at the appointed time to the university, where he found a queue of some seventy or eighty men, young and old, all applicants for the position. The professor sat in his room and interviewed the candidates, one after another. It is extraordinary to relate, but Simpson was selected for this menial position because of his unexpected knowledge of many things, and particularly of Macaulay's "Essay on Warren Hastings."

Here was an entirely new life for the would-be master of a sailing vessel. Thorough in everything he handled, Simpson applied himself with such effect that it was not long till he was promoted to be head technician. He designed and drew the charts, made the preparations for all the laboratory classes, assisted in all the experimental demonstrations given by the professor-which invariably broke down when Simpson was absent-and became wholly indispensable to the conduct of the establishment. At first he attended night school, then he took evening science lectures in the Heriot-Watt College, studied physics, chemistry, botany, zoology and bacteriology. His laboratory duties became increasingly hard, for the more efficiency he displayed the more work was loaded upon him.

In those days he roomed with a fellow countryman of habits and ambition similar to his own. This roommate drove a brewer's lorry, and, just as Simpson in the laboratory would snatch an odd moment to study chemistry, English, Latin or mathematics, so the lorry driver, perched on a sack behind his team of horses, would con over books on corresponding subjects. The working hours were long. The lorryman started at six in the morning and unyoked at six at night. Simpson went on duty at eight and was not free till nearly seven. Nevertheless the two men at the end of their twelve hours' day went regularly to night classes, and ended up the long evening in free discussion of the subject-matter of the lectures. In due time both entered their names for a South Kensington Science and Art Scholarship. These scholarships, no longer in vogue, played quite an important educational rôle in their day. They had been promoted chiefly by Thomas Huxley in order to assist just such people as we speak of. Out of the whole city of Edinburgh Simpson and his companion were the only two night students who were that year successful.

The lorry driver proceeded to London, where he graduated in agriculture. Not long afterwards he became professor of agriculture in one of the English universities, and later, director of agriculture to a whole country. Simpson meant also to go to London, but his chief interposed. "Quite impossible! How could he ever desert the laboratory without giving adequate notice and opportunity for training a successor?" The chief, who knew the examiners, would

see that he got a scholarship next year. It was a heartbreak to Simpson, who, with his great aversion to inconveniencing other people, allowed himself to be persuaded against his better judgment and to stay on for another year. To prepare for his departure a regular succession of laboratory apprentices was engaged. Each novitiate would serve for a month or two and, proving unsuitable, would get his discharge, that is to say, if he had not previously resigned of his own accord. Simpson's chief was of an overbearing nature, and only a servant with the consideration and tact and (may I add) with the restless ambition of Sutherland Simpson, would have consented to hold the position so long as he did. It is credibly asserted that on one occasion Simpson, with his superior physical knowledge, intervened just in time to save the chief from propounding an untenable theory before an important scientific gathering. As the result of criticism by his laboratory technician the advertised communication of the departmental head was hurriedly withdrawn. I can not vouch for the truth of the story but I do vouch for its possibility. Certain it is that all Simpson's efforts toward self-education and independence were viewed with disapproval by the professor of physiology, and at the end of his year he was informed that his departure was out of the question. He could not then help himself, because he had forfeited the scholarship that would have made him independent.

His next move was to enter for a B.Sc. degree in the university. It was useless to request any hours of exemption from laboratory duty during the day; he could qualify only by attending extramural classes at night. His plan was frowned upon, but Simpson had resolution and determination quite equal to that of his superior in command, and in due time he took the degree. By now he had decided upon a career in physiology, and to that end he entered the medical school. I need scarcely stress the financial difficulty involved in such a project. It absorbed all his savings. He gave up his laboratory appointment, and each summer took his place as a herring fisher in his father's boat. It was at this stage of his career that I first came to know Simpson, and my outstanding recollection of him apart from his superabundant energy is his kindliness, his sympathy for others. Not a word of his difficulties, not a whisper of disappointment or of bitterness; instead of that a humorous, even joking attitude towards obstacles, and a catholic outlook on human affairs.

