the Buchtien Herbarium contained two specimens of a given rare species lying in a single cover, one being improperly labeled as collected in Mexico by Arsène, the other a correctly labeled specimen of the collection from which the "Arsène" specimen had been fabricated. Any one experienced in the preparation and handling of herbarium specimens will understand how easy it was to recognize the fact that the apparently unrelated specimens had a common origin, since they were alike in every detail of size, shape, discoloration, etc., and in those intangible but quickly perceptible characters which mark all the specimens of a series of one species that have been collected and dried by one collector upon a certain date.

For instance, in one cover was a specimen of Zinowiewia integerrima Turcz., Pringle 8438, from Sierra de Tepoxtlan, 7,500 feet, September 11, 1900; and along with it a specimen obviously of the same collection, but labeled as collected by Arsène with the data ❝S. María. 2200. X. 1909." In another cover, Pringle 55, Serjania atrolineata Wright, from Cuba, collected in 1903, had been divided, and part of it labeled as collected by Adole at Jalapa, Veracruz, January, 1910. Such illustrations could be continued indefinitely.

Part of a specimen of Arctostaphylos canescens Eastwood, collected on Mount Tamalpais, California, had been ticketed as collected by Arsène at Rincón. Among the United States collections from which these supposed Mexican collections were segregated are C. F. Baker's "Plants of the Pacific Coast," and his plants of Cuba; plants of the Southeastern States distributed by the Biltmore Herbarium; and various collections distributed by G. L. Fisher. There are many specimens of whose source I have no information, but they include such well-marked species as Camptosorus rhizophyllus, Woodwardia areolata, Euphorbia ipecacuanhae, and similar plants that are confined to the eastern United States and do not approach the Mexican border; West Indian plants found by no other collector in Mexico; and California species that reach Mexico only in Lower California, if at all. The only thing retained from the true data is the name of the plant-locality, name of collector, altitude and date of collection all have been changed.

The Old World species attributed to Mexico are rather numerous, but I do not know from what collections they were taken. In the case of these species the distributor had at least the grace not to label them as native Mexican plants, but their origin is indicated usually as in "parcs." Imagination did not fail him, either, for numerous specimens of Juniperus and Cupressus, of presumably funereal aspect, are indicated as having come from cemeteries! If the clerk who prepared the labels had a sense of humor,

he must have smiled when he wrote this. Most of these Old World plants belong to species not known to be in cultivation in Mexico, and the writer has no doubt that the specimens were made in some region thousands of miles away.

The distributor of these plants was not content with ascribing specimens wrongly to Brother Arsène, but his ingenuity was equal to the creation of a new and fictitious collector, Herrera. This is a common Spanish family name, but I have no hesitation in asserting that this particular Herrera never existed. The name selected is not above criticism; Munchausen would have been a better choice.

"Herrera's" collections were manufactured from those of Pringle. In many instances the type collections of Pringle's new species were thus divided. Here, too, only the name of the species was invariably retained. The date of collection is sometimes earlier and sometimes later than Pringle's. The locality is usually the same, but often the altitude (given in feet on Pringle's labels and in meters on those of "Herrera") has been altered.

There are probably other complications that have escaped me, but those mentioned are sufficient to indicate their general nature. The facts of the case are such that no one understanding them can doubt that the labels were falsified with the intent to deceive. I know of no other instance in which similar deceit has been practiced in the distribution of herbarium specimens, and fortunately so, since such deception can result only in chaos. Some of these wrongly labeled collections have reached the United States. Here the result is likely to be bad enough, although in most cases an American botanist will at least question the new records of distribution introduced. In Europe, where knowledge of American geography is naturally less intimate, the results are likely to be extremely unfortunate. Certainly students of "discontinuous distribution" will find much to interest them in the study of these collections. The thousands of specimens included in the Buchtien Herbarium comprise only a small portion of the collection distributed with these worse than misleading labels, for thousands of others were distributed to the larger herbaria of Europe and America.

