Platecarpus and Tylosaurus. This work became the standard for all subsequent researches of Osborn, Wieland and others on the Cretaceous fauna. It contains some admirable restorations of mosasaurs and other fossils which may be compared with those of Dollo from the Maestrichtian of Belgium. The second part, Volume VI. of the University Geological Survey, covering the Carboniferous and Cretaceous, published in 1900, included the Cretaceous fishes alluded to above, and the Carboniferous invertebrates by Joshua W. Beede.

Williston concluded his studies of the Cretaceous fauna during the early years of his professorship in Chicago, beginning in 1902. Thus his work on the Kansas Cretaceous fauna, following the very disjointed contributions of Leidy, Marsh and Cope based on inferior material, marks the turning-point in this field to the new order of description and generalization based upon complete material, including even the skin impressions of several great mosasaurs. In his observations on the mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterodactyles and marine turtles, and the birds with teeth, Odontornithes, he placed the osteology of these several animals on a much more secure basis, adding a number of new generic types, such as a short-necked plesiosaur, Dolichorhynchops osborni.

His first contribution to the phylogeny and classification of the Reptilia as a whole appeared in 1905 and was followed by his important discussion of this subject entitled "The Phylogeny and Classification of Reptiles," Journal of Geology, August, 1917. In this article, which expresses his mature opinions, he departed from his previous conservative attitude towards classification and proposed to add two subclasses of reptiles, the Anapsida and the Parapsida, to the subclasses previously proposed by Osborn, namely, the Synapsida and the Diapsida, making a fourfold grand division of the Reptilia. Doubtless it was Williston's intention to fortify this system of classification in his forthcoming general work on the Reptilia.

WORK ON PRIMITIVE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES In 1902, at the age of fifty, Williston was called to the University of Chicago as head of the new department of vertebrate paleontology, a chair which he occupied with great distinction and with continued influence for the remaining sixteen years of his life. He now began to concentrate his attention more exclusively on vertebrate paleontology. During the first six years he continued his studies and publications on the Cretaceous reptiles; then he began to turn towards the study of far more difficult and obscure problems, namely, the relatively primitive amphibian and reptilian life of the Permian, where in several groups he marked the beginnings of the higher forms which he had previously studied, as well as the adaptive radiation of the lower forms to a great variety of habits and habitats.

In 1911 he published from the University of Chicago Press his volume, "American Permian Vertebrates," which comprises a series of monographic studies on some of the genera already noted. This work contains many new and original plates. His principal publication in 1914 was the book on 66 Water Reptiles of the Past and Present," in which his lifework on these animals was admirably combined with the results obtained by other workers. Williston had shown a bent for the harmonious study of form and function, of structure and habit, of environment and adaptation, which he applied with skill and originality to the interpretation of the highly diversified forms of aquatic life. He followed Eberhard Fraas of Stuttgart in making a special study of aquatic adaptations in the vertebrates; consequently his book on the water reptiles constitutes one of the most important contributions which we have on this subject. In 1917 he began a general work on the "Reptiles of the World, Recent and Fossil," upon which he was actively engaged up to his last illness; also the publication of his papers on Edaphosaurus, on the atlas-axis complex of reptiles, and, equally important, his brief

See footnote, p. 276.

paper on the "Phylogeny and Classification of Reptiles," previously mentioned. During the last two years of his life he was also preparing a paper on new Permian reptiles. It is a matter of the deepest regret to all of Williston's colleagues in paleontology that he did not live to complete his great comparative work on the Reptilia, which would have summed up all his researches and observations and the facts stored in his mind which have never found their way into print.

A few of the more general features of Williston's life-work and character are as follows: He strove arduously through forty years of investigation to discover new material in the field and to widen our basis of facts in several distinct lines of investigation; he preferred to discover new facts rather than to reinterpret older ones or to adjust the interrelations of facts; in general, his material was notably of his own finding. Nevertheless, especially in his late years, he labored very successfully to classify and synthetize his material, and with. it that which had been treated by other work

ers.

Here his genial personal character and admirable relations with his colleagues shone forth; he was singularly appreciative of the work of other men and ready to adopt whatever he believed to be solid and enduring in previous attempts at classification. Thus Williston's work stands in contrast with that of Cope and Marsh, whose personal differences of opinion led to the setting up of two entirely distinct systems of classification as well as of nomenclature, irrespective both of priority and of merit. Williston's keen, broad knowledge of human anatomy, of the muscles as well as of the bones, doubtless aided his penetrating insight into the habits of the extinct animals, and while generally conservative and cautious, his phylogenetic studies and suggestions were of high value. His views on taxonomic standards and on college and highschool education' were, like his views on pa6 What is a Species,'' Amer. Nat., XLII., 184

94.

7Has the American College Failed to Fulfill Its Function?" Proc. Nat. Educ. Assn. (1909), p. 526.

leontologic problems, characteristically sober, moderate and well considered, lighted up in their expression with his genial, half-humorous manner. He was ready to confess and appraise defects or faults on his own side, but quick to resent exaggerated accusations and criticisms from the other side.

