October 24, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



677 



in the offices of the bureau of ethnology on the 

 fifth and sixth floors of the Adams Building. 

 This was not so because there was any ill- 

 feeling toward Professor Holmes, but because 

 by careful and even scientific study and treat- 

 ment Professor McGee was responsible for 

 shaping a working system in the bureau of 

 ethnology — each man and woman being fitted 

 in the right place — that things ran, as it were, 

 in a spirit such as that of Barnum's happy 

 family. Secretary Langley and Professor 

 Holmes arrived at 3:30 o'clock. They walked 

 into the office room formerly occupied by Pro- 

 fessor Powell. Scientists, stenographers and 

 colored messengers formed a semi-circle 

 around the desk where Secretary Langley 

 stood prepared to pay a befitting tribute to 

 Professor Powell, and then introduced the new 

 director. He referred with praise to the com- 

 petency of Professor Powell. Professor 

 Hol:gies was installed into the office. He 

 greeted the persons in the bureau, inviting 

 them to become better acquainted with the 

 National Museum. He was welcomed in his 

 new place in behalf of the employees of the 

 bureau in a brief address by Professor MoGee. 

 After Professor Holmes shook hands with 

 every person in the room Secretary Langley 

 went away. The office force then left the 

 room one by one and tears were in the eyes of 

 nearly every person who witnessed the unusual 

 ceremonies. Professor Holmes and Professor 

 McGee, who are the closest friends profes- 

 sionally and personally, remained in the 

 director's room for a consultation and left the 

 building together, both more or less affected 

 by what had taken place. , 



Professor Holmes began his scientific career 

 in 1889, when he entered the illustration 

 division of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey. He is a water color painter, having won 

 highly valued medals in District exhibits. 

 While painting in the Geological Survey he 

 equipped himself for an office in the archeolog- 

 ical department and in 1892 he became an 

 ethnologist in the bureau of ethnology. He 

 resigned this place afterward to accept a re- 

 sponsible office in the Columbian Museum at 

 Chicago. About seven years ago he was 

 offered the head curatorship in the National 



Museum and came to Washington to fulfill the 

 appointment that he has since held. Pro- 

 fessor Holmes has published various papers of 

 scientific importance, and his discoveries and 

 investigations of aboriginal pottery have con- 

 tributed much enlightenment to the study of 

 the habitat of groups of American Indian 

 tribes. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Dr. W. H. Welch, of the Johns Hopkins 

 University, is attending the International 

 Congress on Tuberculosis at Berlin. 



We learn from the Botanical Gazette that 

 Mr. M. J. C. Willis, of the Eoyal Botanic 

 Gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon, proposes to 

 make a tour through England, the United 

 States and Japan for the purpose of studying 

 agricultural and botanical institutions. 



The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 has sent an expedition to inquire into the 

 health conditions of the Gold Coast. Dr. 

 Logan Taylor is in charge of the expedition. 



Dr. Edward Palmer, of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is now in Mexico, ma- 

 king collections illustrating the economic 

 botany of that country. 



The British government has appointed Mr. 

 W. F. King, chief astronomer, a commissioner 

 to mark the forty-ninth parallel from the 

 Kocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. Mr. 

 Otto H. Tittmann, superintendent of the 

 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, has 

 been appointed by the United States as com- 

 missioner for the same purpose. 



A COMMEMORATIVE tablet has been placed 

 on the house at Eavieres in which Professor 

 A. A. Liebeault was born. It states that he 

 opened a new era in the medical sciences by 

 his discovery of the systematic application of 

 suggestion and induced sleep in the treatment 

 of disease. The tablet was unveiled in the 

 presence of Professor Liebeault on his seventy- 

 ninth birthday. 



Nature states that at the opening ceremony 

 of the new session of the Eoyal College of 

 Science, held in the lecture theater of the 

 Victoria and Albert Museum on October 2, 

 the Huxley gold medal was for the first time 



