434 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1375 



Animal and in tlie Vegetable Creation, and 

 in the production of Hurricanes and Abnor- 

 mal Atmospheric Vicissitudes." Particulars 

 regarding: the conditions of the contest may 

 be secured from the secretary, Dr. J. S. Fow- 

 ler, Edinburgh. 



In honor of Dr. Charles Lester Leonard 

 who died in 1913 a martyr to research with 

 the roentgen ray, the American Eoentgen Ray 

 Society offers a $1,000 prize for the best piece 

 of original research in the field of roentgen 

 ray, radium or radioactivity. The competi- 

 tion is open to any one living in the United 

 States, or its possessions, Canada, Mexico, 

 Central and South America and Cuba. The 

 research work must be submitted in writing 

 in the English language not later than July 1. 

 The winner will read his paper at the annual 

 meeting of the society in September. Dr. 

 Henry K. Pancoast of the University Hos- 

 pital is a member of the committee) in charge 

 of the competition. 



THE COMMITTEE ON PHYSIOLOGICAL OPTICS 

 OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 



Under the auspices of tlie Division of 

 Physical Sciences of the National Research 

 Council, there has recently been formed a 

 Committee on Physiological Optics consist- 

 ing of 



Professor Adelbert Ames, Dartmouth College, 

 Professor W. T. Bovie, Harvard University, 

 Dr. P. W. Cotoh, Nela Research Laboratory, 

 Mr. L. A. Jones, Eastman Kodak Company, 

 Dr. W. B. Lancaster, Boston, 

 Dr. P. G. Nutting, Pittsburgh, 

 Dr. I. G. Priest, Bureau of Standards, 

 Professor J. P. C. Southall, Columbia University, 

 Dr. L. T. Troland, Emerson Hall, Harvard Undver- 



sity, Cambridge, Mass., 

 Professor F. K. Riehtmyer, Cornell University, 



Chairman. 



This committee recently held a meeting in 

 New York for the purpose of organization and 

 discussion of the problems before it. The 

 diversity of present theories of vision was 

 thought to be due in large part to the circum- 

 stance that the workers in the sciences con- 

 tributory to visual phenomena, such as 

 physics, physiology and psychology, seldom, 



if ever, get together to talk over problems of 

 mutual interest and to get each other's view- 

 point. 



To facilitate an interchange of ideas among 

 the various groups of workers, the committee 

 voted to request the Optical Society of 

 America to form a Section on Vision. Such 

 a section has been authorized by the society 

 and the first meeting wiU be held in Rochester 

 in October, 1921. It is hoped that all those 

 interested in the pure or applied science of 

 vision, such as physicists, physiologists, 

 psychologists, ophthalmologists, photochem- 

 ists, illuminating engineers, etc., will join 

 the new section and will take an active part 

 in its work. 



The committee will also immediately make 

 a survey of present research in progress. 

 Later will be issued a report on the present 

 status of physiological optics with some out- 

 standing problems for research. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



At the annual dinner of the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences on April 26, the following 

 medals were presented: To Dr. Charles D. 

 Waleott, secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution and president of the Academy, the first 

 award of the Mary Clark Thompson Medal 

 for distinguished achievement in geology and 

 paleontology. To Albert I., Prince of Monaco, 

 the Alexander Agassiz Gold Medal for contri- 

 butions to the science of oceanography ; to Dr. 

 P. Zeeman, of Amsterdam, Holland, the Henry 

 Draper Gold Medal for eminence in investiga- 

 tions in astronomical physics; to Rear Ad- 

 miral C. D. SigSbee, U. S. N., retired, the 

 Agassiz Gold Medal, the same as the medal to 

 the Prince but awarded one year later, for 

 eminence in investigations in oceanography; 

 to Dr. Robert Ridgway, the Daniel Giraud 

 Elliot Gold Medal for his studies of the birds 

 of North America, and especially in recogni- 

 tion of Part 8 of his " Birds of North and 

 Middle America"; to Dr. C. "W. Stiles, the 

 Gold Medal for eminence in the application of 

 science to the public welfare, in recognition of 

 his work on the hook worm disease. 



