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SCIENCE 


NEW SERIES. VOLUME XXXVIII 


JULY-DECEMBER, 1913 


NEW YORK 
THE SCIENCE PRESS 
1913 


P29 12) (0) Gla) 


THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPARY, 
41 NorTH QUEEN STREET, 
LANCASTER, Pa, 


CONTENTS AND INDEX. 


NEW SERIES. VOL. XXXVII—JULY TO DECFMBER, 1913. 


The Names of Contributors are printed in Small Capitals 


Abderhalden, E., Ferments, J. AUER, 820 

Absences, Class, E. A. MILLER, 303 

Acid Spotting of Flowers, J. W. HarSHBERGER, 
548 

Accuracy of Expression, M. Manson, 335 

Aeration of Ocean, C. JuDAY, 546 

Agricultural, Education, A. N. Humz, 158; Exten- 
sion, A. N. HuME, 351; Research, T. B. Woop, 
529 

Agriculture, Dept., Publications, 187 

Airedale Terriers, W. Haynus, 404 

ALLEN, J. A., Mammals, G. 8. Miller, 159 

Allen’s Commercial Organic Analysis, O. Foun, 
705 

ALSBERG, C. L., Amer. Chem. Soce., 763 

American, Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, Section G, 1, 32; Section L, 114; Chem- 
istry at Atlanta, 438; Committee on Policy, 
764; Atlanta Meeting, 808; Sci. Soc., 860, 
897, 936; Re-arrangement of Sections, R. M. 
Harper, 815; Delegates to Convocation Week 
Meetings, 844; and Chem. Soc., Rochester 
Meeting, 81; C. L. Parsons, 636, 673, 708; 
Biol. Div., C. L. ALSBERG, 763; Mine Safety 
Assoe., 120; Assoc. Mus., P. M. Rea, 135; 
Math. Jour., H. E. SraueHT, 200; Fisheries 
Soc., 437; Math. Soc., H. E. Suaueut, 488, F. 
N. Coir, 680; Psychol. Assoc, W. V. D. 
BINGHAM, 735; Physical Soc., A. D. CoLE, 
788, 936; Philos. Assoc., 843; Soc. Zool., 843. 

ANDERSON, R. P., White’s Gas and Fuel Analysis, 
745 

Anthropological Soc. of Wash., D. FoLKMAR, 752 

Antigravitational Gradation, C. Kryrs, 206 

Arber, A., Herbals, C. E. Brssry, 196 

ArTHuR, J. C., ‘‘Fungu:,’’ 513, and F. D. Kern, 
Peridermium pyriforme Peck, 311 

Atomic Ionization, F. SANFORD, 741 

AUER, J., Ferments, E. Abderhalden, 820 


Bascock, EH. B., Walnut, New, 89 

Bacillus coli communis, W. M. CLARK, 669 

Bacterial Disease, E. F. SMITH, 926 

Bacteriologists, Amer. Soc. of, A. P. HITcHENs, 
369, 409, 451, 808 

Baker, A. L., Optics, P. G. Nurvine, 367 

Baker, F. C., Interglacial Mollusks, 858 

Baker, H. F., Pure Mathematics, 347 

Baldwin, J. M., Logie, G. A. TAwNEy, 549 

Banks, F. N., Notes on Entomology, 276 

Bartow, T., President’s Address, Int. Med. Cong., 
245 

Bat, Free-tailed, J. T. ZIMMER, 665 

Belgian Antarctic Expedition, W. H. Dati, 819 

BENJAMIN, M., Sigma Xi Quarterly, H. B. Ward, 
405; Woleott Gibbs at Columbia, 441 

Berry, E. W., Swecish South Polar Expedition, 
656 


BesseEy, C. E., Flora United States and Canada, 
N. L. Britton and A. Brown, 129; Herbals, A. 
Arber, 196; Botanical Notes, 234; Genus Iris, 
W. R. Dykes, 548 

Bibliographical Research, A. G. S. JOSEPHSON, 52 

BicELow, H. B., Cruises of the Grampus, 599 

Biengy, A. J., Indiana Acad. of Sci., 859 

Billings, John Shaw, S. W. MITCHELL, 827 

BineHAM, W. V. D., Amer. Psychol. Assoc., 735 

Biological Soe. of Wash., M. W. Lyon, JR., 313; 
D. E. Lantz, 751 

Biology, College, A. J. GoLpFaRB, 430 

Bird Law, National, R. T. ZILLMER, 839 

Birce, E. A., Absorption of Sun’s Energy by 
Lakes, 702 

Birmingham, Univ. of., Degrees, 521 

BLAISDELL, F. E., Labeling Slides, 665 

Board, Governing, E. B. CRAIGHEAD, 319 

Bécuer, M., Doctorates conferred by American 
Universities, 546 

Boutey, H. L., Microorganie Population of Soil, 
48; Cereal Cropping, 249 

Bonaparte Researca Fund Grants, 327 

Book Parasites, H. G. PLUMMER, 724 

Botanical, Exploration in Philippines, E. D. Mrr- 
RILL, 499; Notes, C. HE. Bessgy, 234; Soc. of 
Wash., P. L. RicKER, 899 

Botanists of Central States, H. C. CowLEs, 32 

Bowie, W., Time and Longitude, D. Rinus, 514 

Branch Movements, J. G. GROSSENBACHER, 201 

Branner, J. C., ‘Selva’? Geographic Literature, 
155 

Bread Supply, C. G. HopxKins, 479 

British Association, Birmingham Meeting, 215, 
521; Math. Sect., 347; Address of the Pres- 
ident, 379; Zool. Sect., 455; Grants, 474; 
Agric. Sect., 529 

Britton, N. L. and A. Brown, Flora United States 
and Canada, C. E. BrssEy, 129 

Brooks, C. F., Ice Storms, 193; Meteorology and 
Climatology, 309, 519, 627 

Brown, B., Dinosaurs, 926 

Brown, J. C., Chemistry, C. A. BROWNE, 780 

Browne, C. A., Natural Sciences, E. O. von Lipp- 
mann, 273; Chemistry, J. C. Brown, 780 

Browne, W. W., Household Bacteriology, EH. D. 
and R. E. Buchanan, 855 

Bruss, C. T., Insects and Diseases, E. A. Goldi, 
199 

Brunswig, H., Explosives, A. P. Sy, 308 

Buchanan, EH. D. and R. E., Bacteriology, W. W. 
Browne, 855 

Buehner, P. P., Intracellularen Symbionten, W. A. 
RinEy, 233 

Burgess, J. W., American University, 514 

Burnham, S. W., Stars, G. C. Comstock, 551 

BusH-Brown, H. K., A National University, 109 

BusHone, W. F., Petroleum, 39 


lV SCIENCE 


Casori, F., Plus and Minus, 51; The Dollar Mark, 
848 

Cammidge, P. J., Glycosuria, J. J. R. Mactuop, 94 

CAMPBELL, C. M. , Dreams, 8S. Freud, 342 

“Carbates, 7 J. Topp, 270 

CARHART, i. S., Tables ‘annuelles, 344 

CARMICHAEL, R. D., Mathematical Demonstration, 
863 

Carnegie Laboratories, Dedication, 169 

Carpenter, F, A., San Diego, W. G REED, 518 

CasEy, T. L., Priority, 442 

CASTLE, W. E. and J. C. Phillips, Ovarian Trans- 
plantation, 783 

Cereal Cropping, H. L. Bonury, 249; C. E. Saunp- 
ERS, 592 

CHAMBERLAIN, C. J., Oriental Cycads, 164 

Chemistry, at Atlanta, 438; and Industry, G. W. 
THOMPSON, 800 

Chestnut, Blight Fungus, Bird Carriers, F. D. 
Heatp and R. A. STUDHALTER, 278; Parasite 
from China, C. L. SHEAR and N.L. STEVENS, 
295; D. FAIRCHILD, 297; Tree Insect, A. G. 
RueGiEs, 853; Bark Disease, J. BF. CoLLINS, 
857 

China’s Foreign Trade, G. F. Kunz, 782 

Chinch Bug Parasite, J. W. McCouiocH, 367 

Chromosomes in Pig, J. E. WODSEDALEK, 30 

CuaRK, G. A., Fur-Seal Census, 1913, 818 

CLARK, W. M., Bacillus coli communis, 669 

CLARKE, J.M., ” Soil Tube, 25; Fixité de la Cote de 
1’Amérique du Nord, D. W. Johnson, 26; The 
Maryland Devonian, 742 

Clouds, Interference Colors, R. H. Gopparp, 881 

COCKERELL, T. D. A., Wine-red Sunflower, 312; 
Chimeroid Fishes, 363; Alfred Russel Wal- 
lace, 871 

Cote, A. D., Amer. Physical Soc., 788; 936 

CoLE, BE. N., Amer. Math., Soce., 680 

College Student, Cc. W. WILLIAMS, 114 

Couuins, F. 8., Biological Survey of Woods Hole, 
FB. Sumner, R. C. Osburn, L. J. Cole, 595 

Couuins, G. N., Mendelian Factors, 88 

CoLLINs, J. F., Chestnut Bark Disease, 857 

Color, Correlation, J. K. Suaw, 126, W. J. SPILL- 
MAN, 302 ; Sense, C. Lapp FRANKLIN, 850 

Comstock, G. C, Stars, S. W. Burnham, 551 

CONKLIN, E. G., Thomas Harrison Montgomery, 207 

Connecting Type, A. M. REESE, 852 

ConsEr, H. N., Food of Plants, 25 

Continuity, O. ’LopcE, 379, 417 

CovinE, F. V., Diatoms in the U. 8. Nat. Mus., 
748 

Cowuss, H. C., A. A. A. S., Sect. G, Botany, 32; 
Botanists of Cent. States, 32 

CRAIGHEAD, HE. B., Functions of the Governing 
Board; 319 

Cram, G., American University, 514 

CRANDALL, C. S., Mosquitoes and Orchids, 51 

CriLE, G. W., Mechanistic View of Psychology, 
283 

Crocker Land Expedition, 120 

Cucumbers, Inheritance in, R. WELLINGTON, 61 

Curtis, G. C., Kilauea Volcano, 355 

Cycads, Oriental, J. C. CHAMBERLAIN, 164 


Dasney, T. G., Good English, 336 
DALL, W. H. , Belgian Antaretie Expedition, 819 
Dana Centenary, 736 


CONTENTS AND 
InDBEx. 


