January 26, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



85 



products, acetone, etc., from the kelps of the 

 Pacific coast. 



De. L. H. Bailey, Mrs. Bailey and Miss 

 Bailey are preparing to leave Ithaca at the 

 end of this month for a tour of the Far East 

 to last the greater part of a year. 



EoALD Amundsen has definitely postponed 

 the execution of his plans for an expedition 

 to the north pole until after the war. His ship 

 was almost equipped for the trip, which was 

 to have lasted three or four years, and the crew 

 had been hired; but the money difficulties 

 proved insuperable. The necessary expenses 

 of the expedition in consequence of war prices 

 have mounted from $136,000 to double that 

 figure. 



The annual meeting of the Brooklyn Ento- 

 mological Society was held on January 13 and 

 the following oificers were elected for 1917 : 

 President, W. T. Bather; Vice-president, W. 

 T. Davis; Treasurer, C. E. Olsen; Eecording 

 Secretary, J. E. de la Torre Bueno; Corre- 

 sponding Secretary, E. P. Dow; Librarian, 

 A. C. Weeks; Publication Committee, J. E. 

 de la Torre Bueno, C. Schaeffer and E. P. 

 Dow. 



Dr. James E. Angell, of the University of 

 Chicago, is giving a course of lectures on 

 " The Makers of Modern Psychology " on the 

 Spencer Foundation at Union College. 



A COURSE of twenty-four lectures on ore de- 

 posits is being delivered before the department 

 of geology of Columbia University by Pro- 

 fessor John D. Irving, professor of economic 

 geology, ShefEeld Scientific School, Yale Uni- 

 versity. 



Professor F. J. Metzger, of the department 

 of chemical engineering, Columbia University, 

 has resigned his position to accept the position 

 of manager of chemical development, with the 

 Air Eeduction Company, !N'ew York. 



committee of prominent citizens, headed by 

 the Honorable Edgar M. Cullen, is endeavor- 

 ing to raise an equal amount as a memorial 

 fund to Dr. McCorkle. 



A GIFT of $50,000 to the principal of the 

 alumni fund, subject to an annuity, from a 

 graduate of the class of 1867, Yale College, 

 was announced at the last meeting of the cor- 

 poration. This is the second gift of like 

 amoimt and under similar conditions that has 

 been made to the credit of the class of 1867 in 

 the alumni fund. There has also been re- 

 ceived, from Eobert W. Kelley, '74, class agent 

 and a director of the fund, $125,000 (subject 

 to an annuity as to four fifths of the amount), 

 the whole to be added to the Yale Alumni 

 Fund as an addition to the permanent memo- 

 rial fund of 1874. 



Dr. William Wistar Comfort, professor of 

 the Eomance languages and literatures and 

 head of the department at Cornell University, 

 has been elected president of Haverford Col- 

 lege. He will succeed Dr. Isaac Sharpless, 

 who will retire after completing a service of 

 thirty years in the Haverford presidency. 



J. O. Eankin has resigned as agricultural 

 editor at the Missouri Station to become asso- 

 ciate professor of agricultural economics at 

 the Iowa College, and is succeeded by M. N. 

 Beeler, agricultural editor at the University 

 of Florida. 



Dr. Eaoul Blanchard, professor of geog- 

 raphy and director of the Institute of Geog- 

 raphy at the University of Grenoble, has been 

 appointed exchange professor at Harvard for 

 1916-17. His term of service will fall in the 

 second half year. 



Dr. V. A. Coulter, Ph.D., has been ap- 

 pointed assistant professor of chemistry in the 

 University of North Carolina. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



NEWS 



The late Dr. John A. McCorkle had set 



aside in trust bonds of the market value of 



$50,000 which became payable to the Long 



Island College Hospital upon his death. A 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



NEGATIVE SURFACE TENSION 



In a recent number of Science (November 

 24, 1916) Professor W. A. Patrick in a note on 

 " Ostwald's Handbook of Colloidal Chemis- 

 try," expresses doubt as to the existence of 

 negative surface tension, and suggests that it 



