January 6, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



17 



activities to astrophj'sics, and it will therefore 

 in future be called the Royal Astrophysical 

 Observatory. Professor Antonio Abetti re- 

 tired from the acting directorship last June on 

 account of age, and has been succeeded by his 

 son, Professor Giorgio Abetti. 



Albert W. Smith, formerly dean of Sibley 

 College and recently acting-president of Cor- 

 nell University, is now consulting engineer 

 with the firm of Henry E. Kent & Co. of New 

 York and Boston. 



Morse B. Peingle, chief engineer for the 

 Eastman Kodak Company, has been appointed 

 city manager of Smyrna, Fla. 



Dr. KjiRL Lasdstbinee, formerly of Vienna 

 and now of The Hague, has been appointed on 

 the scientific stafi: of the Kockefeller Institute 

 for Medical Research, New York. 



De. Howard S. Reed, professor of plant 

 physiology at the Graduate School of Tropical 

 Agriculture and Citrus Experiment Station, 

 University of California, is spending part of 

 his sabbatical year in Mexico, Central America 

 and the West Indies. He will return about 

 March 1. 



Dr. W. J. Humphreys, professor of mete- 

 orological physics, United States Weather 

 Bureau, lectured on "Fogs and Clouds" before 

 the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, on Jan- 

 uary 5. 



Professor George C. Whipple's book on 

 "Vital Statistics," published in 1919, has been 

 translated into Japanese and is published in 

 Tokyo. 



The Amei'iean Astronomical Society will 

 hold its next meeting at Yerkes Observatory, 

 Williams Bay, Wis., the week following next 

 Labor Daj^ The next winter meeting will be 

 held at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 

 and the summer meeting of 1923 probably at 

 the Mount Wilson Observatory, near Pasa- 

 dena, Cal. 



The Washington Academy of Sciences has 

 compiled a tentative list of one hundred popu- 

 lar books in science. The list, which was edited 

 by Dr. R. B. Sosman, corresponding secretai-y, 

 was compiled at the rec^uest of Dr. George F. 



Bowerman, librarian of the Public Library of 

 the District of Columbia. The standard set up 

 for the books is that they must be both read- 

 able and scientifically accurate. The subjects 

 covered are anthropology and physiology, 

 heredity, botany, animals, birds and insects, 

 geology, meteorology, minerals, astronomy, 

 chemistrjr, physics, mathematics and history of 

 science. 



The faculty of Mercer University on Decem- 

 ber 14, 1921, passed the following resolutions: 



Resolved, That the Faculty of Mercer Univer- 

 sity favor the plan of placing the scientific 

 bureaus of the United States government under 

 the jurisdiction of a board of governors, with 

 the view of unifying all governmental science and 

 developing it to the highest possible efficiency, 

 by affording scientific workers permanent tenure 

 of office, greater freedom in investigation, non- 

 interference through politics, and adequate 

 salaries. 



Besolved, That a majority, at least, of the said 

 board of governors be appointed by the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, in 

 order that the most able executives in the various 

 fields of science may be appointed to such an 

 important governing board, and that its per- 

 sonnel be free from political influences. 



We learn from the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association that Senator Wadsworth, 

 of New York, has presented a bill in congress 

 providing for an appropriation of $143,032 to 

 meet the increased cost of land needed adjoin- 

 ing the Walter Reed General Hospital in 

 Washington. On this real estate it is proposed 

 to erect buildings for the medical museum and 

 librarj' and the Army medical school. At the 

 request of Surgeon General Ireland, Congress 

 appropriated two years ago the sum of 

 $350,000 for the purchase of this land, but 

 since the negotiations for the taking over of 

 the jDroperty have been under way it has been 

 discovered that it could not be bought at this 

 figure. A request for more money from Con- 

 gress, therefore, was necessary. Immediate 

 purchase is urged both by Senator Wads- 

 worth, chairman of the Senate committee on 

 military affairs, and Surgeon General Ireland, 

 because it is believed that the land will 

 increase in price in the future and the govern- 

 ment should act now as a matter of economv. 