DAVENPORT, C. B., A Reply to Dr. Heron, 773 

Davis, B, M., Amer. Soc. Naturalists, 734 

Davis, E. W., Calculus, C. J. Kyser, 90 

Desert Laboratory Decennial, 621 

DE Wotr, F. W., The Mississippi Formation, 706 

Diamond Carat, G. F. Kunz, 523 

Diatoms in U. S. Nat. Mus., F. V. CoviLiE, 748 

Diet and Racial Inferiority, H. H. MitcHELL, 156 

Dinosaurs, B. Brown, 926 

Discussion and Correspondence, 24, 48, 87, 126, 155, 
193, 230, 270, 302, 331, 363, 402, 441, 479, 512, 
546, 593, 624, 665, 702, 741, 772, 815, 848, 881, 
926 

Doane, R. W., Oryctes Rhinoceros, 883 

Doctorates, conferred by American Universities, 
259; M. BocHErR, 546 

Dollar Mark, F. Cagori, 848 

Donaupson, H. H., Medical Progress, 101 

Dresslar, F. B., Hygiene, L. M. TERMAN, 625 

Drought and Vegetation, R. J. Poon, 822 

Dyar, H. G., Lepidoptera Phalene, 822 

Dykes, W. R., Genus Iris, C. E. Brssry, 548 


Ecto-parasites, V. L. KELLoge, 601 

Education, Essentials of, 8. Paron, 758 

Educational, Fund Commission of Pittsburgh, 81; 
Problems in Kansas, F. StRoNnG, 730 

Electrons, Emission of, O. W. RICHARDSON, 57 

Emcu, A., Leonhard Euler Society, 26 

EMERSON, R. A., Origin of Mutations, 882 

Energy-Law, Photochemical, and Light Reactions, 
W. F. Ewatp, 236 

Engineering, Teacher, W. T. MaGRupErR, 137; Edu- 
cation, 167 

English, Good, F. G. DaBNry, 336; H. K. WHITE, 
594; J. C. ArTHuR, 513 

Entomology, N. BANKs, 276 

Ewa, W. F., Light Reactions, 236 

Iixaminations, College, G. D. Waucorr, 179 


FarrcHiuD, D., Chestnut Blight in China, 297 

Ferry, F. C., Student Hours of Instruction, 584 

Fertilization, F. R. Linuig, 524 

FESSENDEN, R. A., Gravitational Waves and Ether 
Vortices, 553 

Fiscuer, M. F. and A. Sykes, Colloid Chemical 
Theory, 486 

Fishes, Chimeroid, T. D. A. COCKERELL, 363 

Fisheries, at Beaufort, N. C., L. Rapcuirre, 395 

FLEXNER, S. and H. Nocucut, Poliomyelitis, 504 

Flies, C. F. Hoper, 512 

Tou O., Allen’s Commercial Organic Analysis, 
05 

FotkMar, D., Anthrop. Soc. of Wash., 752 

Forestry, Federal, H. 8S. Graves, 753 

Forests and Humidity, R. Zon, 63 

Fowl Nematode, J. W. Scort, 672 

Fowter, H. W., Zoological Nomenclature, 51 

FRANKLIN, C. LADD, Color Sense of Bees, 850 

Franklin, W. S., B. MacNutt and R. L. Charles, 
Calculus, C. “dp Keyser, 90 

FRANKLIN, W. S., Yellowstone Park, 127 

Franz, 8. L., Psychology and Medical Education, 
555 

Freud, 8., Dreams, C. M. CAMPBELL, 342 

Frost in California, S. A. Sxrvner, 271 

Fuucuer, G. S., Rutherford Atom, 274 

Fundulus Eggs, J. F. McCLENDoN, 280 


New Seas. 
vor Sexvilt. | 


‘¢Pungus,’’ J, C, ArpHurR, 513 
Fur-Seal Census 1913, G. A. CLARK, 918 


Gapow, H. F. , Morphology, 455 

Ganone, W. KF, Lee’s Botany, 25 

Ganong, W. F, Living Plant, B. E. Livinesron, 
481 

Garrison, F. H., Edwin Klebs, 920 

Geological Soe. Amer., E. O. Hovey, 807 

Geologists and Mining Engineers Convention, 826 

Geology, G. O. SmirH, 79; of Iowa, J. L. TILTON, 
133 

Gruman, A. F., Metric System, 127 

GLasER, O., Physiology, H. Jordan, 197; Sea 
Urchin, 446 

Gopparp, R. H., Interference Colors in Clouds, 881 

GotprarB, A. J., Biology, 430 

Géldi, E. A., Insects and Diseases, C. T. Bruzs, 
199 

Gortner, R. A., Chemistry, P. Haas and T. G. 
Hill, 407 

Gorton, F. R., Rontgen Rays, 547 

Grades, D. Starcu, 630 

Grampus, Cruises, H. H. BiGELow, 599 

Graves, H. S., Federal Forestry, 753 

Gravitational Waves and Ether Vortices, R. A. 
FESSENDEN, 553 

GREELY, A. W., National Antarctic Expedition, 
818 

Griffin, C. E. and F. Ramaley, Prevention of Dis- 
ease, EH. L. Opin, 446 

GROSSENBACHER, J. G., Branch Movements, 201 

GupGER, E. W., Whale Shark, 270 


Haas, P., and F. G. Hill, Chemistry, R. A. Gort- 
NER, 407 

Happon, A. C., Snow Mts., New Guinea, 44 

Haz, G. E., National Academies and Research, 
681 

Hall, E. H., Physics, G. F. Huu, 53 

Ht, J. G. Rhodochytrium, 364 

Handwérterbuch der Naturwissenschaften, A. G. 
WEBSTER, 230 

Harper, R. M., Sections of A. A. A. S., 815 

Harris, J. A., Heterogeneity, 345; Natural Selec- 
tion, 402 

HarsHBERGER, J. W., Acid Spotting of Flowers 
by Rain, 548 

Hart, E., William MeMurtrie, 185 

Hartog, M., Life and Reproduction, C. E. Mc- 
CLUNG, 666 

Hawkins, V. D., Physics, G. F. Huu, 53 

Haynes, W., Airedale Terriers, 404 

Heatp, F. D., and R. A. SrupHaLtTER, Chestnut 
Blight Fungus, 278 

Health Officers, 704 

Henderson, L. J., Fitness of the Environment, R. 
S. Linum, 337 

Herbert, 8., Evolution, J. P. McM., 887 

Herms, W. B., Malaria, F. Knap, 162 

Heron, D. , Reply to C. B. Davenport, 773 

Herrick, F, H., Infaney of Animals, W. P. Py- 
craft, 304 

Heterogeneity, J. A. Harris, 345 

Hill, T. G., and P. Haas, Chemistry, R. A. Gort- 


NER, 407 
HircHens, A. P., Soe. Amer. Bact., 369, 409, 451, 
808 


SCIENCE " 


Hodge, C. F., Flies, 512 

HoupEn, R., Plant Hybrids, 932 

Houtick, A., Lester Frank Ward, 75 

Hoiiuineworty, H. L., Psychology and Industrial 
Efficiency, H. Miinsterberg, 56 

Hoimes, 8S. J., Orientation, 230 

Horxrins, C. G., Bread Supply, 479 

Hopkins, J., Tunicata, M. M. Mercaur, 597 

Horrss, C. F., External Stimuli and Cell, 32 

Hove, W., Stone Art, L. Pfeiffer, 55 

Houston, R. A., Physics, G. F. Huu, 55 

Hovey, E. O., Geol. Soc. Amer., 807 

Hoxton, L. G., Philos. Soc. Univ. Va., 900 

Hulbert, L. S., Caleulus, C. J. Keyser, 90 

Hou, G. F., Physies, E. Hall, Millikan and Gale, 
Wo. 10) Hawkins, 535 Hurst and Lattey, 54; 
Jones and Tatnall, "B.C. Reeves, H. V. Ss. 
Shorter, R. A. Houston, 55 

Human Worth of Rigorous Thinking, C. J. 
KEYSER, 789 

Humes, A. N., Agricultural Education, 158; Ex- 
tension, 331 

Hunter, A., Chemistry, H. Snyder, 854 

Hurst and Lattey, Physics, G. F. Huu, 54 

Hybrids, Plant, R. HoLpEN, 932 


Ice Storms, C. F. Brooks, 193 

Illinois, Univ. of, Appropriations, 19 

Indian Remains in Maine, 326 

Indiana Acad. of Sci., A. J. BiGNEy, 859 

Industrial, Research, A. D. LirtiE, 643; Fellow- 
ships, J. F, SNELL, 884 

Infective Diseases, 8. PaGET, 746 

Ingersoll, L. R., and O. J. Zobel, Heat Conduction, 
C. P. RanpoupH, 130 

Interrelations in our Work, L. R. Jongs, 1 

Iowa Acad. Sci., L. 8. Ross, 238 


Jelliffe, S. E., Nervous and Mental Disease, R. S. 
WoopwortH, 927 

Johnson, D. W., Fimté de la Cote Atlantique de 
N. A., J. M. CuarKeE, 26 

JoHNSTON, J. B., University Organization, 908 

JONES, L. R., Interrelations in our Work, 1 

Jordan, H., Physiology, O. GLASER, 197 

JOSEPHSON, A. G. S., Bibliographical Research, 52 

Jupay, C., Air in the Depths of the Ocean, 546 


K., E., Chlorophyll, R. Willstaetter and A. Stoll, 
884 

Kansas Acad. Sci., Address of President, 39 

Kapreyn, J. C., Structure of the Universe, 717 

KELLERMAN, K. F., and L. T. Leonarp, Soils, 95 

Kewioce, V. L., Ecto-parasites, 601 

Kemp, J. F., Natural Sciences, 603; Mineral De- 
posits, W. Lindgren, 774 

Kern, F. D., and J.C. ArtHur, Peridermium pyri- 
forme Peck, 311 

Kester, F. E., Physics, C. R. Mann, 365; Lumi- 
nescence, H. L. Nichols and HK. Merritt, 484 

