November 12, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



687 



gram mar and his elementary text-book of 

 geology, written in Portuguese for students of 

 Brazil. In accepting Dr. Branner's resigna- 

 tion and appointing Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur 

 to succeed him, the Stanford board of trustees 

 expressed " its obligation to Dr. Branner for 

 his long and faithful service to the university 

 and for his self-sacrifice in extending his term 

 of service as president until December 31, 

 1915, at the urgent request of the board." 



As an outcome of the recent Manchester 

 meeting, the British Association has, as we 

 learn from Nature, invited the following 

 gentlemen to serve on a committee to con- 

 sider and report upon the question of fuel 

 economy (utilization of coal and smoke pre- 

 vention), from a national point of view: Pro- 

 fessor W. A. Bone, of the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology, London (chairman) ; 

 Mr. E. D. Simon, chairman of the Manchester 

 Air Pollution Committee (secretary) ; Pro- 

 fessors P. P. Bedson (Armstrong College, 

 iN'ewcastle-on-Tyne), J. W. Cobb and J. B. 

 Cohen (Leeds University), H. B. Dixon 

 (Manchester University), Thomas Gray 

 (Eoyal Technical College, Glasgow), H. S. 

 Hele-Shaw (London), L. T. O'Sliea and W. P. 

 Wynne (Sheffield University), and Eichard 

 Threlfall (Birmingham), together with Dr. 

 G. T. Beilby (Glasgow), Mr. Ernest Bury and 

 Dr. J. E. Stead (Middlesbrough and the 

 Cleveland district). The committee, which is 

 empowered to add if necessary to its members, 

 has been selected so as to include representa- 

 tive chemists, engineers and technologists from 

 all the principal industrial areas. 



At the third triennial conference of the 

 National Association for the Study of Pel- 

 lagra held in Columbia, S. C, October 21 and 

 22, the following officers were elected : president, 

 Capt. Joseph F. Siler, M.C., U. S. Army; vice- 

 presidents, P. A. Surg. E. M. Grimm, U. S. 

 P. H. S., and Henry W. Eice, Columbia, S. C; 

 secretary. Dr. James W. Babcock, Columbia, 

 S. C, and treasurer. Dr. James A. Hayne, 

 Columbia, S. C. 



The Elisha Mitchell Society, University of 

 North Carolina, elected in October the follow- 

 ing officers for the ensuing year ; James B. 



Bullitt, president; T. F. Hickerson, vice-presi- 

 dent; and J. E. Smith, secretary and treasurer. 



Dr. David Cheever, of Boston, has been ap- 

 pointed chief surgeon in charge of the third 

 Harvard surgical unit, which leaves this 

 month for France. The unit consists of thirty- 

 six nurses and eight surgeons in addition to 

 Dr. Cheever. 



Another party of American physicians re- 

 turned to the United States on October 20 

 aboard the steamer Cretic. The members of 

 this party who had been serving in Serbia were 

 Dr. Louise Taylor- Jones, who established a 

 hospital for babies at Nish; Dr. Thomas W. 

 Jackson, of Washington, D. C, who succeeded 

 Dr. Eichard P. Strong as head of the Amer- 

 ican Sanitary Commission in Serbia; Dr. 

 Joseph Thompson, of Cleveland, Ohio; and 

 Dr. George W. Mellon, of Beaver, Pa., who 

 will return to Belgrade after a three weeks' 

 leave of absence in this country. 



Dr. Henry A. Strecker has been appointed 

 chief medical inspector of the Philadelphia 

 Bureau of Health, in succession to Dr. Charles 

 A. Groff. 



Professor Henry Louis Eietz, of the de- 

 partment of mathematics of the University oi' 

 Hlinois, has been appointed by Governor 

 Dunne a member of the commission that is to 

 investigate the operation of all pension laws 

 heretofore enacted in the state. The commis- 

 sion is also to collect information from this 

 country and foreign lands and is to make a 

 report to the next general assembly. 



Henry B. Steer, a graduate of Cornell Uni- 

 versity in forestry, has received an appoint- 

 ment for forest work in the Indian Office, 

 U. S. Department of the Interior. He will 

 work on the eastern Cherokee lands in western 

 North Carolina. 



Professor Leonard Hegnaur has been ap- 

 pointed soils and crop specialist for field work 

 under the direction of the extension depart- 

 ment of the Washington State College. 



Mr. F. E. Wulsin is returning from Mada- 

 gascar where he has been for about six months, 

 collecting for the Zoological Museum, Harvard 



