Apeil 11, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



353 



It is believed that those who have known Dr. 

 Putnam may like to join in endowing this pro- 

 fessorship which should always bear his name, 

 and which would fulfill his hope that neurolog- 

 ical work of a high order might be developed 

 at the Harvard Medical School. To all of us 

 who knew Dr. Putnam it would also commemo- 

 rate the devotion and the self-sacrificing work 

 of his lifetime. 



President Lowell sends the following letter: 



Hakvard UNrvERsrrr, Cambridge, 



February 8, 1919 

 afj/ dear Dr. TfaJcott, 



The suggestion of founding a professorship of 

 diseases of the nervous system in memory of Dr. 

 James Jackson Putnam appeals to me deeply both 

 on account of the value of such a professorship to 

 the medical school, and on account of the deep af- 

 fection I had for Dr. Putnam and of my reverent 

 esteem for his character. The foundation ought 

 to appeal strongly to all who recognize the ever- 

 increasing suffering caused to our over-sensitized 

 commimity by nervous aOments, and to all who 

 knew Dr. Putnam as patient or as friend. 

 Very truly yours, 



A. Lawrence Lowell 



It is hoped that $50,000 may be raised as en- 

 dowment, of which more than half is already 

 promised. A reply from any one who proposes 

 to contribute is requested now, but payment, 

 either by check or in Liberty Bonds, may be 

 made any time before December 31, 1919. 



H. P. "Walcott, 



Charles C. Jackson, 



Edward W. Emersox, 



Edw.ard H. Br.adford, 



MooREFiELD Storey, Treasurer 

 735 Exchange Building, Boston 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Sir William Crookes, the distinguished 

 English chemist, died on April 4, in his eighty- 

 seventh year. 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, keeper of the department 

 of zoology since 1907, has been appointed to 

 succeed Sir Lazarus Fletcher as director of the 

 British Natural History Museum, South Ken- 

 sington. 



At a meeting of the Societe de Biologie held 

 in Paris on January 25, Dr. Simon Flexner, 

 director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller 

 Institute for Medical Research, New York, was 

 elected an associate member of that society. 



The Royal Geographical Society has 

 awarded the Founder's Medal to Colonel E. M. 

 Jack for his geographical work on the Western 

 Front; the Patron's Medal to Professor W. M. 

 Davis, of Harvard University, for his eminence 

 in the development of physical geography; the 

 Victoria Medal is awarded to Professor J. W. 

 Gregory for his many and important contri- 

 butions to geographical science; the Murchi- 

 son grant to Dr. W. M. Strong, of the North- 

 eastern District, Papua, for his journeys and 

 surveys in New Guinea; the Cuthbert Peek 

 grant to Professor Rudmose Brown for his geo- 

 graphical work in the Antarctic and in Spits- 

 bergen; the Back grant to the Venerable 

 Archdeacon Stuck, of Fort Yukon, for his 

 travels in Alaska and ascent of Mount McKin- 

 ley, and the Gill memorial to Mr. W. J. Hard- 

 ing King for his investigations of desert con- 

 ditions in northern Africa. 



The Schwabacher prize of 20,000 marks was 

 recently divided between Professors Rubner 

 and Zuntz, both of Berlin, for their work on 

 diet in war time. 



Dr. H. S. Washington, of the geophysical 

 laboratory, Carnegie Institution, has been 

 elected a foreign member of the Accademia dei 

 Lincei. 



Professor J. C. Merrl^m, of the University 

 of California, has returned to Washington to 

 act as chairman of the National Research 

 Council. 



Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, state commissioner 

 of health of New York, has been granted six 

 weeks leave of absence and is now en route to 

 France, where he will aid in the establishment 

 of an international Red Cross society. 



Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan, accompanied by 

 D. D. Condit, C. W. Cooke and C. P. Ross, 

 have gone to the Dominican Republic, to make 

 a preliminary inspection of the geology in 

 preparation for a geological survey imder the 

 direction of the military government of the 



