428 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1192 



Such prevalent, but entirely mistaken, activity 

 arises, I think, from a lack of education. If 

 it were generally demanded that no person 

 should be regarded as decently educated who 

 had not mastered the rudimentary principles 

 of natural science and of scientific method, 

 this farce, staged for the amusement of the 

 whole world, in connection with this coal-tar 

 color question, would have been impossible. 



The law had absorbed a great proportion of 

 the youth of the nation who were most fitted 

 for a scientific career. The young man who 

 was capable of advancing knowledge, either 

 in science or in any other branch of learning, 

 must be taught to regard it as his duty, not 

 to use his abilities simply for the sake of 

 acquiring an easy and comfortable position in 

 life. Above all, we must prevent the young 

 man of the type I have named from going 

 into such a blind alley occupation as that of 

 the law, with the ultimate prospect of quitting 

 the world, having left nothing behind, and 

 having made no contribution whatever to its 

 progress. 



Professor Armstrong, who presided, declared 

 that the present position of chemistry in this 

 country was deplorable, owing to government 

 ignorance and indifference. The Board of 

 Trade had, advisedly and of set purpose, it 

 would seem, put all scientific advice aside, and 

 had taken measutres which had not only proved 

 a failure but which had actually retarded the 

 development of the dyestuff industry. The 

 government seems to be bent on putting us 

 back, body and soul, into the hands of the 

 Germans, in so far as the higher interests of 

 chemistry are concerned. 



FACULTY CHANGES AT THE MASSACHUSETTS 

 INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 



At the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology the faculty changes have introduced 

 som.e new problems since there has been so 

 much demand by the IT. S. government and by 

 industrial corporations related to the war for 

 men of technical skill. So great has been this 

 draft that in the department of electrical engi- 

 neering one third of the staff has been called 

 away, in mechanical engineering a dozen men 

 have gone into war work while civil engineer- 



ing, chemistry, naval architecture and the 

 other departments have sustained serious 

 losses. On the other hand, the demands for 

 instruction have not only not decreased, for 

 the registration is but slightly less than 

 normal with much the same distribution 

 through courses, but are to a considerable ex- 

 tent greater, for the institute is furnishing 

 instruction in academic and engineering lines 

 to the schools of aeronautics for the army and 

 the navy, and is carrying on no less than 

 three schools for deck officers and the school 

 for marine engineers. 



Changes already announced include the re- 

 tirement of Professor Charles E. Cross, with 

 the title of professor emeritus, and the ap- 

 pointment of Professor E. B. Wilson, of the 

 department of mathematics, to the chair of 

 mathematical physics and head of the depart- 

 ment of physics. Professor C. L. Norton has 

 been appointed professor of industrial physics, 

 and Dr. Charles E. Mann has been appointed 

 professor of education and educational re- 

 search. 



The following is the list of promotions : 



Instructor A. L. Goodricli to assistant professor 

 of mechanical drawing and descriptive geometry; 

 Instructors F. L. Hitchcock and Joseph Lipka to 

 assistant professor of mathematics; Instructor H. 

 P. Hollnagel to assistant professor of physics; In- 

 structor E. E. Rogers to assistant professor of 

 English; Assistant A. B. English to instructor in 

 machine tool work; Assistant W. T. Haines to in- 

 structor in electrical engineering. 



The special lecturers and teachers thus far 

 named are, William S. Franklin in physics and 

 electrical engineering, Eliot Putnam in architec- 

 tural history, Charles R. Gow on foundations, Ed- 

 ward E. Eoekwood on concrete design, and T. W. 

 Sprague on electricity in mining. 



The appointments of new men to places in the 

 institute instructing staff include: In civil engi- 

 neering, James B. Newman to be assistant. In 

 mechanical engineering, Robert DeCourcey Ward, 

 DeWitt M. Taylor, to be instructors; Chester A. 

 Rogers, Andrew J. Eerretti, John A. Lunn, Paul 

 Hatch, and H. C. Parker to be assistants. In 

 mining and metallurgy, Frank H. Ellsworth and 

 WiUiam A. Wissler, to be assistants. In architec- 

 ture, Paul W. Norton to be assistant. In chemis- 

 try and chemical engineering, John B. Dickson, 



