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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 961 



ruary. The plan went into effect on March 1, 

 1913. 



The plan is similar to those in successful 

 operation in many great manufacturing cor- 

 porations in the United States. It is a con- 

 tributory system, the subscribing employees 

 contributing 3 per cent, of their salaries, and 

 the trustees contributing an equal amount to 

 the fund. 



The plan already briefly noted in Science 

 provides : 



1. Pensions. — Six classes of pensions according 

 to length of service and age, the pensions varying 

 from 25 per cent, to 50 per cent, of the average 

 salary of the last three years. 



2. Health Insurance. — Gratuity to the employee 

 in case he is totally disabled through illness, or 

 his position is abolished. 



3. Life Insurance. — A gratuity to a beneficiary, 

 in the event of the death of the employee, and 

 under certain conditions in the event of the death 

 of a pensioner. 



4. For the return of the employee's contribution 

 with simple interest at 3 per cent, in case xhe 

 employee leaves the service of the museum before 

 he is eligible for a pension. 



The plan also makes provision for excep- 

 tional cases; leave of absence without pay; ab- 

 sence from the service for a certain period; 

 return to the service ; reduction of present rate 

 of contribution when feasible, and for the 

 amendment or alteration of the plan as cir- 

 cumstances may warrant in the future. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 At the annual meeting of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences held on May 

 14 last, it was voted to award the Eumford 

 Premium to Professor Joel Stebbins, of the 

 University of Illinois, for his development of 

 the selenium photometer and its application 

 to astronomical problems. 



The gold medal of the Swiss Geographical 

 Society will be presented to Admiral Peary at 

 a banquet to be given at Geneva, on May 31. 



Dr. Alfred H. Brooks, of the U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey, has been awarded the Conrad 

 Maltebrun gold medal of the Paris Geograph- 

 ical Society. 



In appreciation of his services in reestab- 

 lishing the American Rainbow trout in Ger- 

 many, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, United States 

 Commissioner of Fisheries, has been presented 

 with a medal by the German Fishery Society. 



De. Henet S. Carhart, emeritus professor 

 of physics in the University of Michigan, and 

 Professor F. R. Moulton, professor of astron- 

 omy in the University of Chicago, have been 

 made honorary corresponding members of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. 



Professor Hermann von Vochting has been 

 elected a foreign member of the Linnean So- 

 ciety, London. 



Dr. Gisbert Kapp, professor of electrical 

 engineering in the University of Birmingham, 

 has been appointed president of Section G 

 (engineering) of the British Association for 

 the meeting to be held in Birmingham in Sep- 

 tember next. 



Announcement is made at the University 

 of Chicago of the joint award to Dr. George 

 L. Kite and Mr. Esmond R. Long, graduate 

 students in the department of pathology and 

 bacteriology, of the Howard Taylor Ricketts 

 prize of $250 for original research in that de- 

 partment. The prize was established by the 

 widow of Dr. Ricketts, who died in the City of 

 Mexico from typhus fever contracted while 

 studying the disease. 



The committee on medical research of the 

 American Medical Association has awarded a 

 grant of two hundred and fifty dollars to the 

 department of bacteriology of the Hoagland 

 Laboratory, Brooklyn, to defray the expenses 

 of an investigation on the immunity reactions 

 of edestin, a report of which is shortly to ap- 

 pear in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. 



Among American astronomers who expect to 

 attend the meeting of the International Solar 

 Union to be held at Bonn, Germany, in Au- 

 gust next, are Professors E. C. Pickering, 

 Harvard College Observatory; Frank Schles- 

 inger, Allegheny Observatory; J. A. Park- 

 hurst, Terkes Observatory; C. E. St. John, 



