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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 671 



gates went to Oxford and many others to Cam- 

 bridge. At each place the hospitality was pro- 

 fuse and honorary degrees were conferred on 

 several geologists from the continent. 



Unlike geological congresses, this meeting 

 was not one for the reading of formal papers. 

 As the president said to one of the visitors, 

 the object was to have geologists see and know 

 each other. In this respect the meeting was 

 eminently successful. The commodious rooms 

 of the Society in Burlington House, open for 

 two weeks prior to the celebration, afforded 

 every opportunity for men to become ac- 

 quainted and full advantage was taken of the 

 opportunity. The effect for good will last for 

 a generation. It would be well if some one 

 with genius for organization would take the 

 method for a pattern and remodel the con- 

 gresses so as to reduce reading of papers to 

 the minimum and to increase the opportunity 

 for personal contact, punishing by fine those 

 who may neglect to utilize the opportunity. 



Where all labored to make the celebration a 

 success, it would be invidious to select any for 

 particular mention ; one may only congratulate 

 the committee of arrangements upon the 

 smoothness with which everything moved. 

 Geological John Bull's idea of hospitality em- 

 braces much of genial common sense. It may 

 be, as reported, that the Briton is slow in 

 starting, but certainly, once started, his mo- 

 mentum is tremendous, carrying both willing 

 and unwilling alike on a high wave of good 

 cheer. John J. Stevenson 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Professor Major Eonald Eoss, who left 

 Liverpool on October 22 for Mauritius for the 

 purpose of research in tropical medicine, and 

 Mr. W. M. Haffkine were entertained at din- 

 ner on October 21 by the Liverpool School of 

 Tropical Medicine. Sir Alfred Jones pre- 

 sided, and presented Mr. Haffkine with the 

 Mary Kingsley medal of the school. 



The council of the Eoyal Meteorological 

 Society, at their meeting on October 16, 

 awarded the Symons gold medal for 1908 to 

 M. L. Teisserenc de Bort, of Paris, in recog- 

 nition of the services which he has rendered 



to the science of meteorology. The medal was 

 established in memory of the late George 

 James Symons, the founder of the British 

 Eainfall Organization, and is awarded bi- 

 ennially. 



The College of Physicians of Philadelphia 

 announces that the Alvarenga prize for 190Y 

 has been awarded to Dr. William Louis Chap- 

 man, Providence, E. I., for his essay, entitled 

 " Postoperative phlebitis, thrombosis and em- 

 bolism." The next award of the prize, amount- 

 ing to about $180, will be made on July 14, 

 1908. Particulars may be obtained from Dr. 

 Thomas E. Neilson, secretary of the College 

 of Physicians of Philadelphia. 



The honorary degree of Ph.D. has been con- 

 ferred on Professor Ernest Eutherford, of 

 Manchester University, by the University of 

 Giessen. 



The Yale corporation has conferred the 

 honorary degree of master of arts on Professor 

 E. W. Brown and on Professor Eoss G. Harri- 

 son, who have this year become members of 

 the faculty of the university. 



Sir Patrick Manson, medical adviser of the 

 British Colonial Office, has been chosen presi- 

 dent of the International Society of Tropical 

 Medicine, organized during the recent Inter- 

 national Congress of Hygiene. 



Professor Baelz, of Stuttgart, and Pro- 

 fessor Noecht, of Hamburg, have been elected 

 presidents of the recently established German 

 Society of Tropical Medicine. 



Dr. Prank H. Loud, professor of astronomy 

 and mathematics in Colorado College since 

 1877, has retired with an allowance from the 

 Carnegie Foundation. 



By the trustees of Clemson College the 

 office of state entomologist has been separated 

 from the chair of zoology and entomology of 

 the college and located at Columbia, S. C. 

 On September 11, 1907, Professor Chas. E. 

 Chambliss resigned his position of associate 

 professor of zoology and entomology to accept 

 the appointment of state entomologist. 



Dr. Heinrich Hasselbring, assistant in 

 botany in the University of Chicago, has been 

 appointed assistant botanist at the Cuban 



