transformed into algebraic equations admitting of easy solution of r, p, its velocity and acceleration. This equation has been found to be of the seventh degree or of the eighth if the always existing root equal zero be included. My equation for three bodies, that is, for the solution of orbits of disturbed bodies, is of the twenty-eighth degree and admits at most of three solutions, the examination of which makes it possible to decide whether a body is a satellite, planet, or comet, in cases where the physical appearance of the object does not settle this question in advance. In spite of the extensive investigations that have been made on the orbit problem there is room for much improvement both in theory and in practise, improvement which can not fail to come through proper cooperation of astronomers and mathematicians. A. O. LEUSCHNER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SCIENTIFIC EVENTS THIRD INTERSTATE CEREAL CONFERENCE AN executive committee, representing the U. S. Department of Agriculture and state experiment stations, has called a third interstate cereal conference to be held at Kansas City, Coates Hotel, June 12-14. This conference, which has the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and the directors of the state stations, is for the purpose of discussing questions involved in and work essential to accomplish the enlargement of cereal production and the economic utilization of cereals during the existing war emergency. In addition to the representatives of the institutions mentioned, the flour mills, grain inspection departments, grain dealers and manufacturers of cereal foods and corn products of the grain states are invited to send delegates. Some of the subjects to be discussed are: Agricultural War Measures in Kansas. Waste in Cereal Production on the Farm. The Proportion of Flour and By-products in Milling. The Preparation of Land for Wheat. The Use of Barley as a Food. Corn as a War Crop. Treatment of Seed Grain for the Prevention of Analysis of the World's Wheat Supply. The Next Step in Improvement in Wheat Cropping. The Work of Committee on Seed Stocks, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The delegates to the conference are invited to Manhattan, Kansas, on June 15, to inspect the cereal field work of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. CHARLES E. CHAMBLISS, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THE SOCIETY OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS THE Society of Industrial Engineers, a national organization, the membership of which is to comprise men and women who are industrial engineers, professional technical engineers, accountants, managing executives of commercial and industrial activity, writers, educators and students, was planned in Chicago on May 26. The Society will be permanently organized in Washington, on June 15, on which date the directors have been called to meet. Charles Buxton Going, for twenty years editor of the Engineering Magazine, New York, was chosen provisional President and pro tem chairman of the board of directors which was chosen at the session. This board, comprising 15 prominent men from various sections of the United States, the majority of whom have accepted, includes: Charles Buxton Going, New York; C. E. Knoeppel, industrial engineer and organization counsel, New York; Frank B. Gilbreth, industrial engineer, Providence, R. I.; E. C. Shaw, vice-president The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio; Harrington Emerson, industrial engineer, New York; Charles Piez, president The Link Belt Co., Chicago; Irving A. Berndt, manager betterment department, Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Chicago; G. DeA. Babcock, production manager The H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Co., Syracuse, N. Y.; Willard E. Hotchkiss, dean Northwestern University School of Commerce, Chicago; Harry Franklin Porter, Detroit Executives' Club, Detroit, Mich.; H. Thorpe Kessler, President Western Efficiency Society, Chicago; Dexter Kimball, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.; Morris L. Cooke, industrial engineer, Philadelphia; C. Day, industrial engineer, Philadelphia; Herman Schneider, school of engineering, University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Temporary committees are now at work. Upon completion of the organization its services will at once be tendered to the government, through Howard E. Coffin, chairman of the advisory committee, Council of National Defense, and such other committees as can utilize the services of The Society of Industrial Engineers. The temporary executive committee consists of Irving A. Berndt, chairman; F. M. Simons, Jr.; H. Thorpe Kessler; H. A. Rose, G. C. Dent, Harry Franklin Porter, C. A. Knoeppel, Willard E. Hotchkiss, S. T. A. Loftis and Charles Buxton Going. G. C. Dent is temporary secretary and H. Thorpe Kessler, treas urer. The plan of organization adopted provides for a service or promotion bureau under the direction of a vice-president, and divided into two sections: (1) Advisory, and (2) Performing. This is separate and distinct from the organization of the society proper, although under the direction of the president. The function of this bureau is to list as soon as possible all the industrial specialists in the country who may be qualified to serve either as advisers or as actual directors of efficiency work. From these two groups of advisers and performers the society will draw those necessary to carry on whatever work may be delegated to it in connection with perfecting preparation for war. All men who possess qualifications that would enable them to serve in either or both of these sections are urged to get in touch with the acting secretary of the organization, G. C. Dent, 327 South La Salle Street, Chicago, as soon as possible. I. A. BERNDT, Chairman, Executive Committee. SUBCOMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE As has already been noted in SCIENCE seven committees of the Council of National Defense have been organized. Their committees and their chairmen are: Transportation, including railroad and motor transportation and communication, Daniel Willard, chairman. Munitions, manufacturing, including standardization and