442 
of the nation for his distinguished services 
during a long career as a medical officer of the 
army. General Gorgas, formerly surgeon gen- 
eral, was recalled to the active list when he 
reached the retirement age while in France. 
His first task will be to prepare a report on 
the care of sick and wounded American sol- 
diers in France. 
Tt is planned that scientific information re- 
garding the influenza epidemic now daily ac- 
cumulating in the New York State Depart- 
ment of Health and elsewhere shall be corre- 
lated and made available to health officials 
and the medical profession through the action 
of Governor Whitman, who on October 22 
appointed a commission to study and report 
on the cause, prevention and treatment of the 
disease. Among those who have been invited 
to serve on this commission are the surgeon 
generals of the United States Army, Navy 
and Public Health Service, Dr. Rufus Cole; 
Dr. Walter B. James, president of the Acad- 
emy of Medicine, New York City; Dr. Her- 
mann M. Biggs, New York state commissioner 
of health, and Professor William H. Park, 
director of the Research Laboratories, New 
York City Department of Health. 
For the purpose of coordinating the policies 
of the War Department and the Navy Depart- 
ment in patent matters the secretary of war 
and the secretary of the navy have established 
the Munitions Patent Board. The member- 
ship consists of Thomas Ewing, who has been 
jointly selected by the secretary of war and 
the secretary of the navy, Max Thelen, repre- 
sentative of the War Department, and Pick- 
ens Neagle, representing the Navy Depart- 
ment. 
Dean Atpert R. Mann, of the College of 
Agriculture of Cornell University, has been 
appointed by Governor Whitman a member of 
the State Food Commission, filling the va- 
eancy created by the resignation of President 
Schurman on his departure for Europe. By 
virtue of this appointment Dean Mann be- 
comes also a representative of the state of 
New York on the Federal Food Board. 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Von. XLVIII. No, 1244 
Proressor Grorce F. Arxinson, of Cornell 
University, returned the last of August from 
a trip through Florida, Georgia, South Caro- 
lina, North Carolina and Virginia, in search 
of fleshy fungi. He left Ithaca on September 
13 for the western coast, where he will con- 
tinue his search, beginning in the mountain 
forests near Seattle, and going through Wash- 
ington, Oregon and California. If the season 
is favorable, he will remain through January 
and February. 
Dr. F. M. Frernanpez, editor of the Cronica 
Medico-Quirurgica of Havana, was recently 
awarded the Caiiongo prize by the Academy of 
Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences for 
his work on the etiology and treatment of 
strabismus. 
THE thirty-sixth stated meeting of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union will be held 
at the American Museum of Natural History, 
New York City, November 12-14. 
A MEMORIAL service for the late Professor 
Henry Shaler Williams was held at Cornell 
University on October 19. President Schur- 
man presided and made a brief address. 
Other speakers were Professor Herbert E. 
Gregory, of Yale, on Professor Williams at 
Yale; Professor Herman L. Fairchild, of the 
University of Rochester, on Professor Wil- 
liams among geologists, and Professor Edward 
L. Nichols, of Cornell, on Professor Williams 
and Sigma Xi. ILetters were read from Pro- 
fessor James F. Kemp, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, formerly of Cornell, on Professor Wil- 
liams at Cornell, and from Secretary Charles 
D. Walcott, of the Smithsonian Institution, 
on Professor Williams the investigator. 
Dr. F. F. Wessrook, president of the Uni- 
versity of British Columbia, previously pro- 
fessor of pathology in the University of Min- 
nesota, died on October 20, at the age of fifty 
years. 
Proressor WILLIAM Leste Hooper, head of 
the department of electrical engineering at 
Tufts College, died at his home in Somerville 
on October 3. Professor Hooper had been a 
member of the faculty at Tufts for thirty-five 
