Our New President. Mr. Ole K. Olsen was elected Presi- dent of the Society at the last annual meeting. Mr. Olsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1877, and received his early education and training in the schools of his native city. He is a graduate of the Polytechnical Academy of the same city, and since his graduation has been actively employed in the practice Mr. Olsen came to New Orleans in 1902 and began the prac- tice of his profession in the employ of Mr. L. W. Brown, consult- ing engineer. Mr. Brown was also consulting engineer for the Lone Star and Crescent Oil Company, and Mr. Olsen acted as assistant engineer for the same company. He was associated with Mr. Brown for about two years and then went into consulting engineering on his own account. In 1906 and 1907 he began to change over into the machinery and building supply end of engineering, and gradually dropped the consulting engineering work. From this the business developed into the specialty of reinforced steel and concrete, for which Mr. Olsen is now so well known throughout this part of the country. Mr. Olsen became a member of this Society in 1905 and has always been one of its most efficient and active workers. He has been at different times a Director, Treasurer and Vice-President of the organization. He has done excellent work in promoting the various activities of the Society in these offices and as a member of numerous special committees. It is very gratifying, therefore, to his fellow-members to have him elected to the Presidency, and we may look forward to a year of great activity and prosperity under his able direction of the affairs of the Society. The Smoker. This annual function was pulled off this year under the guidance of one of our younger members, and it gives us great pleasure to testify here and forthwith that Mr. Walter B. Moses is some impresario. We always knew that he had the unusual ability of being able to sell a second-hand boiler to a man who had not quite made up his mind whether he wanted a hoisting engine or a centrifugal pump, so that it was no surprise to us when we walked into the Cosmopolitan on the evening of January 11th and saw the charming preparations which had been made for our entertainment, nor later on when we had evidence of his taste in the selection of the entertainers for the evening. The four-page cover to the menu done in blue-print style was quite a clever cartooning of the various engineering enterprises of this community which were either in progress or in trouble. The menu itself was far better than the descriptive phrases under each course would have led one to believe, and there was beer. Furthermore, the Cosmopolitan bar was not very far away. The irrepressible Jimmie Robert was the "generalissimo" of the feast, whatever that may mean, and he did himself and the Society proud. Mr. Klorer, the retiring President, delivered the annual address, and those of you who were not fortunate enough to hear it then should read it carefully, for there is much in it to set us thinking concerning the present and future status of the engineer. We received a few cheerful and graceful words of greeting from the President-elect, Mr. Ole K. Olsen, the remainder of the intellectual program being shared by our invited guests, by Mr. Kokosky and by the professional entertainers, not forgetting the "Original Columbia and Victor Jazz Band." Prominent among the invited guests were President A. B. Dinwiddie of Tulane University, Mr. Howard Eggleston of the Association of Commerce, Major Hoover and Captain Thompson. of the Quartermaster Corps, U. S. A., and others. Our Service Flag. Since the last issue of the journal the addition of one more name to our list of men in the military service brings the total to fifty-seven, this out of an enrollment of two hundred and forty-six. Out of these fifty-seven our flag now bears three gold stars emblematic of the brave men who have been called upon to make the supreme sacrifice for the honor of their country. They are Captain Arthur A. Diettel. killed at Camp Beauregard, August 6, 1918; First Lieutenant Robert W. Noltte, killed in action in France, October 9, 1918; and Sergeant David W. Weidman, killed in action in France, October 18, 1918. In doing honor to these men the Society honors itself. We would accordingly offer this suggestion, first with reference to the three men who lost their lives-that their respective families be requested to furnish the Society with good and recent photographs of them, and that these photographs be framed in one frame and hung beneath the service flag, which should be displayed in a conspicuous position in our rooms. A permanent record should also be kept of all our members who were in either branch of the service, with their rank and the particular division. to which each was assigned. In line with this second suggestion we would like to request each man who reads this to call the matter to the attention of any of his friends who may have been in the service. At the last meeting of the Society we had the pleasure of having a word from Major W. B. Gregory, who has just recently returned from France. Lieutenants Stem and O'Brien are also with us again, and the daily press announces that Lieutenant Gwinn of the Aviation Corps has arrived in New York from overseas. Captain Samuel Young, who was located during most of his service period at Camp Humphrey in Virginia is now associated with Mr. J. Frank Coleman of the Chickasaw Shipbuilding Company at Mobile, Alabama. A High Honor for Dr. J. A. L. Waddell. The many friends of Dr. Waddell in this city and community and in our Society will be pleased to read something of the details of the great honor recently bestowed upon him in his election as a Corresponding Member of the Académie des Sciences of the Institut de France. The Académie des Sciences is the principal one of the five academies which make up the Institut de France, and its memhership is restricted to sixty-six regular members, all of whom must be citizens of France, and one hundred and sixteen corresponding members from all parts of the scientific world. The Académie is divided into two groups, the Mathematical Sciences and the Physical Sciences. The former of these consists of five sub-sections, Geometry, Mechanics, Astronomy, Geography and Navigation and General Physics; the latter into six sub-sections, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Botany, Rural Economy, Anatomy and Zoology, and Medicine and Surgery. Of these sub-sections Astronomy is allowed sixteen corresponding members, while each of the remaining ten is allowed ten such members. This excellent arrangement prevents an undue preponderance of members devoted to some single specialty or branch of science, while at the same time no new member may be elected until there is a vacancy in the special branch of science in which he has won his reputation. For a year past there has been a vacancy in the list of corresponding members in the section of Mechanics, owing to the death of General Zabondski of Russia, and Dr. Waddell was elected to |