418 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1108 



The Survey staff made space faster than it 

 was required, always managing to keep ahead 

 of the Public Works men. Under the direction 

 of Hon. Eobert Rogers, minister of public 

 works, Mr. J. B. Hunter, deputy minister, 

 Mr. John Shearer, superintendent of build- 

 ings, and their various assistants, the Public 

 Works staff prepared the building for parlia- 

 ment by building walls, decorating, carpeting, 

 installing telephones, two telegraph offices, two 

 post offices and many other necessities and 

 conveniences. They also provided facilities 

 for those of the Survey staff remaining at the 

 museum to carry on its work. 



His Eoyal Highness, the Governor-General, 

 inspected the House of Commons and the 

 other parts of the Victoria Memorial Museum 

 building turned over for the use of parliament 

 at eleven a.m. on Monday, less than eighty- 

 seven hours after the fire began or less than 

 seventy-four hours after the museum authori- 

 ties were notified of need for the space. He 

 was apparently much pleased at the speed with 

 which the survey staff had made room and 

 with the facilities and comforts so hastily in- 

 stalled by the Public Works staff. 



The museum retains intact only one and a 

 quarter of the exhibition halls, namely, the 

 anthropological hall and part of the hall of 

 vertebrate paleontology. It is closed to the 

 public, admission being bx pass only. 



A sample museum, by means of which to 

 advance museum interests in the Dominion, 

 has been begun in the anthropological hall. 

 The archeological and ethnological exhibits 

 are intact, some of the best zoological exhi- 

 bition cases of birds, reptiles and insects, 

 have been placed in the wider aisles where 

 they may be viewed, while mounted mammals 

 and skeletons of various animals have also 

 been placed in the aisles and on top of the 

 cases. In the unoccupied space of this char- 

 acter, and in such other space as may be made 

 by storing all but a representative archeolog- 

 ical series, still other exhibits may be placed. 



On the whole the scientific work of the mu- 

 seum may go on practically unliampered. 

 The lecture work is being carried on in other 

 auditoriums. The exhibitions eventually may 



be facilitated by the present apparent set 

 back, as the museum staff is undiscouraged, 

 and the members of parliament, who are now 

 in daily proximity to the exhibits and con- 

 stantly meeting museum workers, may become 

 so interested that they will provide future fa- 

 cilities for museum work in the Victoria Me- 

 morial Museum building or in a building even 

 better adapted for museum purposes. Besides 

 this they may carry home to all parts of the 

 Dominion inspiration to establish useful mu- 

 seums and to improve those already in exist- 

 ence. 



Haelan I. Smith 

 Museum op the Geological Sukvet, 

 Ottawa, Canada 



ROBERT JAMES DAVIDSON 



Egbert James Davidson closed his earthly 

 career suddenly December 19, 1915, leaving a 

 beautiful and beneficent memory. Born at 

 Armagh, Ireland, April 3, 1862, he attended 

 schools near Liverpool, England, and came to 

 this country as a youth. He was educated at 

 South Carolina College and University, from 

 which he received the degrees of Bachelor of 

 Science and Master of Arts and in whose fac- 

 ulty he served for some six years. This prep- 

 aration was to bear ripe fruit in the career 

 which really commenced in 1891, when he was 

 called to the chair of chemistry in the Virginia 

 Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, Virginia. 

 For nearly a quarter of a century he labored 

 there teaching chemistry, administering the 

 discipline of the college as professor and as 

 dean, leading the farmers of the state with 

 admonition and advice, and always ready to 

 serve. One invariably thinks of the word 

 service in remembering Davidson. It gives 

 the keynote to the song of his life. Whether 

 with his students, his colleagues, or his fellow- 

 citizens, in fact with his neighbor wherever he 

 met him, Davidson's first and main thought 

 was to be of service and truly did he follow, 

 far more closely than the average man, the 

 example set by the Master nineteen hundred 

 years ago. He was fearless in this service, 

 never hesitating to state his objection to argu- 

 ment or his adverse opinion with the reasons 



