154 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 813 



assistant in the teaching work; Mr. Charles 

 Gregory, regular assistant on the grape dis- 

 ease investigations; Miss Agnes McAllister, 

 laboratory assistant; Errett Wallace, fellow, 

 lime sulfur investigation; V. B. Stewart, fel- 

 low, investigation of the diseases of nursery 

 stock; C. N. Jensen, senior fellow on sulfur 

 investigations; F. M. Blodgett, junior fellow 

 on sulfur investigations; W. H. Eankin, fel- 

 low, investigation of the heart rots of trees; 

 P. J. Anderson, fellow on cement dust in- 

 vestigations; I. 0. Jagger, special assistant 

 potato disease investigation; H. L. Eees, spe- 

 cial assistant diseases of canners' crops; G. A. 

 Osner, special assistant ginseng disease in- 

 vestigations; Miss Jessie M. Peck and Miss 

 Margaret Edwards, stenographers. 



Dr. Guy Potter Benton, president of 

 Miami University, has declined the presidency 

 of Boston University. 



Dr. Egbert B. Bean, recently connected 

 with the School of Medicine of Manila, P. I., 

 has been elected associate professor of anat- 

 omy in the Medical School of Tulane Univer- 

 sity in place of Dr. H. W. Stiles, who has ac- 

 cepted a professorship in anatomy in Syracuse 

 University. 



Dr. T. a. Torrey has been promoted to a 

 full professorship of physical instruction and 

 hygiene in the College of the City of New 

 Tork. 



Mr. B. H. Doane has been elected assistant 

 professor of farm management in the Univer- 

 sity of Missouri and is placed in charge of the 

 department, which is said to be the first of this 

 character in the United States. 



Mr. Chas. G. Collais has resigned his posi- 

 tion of Superintendent of Shops in the engi- 

 neering school of Colorado College to accept 

 the position of dean in the Kamehameha 

 schools in Honolulu. Professor George J. 

 Lyon, of the department of civil engineering 

 in Colorado College, has accepted a similar 

 position at Union College. 



Professor A. Von STRiJiiPELL, who a year 

 ago went to Vienna as professor of neurology, 

 has accepted a call to Leipzig as successor to 

 Professor H. Curschmann. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



■i REFORM OF THE CALENDAR 



To THE Editor of Science : I recommend the 

 following reform of the calendar: 



The division of the year into twelve entire 

 and two half-months; all entire months to 

 consist of 28 days, and the half -months of 14 

 days. The first of the two half-months will 

 be placed at the end of the first half year, and 

 will be known as the " summer half -month " ; 

 the second half-month will follow the last 

 month in the year, and will be known as the 

 " winter haK-month." 



The 365th day and leap-year's day will be 

 placed at the end of the year, and will be in- 

 dependent of the week or month, so that these 

 days will neither have the name nor the date 

 of a week-day. 



I had at first expressed the idea (which I 

 thought quite new) of dividing the year into 

 13 months of 28 days each; but it has come to 

 my knowledge that this proposal had already 

 been advocated by Auguste Comte, the philos- 

 opher, who died in 1857. After consideration, 

 I would advise the above mentioned division 

 as being more practical. 



The advantages of such a calendar would 

 be as follows : 



Each day of the week would be in its fixed 

 and unchangeable place in the future. 



Each month would begin on the same week- 

 day, this also applying to each year, each half- 

 year and each quarter of the year. 



This division would make the week and 

 month measures of time, because the units 

 " year " and " month " would, by this means, 

 become, with an insignificant difference, com- 

 plete multiples, always equal, of the time-unit 

 " week," which is not the case at present. 



A full explanation of the expediency of my 

 proposition I shall eventually give later on. 

 Eritz Eeininghaus 



Zurich 



QUOTATIONS 

 the C;U{NEGrE foundation 

 There have been some expressions of ap- 

 prehension of late lest the financial depend- 



