FEBRUARY 22, 1901. ] 
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
THE provisions reorganizing certain divisions 
of the Department of Agriculture which, as we 
noted last week, were omitted from the appro- 
priation bill as it passed the House have been 
reinserted by the Senate. The four bureaus 
provided and the staffs, as the bill now stands, 
are as follows: 
Bureau of Plant Industry.—One plant physiologist 
and pathologist, who shall be chief of bureau, $3,000 ; 
1 plant pathologist, $2,500; 1 botanist, $2,500; 1 
pomologist, $2,500 ; 1 agrostologist, $2,500 ; 1 assist- 
ant pathologist, $1,800 ; 1 assistant botanist, $1,800 ; 
1 assistant pomologist, $1,800 ; 1 assistant agrostolo- 
gist, $1,800; 2 clerks, class 3, $3,200; 3 clerks, class 
2, $4,200 ; 3 clerks, class 1, $3,600; 5 clerks at $1,000 
each; $5,000; 2 clerks at $900 each, $1,800 ; 2 clerks 
at $840 each, $1,680 in all, $39,680. 
Bureau of Forestry.—One forester who shall be chief 
of bureau, $3,000 ; 1 assistant forester, $2,500 ; 1 as- 
sistant forester, $1,800 ; 1 assistant forester, $2,000 ; 
1 chief clerk, $1,800 ; 1 stenographer, $1,200 ; 1 field 
assistant, $1,500 ; 1 field assistant, $1,400 ; 1 field as- 
sistant, $1,200 ; 1 field assistant, $1,000 ; 1 field as- 
sistant, $720 ; 10 collaborators at $300 each, $3,000 ; 
1 clerk class 3, $1,600; 1 photographer, $1,200; 1 
computer, $1,000; 3 clerks, class 1, $3,600 ; 2 clerks 
at $1,000 each, $2,000 ; 4 clerks at $900 each, $3,600 ; 
7 clerks at $720 each, $5,040 ; in all, $39,160. 
Bureau of Chemistry.—One chemist, who shall be 
chief of bureau, $3,000 ; 1 assistant chemist, $2,500 ; 
1 assistant chemist, $1,800; 1 assistant chemist, 
$1,600; 2 clerks, class 1, $2,400 ; in all, $11,300. 
Bureau of Soils.—One soil physicist who shall be 
chief of bureau, $3,000 ; 1 scientist, $2,500 ; 1 scien- 
tist, 1,800 ; 1 scientist, $1,000 ; 1 chief clerk, $2,000 ; 
1 stenographer, $1,200; 3 clerks, class 1, $3,600 ; 
1 clerk, $1,000 ; 1 clerk, $840, 1 watchman, $720 ; 1 
charwoman, $480 ; in all, $18,140. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE gold medal of the Royal Astronomical 
Society has been awarded to Professor E. C. 
Pickering, director of the Haryard College 
Observatory. 
THE Amsterdam Society for the Advance- 
ment of Natural Science and Medicine has 
awarded its gold Swammerdam medal for 1900 
to Professor Gegenbaur, of Heidelberg. The 
medal was established in 1880, and is awarded 
SCLENCE. 
315 
once in ten years for researches in the biological 
sciences, having hitherto been conferred on 
Professor C. Th. yon Siebold and Professor Ernst 
Haeckel. 
Proressor EH. A. SCHAFER, of the University 
of Edinburgh, was presented, on January 30th, 
with a testimonial by his former pupils at Uni- 
versity College, London. The presentation took 
the form of silver plate and a sum of money to 
be used for the foundation of a Schafer physi- 
ological research medal. 
PROFESSOR MATHIAS DUVAL, of the Beole de 
Médicine at Paris, who has been obliged by the 
condition of his eyes to forego work for two 
years, has undergone a successful operation. 
We understand that he will now be able to re- 
sume his important embryological researches, 
which have already given him a foremost place 
among the embryologists of the world. 
AT a meeting of the trustees of the American 
Museum of Natural History, held on February 
11th, the formal announcement was made of the 
gift to the Museum by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan 
of the Tiffany collection of gems and of the 
famous Bement collection of minerals. Another 
very important gift is, the ethnological collec- 
tion brought together for the past twenty-five 
years by Andrew Ellicott Douglas. Mr. Wil- 
liam E. Dodge was elected first vice-president 
of the Museum. Professor Henry F. Osborn 
was elected a trustee and second vice-president. 
PROFESSOR J. PLAYFAIR McMurricu, of the 
Medical Department of the University of Michi- 
gan, has been asked by the Government of the 
Netherlands to take charge of, and make a re- 
port on, a collection ofactinians secured from the 
neighborhood of the Malay Archipelago. The 
collection includes specimens from along the 
shore and from the deep sea. 
PROFESSOR WILLIAM DEWITT ALEXANDER, 
head of the survey department of Hawaii, has 
resigned to accept a position on the United 
States Coast and Geodetic Survey. He will 
have charge of that branch of the department 
which has to deal with Hawaii and Samoa. 
Dr. JoHN S. BILLINGS, JR., has resigned his 
position of instructor in clinical microscopy in 
the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College, New York, and has become assistant 
