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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1143 



members of the advisory board could not be pur- 

 chased. They serve the government without re- 

 muneration, efficiency being their sole object and 

 Americanism their only motive. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The University of Iowa at the last com- 

 mencement bestowed the degree of doctor of 

 laws upon Professor J. C. Arthur, emeritus 

 professor of botany in Purdue University. In 

 the presentation made by Mr. D. D. Murphy, 

 president of the State Board of Education, 

 the services of Dr. Arthur to pure and applied 

 science were reviewed. Special emphasis was 

 placed on his contributions to agriculture and 

 horticulture in the study of plant diseases. 

 This work began when, as the first botanist in 

 an American experiment station, pear blight 

 was investigated, and may be said to have cul- 

 minated in the discovery of formaldehyde as a 

 fungicide, especially for diseases of potatoes 

 and grains. Studies on the relation of weeds 

 to effective cultivation resulted in new methods 

 for their control and extermination. His work 

 in physiological botany, and his fundamental 

 studies in mycology, have given occasion for 

 the introduction of new technical terms, which 

 have entered into general use. Other matters 

 pertaining to the long and eminent services of 

 Dr. Arthur were touched upon by President 

 Macbride in conferring the degree. 



Alumni of the department of geology and 

 geography of the University of Chicago have 

 presented to the university a portrait of Pro- 

 fessor Bollin D. Salisbury, head of the depart- 

 ment of geography and dean of the Ogden 

 School of Science. The portrait, recently fin- 

 ished by Ralph Clarkson, the Chicago painter, 

 is now at the Art Institute and will later have 

 a permanent place in the new Julius Eosen- 

 wald Hall at the University of Chicago. 



Professor M. Pasch, who holds the chair of 

 mathematics at the University of Giessen, 

 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his doc- 

 torate on August 21, 1915. On this occasion 

 the University of Breslau renewed his di- 

 ploma. 



The Bakhuis Roozeboom medal has been 

 awarded to Professor Schreinemakers, pro- 



fessor of inorganic and physical chemistry in 

 the University of Leyden. 



Dr. M. 0. Forster, who was elected as a 

 prospective Unionist candidate for parliament, 

 has resigned. He is engaged in assisting the 

 state-aided organization for producing dyes, 

 work which absorbs all his time, and in the let- 

 ter of resignation he says that the energy and 

 resources of those occupied in the British dye 

 industry must, if possible, be increased on the 

 advent of peace. 



We learn from Nature that the Chinese gov- 

 ernment has appointed as the head of a geo- 

 logical survey, Dr. J. G. Andersson, formerly 

 chief of the Swedish Geological Survey, and 

 with him already are Dr. Tegengren and Pro- 

 fessor U. Nystrom. Dr. T. G. Halle, assistant 

 in the paleobotanical department of the Riks- 

 museum at Stockholm, is to travel in China 

 for one year, mainly in the interests of his own 

 department, for which he will collect paleo- 

 zoic plants, but partly for the Chinese govern- 

 ment, to which he will report on the age and 

 character of the coal-seams inspected, and for 

 which a duplicate series of fossils will be pro- 

 vided after their determination. A young 

 Chinese geologist will accompany Dr. Halle, 

 and will be trained by him as a paleobotanist. 



Mr. Julius Lemkowitz, during the past year 

 computer in the Terkes Observatory, has gone 

 to Princeton as observatory assistant. 



Harvard University has granted a leave of 

 absence for the second half of the academic 

 year, 1916-17, to Professor W. 0. Sabine, 

 Hollis professor of mathematics and natural 

 philosophy. 



Mr. Eoy Chapman Andrews, in charge of 

 the American Museum's Asiatic zoological ex- 

 pedition, reports that nearly two hundred 

 mammals and four hundred birds have been 

 collected in the vicinity of Fooehow, in the 

 province of Fu-kien. Mr. Edmund Heller has 

 joined the expedition, which on August 10 

 was on the way to Tunnanfu, to make collec- 

 tions in Yunnan Province. 



Professor W. B. Scott, of Princeton Uni- 

 versity, gave an illustrated lecture on " The 

 Eelations of South America to other Conti- 



