1918] 



SCIENCE 



187 



the questionnaires which have been filled out 

 by registrants under the selective draft law, 

 the records and knowledge of colleges and edu- 

 cators of young men whose aptitude for tech- 

 nical service may be utilized, and the classifica- 

 tions of men already in training camps which 

 have been made by the classification commit- 

 tee headed by Professor Walter Dill Scott. 



The great demand in this war for skilled 

 men and technicians and for educated men in 

 many lines has been apparent. Much splendid 

 work for the army has been done by the edu- 

 cational institutions in the aviation ground 

 schools and in training specialists for various 

 branches of the service. The Federal Board 

 for Vocational Education has also rendered 

 substantial service. It is now proposed to 

 mobilize more completely the educational in- 

 stitutions of the country and the great educa- 

 tional resources of the nation, to utilize them 

 to the utmost, and to send a large number of 

 men to colleges, educational institutions, at an 

 early date for intensive training in army serv- 

 ice on technical lines. 



CHEMISTRY AND THE WAR 



Adequate chemical control of manufacturing 

 plants engaged in the supply of war material 

 is now receiving the careful consideration of 

 the War Department. The experience of both 

 Great Britain and France teaches the neces- 

 sity of conserving the supply of trained chem- 

 ists, at no time large, in order that the sup- 

 plies upon which the winning of the war so 

 largely depends may not be curtailed. 



Provision has now been made through an 

 order of the Adjutant General of the Army 

 by which manufacturers of material necessary 

 to the prosecution of the war, who have lost 

 the services of chemists through the first draft, 

 may again obtain the services of these men 

 for war work. 



It is announced, also, that provision has been 

 made by which manufacturers threatened with 

 the loss of their trained chemists in the pres- 

 ent draft may retain these men. Only those 

 chemists whose services are necessary to war 

 work will be considered, and the evidence sub- 

 mitted by the manufacturer must be con- 

 clusive. 



Manufacturers thus affected should apply to 

 the Chemical Service Section, N. A., New In- 

 terior Building, Washington, D. C, for the 

 regulations governing the transfer of men al- 

 ready drafted, or the possible reclassification 

 of men not yet called. This request must 

 come from the manufacturers; applications 

 from the men will not be considered. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor, professor of physio- 

 logical chemistry in the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, will give the address at the forty-second 

 anniversary of the opening of Johns Hopkins 

 University on February 23. 



Sidney J. Jennings, vice-president of the 

 U. S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Co., has 

 been elected president of the American Insti- 

 tute of Mining Engineers to succeed Philip N. 

 Moore of St. Louis. 



The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society has been presented to Mr. John Ever- 

 shed for his contributions to astrophysics. 



The following important changes made in 

 the administrative organization of the United 

 States Public Health Service are noted in the 

 Journal of the American Medical Association. 

 Surgeon J. W. Schereschewsky has been re- 

 lieved at Pittsburgh and assigned for duty as 

 assistant surgeon-general in charge of the 

 Division of Scientific Research. Assistant 

 Surgeon-General J. W. Kerr, who formerly 

 held this position, has been assigned to the 

 director of the Hygienic Laboratory for tem- 

 porary duty. Surgeon B. S. Warren has been 

 relieved from duty with the United States Em- 

 ployees' Compensation Commission and has 

 been assigned as assistant surgeon-general in 

 charge of the Division of Sanitary Reports and 

 Statistics. Assistant Surgeon-General J. W. 

 Trask, who held the latter position, has been 

 assigned to the position vacated by Surgeon 

 Warren. Assistant Surgeon-General W. C. 

 Rucker, in charge of domestic quarantine, has 

 been assigned for special temporary duty with 

 the War Department in the British Isles and 

 on the continent of Europe in connection with 

 maritime quarantine for the prevention of the 