Keyes, C., Antigravitational Gradation, 206 

Keyser, C. J., Principia Mathematica, A. N. 
Whitehead and B. Russell, 90; Caleulus, L. 8. 
Hulbert, 92; W. S. Franklin, B. MacNutt, R. 
L. Charles, 92; HE. W. Davis, 92; Human 
Worth of Rigorous Thinking, 789 

Kilauea Volcano, G. C. Curtis, 355 

Krimpati, D. S., Science Teaching, 144 

Kinessury, B. F., Fitness of Organisms, 174 


Vi SCIENCE 


Kirx, C. T., N. Y. Acad. Sci., 281 

Kiruin, K. L., New Mineral, 624 

Klebs, Edwin, F. H. Garrison, 920 

Kwas, F., Malaria, W. B. Herms, 162 

KnowttTon, F. H., Birds’ Eggs, W. R. Ogilvie- 
Grant, 272 

Kunz, G. F., Diamond Carat, 523; China’s For- 
eign Trade, 782 

Kiister, E., Microorganisms, C.-E. A, WINSLOW, 
271 

Kymographion, Harvard, T. L. PATTERSON, 334 


Labeling Slides, Z. NortHruP, 126; E. S. Reyn- 
OLDS, 363; F. E. BLAISDELL, 665 

Lang, A. C., Tariff on Books, 159; The Earth, A. 
T. Swaine, 598 

Lantz, D. E., Biol. Soc. of Wash., 751 

LavueHun, H. H., Stockbreeding, J. Wilson, 885 

Lee’s Botany, W. F. GaNone, 26 

Lronarp, L. T., and K. F. KELLERMAN, Soils, 95 

Leonhard Euler Society, A. EMcH, 26 

Lepidoptera Phalene, H. G. Dyar, 822 

Litm, F. R., Mechanism of Fertilization, 524 

Linu, R. S., Fitness of the Environment, L. J. 
Henderson, 337 

Lindgren, W., Mineral Deposits, G. A. MILLER, 774 

Lippmann, E. O. von, Natural Sciences, C. A. 
BrowNne, 273 

Lirrie, A. D., Industrial Research in America, 643 

Lirrtz, C. C., ‘‘ Yellow’’ and ‘‘Agouti’’ Factors 
in Mice, 203 

Livineston, B. E., Living Plant, W. F. Ganong, 
481 

Lizard from the Permian, S. W. WiLLIsTon, 825 

Locy, W. A., Early Naturalists, L. C. Miall, 853 

Loner, O., Continuity, 379, 417 

Lozs, J., Reversibility in Artificial Parthenogene- 
sis, 749 

Loeb, L., Venom of Heloderma, J. VAN DENBURGH, 
931 

Logan Memorial, 150 

Lut, R. 8., Animals of the Past, F. A. Lucas, 779 

Lusk, G., Medical Education, 491 

Lyon, M. W., Jr., Biol. Soc. Wash., 313. 


McCuienpon, J. F., Fundulus Eggs, 280 

McCune, C. E., Life and Reproduction, M. Har- 
tog, 666 

McCottoueH, J. W., Chinch Bug Parasite, 367 

MacCurpy, G. G., Der Mensch der Vorzeit, H. 
Obermaier, 775; Paleolithic Art, 881 

MacCourpy, H., Effect of Sunlight, 98 

McHarron, T. H., Mendelism, 24 

Macteop, J. J. R., Glycosuria, P. J. Cammidge, 94 

McM., J. P., Evolution, S. Herbert, 887 

MeMurtrie, William, E. Harr, 185 

Magnetie Storms, F. E. NipHeEr, 303 

Maaruper, W. T., Engineering Teacher, 137 

Matt, F. P., University Education in London, 33 

Mann, C. R., Physics, F. E. Kester, 365 

Manson, M., Accuracy of Expression, 335 

Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 502 

Maryland Devonian Books, J. M. CuarKe, 742 

Mathematical, Definitions, G. A. MILLER, 772; and 
Scientific Demonstration, R. D. CaRMICHAEL, 
863 

Mathematics, Pure, H. F. Baker, 347 


CONTENTS AND 
InDpEx. 


BRA W. D., Nomenclature in Paleontology, 

1 

Medical, Research in Great Britain, 79; Progress, 
H. H. Donaupson, 101; Int. Med. Cong., T. 
Bartow, 245; Education in U. S., G. Lusk, 
a 5 Research and the State, H. B. Warp, 
8 

MELHUuS, I. E., Potato, Powdery Scab, 133 

Mendelian Factors, G. N. CoLLINs, 88 

Mendelism, T. H. McHarron, 24 

Mental Tests, F. L. WELLS, 221 

MerriLu, KE. D., Botany in the Philippines, 499 

MerriLL, G. P., Geology, H. B. Woodward, 626 

Merritt, E., and E. L. Nichols, Luminescence, E. 
FP. Kester, 484 

Meteorology and Climatology, C. F. Brooks, 309, 
519, 627 

Metric System, A. F. GmMan, 127 

Mexican Archeology and Ethnology, 436 

Miall, L. C., Early Naturalists, W. A. Locy, 853 

Mice, ‘‘Yellow’’ and ‘‘Agouti’’ Factors, C. C. 
Littie, 203 

Michaelis L., Mathematics, H. L. Ritz, 28 

Minter, E. A., Class Absences, 303 

Miniter, G. A., Algebra, H. Weber, 550; Mathe- 
matical Definitions, 772; Mineral Deposits, 
W. Lindgren, 774 

Miller, G. 8., Mammals, J. A. ALLEN, 159 

MILLIKAN, R. A., Radioactivity, E. Rutherford, 29 

Millikan and Gale, Physics, G. F. Hunn, 53 

Mineral, New, K. L. Kirum, 624 

Mining Congress, 149 

Mississippi Formations, F, W. Dz Wo.r, 706 

MircuHeELL, H. H., Diet and Racial Inferiority, 156 

MircHe.., 8. W., John Shaw Billings, 827 

Mollusks, Interglacial, F. C. Baker, 858 

Montgomery, Thomas Harrison, Jr., E. G. ConK- 
LIN, 207 

Moore, A. R., Phototropism, 131 

Moore, V. A., Bovine Tuberculosis, M. P. RAVENEL, 
822 

Morgan, C. L., Instinct and Experience, R. M. 
YERKES, 93 

Moropus Hollandi, O. A. PETERSON, 673. 

Morphology, H. F. Gapow, 455 

Morse, W. J., Potatoes, Powdery Scab, 61 

Mosquitoes and Orchids, C. S. CRANDALL, 51 

Miinsterberg, H., Psychology and Industrial Effi- 
ciency, H. L. HoLuincwortH, 56 

Mutations, R. A. EMERSON, 882 


National, Academies and Research, G. E. Hats, 
681; Acad. of Sci., 698; Antarctic Expedition, 
A. W. GREELY, 818 

Natural, Selection, J. A. Harris, 402; Science, 
J. F, Kemp, 603 

Naturalists, Amer. Soe. of, B. M. Davis, 734 

Nature, Interpretation of, W. T. SrepGwicK, 169 

New Guinea, Ascent Snow Mts., A. C. Happon, 44 

New York, Acad. Sci., C. T. Kirg, 281; State 
Museum, 765 

Nichols, E. L. and E. Merritt, Luminescence, E. 
F, Kester, 484 

Nipuer, F. E., Magnetic Storms, 303; Science and 
the Newspapers, 883 

Noeucui, H. and S. FLEXNER, Poliomyelitis, 504 

Noguchi on Infective Diseases, S. Pacer, 746 


New S2Rizs. 
Vou. XXXVIII. 


Nomenclature, Botanical, H. W. Fowumr, 51; in 
Paleontology, W. D. MatrHEw, 87; Chemical, 
J. E. Topp, 270 

Non-Electrolytes and Water Absorption, M. H. 
FiscHer and A. SyYKES, 486 

NorrurvupP, Z., Labeling Slides, 126 

Nurtine, P. P. G., Optics, A. L. Baker, 367 


Obermaier, H., Der Mensch der Vorzeit, G. G. 
MacCourpy, 775 

Ogilvie-Grant, W. R., Birds’ Eggs, F. H. KNow.- 
TON, 272 

Ohio Acad. Sci., E. L. Rice, 933 

Orm, E. L., Prevention of Disease, F. Ramaley 
and C. E. Griffin, 446 

Orbits of Freely Falling Bodies, R. S. Woopwagrp, 
315 

Organisms, Fitness of, B. F. Kinessury, 174 

Orientation, S. J., Hommes, 230; and Imaginary 
Maps, C. C. TROWBRIDGE, 888 

OrnvorFr, W. R., Chemistry, F. G. Pope, 668 

Oryctes Rhinoceros, R. W. Doane, 883 

OstrerHouT, W. J. V., Permeability, 408 

Ovarian Transplantation in Guinea-pigs, 
Caste and J. C. Pumps, 783 


W. E. 


Paget, S., Noguchi on Infective Diseases, 746 

Paleolithic Art, G. G. MacCurpy, 880 

Parsons, C. L., Radium Resources, 612; Rochester 
Meeting Amer. Chem. Soc., 636, 673, 708 

Parthenogenesis, Artificial, Reversibility in, J. 
Lors, 749 

Paton, S., The Essentials of an Education, 758 

PaTTERSON, T. L., Harvard Kymographion, 334 

Pelycosaurian Mandible, S. W. WiLuIsTon, 512 

Pensions at Brown University, 704 

Percival, A. 8., Optics, W. L. Stevens, 443 

Peridermium pyriforme Peck, J. C. ARTHUR and 
F. D. Kern, 311 

Permeability, W. J. V. OsterHout, 408 

PETERSON, O. A., Moropus Hollandi, 673 

Petroleum, W. F. BusHone, 39 

Pfeiffer, L., Stone Art, W. Houcu, 55 

PHILLIPS, J. C., and W. EB. Casrie, Ovarian Trans- 
plantation in Guinea-pigs, 783 