So soon as he graduated he entered his old department as a qualified assistant under a new chief, Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer, who, knowing his excep tional history, was filled with respect for him. Simpson had now to some extent come into his own. It

was in order to teach his chosen subject and to engage in research work in physiology that he had, after dropping his idea of a nautical career, devoted so many patient and laborious years to study. His first research work won for him a gold medal on his graduation as doctor of medicine. Later he added the D.Sc. degree to his other academic distinctions, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. During this period he engaged, partly by himself, partly in collaboration with others, in a large amount of research work, on the cortico-spinal tracts, on the minute structure of the liver, on the body temperature of vertebrates and on temperature regulation in bird and mammals, on the secretion of bile and of pancreatic juice, and on certain aspects of endocrinology. In 1908 he was appointed to fill the reconstituted chair of physiology and biochemistry in Cornell University, where in 1920 he was made World War Memorial professor of physiology.

Simpson had a happy time in Cornell. With his gift for making friends he was very soon at home in his new surroundings. The pleasurable excitement with which he surveyed the field on arrival, the joy he felt in being at last wholly independent, the interest he took in his new university and in his associates, are recorded in numerous letters to his acquaintances. He had now attained the command for which he had schooled himself. He was at last in charge of his ship; and under his skilful navigation and constructional superintendence she became the tight and handy vessel that for eighteen years was to outclass many of her heavier rivals. Simpson dearly loved a race, and whether he was in an actual sailing craft (any one who ever witnessed his control over a sailboat conceived a new respect for him) or whether he was running his laboratory, he spread every stitch of canvas and utilized every inch-ounce of available motive power. His classes increased in numbers and in popularity. He trained and sent out many physiologists, who are attached to him by ties of sincere respect and regard. His laboratory grew steadily in resources and in equipment, until it is now left as a unique heritage to his successor. Above all he brought his department into the forefront of research activity, the Cornell work, especially on thyroid and on parathyroid problems, being now familiar to all physiologists and to a large circle of medical men.

Simpson was the real scientist, but it was not his scientific qualities alone which made him great. If we may number them, he had two outstanding additional characteristics. First of all, he was essentially a scholar, and a scholar of wide range. Despite early handicaps that might have deterred a more timid or more indolent man, he had sought out for himself

much of the best and greatest wisdom contained in books. His range included the classics of antiquity, early Icelandic literature, Russian, French and German literature, to which must be added a wholly unusual acquaintance with the greatest writers in our own language. He had, what we scientific people so frequently miss, a historically cultivated mind; and his interest in all these things was to an uncommon degree of that unselfish kind which made him long to share his literary experiences with others. Every one who knew him will remember the eager, almost solicitous, enthusiasm with which he proclaimed his discovery of a new book revealing some striking conception or original outlook. His extensive acquaintance with literature gave him balance and markedly enhanced his other characteristic, which was his humanity.

Of this I find it difficult to speak. The man who had spent his life in obstinate battle with difficulties, in resolute domination over circumstance, was the kindliest and most considerate of men, the first to proffer help to others in their discouragements. When he gave help, as he was constantly doing, he gave of his unstinted best. To the end he lost none of his honest and openly expressed contempt for the untruthful or the mean, in whatever guise they might appear, but his judgment of individuals was invariably broad and catholic, never vindictive. I do not believe he had a single enemy, which is a strangely illuminating statement to make of a man of Simpson's strength of character. His life is a great lesson to us, which we can contemplate only with feelings of wonder, of humility and of admiration.

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

JOHN TAIT

SUMMER SCHOOLS FOR ENGINEERING TEACHERS

As recently announced, the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education has undertaken an experiment in the training of college teachers of engineering through the establishment of summer schools to be conducted by the Society at Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin during July, 1927. The purpose of the schools will be the discussion and study of methods of teaching the basic subjects of the engineering curriculum. For the first year the subject of mechanics has been selected because of its fundamental importance and its pivotal position between the work in mathematics and physics and the study of the engineering subjects proper. Mechanics was chosen also because all engineering teachers have a working knowledge of it and consequently will be able to appreciate discussions of

The teaching staffs of the two schools include many of the most able and prominent teachers of engineering in the country. Those who have accepted invitations to serve are as follows: Dean Dexter S. Kimball, of the College of Engineering, Cornell University, will serve as director of the Cornell session. Dean Kimball is a past president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, is at present president of American Engineering Council, and is an authority in the fields of machine design and industrial management. Lecturers on the subject of mechanics at the Cornell session include Professor J. E. Boyd, of Ohio State University, the author of a standard textbook on mechanics; Professor W. S. Franklin, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose books on mechanics, physics and mathematics are extensively used, and Professor E. W. Rettger, of the Department of Mechanics of Cornell University.

