282 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX, No. 1264 



now connected with the Great Western Elec- 

 tro-Chemical Co., San Francisco, Cal. 



The annual meeting of the District of 

 Columbia Chapter of the Society of the Sigma 

 Xi was held in the auditorium of the Na- 

 tional Museum, on March 6. Major E. M. 

 Yerkes, Sanitary Corps, U. S. Army, gave an 

 illustrated lecture on the " Eelationship of 

 Army Mental Tests to Education and Voca- 

 tional Guidance." Officers for the ensuing 

 two years were elected as follows : President, 



C. L. Shear; Vice-president, H. L. Shantz; 

 Secretary, M. W. Lyon, Jr.,; Treasurer, D. 

 Eoberts Harper 3d; Councillors, Charles E. 

 TuUar and C. A. Briggs. 



A Canadian branch of the American Phyto- 

 pathological Society was recently organized. 

 The purpose of the organization is to correlate 

 the work of plant pathologists in Canada and 

 keep them in closer touch with each other, at 

 the same time retaining a dose union with the 

 plant pathologists in the United States. The 

 officers are: Professor J. E. Howitt, president; 

 Mr. W. A. McOulbbin, Vice-president; Dr. E. 

 E. Stone, Secretary -treasurer. 



The following officers and council of the 

 Eoyal Astronomical Society were elected at 

 the annual general meeting on February 14: 

 President: Professor A. Fowler; Vice-presi- 

 dents: Sir F. W. Dyson, Astronomer Eoyal, 

 Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Major P. A. Mac- 

 Mahon, and Professor H. F. Newall; Treas- 

 urer: Mr. E. B. Knobel; Secretaries: Dr. A. C. 



D. Crommelin and Rev. T. E. E. PhiUips; 

 Foreign Secretary: Professor H. H. Turner; 

 Council: Professor A. E. Oonrady, Dr. J. L. 



E. Dreyer, Professor A. S. Eddington, Brig.- 

 Gen. E. H. Hills, Mr. J. H. Jeans, Dr. Harold 

 Jeffreys, Mr. H. S. Jones, Lieutenant-fColonel 

 H. G. Lyons, Mr. E. W. Maunder, Dr. W. H. 

 Maw, Professor J. W. Nicholson, and Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel F. J. M. Stratton. 



We learn from The British Medical Journal 

 that a House of Commons Medical Committee 

 has been formed to include all medical mem- 

 bers and other members of the House of Com- 

 mons interested in scientific matters akin to 

 medicine. All the medical members, except- 



ing the ministers, have joined, and also Sir 

 Philip Magnus (member for the University of 

 London) and Sir Henry Craik (one of the 

 members for the Scottish Universities). The 

 chairman is Sir Watson Cheyne, and the secre- 

 tary Major A. C. Farquharson. The executive 

 committee consists of Sir William Whitla, 

 Lieut.-Colonel Nathan Eaw and Captain El- 

 liott. The objects of the committee are to ex- 

 change opinions so as to secure representation 

 of agreed views on medical subjects in Parlia- 

 ment. The committee is open to receive repre- 

 sentations on all such matters from the col- 

 leges and corporations, and from societies and 

 associations, and will hold conferences when 

 considered desirable. It will not allow itself 

 in any way to be identified with any one par- 

 ticular 'body. A subcommittee has been ap- 

 pointed, consisting of Colonel Nathan Eaw 

 (England), Sir Watson Cheyne (Scotland), 

 and rSir William Whitla (Ireland), to watch 

 the ministry of health in its progress through 

 the House. 



Dr. H. D. Curtis, of the Lick Observatory, 

 Mount Hamilton, California, gave an address 

 on " Modern Theories of Spiral Nebulse " at a 

 joint meeting of the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences and the Philosophical Society of 

 Washington on March 15. 



The death is announced on February 19, at 

 eighty-five years of age, of Dr. F. Du Cane 

 Godman, F.E.S., trustee of the British Mu- 

 seum, and distinguished for his work in nat- 

 ural history, especially ornithology. 



An item concerning the " Goodrich conser- 

 vation bill," printed on page 213 of Science 

 for February 10, applies to the state of In- 

 diana, and not to Illinois. 



Malcolm Platpair Anderson, a well-known 

 naturalist and explorer, was killed in Oakland, 

 California, on February 21, by the fall of a 

 beam in a shipyard. Mr. Anderson was a 

 graduate of Stanford University, a son of Dr. 

 Melville Best Anderson, professor emeritus of 

 English literature at Stanford. He was an 

 accomplished ornithologist, his work having 

 been largely in China and Japan, where he was 

 head naturalist of the Duke of Bedford's ex- 



