April 18, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



r.35 



tlie time in going to and returning from San Fran- 

 cisco charged against their leave. China and 

 Japan are near at hand and are favorite places to 

 visit during vacations. Saturday is a half-holi- 

 day. 



Appointees will be required to pay their travel- 

 ing expenses to San Francisco, but the Govern- 

 ment furnishes them transportation free of charge 

 on its transports from that point to Manila, but 

 exacts a charge of $1.50 a day for meals while en 

 route, which is returned to the appointee upon his 

 arrival at Manila. Employees who are residents of 

 the United States at the time of their appointment 

 shall, after six months' satisfactory service, be 

 reimbursed for their traveling expenses from the 

 place of their residence to the point of embarka- 

 tion for Manila. 



The Philippine climate is good, and nearly all 

 of the employees are in excellent health. Medical 

 attendance, when required, is furnished employees 

 without cost. Good accommodations (room and 

 board) can be secured in Manila for about $35 a 

 month, while employees assigned outside of Ma- 

 nila obtain cheaper accommodations. The office 

 accommodations in Manila are good, and the work 

 is done under pleasant conditions. 



The Commission also invites attention to the 

 examination wliich will be held on April 22, 

 for the position of assistant (scientific), De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



This examination is designed for the pur- 

 pose of securing persons who are qualified for 

 the scientific work of the Department of Agri- 

 culture. Applications will be received from 

 graduates of colleges or universities where it 

 is shown that the applicants have pursued 

 courses of instruction which will qualify them 

 for the scientific work of the Department of 

 Agriculture. Each applicant will be required 

 to show the scope of the studies pursued and 

 the length of time devoted to them, and his 

 standing in each of the studies. At the time 

 the application is filed the applicant must also 

 submit therewith a thesis prepared by himself 

 upon some special subject, either technical or 

 scientific, selected by the applicant, relating to 

 the work he is qualified to perform, or, in lieu 

 thereof, such literature on the special subject 

 selected as he has published over his own 

 signature. 



In connection with this examination appli- 

 cants may also qualify as scientific aids in the 



Department of Agriculture, in order to qualify 

 for which, however, applicants must be gradu- 

 ates of colleges receiving the benefits of grants 

 of land or money from the United States, and 

 submit with their applications the material as 

 set forth in section 73 of the Manual. In 

 the case of applicants for assistant it is not 

 necessary that they be graduates of colleges 

 receiving the benefits of grants of land or 

 money from the United States, but they must 

 submit with their applications the matter 

 required by the examination for scientific aid. 

 In addition to the foregoing, the applicants 

 may be examined in any of the following sub- 

 jects : Chemistry, (a) analytical, (b) agricul- 

 tural, (c) industrial; physics, (a) especially 

 as applied to meteorology, (6) soils, (c) irriga- 

 tion; botany, plant physiology and pathology, 

 horticulture; bacteriology (plant and animal) ; 

 forestry; zoology; ornithology and mam- 

 malogy; entomology; physiology and nutrition 

 of man ; animal pathology ; animal production 

 and dairying; rural engineering, specially as 

 applied to road making and irrigation; prac- 

 tice of agriculture; agricultural statistics; 

 library science and methods. 



From the eligibles resulting from this ex- 

 amination it is expected that certification will 

 be made to positions in the Department of 

 Agriculture along the lines indicated, and to 

 other departments where similar qualifications 

 are desired. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The Secretary of War has sent to the House 

 a recommendation that Surgeon-General 

 Sternberg be granted the rank of major-gen- 

 eral before his retirement on reaching the age 

 limit June next. 



The University of Edinburgh has conferred 

 its LL.D. on Professor William James, the 

 eminent psychologist of Harvard University, 

 and on Dr. J. G. Schurman, president and 

 formerly professor of philosophy at Cornell 

 University. 



Professor Simon Newcomb will leave New 

 York City for Naples on April 19. 



Professor William M. Puffer, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, has returned 



