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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1188 



addressed to members of the Congress, asking 

 them to support a measure which had been 

 introduced against sending conscripts to fight 

 in Europe against their -will. Professor Cat- 

 tell has given out a statement in which he 

 says that he is opposed to war and to this war, 

 but that he has engaged in no agitation 

 against the government, and has not written 

 anything opposing conscription or against 

 sending an army abroad. He maintains that 

 forcing " conscientious objectors " to fight in 

 Europe is not only contrary to democratic 

 principles, but also subversive of the efficiency 

 of the army and of national unity. He claims 

 that it is the duty as well as the constitutional 

 right of a citizen to petition the government 

 to enact legislation believed by him to be for 

 the national welfare. For a university to dis- 

 miss a professor for doing this is both unjust 

 and illegal. Under the circumstances Pro- 

 fessor Cattell believes that it may be in the 

 interest of Science and of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science for 

 him to retire frora the editorship which he 

 has held for twenty-two years. He has ad- 

 dressed a letter to the chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Policy of the Association request- 

 ing that a successor be selected. 



At Peking the cornerstone of the hospital 

 and medical college of the Rockefeller Founda- 

 tion was laid on September 24 by Fan Yuen- 

 Lien, minister of education. Dr. Paul Eeinsch, 

 the American minister, presided at the exer- 

 cises, which were attended by Admiral Austin 

 Knight, commander of the American Asiatic 

 fleet. Dr. Frank Billings, chief of the Ameri- 

 can Red Cross mission to Russia, who is now 

 in Peking, made the principal address. 



Professor John S. Shearer, of the depart- 

 ment of physics of Cornell University, has re- 

 ceived a commission as major in the National 

 Army. Since the declaration of war. Professor 

 Shearer has been on duty at the Cornell Uni- 

 versity Medical College in New York City, in- 

 structing ofiicers of the Medical Corps and the 

 Medical Reserve Corps in roentgenology, and 

 conducting conferences for the standardiza- 

 tion of X-ray apparatus. 



Leaves of absence for the year 1917-18 were 



granted by the administration committee of 

 Cornell University to Professor George Young, 

 Jr., of the college of architecture, and Pro- 

 fessor Ernest Merritt, of the department of 

 physics, who are engaged in work for the gov- 

 ernment, to L. L. Silverman, instructor in 

 mathematics, who is in the service of the com- 

 mittee of public safety of the state of Massa- 

 chusetts; to Professor Samuel IST. Spring, of 

 the department of forestry, in order that he 

 may serve as a captain in the 20th Engineer 

 (Forestry) Regiment, and to Professor Allyn 

 A. Young, of the department of economics, to 

 permit him to serve as chief of war trade sta- 

 tistics in the Division of Export Licenses at 

 Washington. 



At the University of North Dakota there has 

 been established a research committee to co- 

 operate with the National Research Council in 

 connection with the advancement of a variety 

 of problems of scientific and practical interest. 

 The committee consists of Dr. Earle J. 

 Babcock, chairman, dean of the engineering 

 colleges and professor of industrial chemistry; 

 Dr. J. M. Gillette, professor of sociology; 

 Dr. George A. Abbott, professor of chemistry; 

 Dr. A. G. Leonard, professor of geology, and 

 Dr. Charles E. King, professor of physiology. 



J. W. Bailey has resigned an assistant pro- 

 fessorship in zoology at the Agricultural Col- 

 lege of Mississippi to undertake research work 

 for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, with 

 headquarters at Tempo, Arizona. 



Dr. Minnie A. Graham has resigned her posi- 

 tion as instructor in analytical chemistry at 

 Wellesley College to act as abstracter for the 

 research department of the General Chemical 

 Company in New York. 



Dr. Herbert C. Moffitt, dean of the Uni- 

 versity of California Medical School, has been 

 called into active service as a major in the 

 Medical Officers' Reserve Corps, and is sta- 

 tioned at the Army Hospital at San Antonio, 

 Texas. 



Dr. W. a. Perlzweig, assistant professor in 

 biochemistry in the Creighton University Col- 

 lege of Medicine, has been appointed first lieu- 

 tenant in the Sanitary Corps of the army. 



