236 
the Navy Department, and 19 said no; but when it 
came to their suggestions as to what department it 
should be connected with, if disconnected from the 
Navy Department, the disagreement was enough— 
not to speak too lightly—to make any man’s head 
ache. 
There was almost as wide a divergence of opinion 
as opinions expressed. Some suggested the Treasury 
Department, some suggested the Geological, some the 
Interior Department, and some the Smithsonian In- 
stitution. Many thought—and I am sure the gentle- 
man from Illinois would not bein favor of it—that it 
was immediately necessary to establish a new depart- 
ment of the Government, that of a department of 
science, and for the appointment of a secretary of that 
department, in order that this Bureau and this Obser- 
vatory and one or two others might be connected with 
it and embodied in oneinstitution. Others suggested 
that it was necessary for the Government in order 
properly toadminister the Observatory to establish a 
national university. 
This board, composed, as I say, of a member of the 
Senate and a member of the House and these three 
representative astronomers, after considering the whole 
matter from one end to the other, reached the conclu- 
sion that in the absence of the department of science 
or of the national university the management of the 
Observatory could be and would be as properly carried 
out under the control of the Navy Department as 
any other and at a probably less expense than any 
other. 
Now, as I stated a moment ago, the Observatory 
work is done, as far as the executive head is con- 
cerned, by an officer detailed from the United States 
Navy, but who does not have control of the astro- 
nomical work. Toa certain extent he is the head of 
the Observatory, but the responsibility for the astro- 
nomical work is placed upon the astronomical director. 
The question whether or not it would be better for 
the head of the institution to be an astronomer, either 
from civil life or from the corps of mathematics, is 
one which can not in this connection be determined. 
But, so far as the scientific work is concerned, I am 
satisfied that it is now being well done; and I want to 
call attention to the fact that in a two-page article in 
SCIENCE of recent date, criticising Captain Davis’s 
report to the Secretary of the Navy, it is admitted 
that the work is well done so far as the scientific part 
of it is concerned. 
Therefore, Iam sure my friend from Nevada [Mr. 
Newlands] will not hereafter desire in any way to do 
injustice to an institution of this country which may 
stand at the head, and should stand at the head, of 
all similar scientific institutions throughout the 
world. 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 319. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
Aw American Association of Pathologists and 
Bacteriologists was formed at a meeting held in 
New York on January 26th. The following 
officers were elected: President, Dr. W. T. 
Councilman; Seeretary, Dr. H. C. Ernst ; 
Treasurer, Dr. Hugene Hodenpyl. The first 
regular meeting of the Society will be held in 
Boston on April 5th. 
ON the occasion of the retirement of Sir 
Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., of the Geological 
Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, he will be 
entertained at a dinner and presented with an 
address. : 
AMONG the honors conferred on the occasion 
of the bi-centenary of the Prussian monarchy is 
the patent of hereditary nobility to Dr. Emil 
Behring, professor of hygiene and the history 
of medicine at Marburg. 
We learn from Nature that the Manchester 
Literary and Philosophical Society has awarded 
the Wilde medal for 1901 to Dr. Elias Metchni- 
koff, of the Institut Pasteur, Paris, for his 
researches in comparative embryology, com- 
parative anatomy, and the study of inflammation 
and phagocytosis ; and the Wilde premium to 
Mr. Thomas Thorp, for his paper on grating 
films and their application to color photography, 
and other communications made to the Society. 
The Dalton Medal for 1901 has not been 
awarded. 
THE Maximillian order for science and art 
of Bavaria has been conferred on Dr. Hugo 
Seeliger, professor of astronomy in the Uni- 
versity at Munich. 
PROFESSOR R, BLANCHARD, who for twenty- 
three years has filled the position of secretary 
to the Zoological Society of France, has pre- 
sented his resignation to take effect on the 
twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of 
the Society. On this occasion a commemora- 
tive medal will be conferred on Professor 
Blanchard in recognition of his great services 
to the Society. 
Mr. W. H. DInes has been appointed presi- 
dent of the Royal Meteorological Society, Lon- 
don. 
PROFESSOR GEORGE E. HALE, of the Yerkes 
Observatory, gave an address before the Boston 
