Maech 15, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



437 



owners have no further use, and will render 

 them accessible to astronomers by the methods 

 described above. 



Edwaed C. Pickering 

 January 19, 1907 



THE 8EI8M0L0GICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



The Seismological Society of America was 

 incorporated under the laws of the state of 

 California on February 13, with a board of 

 directors as follows: George Davidson, presi- 

 dent; Andrew C Lawson, 1st vice-president; 

 T. J. J. See, 2nd vice-president; Ales. G. 

 McAdie, 3rd vice-president; J. N. Le Conte, 

 treasurer; Geo. D. Louderback, secretary; 

 Chas. Burckhalter, W. W. Compbell, C. 

 Derleth, Jr., G. K. Gilbert, A. 0. Leuschner, 

 J. S. Eicard. 



A letter has been issued, which says : In 

 October 1891 there occurred in Japan what is 

 now historically known as the Mino-Owari 

 Earthquake. Over 7,000 people were killed, 

 1Y,000 injured, and 20,000 buildings destroyed. 

 This disaster so impressed the people of Japan 

 that a national movement resulted in the 

 formation of a large general society for the 

 study of earthquake phenomena. An earth- 

 quake investigation committee was appointed 

 by the emperor. This committee has already 

 published fifty volumes in Japanese and over 

 twenty in foreign languages. Seventy-five 

 stations have been provided with seismo- 

 graphs and over 1,500 stations report. As a 

 result, Japan is now the foremost nation in 

 activity of earthquake investigation and in 

 devising and applying scientific methods of 

 protection. 



The earthquake of April 18, 1906, has 

 brought home to us also the desirability of 

 organization for similar purposes, with the 

 hope that our labors may ultimately be of 

 value to the people in protecting life and 

 property. It is in this spirit that the Seismo- 

 logical Society has been organized. It aims 

 to collect accurate information concerning the 

 mode of action and effects of earthquakes, to 

 establish and train a corps of reliable ob- 

 servers throughout the country, to disseminate 

 the truth among the people, to inform them of 

 the methods devised in various countries to 



protect life and property, to supplant any ele- 

 ment of terror or helplessness which results 

 from imperfect knowledge by an interest in 

 natural phenomena and a sense of security 

 resulting from familiarity with the facts and 

 the taking of reasonable precautions. 



To be of general benefit the society must 

 have a large membership, and the dues ($2.00 

 per year, life membership $25.00) have been 

 placed low for this purpose. The society will 

 inform its members from time to time as to 

 the progress of its work and hopes in the near 

 future to establish a regular series of publica- 

 tions. 



Those who are in sympathy with the objects 

 of the society are requested to communicate 

 their desire for membership by writing to the 

 secretary. Professor George D. Louderback, 

 University of California, Berkeley, Cal. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 A SPECIAL act of congress, passed on Feb- 

 ruary 27, authorized the president to appoint 

 Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon James Car- 

 roll, U. S. Army, a surgeon with the rank of 

 major, in recognition of his important experi- 

 mental work on yellow fever. The president 

 at once approved this bill and sent the nomi- 

 nation to the senate, and it was confirmed 

 promptly, so that Dr. Carroll is now a major 

 in the Medical Department of the Army. 



Dr. Frederick Eemsen Hutton, for thirty 

 years adjunct professor and professor of 

 mechanical engineering at Columbia Univer- 

 sity and for six years dean of the faculty of 

 applied science, will become professor emeritus 

 on July 1 next. A suitable tablet commem- 

 orating Professor Hutton's services will be 

 placed in the mechanical engineering labora- 

 tory. 



Professor Le Eoy C. Cooley will retire 

 from the active duties of the chair of physics 

 of Vassar College at the end of this year. 



Prince Eoland Bonaparte has been elected 

 a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 in the room of the late M. BischofFsheim. 



Me. John Hats Hammond has been nomi- 

 nated president of the council of the Amer- 



