December 6, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



783 



that new wonder-workings will not soon cease 

 to flow from the cornucopia of speculative and 

 experimental science. When we reflect how 

 few are cultivating philosophical researches in 

 our midst, and compare this petty band with 

 the mighty results to be achieved through 

 their labors, and the limitless harvest waiting 

 for reapers, our spontaneous aspiration is, 

 without stint, and by all legitimate means, to 

 increase the numbers and strengthen the 

 arms of this too feeble fraternity. 



America has not yet attained that scientific 

 maturity which must, we hope, ere long en- 

 title her to claim a foremost rank in the world- 

 federation of philosophy. Preeminent in all 

 the mechanical and practical functions of liv- 

 ing and of labor, we lack that deeper element 

 of digested learning and reflective culture 

 which will give continuous vigor and syste- 

 matic power to our scientific progression. 

 Our low tone of mathematical culture pre- 

 cludes us from all access to some of the rich- 

 est placers of physics, and throws many of 

 our ablest minds on a subtle and tricksy 

 sleight of mind, in researches where the well- 

 furnished investigator would cleave a sure, 

 straight road to the end. With leisure and 

 wealth will come an accession of solid strength 

 and deliberate direction to our too spasmodic 

 vaultings into the realms of discovery. When 

 the man of science is relieved from the exces- 

 sive labor, and stupefying routine of the pro- 

 fessorial function, when research becomes a 

 self-sustaining vocation, and when approved 

 genius is permitted to address all its fire and 

 energy to elaborating and verifying its origi- 

 nations; then American science, erect and 

 self-reliant, will tower upward into a column 

 of true national majesty, more honoring to us, 

 and more diffusive of blessing to man, than 

 even our glorious constitutional fabric. Speed 

 that day, whoever can! 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 The medal of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry was presented to Sir William Crookes 

 at a dinner in London, at which about 150 

 members and guests were present. The re- 

 tiring president of the society. Dr. Eudolph 



Messel, P.E.S., made the speech of presenta- 

 tion, to which Sir William Crookes replied. 



At the last meeting of the board of trustees 

 of Cornell University, Mr. Henry E. Ickel- 

 heimer, '88, of New York, a member of the 

 board, expressed a wish to give the university 

 a statue of Dr. Andrew D. White, and his 

 suggestion met with the cordial approval of 

 the board. He proposed to give the commis- 

 sion to Mr. Karl Bitter. 



The Buchanan medal awarded by the Eoyal 

 Society to Col. William C. Gorgas, the chief 

 sanitary officer of the Panama Canal Zone, 

 was formally presented at the anniversary 

 meeting of the society on November 30. 



Dr. W. J. Holland, the director of the 

 Carnegie Museum, has returned to Pittsburgh 

 after three months' absence in South America. 

 He installed in the National Museum at La 

 Plata a replica of the Diplodocus presented 

 by Mr. Carnegie to the Argentine Republic. 

 He was tendered a banquet by the Academy 

 of Sciences at La Plata, upon which occasion 

 he was made an honorary member of the 

 academy in the section of the natural sciences. 

 On the eve of his departure for the north, he 

 was tendered a banquet at Buenos Aires by 

 the united faculties of the universities of 

 La Plata and Buenos Aires. 



President Henry Pairfield Osborn and 

 Dr. J. A. Allen will represent the American 

 Museum of Natural History at the Ninth 

 International Congress of Zoology to be held 

 at Monaco in March, 1913. 



Sir Thomas Crosby, the retiring Lord 

 Mayor of London, although eighty-two years 

 of age, is preparing to return to the practise 

 of surgery after laying down his official 

 duties. 



Mr. C. S. Orwin has been appointed di- 

 rector of the institute for research in agricul- 

 tural economics at Oxford University. 



Dr. G. Abetti has been appointed assistant 

 astronomer in the Vatican Observatory at 

 Rome. 



Northwestern University will have as 

 seventh Harris lecturer next spring Dr. J. S. 



