Decembek 10, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



829 



cent epocli. For tlie last thirty-four years 

 these fundamental rocks of Florida, often 

 called the Ocala limestone, have been thought 

 to be nearly equivalent in age to the Vicks- 

 burg limestone of Mississippi and Alabama 

 and have been called the Vicksburg group. 

 A short time ago C. Wythe Cooke, of the 

 Geological Survey, discovered that the Ocala 

 or so-called Vicksburg limestone of Florida 

 contains many fossil remains of sea shells of 

 the same species that occur in the marls near 

 Jackson, Miss., and that are known to have 

 become extinct before the rocks at Vicksburg 

 vcere deposited. It therefore appears that the 

 Ocala limestone is of about the same age as 

 the Jackson formation and is considerably 

 older than has heretofore been supposed. In- 

 stead of being of recent origin, as was thought 

 by Agassiz and LeConte, the Floridian 

 plateau was in existence during the Eocene 

 era — probably two million years ago. A copy 

 of Mr. Cooke's paper on the age of the Ocala 

 limestone, which is technical and intended 

 mainly for the use of professional geologists, 

 will be sent free on application to the Di- 

 rector, United States Geological Survey. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Mrs. Russell Sage has given Syracuse Uni- 

 versity a fund to build a college of agricul- 

 ture as a memorial to her father, Joseph 

 Slocum. The building is to cost several hun- 

 dred thousand dollars, the exact sum to be de- 

 cided later. The site for the building is to be 

 determined at a meeting of the university 

 trustees, December 14. Construction will be 

 started early in the spring. 



A NEW building will be constructed for the 

 University of Dlinois Medical School in Chi- 

 cago for the clinical courses. The initial cost 

 is to be about $100,000, which will pay for one 

 wing. This will be added to later as the de- 

 mand for room increases. 



The trustees of Delaware College have made 

 plans for the expenditure of a gift of $500,000 

 to the college by an unnamed donor. A report 

 submitted by H. Eodney Sharp, chairman of 



the Plans and Development Committee, which 

 was approved by the board, showed that $250,- 

 000 will be used for a science hall to house the 

 agricultural and chemical departments, $75,- 

 000 to remodel the old dormitory building and 

 turn it into a commons for the students, and 

 $200,000 will be set aside for maintenance. 



Fire early on December 7 destroyed the 

 Thompson chemical laboratory of Williams 

 College, a three-story brick structure, loss of 

 which is estimated at $100,000. The fire 

 started in a workroom on the first floor from 

 spontaneous combustion, according to the col- 

 lege authorities and quickly spread through 

 the building. 



Warsaw University and Warsaw Observa- 

 tory have been transferred by the Russians to 

 Eostow-upon-Don. At the same time the Ger- 

 man government has reestablished the Univer- 

 sity of Warsaw, and added a faculty of medi- 

 cine. Dr. von Brudsynski has been appointed 

 rector, and Professor Wilhelm Paszkowski, in 

 charge of the academic information bureau at 

 Berlin, has been sent to Warsaw to advise on 

 the reorganization of the university. 



Dr. Edwin B. Craighead, whom the state 

 board of education failed to reelect as presi- 

 dent of the University of Montana, has been 

 elected co mm issioner of education of the State 

 University of Korth Dakota. The three pro- 

 fessors of the University of Montana which 

 the board of education failed to reelect, Pro- 

 fessor Mary Stewart, dean of women. Dr. T. 

 B. Bolton, professor of psychology, and Dr. G. 

 F. Reynolds, professor of English, have been 

 reelected. They have, however, been given 

 leave of absence for the coming year. 



Dr. William Ophuls, professor of pathol- 

 ogy, has been appointed acting dean of the 

 Stanford University Medical School, in place 

 of Dr. R. L. Wilbur, whose term as president 

 of Stanford University begins January 1, 

 1916. 



At the University of Kansas, Dr. C H. 

 Ashton has been promoted from an associate 

 professorship to a full professorship of mathe- 

 matics. 



