NOYEMBEE 27, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



779 



them, and there will be opportunity for some- 

 what general consideration. The importance 

 of the economic aspects of agriculture and of 

 rural affairs, and the broad field which the 

 subject opens up, suggest this as an appro- 

 priate topic for the new section, and it is 

 hoped that it will prove of general interest. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Charles Sedgwick Minot, James Stillman 

 professor of comparative anatomy in the Har- 

 vard Medical School, eminent for his contri- 

 butions to embryology and biology and for 

 public service in science, died at his country 

 home near Boston on November 19, at the age 

 of sixty-two years. 



The gold medal of the Hayden Memorial 

 Geological Award was presented to Dr. Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn, in recognition of his pale- 

 ontological studies, at a special meeting of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 on November 24. The presentation address 

 was made by the president of the academy. 

 Dr. Samuel G. Dixon. 



One of the royal gold medals of the Eoyal 

 Society, has been awarded to Professor Ernest 

 William Brown, Sc.D., F.R.S., of Tale Uni- 

 versity, in recognition of his investigations in 

 mathematical astronomy. 



The honorary degree of doctor of science 

 was conferred on November 19 by Brown Uni- 

 versity upon Professor William H. Bragg, of 

 the University of Leeds, before the corporation 

 and faculty of the university in special con- 

 vocation. Following the conferring of the 

 degree Professor Bragg delivered the last of 

 four lectures on " X-rays and Crystals," which 

 he has been giving as the first of the anniver- 

 sary lectures to celebrate the one hundred and 

 fiftieth anniversary of Brown University. 



The John Fritz Medal will this year be 

 awarded to Mr. John Edson Sweet, of Syra- 

 cuse. Mr. Sweet was one of the founders of 

 the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers and one of its early presidents. 



At its last meeting the Eumford committee 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 

 ences made the following appropriations in 



aid of researches on light and heat: to Pro- 

 fessor P. W. Bridgman, of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, $150 in addition to prior grants in aid of 

 his researches on thermal effects at high pres- 

 sures; to Professor Frederick A. Saunders, of 

 Vassar College, $100 in aid of his research on 

 the spectra of metallic vapors; to Professor 

 Frederick Palmer, Jr., of Haverford College, 

 in aid of his research on the properties of light 

 of extremely short wave-lengths, $200; to Pro- 

 fessor Henry Crew, of Northwestern Univer- 

 sity, in aid of his research on the specific heat 

 of liquids, $200. 



The annual public address of the Philadel- 

 phia meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 America will be given on Wednesday evening, 

 December 30, in the rooms of the Academy of 

 Natural Science, by Professor Stephen Alfred 

 Forbes, of the University of Illinois and State 

 Entomologist. His subject will be " The 

 Ecological Foundations of Applied Entomol- 

 ogy." At the same meeting Dr. Henry Skinner 

 at the request of the executive committee of 

 the society will present " A History of the 

 Entomological Society of America." 



The anniversary meeting and reception of 

 the New York Academy of Medicine took 

 place on November 19. The anniversary dis- 

 course, entitled " Some of the Relations of the 

 Profession of Medicine to Municipal Govern- 

 ment " was delivered by the Hon. George 

 McAneny, president of the board of aldermen 

 of New York City. 



M. BouTROUX, professor in the University 

 of Paris, has accepted an invitation of the 

 British Academy to deliver the first of the 

 recently endowed annual philosophical lectures. 

 His subject will be " Certitude et Verite," and 

 the lecture will probably be delivered early in 

 December. 



Word has been received from Dr. W. C. 

 Farabee, leader of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania's South American expedition, that he 

 had just returned from a second successful trip 

 up the Amazon. The party traveled some four 

 thousand miles and returned with many valu- 

 able collections. 



