340 Scientific News. [ May, 
which is itself a copy, or from the world’s standard in Europe, 
and whether cooperation with other countries is feasible in this 
work, are important questions for consideration. 
Whether the standard secured should be a fraction of the 
ascertain how generally each system is used by the workers of 
the country, and how freely those workers would be willing to 
adopt the new system by general agreement. Whichever system 
is adopted, many micrascopists would be glad to have a conveni- 
ent unit in the other system, verified by comparison; a standard cen- 
timetre divided into one hundred parts, for instance, being accom- 
panied by an inch similarly divided and having, microscopically, 
the same relation to it that it has mathematically. is method, 
of possessing a practical standard in each system while technically 
improper, would be a convenience, and would give a great im- 
provement in our micrometry. or would the objection that it 
might hinder the universal adoption of the scientific (metric) 
system be a serious difficulty to my mind. The adoption and 
rejection of systems is a matter of evolution, not artifice, and the 
world will move at a rate that depends upon its average interests, 
without being much affected by special efforts to advance or 
retard its progress. 
:0: 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
— The President nominated Clarence King for the directorship 
of the U. S. Geological Survey recently created by act of Con- 
gress, and the newspapers state that the Senate has confirmed the 
appointment. Of Mr. King’s merits as a geologist we need not 
speak, as the Report of the Survey of the Fortieth parallel is an 
enduring monument to his ability. We shall hope that the fullest 
measure of success may attend the new Bureau and its distin- 
guished director. 
cal map of the United States, 
— Prof. George B. Wood, president of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, and formerly professor of the Institutes of Medi- 
cine in the University of Pennsylvania, recently deceased at the 
age of eighty-two years. He is well known as the author of 
Wood and Bache’s Dispensatory, the standard work on the sub- 
ject in this country. He left important legacies to the University 
