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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 668 



mind to a high degree the importance of the 

 social and economic study of the relations of 

 food and diet to the labor power, health and 

 moral tone of communities and the scientific 

 studies of dietaries begun in a small way de- 

 veloped into a large investigation of the die- 

 tetic conditions obtaining in various parts of 

 the United States. Special appropriations 

 were secured from Congress to study the nutri- 

 tion of man and the whole enterprise soon 

 partook of the nature of an extensive coopera- 

 tive study of food and diet. These studies 

 were carried out with the active assistance of 

 various investigators in numerous universi- 

 ties and colleges and they extended literally 

 from Maine to California. 



In company with his colleague, Dr. E. B. 

 ■Rosa, he developed at Wesleyan University a 

 respiration calorimeter for experiments with 

 man, in which many researches into the funda- 

 mental laws of metabolism have been made. 

 Perhaps the investigation of greatest theo- 

 retical interest is the series of experiments 

 made with this apparatus demonstrating that 

 the law of the conservation of energy obtained 

 in the physiological transformations of the liv- 

 ing body. 



Ah investigation into the nutritive value of 

 alcohol made with this apparatus by the aid 

 of grants from the Committee of Fifty for the 

 Investigation of Alcohol attracted much no- 

 tice, both in America and in Europe, and Pro- 

 fessor Atwater soon began an active cam- 

 paign in the interest of rational temperance 

 reform. 



Professor Atwater was a member of a large 

 number of scientific societies and kindred in- 

 stitutions. He was a foreign member of the 

 Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture and 

 a corresponding member of the Russian Im- 

 perial Military Academy. His chemical, agri- 

 cultural and economic writings have been 

 translated into several foreign languages and 

 few American scientists were better known 

 abroad than was he. His writings number 

 somewhat over 100 papers and cover a large 

 field. 



It was perhaps as an administrative officer 

 and organizer that Professor Atwater rendered 

 the greatest service to American science, and 



he will always be noted for the establishment 

 of the experiment station movement. As the 

 first director of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, he chose as his assistants Dr. A. W. 

 Harris, now president of Northwestern Uni- 

 versity, who became his immediate successor, 

 and Dr. A. 0. True, now director of the Office 

 of Experiment Stations. Thus, in large meas- 

 ure, the policy which he inaugurated has been 

 continued from the creation of this office. 



Of remarkable activity and energy. Professor 

 Atwater attracted many young men to his 

 laboratory and his loss will be especially felt 

 by all those who have had the good fortune to 

 have come under his influence during his ac- 

 tive career as a director of research for more 

 than thirty years. 



F. G. B. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The memorial statue of Joseph Leidy, the 

 eminent anatomist and zoologist, erected on 

 the west side of the City Hall Plaza, Phila- 

 delphia, will be unveiled at 3 p.m. on Wednes- 

 day, October 30. Addresses will be made by 

 Mr. Joseph Wharton and Professor Henry C. 

 Chapman, M.D. 



Dr. G. Hellmann has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of meteorology in the University of Ber- 

 lin and director of the Prussian Meteorolog- 

 ical Service, in succession to the late Pro- 

 fessor von Bezold. 



On the occasion of the recent celebration 

 of the centenary of the Geological Society of 

 London, the gold medal of the Institution of 

 Mining and Metallurgy was presented to Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, the president of the society. 



President Hadley, of Tale University, has 

 sailed for Germany, to spend six months as 

 Roosevelt professor of American history and 

 institutions in the University of Berlin, on 

 the Columbia University foundation. 



Dr. Robert F. Weir and Dr. Charles Mc- 

 Burney, professors of clinical surgery, have 

 been made emeritus professors of surgery at 

 the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Co- 

 lumbia University. 



Dr. G. N. Stewart, professor of physiology 

 at Western Reserve University, has leave of 



