328 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1266 



logical Society. The chair was taken by Sir 

 ISTapier Shaw, F.E.S. 



A MEMORIAL service in honor of the late 

 President C. E. Van Hise will he held by 

 University of Wisconsin late in April, accord- 

 ing to plans now in preparation. The speakers 

 will be: Professor T. C. Chamberlin, of the 

 University of Chicago, who will speak on Dr. 

 Van Hise's relation to science; Dr. Albert 

 Shaw, of The Review of Reviews, who will 

 speak on Dr. Van Hise's relation to the public, 

 and President E. A. Brige, of the university, 

 who will speak on Dr. Van Hise's relation to 

 the university. 



Dr. Prederick Du Cane Godman, the dis- 

 tinguished English naturalist, died on Peb- 

 ruary 19. 



J. J. T. ScHLCESiNG, professor of agricultural 

 chemistry in the Paris Conservatoire des Arts 

 et Metiers, died on February 8 at the age of 

 ninety-four years. 



Andre Chantemesse, professor of hygiene in 

 the Paris faculty of medicine and inspector 

 general of sanitary services, has died in his 

 sixty-fifth year. 



Andrew Melville Paterson, professor of 

 anatomy at the University of Liverpool, died 

 on February 1-3, aged fifty-six years. 



The British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science will resume its series of an- 

 nual meetings this year at Bournemouth from 

 September 9 to 13, under the presidency of the 

 Hon. Sir Charles Parsons. 



A considerable fund has been given to 

 Montefiore Home and Hospital, Gun Hill 

 Eoad, New York City, the income of which is 

 to be devoted to medical research independent 

 of the hospital laboratory work. The selection 

 of a director of research is at present \mder 

 consideration and is in the hands of the lab- 

 oratory committee. 



The nintli session of the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory at Laguna Beach, California, wiM 

 begin on June 25 and last six weeks. General 

 courses in marine zoology, botany and ento- 

 mology will be given. There are eight small 

 private rooms for the use of special investi- 

 gators. Copies of the announcement may be 



obtained by writing to the Department of 

 Zoology, Pomona CoUege, Claremont, Cali- 

 fornia. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Dr. J. B. Hurry has ofFered to increase the 

 value of the Michael Foster research student- 

 ship in physiology, founded by him at the 

 University of Cambridge in 1912, and tenable 

 biennially, from a hundred guineas to £200. 



Dr. Withrow Morse, of the Michael Eeese 

 Hospital at Chicago, has received an appoint- 

 ment as professor of physiological chemistry 

 in the medical school of the University of 

 West Virginia, Morgantown. 



Dr. Eugene L. Porter, instructor in phys- 

 iology in the University of Chicago, has been 

 appointed assistant professor of physiology at 

 the Western Eeserve University Medical 

 School. 



Dr. Frank J. Smiley, has been appointed 

 assistant professor of economic botany and 

 assistant botanist in the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, University of California. 



The Manchester City Council has approved 

 the appointment of Arthur James Turner, to 

 the chair of textile technology in the College 

 of Technology, Manchester. Professor Turner 

 will be assisted in conducting the work of his 

 department by colleagues who are practical 

 experts in. various branches of the textile in- 

 dustries. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



" OLD AGE " OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS 



To THE Editor of Science: In his presi- 

 dential address Professor Eichards discussed 

 the interesting problem of radioactive lead.^ 

 The present conception regarding the struc- 

 ture of atoms and the theory of electrons 

 seems to indicate that the chemical elements 

 may be subject to "old age." According to 

 this hypothesis " common " lead possessed 

 eons ago, probably at the time of the forma- 

 tion of the earth, an atomic weight of 206.08 

 and density of 11.27 and by slowing up 

 in the speed of its electrons increased its 



1 Science, 49, p. 1, 1919. 



