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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1190 



number of Dutch chemical firms, Dr. Van 

 Linge, manager of the Maarssen quinine 

 works, announced that more than £8,000 had 

 been subscribed for the foundation of a prize 

 for chemistry at the Technical High School 

 at Delft, in order to commemorate Professor 

 Hoogewerff's services to this institution and 

 to Dutch chemical industry. 



Having completed the report upon the geol- 

 ogy of southern California for the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey upon which he has been en- 

 gaged for several years past, Robert T. Hill 

 has opened an office for the practise of his 

 profession of geologist at 702 Hollingsworth 

 Building, Los Angeles, Cal. 



Me. W. H. Fegely, for several years in- 

 structor in chemistry and assistant director of 

 the laboratories at Allegheny College, has re- 

 signed his position to take charge of the re- 

 search laboratories of the Erie Malleable Iron 

 Company, Erie, Pa. 



Shirley W. Allen, of the extension depart- 

 ment of The New York State College of 

 Forestry at Syracuse University, has been ap- 

 pointed, temporarily, to succeed Victor A. 

 Beede as secretary of the New York State 

 Forestry Association. Mr. Beede has gone 

 into forest fire insurance work at Portsmouth, 

 ]Sr. H., and Mr. Allen will act as secretary 

 until the midwinter meeting to be held some 

 time in January, 1918. 



Professor J. A. Fleming delivered a public 

 lecture on " The work of a telephone ex- 

 change" at University College, London, on 

 October 17. 



The death is announced, at fifty-six years 

 of age, of Mr. E. D. Pullar, president of the 

 British Society of Dyers and Colorists in 

 1914, and chairman of the well-known firm of 

 Messrs. J. Pullar and Sons, dyers and clean- 

 ers, at Perth. Mr. Pullar was a life fellow 

 of the Chemical Society of London. 



The death is also announced of A. da Graga 

 Couto, professor of ophthalmology at the Uni- 

 versity of Rio de Janeiro and director-general 

 of the public health service, aged fifty-three. 



The Evening Post says that France presents 

 the interesting spectacle of a country in which 



three of the most important posts in govern- 

 ment and army are filled by men whose qualifi- 

 cations include a remarkable proficiency in 

 mathematics. The new Premier, M. Painleve, 

 was as precocious as a Pascal in that branch 

 of knowledge, says the Christian Science Moni- 

 tor. He knew enough at eleven and a half to 

 have got his bachelor's degree, and later on he 

 was a cause of amazed admiration to no less a 

 person than Henry Poincare. Then there is 

 the commander-in-chief General Petain, 

 whom M. Painleve, when Minister of War, 

 chose to lead the French armies in the final 

 and perhaps most difficult stage of the war. He 

 also is a fine mathematician. Finally there is 

 M. Loucheur, the new minister of armaments, 

 and he did nothing less while at the Eeole 

 Polytechnique than discover a new theorem 

 on epicycloids. This is more than coincidence, 

 it is significant of the direction in which the 

 new France intends to travel. 



The Engineering Corps is looking for 10,500 

 men with road-construction experience to 

 serve in an engineer brigade which is soon to 

 go to France to do roadbuilding work with 

 General Pershing's expeditionary force. The 

 regiment will be made up entirely of volun- 

 teers. No man actually called for military 

 service is eligible. Rapid advancement is 

 promised men with special qualifications, and 

 a few college men, preferably with military ex- 

 perience, are wanted as non-commissioned 

 officers. 



The Journal of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation states that the Swiss Societe helveti- 

 que des Sciences naturelles, which was the 

 original model on which Virchow founded the 

 German organization which meets once a year 

 for what are popularly called the Naturforscher 

 congresses. The venerable Swiss association 

 now announces the formation of a section or 

 subsoeiety devoted to medical biology, to be 

 known as the Societe de Medecine et de Biol- 

 ogic. Professor Hedinger of the University of 

 Basel is the moving spirit in the matter. The 

 inaugural meeting is to be held this month at 

 Zurich. It is hoped for a large membership 

 among physicians interested in medical bio- 

 logic questions. 



