284 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1369 



will be presented ia four sections, Soil 

 Moistm-e, Organic Matter, Adsorption and 

 Colloidal Phenomena; the general discussion 

 being opened by Dr. Eussell. 



Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, since 1892 pres- 

 ident of the Armour Institute of Technology, 

 died in Chicago on March 17, aged sixty-five 

 years. 



The death is announced of Louis Compton 

 ;Miall, F.R.S., till 1907 professor of biology 

 at the University of Leeds, at the age of 

 seventy-nine years. 



Emile Bourquelot, professor of pharmacy 

 in the University of Paris, has died at the age 

 of sixty-eight years. 



The fourteenth annual meeting of the Illi- 

 nois State Academy of Science will be held at 

 the Southern Illinois State Normal Univer- 

 sity, Carbondale, on April 29 and 30. Papers 

 will be presented in the following subjects: 

 (1) Biology and Agriculture; (2) Chemistry 

 and Physics; (3) Geology and Geography; 

 (4) Mathematics and Astronomy; (5) Medi- 

 cine and Public Health; (6) Psychology and 

 Education. The address of the retiring presi- 

 dent will be " The Illinois Ozarks," and invi- 

 tation addresses will be given on subjects con- 

 cerned with southern Illinois. The afternoon 

 and evening programs will be of a popidar 

 character and complimentary to the citizens 

 of Carbondale. 



The American Association of Pathologists 

 and Bacteriologists, the American Society for 

 ■Cancer Research, the American Society of Im- 

 munologists and the International Associa- 

 tion of Medical Museums (American and 

 Canadian Sections) will meet in Cleveland 

 from March 24 to 26. 



The American Engineering Council has 

 joined with the National Association of Manu- 

 facturers, the American Patent Law Associa- 

 tion, the American Chemical Society and the 

 ,Nation'al Research Council in a movement to 

 bring about reforms in the United States Pat- 

 ent Office. Conditions in the office, according 

 to a statement issued hy the council, are such 

 as to menace seriously American industry and 

 invenition. A committee on patents has been 



appointed by the executive board of the coun- 

 cil to prosecute a nation-wide campaign for 

 the betterment of the patent office situation. 

 This committ-ee, as announced by President 

 Hoover, is headed by Edwin J. Prindle, of 

 New York, who represents the American So- 

 ciety of Mechanical Engineers on the council. 

 The other members of the committee are J. 

 Parke Channing, of New York, secretary, rep- 

 jresenting the American Institute of Mining 

 and Metallurgical Engineers; Oh)arles A. 

 Terry, of New York, viee^resident of the 

 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing 

 Company, representing the American Insti- 

 tute of Electrical Engineers; C. A. P. Turner, 

 Minneapolis, American Society of Civil Engi- 

 neers; Corydon T. Purdy, New York engineer, 

 pnd Horace V. Winchell, mining geologist of 

 Minneapolis, American Institute of Mining 

 ^nd Metallurgical Engineers; Dr. D. S. 

 Jacobus, vice-president of "Willcox & Babcock 

 Company, American Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers, and Frank H. "Waterman, electrical 

 expert of New York City, American Institute 

 of Electrical Engineers. 



, The Lord President of the Council of Great 

 jBritain has appointed an Interdepartmental 

 Committee on Patents to consider the meth- 

 ods of dealing with inventions made by work- 

 ers aided or maintained from public funds, 

 whether such workers be engaged as research 

 workers or in some other technical capacity. 

 The committee is to outline a scheme to give 

 a fair reward to the inventor, and thus encour- 

 fige further effort while protecting the na- 

 tional interest. Among the members of the 

 committee are Dr. H. H. Dale, F.R.S., head 

 of the department of biochemistry and pharma- 

 cology of the Medical Research Coujicil. 



At the Springfield meeting of the Associa- 

 tion of Land-grant Colleges officers were 

 elected as follows: President, H. L. Russell, 

 of Wisconsin; Vice-president, Howard Ed- 

 wards, of Rhode Island; Secretary-treasurer, 

 J. L. Hills, of Vermont; and members of the 

 executive committee, R. A. Pearson, of Iowa, 

 chairman; W. M. Eiggs, of South Carolina, 

 W. E. Stone, of Indiana, A. R. Mann, of New 



