Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-14
SCIENCE NOTES.

SCIENCE NOTES.
The Copley medal of the Royal So
ciety of England has been awarded to
Sir Ray Lancaster for his researches
in zoology.
The next meeting of the Association
of Alumni Secretaries will be held at
Columbia and Yale Universities in No
vember, 1914. At the recent meeting
in Chicago representatives were pres
ent from some fifty universities and
colleges.
The proceedings of the eighteenth
session Of the International Congress
of Americanists. which is now ready
for distribution, embraces S56 pages
of text, so plates, 200 illustrations, IN
Guiding an account of the meeting and
subjects of Importance for ethnology
and archaeology of the Americas.
The Danish expedition under Koch
and Wegener. which crossed the CONT
nent of Greenland in the summer, was
an achievement of more than usual
scientific interest. The highest point
about 5000 feet above sea level
Prof L. L. Schoch of the University
of Texas (Austin) was the American
investigator invited to discuss Ihe
Passivity of Metals" at the recent
meeting of the Faraday Society of Lon
don.
DR.. Bruno Otteking, who has received
training in Germany and Switzerland.
is working over the skull collection
made in the course of the Jessup ex-
petition of the American Museum of
Natural History. The data are to be
used in the final report of the physical
anthropology of the expedition.
Speaking of the British publication,
National Antarctic Expedition, just
issued. Gen. A. w. Greedy. L. s A.,
ume one omits entirely Wilkes antarctic
discoveries. but the key map of volume
two contains the legend; Land re-
ported by Commander Wilkes, I. > N,
1910. Twelve months prior to the trans
initial of the proofs of the Introductory
remarks an Australian. DIR. Mawson,
had not only visited this reported
land but had established two scientific
courage and energy, creditable to the
British empire adds to the worlds
knowledge of this vast and ice crowned
continent so long discredited.
The Mary Kingsley medal of the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
has been presented to Prof F. V. Theo
bald. vice principal and zoologist of the
Southeastern Agricultural College. Wy
oming-
A miniature moving machine for
shaving, run by electric power, Will
soon be placed on the market by d Chi
cago firm. The machine consists of a
safety razor connected to motor by
means Of flexible shaft the blade
being actuated in such a way as to cut
the beard by impact or blows. The
blades need not be so sharp as in hand
shaving. No soap is used; wetting Of
the face is sufficient. The after effects
of this mower shave are those of mild
massage. plug is provided for at
taching the razor to any lamp pocket.
Values of Light and Shade contends
that the right or wrong lighting of our
homes, offices and shops has an i'm
portant bearing on our lives. Excessive
unpleasant glare. which is as bad in
effect insufficient light DIR. Lewis
urges collaboration on the part of il
Illuminating engineers, architects, school
men and others to- secure broader in
struction on the care of the eyes
DIR. Shosuke Sato, professor and dean
OF the Agricultural College of the Tohoku
oiliNcISitS, HAS DtcH designated as eX
change professor at the American uni
versities He was a student of agricul-
tural economy at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity and also in Germany in lSs2 to
1ssG.
Maj f. +. Russell. formerly professor
of bacteriolegy and pathology at the
Army Medical School in Washington.
D. G.. has been appointed lecturer in
tropical medicine at the New York Post
graduate Medical School and Hospital
Maj. f. r. Whitmore lecturer at the
postgraduate school. has been trans
ferred to the Army Medical School. vice
Maj. Russell.
Sir Robert 5. Ball. f. h $. Lowndean
professor OF astronomy and geometry in
the University of Cambridge, and director
of the Cambridge Observatory, is dead al
the age of seventy-three years.
Father Jerome Ricard of the Santa
Clara, California, University announces
the discovery of Il huge sun-spot. due to
the heliocentric conjunction of the earth
and Saturn December 4 The new sun
spot. il is said. is the largest that has
been observed i'm years, covering many
thousands of square miles.
This character OF celestial phenomena
that is. the meeting OF two or more stars
or planets in the same longitude as the
conjunction OF the moon with the sun
occurrence in the physical formation
of our solar system. and the subject
from which much valuable scientific data
is obtained; but Father Ricard's an
nouncement of this conjunction and re-
suits is unusually interesting at this
time On account Of the minimum epoch of
sun-spots. This conjunction, heliocentric
| in astronomy. thus means the sun cen
| ter-appearing as II seen from the sun :
| center. The heliocentric place of a planet
| is the place il would occupy in the cees-
| tial sphere if viewed from the center of
| the sun
! The announcement is Just made by thu
/ Royal Astronomical Society that in 1917
| the mean daily spotted area of the sun
was only 81 millionths OF the suns visi-
! bic hemisphere, while the values for 1919
| and 1911 were, respectively. 2j4 and ii
millionths.
| Up to September 10 Of the present year
| a much feebler condition of sun-spot ac-
| tivity even than 1912 has been expert
| enced so that the sun-spot minimum Of
| the past two years may be followed by =
| slow rise to low maximum.