Teachers of subjects related to mechanics include Professor C. M. Allen, of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an authority on hydraulic engineering; Professor Vladimir Karapetoff, of Cornell University, an expert in the field of electro-mechanics; Dean Milo S. Ketchum, of the College of Engineering, University of Illinois, author of works on structural engineering; and Stephen Timoshenko, research engineer of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, and lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh.

Professor G. B. Upton, of the Cornell faculty, will serve as lecturer on experimental courses in mechanics, and G. A. Works, Professor of Rural Education and chairman of the University Division of Education, will serve as educational adviser and critic. Professor C. L. Walker, of the Department of Civil Engineering and Secretary of the Faculty of the College of Engineering, will act as secretary of the school and will edit the "proceedings."

The Wisconsin session will be conducted under the directorship of Professor E. R. Maurer, chairman of the Department of Mechanics of the University of Wisconsin. Professor Maurer is an authority on strength of materials and the principles of reinforced concrete construction. Other members of the staff who will deal with the subject of mechanics include Professor A. P. Poorman, of Purdue University, and Professor S. M. Woodward, of the State University of Iowa. Professor Poorman is the author of "Applied Mechanics" and "Strength of Materials," books which have a large circulation in American engineering colleges. Professor Woodward has served as consulting engineer on many important projects in

servancy District at Dayton, Ohio. Teachers of laboratory courses include Professor H. F. Moore, of the University of Illinois, and Professor W. 0. Withey, of the University of Wisconsin. Professor Moore is an authority on the fatigue of metals and on the history and philosophy of mechanics. Professor Withey's best known work is the comprehensive revision of Johnson's "Materials of Construetion." He is also an authority on methods of testing materials and laboratory procedure.

Teachers of subjects related to mechanics include Professor Edward Bennett, chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, co-author with H. M. Crothers of "Introductory Electro-dynamics for Engineers"; O. A. Leutwiler, professor of mechanical engineering design at the University of Illinois and author of numerous works on machine design and power plant machinery; C. S. Slichter, Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin; Dr. Stephen Timoshenko; and F. E. Turneaure, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Dean Turneaure is an authority on structural engineering, a member of the State Highway Commission of Wisconsin, consulting engineer, and member of numerous technical committees of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Professor E. M. Terry, of the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin, will deal with instruction in elementary mechanics and with lecture demonstration methods. Professor Curtis Merriman, of the School of Education of the University of Wisconsin, will act as educational adviser and critic. Leslie F. Van Hagan, professor of railway engineering, will serve as secretary of the conference and will compile the "proceedings."

Applications to attend the schools are being received in large numbers at the New York Office of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, 33 West 39th Street. It has been necessary to close the registration of the Cornell session of the schools since the maximum number which can be accommodated has been reached.

The plan for conducting the schools contemplates two or three sessions daily. Morning sessions will include formal lectures on mechanics and related subjects and on methods of teaching, demonstrationlectures, laboratory demonstrations, and model teaching. The afternoon sessions will be devoted largely to seminars in small groups and to assigned projects on the preparation of class exercises and lectures, the devising of problems, the setting of examinations, and the planning of experiments. These projects will be prepared in written form and transmitted to the entire group for discussion and criticism. The prin

ciples of education and methods of teaching will be emphasized in all of the work. Lectures will be delivered by prominent speakers during the evening on topics of general interest to engineering educators. These will include a wide range of subjects of current importance. The program also includes a number of recreational features, since both Ithaca, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin, provide exceptional opportunities for pleasant diversions.

