Obituary. 515 



98th meridian, Nebraska to Canada and Duluth, by William 

 Bowie, and on the same meridian, Seguin to Point Isabel, Texas, 

 by A. L. Baldwin ; on triangulation along the east coast of 

 Florida'and the Keys, by H. C. Mitchell. 



4. Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards ; S. W. Stratton, 

 Director. — The first number of volume VIII, Jan. 1912, is de- 

 voted to a paper of 237 pages, by Edward B. Rosa and F. W. 

 Grover, containing formulas and tables for the calculation of 

 mutual and self-inductance (revised). 



The following important technologic papers have also been 

 issued by the Bureau of Standards : 



No. 2. The Strength of reinforced Concrete Beams ; Results 

 of Tests of 333 Beams (first series) ; by R. L. Humphrey and 

 Louis H. Losse. Pp. 200 ; 45 figures. 



No. 3. Tests of the absorptive and permeable Properties of 

 Portland Cement Mortars and Concretes, together with Tests of 

 damp-proofing and water-proofing Compounds and Materials ; by 

 Rudolph J. Wig and P. H. Bates. Pp. 127 ; 53 figures. 



No. 5. The Effect of high pressure Steam on the crushing 

 Strength of Portland Cement, Mortar, and Concrete ; by Rudolph 

 J. Wig. Pp. 25. 



Obituary. 



Ralph Stockman Tarr, Professor of Physical Geography in 

 Cornell University, died suddenly, after a brief illness, on March 

 21st at the age of forty-eight. 



He was born at Gloucester, Mass., Jan. 15th, 1864, and early 

 showed a bent for natural history studies. After a brief period 

 of study in the Summer School of Zoology at Salem, Mass., in 

 the fall of 1881 he entered the zoological laboratory of Alpheus 

 Hyatt, acting as his assistant for two years. He took part in the 

 deep-sea explorations of the "Fish Hawk" and "Albatross" sent 

 out by the U. S. Fish Commission in 1883 ; assisted Professor 

 Shaler in the field work on the Geology of Cape Ann ; and in the 

 year 1889 was assistant on the Texas Geological Survey. While 

 engaged in these various modes of practical scientific work in 

 science he was registered as a student at Harvard, graduating 

 from the Lawrence Scientific School with the degree of B.S. in 

 1891. In 1892 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Dynamic 

 Geology and Physical Geography in Cornell University and 

 Professor of Physical Geography in 1906, the position he held at 

 the time of his death. 



In addition to excursions and explorations in and about Ithaca, 

 New York state, carried on both for training of his classes in 

 physiography and as research, he made more extended researches 

 in Alaska and Greenland, chiefly studying glaciers, and spent the 

 years 1901-2 and 1909-10 in Europe studying similar problems. 



Professor Tarr wrote several text-books on Physical Geography, 

 the latest of which, " A Laboratory Manual of Physical Geog- 

 raphy " by R. S. Tarr and O. D. VanEngeln, was published in 



