July 19, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



81 



L. Lang, professor of mathematics and phys- 

 ics; Mr. W. Ramirez, professor of Spanish; 

 Miss E. Prat, instructor in biology. 



The Agricultural College of Utah an- 

 nounces the organization of a course in agri- 

 cultural engineering with departments of irri- 

 gation and drainage, road building, farm 

 machinery, farm buildings, hydraulics, rural 

 sanitation and public health. The following 

 appointments to the faculty have been made : 

 R. B. West, C.E. (Cornell), professor of engi- 

 neering, and Frank Daines, A.M. (Harvard), 

 professor of history, to succeed Professor Har- 

 rison Dale, who has accepted a similar posi- 

 tion in the Washington University at St. 

 Louis. 



The Syracuse University Medical School 

 has called the following men to its corps of 

 instruction: as assistant professor of bacteri- 

 ology, Leverett Dale Bristol, A.B., M.D. 

 (Johns Hopkins), of St. Paul, Minn.; as in- 

 structor in the department of histology. Earl 

 V. Sweet, A.B., M.D. (Cornell), of Phcenix, 

 N. Y. ; as instructor in surgery, Albert G. 

 Swift, M.D. (Syracuse), of New York City; 

 as instructor in pathology, John W. Cox, M.D. 

 (Syracuse). This position was secured by 

 scholarship. At the suggestion of the dean, 

 Colgate University has signified its intention 

 of permitting students to take the senior year 

 in a registered medical college in absentia, 

 such students to receive the bachelor's degree 

 upon the presentation of a certificate from the 

 college of medicine attended to the effect that 

 his work has been done satisfactorily. 



Dr. H. K. Anderson, F.R.S., fellow of Gon- 

 ville and Caius College, Cambridge, known for 

 his research on the physiology of the nervous 

 system, has been elected master of the college, 

 in succession to the late Rev. E. S. Roberts. 



Miss Janet Lane-Claypon, M.D., D.Sc. 

 (London), lecturer in hygiene and physiology 

 at Battersea polytechnic, has been appointed 

 lecturer in hygiene and physiology at King's 

 College for Women, London. 



The following appointments have been 

 made at the University of Manchester: Rich- 

 ardson lecturer in mathematics, Mr. W. D. 



Evans, M.A., now lecturer in mathematics at 

 Hartley College, Southampton; junior assist- 

 ant lecturer in physics, Mr. Harold Robinson, 

 B.Sc; demonstrators in anatomy, Mr. J. B. 

 Stopford, M.B., and Mr. Manfred Moritz. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 



PHILIPPINE SHARKS 



To THE Editor op Science : I have just re- 

 ceived two memoirs on Philippine sharks by 

 Dr. H. M. Smith.' In the first of these Pen- 

 tanchus profundicolus is described as a new 

 genus and species, and the representative of 

 a new family of Notidanoids; in my opinion 

 this fish belongs to the family Soyliorhinidse, 

 and if, as I suspect may be the case, the ab- 

 sence of the first dorsal fin is abnormal or acci- 

 dental, it is a Scyliorhinus closely related to 

 the species numbered 11 to 14 in my synopsis.' 

 The second paper deals with the Squalidse, 

 and on comparing with my synopsis' I find 

 that the new genus Nasisqualus corresponds 

 to a section of Centrophorus which has already 

 received the names Acanihidium and Deaniaj 

 a second new genus, Squalidus, is valid, differ- 

 ing from Euprotomicrus in the structure and 

 position of the first dorsal fin. 



C. Tate Regan 



British Museum (Natural History) 



aragonite coating gravel pebbles 



To THE Editor of Science: On a trip to 

 Clinton, Massachusetts, with Professor George 

 H. Barton, I found in a gravel pit, directly 

 opposite the station, a number of large pebbles 

 with the white coating of calcium carbonate 

 that one often sees. A hemispherical radiate 

 growth up to 5 mm. long, at certain points, 

 attracted my attention, and I took a couple of 

 pebbles home. The coating, to my great sur- 

 prise, proved both by Meigen's test with cobalt 

 nitrate and by optical tests (-ex. o cleavage 

 parallel elongation) to be aragonite. 



Though I have made no goniometer investi- 

 gation, the divergent prismatic crystals with 



• Proc. V. S. Nat. Mus., XII., 1912. 



^Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), I., 1908, p. 453. 



^Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), II., 1908, p. 39. 