It is with the hope of warning European botanists as to errors lurking in the labels of the (spurious) Arsène collections and to prevent erroneous records of distribution, which, if printed, will persist for many years, that this article has been prepared. For the benefit of European workers, the following summary of the matter may prove helpful:

Extreme care is necessary in the citation of speci mens of plants supposed to have been collected in Mexico by Brothers Arsène, Nicolás, Adole and

Abbon (and perhaps others). If the labels are multigraphed and in script, there is no reason to doubt their authenticity. Labels (1% by 4 inches) issued at the U. S. National Herbarium and headed "Plants of Mexico," with printed locality, also are authentic. Beware of large (54 by 34 inches) labels, surrounded by a black frame, with the heading "Plantae Mexicanae," and bearing two names of collectors, Arsène and Nicolás, one or both of which are deleted with pen and ink. Plants with such labels are almost certainly false. Either they were not collected in Mexico, or else they were collected by Pringle at another date and locality than that specified. It is best to destroy all plants bearing such labels. All labels of this type bearing the name "Herrera" as collector are fictitious and should be disregarded.

In closing, I can not state in too strong terms that no blame for this condition of affairs attaches to Brother Arsène; rather, he has been made the victim of an unfortunate conspiracy, if such it may be termed. No more conscientious or industrious collector has ever worked in Mexico, and he has contributed in a very large measure to our knowledge of the Mexican flora.

U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM

PAUL C. STANDLEY

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION THE Harvard African Expedition began its work in Liberia early in July and left there on November 21. It arrived in Matadi, at the mouth of the Congo, on December 3.

The purposes of the expedition were to make a biological and medical survey of Liberia and to make biological and medical collections there and in the Congo. In the field of medicine the party has obtained valuable data and pathological material which will require prolonged study in the home laboratories. The zoological and botanical collections include biting and parasitic insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, molluscs, flowering plants and fungi. The amphibians and the snakes among the reptiles are particularly well represented. The collections of woody plants and orchids are likewise very comprebensive.

Much of the material has been obtained from parts of the interior in which no scientific collecting has been done before and where no medical studies have hitherto been made. In the course of their work, members of the expedition traversed the country in two directions, traveling on foot more than 500 miles and reaching the eastern and southeastern frontiers.

Although some of the party were attacked by fever, all are now in their usual good health.

Dr. Glover M. Allen, having completed the zoological part of the work which was planned for Liberia, has returned to Cambridge to take up his duties at the university. The remaining personnel of the expedition is as follows: Dr. Richard P. Strong, Dr. George C. Shattuck, Dr. Max Theiler and Dr. Joseph Bequaert, of the department of tropical medicine; Dr. David Linder, botanist; Mr. Loring Whitman, photographer, and Mr. Harold Coolidge, assistant zoologist.

The expedition will proceed up the Congo and is expected to reach Mombassa, on the eastern coast of the continent, in April or May.

THE NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL AND INSTITUTE

CONTRACTS for the construction of the new State Psychiatric Hospital and Institute, to be built in New York on a site provided by Columbia University at 168th Street and Riverside Drive, were awarded on December 30 at the final meeting of the State Hospital Commission, which has now been succeeded by the Department of Mental Hygiene.

The institution will be a center for scientific research into causes and prevention of mental disorders and as a teaching center for the training of mental specialists. In it the research work of fourteen civil State hospitals will be coordinated.

The new building will be of eleven stories. The hospital will provide beds for 210 patients of both sexes. An entire floor will be given over to the children's department, with school rooms, work shops and play rooms.

All varieties of adult mental diseases will be studied. There will be the latest diagnostic and treatment facilities, including hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, occupational therapy, light therapy, physiotherapy, gymnastic psychotherapy and special medical and surgical procedures. Most of two floors will be devoted to the out-patient department.

The tower, rising nine stories above the main structure of eleven floors, will house the library, museum record rooms, doctors' offices, staff conference class rooms and various research laboratories designed and equipped for special studies in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropathology, clinical pathology, chemistry, bacteriology, serology, endocrinology and experimental psychology.

