Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/420

and benzol are the source of many of these important dye stuffs that are used in the silk, cotton and woolen industries. It would also tend to prevent disturbance of the great industries engaged in the manufacture of silks, cottons and woolens in such extraordinary times as we are now experiencing, for we should be able to supply them with the necessary dyes.

 

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS

We record with regret the death of Dr. Charles Edwin Bessey, head of the department of botany in the University of Nebraska, distinguished as a leader in botanical research and education; of Dr. T. Wesley Mills, emeritus professor of physiology in McGill University; of Professor James Geikie, the distinguished Scottish geologist, and of Dr. Arthur von Auers, the eminent German astronomer.

Col. George W. Goethals has been made a major-general of the line in recognition of his services in building the Panama Canal.-Brig. Gen. William C. Gorgas, surgeon-general, has been made major-general in the medical department. Col. Harry F. Hodges and Lieut.-Col. William L. Sibert, United States Corps of Engineers, have been promoted to be brigadier-generals. The bill providing for their promotions extended the thanks of congress to the officers.

The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has appropriated $20,000 to be used under the institute's direction to further medical research work under war conditions, and is equipping Dr. Carrel's new hospital in France with apparatus for research work on pathological, bacteriological surgical and chemical conditions.