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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1133 



brief though important contributions to bird 

 anatomy. 



The interest of the veteran ornithologist, 

 Mr. Oberholser, has also been aroused, and 

 therefore it is likely that additional good re- 

 sults will be forthcoming. 



Thus matters seem to stand at the present 

 time, and there is hardly any room for doubt 

 but what an added interest is being taken in 

 this most important branch of biology. If it 

 be genuine and progressive, American science 

 is to be heartily congratulated; should it lead 

 to the appointment of a curator of the depart- 

 ment of bird anatomy — of one who under- 

 stands the aims and needs of such a depart- 

 ment and who has the energy to make it in 

 time what it should be, I feel sure that there 

 are congratulations in waiting when such a 

 happy sequel materializes. 



Personally, I have always regretted that the 

 division of comparative anatomy of the U. S. 

 National Museum was dissolved, as this was a 

 prima facie evidence of a stage of decadence 

 setting in, in a very vital part of the scientific 

 organism. It should be put on foot again in full 

 force, and brought up to the standard where 

 it properly belongs. We are terribly wasteful 

 in such matters; the absence of a division of 

 comparative anatomy in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum can only be equaled by the 

 present and corresponding deficiency in the 

 matter of a prosectorial department connected 

 with the National Zoological Park at Wash- 

 ington, where animals frequently die and no 

 attempt is made whatever to examine and re- 

 port upon their anatomy. 



America is coming to the front in many 

 things now besides in what the dollar means, 

 and it should be the aim of science to look 

 well to it that this field is brought properly 

 into line. B. W. Shufeldt 



Washington, D. C. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Dr. Percival Lowell and Professor F. 



Schlesinger have been elected honorary fellows 

 of the Boyal Astronomical Society of Canada. 

 Professor S. W. Williston, of the depart- 

 ment of geology and paleontology of the Uni- 



versity of Chicago, has been appointed director 

 of the Walker Museum. 



Professor J. G. Sanders has resigned as 

 state entomologist of Wisconsin to become 

 economic zoologist of Pennsylvania. His work 

 at Harrisburg begins on September 16, 1916. 

 Dr. S. B. Fracker has been appointed acting 

 state entomologist of Wisconsin by the com- 

 missioner of agriculture, and will have charge 

 of the work of the state entomologist's office 

 until a successor to Professor Sanders is ap- 

 pointed. 



C. H. Hadley, Jr., of the department of 

 entomology of Cornell University, has been ap- 

 pointed extension entomologist at the Penn- 

 sylvania State College. 



Dr. Eobert Armstrong-Jones has retired 

 from the post of medical superintendent of the 

 London County Lunatic Asylum. A special 

 pension has been awarded to him on the recom- 

 mendation of the Asylums Committee of the 

 London County Council. 



Dr. Linsly E. Williams, deputy commis- 

 sioner of the New York State department of 

 health, has been appointed by Governor Whit- 

 man to conduct an investigation into the pro- 

 posed building of a garbage disposal plant for 

 New York City on Staten Island. 



The Mississippi Valley Conference on 

 tuberculosis will be held at Louisville, Ky., 

 from October 4 to 6, under the presidency of 

 Walter D. Thurber, of Chicago. 



Mr. Wellington Jones, of the department 

 of geography, University of Chicago, is travel- 

 ing in eastern Asia in preparation for the 

 giving of courses in the geography of Asia. 



The faculty of medicine of the University 

 of Toronto, which suffered from the enlisting 

 of professors for service in connection with the 

 University Base Hospital, will be strengthened 

 by the return of Dr. John J. MacKenzie, pro- 

 fessor of pathology and bacteriology, and Dr. 

 Benjamin P. Watson, professor of obstetrics 

 and gynecology. 



During July the botanical laboratory of the 

 Purdue Experiment Station at Lafayette, Ind., 

 had the services of Dr. Frank D. Kern and 

 Professor C. E. Orton, of the Pennsylvania 