Eniosepbical Soc., Univ. of Va., L. G. Hoxton, 
900 

Philosophy and Science, J. Roycn, 567 

Phlebotomus, the Carrier of Verruga, C. H. T. 
TOWNSEND, 194 

Phototropism, A. R. Moors, 131 

Plants, Food of, H. N. Consrr, 25 

PiummMeER, H. G., Blood Parasites, 724 

Plus and Minus, F. Casort, 51 

Poincaré, Henri, A. G. WersstErR, 901 

Poliomyelitis, S. Furxner and H. Nocucut, 504 

Poot, R. J., Drought and Vegetation, 822 

Pope, F. G., Chemistry, W. R. OrNporFr, 668 

zictatoes, Scab, W. J. Morse, 61; I. E. MELuus, 
1 

Prescott, S. C. and C.-E. A. Winslow, Water Bac- 
teriology, G. C. WHIPPLE, 856 

Priority, T. L. Casny, 442 

Psychology, G. W. Criuz, 283; and Medical Hdu- 
cation, S. I. Franz, 555 

Pycraft, W. P., Infancy of Animals, F. H. Hr- 
RICK, 304 


SCIENCE 


vii 
Quotations, 514, 704 


Rapcuirre, L., Fisheries at Beaufort, N. C., 395 

Radium Resources, C. L. Parsons, 612 

Ramaley, F., and C. E. Griffin, Prevention of Dis- 
ease, E. L. Opin, 446 

RanpouPH, C. P., Heat Conduction, L. R. Inger- 
soll and O. J. Zobel, 130 

Ransom, B. H., Sheep Measle Tapeworm, 230 

RAVENEL, M. P., Bovine Tuberculosis, V. 
Moore, 821 

Rea, P. M., Amer. Assoc. Museums, 135 

Reacan, A. B., Blowing of Soils, 51 

REED, W. G., San Diego, F. A. Carpenter, 518 

Reesr, A. M., A Connecting Type, 852 

Reeves, F. C., Physics, G. F. Huu, 55 

Relativity in Physics, R. A. WETZEL, 466 

ReyNnotps, E. S., Labeling Slides, 363 

Rhodochytrium, J. G. Haut, 364 

Rice, E. L., Ohio Acad. Sci., 933 

RicHarpson, O. W., Emission of Electrons, 57 

Ricker, P. L., Bot. Soe. of Wash., 899 

Ritz, H. L., ‘Mathematics, L. Michaelis, 28 

RILEY, W. iN Intracellularen Symbionten, P. P. 
Buchner, 233 

Rinzs, D., Time and Longitude, W. Bowie, 514 _ 

RocErs, G. G., and W. M. Smatuwoop, Mitosis, 
405 

Réntgen Rays, F. R. Gorron, 547 

Ross, L. 8., Iowa Acad. Scei., 238 

Royal Geog. Soc., 540 

Royce, J., Philosophy and Science, 567 

Ruaeetss, A. G., Chestnut-tree Insect, 852 

Rutherford, E., Radioactivity, R. A. MILLIKAN, 
29: Conference on the Structure of Matter, 
806 

Rutherford Atom, G. S. FuncHsr, 274 


St. Louis Univ. School of Medicine, 101 

Sanrorp, F., Atomic Ionization, 741 

Saunpers, C. E., Cereal Cropping, 592 

Schmucker, S. C., Evolution, H. E. Water, 779 

School Hygiene, 224 

Science, Teaching, D. S. Kimpann, 144; and the 
Newspapers, F. E. NipHer, 883 

Scientific, Notes and News, 20, 45, 82, 121, 150, 
188, 225, 267, 299, 328, 358, 400, 438, 474, 506, 
541, 589, 622, 661, 700, 736, 766, 811, 845, 877, 
921; Books, 26, 53, 90, 129, 159, 195, 230, 
271, 304, 337, 365, 405, 443, 481, 514, 548, 595, 
625, 666, 705, 742, 774, 818, 853, 884, 927; 
Journals and Articles, 30, 200, 274, 552, 598, 
668 

Scorr, J. W., Fowl Nematode, 672 

Sea Urchin, O. GuasEr, 446 

SEepewick, W. T., Interpretation of Nature, 169 

‘¢Selva,’’ J. C. BRANNER, 155 

Sex Determination in Rotifers, A. F. SHutn, 786 

Sexuality of Spirogyra, H. H. Yorr, 368 

Suaw, E. W., Specifie Gravity of Silt, 554 

SHaw, J. K., Color Correlation of Beans, 126 

SHear, H. L. and N. EH. Stevens, Chestnut Blight 
Parasite from China, 295 

Sheep Measle Tapeworm, B. H. Ransom, 230 

Shorter, H. V. S., Physics, G. F. Hun, 55 

SHuLL, A. F., Nutrition and Sex Determination in 
Rotifers, 786 


viii SCIENCE 


Sigma Xi Convention, 844 

SKINNER, S. A., Frost in California, 271 

StaueHt, H. E., Amer. Math. Jour., 200; Amer. 
Math. Soc., 488 

SMALLWoop, W. M., and C. G. RoczErs, Mitosis, 
405 

SmirH, E. F., Bacterial Disease, 926 

SmiTH, G. O., Geology, 79 

SNELL, J. F., Industrial Fellowships, 884 

Snyder, H., Chemistry, A. HuNnTER, 854 

Snyper, T. E., Metamorphism of Termites, 487 

Societies and Academies, 313, 680, 751, 899, 936 

Soil, Tube, J. M. CuarkE, 25; Microorganic Popu- 
lation of, H. L. BouuEy, 48 

Soils, Blowing of, A. B. Reagan, 51; K. F. Ket- 
LERMAN and L. T. LEONARD, 95 

Sounding Board, F. P. WHiTMaN, 707 

Special Articles, 30, 57, 95, 131, 164, 205, 236, 
278, 311, 345, 367, 408, 446, 486, 524, 553, 
601, 630, 672, 707, 749, 783, 822, 857, 888, 
932 

SpittMaAN, W. J., Color Correlation, 302 

SrarcH, D., Grades, 630 

Srrvens, N. E., and C. L. Suear, Chestnut Blight 
Parasite from China, 295 

Srrvens, W. L., Optics, A. S. Percival, 443 

Stites, C. W., Zoological Nomenclature, 6 

Stimuli, External, C. F. Horrss, 32 

Stout, A., and R. Willstaetter, Chlorophyll, E. K., 
884 

Strone, F., Educational Problems in Kansas, 730 

Student Hours of Instruction, F. C. Ferry, 584 

StupHALTER, R. A., and F. D. Heap, Bird Car- 
riers Chestnut Blight Fungus, 278 

Sumner, F. B., Biological Survey, Woods Hole, F. 
S. Cottins, 595 

Sunflower, Wine-red, T. D. A. CoCKERELL, 312 

Sunlight and Starfish, H. MacCurpy, 312 

Sun’s Energy, Absorption by Lakes, E. A. Biree, 
702 

Swaine, A. T., The Earth, A. C. Lanz, 598 

Swedenborg, A. H. Warp, 89 

Swedish S. Polar Exped., E. W. Berry, 656 

Sy, A. P., Explosives, H. Brunswig, 308 

Sykes, A., and M. H. Fiscurer, Water Absorption, 
486 


Tables annuelles, H. S. Carwarr, 344 

Talbot, M., Sanitation, C.-E. A. Winstow, 705 

Tariff on Books, A. C. Lane, 159 

Tawney, G. A., Logic, J. M. Baldwin, 549 

TERMAN, L. M., Hygiene, F. B. Dresslar, 625 

Termites; T. E. SNYDER, 487 

THOMPSON, G. W., Chemistry and Industry, 800 

Thresh, J. C., Water Supplies, G. C. WHIPPLE, 195 

Tinton, J. L., Geology of Iowa, 133 

Topp, J. E., ‘‘Carbates’’? (Nomenclature), 270 

Tomso, R., JR., University Statistics, German and 
Swiss, 77 

TowNsEND, ©. T. H., Phlebotomus, 194 

TROWBRIDGE, C. C., Orientation and Imaginary 
Maps, 888 


Universe, The Structure of, J. C. Kaprnyn, 717 
University and Educational News, 23, 47, 86, 125, 
154, 192, 229, 269, 301, 330, 361, 401, 441, 


ConTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


478, 510, 544, 592, 624, 664, 701, 740, 770, 815, 
848, 880, 924; Education in London, F. P. 
MALL, 33; Statistics, German and Swiss, R. 
Tomo, JRr., 77; National, H. K. Busu- 
Brown, 109; American, J. W. Burgcuss, G. 
Cram, 514; Organization, J. B. JOHNSTON, 908 


Van DENBURGH, J., Venom of Heloderma, L. Loeb, 
931 


Watcort, G. D., College Examinations, 179 

Wallace, Alfred Russel, T. D. A. CocKERELL, 871 

Walnut, New, E. D. Bascock, 89 

Watter, H. E., Evolution, S. C. Schmucker, 779 

Warp, A. H., Swedenborgz, 89 

Ward, H. B., Sigma Xi Quarterly, M. BensaMIn, 
405 

Warp, H. B., The State and Medical Research, 833 

Ward, Lester Frank, A. Houuick, 75 

Weber, H., Algebra, G. A. MILLER, 550 

Wesster, A. G., Handworterbuch der Naturwis- 
senschaften, 230; I’ nri Poincaré, 901 

WELLINGTON, R., Inheritance in Cucumbers, 61 

WELLS, F. L., Mental Tests, 221 

WETZEL, R. A., Relativity in Physics, 466 

Whale Shark, E. W. GupcGER, 270 

WHIPPLE, G. C., Water Supplies, J. C. Thresh, 195; 
Water Bacteriology, S. C. Prescott and C.-E. 
A. Winslow, 856 

White, A. H., Gas and Fuel Analysis, R. P. ANDER- 
SON, 745 

Waitt, H. K., Good English, 594 

White, W. A., Nervous and Mental Disease, R. S. 
WoopwortH, 927 

Whitehead, A. N. and B. Russell, Mathematics, E. 
J. Keyser, 90 

Wauirman, F. P., A Sounding Board, 707 

Witcox, E. M., Agro-dogmatology, 927 

William H. Welch Fund, Johns Hopkins Medical 
School, 621 

WitiaMs, C. W., College Student, 114 

Wituiston, S. W., Pelycosaurian Mandible, 512; 
Lizard from the Permian of Texas, 825 

Willstaetter, R., and A. Stoll, Chlorophyll, E. K. 
884 

Wilson, J., Stock-breeding, H. H. LavcHuin, 885 

Winstow, C.-E. A., Microorganisms, E. Kiister, 
271; Sanitation, M. Talbot, 705 

Winslow, C.-E. A., and S. C. Prescott, Bacteriology, 
G. C. WHIPPLE, 856 

WODSEDALEK, J. E., Chromosomes in Pig, 30. 

