JViAT 22, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



835 



A committee of four was appointed to frame 

 a set of units or scale of values for the in- 

 terpretation of admission requirements and 

 to consider some allied questions. Eesolu- 

 tions were passed advising that work in Eng- 

 lish and mathematics should be continued 

 through the last school year; recommending 

 that the organizations whose delegates com- 

 pose the committee he urged to collect data 

 and study the subject of standardizing col- 

 leges and universities; and calling the atten- 

 tion of colleges to the fact that lists of 

 accredited schools are now published yearly 

 by the New England College Entrance Certi- 

 ficate Board and the North Central Associa- 

 tion of Colleges and Secondary Schools and 

 may be obtained for general reference and 

 use. 



Eredeeick C. Ferry, 

 Secretary-Treasurer 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



The University of Illinois has celebrated 

 the fortieth anniversary of its founding by a 

 memorial convocation. The address given by 

 Professor C. M. Moss was chiefly a tribute 

 to Dr. T. J. Burrill, vice-president of the 

 university and professor of botany, who has 

 been connected with the institution since its 

 first year. 



The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 

 for May 7 forms a Festschrift in honor of 

 Keginald Heber Eitz, M.D., LL.D., Hersey 

 professor of the theory and practise of physic 

 in Harvard University, to celebrate his sixty- 

 fifth birthday, which occurred on May 5. 



Professor C. E. Brackett, of Princeton 

 University, who recently retired from the 

 Henry chair of physics, was the guest of 

 honor at a dinner this week, given by the 

 faculty and trustees. 



At a recent meeting of the Toronto Acad- 

 emy of Medicine his portrait was presented 

 to Dr. Reeve, dean of the medical faculty of 

 the University of Toronto, who was president 

 at the meeting of the British Medical Asso- 

 ciation held in Toronto in 1906. 



A portrait of Dr. John J. M'Kendrick, 

 professor of physiology in the University of 



Glasgow from 1876 to 1896 and now emeritus 

 professor, was presented to the university on 

 commemoration day held on April 22. 



Commemoration day at the University of 

 Glasgow was observed on April 22, when Pro- 

 fessor Gray, the successor of Lord Kelvin in 

 the chair of natural philosophy, delivered an 

 oration on Kelvin's work. Honorary degrees 

 were conferred, including the doctorate of 

 laws on Colonel David Bruce, C.B., of the 

 Royal Army Medical Corps; James Johnston 

 Dobbie, director of the Royal Scottish Mu- 

 seum, and Robert Kidston, the geologist. 



At the Institution of Electrical Engineers 

 on April 30 Professor Silvanus P. Thompson 

 gave the first Kelvin memorial lecture, his 

 subject being " The Life and Work of Lord 

 Kelvin." Before the lecture Mr. H. E. Par- 

 shall presented the institution with a bust of 

 Benjamin Eranklin on behalf of the American 

 Institute of Electrical Engineers. 



The Eothergillian medal of the London 

 Medical Society has been presented to Sir 

 Ahnroth Wright, E.R.S. 



Nature states that at the annual general 

 meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 on April 28, Mr. J. C. Inglis was elected 

 president of the institution. The council has 

 made the following awards for papers read 

 and discussed during the past session : A Tel- 

 ford gold medal to Mr. W. Barclay Parsons 

 (New York) ; a Watt gold medal to Sir 

 Whately Eliot; George Stephenson gold 

 medals to Sir John Ottley, K.C.I.E., Dr. A. 

 W. Brightmore, and Messrs. J. S. Wilson and 

 W. Gore; Telford premiums to Messrs. E. W. 

 Davis (Darlington), C. R. S. Kirkpatriek 

 (Newcastle-on-Tyne), Hugh T. Ker (Glas- 

 gow), G. H. Scott, R. R. Gales (India) and 

 S. H. Ellis. 



Professor H. Poincare, professor of astron- 

 omy in the Paris Ecole polytechnique, has 

 retired with the title of honorary professor. 



Professor Ira 0. Baker, for thirty-four 

 years connected with the Department of Civil 

 Engineering of the University of Illinois, has 

 been granted by the trustees leave of absence 

 for one year. Professor Baker will devote- 



