502 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1005 



ment and for dismissal in tlie university should 

 come through my office to your board. This is the 

 procedure in any well-governed university. At that 

 time, also, I asked explicitly that if at any time 

 yon should feel that you would be more comfortable 

 with another man in my position, you express to 

 me frankly that feeling; and I stated that I would, 

 then, with good will, promptly retire. To this also 

 you agreed. 



I can not but regret that when the time came 

 to act under this agreement, you did not do so, 

 frankly and honorably. You had only to ask for 

 my resignation to receive it at once. The course 

 you adopted to accomplish the same object is un- 

 worthy of yourselves, unjust to me, and involves a 

 still more serious injustice to another man whose 

 case should have been considered on its merits 

 after proper hearing and investigation, and not 

 entirely subordinated, as I believe it was, to the 

 evident desire to raise, quite needlessly, a personal 

 issue between your board and myself. 



It is not my purpose to dwell on this point, how- 

 ever. Interpreting your action as I have no doubt 

 it was intended, and conforming on my own part 

 to the understanding on which I came here, I will- 

 ingly withdraw from a position which I accepted 

 only at your earnest solicitation and which I have 

 no desire to retain unless I can demand and re- 

 ceive your entire support. I do this with the less 

 regret because as I recall the issues which have 

 arisen between us and which have led to your pres- 

 ent attitude, I am as firmly as ever convinced that 

 the ideals and policies which I have held for the 

 university during the past two and one half years 

 have been right and educationally sound; that no 

 single instance of personal politics or self-seeking 

 on my own part has contributed to our differences; 

 and that if you had chosen to give me a reason- 

 able opportunity for working out these ideals and 

 policies they would have justified themselves in 

 ample measure by the results. 



If it were possible that I have exaggerated the 

 significance of your action in its relation to my- 

 self, my 'course would still be the same. No man 

 can be held accountable for his responsibility un- 

 less his authority is respected, or for his policies' 

 unless he is given a free hand to carry them out. 

 This principle is recognized in all well-governed 

 colleges and universities, as it is in every well- 

 organized business. The efficient government of 

 this university on any other basis is impossible, 

 and I could not be a party to so hopeless an ex- 

 periment even if it were your desire that I should. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 At the annual meeting of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, to be held in Washing- 

 ton on April 21, 22 and 23, the William Ellery 

 Hale Lectures will be inaugurated by two lec- 

 tures on " The Constitution of Matter and the 

 Evolution of the Elements," by Sir Ernest 

 Rutherford, of the University of Manchester. 

 A SPECIAL convocation held at Oxford on 

 March 24 conferred the degree of doctor of 

 science on Surgeon General Gorgas. 



The Fothergill gold medal of the Medical 

 Society of London for 1914 has been awarded 

 to Dr. John George Adami, E.E.S., LL.D., 

 Strathcona professor of pathology and bac- 

 teriology at McGill University, for his work 

 on pathology and its application to practical 

 medicine and surgery. 



We learn from Nature that the council of 

 the University of Birmingham has appointed' 

 Professor Charles Lapworth emeritus professor 

 of geology in recognition of his services dur- 

 ing his occupation of the chair of geology. 

 The senate recently signalized his retirement 

 by the presentation of an address and a gift of 

 plate, and on March 11 another presentation 

 was made to him by a large number of his old 

 students. 



The last number of the Miinchener medi- 

 cinische Wochenschrift is a special issue in 

 honor of the sixtieth birthday of Professor 

 Ehrlich, which occurred on March 14. 



Dr. Lawrence Martin, of the University of 

 Wisconsin, has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the International Committee on 

 Glaciers. 



Mr. R. J. PococK, of Queen's College, Ox- 

 ford, has been appointed to direct the observ- 

 atory of the Nizam of Hyderabad. 



Professor F. Keeble, F.R.S., professor of 

 botany, University College, Reading, has been 

 appointed director of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's garden at Wisley. 



Dr. John W. Colbert, Albuquerque, has 

 been asked by the Rockefeller Foundation to 

 assume charge of its research work in a cam- 

 paign to be inaugurated for' the eradication 