His friends and colleagues met him last at the Pittsburgh meeting of the Paleontological Society of America, December 30, 1917, and enjoyed a few of his short and characteristically enthusiastic communications and discussions. With Dr. Holland, myself and many other warm friends he stayed the old year out and saw the new year in at the society smoker. He returned home quite suddenly, and this was the last occasion on which we were privileged to enjoy his genial presence, his humorous narratives, and his inspiring influence in paleontology.

HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, February 21, 1919

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE BRITISH MINISTRY OF HEALTH BILL

THE text of the Ministry of Health Bill, presented to the House of Commons on February 17, has since been published. According to Nature the bill differs little from the measure originally presented to the last Parliament. That it does differ to some extent, however, particularly in bearing signs of having been worked at and polished, is worthy of mention. The new bill carries the stamp of finality, and suggests that most of the State Departments performing health functionsthe Local Government Board, the Board of Education, and the Insurance Commissioners especially-have arrived at arrangements more or less agreeable to all parties. The position as between the two first-named, for example, is shown to be fairly easy. Even as regards the place to be taken by the Insurance Commissioners, there is less reason for dissatisfaction, and concessions no doubt have been made by the various bodies and individuals concerned. Speaking generally, the measure

is a hopeful one, and inspired the feeling that we are well on the way to the establishment of the Ministry. The tone adopted by Dr. Addison is significant of this also, as is the translation of Sir George Newmann to the Local Government Board, and the granting to him of the title of "chief medical officer," with the status of a secretary of the board.

Nature continues: 66 One part of the bill which has been carried over unaltered from its predecessor is that relating to the appointment of consultative committees, and Dr. Addison, by his utterances, has shown himself to be firmly wedded to this idea, and expectant of results of great value from the work to be done by these bodies. The Consumers' Council at the Ministry of Food, which may be regarded as more or less analogous, though it was occasionally sneered at, must have assisted the food controller considerably. There is no reason to suppose that the Ministry of Health consultative committees will be any less helpful. Indeed, since they are to consist of carefully selected experts on matters having a bearing on national health, they are almost bound to be more valuable. In any event, the consultative committee idea has this to recommend it: that it will popularize health work. The committees will serve as a most effective link between the department doing the work and those for whose benefit the work is done. The department and the workers will be less cloistered; the workers and those who are worked for will be more intimately associated.

institution and has been in existence since 1897. It has so conclusively proved its worth that a number of subsidiary schools have been established in the various provinces of Japan.

When the matter of the establishment of a College of Fisheries in this country was first broached by Dr. H. M. Smith, U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries, his attention was called to the fact that Seattle is the only American city within whose corporate limits, or in territory immediately adjacent, can be found in active operation practically every type of plant used in turning the raw fishery material into all forms of manufactured articles both for food and for use in the arts and sciences; fishery operations were carried on even in Seattle harbor; while the great salmon, halibut, cod and herring fleets operating in Alaska waters had their headquarters mainly in the city, outfitting there and bringing back the products for shipment to all parts of the world; also that one of the leading universities of the country was already established there and could take up the work.

The College of Fisheries will offer a fouryear course divided into three divisions-Fishing, Technological and Fish Cultural. Students will be given as much practical training as possible in the college, but for certain periods in the last two years of the course will be expected to pursue their studies by work in commercial establishments devoted to the preparation of fishery products, aboard fishing vessels, or at hatcheries.

As the university is a state institution, an

done, and will come to recognize the necessity for assisting in, and taking advantage of, the efforts made. So far there have been remarkably few comments on the bill, but on the whole the reception has been entirely favorable."

THE COLLEGE OF FISHERIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE

THE College of Fisheries just established by the University of Washington, at Seattle, enjoys the distinction of being the only one in the world outside of Japan. The Imperial Fisheries Institute at Tokio is a government

Fisheries will be in rendering assistance and advice whenever called upon by the state authorities, and also to aid the commercial fishermen not only of the state but of the nation in solving the many problems which beset them, and to aid in the conservation and perpetuation of our wonderful fishery resources. Research work along the lines of utilization of hitherto neglected species, and of waste products, will be carried on and it is hoped will result in materially increasing the wealth of the state and nation.

The director, Mr. John N. Cobb, who is also

professor of fisheries, is known in connection with the economic fisheries of the United States, and has been active in the industry since 1895, when he was appointed a field agent of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries.

BUFFALO MEETING OF THE AMERICAN
CHEMICAL SOCIETY

THE spring meeting of the American Chemical Society will be held with the Western New York Section in Buffalo, April 7 to 11, inclusive. There is every prospect that the meeting will be one of the largest ever held by the American Chemical Society as unusual interest has developed in problems of reconstruction, in the future utilization of war-time products, in heretofore secret information on chemistry warfare that can now be released, in the development of a comprehensive compendia of the literature of chemistry, and in many other problems which the Buffalo meeting will consider. A large number of chemists who have already signified their intention to be present assures also an unusual opportunity for meeting and discussing chemical problems with chemists who have been closely in touch with the nation's affairs. The Western New York Section is making arrangements for interesting excursions to industrial plants of importance.

