562 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1197 



K. Cuslmy, Dr. M. O. Forster, Professor P. F. 

 Frankland, Dr. J. "W. L. Glaisher, Professor 

 B. Hopkinson, Mr. J. H. Jeans, Professor W. 

 H. Lang, Major H. G. Lyons, Dr. W. H. E. 

 Eivers, Professor C. S. Sherrington, Professor 

 E. J. Strutt, Mr. J. Swinburne and Professor 

 W. W. Watts. 



The July number of the Observatory con- 

 tained a letter from Professor H. G. v. de 

 Sande Bakbuyzen explaining tbe present posi- 

 tion of the association, whose convention ex- 

 pired on December 31, 1915, the majority of 

 the belligerent states having refused to con- 

 tinue their support under the existing conven- 

 tion. The death of General Bassot, the presi- 

 dent; of Dr. Backlund, the vice-president, and 

 of Professor Helmert, director of the Central 

 Bureau, has left Professor H. G. v. de Sande 

 Bakbuyzen the sole survivor of the committee 

 of tbe International Geodetic Association. He 

 had, in December, 1915, appealed to the mem- 

 bers of the permanent commission of the asso- 

 ciation in the neutral states of Europe and in 

 the United States, and had obtained from them 

 sufficient support to keep the association alive 

 until a date two years after the conclusion of 

 peace. M. Eaoul Gautier, of Geneva, has been 

 elected president, and General Madsen, of 

 Copenhagen, vice-president. Professor Bak- 

 buyzen retains the office of secretary. 



Dr. Eichard M. Pearce, professor of re- 

 search medicine. University of Pennsylvania, 

 has been made director of the recently estab- 

 lished bureau of medical service of foreign 

 commissions of the American Eed Cross. 



Dr. Eeston Stevenson, assistant professor 

 in charge of physical chemistry in the Collie 

 of the City of New York, has been commis- 

 sioned a captain in the Sanitary Corps of the 

 Army. As one of a group of five selected men 

 he will shortly go to France, where he will be 

 assigned to a French laboratory for special 

 work, preliminary to its extension among tbe 

 other chemists attached to the U. S. Army. 



At the University of Michigan leaves of 

 absence have been granted to Professor John 

 D. Eue, who becomes captain in the Ordnance 

 Officers' Eeserve Corps; to Dr. Peter Field, 

 who is captain in the United States Coast 



Artillery; to Dr. E. A. McGarry, instructor 

 in dermatology, who leaves to take up military 

 service; to Dr. Orlow B. Snyder, instructor 

 in anatomy; Winthrop E. Wright, who has 

 accepted a temporary position in connection 

 with War work in the Bureau of Standards 

 at Washington; and Assistant Professor C. 

 W. Cook, of the department of geology, now 

 engaged in special advisory work with a large 

 steel corporation. 



Professor L. D. Eowell, of Purdue Univer- 

 sity, has been commissioned a captain in the 

 Engineer Officers' Eeserve Corps and is now 

 in active duty as the recorder of the Board of 

 Engineer Troops, Washington, D. C. 



Guy E. McDole, assistant in soils in the 

 University of Minnesota and formerly re- 

 search assistant in agricultural chemistry in 

 the University of Nebraska, has enlisted in 

 the Gas and Flame Eegiment (Thirteenth 

 Engineers), and has left for his new work. 



Mr. Daniel Willard, of Baltimore, trustee 

 of Johns Hopkins University and chairman of 

 the advisory commission of the Council of Na- 

 tional Defense, has been appointed to serve as 

 chairman of the War Industries Board. 



Professor George B. Thomas, of Colorado 

 College, is on a year's leave of absence, during 

 which time he will work with the Western 

 Electric Company along lines of interest to 

 the military authorities. 



Mr. John W. Gilmore, professor of agron- 

 omy in the University of California, is carry- 

 ing on a wheat campaign in California — 

 handling the problems of proper seed, varieties 

 for different regions, time of planting and re- 

 lated topics. Mr. Charles F. Shaw, professor 

 of soil technology in the university is in charge 

 of the soil survey in California, and is carry- 

 ing on a state campaign for increasing the 

 acreage of wheat lands now in pasture or idle. 



Professor W. S. Ford, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, who had charge of the senior electrical 

 laboratory work, has left to accept a position 

 as superintendent of power with the Vacuum 

 Oil Company, Paulsboro, N. J. 



Professor H. P. Barss, plant pathologist of 

 the Oregon Experiment Station, presented an 



