The prime object of the present investigation is to ascertain to what extent the earth's magnetic state at any time may be dependent upon solar conditions, i.e., upon causes exterior to the earth. The purpose is not to determine anew the relation between fluctuations in the earth's magnetism about some base line or normal value and fluctuations in the sun's activity, but rather to find out whether the base line or normal value itself varies with solar activity, and, if so, how. Thus during periods of intense sun-spot activity, violent fluctuations in the earth's magnetism are known to occur. These fluctuations may continue for a few hours or for a few days and then subside. There is often found to be an after effect, of a quiescent, persistent character, as the result of which the earth's magnetization remains below par for several months, or more, after the apparent cessation of the magnetic storm.

It is a matter of no little interest to know whether the earth's magnetic state ever completely returns to a former state after having experienced such magnetic-storm effects as described. Some previous investigations bearing on this question had been made and reported upon by the author on the basis of data extending over a few years at the most. Now, however, the investigation applies to data extending over a period of about 23 sun-spot cycles.

It is shown that the absolute values of the magnetic elements that define the earth's magnetic state at any time vary in a definite and in an appreciable manner with change in the sun's activity, as revealed to us by sun-spottedness and by values of the solar constant of radiation. The two sets of measures of solar activity serve to supplement each other in determining the causes for the anomalous changes in the earth's magnetic state from year to year.

The conclusions indicate that in the selection of a common epoch to which the magnetic elements resulting from a magnetic survey shall be reduced, consideration may have to be paid to the position of the epoch with reference to the years of maximum and minimum solar activity.

The conclusions also confirm those reached by the author in a paper presented before the Society in October, 1904, viz, that the secular variation of the earth's magnetism, besides being caused by a system of forces below the earth's surface, is also appreciably caused by a system above the earth's surface, and that the secular variation results not only from changes in the direction of magnetization, but likewise. from changes in the intensity of magnetization of the earth.

H. L. CURTIS, Recording, Secretary.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

A Washington Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers was organized on June 20, 1918. The officers elected were: Mr. HERBERT HOOVER, of the Food Administration, chairman; Dr. H. FOSTER BAIN, of the Bureau of Mines, and Dr. DAVID WHITE, of the U. S. Geological Survey, vice-chairman; Mr. HARVEY MUDD, secretary.

The National Research Council, at the request of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, has organized a committee on explosives investigations. The membership of the committee is as follows: Dr. CHARLES E. MUNROE, of George Washington University, chairman; Mr. L. L. SUMMERS, of the War Industries Board; Lieut.Col. W. C. SPRUANCE, JR., of the Ordnance Department of the Army; and Lieut.-Commander T. S. WILKINSON, of the Ordnance Department of the Navy.

The experimental ammonia plant and laboratory of the Bureau of Soils at Arlington, Virginia, has been transferred to the Nitrate Division of the Ordnance Department of the Army. The work is in charge of Dr. R. O. E. DAVIS and Mr. L. H. GREATHOUSE.

All of the "gas warfare" work of the Army has been consolidated under a new division of the War Department, the "Chemical Warfare Service," under Major General WILLIAM L. SIBERT. The experimental work heretofore carried on by the Surgeon General's Office and the Ordnance Department are included, as well as the American University Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines, which, with its entire personnel, civilian and military, is transferred to the control of the War Department for operation under the director of gas service, by executive order of the President dated June 25, 1918. The Chemical Warfare Service also has the responsibility of providing chemists for all branches of the government and of assisting in the procurement of chemists for essential industries. General PERSHING has been directed to conform his organization in France to that adopted here.

The former "chemicals and explosives section" of the War Industries Board has been reorganized into two divisions: a "chemicals division" in charge of Mr. CHARLES N. MACDOWELL, and an "explosives division," in charge of Mr. M. F. CHASE. The chemicals division is subdivided into the following sections: acids and heavy chemicals, artificial and vegetable dyes, alkali and chlorine, chemical glass and stoneware, coal gas products (benzol, toluol, etc.), rare gases, creosote, electrodes and abrasives, ethyl alcohol, ferroalloys (chromium, manganese, tungsten), fine chemicals, nitrates, paints and pigments, plati

num, refractories, sulfur and pyrites, tanning materials, wood chemicals. The consulting staff, mentioned in this column of June 19, 1918 (p. 416), consists at present of Dr. E. R. WEIDLEIN, chief, Prof. N. R. MOODY, and Dr. THOMES P. MCCUTCHEON, of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports has finished its work of formulating programs for the minimum importation of ores and minerals, and the members of the committee have taken up other work. Prof. C. K. LEITH has been appointed mineral adviser to the War Industries Board from the standpoint of the conservation of shipping, Mr. J. E. SPURR is in charge of the war minerals investigation work of the Bureau of Mines, and Mr. POPE YEATMAN continues in charge of the Non-Ferrous Metals Divisions of the War Industries Board.

The New National Museum has been closed to the public by the board of regents, as all available space in the building has been occupied by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. It is expected that the Museum will be again opened when the new office building of the Bureau, at Vermont Avenue and H street, is completed.