industrial relations, Howard E. Coffin, chairman. Raw Materials, minerals and metals, Bernard M. Baruch, chairman. Labor, including conservation of health and welfare of workers, Samuel Gompers, chairman. Supplies, clothing, etc., Julius Rosenwald, chair man. Science and Research, including engineering and education, Hollis Godfrey, chairman; Henry E. Crampton, vice-chairman. Medicine, including general sanitation, Franklin H. Martin, chairman. Under Raw Materials, subcommittees have been formed with chairmen as follows: General chemicals, William H. Nichols; fertilizer, Horace Bowker; alkalis, J. D. Pennock; acids, E. H. Grasselli; miscellaneous chemicals, Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr.; cement, John E. Morrow; alcohol, Horatio S. Reubens; aluminium, Arthur V. Davis; asbestos, Thomas F. Manville; brass, Charles F. Brooker; coal tar products, Wm. H. Childs; lumber, R. H. Downman; lead, Clinton H. Crane; mica, L. W. Kingsley; nickel, Ambrose Monell; oil, A. C. Bedford; rubber, H. S. Hotchkiss; steel, Elbert H. Gary; sulphur, Henry Whiton; wool, Jacob F. Brown; zinc, Edgar Palmer; copper, John D. Ryan. The general chemical committee has established headquarters at Washington in charge of Dr. Wm. H. Nichols, who is devoting all of his time to this work. The committee is cooperating with the Bureau of Mines, the U. S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Soils in various problems, and all chemical problems are first submitted to this committee. The Manufacturing Chemists' Association of the United States and the National Fertilizer Association have also established offices in Washington in the Woodward Building. THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND THE WAR THE following letter has been addressed to members of the American Physiological Society: The war has thrown upon the members of the national scientific societies unusual responsibilities. The growing conviction among those best fitted to know, that its further continuance will not be brief and that our country must act with her whole energy, makes it clear that every man of science must do his share. Some of the members of the American Physiological Society have entered military service and others are serving the country in a variety of other ways. As the example of England has shown, research is a field in which much can be accomplished, both of immediate relation to the needs of the moment and of permanent value. Under the direction of the committee on physiology of the National Research Council and the Council of National Defense comprehensive investigations of shock, industrial fatigue, food and nutrition, poisonous gases and means of protection from them, and other topics, are already under way. Other subjects demanding investigation will doubtless arise from time to time. The council of the American Physiological Society finds it desirable to know what its members are already doing or are willing to do in the way of national service, whether their laboratories will be open during the coming summer, whether they desire to undertake research in case of need, and, if so, what general lines of research they are prepared to follow. By the authority of the council, therefore, I write to make these inquiries of you. Any suggestions which you may feel like offering in regard to specific lines of research will be welcomed. Please make all records on the enclosed cards and return both to me without delay. The information so obtained will be turned over to the Committee on SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS AN Anglo-French Scientific Commission which includes Professor Ernest Rutherford, of the University of Manchester, and Professor Henri Abraham, of the University of Paris, is at present in this country to cooporate with American men of science in the development and use of radio-telegraphy. SECRETARY of the Navy Daniels has named Dr. William H. Welch, Dr. Flexner and Mr. Nathan Straus, of New York, as a committee to investigate Senator Calder's "round robin charge" that invalided sailors on the hospital ship Solace had been subjected to cruelty and neglect. DR. E. W. MORLEY was awarded the Willard Gibbs medal at a recent meeting of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society on May 18. DR. RICHARD M. PEARCE, professor of research medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, has returned from a tour of three months through Brazil, Argentine and Uraguay to make a study of the medical, hospital, educational and public health conditions in those countries in the interest of the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation. DR. ALLAN J. MCLAUGHLIN, of Boston, has been appointed to succeed Dr. Richard P. Strong, of Boston, as chairman to the subcommittee on hygiene, medicine and sanitation of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Safety. DR. MARCUS B. HEYMAN, formerly assistant superintendent of the State Hospital for Insane at Central Islip, L. I., and more recently medical inspector for the State Hospital Commission, has been appointed superintendent of the Manhattan State Hospital at Ward's Island, succeeding the late Dr. William Mabon. DR. GEORGE DOCK, professor of medicine in the medical school of Washington University (St. Louis), has received the French war cross and has been mentioned for his service in moving wounded soldiers under heavy bombardment while engaged in the American Field Ambulance Service. WE learn from The Electrical World that L. D. Gibbs, chairman, and Frank A. Birch, compose a committee of the National Electric Light Association to secure subscriptions to a fund of $5,000, in recognition of the work of Professor Elihu Thomson. A medal is to be awarded" in any year to any citizen of the United States or Canada who at the time of the award shall not be over thirty-five years of age, and who, in the judgment of the trustees of the medal, shall have made a notable contribution to electrical science or its industrial applications through original investigation, research or discovery, or through whose direct efforts a substantial contribution to the advancement of the industry shall have been accomplished." FREDERICK BEDELL, professor of applied electricity, of Cornell University, has been