulhan, Delagrange, Eou- 

 gier and Esnault Pelterie. 



As has been everywhere announced, the 

 University of Copenhagen has reported ad- 

 versely on the claims of Dr. Frederick A. 

 Cook to have reached the North Pole. This 

 report will not now come as a surprise to any 

 one nor had a different result been anticipated 

 at any time by those conversant with the cir- 

 cumstances, as is indicated by the note pub- 

 lished in this journal, on September 10, when 

 the announcement was first made. 



Dr. Theo. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, and Professor August Brauer, director of 

 the Zoological Museum, Berlin, have been 

 elected foreign members of the Zoological So- 

 ciety of London. The following correspond- 

 ing members were elected: Mr. E. Salis- 

 Schwabe, of Manaos, Brazil; Professor W. 

 Kukenthal, of Breslau, Germany; Professor 

 Gustave Gilson, of Ostend, Belgium, and Dr. 

 E. G. Eacovitza, sub-director of the Labora- 

 toire Arago, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. 



De. Ephraim Miller, professor of mathe- 

 matics and astronomy in the University of 

 Kansas, who will celebrate his seventy-seventh 

 birthday on April 25, will retire from active 

 service at the close of the academic year 

 under the provisions of the Carnegie Founda- 

 tion. 



Professor J. Culver Haetzell, B.S. (Chat- 

 tanooga), M.S. (Yale), Ph.D. (Munich), has 

 resigned as head of the department of geology 

 and chemistry in the University of the Pacific, 

 the resignation to take effect at the close of 

 the present academic year. 



Dr. E. B. Tylor, professor of anthropology 

 at Oxford University, will retire from active 

 service. 



Dr. Leo Loeb, assistant professor of pathol- 

 ogy at the University of Pennsylvania, will at 

 the close of the present academic year become 

 director of an institution for the study of 

 cancer in St. Louis. 



De. Shepherd Ivory Franz, psychologist at 

 the Government Hospital for the Insane, 

 Washington, D. C, has been appointed scien- 

 tific director of that institution. 



Mr. W. M. Tattersall has been appointed 

 keeper of the Manchester Museum in succes- 

 sion to Dr. W. E. Hoyle. 