Dr. CLEVELAND ABBE, meteorologist of the Weather Bureau and editor of the Monthly Weather Review, was removed from office by the Secretary of the Interior on July 3, 1918. The chief of the Bureau, Prof. C. F. MARVIN, in transmitting the order, stated that the dismissal resulted from Dr. Abbe's "long-standing and generally wellknown friendly sympathies for the imperial German government,' and that investigations leading to dismissal were initiated by sources outside of the Bureau and carried forward by the Department of Justice. Dr. Abbe has denied that he is disloyal and has requested an opportunity to reply to any charges presented.

Dr. OLAF ANDERSEN, petrologist at the Geophysical Laboratory, has resigned in order to accept the position of government geologist and director of an experimental silicate laboratory for the Norwegian Government, in Kristiania. Dr. Andersen will leave in September or October.

Dr. S. J. BARNETT has resigned as professor of physics at the Ohio State University and has accepted the post of physicist in change of experimental work in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, beginning his work there on July 15.

Dr. F. E. BREITHUT, assistant professor of chemistry at the College of the City of New York, is on leave of absence and has been commissioned a major in the Chemical Warfare Section.

Dr. EDGAR BUCKINGHAM, of the Bureau of Standards, has been appointed physical associate to the scientific attaché to the American embassy at Rome.

Mr. GEORGE A. BURRELL, in charge of the American University Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines, has been commissioned a colonel in the Chemical Warfare Service, National Army.

Major WILLIAM B. GREELEY, formerly of the Forest Service, has been commissioned a lieutenant colonel. He is at present with the American Expeditionary Forces in France.

The honorary degree of A.M. has been conferred by Harvard University on Mr. HENNEN JENNINGS, consulting mining engineer.

Prof. LAUDER W. JONES, formerly of the University of Cincinnati, and recently appointed head of the department of chemistry of the University of Minnesota, is on leave of absence and is engaged in research at the American University Experiment Station.

Dr. THOMAS J. KELLEY has been appointed professor of gynecology in the Medical School of Georgetown University, as the successor of Dr. ISAAC STONE, who resigned in June after twenty-six years of service with the Medical School. Dr. JAMES M. MOSER and Dr. JOHN A. FOOTE have been appointed associate professors of pediatrics.

Prof. A. E. KENNELLY, acting head of the department of electrical engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is in Washington for the summer on special work for the Signal Corps.

Dr. JOHN HARPER LONG, Professor of Chemistry at the Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the ACADEMY since 1899, died at his home in Evanston on June 14, 1918, in his sixty-first year. He had been with Northwestern University for the past thirty-seven years, and had been active in physiological chemical research as well as in the public service, having been a member of the referee board of the Department of Agriculture, a member of the revision committee of the Pharmacopoeia, and president of the American Chemical Society (in 1903). He was the author of several text-books of chemistry.

President R. C. MACLAUREN, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came to Washington in July to act as educational head of a students' army training corps, organized to give military instruction to student volunteers who are not yet of draft age.

Mr. EDWIN H. PAGENHART, hydrographie and geodetic engineer of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, has been transferred to the Corps of Engineers (Reserve) of the army, with the rank of Captain.

Dr. RICHARD RATHBUN, a charter member of the ACADEMY, died at his home, 1622 Massachusetts Avenue, on July 16, 1918. Dr. Rathbun was born at Buffalo, New York, January 25, 1852. His earlier years were spent in scientific work for the Boston Society of Natural History, the Imperial Geological Commission of Brazil, the department of zoology of Yale University, and the United States Fish Commission. Since 1897 he had been Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and had been in charge of the National Museum since 1899. His scientific publications were concerned chiefly with Brazilian paleontology and the marine invertebrates and the fisheries of the United States. Dr. Rathbun was a member of the Biological Society of Washington, a past president of the Philosophical Society of Washington, and a past president of the Cosmos Club.

Dr. J. N. ROSE, associate curator of the Division of Plants, National Museum, left Washington on July 22 for an extended trip of botanical exploration through Ecuador, under the auspices of the U. S. National Herbarium, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Gray Herbarium. His headquarters during the summer will be at Huigra, and his address will be care of American consul at Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The Reverend GEORGE MARY SEARLE, C.S.P., superior general of the Paulist Fathers from 1904 to 1909, and formerly professor of mathematics and director of the astronomical observatory at the Catholic University, died on July 8, 1918, at the age of seventy-nine. He was born in London, England, June 27, 1839, graduated from Harvard University in 1857, and was connected at various times with the Dudley and the Harvard College Observatories, the U. S. Naval Academy, and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. He was a member of the Philosophical Society of Washington, and had been for many years a member of the ACADEMY, from which he had resigned but a few months ago.

Dr. W. F. G. SWANN left the Bureau of Standards on August 1, 1918, to take up his new work as professor of physics at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. WALTER T. TAGGART, professor of organic chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, is engaged in war research for the Nitrate Division in Washington.

Prof. A. TANAKADATE, professor of physics in the University of Tokyo, and member of the Imperial Academy of Science, visited Washington in July on business connected with certain international scientific commissions whose activity has been interfered with by the war.

Dr. WILLIAM S. THAYER, of Baltimore, was elected a foreign member of the Académie de Médicine of Paris on July 2, 1918.