438 
of the controversy, the officials have surrounded the 
matter with the greatest secrecy. 
It can be stated, however, that the charges come 
under four main heads, viz., that the accused resorted 
to intriguing methods to bring about the administra- 
tion of affairs which he desired ; that he made state- 
ments as coming from Captain Davis which that 
officer controverts; that he threatened the superin- 
tendent with attacks upon the floor of Congress, and 
neglect of duty. 
For the present the action of the Navy Department 
awaits the course that Professor Brown may adopt on 
the copy of the charges which has been laid before 
him. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
WE record with much regret the death of 
Dr. George Mercer Dawson, director of the 
Geological Survey of Canada, which occurred on 
March 2d, after an illness of only two days. 
Dr. SAMUEL W. STRATTON has’ been ap- 
pointed by President McKinley director of the 
newly established National Bureau of Stand- 
ards. Dr. Stratton is professor of physics in 
the University of Chicago, but has, for the past 
year, had leave of absence to take charge of the 
Office of Standard Weights and Measures, 
THE President has also appointed a Board of 
Visitors to the U. 8. Naval Observatory, in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of recent legisla- 
tion, as follows: St. Clair McKelway, of Brook- 
lyn, N. Y.; Asaph Hall, Jr., of Ann Arbor, 
Mich.; William R. Harper, of Chicago ; Edward 
C. Pickering, of Cambridge, Mass. ; Charles A. 
Young, of Princeton, N. J.; Ormond Stone, of 
Charlottesville, Va. 
Dr. ROBERT BELL, one of the assistant di- 
rectors of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
has been appointed director in succession to the 
late Dr. George M. Dawson. 
Mr. J. E. Spurr, of the U. 8. Geological Sur- 
vey, has accepted an invitation of the Turkish 
Government to make an investigation of the 
mineral resources of the country. 
Dr. W. B. Scort, professor of geology in 
Princeton University, expects to leave in May 
for South America in the interests of the work 
carried on in Patagonia by several Princeton 
expeditions. 
Mr. W. H. Fisk, of Durham, N. C., has 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. XIII. No. 324. 
been appointed assistant State entomologist of 
Georgia. 
SiGNoR MARCONI was one of the passengers 
on the Majestic which left Liverpool for New 
York on March 6th. 
AT the annual meeting of the Hunterian So- 
ciety, London, on February 13th, Dr. J. Dun- 
das Grant was elected president of the Society. 
The annual address was given by Mr. John 
Poland, who gave a retrospect of surgery dur- 
ing the last century. 
On account of ill-health Dr. Frank Russell 
has been compelled to omit some of his courses 
in anthropology at Harvard University, and to 
relinquish others to another instructor. Havy- 
ing been ordered to a more healthful climate he 
will occupy the year of exile in carrying on 
archeological investigations in the Southwest- 
PROFESSOR GEORGE S. WILKINS, C.E., pro- 
fessor of engineering at the University of Ala- 
bama, has been made Chevalier of the Legion 
of Honor by the French Government for ser- 
vices on the International Jury of Awards of the 
Paris exposition. Professor Wilkins was expert 
of the department of civil engineering and trans- 
portation for the commissioner general of the 
United States at this exposition. He was also 
the official United States delegate to the follow- 
ing International congresses: Tramways, Ap- 
plied Mechanics, Technical and Industrial Edu- 
cation and Acetylene Gas. 
In memory of the late Dr. Walter Myers, 
whose life was sacrificed in the study of yellow 
fever, a chair of tropical medicine has been en- 
dowed in the Liverpool School of Tropical 
Medicine, to be called the Walter Myers’ chair. 
A gravestone will be erected where Dr. Myers 
is buried in Brazil, and a memorial plate will 
be placed in the Birmingham Hospital. 
Dr. JoHN Minor Rice died at his home in 
Northboro’, Mass., on March 2d, at the age of 
68 years. He was a graduate of the Lawrence 
Scientific School, Harvard University, and was 
appointed professor of mathematics at the 
Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1870. 
THERE will be a civil service examination for 
the position of topographic draughtsman in the 
office of the surveyor general at San Francisco. 
