April 28, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



629 



SCIENTIFIC POSITIONS UNDER THE GOVERNMENT. 



A CIVIL service examiuation will be held ou 

 May 9th to establish an eligible register for the 

 position of Expert in Terrestrial Magnetism, 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Department 

 of the Treasury, at a salary of $2,500. The ex- 

 amination will consist of the subjects mentioned 

 below, which will be weighted as follows: (l) 

 experience in conducting magnetic surveys, 

 including a knowledge of the literature, past 

 and present, of the subject, 30 ; (2) original 

 investigations and training connected with the 

 study of magnetism, 40 ; (3) practical questions 

 relative to terrestrial magnetism, 30. 



Au examination will be held in June for the 

 position of Inspector of Standards, Office Stand- 

 ard Weights and Pleasures, U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, Department of the Treasury, 

 at a salary of $3,000 per annum. Competitors 

 will not be required to be present at an exam- 

 ination, but a decision will be made on the result 

 of the following tests : (1) training and ex- 

 perience, comprising, especially, original in- 

 vestigations in physics, 30 ; (2) published papers 

 having special reference to investigations in 

 physics or pertaining to standards of weight 

 and measure, 30 ; (3) thesis of not less than 

 two thousand (2,000) nor more than four thous- 

 and (4,000) words, on the proper functions of 

 a national office of weights and measures, 40. 



On Blay 16th an examination will be held for 

 the position of Field Assistant, Division of For- 

 estry, Department of Agriculture, with a salary 

 of $1,000 a year. The subjects and weights are 

 as follows : (1) Forestry, 60 ; (2) Botany, 10 ; 

 (3) English (essay), 10; (4) Education and Ex- 

 perience, 20. 



In view of the scarcity of applicants the ex- 

 amination scheduled to be held on April 11-12, 

 1899, for Examiner of Surveys, General Land 

 Office, Department of the Interior, has been 

 postponed to May 9-10, 1899. The examina- 

 tion is chiefly on land surveying and the salary 

 is $5 per day. 



GENERAL. 



The National Academy of Sciences at its 

 meeting last week elected the following new 

 members : Charles E. Beecher, professor of 

 historical geology at Yale University ; George 



C. Comstock, professor of astronomy in the 

 University of Wisconsin; Theodore W. Richards, 

 professor of chemistry in Harvard University ; 

 Edgar F. Smith, professor of chemistry in the 

 University of Pennsylvania, and E. B. Vv'ilson, 

 professor of zoology in Columbia University. 



Dr. David Gill, of the Royal Observatory, 

 Cape of Good Hope, has been awarded the 

 Watson medal of the National Academy of 

 Sciences. 



Mr. I. H. Burkill has been appointed as- 

 sistant to the Director of Kew Gardens. 



Dr. Charlotte Angus Scott, professor of 

 mathematics at Bryn Mawr College, has been 

 elected an honorary member of the Amsterdam 

 Mathematical Society. 



Mr. G. L. Teller, whose recent work on 

 the Chemistry of Wheat at the Arkansas Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station has attracted at- 

 tention, has resigned his position as chemist of 

 that Station for the purpose of taking charge of 

 chemical work in the Chidlow Institute of 

 Milling and Baking Technology, Chicago. ' This 

 Institute, recently founded by Mr. David Chid- 

 low, who has been for some time past chemist 

 to the Pillsbury- Wash burn Flour Mills Co., of 

 Minneapolis, is the only institution in America 

 which offers the advantages of technical instruc- 

 tion to millers and bakers. 



Dr. Heinrich Kiepert, since 1859 professor 

 of geography in the University of Berlin, well 

 known for his explorations in Asia Blinor and 

 important publications, died on April 21st in 

 his 80th year. 



Charles H. Swan, a well-known civil and 

 and sanitary engineer, died in Roxbury, Mass., 

 on April 17th. 



Mr. Spencer H. Devarre, formerly instruc- 

 tor in mathematics in Yale University, has died 

 at Brooklyn. 



We learn from Nature that the Easter dredg- 

 ing expedition of the Liverpool Marine Biology 

 Committee was brought to an untimely end by 

 an unfortunate boat accident in Port Erin Bay. 

 On March 31st dredging and trawling were car- 

 ried on from the fisheries steamer John Fell, 

 and on the following forenoon the Tanner clos- 

 ing net and the method of pumping plankton 



