DeEcEMBER 6, 1918] 
Chemical Warfare Service, “ The manufacture 
and use of toxic gases;” Colonel Bradley 
Dewey, Chemical Warfare Service, “The 
manufacture of gas defense apparatus.” 
Dr. Evrenne Burvet, of the Pasteur Insti- 
tute, Paris, surgeon in the French army and 
member of the Mission of French Scholars to 
the United States, delivered a lecture at the 
New York Academy of Medicine in coopera- 
tion with Columbia University, November 15, 
on “ Pasteur as a representative of the French 
scientific spirit.” 
A RECENT meeting of the Biological Club of 
the University of Chicago in memory of Sam- 
uel Wendell Williston, former professor of 
paleontology in the university, Dr. Stuart 
Weller, of the same department, gave an ap- 
preciation of Dr. Williston’s work. A Willis- 
ton memorial meeting will be held in Leon 
Mandel Assembly Hall on December 8, the 
speakers being Professor E. C. Case, of the 
University of Michigan, and Professors Stuart 
Weller and Frank R. Lillie, of the University 
of Chicago. [ 
Proressor Grorce F. Atkinson, head of 
the department of botany at Cornell Univer- 
sity since 1896, died suddenly on November 
14, at the City Hospital in Tacoma, Wash. 
Professor Atkinson was engaged in a field 
study of the mushroom flora of the Pacific 
coast at the time of his death. 
Dr. Pierre DE Peyster Ricketts, for thirty- 
two years connected with the teaching staff 
of Columbia University, died on November 20 
at his home in New York City. He was born 
in Brooklyn seventy years ago, was graduated 
from the School of Mines, Columbia, in 1871, 
and received his degree of Ph.D. five years 
later. He was assistant in the School of Mines 
for a number of years prior to 1885, when he 
was appointed professor of assaying, and in 
1893 was made professor of analytical chem- 
istry and assaying, retiring in 1900 to become 
the head of the firm of Ricketts, Inc., min- 
eralogical and mining consulting engineers. 
SCIENCE 
571 
A PERMANENT reserve force upon which the 
Public Health Service can draw in time of 
emergency such as that presented by the in- 
fluenza epidemic has been authorized by the 
Congress. This consists of officers, none hold- 
ing rank above that of assistant surgeon gen- 
eral, commissioned by the president for a 
period of five years, subject to call to active 
duty by the Surgeon General U. S. P. H. S. 
When in such active duty they receive the 
same pay and allowances as are now provided 
by law for the regular commissioned medical 
officers in the service. By far the larger part 
of the reserve to be organized under this act 
will be on active duty only during times of 
national emergency, though it will probably 
be necessary to establish periodic terms of 
training, so as to better fit the officers for 
such service. With the passing of the emer- 
gency these men will automatically go on the 
inactive list; always however, subject to call 
to active duty by the surgeon-general. Detailed 
plans for the organization, training and as- 
signment of the reserve officers are now under 
consideration. 
Menicat journals report that the permanent 
committee which has been appointed to central- 
ize matters connected with the rehabilitation 
of disabled soldiers, comprises representatives 
of all the allied governments. They include 
Dr. Bourrillon (France), who serves as presi- 
dent of the committee; Dr. Mélis (Belgium), 
Sir Charles Nicholson (Great Britain), Gen- 
eral Bradley (United States), L. March 
(France), Dr. Da Costa Ferreira (Portugal), 
and Agathonovitch (Serbia) as vice-presi- 
dents. All these hold high military rank. 
An institute for research has been founded at 
the headquarters of the committee which is 
already installed at 102 rue de Bac, Paris. 
A review is to be issued by the committee. 
The editor in chief is Dr. Jean Camus, of the 
Paris Medical School, with Dr. Bourrillon, 
the president of the committee, and Mr. O. 
Krug, the secretary general, as the board of 
directors for the publication. The work of the 
committee is to include the promulgation of 
the general principles for rehabilitation of the 