Wolcott Gibbs at Columbia, M. Bengamin, 441 

Woop, T. B., Agricultural Research, 529 

Woodward, H. B., Geology, G. P. Mrrrinu, 626 

Woopwarb, R. 8., Orbits of Freely Falling Bodies, 
315 

WoopwortH, R. S., Jelliffe and White’s Nervous 
and Mental Disease, 927 


Yellowstone Park, W. S. FRANKLIN, 127 

Yerkes, R. M., Instinct and Experience, C. L. 
Morgan, 93 i 

Yor, H. H., Sexuality of Spirogyra, 368 


ZILLMER, R. T., National Bird Law, 839 
ZIMMER, J. T., Free-tailed Bat, 665 
Zon, R., Forests and Humidity, 63 


: 
; 


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SCIENCE 


Fripay, Juuy 4, 1913 


CONTENTS 
A Plea for Closer Interrelations m Our 
Work: PRoFESSOR L. R. JONES .......... 1 


Report of the International Commission on 
Zoological Nomenclature: Dr. C. W. STILES 6 


Appropriations for the University of Illinois 19 
Scientific Notes and News ...............- 20 


University and Educational News .......... 23 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Some Facts concerning Mendelism: Pro- 
Fessor T. H. McHarton. The Food of 
Plants: Dr. N. Conser. A Good Soil 
Tube: Dr. CHARLES F. SHAW. Lee’s ‘‘In- 
troduction to Botany’’: PROFESSOR W. F. 
Ganong. The Leonhard LHuler Society: 
PROFESSOR ARNOLD EMCH .............. 24 


Scientific Books :— 
Johnson’s Fiaité de la Cote Atlantique de 
l’Amérique du Nord: Dr. JOHN M. CLARKE. 
Mathematik f. Biologen und Chemiker: 
Professor H. L. Rietz. Rutherford on 
Radioactive Substances: PRorEssor R. A. 
MILLIKAN 


Scientific Journals and Articles ............ 30 


Special Articles :-— 


Accessory Chromosomes in the Pig: Dr. J. 
E. WODSEDALEK. The Effect of External 
Stimuli upon the Cell: Dr. C.F. Horres .. 30 


Section G of the American Association and 
Botanists of the Central States: PROFESSOR 
Henry C. CowLEs 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


A PLEA FOR CLOSER INTERRELATIONS 
IN OUR WORK? 


Ir is the plan of our secretary to depart 
from the usual symposium idea this after- 
noon. Instead of selecting a single topic 
upon the various aspects of which in turn 
our attention is to be focused, he has asked 
to have addresses on different topics, evi- 
dently with the idea that we may be led to 
realize more fully the diversity of interests 
now encompassed in Section G. 

This at once suggests the problem which 
has been formulating more clearly each 
year in the field where my own chief inter- 
ests lie, that of plant pathology. Most of 
the work in this field, at least so far as it 
presents the problem, is of two easily de- 
finable types, which, while in some ways 
widely different, nevertheless, have much 
in common. These are, first, the training 
of graduate students for professional work 
as phytopathologists, second, the direction 
of research work supported by public 
funds, either state or national. Outside of 
these two fields, we have only the limited 
activities represented, on the one hand, by 
undergraduate teaching, and, on the other 
hand, by research privately supported. I 

+The paper as above published is a combination 
of two symposium papers read by the author at 
the recent Cleveland meetings, as follows: (1) 
“*A Plea for Closer Interrelations in our Work.’’ 
Read at the Botanical Symposium, Section G, 
December 31, 1912. (2) ‘‘Some International 
Aspects of Phytopathological Problems.’’ Read 
at the Symposium of the American Phytopatholog- 
ical Society, January 2, 1913. The other papers 
read at this Symposium are being published in 
Phytopathology. In order to make the theme con- 
tinuous, the second paper has been abridged and 


modified somewhat, but without essential change 
of idea. 


2 SCIENCE 


omit, of course, public teaching or exten- 
sion service as not concerning the higher 
aspects of the problem. 

Directing our attention, then, to these 
two main lines of phytopathological activ- 
ity—the effective prosecution of the higher 
lines of research and the best professional 
training of graduate students—the fact is 
becoming increasingly clear that in both 
lines it is of paramount importance to rec- 
ognize that the complex interrelations with 
other departments of botanical and allied 
sciences are each year becoming more intri- 
cate and vital, and the need of deliberate 
correlation of endeavor is, therefore, be- 
coming more imperative. Neither in re- 
search nor in graduate training can any 
man live by himself or to himself alone. 

Many of us, in phytopathology at least, 
have been undergoing a transition in rela- 
tions without perhaps fully realizing its 
significance. We shaped out individual or 
institutional ideals with reference to the 
purely local aspect of research problems or 
to the educational needs of the student of 
the more generalized type. This has meant 
that in the one department of one institu- 
tion, and perhaps under the leadership of 
one man, the student has been introduced 
to the various aspects of botanical science, 
and work upon problems of widely different 
types has been undertaken. The futility of 
this having become evident with our higher 
aims and the increasing complexity of our 
modern scientific development, we have 
naturally substituted the university as the 
unit instead of the man or the department. 

This seems to-day to be the dominant 
ideal in American university administra- 
tion and departmental organization. We 
wish to make each great university com- 
plete i all its parts and wholly sufficient 
unto itself. At least if we are not doing so 
positively, we are negatively, by not clearly 
defining any higher or better ideal. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


_ Asa matter of fact, however, we have ar- 
rived at the stage where the highest effi- 
ciency and economy in research and the 
best training for graduate men alike de- 
mand the clear recognition of the impor- 
tance of specialization, with correlation and 
cooperation, not only as between men and 
departments, but as between institutions.? 
No one man can be the best leader in all 
lines. No one laboratory has the best equip- 
ment for all purposes. No one library or 
herbarium is likely to be kept at the highest 
stage of working efficiency for all botanical 
problems. No one locality offers the natural 
or artificial environment best suited to meet 
all of the diverse needs of a single prob- 
lem. It is, therefore, both extravagant and 
futile to encourage the ideal of university 
completeness. 

For example, take the botanical gardens 
in America. All are, of course, agreed as 
to the usefulness of the moderate-sized 
garden for general college uses, or of the 
small but highly specialized garden for in- 
dividual researches. But I think every 
one recognizes the tremendous cost, both in 
money and in executive skill, which is re- 
quired to organize and develop the large 
botanical garden, planned and maintained 
as a general research center. I doubt not 
that most will agree, therefore, that it is 
better for botanical research in America to 
have the botanical gardens at Bronx Park 
and St. Louis equipped and kept at the 
highest possible degree of efficiency, sus- 
tained by the scientific recognition and 
moral support of the neighboring universi- 
ties, rather than to encourage the ideal of 
an extensive botanical garden at every 
university. 

2The need of better correlation in botanical 
work was also strongly urged by Dr. C. E. Bessey 
in his presidential address at the Cleveland meet- 
ing of the American Association for the Advance- 


ment of Science. See page 11 of the current 
volume of SCIENCE. 


JULY 4, 1913] 


The same holds with other departments 
or their adjuncts. What we need in Amer- 
ican university ideals to-day is clearly and 
definitely to substitute the idea of institu- 
tional preeminence secured by specializa- 
tion for that of a uniform grade of medi- 
ocrity imposed by the attempt at all-round 
equipment and attainment. And what- 

- ever we say as to the abstract principle, we 
shall at once see, if we compare our univer- 
sity curricula and analyze the situation, 
that this is what we are more and more 
clearly tending toward in our institutional 
developments. Specialization is an essential 
corollary of scientific progress. This is a 
universal law and applies as well to institu- 
tions as to men. This being so, it follows 
that just in proportion as we recognize in- 
stitutional specialization we must have in- 
stitutional correlation and cooperation as 
an avowed and approved policy. 

Let us consider what this may signify for 
the two lines of endeavor in phytopathol- 
ogy, viz., research and graduate training. 

Research.—In so far as phytopatholog- 
ical or similar research is supported by 
public funds and aims to meet economic 
needs, as is the case with most of the re- 
search work in plant pathology, the argu- 
ments for correlation, and indeed for co- 
operation, are becoming increasingly perti- 
nent and convincing. There can be no 
doubt that this is the only attitude morally 
or scientifically justifiable. But of course 
this is not a thing to be secured by official 
fiat or rule. Indeed, no definite modes of 
procedure may safely be formulated. 
Such correlation or cooperation to be prop- 
erly helpful must, to a large degree, be a 
matter of individual initiative and personal 
relation and the details must in general be 
left to individual workers and developed to 
meet the exigencies of special cases as they 
arise. The fundamentally important thing, 
however, in order to pave the way for this, 


SCIENCE 3 


is the general recognition of the propriety 
of such a course and the impropriety of any 
other. 

This implies the idea that state or nation- 
ally supported investigations should be so 
correlated as either to avoid duplication or 
to make the duplication of the highest sci- 
entific value. Every one experienced in 
any degree in such work recognizes the 
value of duplicated and repeated investi- 
gations. These advantages must not be 
sacrificed. On the other hand, every one 
recognizes also the prevalence of the waste- 
ful type of work which has no such worthy 
aim or scientific justification. The details 
of accomplishing this, at least in a large 
degree, of eliminating the bad while saving 
the good, will, I am sure, present no in- 
superable difficulties if once the right prin- 
ciple is generally recognized. 

Let us clearly define the ideal that the 
facilities of any publicly supported institu- 
tion are maintained primarily for the pub- 
lic good. It follows at once that the cour- 
tesies of such experimental grounds, li- 
braries, herbaria and laboratories are to be 
extended to men from other institutions 
with the utmost freedom compatible with 
non-interference with local work. If this 
is recognized by directors of laboratories 
and other administrative officers, and the 
ideal of correlation and cooperation as op- 
posed to competition is commended, espe- 
cially to our younger men, the balance may 
safely be left to the individuals concerned. 

Graduate Training—The other field in 
which there is the need of closer interrela- 
tions, and in some degree of correlations, 
includes our graduate schools. If the 
points already made are all well estab- 
lished, then it follows that we should in 
each of our graduate schools aim avowedly 
at preeminence im certain lines, rather than 
a uniform degree of excellence in all lines. 
If this is true then it follows again that any 


4 SCIENCE 


graduate student seeking the best should 
look for leadership in more than one insti- 
tution. 