elected one of the vice-presidents of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. A. W. L. BRAY, assistant professor of biology at the State University of Montana, has been granted leave of absence for one year, to take effect next semester. Professor Bray will engage in biological research work at Harvard University. PROFESSOR A. B. RECKNAGEL, of the department of forestry of Cornell University, has received a leave of absence from his university duties in order to become forester of the Empire State Forest Products Association. He will take up his new work on July 1 and will establish headquarters for the association at Albany. PROFESSOR L. B. GILLET, of the department of English literature at Wesleyan University, has resigned his position to enter military service. PROFESSOR VICTOR GRÉGOIRE (Louvain), and Professor Hans Schinz (Zürich), have been. elected foreign members of the Linnean Society. WE learn from Nature that the government Central Control Board of Great Britain has appointed an advisory committee, consisting of Lord D'Abernon (chairman), Sir G. Newman, Dr. A. R. Cushny, Dr. H. H. Dale, Dr. M. Greenwood, Jr., Dr. W. McDougall, Dr. F. W. Mott, Dr. C. S. Sherrington and Dr. W. C. Sullivan, to consider the conditions affecting the physiological action of alcohol, particularly the effects on health and industrial efficiency produced by the consumption of beverages of various alcoholic strengths, with special reference to the recent orders of the Central Control Board, and further to plan out and direct such investigations as may appear desirable with the view of obtaining more exact data on this and cognate questions. THE National Geographic Society has set aside $12,000 to finance another expedition to Alaska in order to obtain full information in regard to the eruption of Mt. Katmai. The expedition will be in charge of Professor Robert F. Griggs, of the department of botany, The Ohio State University. MR. JAMES F. COUCH was elected president of the recently organized Des Moines Chemical Society at the regular meeting on April 9. DEAN W. J. TEETERS, of the University of Iowa, has offered the facilities of the college of pharmacy there for manufacture of drugs. and chemicals to be used in the war. He believes that students and faculty can perform valuable service by making pharmaceutical preparations, pharmaceutical chemicals from raw materials furnished by the government, and in testing the identity and purity of drugs, chemicals and other medical supplies bought by the government in the middle west. CHINA has instituted a geological survey under the direction of V. K. King, a graduate of the University of Glasgow. WM. MASON TOWLE, professor of industrial engineering at Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, N. Y., retires from active service at the close of the present academic year. The trustees have appointed him professor emeritus of industrial engineering. MR. FRANCIS C. SHENEHON, for the past eight years dean of the College of Engineering of the University of Minnesota and head professor of civil engineering, has opened offices and will give his entire attention to his practise as a consulting hydraulic engineer. PROFESSOR C. K. LEITH, of the University of Wisconsin, has recently completed a six weeks' course of lectures on "Metamorphic geology" at the University of Chicago. DR. JUAN D. AMBROSETTI, director of the Ethnographic Museum at Buenos Aires, died on May 28. He was a delegate to the PanAmerican Scientific Congress held in Washington in 1915. DR. F. F. ULRIK, of Copenhagen, who took the leading part in the movement to provide more hygienic homes for the laboring classes in Denmark, has died at the age of ninety-nine years. ARRANGEMENTS have been made for meetings of the Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the General Committee and the Committee of Recommendations to be held in London on July 6, in order to make appointments, receive the report of the Council for the year, and transact other necessary business. THE Spanish government has appropriated the sum of $600,000 for the establishment of a hospital for infectious diseases at Madrid. AT the annual general meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, held on April 17, the result of the ballot for the election of officers was declared as follows: President, Mr. W. B. Worthington; Vice-presidents, Mr. J. A. F. Aspinall, Mr. H. E. Jones, Sir John P. Griffith and Mr. J. A. Brodie; Other Members of Council, Dr. C. C. Carpenter, Dr. Dugald Clerk, Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, Mr. M. Deacon, Sir Archibald Denny, Bart., Mr. W. H. Ellis, Sir R. R. Gales, Mr. A. J. Goldsmith, Sir R. A. Hadfield, BrigadierGeneral B. H. Henderson, Mr. R. W. Holmes, Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Mr. G. W. Humphreys, Mr. Summers Hunter, Dr. W. H. Maw, Mr. C. L. Morgan, Mr. Basil Mott, Sir H. J. Oram, Mr. F. Palmer, Captain H. P. R. Sankey, Sir J. F. C. Snell, Mr. E. F. C. Trench, Mr. W. F. Tye, Sir Philip Watts, Mr. E. J. Way and Sir A. F. Yarrow, Bart. The council has made the following awards for papers read and discussed during the session 1916-17: Telford gold medals to Messrs. G. W. Humphreys and J. B. Ball; George Stephenson gold medals to Messrs. P. V. O'Brien and John Parr; Telford premiums to Messrs. P. V. O'Brien, J. L. Hodgson, W. Brown and P. M. Crosthwaite, and a Crampton prize to Mr. F. J. Waring. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT is made that next year a course in the elements of law, will be given by a professor of the law school of Columbia University to a limited number of qualified students of Barnard College. Certain courses in international law will also be open to specially qualified women. BEGINNING with next autumn the Tufts medical school will require two years of regular college work for admission. WE learn from the American Medical Journal that fellowships in ophthalmology and otolaryngology in connection with the University of Minnesota have been established by Dr. Frank C. Todd, of Minneapolis, and Dr. Frank E. Burch, of St. Paul, both of the school of medicine. These fellowships carry with them the same stipend that is paid by the University of Minnesota to the university fellows, namely, |