January 23, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



85 



Hans Gertz of the physiological laboratory of 

 the Karolinska Institut for his work on the 

 functions of the labyrinth. It was published 

 in the Nordish Medicinskt Arhiv in 1918. 



The president and fellows of Magdalen 

 College of Oxford University on the express 

 recommendation of the General Board of the 

 Faculties decided to award a pension of £450 

 per annum to Professor Sydney Howard 

 Vines, M.A., F.E.S., F.L.S., fellow of the 

 college, and honorary fellow of Christ's Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, who is resigning the Sher- 

 ardian chair of botany with the fellowship on 

 December 31 next, after a tenure of thirty- 

 one years. This is the first occasion on 

 which the new system of pensions for pro- 

 fessors instituted by the college with the ap- 

 proval of the imiversity has been brought 

 into operation. 



Professor Edgar James Swift, head of the 

 department of psychology of Washington 

 University, has been invited to give two lec- 

 tures before the officers and students of the 

 Post Graduate School of the United States 

 ISTaval Academy at Annapolis. The subjects 

 of these lectures are " Thinking and Acting " 

 (February 14), and " The Psychology of 

 Handling Men" (April 10). 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



At the dinner of the alumni of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, held in Cam- 

 bridge on January 10, it was announced that 

 the endowment fund of four million dollars 

 had been obtained by the alutmni, thus secur- 

 ing the gift of an equal sum from the hitherto 

 anonymous " Mr. Smith." It was revealed that 

 " Mr. Smith," who has now given eleven mil- 

 lion dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, is Mr. George Eastman, president 

 of the Eastman Kodak Company. 



The trustees of Oberlin College have granted 

 increases of salaries for all in the service of 

 the institution. Early in the fall the faculty 

 of the college appointed a committee under the 

 chairmanship of Professor C. G. Rogers to 

 consider the salary needs of the members of 



the faculty. The report of the committee, ap- 

 proved by the faculty, was transmitted to the 

 trustees, and findings calling for a fifty per 

 cent, increase in the salaries of all teaching 

 and administrative officers of the college, dat- 

 ing from September 1, 1919, were approved. 

 This action adds about $175,000 to the annual 

 budget of the college. 



Annouxcement has been made at the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania of a gift of $50,000 

 from the estate of William C. G«odell for the 

 establishment of a chair of gynecology in the 

 medical school. The trustees have adopted a 

 resolution providing that as far as possible 

 rooms and facilities for the carrying on of re- 

 search work be extended to emeritus professors 

 in all departments. 



The pathological buildings of the Johns 

 Hopkins Hospital group, the professional work- 

 ,shop of Dr. William H. Welch, was wrecked 

 ,by fire, January 12. It is said that none of the 

 valuable specimens was lost, nor were any of 

 the records of research work damaged. 



Professor A. P. Coleman, geology, has been 

 elected dean of the faculty of arts of the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto. Professor J. Playfair Mc- 

 Murrich, anatomy, has been elected chairman 

 of the board of graduate studies, which corre- 

 sponds with the graduate faculty in many uni- 

 .versities. 



Dr. Harold Pringle, lecturer on histology 

 and assistant in the department of physiology 

 in the University of Edinburgh, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of physiology in Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, in the room of the late Sir Henry 

 Thompson. 



Dr. F. W. Keeble, assistant-secretary of the 

 British Board of Agriculture, has been elected 

 to the Sherardian professorship of botany of 

 Oxford University in succession to Professor 

 ,S. H. Vines. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE POLYDOGMATA OF THE PHYSICIST 



The mind of the physicist may be said to 

 be somewhat in confusion. But there is no 

 reason to hope that it ever will enjoy the 



