May 30, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



829 



Mount Wilson; H. N. Russell, Princeton, and 

 J. S. Plaskett, Ottawa. 



Mb. Edwin Hatfield Anderson has been 

 promoted to be director of the New York Pub- 

 lic Library, succeeding the late Dr. John S. 

 Billings. 



C. S. EiDGWAY, assistant professor of bot- 

 any at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Au- 

 burn, Ala., has resigned in order to accept an 

 appointment in the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 at Washington. 



Mr. Lloyd B. Smith, professor of geology in 

 the Carnegie Institute of Technology of Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa., has resigned to enter the employ 

 of the Associated Geological Engineers in the 

 examination of oil and gas properties. 



Dr. Karl Geiser, head of the department of 

 political science in Oberlin College, will spend 

 the summer in Germany investigating rural 

 problems with special attention to rural local 

 government. 



A biological expedition is being sent out by 

 the University of the Philippines and the 

 Bureau of Science. It started from Manila on 

 April 5 for Taytay Bay on the northeastern 

 coast of the Island of Palawan, and will re- 

 main in the field for two months. The party 

 will consist of Dr. Merrill, chief of the di- 

 vision of botany of the Bureau of Science, Mr. 

 Schultze, entomologist of the Bureau of Sci- 

 ence; Mr. Rowley, instructor in geology, of 

 the University of the Philippines; Messrs. 

 GrilEn, Cowles, Wharton, Day and Light, of 

 the department of zoology of the university, 

 and Mr. Barnes, teacher of zoology of the 

 Bureau of Education. Including the assist- 

 ants and laborers, the working party will con- 

 sist of about twenty-five persons. The expe- 

 dition will be under the direction of Professor 

 GrilEn. The region to which the party goes is 

 entirely unexplored, but is said to be extremely 

 rich in its fauna and flora. 



At the annual general meeting of the Insti- 

 tution of Civil Engineers, held in London on 

 April 29, the result of the ballot for the elec- 

 tion of officers was declared as follows: Presi- 

 dent, A. G. Lyster; Yice-presidents, B. H. 



Blyth, J. Strain, G. R. Jebb, A. Ross; other 

 Members of Council, J. A. F. AspinaU, J. A. 

 Brodie, 5V. B. Bryan, Col. R. E. B. Crompton, 

 C.B., J. M. Dobson, Sir H. F. Donaldson, 

 K.C.B., E. B. Ellington, W. H. Ellis, W. Fer- 

 guson, Sir Maurice Mitzmaurice, C.M.G., Sir 

 J. P. Griffith, Dr. C. A. Harrison, W. Hunter, 

 H. E. Jones, Sir Thomas Matthews, Dr. W. 

 H. Maw, C. L. Morgan, B. Mott, A. M. Tip- 

 pett, Sir Philip Watts, K.C.B., W. B. Worth- 

 ington. Dr. Dugald Clerk, F.R.S., R. S. 

 Highet, Dr. E. Hopkinson, F. Palmer and H. 

 N. Ruttan. 



The special faculty committee from the 

 University of Wisconsin appointed by Presi- 

 dent Charles R. Van Hise to receive and pro- 

 vide entertainment for the party of over 100 

 citizens of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Con- 

 necticut who spent the four days between May 

 21 and May 24, inclusive, inspecting the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin consisted of the follow- 

 ing men: Professor L. E. Reber, dean of the 

 Extension Division; Professor J. G. D. Mach, 

 representing the College of Engineering; 

 Frank Barron Morrison, representing the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture; Professor Julius E. Ol- 

 son, of the Scandinavian Department; Pro- 

 fessor Ralph Starr Butler, of the Extension 

 Division; W. H. Eighty, secretary of the Ex- 

 tension Division; Professor Dana C. Munro, 

 head of the History Department; Professor 

 George C. Comstock, head of the Astronomy 

 Department; Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus, busi- 

 ness manager of the university; Professor 

 Scott H. Goodnight, of the German Depart- 

 ment, and Professor E. A. Ross, head of the 

 Department of Sociology. 



Professor Henry L. Bolley, head of the 

 botany department at North Dakota Agricul- 

 tural College, gave a public lecture at the 

 College of Agriculture of the University of 

 Wisconsin this week, in which he explained 

 his theory for crop failure which results when 

 cereal grains are planted in the same fields 

 for several years. It was argued that the 

 failure of the crop is not due to exhaustion of 

 the soil fertility, but to the accumulation of 

 soil parasites which are poisonous to the cereal 

 grains. 



