October 17, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



369 



practise to devote bis entire time to the work 

 of the college. 



Dr. L. H. Baekeland, honorary professor of 

 chemical engineering in Columbia University, 

 has been decorated by King Albert with the 

 Order of the Crown of Belgium, 



At the centennial celebration of Colgate 

 University on October 11, James M. Taylor, 

 professor of mathematics in the university 

 since 1870, received the honorary degree of 

 doctor of science. 



Dr. George Emerson Brewer, formerly pro- 

 fessor of surgery in Columbia University, has 

 sailed for France, at the request of the Sur- 

 geon General, as a representative of the United 

 States at the inter-allied congress of surgeons 

 shortly to convene in Paris. For the next 

 five weeks Dr. Brewer temporarily resumes his 

 rank as colonel in the medical division of the 

 army, but by the middle of November he will 

 return to civilian status in I^Tew York. 



Dr. Kirtley F. Mather, professor of geol- 

 ogy at Denison University, will be on leave of 

 absence for the current year to undertake geo- 

 logic exploration for Richmond Levering & 

 Co. His work at Denison will be carried on 

 by Dr. James H. Hance, formerly of the Inter- 

 national Revenue Bureau, Washington, D. C. 



Sir Oliver Lodge, the British physicist, 

 plans to visit the United States in the early 

 spring of next year. 



The National Research Comicil has ap- 

 pointed a committee on Pacific exploration to 

 consider and organize cooperative research in 

 the various fields in which investigation is 

 under way in the Pacific area. The fijst 

 meeting of this committee was held on Sep- 

 tember 10, at the University of California. 

 In order that through combined effort of the 

 institutions concerned the fullest measure of 

 result may be secured, the committee is es- 

 pecially desirious of securing information as 

 to investigations under way or projected in 

 the Pacific area in fields of research ranging 

 from physics to anthropology. The members 

 of the Committee present at the California 

 meeting were H. E. Gregory, George F. Mc- 

 Ewen, W. E. Ritter and J. C. Merriam, chair- 



man. Other members of the committee were 

 unavoidably absent. A meeting of the full 

 committee for the purpose of initiating the 

 investigations planned for the coming year 

 will take place on the Atlantic coast in 

 December. 



Of the seventeen members of the faculty of 

 the school of engineering at the Pennsylvania 

 State College, who entered military service, 

 the following have returned to take up their 

 work: Captain E. D. Walker, A. E. F., head 

 of the department of civil engineering; Cap- 

 tain John J. Light, A. E. F., assistant pro- 

 fessor of mechanical engineering; Captain M. 

 E. Kressly, instructor in engineering draw- 

 ing, and Lieutenant Charles B. Steel, R. W. 

 Minshall, A. Edward Bryan, John C. Runk 

 and R. B. Nesbitt. 



Professor Mark Alfred Carleton, who 

 recently resigned from his position of cerealist 

 with the U S. Department of Agriculture, is 

 now making special field investigations for 

 the U. S. Grain Corporation, with head- 

 quarters at 42 Broadway, 'New York City. 

 Wliile connected with the Department of 

 Agriculture, Pi'ofessor Carleton accomplished 

 much in the way of introducing and establish- 

 ing new and important varieties of cereal 

 grains which have very materially increased 

 the grain production in the United States. 

 Of these might be mentioned Durum wheat, 

 the production of which now amounts to ap- 

 proximately fifty million of bushels annually, 

 and also the Kharkov Hard Winter wheat, the 

 Swedish Select and Sixty Day oats, and the 

 Petkus and Abruzzes rye. These various 

 cereal grains, mainly the results of Professor 

 Carleton's exploration and survey of Russia 

 and Central Europe, are now standard crops 

 in this country. Of his more purely scientific 

 results, might been mentioned: The discovery 

 of a sixth spore form of the rusts, the 

 amphispore: the demonstration of winter 

 hardiness of the uredo stage of leaf rust of 

 wheat, and the discovery of distinct physio- 

 logical forms of rust — ^the latter being made 

 simultaneously with Eriksson. 



Dr. Cyril Hopkins, head of the department 

 of agronomy of the University of Illinois, 



