April 10, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



529 



were loaned to the bureau by the War Depart- 

 ment as an emergency measure when the 

 bureau was created. The War Department 

 has suggested that it now needs these build- 

 ings and it is felt the bureau can not retain 

 possession much longer. The buildings are 

 very old and are entirely unsuited to the 

 needs of the Bureau of Mines work. It is 

 said that the investigations have been seriously 

 handicapped by the inadequacy of the struc- 

 tures now in use. 



TSE FUR-SEAL COMMISSION 



The President of the IJnited States and the 

 Secretary of Commerce have approved the 

 recommendation of the Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries for the appointment of a special fur-seal 

 commission, to visit the Pribilof Islands dur- 

 ing the present season for the purpose of ad- 

 vising the government as to the condition of 

 the seal herd and of making recommendations 

 regarding the policy that should be adopted 

 with reference thereto. 



The members of the commission, in accord- 

 ance with the suggestion of the Commissioner 

 of Fisheries, have been selected by outside 

 agencies and have had no previous connection 

 with the fur-seal controversy. 



In response to a request that a duly quali- 

 fied assistant of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, versed in the breeding and other habits 

 of wild and domestic animals, be designated 

 to serve as a member of the commission, Mr. 

 Edward A. Preble, assistant biologist of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, has been nomi- 

 nated by the Secretary of Agriculture. 



The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion was requested to name, as a second mem- 

 ber of the commission, a person duly qualified 

 to make a critical study of the economic rela- 

 tions and obligations of the government to- 

 ward the fur-seal herd, the natives of the seal 

 islands, and the fur trade. Mr. Wilfred H. 

 Osgood, of the Field Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, Chicago, has been chosen for this pur- 

 pose. 



The President invoked the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences to nominate as a third member 

 of the commission a person qualified to study 



the scientific and economic questions involved 

 in the administration of the seal herd; and 

 Dr. George H. Parker, of Harvard University, 

 has been duly nominated. 



Arrangements have been made for sending 

 the commissioners to and from the seal islands 

 on a revenue cutter; they will arrive in the 

 latter part of June and will remain until the 

 second week in August, thus covering the most 

 critical periods of the land life of the seals. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 The spring meeting of the council of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science will be held at the Cosmos Club, 

 Washington, D. C, on the afternoon of Tues- 

 day, April 21, at 4:45 o'clock. 



At the general meeting of the American 

 Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia 

 from April 23 to 25, there will be presented 

 to the society a portrait of the late Samuel 

 Pierpont Langley, a former vice-president. 



As has already been noted in Science, the 

 American Chemical Society is holding its 

 spring meeting at Cincinnati, Ohio, during 

 the present week. Each of the sections has a 

 full and important program. At the general 

 session on the first day, after addresses of wel- 

 come by the mayor of the city and the presi- 

 dent of the University of Cincinnati, and a 

 reply by the president of the society, Pro- 

 fessor Theodore W. Richards, the following 

 papers were announced : Arthur L. Day, " The 

 Chemical Problems of an Active Volcano " ; 

 L. J. Henderson, " The Chemical Fitness of 

 the World for Life " ; W. D. Bancroft, " Flame 

 Eeactions " ; Irving Langmuir, " Chemical 

 Reactions at Low Pressures." 



A PORTRAIT of Sir William Ramsay, painted 

 by Mr. Mark Milbanke, has been presented to 

 University College, London, by former col- 

 leagues and past students. Professor J. Nor- 

 man Collie made the address. A replica of 

 the portrait has been presented to Lady Ram- 

 say. 



Professor John F. Downey, dean of the 

 college of science, literature and the arts, of 

 the University of Minnesota and professor of 



