364 
ists are engaged in chemical work for the gov- 
ernment, or state bureaus concerned, essential 
to the prosecution of the war. At the same 
time they are advised that the new selective 
service regulations, to be published shortly, will 
emphasize to the draft boards the fact that 
skilled employees of war industries should be 
placed in deferred classification. The induc- 
tion into the military service of skilled men 
necessary to essential industries or occupa- 
tions, to be subsequently furloughed back to 
their industries or occupations, involves an 
expense to the government, and the men con- 
cerned lose time from their necessary work. 
The bureaus concerned are authorized by the 
selective service regulations to submit to the 
draft boards affidavits and written proof to. 
maintain their contention that their employ- 
ees should be placed in deferred classification 
and it is believed that they should be encour- 
aged in securing deferred classification rather 
than securing the furlough of the men after 
they have been inducted into the military serv- 
ice. All communications in regard to infor- 
mation from those desiring any details should 
be addressed to Major Victor Lenher, Chem- 
ical Warfare Service, U. S. A., chief, govern- 
mental and State Relations Branch, Unit F, 
Corridor 3, Floor 3, 7th and B Streets, N.W., 
Washington, D. C. 
THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 
Tue American College of Surgeons will con- 
vene at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York 
City on October 21. Arrangements for the 
meeting, which is expected to attract surgeons 
from all parts of the United States and Can- 
ada, are in charge of a committee headed by 
Dr. J. Bentley Squier. Three important meet- 
ings at which the latest discoveries in medical 
science will be discussed and demonstrated will 
be held on October 22, 23 and 24. 
The first will be addressed by the retiring 
president, Dr. John G. Clark, of Philadelphia, 
after which Dr. William J. Mayo, of Rochester, 
Minn., president-elect, will be inducted into 
office. Other speakers at this meeting will be 
Surgeon-General Gorgas, of the army, Sur- 
geon-General Braisted, of the navy, and Sur- 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1241 
geon-General Victor Blue, of the public health 
service. Clinics will feature the remaining 
sessions. 
Among the surgeons expected from abroad 
are Sir Thomas Myles, C.B., of Dublin; Gray 
Turner, of Newcastle-on-Tyne; Raffaele Bas- 
tianelli, of Italy; Major R. Ledeaux Lebard, of 
the French army; Theodore Tuffler, Surgeon- 
General of the French army; Lieutenant Col- 
onel Clarence L. Starr, of Toronto; Sir Robert 
Jones, of Liverpool; W. W. Chipman, of 
Montreal; Pierre Duvall, of Paris; Surgeon- 
General Antoine de Page, of the Belgian army, 
and Colonel Cuthbert Wallace, of the British 
army. 
Prominent American surgeons who are ex- 
pected to attend are Major-General M. W. Ire- 
land; Surgeon-General Blue, of the public 
health service; Major General Gorgas, of the 
army; Surgeon-General Braisted, of the navy; 
Colonel Frank Billings and Colonel Joseph 
Miller, of the Army Medical Corps, and Dr. 
Frank Martin, founder of the American Col- 
lege of Surgeons. An invitation has also been 
sent to Colonel Joseph A. Blake and Colonel — 
George E. Brewer, New York surgeons, now 
with the forces in France. 
THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE 
Tue United States Department of Agricul- 
ture announces the arrival in England of a 
committee of men familiar with food produc- 
tion and agricultural organization and activi- 
ties in the United States. The personnel of 
the committee is as follows: 
Dr. W. O. Thompson, chairman, president 
of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; 
Mr. Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of 
Agriculture; Mr. R. A. Pearson, president of 
Iowa State College of Agriculture and Me- 
chanic Arts, Ames, Iowa; Mr. T. F. Hunt, 
director of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- — 
tion and dean of the College of Agriculture, 
University of California, Berkeley, Cal.; Mr. 
D. R. Coker, farmer and member of Na- 
tional Agricultural Advisory Committee, 
Hartsville, S. C.; Mr. Wm. A. Taylor, chief, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture; Mr. George M. Rommel, chief, 
