Maech 23, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



293 



period mentioned, and a large number of 

 those in foreign lands. The name of one of 

 the greatest men in the world's political his- 

 tory is also to be found here, that of Napoleon 

 Bonaparte, who was elected resident member 

 of the section of mechanical arts in the First 

 Class of the reorganized Institut IN'ational, 

 on December 25, 1797 (5th ISTivose An VT.); 

 two years later he became president of this 

 class. It should be borne in mind that this 

 was at the very outset of his career, in the 

 year of the first Italian campaign. In our 

 own day another soldier of France, General 

 Gallieni (died May 27, 1916), who aided 

 greatly in the defense of Paris during the 

 critical first weeks of September, 1914, was a 

 correspondent of the section of geography and 

 navigation. 



One of the most interesting figures among 

 the academicians of the past century was the 

 centenarian chemist, Michel Eugene Chevreul, 

 born September 1, 1786, elected member of the 

 section of chemistrj', August 7, 1826, president 

 of the Academic in 1839 and 1867 and who 

 died in Paris April 9, 1889, aged one hundred 

 and two years, seven months and eight days, 

 his lifetime extending from the reign of Louis 

 XVI. down to the centenary of the French 

 Eepublic. 



The oldest member living at the time the 

 Annuaire went to press was the rural econ- 

 omist Jean Jacques Schla?sing, bom in Mar- 

 seilles, July 9, 1824, and therefore now in his 

 ninety-third year. The Academie counts two 

 other nonogenarians, the rural economist 

 Augusta Chauveau, born November 21, 1827, 

 and the mathematician Charles Wolf, born 

 November 27, 1827; there are a half-dozen 

 octogenarians. 



Of the correspondents chosen from 1795 to 

 1917, eighteen were born in the United States ; 

 three of them, the astronomers Edward Charles 

 Pickering and George Ellery Hale, and 

 William Morris Davis, correspondent of the 

 section of Geography and Navigation, are 

 still living. 



The organization of the Academie at the 

 present time permits the election of 66 full 

 members (Membres Titulaires), sis for each 



of the eleven sections. There are besides two 

 perpetual secretaries, one for the division of 

 mathematical sciences, the other for that of 

 physical sciences, ten Academiciens Libres, 

 six Membres Non Eesident, and twelve As- 

 soeies Etrangers; to these may be added 116 

 correspondents. The full complement in the 

 different classes, and the number actually 

 registered at present, are given as follows: 



Allowed by Registered in 

 statutes Yearbook 



Membres Titulaires 66 57 



Secretaires Perpgtuela 2 2 



Academiciens Libres 10 9 



Membres Non Residents .... 6 4 



Assoeies Etrangers 12 6 



The members of the Academie are distri- 

 buted in eleven sections, the division sciences 

 mathematiques comprising five sections, geom- 

 etry, mechanics, astronomy, geography and 

 navigation and general physics, the sciences 

 physiques embracing the following six sec- 

 tions: chemistry, mineralogy, botany, rural 

 economy, anatomy and zoology, and medicine 

 and siirgery. Each of these eleven sections is 

 restricted to a membership of sis, so that a 

 scientific specialist, however great his renown, 

 must await not merely a vacancy in the 

 Academie, but one in the particular section 

 to which he belongs. By this means an equal 

 balance is always maintained and there can 

 be no undue preponderance of any single 

 scientific branch, or of any group of such 

 branches. G. F. K. 



THE PINK BOLL WORM 



The newspapers of the country in the last 

 few months have called attention to the fact 

 that a most serious pest of the cotton plant 

 known as the pink boll worm {Gelechia gos- 

 sypiella Saund.) has been established in north- 

 ern Mexico through the shipment of several 

 tons of Egyptian cotton seed to that country 

 in 1910. The insect is one which is especially 

 likely to be transported over long distances. 

 It can live for more than a year in stored 

 cotton seed, thus furnishing an opportunity 

 for shipment to the remotest parts of the 

 globe. As a matter of fact it was carried from 



