780 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLin. No. 1118 



1879, as a course in applied physics. A porta- 

 ble four and a half inch telescope was the 

 only available instrument until 1900, when 

 the beautiful Whitin Observatory equipped 

 with twelve-inch telescope, three-inch transit, 

 all necessary apparatus, and an adequate li- 

 brary in astronomy was opened, through the 

 generosity of Mrs. John C. Whitin, a trustee 

 of the college. In 1906 the observatory was 

 doubled to make room for the teaching of 

 astronomy as other sciences are taught by the 

 laboratory method, and a residence for the 

 astronomers was added. Professor Hayes, 

 head of the department of applied mathe- 

 matics, a pupil of Ormimd Stone, meantime 

 conducted work in mathematical astronomy. 

 In 1901 the department of astronomy was 

 created, including both the astrophysical and 

 the mathematical sides of the subject. Dr. 

 Duncan has worked at Lick, Lowell and Terkes 

 observatories, and has taught at Harvard and 

 Eadcliffe Colleges. 



Frank H. Probert, a graduate of the Eoyal 

 School of Mines in London, and for the past 

 twenty years engaged in consulting mining 

 engineering practise, has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of mining in the University of Cali- 

 fornia, as successor to the late Professor 

 Samuel Benedict Christy. 



Dr. Jesse F. Williams, assistant professor 

 of hygiene and physical education at Colum- 

 bia University, has been appointed professor 

 of hygiene and physical education in the Uni- 

 versity of Cincinnati. 



Dr. Henry W. Wandless has been appointed 

 clinical professor of ophthalmology at 1!^ ew 

 York University and Bellevue Hospital Med- 

 ical College. 



Dr. Edward H. Horton, director of the bac- 

 teriologic department of the Tri-Cities Hy- 

 gienic Institute, LaSalle, has resigned to be- 

 come bacteriologist in the ISTorthwestern Uni- 

 versity Dental College, Chicago. 



Dr. Sterling Temple, instructor in chem- 

 istry in the University of Minnesota, has ac- 

 cepted a position as professor of chemistry at 

 Hamline University, and will take up his work 

 there in the autumn. 



At Ohio Northern University, Joseph 

 Hamilton Hill has become professor of mathe- 

 matics. 



Sm E. Havelock Charles, president of the 

 medical board of the India Office, has been 

 appointed dean of the London School of Trop- 

 ical Medicine in succession to the late Sir 

 Francis Lovell. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



A NEW FORM OF PLANT DRIER 



A NUMBER of notices have been published^ 

 regarding the use of single or double-faced 

 corrugated straw board as a means of rapid 

 drying of plants for herbaria. Some have 

 omitted the use of the customary driers with 

 the corrugated boards, a procedure which has 

 a tendency to cause the plants to be somewhat 

 wrinkled. It has also been recommended that 

 the boards be cut so that the corrugations run 

 crosswise of the board. The pressure of the 

 straps around the press, however, has a 

 greater tendency to close up the ends of the 

 corrugations when they run crosswise than 

 when they run lengthwise. To avoid handling 

 two driers and a corrugated board for every 

 plant placed in press the writer adopted the 

 plan several years ago of fastening at the 

 corners with a wire stapling machine two 

 driers with a corrugated board between. This 

 procedure saves two thirds of ones' time in 

 handling the corrugated boards and two driers 

 in the old way. While this form of drier 

 worked very satisfactorily when hot sunshine 

 or artificial heat was available for dryinsr it 

 made the drying material much thicker than 

 necessary. An order was consequently given 

 to a local firm for a special drier consisting of 

 two pieces of ordinary felt drying paper with 

 a corrugated filler such as is used in the single 

 and double-faced corrugated straw board. 

 This material has given entire satisfaction and 

 can be obtained in large quantities at a cost 

 of about $16.56 per 1,000 as compared with 



1 Kellerman, W. A., Science, N. S., 27 : 67-70, 

 1908; Collins, J. F., Ehodora, 12: 221-224, 1910 

 Conrad, H. S., Flant World, 15: 135-139, 1912 

 Eicker, P. L., Bureau of Plant Industry Circ, 126 

 27-35, 1913. 



