December 8, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



811 



the problems raised by the war and to placing 

 the industrial resources of the country in a 

 position to meet the conditions that will arise 

 after the war has been under consideration by 

 the government and by representatives of sci- 

 ence and industry for some time, as it was felt 

 that it was more desirable to follow the ex- 

 ample of the British government in this 

 matter. 



The question was fully discussed at the 

 meetings of the Royal Society of Canada in 

 May, 1916, and a deputation of this society 

 waited upon the Honorable Sir George E. 

 Foster, minister of trade and commerce, and 

 the Honorable Sir Thomas White, minister of 

 finance, to place the services of the society at 

 the disposal of the government and to recom- 

 mend the appointment of an advisory com- 

 mittee for the furtherance of industrial re- 

 search. The matter had already been con- 

 sidered by the minister of trade and commerce 

 and action was promised. 



Sir George Foster held a number of confer- 

 ences with representative men of science and 

 industry, and as a result of his report to the 

 government definite action was decided upon 

 in June by order-in-council. In his memo- 

 randum he pointed out " the urgent need of 

 organizing, mobilizing and economizing the 

 existing resources of scientific and industrial 

 research in Canada with the purpose of utiliz- 

 ing waste products, discovering new processes 

 ■ — mechanical, chemical and metallurgical — 

 and developing into useful adjuncts to indus- 

 try and commerce the unused natural re- 

 sources of Canada." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The president and council of the Royal So- 

 ciety have made the following awards : A 

 Royal Medal to Dr. John Scott Haldane, 

 F.R.S., for his services to chemical physiology, 

 more especially in reference to the chemical 

 changes of respiration. A Royal Medal to 

 Professor Hector Munro Macdonald, F.R.S., 

 for his contributions to mathematical physics. 

 The Copley Medal to Sir James Dewar, 

 F.R.S., for his investigations in physical chem- 

 istry, and more especially his researches on 



the liquefaction of gases. The Rumford 

 Medal to Professor "William Henry Bragg, 

 F.R.S., for his researches in X-ray radiation. 

 The Davy Medal to M. le Prof. Henri Louis 

 le Chatelier, For.Mem.R.S., for his researches 

 in chemistry. The Darwin Medal to Professor 

 Yves Delage, for his researches in zoology and 

 botany. The Sylvester Medal to M. Jean 

 Gaston Darboux, For.Mem.R.S., for his con- 

 tributions to mathematical science. The 

 Hughes Medal to Professor Elihu Thomson 

 for his researches in experimental electricity. 



The Stockholm correspondent of the Morn- 

 ing Post, as quoted in Nature, states that the 

 Nobel prize for physiology for 1916 will. prob- 

 ably be awarded to Professor H. J. Ham- 

 burger, of Groningen University. It is stated 

 that the Swedish Academy of Sciences has 

 decided not to award this year the Nobel prizes 

 for physics and chemistry. 



Present and former students of Professor 

 E. B. Wilson will give a dinner in his honor 

 in New York on the evening of December 28. 

 Former students of Professor Wilson, whether 

 at Columbia or elsewhere, who have failed to 

 receive an announcement of the dinner, can 

 obtain full particulars by addressing Pro- 

 fessor Gary !NT. Calkins, Columbia University. 



Professor S. A. Mitchell, director of the 

 Leander McCormick Observatory of the Uni- 

 versity of Virginia, has been appointed by 

 Columbia University special Ernest Kempton 

 Adams research fellow for a period of five 

 years. This award comes as an extension of 

 the regular Adams fellowship held by Pro- 

 fessor Mitchell for the years 1914^16. The re- 

 search undertaken was the determination of 

 the parallaxes of the fixed stars by photography 

 with the 26-inch McCormick refractor. Al- 

 ready the distances of one hundred stars have 

 been determined. 



Owing to ill health, Mr. H. W. Henshaw 

 has resigned his position as chief of the Bu- 

 reau of Biological Survey, Department of 

 Agriculture, dating from December 1. Mr. 

 Henshaw has been connected with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture since 1905, serving as 

 assistant chief of the bureau until 1910, and 



