60 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1177 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



NEWS 

 At The Ohio State University, J. A. Bow- 

 nocker, professor of inorganic geology and 

 curator of the museum since 1901 and state 

 geologist since 1906, has heen made head of 

 the department of geology to succeed the late 

 Charles S. Prosser. J. E. Carman, Ph.D. 

 (Chicago), assistant professor, has been made 

 professor of historical geology and curator of 

 the museum, and Arthur Bevan, A.B. (Ohio 

 Wesley an), for the past two years a graduate 

 student at Chicago, has been made instructor 

 in geology. 



Haeold Veach Bozell, director of the 

 school of electrical engineering of the Uni- 

 versity of Oklahoma, who during the past year 

 has been on sabbatical leave studying in Yale 

 University, has been appointed to a chair in 

 the Sheffield Scientific School. Associate 

 Professor Lester William Wallace Morrow, of 

 the University of Oklahoma, has been pro- 

 moted to succeed Professor Bozell, and T. G. 

 Tappan, now of Cornell University, has been 

 appointed to the position of associate professor 

 of electrical engineering in the University of 

 Oklahoma. 



At Oberlin College, Eobert E. McEwen, 

 Ph.D. (Columbia, 'lY), was recently appointed 

 instructor in the department of zoology. 



L. D. Batchelor has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of plant breeding in the University of 

 California, his work being at the citrus station 

 of the graduate school of tropical agriculture. 



Dr. Ernest M. R. Mankey, of the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois, has been appointed head of a 

 new division of plant physiology at the Dela- 

 ware College. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE USE OF PREHISTORIC CANADIAN ART FOR 

 COMMERCIAL DESIGN 



The Archeological office of the Geological 

 Survey, Department of Mines, Ottawa, is now 

 prepared to show to Canadian manufacturers 

 and their commercial artists a very complete 

 series of several hundred examples of motives 

 for decorative and symbolic designs and trade 



marks, although it has no facilities for ma- 

 king designs. These motives are all from pre- 

 historic Canadian art and handiwork. Such 

 archeological material supplies not only the 

 oldest human decorative material from Can- 

 ada, but material unsurpassed in distinctive- 

 ness. The fossils, animals, flowers, leaves, 

 fruits, etc., and especially the historic objects 

 from Indians found only in Canada would no 

 doubt supply other motives capable of use as 

 the lotus blossom has supplied innumerable de- 

 signs used throughout much of the world. 



Mr. Joseph Keele, of the ceramic laboratory 

 of the department, has used some of these 

 shapes and motives in the modelling of part of 

 the vases made to test Canadian clays. Many 

 of these pottery products after serving their 

 purpose were given to the Women's Canadian 

 Club, who sold them for the benefit of the Eed 

 Cross. At the sale there was a greater call for 

 the vases made after these Canadian motives 

 than for any of the others. Eighteen manufac- 

 turers, representing six totally different indus- 

 tries, a museum and an art school have already 

 applied for copies of these motives. This is 

 over 20 per cent, of those informed of the 

 opportunity and one firm has already sent two 

 representatives from Toronto to Ottawa to 

 look into the matter. They express themselves 

 as surprised at the quantity and usefulness of 

 the material and have already selected motives 

 for their designers to use. 



This seems to prove that there is a demand 

 for motives or inspiration for new and char- 

 acteristic Canadian designs and trade marks. 

 This demand we may expect to grow at the 

 close of the war, when Canada makes special 

 efforts to stand on an even footing with other 

 countries in producing manufactures recog- 

 nized all over the world as individually and 

 characteristically her own. 



These motives may be used as they are or 

 may be conventionalized or dissected or multi- 

 plied or developed in several of these ways. 

 Designers may use them as inspiration for de- 

 signs which may be applied to fronts of build- 

 ings, gargoyles, fountains, terra cotta, pottery, 

 china, ornamental work, cast iron railings, 

 stoves, carpets, rugs, linoleum, wall paper, 

 stencils, dress fabrics, lace, embroidery, neck- 



