332 Scientific Intelligence. 



new words in various departments, that are current in Australia, 

 New Zealand, and in India, have been introduced, when they 

 have found a place in English literature. 



3. The National Standardizing Bureau. — Near the close of 

 the last session of Congress, an act was passed establishing a 

 " National Standardizing Bureau," the functions of which are 

 stated as follows : " The custody of the standards ; the com- 

 parison of the standards used in scientific investigations, engi- 

 neering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions 

 with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government ; 

 the construction, when necessary, of standards, their multiples 

 and sub-divisions ; the testing and calibration of standard meas- 

 uring apparatus; the solution of problems which arise in connec- 

 tion with standards; the determination of physical constants and 

 the properties of materials, when such data are of great import- 

 ance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be 

 obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere." The appropriation 

 made in behalf of this end, both for officers and for buildings, is 

 sufficiently liberal to insure the work being undertaken promptly 

 and with satisfactory thoroughness. Prof. S. W. Stratton of 

 the University of Chicago has been appointed Director of the 

 Bureau ; this choice meets with general approval. 



Obituary. 



Dr. George Mercer Dawson, Director of the Geological 

 Survey of Canada, died on March 2, after a brief illness. He was the 

 eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, who died in November, 

 1899. Dr. Dawson's contributions to the advancement of geology 

 have been numerous and valuable. In the year 1875 his report 

 on the u Geology and Resources of the 49th Parallel," at once 

 established his position as a keen observer, an indefatigable 

 investigator, and a man of more than ordinary powers of wide 

 generalization. Upon the retirement of Mr. Selwyn, he became 

 Director of the Survey in 1896, since which time he has con- 

 ducted the Survey with great energy and administrative ability. 

 The results of his latest investigations were summarized in his 

 address upon "the Physical History of the Rocky Mountain 

 region of Canada," delivered by him as President of the Geo- 

 logical Society of America, in December last ; this address is 

 published in the number of Science which recorded his death (vol. 

 xiii, p. 401). Dr. Dawson's mastery of the geology of the northern 

 part of the American continent makes the loss to American geology 

 most deeply felt; and notwithstanding all he has accomplished, 

 his sudden departure leaves his life work unfinished. * 



Professor Charles Hermite, the eminent French mathema- 

 tician, died in January last at the age of seventy-eight. 



M. Adolphe Chaten", the French botanist, died on January 13, 

 at the age of eighty-seven. 



Dr. J. C. Agardh of Lund, the veteran Swedish botanist, well 

 known for his work on marine Algae, died on January 17 in his 

 eighty-eighth year. 



