September 26, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



301 



Accoxding to information supplied by Mr. 

 Chas. F. Binns, the American Ceramic So- 

 ciety was founded in 1899, at Columbus, Obio, 

 wben a small group of scientific men, inter- 

 ested in tbe problems of tbe silicate industries, 

 gathered together and formed a permanent or- 

 ganization. Beginning with the report of 

 that meeting a volimie of Transactions has 

 been published each year for nineteen years. 

 In addition to the annual volume, a Manual 

 of Ceramic Calculations, as an appendix to 

 Volume 11, and the works of Hermann A. 

 Seger, translated from the German, were pub- 

 lished. 



Clays and glazes were the earliest interests 

 of the socielty but were soon followed by all 

 branches of the silicate industries. 



The growth in membership was steady but 

 not large until 1917, when conservatism 

 yielded before a vigorous campaign under the 

 Membership Committee, resulting in an in- 

 crease of over 200, a movement which has con- 

 tinued up to the present when there are 1,156 

 members. 



In 1918 the annual volume of Transactions 

 was superseded by the Journal of the Ameri- 

 can Ceramic Society, with G-. H. Brown as 

 editor. There has been a gratifying improve- 

 ment in this Journal during the year and 

 three quarters of its existence, and it now 

 ranks with the scientific journals of much 

 larger societies. 



Local sections have been organized in places 

 where there are many ceramists, who meet fre- 

 quently for the discussion of papers and for 

 good-fellowship. More recently Industrial Di- 

 visions have been formed for the better group- 

 ing of interests at the annual meetings. It is 

 probable that hereafter there will be one or 

 two general meetings and the rest of the time 

 will be given over to divisional meetings. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



. Dr. Henry A. Christian, Hersey professor 

 of the theory and practise of physics in the 

 Harvard Medical School and physician-in- 

 ehief to the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 

 has been granted a leave of absence from his 

 Boston work to iserve for a year in Washing- 



ton as chairman of the Division of Medical 

 Science of the National Research Council and 

 will begin that work on October 1. 



Dr. Augustus Trowbridge, professor of 

 physics at Princeton University, has received 

 for his work in organizing and directing the 

 sound-ranging and the flash-ranging in the 

 American Expeditionary Forces the distin- 

 guished service medal. He has also been deco- 

 rated with (the British D.S.O., and has been 

 made Chevalier of the French Legion d'hon- 

 neur. 



Professor Gilbert N. Lewis, dean of the 

 college of chemistry, University of California, 

 formerly lieutenant colonel in the Gas Serv- 

 ice, A. E. F., has been decorated as Chevalier 

 of the French Legion d'honneur. 



Dr. Morton Prince, of Boston, has been 

 decorated with the Cross of the French Legion 

 of Honor for his services in promoting Franco- 

 American cooperation during the war. 



Lieutenant Colonel Elmer K. Hiles, for- 

 merly of the Engineers, American Expedition- 

 ary Forces, has joined the Pittsburgh Testing 

 Laboratory as manager of laboratories. 

 ' Jack J. Hinman, Jr., formerly captain in 

 the Sanitary Corps of the American Expedi- 

 tionary Forces, where he was engaged in waier 

 supply work, has returned to his pre-war duties 

 as water bacteriologist and chemist to the 

 Iowa State Board of Health and assistant 

 professor of epidemiology in the State Uni- 

 versity of Iowa. 



ISToBMAN A. Shepard, assistant professor in 

 chemistry at Tale University, has resigned to 

 enter the employ of the Firestone Tire & 

 Rubber Company. 



' Julius B. Kohn, formerly employed by the 

 U. S. Public Health Service as organic chem- 

 ist doing research work under the direction of 

 Dr. Julius Stieglitz on arsphenamine and neo- 

 ■arsphenamine at Kent Chemical Laboratory 

 of the University of Chicago, is now connected 

 ■with the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works as re- 

 search chemist in their organic department, 

 at St. Louis, Mo. 



The Massachusetts Department of Health 

 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its estab- 



