80 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1334 



and Lieutenant Commander Henry B. Soule, 

 United States Navy. A thorough examina- 

 tion was made and. the vessel, while showing 

 the effect of active service in which she has 

 been engaged for the past six or eight months, 

 was found to be in good condition and to re- 

 quire a relatively small amount of overhaul- 

 ing. Since the Allatross has been received 

 back from the Navy she has been employed in 

 investigations in the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Gulf of Maine. 



The Civil Service announces an examina- 

 tion for research engineer. A vacancy at 

 Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, Mass., at 

 $3,000 to $3,600 a year, and vacancies in 

 positions requiring similar qualifications may 

 be fiUed from this examination. The duties 

 of the appointee will consist of examination 

 of research problems and the design of special 

 apparatus in connection with experiments; 

 submitting reports covering experiments ; and, 

 in some cases, putting the recommendations 

 or findings into actual plant operation; also 

 'preparing reviews of scientific subjects, in- 

 cluding translations from both Trench and 

 German. The commission also announces an 

 examination for scientific assistant. Bureau 

 of Fisheries, to be held August 4, 1920. 

 From this examination it is hoped to fill 

 several vacancies in the Bureau of Fisheries 

 at basic salaries of $1,200-^1,400 a year. 

 Prospective candidates should apply to the 

 commission for a copy of Form 1312. 



A CORRESPONDENT sends us the following 

 letter from Professor P. Rona, of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin. 



I have recently accepted the editorship of the 

 ZentralUatt f. Physiology, published by Julius 

 Springer. This journal has "been organized along 

 the lines of the Chemisclie ZentralUatt and will 

 take in the entire field of biology. Foreign papers, 

 that is non-German publications, will be given par- 

 ticular consideration. 



It would therefore be of extreme importance if I 

 could receive, with youi assistance, all the Ameri- 

 can publications, either in exchange or as reprints, 

 and if necessary through subscription to such jour- 

 nals. The latter, however, would be out of the 

 question for the present on account of the high 



rate of exchange. Of equal importance to us would 

 be the reports of the various agricultural and bio- 

 logical stations, etc., which are not available at the 

 ordinary publishers. 



A LETTER has been received by the president 

 of Columbia University, from Professor Al- 

 bert Einstein, of Berlin University, thank- 

 ing the trustees of the university for the 

 Barnard Medal, conferred on him at this 

 year's commencement on nomination of the 

 National Academy of Sciences " in recogni- 

 tion of his highly original and fruitful devel- 

 opment of the fundamental concepts of phys- 

 ics through application of mathematics." The 

 letter says : " I beg to express to you my glad 

 thanks for the great honor which you propose 

 to do me. Quite apart from the personal 

 satisfaction, I believe I may regard your 

 decision as a harbinger of a better time in 

 which a sense of international solidarity will 

 once more unite scholars of the various 

 countries." 



Dr. Thomas P. Foley, chairman of the 

 contract practise committee of the Chicago 

 Medical Society, has started a movement 

 among the members of the society to organize 

 a union and has made the following state- 

 . ments : 



Why should a physician, who has studied for 

 years to perfect himself for his work, be paid less 

 than an unskilled laborer? Yet it is the rule 

 rather than the exception. 



Recently a physician giving full time to indus- 

 trial surgery in a large Chicago plant, rendered 

 first aid to a man working as an unskilled laborer. 

 The physician received $75 a month with room and 

 board. The laborer's pay check for one week, 

 which he showed the physician, was for $80. 



Take the state service for example. At the 

 Dunning Hospital for the Insane the chief elec- 

 trician stands next on the pay roll to the superin- 

 tendent. His salary is $265 a month. That of the 

 highest paid physician on the stafE is only $245. 

 The electrician is a union man. The physician has 

 no organization back of him. 



We propose to form an organization along semi- 

 union lines in Chicago like the lawyers ' association 

 and other such bodies of professional men. It is 

 not aimed at the public, but rather at industrial 

 and other corporation employers of physicians. 