Most of us can recall the time when 
American graduate students in botany were 
turning to Europe for their higher train- 
ing. To-day, we have the satisfaction of 
realizing that this is not necessary. In our 
American universities we now have the lab- 
oratory equipment, the libraries and a 
share of the personal leadership. Those 
qualified to compare testify that our stand- 
ards are at least in as high a class as those 
of the European universities. Without 
going into familiar details, I wish at once 
to point out, however, that the most strik- 
ing difference and defect in our American 
training, as compared with the German, is 
that it involves relatively less migration of 
our graduate students from university to 
university. All must at once admit this 
fact and all must lament it as unfortunate. 

If this is so, we should earnestly ask why 
it is so and how is it to be remedied. There 
is neither time nor necessity for full analy- 
sis of the reasons for its existence. A par- 
tial list will suffice: 

1. The geographical isolation of our bo- 
tanical centers. 

2. The lack of more definite recognition 
of the importance of institutional speciali- 
zation. 

3. Institutional loyalty or ‘‘eollege 
spirit’’ with its relative magnification of 
institutional prominence, rather than indi- 
vidual leadership. 

4.The financial handicap of many a 
eraduate student and, consequently, the at- 
tractiveness of the local financial induce- 
ments, scholarships, fellowships and assist- 
antships, which, naturally, are offered to 
our own best students. This has been em- 
phasized in recent years by the rapid insti- 
tutional growth coupled with the great de- 
velopment of laboratory courses, which 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


combine in demanding a large number of 
low-priced assistants. 

5. The reluctance which every depart- 
mental head, of normal human constitution, 
feels at sending his best men to another in- 
stitution before the completion of their 
eraduate period. 

6. The natural inertia on the part of im- 
mature students, which results from the 
American custom of staying by one institu- 
tion: A stays because B and C stay, and 
they because D did the year before. 

7. The fact that our graduate schools are 
not always so organized and managed as to 
make such a migration easy, simple and 
natural. The student can readily find out 
how he can get in as a beginner, but it is 
not so easy to learn what will be his status 
if he transfers. 

If I have listed the more important rea- 
sons for lack of migration among our grad- 
uate students, then analysis of them shows 
clearly that the fault lies primarily, not 
with our students, but with our institu- 
tional and departmental directors—with 
ourselves as teachers. 

To correct this we should do three 
things: 

1. Prepare to welcome and provide for 
the transient student, the man who comes 
for one year or even one semester’s work, 
with the same definiteness and the same 
departmental hospitality that we do for the 
man who is to stay two or three years. 

2. Examine the administrative machin- 
ery and see that it is so designed, adjusted 
and lubricated as to make migration easy ; 
that it is convenient for the doors to be 
swung both ways; that the able but tran- 
sient student is admitted promptly and his 
work properly certified when he leaves; 
that attainments at other institutions are 
recognized at their full face value. 

3. Finally, and hardest, remember that 
until the precedents are established and the 


JULY 4, 1913] 


“habit ’’ fixed the initiative may need to 
come from the instructor in charge rather 
than from the student. It may be a difficult 
thing, but it may be the right thing not in- 
frequently, to send our keenest man to some 
one else for a semester or a year—even 
though it be the last year and the degree. 


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 


In addition to our home problems there 
are the international aspects of these mat- 
ters of interrelation and cooperation. It is 
gratifying to realize that in some respects 
these have received more definite attention, 
and with better results, than those between 
our own institutions. This is especially 
true as relates to the two matters of indi- 
vidual research and graduate training. 
Dr. Farlow, in his delightful address,? has 
pictured the beginnings of American bo- 
tanical student migration to Europe, and 
the majority in almost any botanical gath- 
ering have followed that lead. This matter 
needs no emphasis other than an expression 
of the hope that we shall not let provincial 
pride or overesteem of the value of our ma- 
terial equipments lessen the tide of student 
migrants to Europe, although it may well 
be that they continue to go with somewhat 
different aims than in former years. 

There is, however, a broader aspect of 
international phytopathological problems 
which has not had adequate general recog- 
nition. The recent passage of the Sim- 
mons bill shows that, in some degree at 
least, this is dawning upon our national 
consciousness. This very bill, however, 
emphasizes the necessity for studying phy- 
topathological problems in their interna- 
tional relations. Two things are especially 
needed to this end. First, administrators 
as well as investigators should recognize 
the importance of occasional visits by the 
American investigator to such foreign 


*See page 79 of the current volume of ScIENcE. 


SCIENCE 5 


countries as will enable him to see his prob- 
lems in their foreign setting. The relation 
of environment to the predisposition of the 
host, as well as to the virulence of the para- 
site, can not be over-emphasized and it is 
often impossible for the investigator of the 
local problem to realize this except as he 
may be temporarily translocated.* 

Even more should our administrators see 
from time to time how great may be the 
gain from temporary or permanent em- 
ployment of foreign experts. This has been 
done in the Department of Agriculture 
often enough and with sufficiently favor- 
able results to justify its further trial. But 
there are inherent difficulties in the ap- 
pointment of foreigners to permanent gov- 
ernment positions and, moreover, the best 
of foreigners of mature experience can not 
be thus transplanted. Neither of these 
difficulties, however, arises in relation to 
the temporary employment of foreign ex- 
perts. It seems to me that the time has 
come when this should be done with in- 
creasing frequency. It would result not 
only in giving us promptly the best expert 
advice for immediate application, but, 
what is scarcely less important, would give 
the foreign specialist such an understand- 
ing of the American problem as would 
make his further investigations more 
broadly inclusive of American conditions 
and insure results proportionately more 
valuable to us. Every student of the his- 
tory of plant pathology recognizes the gain 
to England directly, and to science indi- 
rectly, which came from the employment 
of De Bary by the Royal Agricultural So- 
ciety as expert upon the problems which 
arose 1n connection with the potato disease. 

*This aspect of the discussion was set forth in 
detail by Dr. C. L. Shear in the second paper of 
the symposium before the American Phytopatho- 
logical Society, January 2, 1913. Dr. Shear’s 
paper is published in Phytopathology, 3: 77-87, 
April, 1913. 


6 SCIENCE 


Who will measure the advantage to Ameri- 
can plant pathology could we have had a 
professional visit of inspection with obli- 
gation for counsel from Aderhold, when he 
was at the height of his understanding of 
German orchard pathology; or who will 
estimate the stimulus to our progress upon 
cereal rust studies could we have brought 
Ward to America for even a brief sojourn 
when he was probing deepest into their 
fundamentals, providing he came commis- 
sioned and committed not alone to see but 
to advise? Surely if exchange professor- 
ships are scientifically and economically 
justifiable in any field, they are in plant 
pathology.® 

In closing, then, let me briefly summar- 
ize with particular reference to phytopa- 
thology. I must leave it for those whose 
chief interests lie in other fields to dissent 
if my conclusions are not generally applic- 
able, as I myself believe they are. 

The points I would make are: 

1. An understanding of the complex in- 
terrelations of our subject with the various 
fields of science is becoming each year more 
difficult and more imperative. 

2. Educational and investigational work, 


'The American Phytopathological Society after 
discussion of these points adopted the following 
resolution: 

Resolved, That the American Phytopathological 
Society, appreciating the fact that plant diseases 
do not heed national limits or geographical boun- 
daries and also the evident limitations imposed 
upon investigations when restricted by national 
bounds, respectfully recommend that administra- 
tors of research institutions, whether state or 
national,.as well as individual investigators, recog- 
nize the importance of establishing closer inter- 
national relations and take such steps as may be 
practicable from time to time to this end, inclu- 
ding not only more frequent visits of American 
investigators to foreign countries for field ob- 
servations as well as research, but also the se- 
curing, either by permanent or temporary engage- 
ment, of the best of foreign experts in plant 
pathology. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


especially where supported by public funds, 
should be correlated as closely as practic- 
able on the grounds of both economy and 
efficiency. 

3. One step looking to this should be an 
attempt by both departmental heads and 
general administrators in our graduate 
schools to encourage and facilitate the mi- 
gration of graduate students from school 
to school and to locate their field operations 
where most favorable to the progress of 
their work. 

4. Another step in this same direction 
should be an attempt at better correlation 
in state experiment station and national 
agricultural department investigations, 
coupled with more freedom in change of lo- 
cation of investigators. 

5. These principles apply still more 
broadly to foreign relations, both as to 
graduate students and as to mature investi- 
gators. We need not only to make it easier 
for our graduate students to go abroad and 
to encourage our mature investigators to 
continue to do this with increasing fre- 
quency, but especially do we need so to ar- 
range as to secure the official visits of for- 
eign experts, both for advice on particular 
problems and to secure their intelligent 
general cooperation in working out our 
American problems. 

L. R. JONES 


DEPARTMENT OF PLANT PATHOLOGY, 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COM- 
MISSION ON ZOOLOGICAL 
NOMENCLATURE 


(1)? During its 1913 (Monaco) session, the In- 
ternational Commission on Zoological Nomencla- 
ture has held ten executive meetings. 

(2) The following nine active commissioners 
were present: Messrs. Allen, Blanchard, Dautzen- 
berg, Hartert, Hoyle, Jentink, Monticelli, Stejne- 


1For convenience of reference, the paragraphs 
or subjects of this report are given serial numbers 
in parentheses, thus: (1). 


JuLY 4, 1913] 


ger and Stiles. In addition, Messrs. K. Jordan 
and the Honorable Walter Rothschild, at the in- 
vitation of the commission, attended the meetings 
in an advisory capacity. 

(3) The following active and advisory commis- 
sioners were not in attendance: Messrs, Apstein, 
Dollo, Jordan (D. 8.), Ludwig and Mitchell. 

(4) Death—lIt is with profound regret that the 
commission reports the death of one of its mem- 
bers, Professor Dr. F. C. von Maehrenthal, who 
died in 1910, very shortly after the Gratz meeting. 
Putting entirely aside our feeling of personal loss 
as insignificant in comparison with the loss that 
Commissioner von Maehrenthal’s death means to 
the international zoological profession, the com- 
mission feels that it is only just to pause a mo- 
ment to recall to the members of this congress the 
modest character of this man who gave nearly his 
entire professional career to aiding his colleagues 
in their more tedious labors and than whom it 
would be difficult to find, in the entire history of 
zoology, any man with a keener insight into the 
intricacies and complications of zoological nomen- 
clature with the possible exception of Linneus and 
Strickland. 

