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of pneumonia. Since the United States entered the war Dr. Janeway had been engaged in special research work for the government, being major in the Medical Officers' Reserve, on duty in Washington.

, the industrial chemist, head of the Synthetic Patents Co., died on December 23 at his home in New York after a short illness from pneumonia. He was born in Germany in 1861 and came to this country in 1889.

professor of astronomy, surveying and geodesy, McGill University, in charge of the observatory, died on December 26, aged sixty-six years.

past president of the British Institution of Civil Engineers, died on November 27, aged eighty-seven years.

formerly superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, died suddenly on December 8, at sixty-seven years of age.

professor of geology and paleontology in the University of Breslau, has died at the age of fifty-six years.

professor of zoology in the University of Caen, has died at the age of sixty-five years.

of the United States Public Health Service, has asked Congress to appropriate $300,000 for the purpose of establishing a Sanitary Reserve Corps, to combat outbreaks of disease in both times of war and times of peace. He also asked for appropriations to purchase quarantine stations at New York and Baltimore.

, curator of the Provincial Museum at Halifax, has replied to an inquiry from Mr. Harlan I. Smith, regarding the relation of the explosion to the museum. The specimens and labels apparently came through fairly well, better than was expected, considering the unbelievably terrific and astonishingly loud explosion which demolished the Richmond section of Halifax, although windows were blown in, glass of cases smashed, a water pipe burst and snow stormed into one end of the building. Mr. Piers calls attention to the good results of always using water-proof ink for labels. The cases were boarded over soon after the explosion in order to use them as tables for Bed Cross and other relief supplies, so that a careful examination of the damage has not been made. The publications probably have not suffered greatly. At the time of writing Mr. Piers had been too busy on relief work to examine into details of the museum.

director of the Royal Observatory, Hong-Kong, informs Nature that, in view of the world situation, it has been decided to discontinue sending the publications of the observatory to the United Kingdom, Europe and India during the war.

learn from Nature that a Linnean Society has been established recently in Sweden as "Svenska Linné-Sällskapet," intended as a means for spreading information about Sweden's greatest naturalist, Carl von Linné (1707-78). The society purposes to do this by publication of works by Linné and his pupils; to throw new light from modern viewpoints on Linné's personality; to draw up a catalogue of all known memorials, and to found a complete Linnean library. The president is Dr. Tycho Tullberg, a lineal descendant of Linné.

to the annual report of the chief of the Weather Bureau to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, a manual or handbook entitled "Meteorology and Aeronautics" will appear as Report No. 13 of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The handbook discusses the properties and general phenomena of the atmosphere which aeronauts and aviators should understand. It is divided into three parts: Part one, which deals with physical properties and dynamics of the atmosphere; part two, with topographic and climatic factors in relation to aeronautics, and part three, with current meteorology and its use. Part three also contains a summary of the free air conditions most likely to be experienced under different types of pressure distribution at the earth's surface. Frequent conferences have been held with officials of the