Jdly 6, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



15 



out scientific investigations. This committee 

 consists of Mr. J. Burtt-Davy (botany and 

 agriculture) ; Mr. L. Colquhoun (chemistry) ; 

 Professor Young' (geology) ; Professor Orr 

 (mechanical engineering) ; Mr. Bernard Price 

 (electrical engineering) ; Professor Beattie 

 (physics) ; Dr. Caldecott (metallurgy) ; Pro- 

 . fessor van der Eiet (chemistry) ; Professor 

 Malherbe (chemistry) ; Dr. L. Peringuey 

 (president of the Eoyal Society of South 

 Africa). The first step taken by the new com- 

 mittee has been to arrange for the preparation 

 of fifty-two reports by leading experts, dealing 

 with the available raw materials of South 

 Africa suitable for manufacture or export. It 

 is intended that these reports shall be pub- 

 lished for the guidance of intending manufac- 

 turers and other business men. 



Arrangements have recently been completed 

 for the establishment of a new department of 

 technical optics in connection with the Im- 

 perial College of Science and Technology at 

 South Kensington. According to a statement 

 in the London Times, the new department is 

 under the management of a Technical Optics 

 Committee, of which Mr. Arthur H. D. Acland 

 is chairman, and which at present consists of 

 13 members representing the Admiralty, the 

 Army Coiincil, the Ministry of Munitions, the 

 Eoyal Society, the ^National Physical Labora- 

 tory, employers in the optical trades, glass 

 manufacturers and the Imperial College ; while 

 two further members have yet -to be elected 

 representative of glass workers and metal 

 workers. Mr. Frederic J. Cheshire has been 

 appointed head of the new department at the 

 Imperial College for a period of five years, with 

 the title of director of technical optics and pro- 

 fessor of technical optics at the Imperial Col- 

 lege. Mr. Cheshire has been associated with 

 optical instruments for many years at the 

 Patent Office, and, since the formation of the 

 Ministi-y of Munitions, has been deputy di- 

 rector-general of the ministry and technical 

 director of the optical department. He is 

 president of the Optical Society. It is antici- 

 pated that the organization of departments will 

 be rapidly completed, and that training will 

 begin at an early date. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Plans for medical work at the University 

 of Chicago, for which a fund of $5,500,000 has 

 been raised, contemplate two medical schools 

 and provision for research. One medical 

 school on essentially the same basis as that 

 of the Johns Hopkins University is to provide 

 training for candidates for the degree of M.D. 

 The other school, in connection with the Pres- 

 byterian Hospital, is intended for the benefit 

 of those in actual practise. It may be esti- 

 mated that the entire amount of money in- 

 volved, including all the corporations which 

 unite for this work, will reach approximately 

 $15,000,000. 



Mr. Levi Barbour, of Detroit, has given 

 $150,000 to the University of Michigan, one 

 h\m.dred thousand dollars of which is to be 

 used for a residence hall for women and fifty 

 thousand for scholarships for women from 

 oriental countries. 



As the result of recent gifts, Lawrence Col- 

 lege, Appleton, Wis., is erecting a dormitory 

 for women to cost $125,000 and a chapel to 

 cost $120,000. 



De. Jesse More Greenman, associate pro- 

 fessor in the Henry Shaw School of Botany 

 of Washington University and curator of the 

 herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden 

 has been promoted to a professorship of 

 botany in Washington University. 



At the recent commencement of Syracuse 

 University, Dr. Louis M. HickemeU was pro- 

 moted from an instructorship to be assistant 

 professor of zoology. Mr. Harry S. Pizer, 

 B.Sc, won a teaching fellowship in zoology 

 for the coming year. 



Dr. a. E. Shipley, master of Christ's Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, and reader in zoology in the 

 university, has been elected vice-chancellor for 

 tlie next academical year. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



AN INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 

 AND CIVILIZATION 



To THE Editor of Science: Dr. Sarton's 

 plan for an Institute for the History of Sci- 