(5) Resignations.—During the interim since the 
1910 session, the commission has received the fol- 
lowing resignations, which are herewith reported 
to the congress with the recommendation that they 
be accepted: 

Dr. G. A. Boulenger (London), who declined to 
serve. 

Dr. Louis Dollo (Brussels), who begged to be 
excused from service, on the ground of poor health. 

The resignation of Professor Hubert Ludwig 
(Bonn) has been received, but as his term of office 
expires with the present congress no formal action 
is necessary. 

(6) Advisory or Temporary Commissioners.— 
Through the death of Dr. von Maehrenthal and 
the resignations of Drs. Boulenger, Dollo and 
Ludwig, the commission became reduced from 15 
to 11 members. As it seemed very advisable not 
to permit the organization to decrease in size, and 
as there was no method of procedure prescribed 
whereby vacancies were to be filled in the interim 
between congresses, the commission, acting in the 
interest of the subject, invited certain gentlemen 
to fill the vacancies until these could be filled by 
the present congress. The gentlemen in question 
are as follows: 

Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, secretary of the Zoo- 
logical Society of London, was invited to serve in 
place of Dr. Boulenger. 


SCIENCE 


7 


Professor Kraepelin, of Hamburg, was invited 
to serve in place of Dr. von Maehrenthal; Dr. 
Kraepelin served but a short time, and Professor 
Apstein, of Berlin, was invited to fill the vacancy. 

(7) Upon reaching Monaco, the commission in- 
vited Dr. K. Jordan, secretary of the International 
Committee on Entomological Nomenclature, and 
the Honorable Walter Rothschild to sit with the 
commission in an advisory capacity and this has 
been done. 

(8) Since not a single majority vote has been 
determined by the gentlemen in question, and 
therefore their temporary membership on the com- 
mission has in reality been equivalent to their 
serving simply in an advisory capacity, the legality 
of the action taken can not be questioned on the 
ground that these gentlemen were not formally 
elected by the congress. At the same time, as a 
matter of formality, the commission at present 
asks that its action in respect to the vacancies be 
confirmed by the congress by the adoption of the 
following resolution: 

(9) Resolved, That the informal action taken 
by the International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature in regard to filling vacancies be ap- 
proved and ratified by this ninth congress and be 
made formal. 

(10) In order to provide for similar contingen- 
cies in the future, the Commission recommends to 
the congress the adoption of the following resolu- 
tion: 

(11) Resolved, That in case of vacancies in the 
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature by death 
or resignation during the interim between con- 
gresses, said commission is empowered to fill said 
vacancies temporarily, with the understanding that 
the appointees shall hold office until the vacancies 
in question are filled by the next succeeding con- 
gress. 

(12) Expiration of Term of Service—The term 
of service expires at the close of this (1913, 
Monaco) congress for the following five members 
of the class of 1913: 

J. A. Allen, of New York; Ph. Dautzenberg, of 
Paris; Hubert Ludwig, of Bonn; F. C. von Maehr- 
enthal, deceased, of Berlin, succeeded temporarily 
by K. Apstein, of Berlin; W. E. Hoyle, of Cardiff. 

(13) Nominations.—In accordance with custom 
obtaining since the Cambridge (1898) congress, 
the commission, after careful consideration as to 
details of the work, of countries, languages, spe- 
cialties, ete., herewith has the honor to submit 
nominations to fill the seven vacancies that will 


8 SCIENCE 


exist upon adjournment of the present congress. 
These nominations are: 

Class of 1919: Professor C. Apstein, of Berlin, 
Germany (Professor von Maehrenthal’s successor 
in the office of Das Tierreich), vice Professor 
Louis Dollo, of Brussels, resigned. 

Professor Roule, of the Paris Museum, vice G. 
A. Boulenger, resigned. 

Class of 1922: Dr. J. A. Allen, of the American 
Museum of Natural History, New York, vice J. 
A. Allen, term expired. 

Ph. Dautzenberg, of Paris, vice, Ph. Dautzen- 
berg, term expired. 

Professor H. J. Kolbe, of the Berlin Museum, 
vice Professor Hubert Ludwig, of Bonn, term ex- 
pired. 

Dr. Wm. Evans Hoyle, director of the National 
Museum of Wales, at Cardiff, vice W. E. Hoyle, 
term expired. 

Dr. Karl Jordan, secretary of the International 
Committee on Entomological Nomenclature, vice 
F. C. von Maehrenthal deceased and term ex- 
pired. 

(14) Proposition to enlarge the Commission.— 
This commission originally consisted of five mem- 
bers, elected at the Leyden congress in 1895. 
Upon recommendation of the original commission, 
the Cambridge (1898) congress increased the num- 
ber of commissioners to fifteen. The present com- 
mission is of the opinion that it is now in the 
interest of the subject to increase the membership 
from fifteen to eighteen with the understanding 
that the three new commissioners shall be so ar- 
ranged that one joins the class of 1916, one that 
of 1919 and one that of 1922. The commission is 
led to this recommendation by several reasons, 
notably by the three following: (1) there exists 
at present an excellent opportunity to cooperate 
in work on the nomenclature of entomology and 
the situation is such that the commission desires 
the services of two additional entomologists in 
this connection; (2) the work of the commission 
has increased to such an extent that it seems in 
the interest of the subject to have three more men 
available’ for service; (3) the commission feels 
that it is desirable to return to its former policy 
of having a paleontologist among its members and 
in view of the present amount of work before us 
this will be difficult unless authority is given for 
the appointment of the additional men requested. 
If the congress authorizes the three additional 
men, the commission is prepared to make the nom- 
inations required, as follows: 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


Class of 1916: Dr. Henry Skinner, of the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 

Class of 1919: Dr. Geza Horvath, of Budapest. 

Class of 1922: Dr. F. A. Bather, assistant keeper 
of geology, British Museum of Natural History, 
London. 

(15) Offers of Cooperation—lIt is a pleasure to 
Teport that two nomenclatorial committees have, 
since the last congress, made overtures to the 
commission to cooperate in work. 

One offer of cooperation has come from the 
Committee on Nomenclature of the American 
Paleontological Society and consisting of Wm. H. 
Dall, F. H. Knowlton and 8S. W. Williston (see- 
retary). 

Another offer of cooperation has come from the 
International Committee on Entomological Nom- 
enclature. 

(16) In this connection it may be stated that a 
working arrangement has been made between the 
secretary of the International Committee on Ento- 
mological Nomenclature and the Secretary of the 
International Commission on Zoological Nomen- 
elature, in accordance with which all questions on 
entomological nomenclature will be referred to 
the International Committee on Entomological 
Nomenclature for study as to premises and for 
report before any opinion on them is issued by the 
International Commission, and attention is in- 
vited to the fact that the secretary of the Com- 
mittee on Entomological Nomenclature has been 
nominated for membership in the International 
Commission. Whether the time will ever come 
that the International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature will consist chiefly or exclusively of 
the secretaries of various international committees 
representing special groups remains to be seen. 

(17) By-laws—The commission has made no 
amendment to its by-laws since 1910, but attention 
may be invited to the fact that the president is 


' the presiding officer and that the secretary is the 


administrative officer. If, therefore, any person 
desires to submit propositions to the entire com- 
mission, time will be saved if they are sent di- 
rectly to the secretary, whose permanent address 
is: Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public Health 
Service, Washington, D. C. 

(18) In order to avoid misunderstanding in the 
future, attention may be invited to the fact that 
the commission does not feel called upon to con- 
sider any communication addressed to it only 
through the medium of journals or the proceedings 
of learned societies. To insure consideration of 
communications the latter may best be sent direct 


JULY 4, 1913] 


to the secretary and if their receipt is not ac- 
knowledged within a reasonable time the con- 
clusion may safely be drawn that they were never 
received. 

(19) Official List of most Frequently Used Zoo- 
logical Names.—The Gratz congress adopted a 
recommendation by the commission to the effect 
that an attempt be made to establish, on basis of 
the International Rules of Nomenclature, an 
‘¢Official List of most Frequently Used Zoological 
Names.’’? In accordance with this vote, the sec- 
retary invited a number of workers to form them- 
selves into special committees and to cooperate in 
the undertaking, and he submitted to several of 
these committees lists of names for study. 

(20) The vigorous protests received from various 
sources were not foreseen. Some zoologists pro- 
tested against the proposed list on the ground 
that this was the beginning of a list of ‘‘ Nomina 
conservanda’’ to which they would not submit; 
others demanded that the secretary agree that the 
list be made without reference to the law of pri- 
ority; some practically challenged the right of the 
commission to undertake the work; others flatly 
refused to cooperate; some agreed to cooperate 
and did so; others promised aid that has thus far 
not been forthcoming. 

(21) In view of the great dissatisfaction with 
the proposed list, the secretary finally decided that 
the wisest plan would be to submit to the commis- 
sion only a comparatively small number of names 
as a sample of what was proposed and to post- 
pone further action on the matter until the com- 
mission might discuss the situation and lay its 
views before the congress for further considera- 
tion. 

(22) The commission submits herewith a sample 
of what it had in mind in suggesting the official 
list. This consists of an accepted list of 40 gen- 
eric names which appear from our present knowl- 
edge to be valid under the code and a rejected list 
of names which appear to be unavailable under 
the code. 

(23) The commission recommends that this be 
taken as a beginning and that names be very grad- 
ually and carefully selected to be added to the list. 
It will, however, be impossible to build out this 
nomenclator unless cooperation is had from sys- 
tematists in the different groups. With proper 
cooperation, however, the commission is persuaded 
that 100 to 500 accepted names and as many or 
more rejected names might be added to the list 
every three years and that in this way not only 
would we obtain a list of established names for 


SCIENCE 9 


the genera most frequently referred to but that 
many useless names could be definitely eliminated 
from literature. The commission does not desire, 
however, to continue this very time-consuming 
labor unless there is a very distinct desire on the 
part of zoologists to have the work done and a 
willingness to cooperate in the undertaking. 

