482 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1324 



Tids volume brings to a close the work started 

 thirty years ago -with a study of HiH 's papers made 

 at the suggestion of my former teacher and friend, 

 George Darwin. The undertaking of a complete 

 recalculation of the moon's motions and later of 

 talbles which should make the theory available for 

 practical and scientific use was no ambitious plan 

 formed at the beginning but grew naturally out of 

 the desire to continue the work as each stage in it 

 was reached. Some part of it has always been in 

 progress and there have been lonig periods during 

 which it has been my sole occupation outside of the 

 duties connected with an academic position and of 

 the hours given to recreation. The word "finis" 

 brings with it some feeling of regret. The time 

 spent in actual calculation was often a relief from 

 attempts to solve more difficult problems in other 

 lines. To what extent it has been worth while as 

 a contribution to the subject must be left to the 

 future and to others for judgment. My hope is 

 that it will give some aid in unravelling the 

 tangled skeins of problems which our nearest celes- 

 tial neighbor has never failed to present, and that 

 the satisfaction to myself in seeing the work finally 

 brought to a conclusion will be shared by those who 

 have been interested in watching its progress. 



THE DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF MINES 



The noiminatioii of Dr. Frederick G. Cottrell 

 for director of the Bureau of Mines, Depart- 

 menrt of the Interior, was sent to the Senate 

 on May 5 by President Wilson, to take the place 

 of Dr. Van. H. Manning, resigned. Dr. Cot- 

 trell was the assistant director of the bureau 

 under Dr. Manning. 



Frederick G. Cottrell, chemist, metallurgist 

 and inventor, was born in Oakland, Calif., 

 January 10, 1877. He attended school in Oak- 

 land and matriculated at the University of 

 California in 1892. As a university student 

 he gave especial attention to science, particu- 

 larly chemistry. After graduation in 1896, 

 with the degree of bachelor of science, he was 

 ■a Le Conte fellow at the University in 1896- 

 1897 and taught chemistry at the Oakland 

 High School in 1897-1900. Then he went to 

 Europe, where in 1901 and 1902 he studied at 

 ■the University of Berlin and the University 

 .of Leipzig, receiving from the latter the de- 

 gree of doctor of philosophy in 1902. On his 

 jeturn to this country in 1902, he was ap- 



pointed instructor in physical chemistry at the 

 University of California, and in 1906 was ap- 

 pointed assistant professor, holding this ptosi- 

 tion until 1911. While at the university Dr. 

 Cottrell's chief contributions to science were 

 researdhes relating to the electrical precipita- 

 tion of fume and fine particles suspended in 

 the gases of smelter, blast furnace or cement 

 works flues, and he finally evolved What is 

 known as the Cottrell process for this purpose. 

 This invention was first utilized at the Selby 

 smelter in California for removing fumes from 

 the waste gases of a sulphuric acid plant at 

 the smelter, (thereby abating a nuisance that 

 threatened to necessitate shutting down the 

 works. Subsequently this electrical precipita- 

 tion process was installed at otSier smelters to 

 remove fume and isolid particles contained in 

 the escaping gases, and it was also successfully 

 used at cement planits, notably near Eiverside, 

 Calif., to prevent the dust from calcining kilns 

 from damaging nearby orange groves and vege- 

 tation. To-day the Cottrell process of fume 

 and dust removal is in world-wide use, and is 

 recovering materials heretofore wasted to the 

 value of many thousands of dollars. One of 

 the latest installations is at a large smelting 

 plant in Japan; while the largest installation 

 is at the Anaconda smelter. Anaconda, Mont. 

 Dr. Cottrell in a desire to encourage scientific 

 research turned over his extensive patent rights 

 to a non-dividend-paying corporation, known 

 as the Research Corporation, a body formed 

 for that purpose. A fundamental require- 

 ment in the incorporation is that all net profits 

 shall be devoted to the interests of scientific 

 research. 



In 1911 when Dr J. A. Holmes, the first di- 

 rector of the Bureau of Mines, was serving as 

 a member of commissions appointed by the 

 government to study alleged damages from 

 smoke and fumes from the Selby and the Ana- 

 conda smelters, and the Bureau of Mines was 

 invesitigating at length the smelter-smoke 

 problem, Dr. Cottrell, because of his scientific 

 attainments and his special knowledge of 

 metallurgical problems, was appointed chief 

 physical chemist in the bureau. In 1914 he 



