October 18, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



523 



Naturse" was issiied very early in the year 

 1758. For practical reasons, this date may be 

 assumed to be January 1, 1758, and any other 

 zoological publication bearing the date 1758 

 may be construed as having appeared subse- 

 quent to January 1. In so far as the date is 

 concerned, all such publications may there- 

 fore be construed as entitled to consideration 

 under the law of priority. 



Status of Certain Names Published as 

 Manuscript Names. — Manuscript names ac- 

 quire standing in nomenclature when printed 

 in connection with the provisions of Art. 25, 

 and the question as to their validity is not in- 

 fluenced by the fact whether such names are 

 accepted or rejected by the author responsible 

 ■ for their publication. 



Status of Certain Pre-Linnwan Names Re- 

 printed Subsequent to 1757. — A pre-Linnsean 

 name, ineligible because of its publication 

 prior to 1758, does not become eligible simply 

 by being cited or reprinted with its original 

 diagnosis after 1757. To become eligible under 

 the code, such names must be reinforced by 

 adoption or acceptance by the author publish- 

 ing the reprint. Examples : The citation, sub- 

 sequent to 1757, of a bibliographic reference 

 to a paper published prior to 1758 does not 

 establish technical names which may appear 

 in said reference; synonymic citation of pre- 

 Linnsean names, as in the tenth edition of 

 Linne's " Systema Naturae," does not establish 

 such names imder the code. 



Ch. Wardell Stiles, 



Secretary 



WILBUR OLIN ATWATER 

 As the outcome of an illness lasting nearly 

 three years, Professor Wilbur Olin Atwater 

 died at his home in Middletown, Conn., on the 

 evening of September 22, 1907. Professor 

 Atwater was born in Johnsburgh, N. Y., on 

 May 3, 1844. After three years of under- 

 graduate life as a student in the University 

 of Vermont, he spent his senior year at 

 Wesleyan University, graduating in 1865. 

 Several years were spent in teaching in high 

 schools and he then devoted some time to the 

 study of chemistry at the Sheffield Scientific 



School, receiving the degree of Doctor of 

 Philosophy from Yale University in . 1869. 

 His thesis dealt with the composition of 

 several varieties of American maize, thus 

 early showing his tendencies to agricultural 

 science — tendencies that were stimulated by 

 further study at foreign universities in Leipsic 

 and Berlin. 



On return from foreign study, he was suc- 

 cessively called to professorships in the East 

 Tennessee University, Maine State College, 

 and Wesleyan University. Taking up his 

 work at this latter institution in the then new 

 Orange Judd Hall of Natural Sciences, he 

 began to prosecute researches particularly in 

 the field of agricultural chemistry, enlisting 

 the cooperation of the farmers and awakening 

 interest in the rapidly developing chemistry of 

 fertilizers. This active interest in agricul- 

 tural chemistry he retained until his death. 

 Eecognizing the great service to agricultural 

 science resulting from the experiment stations 

 in Germany, he founded at Wesleyan Univer- 

 sity the first American agricultural experi- 

 ment station in 1875. This station was subse- 

 quently removed to New Haven and is there 

 continued as the Connecticut Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station. In 1888, the Storrs 

 (Conn.) Agricultural Experiment Station was 

 organized and Professor Atwater was ap- 

 pointed its director, a position he held until 

 1902. 



The rapid development of the experiment 

 station movement soon showed that some cen- 

 tral clearing house was necessary to give the 

 results of the various stations proper publicity, 

 to promote coox)eration among the various ex- 

 periment station workers and to prevent as 

 far as possible unnecessary duplication of 

 work. To this end, the Office of Experiment 

 Stations of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 cultiire was created and Professor Atwater was 

 appointed its first director. 



It was a natural transition from the study 

 of animal feeding to that of the feeding of 

 man and soon Professor Atwater was direct- 

 ing his energies to chemical and statistical re- 

 searches on the food and nutrition of man. 

 His early experience as special agent of the 

 U. S. Department of Labor developed in his 