Being close to the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and medical college, the Institute will provide for psychiatric instruction in connection with virtually all its departments. Its teaching facilities will

be open to the Columbia University Medical School and others, and for the post-graduate instruction of physicians.

THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF ARTHUR D. LITTLE, INC. ARTHUR D. LITTLE, INC., celebrated its fortieth anniversary at a banquet in its laboratories on December 30, which was attended by one hundred or more present and former members of its staff.

Dr. James F. Norris, retiring president of the American Chemical Society, presented the congratulations of the chemical profession, and greetings were read from former associates, many of whom are now prominent in chemical and engineering fields.

Dr. A. D. Little, president of Arthur D. Little, Inc., briefly reviewed the history of his organization, which began business on October 1, 1886, as a firm under the style of Griffin & Little, with office and laboratory on the top floor at 103 Milk Street, Boston. The business which first came to the firm was chiefly analytical, though for a number of years special emphasis was also given to consulting work in the pulp and paper industry in which Dr. Little had previously been active, his initial job having been that of superintendent of the first sulphite pulp mill in the United States.

Mr. Roger B. Griffin, Dr. Little's partner and father of Mr. Roger C. Griffin, chief chemist of the present organization, died in 1893 as the result of an explosion in the laboratory. Six years later the laboratory was moved to somewhat larger quarters at 7 Exchange Place, and the scope of the business was extended.

Shortly after, in 1900, the firm of Little & Walker was organized. The partnership was dissolved five years later, when Dr. William H. Walker assumed the professorship of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1902 another move was made-this time to 93 Broad Street. Here the firm occupied at first half and later the entire sixth floor, but soon the fifth floor also was taken over, and then the fourth, as new departments were established and an organization developed.

In 1909 the concern was incorporated as Arthur D. Little, Inc. There were by this time many specialists on the staff, and departments were maintained for analyses and tests, research, fuel engineering, lubrication, forest products, biology, textiles and chemical engineering.

DR. COOLIDGE AND THE EDISON MEDAL

THE Edison Medal for 1926, which was awarded in December to Dr. William D. Coolidge, assistant di

rector, research laboratory, General Electric Company, "for the origination of ductile tungsten and the fundamental improvement of the X-ray tube," has been declined by Dr. Coolidge for the reason given in the following letter:

SCHENECTADY, Jan. 17, 1927

MR. GANO DUNN, chairman Edison Medal Committee, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, New York City.

My Dear Mr. Dunn:

Judge Morris has just handed down a decision to the effect that my ductile tungsten patent is invalid. This decision, coming from a man of Judge Morris's standing, proves to me that the best of men could question my right to the Edison medal which your committee has been good enough to award to me.

My appreciation of that great pioneer Mr. Edison, in whose honor the medal was established, and my admiration for its former recipients are such that I would not, for the world, do anything that could in any way detract from the luster of that medal, which should stand for generations to come as one of the most coveted prizes for meritorious work in the electrical field.

In the light of the above facts, I can not accept the medal. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you and the other members of the committee and to express my deep appreciation of the great honor which you did me. Very sincerely yours,

W. D. COOLIDGE

The Electrical World, from which we take the above, reports further that at a specially called meeting of the Edison medal committee, held January 21, it was resolved, "... with profound regret, to acquiesce in the decision of Dr. Coolidge, which nullifies the award." There will, therefore, be no award of the Edison medal for 1926.

The case referred to by Dr. Coolidge was that of the General Electric Company vs. the DeForest Radio Company and the Robelin Piano Company, a suit charging contributory infringement in the manufacture and sale of radio tubes having ductile tungsten filaments, and the court held that the discovery of the cold ductility of the metal was not an invention and that therefore the patent was void. An unusual feature of the judgment was that by it Judge Morris reversed a former finding of his own, made when sitting in New Jersey, which upheld the patent. If his later decision stands, the effect it will have on lamp manufacture has become a subject of considerable speculation.

