Maech 19, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



449 



try under the late Dr. Eobert Hare. He was 

 graduated from the university as doctor of 

 medicine, but never practised regularly. In 

 1838 lie was appointed assistant geologist of 

 tlie first geologic survey of Pennsylvania. In 

 1845 he was elected professor of natural phi- 

 losophy and chemistry in the Central High 

 School of Philadelphia and retained this posi- 

 tion for fourteen years. 



In 1839 he was associated with Robert and 

 James Eodgers, in analyzing limestone, coal, 

 iron ore, etc. While engaged in these analyses 

 he discovered a new compound of platinum 

 chloride with nitric oxide. Because of this 

 discovery he was elected to the American 

 Philosophical Society, and in 1840 helped to 

 organize the American Association of Geol- 

 ogists. He was the only surviving founder 

 of this association and of its successor, the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, of which he was a fellow for sixty 

 years. In 1848 he also discovered the first of 

 the violent explosives, perchloric ether, which 

 he proved was ten times as powerful as gun- 

 powder. He also found a safeguard against 

 its unexpected explosion by dilution with alco- 

 hol. He was thus an important pioneer in 

 the field of smokeless powder. 



Dr. Boye was the author of many papers on 

 scientific subjects. In 1845 he invented a 

 process of refining oil from cotton. Hereto- 

 fore the product refined was almost black and 

 very thick. His method produced a bland and 

 colorless oil adapted for cooking or for salad 

 dressing. At the age of eighty-one Dr. Boye 

 made an extended trip to Alaska, and at the 

 age of eighty-five visited Honolulu and wit- 

 nessed the transfer of the Hawaiian Island to 

 the United States. 



In his will Dr. Boye devised the sum of 

 $12,000 to the University of Pennsylvania 

 Hospital. 



THE DARWIN CENTENARY 

 The council of the senate of Cambridge 

 University reports that the committee ap- 

 pointed by the council has informed the 

 council that in July of last year letters signed 

 by the chancellor were sent to more than 300 

 universities, colleges, academies and other cor- 



porate bodies inviting them to appoint dele- 

 gates to attend the Darwin celebration from 

 June 22 to June 24, 1909. In answer to these 

 invitations more than 200 delegates have been 

 appointed. Since the beginning of the year 

 individual letters of invitation have also been 

 sent by the vice-chancellor to certain distin- 

 guished men of science, benefactors of the 

 university and others. 



A letter containing an invitation to a ban- 

 quet on June 23 has been sent to about 150 

 resident members of the university, including 

 heads of colleges, officers, professors and read- 

 ers, members of council, university lecturers, 

 demonstrators and other teachers connected 

 with biological departments, fellows of Christ's 

 College, contributors to the volume of essays, 

 "Darwin and Modern Science," to be pub- 

 lished by the University Press, and a few 

 others selected on account of their official posi- 

 tion or because of their connection with bio- 

 logical science. It is proposed to hold the 

 banquet in the new Examination Hall, and it 

 is estimated that between four and five hun- 

 dred of those who have been invited will be 

 present. 



It is proposed that a letter of invitation to 

 the reception by the chancellor in the Pitz- 

 wiUiam Museum, on June 22, should be sent 

 by the vice-chancellor to every member of the 

 electoral roU. 



A copy of the provisional program has been 

 sent to all delegates. The committee has 

 furnished the council with an approximate 

 estimate of the expense likely to be incurred 

 in carrying out the program. This amounts 

 to considerably more than £600, but it is hoped 

 that it may be possible to provide the excess 

 above that sum by private subscriptions, and 

 the council does not therefore ask the senate to 

 authorize the expenditure of more than £500 

 from the university chest. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 The many friends of Major J. W. Powell, 

 both in this country and abroad, will be glad 

 to learn that congress a:^propriated $5,000 for 

 the erection of a memorial to him, on the 

 brink of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado 

 which he explored. 



