162 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1207 



their separateness without, however, losing 

 sight of their intimate interdependence. 

 G. H. Paekee 



Habvakd TJniveesity 



ROLLIN ARTHUR HARRIS 



Dr. Eollin Arthur Harris, of the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, died suddenly of 

 heart disease on the twentieth of January, 

 1918, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He 

 was born in Eandolph, IST. T., April 18, 1863, 

 and received his early education in the public 

 schools and high school of Jamestown, N. T. 

 In 1881 he entered Cornell University, re- 

 ceiving the degree of Ph.B. in 1885. He re- 

 mained at Cornell, taking up graduate work 

 in mathematics and physics. In 1886-Y he 

 was a fellow in mathematics and in 1888 he 

 received the degree of Ph.D. Prom 1889 to 

 1890 he was a fellow in mathematics at Clark 

 University where he pursiied special studies 

 in mathematics and lectured on mathematical 

 subjects. 



He entered the Tidal Division of the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey as computer in 

 1890, through the United States Civil Service. 

 After becoming familiar with the work, he be- 

 gan the preparation of a publication into 

 which would be gathered the tidal information 

 scattered in various journals and memoirs and 

 in which the methods of tidal reduction and 

 prediction would be coordinated. Dr. Harris 

 threw himself into the work with enthusiasm. 

 Because of his splended training in mathe- 

 matics and his ability, he was specially fitted 

 for the work, and the result, as embodied in 

 the " Manual of Tides," which appeared in six 

 parts in various reports of the superintendent 

 of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, between 

 the years 1884 and 1907, has placed our coun- 

 try well at the front in that branch of sci- 

 entific enquiry. Taken as a whole the " Man- 

 ual of Tides" is a monumental work of some 

 1,200 quarto pages of text and plate contain- 

 ing a large amount of original contributions, 

 in a field cultivated by the most brilliant 

 mathematicians. 



It is gratifying to know that the "Manual 

 of Tides" has received the recognition it 



merited from scientists the world over. Per- 

 haps it may not be out of place here to quote 

 the words of the eminent French mathema- 

 tician Henri Poincare. In his " Mecanique 

 Celeste " he subjects the various tidal theories 

 to searching analysis and sums up by saying 

 that " it appears probable that the final theory 

 will have to borrow from that of Haxris a 

 notable part of its essential features." 



Dr. Harris published a number of articles 

 in Science and other scientific journals on 

 mathematical and tidal subjects. Mention 

 should also be made of "Arctic Tides," a 

 monograph published by the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey in 1911 which is a classic of its 

 kind. 



Personally, Harris was a man of modest 

 bearing, somewhat reticent, but possessed of a 

 pleasing sense of humor. He was an inde- 

 fatigable worker with a high conception of the 

 obligations of the scientist. He was a member 

 of scientific societies, both local and national. 

 He leaves a widow, Emily Doty Harris, whom 

 he married in 1890. 



His loss will be felt by his friends and col- 

 leagues of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and 

 by the many scientific men, engineers and ex- 

 plorers in many parts of the world, who 

 brought their problems to him and received the 

 benefit of his wide knowledge in a pecidiarly 

 abstruse branch of science. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



DR. FEWKES AND THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN 

 ETHNOLOGY 



Mr. Frederick Webb Hodge, who has been 

 the head of the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 of the Smithsonian Institution since 1905, has 

 resigned to accept a position in connection 

 with the Museimi of the American Indian, 

 founded by George G. Heye, of New York 

 City. Mr. Hodge's resignation, to take effect 

 February 28, has been accepted with regret by 

 the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 with whom he has been associated ia scientific 

 work for many years. Mr. Hodge will be 

 greatly missed by his associates and generally 

 by the men of Washington's scientific colony, 

 among whom he is well known. 



