July 2, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



projection in atlases of physical geography or 

 for statistical purposes and has the advantage 

 over Mollweide's in that its representation of 

 the shape of countries far east and west of 

 the central meridian is not so distorted be- 

 cause meridians and parallels are not so 

 oblique to one another. 



By employing the meridian of Greenwich 

 as a central meridian, the continental masses 

 can be mapped where the projection is at its 

 best and the greater distortion transferred to 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



RETIREMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE 

 EMPLOYEES 



The act providing for the retirement of civil 

 service employees is now effective. It applies 

 to employees who have been in the classified 

 service 15 or more years and who have reached 

 the age of 70 years (65 years in the case of 

 mechanics). Employees eligible for retirement 

 are divided into six classes depending on length 

 of service, and the maximum and minimum 

 annuities in each class are specified by law, 

 being contingent on the average annual basic 

 salary for the last 10 years of service. The 

 classes, maximum rates and annuities are as 

 follows : 



A. Service, 30 years or more; annuity, 60 per 

 cent, of salary; maximum, $720; minimum, $360. 



B. Service, 27 years; annuity, 54 per cent, of 

 salary; maximum, $648; minimum, $324. 



C. Service, 24 years; annuity, 48 per cent, of 

 salary; maximum, $576; minimum, $288. 



D. Service, 21 years; annuity, 42 per cent, of 

 salary; maximum, $504; minimum, $252. 



E. Service, 18 years; annuity, 36 per cent, of 

 salary; maximum, $432; minimum, $216. 



F. Service, 15 years; annuity, 30 per cent, of 

 salary; maximum, $360; minimum, $180. 



Employees to whom the retirement provisions of 

 the act apply shall, within 90 days of the passage 

 of the act or within 90 days after reaching the re- 

 tirement age, be automatically separated from the 

 service. In cases where the responsihle adminis- 

 trative officers certify to the Civil Service Com- 

 mission that employees who have reached the re- 

 tirement age but by reason of efficiency and will- 

 ingness to remain may be advantageously continued 

 in. the puftjlic service, such employees may be re- 

 tained for suceeasive terms of two years. 



Beginning with August 1, 1920, there will be 

 withheld each month 2* per cent, of the basic sal- 

 ary of each employee in the classified service. 



THE MEYER MEMORIAL MEDAL' 



Frank N". Meyer was an agricultural ex- 

 plorer in the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 

 Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industi-y, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. For thirteen years 

 he searched through China, Turkestan and 

 other parts of Asia, for plants which might 

 be valued additions to American agriculture 

 and horticulture. When he lost his life on 

 the Yangtze River in 1918,' he left a bequest 

 of a thousand dollars to the staff of the Wash- 

 ington Office. The individuals of the Office 

 have put the bequest into a permanent tribute 

 to his memory, in the shape of a medal, de- 

 signed by Theodore Spicer-Simson, which is 

 to be awarded for distinctive service in plant 

 introduction. The awards are to be made by 

 the Council of the American Genetic Asso- 

 ciation. 



The first award was made on May 3, 1920, 

 when the medal was presented te Mr. Barbour 

 Lathrop. Dr. David Fairchild, in behalf of 

 the Council, presented the medal. Mr. Lath- 

 rop had a large part in the founding of the 

 Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 

 duction, and has been intimately connected 

 with it since. He and Dr. Fairchild com- 

 prised one of the first exploration expeditions, 

 and visited the West Indies, South America, 

 Europe, Egypt, India, Ceylon and the East 

 Indies. Many introductions now growing in 

 this country were secured on this and subse- 

 quent trips which Mr. Lathrop conducted and 

 financed. The first seed of the Egyptian 

 cotton, the culture of which now amounts to 

 $20,000,000 a year in Arizona, was brought in 

 by them. The tropical mangos, now an in- 

 dustry in Florida; the Persian Gulf dates, 

 peculiarly successful in the Imperial Valley; 

 Sumatra wrapper tobacco, now famous in 

 Connecticut; the first large collection of 

 Japanese flowering cherries; Rhodes grass, 

 which has been called the timothy of the 



1 From the Proceedings of the Washington Acad- 

 emy of Sciences. 