The summer schools are being conducted by the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education under the general supervision of its Board of Investigation and Coordination, of which Professor Charles F. Scott, of Yale University, is chairman, and Dean F. L. Bishop, of the University of Pittsburgh, is secretary, and under the immediate direction of Dr. W. E. Wickenden, Director of the Society's general investigation of engineering education, and Professor H. P. Hammond, associate director of the investigation. The Engineering Foundation, of which Mr. Alfred D. Flinn is the director, is associated with the enterprise and is acting as treasurer for the holding of the special funds under which the present stage of the investigation is being prosecuted. The summer schools are financed by a special appropriation for the purpose made by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

THE LEEDS MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION1

THIS year's meeting of the British Association will be held at Leeds from August 31 to September 7, under the presidency of Sir Arthur Keith. In returning to the county of its origin-the first meeting was held at York in 1831-the association will be in the midst of a district of great scientific interest. Leeds, in fact, is a convenient center from which to visit places rich in archeological, geological and botanical material, and arrangements are being made to enable members to make excursions to the Yorkshire abbeys, the limestone country, and the moors. The association has met at Leeds on two previous occasions. The first visit was in 1858, when the president was Sir Richard Owen. In these days, when direct speech by wireless across the Atlantic has been achieved, it is interesting to recall that at the Leeds meeting in 1858 the president announced that a telegraphic cable had been successfully laid between England and America, and the first messages of good

will between the nations had passed only a few days before. The second meeting in Leeds was in 1890, and was presided over by Sir Frederick Abel.

1The London Times.

The preliminary program of this year's conference shows that the inaugural general meeting will take place on August 31, when Sir Arthur Keith will assume the presidency in succession to the Prince of Wales and will deliver an address on "Darwin's Theory of Man's Descent as it stands To-day." There is no alteration in the number of sections, which remains at thirteen. The sections, with their presidents, are as follows:

A.-Mathematical and Physical Sciences.-Professor E. T. Whittaker, F.R.S.

B.-Chemistry.-Dr. N. V. Sidgwick, F.R.S.
C.-Geology.-Dr. Herbert H. Thomas.

D. Zoology. Dr. G. P. Bidder.

E. Geography.-Dr. R. N. Rudmose Brown.
F.-Economics.-Professor D. H. Macgregor.
G.-Engineering.-Professor Sir James B. Henderson,
H.-Anthropology.-Professor F. G. Parsons.
I.-Physiology.-Dr. C. G. Douglas, F.R.S.
J.-Psychology.-Dr. W. Brown.
K.-Botany.-Professor F. E. Fritsch.
L.-Education.-The Duchess of Atholl, M.P.
M.-Agriculture.-Mr. C. G. T. Morison.

Among the subjects of the sectional presidential addresses will be "The Broadening of the Outlook in Education," by the Duchess of Atholl; "The Englishman of the Future," by Professor F. G. Parsons; "Rationalization of Industry," by Professor D. H. Macgregor; and "Agriculture and National Education," by Mr. C. G. T. Morison. Two evening lectures to members have been arranged, one by Professor R. A. Millikan, of the United States, on "Cosmic Rays," and the second by Dr. F. A. E. Crew on "The Germplasm and its Architecture."

A feature of the meeting will be the extension of the principle of public lectures in Leeds and the neighboring towns. Leeds, as the center of a large number of other towns, gives the association an opportunity of arranging for lectures by leading scientists in towns where they may be desired, and some twenty such lectures will be provided. An innovation will be the inclusion in the program of the meeting of a number of communications on various scientific researches relating to the textile industries. The British Research Association for the Woolen and Worsted Industries, the Department of Textile Industries in the University of Leeds, and the Textile Institute of Manchester have cooperated with the British Association in the arrangement of this part of the program. The laboratories of the Research Association at Torridon and of the university department will be inspected and a special meeting room will be set apart for papers on textile subjects.

The excursions, which have been arranged, will include visits to Byland Abbey, Helmsley Castle, and Rievaulx, which will be conducted by Mr. C. R. Peers,

chief of the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of H.M. Office of Works. The Yorkshire Ramblers Club is arranging for small parties of members to make the descent of Gaping Ghyll. Arrangements will also be made for visits to the principal works and factories in and near Leeds.

