gains. The coal discovered by Lieutenant Shackleton is only of scientific interest in showing the changes that have taken place in the climate.
Captain Amundsen, who had already won fame by traversing the Northwest Passage, probably regards his expedition to the pole as only an episode, and will proceed with his plan to drift with the ice across the north polar regions.
SCIENTIFIC ITEMS
We regret to record the death of Dr. John Bernhardt Smith, state entomologist of New Jersey and professor of entomology at Rutgers College; of Professor Mason Blanchard Thomas, professor of botany at Wabash College; of Dr. Charles Robert Sanger, professor of chemistry and director of the chemical laboratory at Harvard University; of Dr. Henry Taylor Bovey, F.R.S., formerly professor of civil engineering in McGill University, and of Professor Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., the distinguished engineer and physicist.
Mr. Samuel Henshaw has been appointed director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University.—Professor Charles Sedgwick Minot has been selected by the German government as Harvard exchange professor at the University of Berlin for 1912-13. Dr. Rudolf Eucken, professor of philosophy at Jena, has been appointed exchange professor at Harvard University.—Dr. Talcott Williams, associate editor of the Philadelphia Press, has been appointed director of the School of Journalism of Columbia University, founded by Mr. Pullitzer. Professor John W. Cunliffe, now head of the department of English of the University of Wisconsin, is the associate director of the school.
For the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which is to be held this year at Dundee, beginning on September 4, under the presidency of Professor E. A. Schäfer, F.R.S., the following presidents have been appointed to the various sections: Mathematical and Physical Science, Professor H. L. Callendar, F.R.S.; Chemistry, Professor A. Senier; Geology, Dr. B. N. Peach, F.R.S.; Zoology, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S.; Geography, Sir Charles M. Watson, K.C.M.G., C.B., R.E.; Economic Science and Statistics, Sir Henry H. Cunnyghame, K.C.B.; Engineering, Professor A. Barr; Anthropology, Professor G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S.; Physiology, Mr. Leonard Hill, F.R.S.; Botany, Professor F. Keeble; Educational Science, Professor J. Adams; Agriculture, Mr. T. H. Middleton.
The treasurer of Columbia University has reported to the trustees that he had received about $1,550,000 from the executors of the estate of the late George Crocker. Accordingly, the work of cancer research, for which Mr. Crocker gave this sum as an endowment, will begin at once.