One of the contentions of the defendants in the suit was that Dr. Colin G. Fink, head of the department of electrochemistry at Columbia University, New York, and a former associate of Dr. Coolidge's in the General Electric laboratories, was the real originator of the process in dispute. Dr. Fink himself made this

claim and had protested to the Edison medal committee of the institute against its award to Dr. Coolidge. In view of the finding that the patent was invalid, the court did not pass on the question of priority of discovery.

POPULAR LECTURES ON SCIENCE ARRANGEMENTS have been completed for a course of seven lectures on "How the Scientist works" to be given at Manhattan Trade School, New York City, under the auspices of the People's Institute. The lectures will be presented on successive Wednesday evenings beginning February 9. The course was planned by the American Association for Medical Progress, and will be given in accordance with the following schedule:

February 9-Chemistry, old and new, Dr. Harrison E. Howe, editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

February 16-Our knowledge of living matter, Dr. Robert Chambers, professor of microscopic anatomy, Cornell University Medical College.

February 23-The life of plants, Dr. C. Stuart Gager, director of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. March 2-The adjustments of the human body, Dr. Lawrence J. Henderson, professor of physiology in Harvard University.

March 9 The chemistry of the human body, Dr. Carl P. Sherwin, professor of physiological chemistry, Fordham University.

March 16 The nervous system, Dr. Louis Casamajor, professor of neurology in Columbia University. March 23-How the investigator's mind works, Dr. William E. Ritter, president of the board of trustees of Science Service.

A similar course entitled "How Science works” has been arranged for Los Angeles, through the cooperation of the Southern Branch of the University of California and the university extension division. These lectures are all to be given by members of the southern branch as follows:

January 10-The beginnings of science, Dr. William
Conger Morgan, head of the department of chem-
istry.
January 17-Revelations of the telescope (illustrated),

Dr. Frederick C. Leonard, department of astronomy. January 24-The autobiography of the earth, Dr. William John Miller, head of the department of geology. January 31-The creation of man, Dr. George M. McBride, head of the department of geography. February 14-The modern Aladdin, Dr. Hiram W. Edwards, department of physics.

February 21-The chemist in action, Dr. G. Ross Robert

son, department of chemistry.

February 28-Experimenting with nature, Dr. Loye Holmes Miller, head of the department of biology.

March 14-Pathfinding human nutrition, Dr. Helen Bishop Thompson, head of the department of home economics.

March 21-What psychology is and is not, Dr. Shepherd Ivory Franz, head of the department of psychology.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS DR. ELIHU THOMSON, consulting engineer and director of the laboratories of the General Electric Company at Lynn, Mass., has been awarded the Faraday medal for 1927 by the British Institution of Electrical Engineers. The medal is awarded for notable scientific or industrial achievements in electrical engineering, or for conspicuous services rendered to the advancement of electrical science.

THE King of Italy, through the Italian Ambassador, has conferred the Order of Officer of the Crown of Italy upon Charles L. Parsons, Atherton Seidell and Harrison E. Howe, in recognition of "their friendliness toward the Italian people and their activities in promoting international good-will through the medium of chemistry."

In the new year honors list of the King of England are included the following scientific men and others connected with scientific work: Privy Councillor: The Honorable W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore, under-secretary of state for the colonies and president of section E (geography) of the British Association at the Oxford meeting in 1926. Knights: Dr. Henry Head, who has made distinguished contributions to our knowledge of the nervous system; Mr. A. E. Kitson, director of the Geological Survey, Gold Coast Colony; Dr. D. Milne Watson, governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company, London. K.C.B. (civil division): Dr. G. Macdonald, secretary to the Scottish Education Department. C.B. (civil division): Mr. H. T. Tizard, principal assistant secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. C.I.E. Lieutenant-Colonel J.

W. Cornwall, lately director, Southern India Pasteur Institute, Coonoor, India; Mr. D. Anstead, director of agriculture, Madras; Mr. D. Milne, director of agriculture, Punjab. K.C.M.G.: Professor W. Mitchell, vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide, in recognition of his services to the Commonwealth of Australia.

CAPTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN and Lincoln Ellsworth, leaders of the expedition which traveled in the dirigible Norge across the North Pole from Spitzbergen to Alaska last spring, have received medals commemorating their feat from the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The presentation took place before a lecture by the two explorers at the American Museum of Natural History on January 21.

DR. W. W. KEEN, professor emeritus of surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, celebrated his ninetieth birthday on January 19.

THE University of Chicago has named the clinic of internal medicine at its new medical school on the Midway in honor of Dr. Frank Billings, professor emeritus of medicine at the university and for many years professor of medicine and dean of the faculty at Rush Medical College.

DR. B. BAILLAUD, director of the Paris Observatory, has resigned.

PROFESSOR A. O. RANKIN, of the Imperial College of Science, London, has been appointed honorary secretary of the British Institute of Physics, in succession to Professor A. W. Porter, who has resigned.

THE following officers were elected at the January meeting of the Washington chapter of the American Institute of Chemists: Honorary president, Charles E. Munroe; president, Paul H. Brattain; vice-president, James F. Couch; secretary, J. N. Taylor; treasurer, H. L. Lourie.

AT the seventh annual meeting of the Mineralogical Society of America, held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., on December 27-29, in conjunction with the Geological Society of America, the following officers were elected: President, Austin F. Rogers, Stanford University; vice-president, George L. English, New York; secretary, Frank R. Van Horn, Case School of Applied Science; treasurer, Alexander H. Phillips, Princeton University; editor, Walter F. Hunt, University of Michigan; councilor, Alexander N. Winchell, University of Wisconsin.

JOHN F. STEVENS, railroad engineer, has been elected president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

DR. SAMUEL G. BARTON, assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania and acting director of the Flower Observatory, has been elected president of the Camden Astronomical Society, to succeed Dr. John A. Miller, director of the Sproul Observatory of Swarthmore College. The society includes in its membership professional and amateur astronomers in the Philadelphia region.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHARLES H. MITCHELL, dean of the faculty of applied science and engineering of the University of Toronto, has been elected president of the board of trade of the city of Toronto.

DR. EDMUND W. SINNOTT, head of the department of botany and genetics at the Storrs Agricultural College, has been elected editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Botany. Dr. Sinnott succeeds Professor

C. E. Allen, head of the botany department at the University of Wisconsin.

DR. GERALD WENDT, dean of the school of chemistry and physics at the Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pennsylvania, has been appointed by the executive committee of the American Chemical Society as editor of Chemical Reviews, to succeed Professor W. A. Noyes, of the University of Illinois, the first editor, who has resigned.

CHARLES M. ARTHUR, of St. Paul, Minn., has been appointed to the editorial staff of the division of publications, Office of Information, of the Department of Agriculture, with title of editor of scientific publications.

PRESIDENT COOLIDGE has sent to the Senate the nomination of Dr. Albert T. Morrison to be assistant surgeon general of the Public Health Service.

DR. W. H. TISDALE, pathologist in charge of cereal smut investigations, U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, has resigned to go with E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Del.

DR. P. C. MANGELSDORF, assistant geneticist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, resigned January 1 to accept the position of agronomist in charge of corn and small grain investigations at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.

DR. J. R. HAAG, of the department of agricultural chemistry of the Pennsylvania State College, has been appointed research worker in animal nutrition at the Oregon Agricultural College experiment station at Corvallis.

ARTHUR M. PIPER has been appointed assistant geologist in the U. S. Geological Survey and has been assigned to the water resources branch. S. Spencer Nye, junior geologist in the survey, has been transferred from the geologic branch to the water resources branch.

THE Field Museum of Natural History has announced that Commander Donald B. MacMillan will lead an expedition into the subarctic next summer and establish a base from which arctic exploration and study will be carried on by the museum for a period of five years.

STANLEY F. MORSE, consulting agricultural engineer, sailed for South America on January 15 to investigate soil and sugar cane production problems in British Guiana for an English sugar company. He will also visit the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad.

DR. E. HORNE CRAIGIE, assistant professor of comparative anatomy and neurology at the University