June 3, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



515 



versity, has declined the post of New York 

 State Commissioner of Agriculture, to which 

 he was recently appointed by the State Council 

 of Farms and Markets. 



Egbert C. Duncan, physicist at the Bureau 

 of Standards, has resigned to accept a position 

 as teclmicist for the Bureau of Ordnance, 

 iN'avy Department. 



Mr. B. H. Eawl, assistant chief of the Bu- 

 reau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, has resigned to take charge of 

 the educational work of the California Central 

 Creameries, with headquarters in San Fran- 

 cisco. 



Dr. W. K. Gregory sailed for Sydney, New 

 South Wales, on May 31, to enlist the co- 

 operation of Australian museums with the 

 American Museum of Natural History and to 

 secure material for the Australian Hall of the 

 Museum. 



Mr. W. L. G. Joerg, of the scientific staff of 

 the American Geographical Society of New 

 York and editor of its Research Series, left 

 on May 21 on a six months' leave of absence 

 for a trip to Europe on behalf of the society 

 to study the present status and tendencies of 

 geography in Europe and to establish closer 

 relations with kindred workers and institu- 

 tions. 



Dr. H. H. Whetzel, head of the department 

 of plant pathology at Cornell University, has 

 been granted sabbatical leave for the year 

 1921-22. He will sail on June 8 for Bermuda, 

 where he is to be associated with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of the Islands in plant 

 disease survey and research work. Dr. L. M. 

 Massey will be acting head of the department 

 in the absence of Professor Whetzel. 



A BOTANICAL garden, established as part of 

 Albany's park development program in cooper- 

 ation with the Albany College of Pharmacy, 

 which will contain every plant grown in the 

 state, is included in the new college plans. Ac- 

 cording to Dean Mansfield, the garden will be 

 one of the most complete of its kind in the 

 United States and will be arranged after the 

 plan of the London and Paris botanical parks. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Official aim.ouncement is made in Yale 

 Alumni WeeMy of the construction in the im- 

 mediate future of a new chemical laboratory 

 by Yale University. It will be known as the 

 Sterling Chemical Laboratory and will be 

 constructed to accommodate all the under- 

 graduate and graduate chemical activities of 

 the university. At present the department of 

 chemistry is occupying the two departmental 

 laboratories, Kent and Shef&eld, which are in- 

 adequate to meet the future growth of the 

 department. 



A MEMORIAL has been presented to the coun- 

 cil of the Senate of the University of Cam- 

 bridge for a syndicate to be appointed to con- 

 sider possible alterations in the Mathematical 

 and Natural Sciences Triposes with the object 

 of facilitating the acquisition by candidates 

 in one subject of a knowledge of the other. 



Professor R. A. Dutcher of the depart- 

 ment of biochemistry will leave the University 

 of Minnesota at the end of the school year to 

 become head of the department of chemistry 

 in the college of agriculture at Pennsylvania 

 State College. 



Professor A. D. Ross, professor of mathe- 

 matics and physics and formerly vice-chan- 

 cellor of the University of Western Australia, 

 Perth, has been elected a member of the gov- 

 erning body of the university. 



It is proposed to appoint Professor H. 

 Lamb, now in residence in the University of 

 Cambridge, to an honorary university lecture- 

 ship to be called the Rayleigh lectureship in 

 mathematics. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE AURORA OF MAY 14, 1921 



A very bright auroral display was observed 

 here on the evening of May 14. The sky was 

 overcast until 10 p.m. eastern standard time. 

 As the clouds dissolved, the aurora was noted 

 in spite of the bright moonlight. 



The focus of the display was near the zenith 

 in the vicinity of the star Arcturus. From 

 that point streamers radiated in all directions. 