OHIO GEOLOGISTS' FIELD TRIP

THE annual field trip of the geological section of the Ohio Academy of Science was conducted by Wilbur Stout, of the Ohio Geological Survey, in the Portsmouth-Pomeroy region of southern Ohio on May 28, 29 and 30. With a registration of fortyfive, the excursion was one of the most largely attended field trips in the recent years of the section's activity.

During the progress of the excursion, the party visited outcrops of the Waverly and Maxville Series of the upper Mississippian System and the Pottsville, Allegheny, Conemaugh and Monongahela Series of the Pennsylvanian, giving opportunity for both fossil collecting and stratigraphic study. The notable physiographic features of the region-the old Teays river valley, and other recently abandoned drainage systems, the upper peneplain level, and the evidence for intermediate erosion stages-were examined by members of the party. Clay pits and mines were visited at Sciotoville, Scioto Furnace, and Oak Hill; coal mines near Jackson and at Pomeroy; and salt works at Pomeroy. One of the most enjoyable features of the excursion was a starlight steamboat ride on the Ohio River at Pomeroy on the specially chartered "Champion III."

Among the institutions represented were: Antioch College, Cincinnati University, Marietta College, Miami University, Muskingum College, Ohio Geological Survey, Ohio State University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Toledo University, the East Ohio Gas Company and the Jackson Coal Company. A. C. SWINNERTON

VICE-PRESIDENT FOR GEOLOGY,
OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM

IN order that the Arnold Arboretum at Jamaica Plain, which contains the greatest collection of hardy trees and shrubs in the United States, may be perpetuated and enlarged, friends of the late Professor Charles Sprague Sargent are raising a fund to continue its work. The Boston committee formed to raise the Charles Sprague Sargent Memorial Fund for the endowment of the Arnold Arboretum announces that up to June 10 the sum of $460,820 has been received toward the $1,000,000 fund considered necessary to carry on this work.

In less than three months since Professer Sargent died on March 22 nearly half of the fund has been subscribed by those most deeply interested in the arboretum's future, principally by friends in Boston. A national committee and other local committees are now being formed throughout the country so that naturelovers everywhere may have an opportunity of contributing to the garden, which contains more than 6,500 species and varieties of trees and shrubs.

Sargeant was Arnold professor of aboriculture at Harvard University and director of the arboretum for fifty-four years, and he planned and created it as an artist works out a picture, personally directing the planting of its trees and shrubs. Through an agree ment made in 1872, the president and fellows of Harvard College became trustees of a bequest of $100,000 left by one James Arnold, a New Bedford merchant, which it was decided should be used for the development of trees. The Harvard trustees provided as a site for the garden some 125 acres of property in West Roxbury, bequeathed to Harvard by Benjamin Bussey.

Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., when planning a park system for Boston, suggested that the arboretum's land become part of that system. The city agreed to build roads throughout the arboretum and maintain them and to protect it with its police, and the president and fellows agreed to keep the arboretum open every day in the year from sunrise to sundown. This arrangement has given to the arboretum all the advantages of perpetual ownership of the land it occupies and has relieved it of heavy financial burdens. Additions of land have been made until the arboretum now has an area of 250 acres. Professor Sargent built up a library at the arboretum to which, it is said, no similar collection outside the British Museum can be compared. He did this largely at his own expense, and made generous financial contributions through all the years of which there is no complete record. The arboretum's average expenditure during the last five years has been $80,000, with a tendency to rise, and its present income from endowment is not more than $60,000.

AWARDS FOR RESEARCH AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

THIRTY-TWO members of the Cornell Faculty will receive awards from the Heckscher Fund to carry on scientific and scholarly research next year. This fund, established by August Heckscher, of New York, several years ago, amounts to $50,000 annually and is devoted to research work in various fields.

A faculty committee, of which Dean R. A. Emerson of the Graduate School is chairman, has agreed upon the awards and they will be ratified by the Board of