November 3, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



635 



of Emory University, the building to be known 

 as the J. J. Gray Clinic. 



Orson Bennett Johnson, professor emeritus 

 of zoology in the University of Washington, 

 has given the university his valuable entomo- 

 logical collection. 



Dr. J. Ernest Carman, of the University of 

 Cincinnati, has been appointed to the chair 

 of geology at the Ohio State University 

 vacant by the death of Professor Charles S. 

 Prosser. 



Dr. Julius H. Hess has been appointed 

 professor of pediatrics and head of the divi- 

 sion of pediatrics in the University of Illinois, 

 college of medicine. 



Dr. Prank Maltauer, formerly of the Cin- 

 cinnati Board of Health, has become associate 

 professor of bacteriology and public health at 

 the College of Medicine, University of Ten- 

 nessee. 



Dr. Alban Stewart, instructor in botany 

 at the University of Wisconsin, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of botany and bacteriology 

 in the Plorida State College for Women, Talla- 

 hassee, Plorida. 



Dr. R. L. Borger, of the University of Illi- 

 nois, has been appointed professor of mathe- 

 matics at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. 



Dr. Edward Hart has retired as active head 

 of the chemical department of Lafayette Col- 

 lege, but remains connected with the depart- 

 ment as professor of chemical engineering and 

 as librarian of the Henry W. Oliver Chemical 

 Library. Dr. Eugene C. Bingham has re- 

 signed the professorship of chemistry at Rich- 

 mond College to become professor of chemis- 

 try and director of the Gayley Laboratory at 

 Lafayette College. Last year Dr. Bingham 

 was on leave of absence from Richmond Col- 

 lege in order to carry out some special inves- 

 tigations at the Bureau of Standards on the 

 subjects of fluidity and plasticity. Dr. J. 

 Hunt Wilson, of Lehigh University, has be- 

 come assistant professor of chemistry at 

 Lafayette College. 



J. F. Wilson, formerly instructor in elec- 

 trical engineering at the University of Michi- 



gan, has been appointed professor of electrical 

 engineering at Queen's University, Kingston, 

 Canada, to take the work of Professor L. W. 

 Gill, while the latter is in active military 

 service. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SUNLIGHT AND THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE 



The editorial page of the Electrical World 

 for April 1, 1916, contains the following para- 

 graph pertaining to the subject of magnetism 

 and terrestrial magnetism : 



Considering how many centuries have elapsed 

 since magnetic phenomena first became recognized 

 on this planet, it is remarkable how little has yet 

 been learned concerning the nature and laws of 

 magnetism. All that we are able to affirm, with a 

 reasonable degree of certainty, is that whatever 

 electricity and magnetism may be, they must be so 

 interrelated that one is the consequence of the 

 curl of the other, which is one aspect of Maxwell's 

 electromagnetic theory. 



As an instance of our magnificent international 

 ignorance of the nature of terrestrial magnetism, 

 the simple historical fact may be cited that in 

 1582, the date of the international introduction 

 of the Gregorian Calendar, with a sudden jump 

 of ten days, the magnetic needle at London 

 pointed 11 degrees easterly of the geographic 

 meridian, whereas it now points nearly 16 degrees 

 westerly of that meridian, and in 1820 nearly at- 

 tained 25 degrees of westerly declination, a total 

 of more than 36 degrees, while no satisfactory 

 theory of the large change has yet been produced. 



The foregoing is particularly interesting to 

 the writer, who is directly interested in col- 

 lecting ocean data on the non-magnetic ship 

 Carnegie to be used, first, practically in con- 

 structing charts for navigation and, second, 

 in theorizing on the causes of the earth's 

 magnetism and on its changes as referred to. 

 I desire to call attention to the work of the 

 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C, in 

 the making of extensive magnetic observations 

 leading to the formation of some correct theory 

 of the causes of the earth's magnetism. 



The writer wishes to contribute the follow- 

 ing on the general subject of magnetism, of 

 whatever value it may be. 



