August 8, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



135 



The executive committee of the Division 

 of Chemistry and Chemical Technology voted 

 that the use of such a sum for a similar pur- 

 pose in connection with chemical research 

 would not be a wise expenditure at the pres- 

 ent time for the following reasons : 



1. The proposed plan, to be successful, would re- 

 quire the enlistment of the services of the best men 

 in the country in traveling about and consulting 

 with the various research workers. Such a utiliza- 

 tion of their time would detract just so much from 

 the progress of their own research work, with no 

 certainty that the hoped-for stimulation and or- 

 ganization of the research workers of the country 

 would exceed in value this loss. 



2. The committee also feels that the first step in 

 attaining the purposes of the proposed project 

 should be a carefully prepared and indexed re- 

 search census and that the promotion of coopera- 

 tion between investigators working along similar 

 lines can be best attained by calling a conference 

 at some central point. The program of work for 

 each such conference should be carefully worked 

 out in advance by correspondence with the investi- 

 gators, supplemented by such personal visits as the 

 chairman of the Division may be able to make. 



3. In view of the amount of preparatory work 

 to be done in connection with securing the neces- 

 sary data, corresponding with the research work- 

 ers, and arranging the program for such confer- 

 ences, the committee does not feel that during the 

 first year it would be practicable to call more than 

 five such conferences, but feels that a sum of 

 money, not to exceed $7,000, could be wisely and 

 fruitfully expended in this way during the first 

 year and would be glad to join the Physics Di- 

 vision in requesting such a sum from the Rocke- 

 feller Foundation, to be used in this manner. It 

 feels, however, that any requests for additional 

 amounts should be based upon the knowledge and 

 experience gained during the first year. 



THE PATRON'S MEDAL OF THE ROYAL 

 GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 



At the anniversary of the Eoyal Geograph- 

 ical Society on Jime 2, the medals were pre- 

 sented in accordance with the announcement 

 already made in Science. The president of 

 the society, Sir Thomas Holditch, in present- 

 ing the patron's medal to Mr. Butler Wright 

 for Professor W. M. Davis said: 



The Patron 's Medal is awarded to Professor Wil- 

 liam Morris Davis, of Harvard University, for his 

 eminence in the development of physical geography. 

 He is the most eminent of living American geog- 

 raphers, and has devoted his life to investigations 

 in physical geography and to tlie teaching of geog- 

 raphy as a university subject at Harvard, and as 

 visiting professor in several European universities. 

 At the commencement of his career he devoted 

 much attention to meteorology, and his "Elemen- 

 tary Meteorology, 1894" is a standard work. Later 

 he had practical experience as a geologist on the 

 U. S. Geological Survey. For forty years he has 

 given his main attention to the physical geography 

 of the land surface, on which he has published sev- 

 eral books and very many papers, some of the most 

 important of these in the Geographical Journal. 

 Professor Davis has travelled throughout North 

 and South America and Europe, widely in Asia (in- 

 cluding an expedition to Turkestan), Africa and 

 Australasia. All the leading geographers of Europe 

 have at one time or another taken part in geo- 

 graphical excursions on a great scale led by Pro- 

 fessor Davis, and have borne witness to his extra- 

 ordinary grasp of physical features and his power 

 of exposition in the field. As a university teacher 

 he introduced new methods of study, especially in 

 his geographical laboratory at Harvard, which have 

 proved of high value in scientific training. As a 

 theoretical geographer he is known mainly by the 

 completeness with which he worked out the geo- 

 graphical cycle of erosion, and the consequences 

 which follow from the application of the concep- 

 tion. All the work of Professor Davis, both in the 

 field and in the study, is marked by a forceful 

 originality which has acted as a vivifying stimu- 

 lus to several generations alike of disciples and 

 critics. It is not too much to say that his writ- 

 ings have been largely instrumental in displacing 

 German in favor of English as the language of ad- 

 vanced work in geography. Mr. Butler Wright has 

 undertaken to accept the medal on behalf of Pro- 

 fessor Davis, and it is with honor that I give it to 

 so distinguished an American. There has always 

 been a good feeling between American geographers 

 and ourselves, and I hope that this will be a small 

 token that it will continue. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The fiftieth anniversary of the appointment 

 of Dean George H. Perkins as professor of 

 geology in the University of Vermont was 

 celebrated at the recent commencement. The 



