Personal and Scientific Nezvs. 193 
Dk. (j. r. Mkkkill of TiiK L'. S. X.vjioxAL MrsKLM lias 
been appointed expert special agent oi the Census office in con- 
nection with the collection of statistics relating to stone quar- 
ries. The appointment in no way affects Dr. Merrill's posi- 
tion as head curator of geology in the museum. 
Mr, H. W. Shimek has been appointed lecturer in Histor- 
ical Geology and Palaeontology at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, lioston, for the remaincjer of the year. He 
succeeds Miss I-^lvira Wood who has gone to Washington, 
1 ). ( "., on the L'. S. Survey as assistant to Mr. Walcott. 
Dk. J.\mes Fuum.\n Kemp, professor of geology in Co- 
lumbia University, delivered a lecture on "The discovery and 
development of mining districts," at Xorthwestern Univer- 
sity on Saturday evening, February 7th. The lecture was il- 
lustrated by lantern slides and was given under the auspices 
of the University Guild. 
Geological Society oe Wasiii.ngtox, At the meeting 
of this society on Wednesday, l^'ebruary nth, the following 
program was presented : "Chitina coj)per deposits, Alaska." 
W. C. Mendenhall ; "An anthracite coal-field, three and one-half 
hours west of Washington," IJavid White; "The structure of 
a portion of South Mountain, Pennsylvania," George W. 
Stose; "Abandoned stream gaps in nc^rthern Washington." 
Geo. Otis Smith. 
The Clavtox Stoxe Axe . 'J'his is another axe from the 
loess, described by Dr. C. A. Peterson in Records of the Past 
for January, 1903, found at Clayton, near St. Louis, in the 
construction of a belt railroad. It lay at the Ixittom of the 
loess, fifteen feet below the surface, and has the form and ap- 
pearance of a neolithic instrument. The loess at that point 
lies on a tenacious red clay which may be the analogue of the 
geest underlying the loess at Lansing where the recent discov- 
ery was made of human remains. 
TnoMA.s Chowder Ciiambi:rmx. On Saturday afterivjon 
February 7th, a marble bust oi professor Chamberlin was 
presented to the University of Chicago by a number of his 
geological friends and admirers, chief among whom was pro- 
fessor J. C. liranner of Stanford University. In the absence 
of professor Branner the presentation of the bust to the Uni- 
versity was made by professor C. R. Van Hise of the I Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin. y\ response was made by president 
William R. Harper of Chicago University, and remarks were 
made by Dr. H. Foster Bain and ])rofessor R. D. Salisbuiy. 
Letters were read from professor Samuel Calvin. Mr. Bailey 
Willis, professor H. L. Fairchild for the Geological Societv of 
America, and Mr. S. F. Emmons. 
The American Museum of Natural History of Xew 
York city, has sent Dr. E. O. Hovey to the Lesser Antilles 
