698 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 748 



and iiwited guests, tendered by the Chamber 

 of Commerce of Eoanoke. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Oregon 

 State Academy of Sciences was held at the 

 High School, Salem, on February 19 and 20, 

 with the following program : 



President's Annual Address, A. R. Sweetser. 



Illustrated Lecture on Birds, Wm. L. Finley. 



" Some Perplexing Problems in the Most Com- 

 plex of the Sciences," Gaylard H. Patterson. 



" Disturbance of Embryonic Nutrition," Ernest 

 Barton. 



" The Mineral World," W. A. Miller. 



" Some Hymenoptera," C. E. Bridwell. 



" The Sea Side Laboratory at Friday Harbor " 

 (illustrated), C. O. Chambers. 



"The Kinetic Tlieory of Matter," B. C. East- 

 ham. 



"Denatured Alcohol," C. E. Bradley. 



" Problems in Sex Determination," J. F. Bovard. 



The National Association for the Preven- 

 tion of Consumption has arranged to hold a 

 tuberculosis exhibition at the Art Gallery, 

 High Street, Whitechapel, London. The ex- 

 hibition will illustrate the extent, cause, 

 spread, prevention and cure of tuberculosis, 

 and will have a special section devoted to 

 tuberculosis in children. It is expected that 

 the exhibition will be opened by the President 

 of the Local Government Board on June 2, 

 and it is proposed that after it has been shown 

 in London it should be taken to various pro- 

 vincial cities and towns. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



A BOARD of education has been established 

 in Iowa to control the State University, the 

 State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic 

 Arts and the State Normal School. The board 

 is to consist of nine members, appointed by 

 the governor, and confirmed by the senate, five 

 to be republicans and four democrats. The 

 members of the board serve for six years, one 

 third retiring every two years. The board is 

 to elect a finance committee, of three members, 

 from without its own membership. These 

 three men are to give their entire time to the 

 business management of the institutions, and 

 are to receive salaries of $3,500 a year. 



The twelfth conference for education in the 

 south was held in Atlanta, Ga., April 14 to 17. 



The conference, while discussing general edu- 

 cational subjects, was devoted especially to the 

 improvement of conditions in the open coun- 

 try. The president, Mr. Robert C. Ogden, of 

 New York, gave an address, and the program 

 included addresses on " The American Spirit 

 in Education," by Dr. S. C. Mitchell, the 

 newly elected president of the University of 

 South Carolina ; " The National Program in 

 Education," by Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, 

 U. S. Commissioner of Education ; " How the 

 National Government may cooperate with the 

 States in Bettering Conditions in the Open 

 Country," by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, of the 

 Forest Service, Washington. 



Dr. W. F. Dearborn, assistant professor of 

 educational psychology in the University of 

 Wisconsin, has resigned to take a similar posi- 

 tion in the University of Chicago. Dr. B. H. 

 Bode, assistant professor of philosophy in the 

 University of Wisconsin, has resigned to ac- 

 cept a professorship in the University of 

 Illinois. 



Dr. Edmund Landau, of Berlin, has been 

 called to a professorship of mathematics at 

 Gottingen. 



Dr. Herman Kobold has been called from 

 Kiel, to a professorship of astronomy at Berlin. 



M. Paul Langevin has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of physics in the College de France, as 

 successor of the late M. Mascart. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



ON GENERIC NAMES 



In a recent issue of Science, Dr. Hubert 

 Lyman Clark has done good service in depre- 

 cating the too familiar practise of naming 

 species after (eonunonly insignificant) per- 

 sons. While not a systematic zoologist sensu 

 stricto myself, I have had occasion to consult 

 taxonomic works quite extensively for a num- 

 ber of years past, and I am therefore in a 

 position to appreciate the force of Dr. Clark's 

 criticisms. It is my object here to extend 

 their application a little, so as to cover generic 

 names as well. It appears to me that for 

 these last the objection holds with even greater 

 force, since the genus is, theoretically, at 



