OOTOBEB 24, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



393 



The Eoyal Society announces that two John 

 Foulerton studentships will shortly be awarded 

 for original research in medicine, the improve- 

 ment of the treatment of disease, and the 

 relief of human suffering. Eesearches must 

 be carried out under the supervision and con- 

 trol of the Royal Society. The studentships 

 are of the value of £400 each, and are tenable 

 for three years, but may be extended to a 

 total period of six years. Candidates must be 

 of proved British nationality; both sexes are 

 eligible. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



At a recent meeting of the ISTew York En- 

 dowment Fund Committee of the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology, Mr. Coleman 

 du Pont presiding. President E. C. Mac- 

 Laurin announced that $1,500,000 had been 

 subscribed toward the $8,000,000 endowment 

 fund. " Mr. Smith," the anonymous donor 

 of $7,000,000 to the institute, has agreed to 

 give $4,000,000 to the fund if $3,000,000 is 

 pledged by January 1, 1920. 



Dr. George W. Ceile, of the School of 

 Medicine of Western Reserve University, has 

 given $100,000 to endow a chair of surgery. 

 Dr. Crile is chief of the surgical staff of the 

 school. He headed the Lakeside Hospital 

 Unit of Cleveland, one of the first American 

 units in France. 



Columbia University has received a gift of 

 $6,000 for research work in food chemistry. 



Professor Sajiuel IST. Spring has returned 

 to the United States for the first term of 

 the present college year to teach silviculture, 

 forest law and policy in the Department of 

 Forestry at the University of Missouri. He 

 will resume his work as professor of silvicul- 

 ture at Cornell University on January 1, 

 being at present on leave of absence. 



Richard M. Field has been appointed as- 

 sistant professor of paleontology and histor- 

 ical geology at Brown University. He also 

 continues his association with the research 

 staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 at Cambridge. 



Edward H. Mack, Ph.D. (Princeton, 1916), 

 has returned from overseas duty and has 

 gone to the Ohio State University as assist- 

 ant professor of physical chemistry. 



Professor Edwin Morrison, for thirteen 

 years head of the department of physics at 

 Earlham College, has been granted a year's 

 leave of absence and is teaching engineering 

 physics in the Michigan Agricultural College. 



C. M. Young, formerly of the University 

 of Kansas, has returned as professor and 

 head of the department of mining engi- 

 neering. 



De. Horst Oertel has been appointed head 

 of the department of pathology at McGill 

 University. 



Dr. Edward Hindle, Kingsley lecturer and 

 fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, 

 assistant to the Quick Professor of biology, 

 has been elected to the chair of biology in the 

 School of Medicine, at Cairo, Egypt, in suc- 

 cession to professor A. Looss. Dr. Hindle 

 was instructor in zoology at the University 

 of California from 1909 to 1910. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



DOUBLE USE OF THE TERM ACCELERATION 



To the Editor op Science : The use of clear 

 and distinct meanings of terms has not kept 

 pace with the progress in science. One re- 

 peatedly hears appeals for the stardardization 

 of the meanings of terms. Great confusion 

 arises when different writers use the same 

 term with entirely different meanings. In 

 the writer's opinion, it is quite as important 

 to fix the definitions of the fundamental terms 

 as it is to fijs the imits; scientific organiza- 

 tions ought to get together, arrive at some 

 conclusion, and then appeal to the Bureau of 

 Standards to officially standardize such defi- 

 nitions as they do the units. 



A notable case which gives rise to much 

 confusion, is the term acceleration. The 

 engineer always used this term to mean the 

 rate of increase of speed, that is, velocity 

 divided by time, hence its dimensions are 

 LT--; it is measured in feet (or meters) per 