Registration will take place at the Hotel Statler beginning at 3 P.M., Monday, April 7. An information bureau will be located at the hotel, and competent guides placed at all railroad stations. The general program is as following:

MONDAY, APRIL 7

4.00 P.M.-Council meeting at the University Club. Dinner for the council as guests of the Western New York Section at 6.30 P.M.

TUESDAY, APRIL 8

9.30 A.M.-General Meeting, Hotel Statler. "The Future of American Chemical Industry," by Wm. H. Nichols, President American Chemical Society.

One other general address to be announced. 2.30 P.M.-General Symposium on the Chemistry and Technology of Mustard Gas. Wilder D. Bancroft, chairman. Numerous interesting papers are

The usual meetings will be held by all the Divisions except the Fertilizer Division, and by the Rubber Chemistry Section, with the following special program: The Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers will make a special effort on papers on the probable future of those chemicals which have been abnormally stimulated during the war and on the library of the industrial laboratory. The Pharmaceutical Division announces a symposium on "The Possibilities in Drug Research.” The Rubber Chemistry Section will apply for permission to organize at this meeting as a division.

Excursions are being arranged to include the works of the Buffalo Foundry and Machine Company; J. P. Devine and Company; Larkin Company; Municipal Laboratories and Water Purification Works; Oil Crushers; Pratt and Lambert, varnish makers; Spencer Kellogg Company; and tour of the city. Also, excursion to Niagara Falls, including visit to Power Plant, luncheon at Chamber of Commerce, pictures and exhibits of Niagara Falls products, drive along the Gorge and visit to Canadian side and Victoria Park. To accomplish the full program of excursions, it may be necessary to arrange for part of these excursions on Saturday.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

THE annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences will be held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington on April 28, 29, and 30. The William Ellery Hale Lecture will be given by James Henry Breasted, professor of Egyptology and oriental history, University of Chicago, on "The Origin of Civilization."

COLONEL HARVEY CUSHING, of the Harvard Medical School, has returned to the United States.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL J. H. HILDEBRAND, who has recently been Commandant of Hanlon Field, near Chaumont, France, which included the Experimental Field and the A. E. F. Gas Defense School of the Chemical Warfare Service, has returned after an absence of a year in France to his position of professor of chemistry in the University of California.

MAJOR C. B. STANTON, formerly professor of civil engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, who has been with the 15th Engineers in France for nearly two years, has notified the dean of the Science School that he has been appointed a professor in the American University for American soldiers at Beaune, France. Major Stanton was with his regiment at Bordeaux awaiting orders to board a transport and come home when he received the unexpected order of reporting to this "soldier university" as professor of civil engineering.

MAJOR WILLIAM B. HERMS, associate professor of parasitology in the University of California, has resumed his university duties. Major Herms has been serving with the Sanitary Corps of the U. S. Army for a little over a year, stationed since April, 1918, at the port of embarkation, Newport News, Va., where he was in charge of malarial drainage operations, delousing stations and assisting in general sanitary inspection.

PROFESSOR FRANK E. MORRIS has returned to the Connecticut College for Women as professor of psychology and ethics, which position he left last year when he enlisted in the psychological department of the Sanitation Corps of the Army.

LIEUTENANT A. C. CHANDLER, assistant professor of zoology at the Oregon Agricultural College on leave of absence, has been ordered to the front with the American soldiers to make a study of rat parasites in France.

DR. LIVINGSTON FARRAND, chairman of the central committee of the American Red Cross, sailed for France on March 9, to be gone until the latter part of April. Having set in motion at headquarters the plans for the future of the Red Cross, Dr. Farrand goes abroad to study the organization's problems in Europe, and to confer with Henry P. Davison, formerly chairman of the war council, who is now at Cannes arranging for the international conference of Red Cross societies called to meet at Genéva 30 days after the declaration of peace. Dr. Farrand has arranged to have a number of American health experts join him at Cannes for the purpose of conferring with similar experts from the allied countries relative to matters that are to be taken up at Geneva.

DR. T. A. HENRY, superintendent of the laboratories at the Imperial Institute, London, has been appointed director of the Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, London. Dr. F. L. Pyman, the former director of these laboratories, has accepted the professorship of technological chemistry in the College of Technology, University of Manchester.

DR. H. C. TAYLOR, of the University of Wisconsin, has been appointed to be chief of the office of farm management of the Department of Agriculture.

PROFESSOR WILLIAM D. HURD, director of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, has resigned and will enter the service of the National Fertilizer Association. He is to have charge of educational projects in the middle west. Professor Hurd undertook the organization of the state system of extension work in 1909. There are now twenty fulltime workers at the college engaged in projects of food production, distribution and conservation.

DR. ARTHUR LACHMAN, formerly professor of chemistry in the University of Oregon, is