rEBEUAKY 16, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



161 



THE HANCOCK MINERAL COLLECTION 



As somewliat exaggerated accounts of this 

 collection appeared in the newspapers at the 

 time of its purchase for the Harvard Min- 

 eralogical Museum a brief description is op- 

 portune. 



Elwood P. Hancock who died last December 

 in Burlington, N. J., in his eighty-second 

 year, was a landscape artist by profession and 

 also carved in wood as a pastime; he began 

 to collect minerals when nineteen years old 

 and continued throughout his life. To this 

 pursuit he brought the artist's eye and skilled 

 manipulation with fine tools as well as a won- 

 derful " flair " for fine specimens even when 

 the crystals were buried in the matrix, and 

 acquired a keen acquaintance with minerals. 

 For many years he visited Franklin Furnace 

 twice yearly, and made trips to Paterson, If ova 

 Scotia, Virginia, North Carolina and other 

 famous American mineral localities, and the 

 choice specimens he brought back were worked 

 out with incredible skill to show their beauty, 

 with hardly a suspicion that tools had been 

 used to clear away the matrix. 



The collection contains about 1,600 speci- 

 mens of generally the first quality, usually 

 matrix specimens showing good crystals. The 

 standard European and other non- American 

 localities are fairly represented with excellent 

 and well-chosen material but the greater in- 

 terest is in the superb crystals from American 

 localities such as Franklin Furnace, Tilly 

 Foster mine, Amelia Court House, Va., and 

 others where Mr. Hancock collected on the 

 spot and then worked out his material with 

 incredible skill and patience. 



John E. Wolff 



Harvaed Univeksitt 



american academy of public health 

 The organization of this society, which was 

 formed at a meeting held in Cincinnati, Octo- 

 ber 23, 1916, has been noted in Science. The 

 New York Medical Journal states that a con- 

 stitution was adopted stating that the objects 

 of the new organization are to increase the 

 efficiency of its members through the discus- 

 sion of public health problems, to promote 

 the efficiency of public health administration, 



to raise the standards of public health prac- 

 tise, and to stimulate original work in public 

 health science. Qualifications for member- 

 ship are based upon achievements as public 

 health workers and scholarship in public 

 health science. There are two classes of mem- 

 bers: Active members, who must be, at the 

 time of election, not less than thirty years of 

 age and actively engaged in public health 

 work, and honorary members who are chosen 

 in recognition of imusual ability or length of 

 service in public health work. When the mem- 

 bership has reached fifty, not more than five 

 new members shall be added in any one year, 

 in addition to filling vacancies. At the meet- 

 ings of the organization it is not proposed to 

 read scientific papers, but to devote the time 

 to the open discussion of the reports of com- 

 mittees. During the year the various com- 

 mitees will be called upon to prepare reports 

 on such public health problems as are sug- 

 gested by the membership, and their reports 

 will be placed in the hands of the members 

 several weeks in advance of the annual meet- 

 ing so that the members may come to the 

 meetings prepared to discuss the same intelli- 

 gently. It is planned to publish from time to 

 time the opinions which the membership of 

 this academy may reach as the result of their 

 deliberations on the problems presented to 

 them. The members of the organization for 

 the first year are: Dr. Carl L. Alsberg, Dr. 

 John F. Anderson, Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, 

 Dr. Eupert Blue, Dr. Charles V. Chapin, Dr. 

 H. W. Conn, Dr. Haven Emerson, Dr. W. A. 

 Evans, Dr. Irving Fisher, Dr. Lee K. Frankel, 

 Dr. Allen W. Freeman, Dr. Wade H. Frost, 

 Dr. George W. Fuller, Dr. John S. Fulton, 

 Dr. Joseph Goldberger, Dr. S. S. Gold water. 

 Dr. William C. Gorgas, Dr. Selskar M. Gunn, 

 Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman, Dr. J. IST. Hurty, 

 Dr. E. O. Jordan, Dr. J. W. Kerr, Dr. J. J. 

 Kinyoun, Dr. J. H. Landis, Dr. E. 0. Levy, 

 Dr. L. L. Lumsden, Dr. G. W. McCoy, Dr. 

 A. J. McLaughlin, Dr. Joseph S. Ifeff, Dr. 

 Charles E. ISTorth, Dr. William H. Park, Dr. 

 Earle B. Phelps, Dr. W. S. Eankin, Dr. M. P. 

 Eavenel, Dr. M. J. Eosenau, Dr. William T. 

 Sedgwick, Dr. W. F. Snow, Dr. C. W. Stiles, 