(24) The names suggested as samples for adop- 
tion are distributed as follows: Trematoda, 11; 
Cestoda, 5; Nematoda, 7; Gordiacea, 2; Acantho- 
cephala, 1; Arachnoidea, 8; Diptera, 6. Prac- 
tically all of these come into consideration not 
only in zoological, but also in medical and vet- 
erinary literature. 

(25) Public notice has been given that these 
names would be called up for vote at this (1913) 
meeting of the commission and ample opportunity 
has been afforded for the presentation of objec- 
tions. No objection to any name in the list as 
now submitted has been presented to the com- 
mission. 

(26) In addition to the list of 40 names sub- 
mitted for action at the present meeting, the 
commission submits a list of 169 generic names of 
birds, with their authorities, references, genotypes 
and method of type fixation, based on the Inter- 
national Rules of Zoological Nomenclature and 
unanimously agreed upon by a special committee 
of professional ornithologists, upon which the fol- 
lowing gentlemen served: J. A. Allen (New 
York), E. Hartert (Tring), C. E. Hellmayr 
(Munich), H. C. Oberholser (Washington), C. W. 
Richmond, secretary (Washington), R. Ridgway 
(Washington), L. Stejneger (Washington) and 
W. Stone (Philadelphia). 

(27) It is the intention of the commission to 
send this list of names to press in the very near 
future and to give ample opportunity to the 
zoological profession to offer objection to any of 
the names in question. Shortly after January 1, 
1914, the commission contemplates announcing the 
fact whether or not objection has been raised and 
will issue an opinion regarding the adoption of 
the list. This opinion would then be laid before 
the Tenth International Congress for confirmation. 

(28) A third list, consisting of 430 names ‘‘to 
be rejected,’’ is submitted by the commission. 
These names also have been made public with in- 
vitation to zoologists to present arguments show- 
ing why any of said names should not be rejected. 
This list is to be interpreted simply as follows: 
Word has reached the commission in one form or 
another that these names are absolute homonyms 
and therefore (Art. 34) unavailable; under these 


10 SCIENCE 


circumstances the commission will consider the 
names in question as stillborn unless evidence is 
presented that the premises now before the com- 
mission are erroneous; further, the commission 
suggests to authors that they cooperate in the 
work by either correcting the premises before the 
commission or by discontinuing to use the names. 
The ‘‘To be rejected’’ list consists thus far of 
430 generie names, distributed as follows: Trema- 
toda, 22; Nematoda, 40; Gordiacea, 1; Acantho- 
cephala, 2; Diptera, 92; Mammalia, 273. 

(29) Many other names, supposedly valid or 
supposedly unavailable, are still under considera- 
tion either by the commission or by the several 
special subcommittees, but no further work in this 
line is contemplated unless the present congress 
distinctly expresses its desire to have the labor 
continued. 

(30) In the opinion of the commission, work of 
this nature is distinctly constructive and promises 
the ultimate possibility of an international and 
authoritative list of the names that should be ap- 
plied to the most commonly cited 5,000 to 10,000 
zoological genera. 

[Here follow the lists of names. These will 
appear in the Proceedings of the Congress. ] 

(46) Presumable Permanency of the Official 
List.—That the question as to the presumable per- 
manency of the Official List based upon the law 
of priority may arise in the minds of many zoolo- 
gists is to be taken as self-understood. This ques- 
tion may be answered as follows: 

(47) Changes in names dependent upon changes 
in conceptions of classification can not be foreseen 
from one generation to the next and any plan for 
nomenclature that ignores this point makes prom- 
ises that can not count upon being fulfilled. The 
following statistics, however, worked out by Lester 
F. Ward (1895) give an indication of the changes 
that may reasonably be expected to occur upon 
nomenclatorial grounds: 

(48) By taking the first 50 genera given in the 
American Ornithologists’ Union Check-List, it is 
found that in only five cases did the generic name 
Temain unchanged from 1859 to 1886. Thus prior 
to the establishment of the names on basis of the 
law of priority, 45 of the 50 names (or 90 per 
cent.) changed from 1859 to 1886. From 1886 
(when the names were established on basis of the 
law of priority) to 1895, not one of the 50 names 
was changed. The complete list embraced 322 
genera and about 1,000 species and subspecies. In 
the ten years following the publication of the list 
(based upon priority), it was found necessary to 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


change, by action of the law of priority, the names 
of 3 genera, 1 subgenus, 3 species and 1 subspecies. 

(49) The commission invites the serious atten- 
tion of the congress to these very remarkable re- 
sults obtained by the code of the American Ornith- 
ologists’ Union. If our international code is 
properly safeguarded against changes taken hastily 
and without due deliberation as to the many com- 
plications involved, it may reasonably be expected 
that our International Official List will undergo 
very few changes, upon nomenclatorial grounds, 
but this commission can not possibly foresee what 
changes must be adopted during the next 10 to 
100 years because of unforeseen changes in con- 
ceptions of classification. 

(50) The commission has the honor to request 
definite instructions from the congress as to 
whether or not it is the desire to have this list 
continued. 

(51) Code of Ethics—The commission permits 
itself to invite attention to the fact that there 
exists in the zoological profession no recognized 
and generally adopted code of ethics that is com- 
parable to the code of ethics existing in the med- 
ical profession of certain countries. Without pre- 
suming to be the arbiter of points of general 
ethics, the commission is persuaded that there is 
one phase of this subject upon which it is com- 
petent to speak and in reference to this point it 
suggests to the congress the adoption of the fol- 
lowing resolution: 

(52) WHEREAS, Experience has shown that au- 
thors, not infrequently, inadvertently publish, as 
new designations of genera or species names that 
are preoccupied, and 

WHEREAS, Experience has also shown that some 
other authors discovering the homonymy have pub- 
lished new names for the later homonyms in ques- 
tion, be it therefore 

Resolved, That when it is noticed by any zoolo- 
gist that the generic or the specific name pub- 
lished by any living author as new is in reality a 
homonym and therefore unavailable under Articles 
34 and 36 of the Rules on Nomenclature, the 
proper action, from a standpoint of professional 
etiquette is for said person to notify said author 
of the facts of the case and to give said author 
ample opportunity to propose a substitute name. 

(53) Date of Author’s Reprints or Separata.— 
Among the cases recently submitted to the com- 
mission for opinion is one that involves a some- 
what unusual point in respect to reprints. Under 
the present rules there is no article which per- 
mits the commission to rule that all separata are 


JULY 4, 1913] 


of the same date as, or of a later date than, the 
original publication, although such a proposal has 
now been submitted as an amendment to the rules 
and will be considered in time for the Tenth Con- 
gress. In the meantime, the commission has in- 
structed the secretary to report the following 
resolutions to the congress: 

(54) Resolved, That the commission, under 
unanimous suspension of the by-laws if need be, 
recommends to the congress the adoption of the 
following resolution, namely: 

(55) WHEREAS the widespread custom of is- 
suing reprints in advance of the appearance of the 
original publication gives rise to much unneces- 
sary confusion in nomenclature, be it 

(56) Resolved, That the Ninth International 
Zoological Congress expresses its disapproval of 
this custom and appeals to editors to discontinue 
it, and further, be it 

(57) Resolved, That editors be requested to 
give on each edition of all publications the exact 
date (year, month, day) of issue of said edition. 

(58) Opinions—At the Boston (1907) congress 
the commission reported upon opinions 1 to 5 
inclusive; at the Gratz (1910) congress it re- 
ported upon opinions 6 to 28 inclusive; at the 
present congress, it herewith reports the sum- 
maries of opinions 29 to 56 inclusive. The full 
opinions have been published by the Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington, D. C., as Publications 
Nos. 1938, 1989, 2013, 2060; No. 2169, containing 
opinions 52 to 56 inclusive, is now in proof and 
will soon be issued. Attention is invited to a 
correction of opinion 31 published on page 89, 
Publication No. 2060. 

The commission regrets to hear that some zool- 
ogists claim to have been unable to find copies of 
these opinions and desires to state that they are 
sent to 1,100 libraries, to the members of the 
International Congress and to a limited number of 
specialists. Only the summaries are issued in the 
proceedings of the congress. If any member of 
the congress fails to receive the full opinions, he is 
invited to notify the secretary of the commission. 

At its present session the commission has taken 
a preliminary or a final vote upon several addi- 
tional opinions and it now has under consideration 
about 15 other cases that have been submitted to 
it for study. 

[Here follow the summaries of opinions 29-56.] 

(59) The opinions have now been a policy for 
six years. They have been received by various 
zoologists in different ways. Some of our col- 
leagues in the profession are urging us to continue 


SCIENCE 11 


this policy, on the ground that it is the logical 
method of settling difficult questions. Others are 
opposed to the policy and one man has even prac- 
tically challenged our right to issue the series. 

(60) This commission is well aware of the fact 
that in issuing 56 opinions we have not been able 
to decide on both sides of every question and thus 
to please every person. 

(61) It may not be out of place to remark that 
these opinions have recently probably been the 
greatest factor in pressing to the fore the law of 
priority and in producing discontent. Formerly, 
so long as two authors could not agree upon a 
given point of nomenclature, each followed his 
own interpretation. If one of these authors now 
submits the case to the commission, an opinion is 
rendered which, of course, has not the force of 
law, but which nevertheless is a strong moral sup- 
port to one side of the controversy in question. 
Experience has, however, shown that instances are 
not lacking when the commission by giving its 
opinion has drawn upon itself the fire which in 
earlier days would have been directed to the indi- 
vidual worker in whose favor the opinion happens 
to be given. And it has come about that the com- 
mission has not been permitted to remain ignorant 
of the fact that it has perhaps made fewer friends 
than enemies in its endeavor to conform to the 
wishes of our colleagues to settle cases for them. 

(62) The commission does not consider that in 
rendering these opinions it is placing itself under 
any obligations whatever to zoologists for the 
privilege of doing so much work for other people, 
and is perfectly willing to discontinue the series. 
In continuing to give opinions, however, the com- 
mission can not be expected to depart from the 
code and to make exceptions in order to please 
individual workers. If the congress is not satisfied 
with the results, it will be an easy matter for the 
congress to say so. 

(63) The commission as at present constituted 
feels it proper, however, to remind zoologists that 
in the performance of our duties we are not sup- 
posed to take into consideration any personal 
preferences or any local, factional or personal 
quarrels—such as have actually been presented to 
us as if they were valid nomenclatorial argument. 

(64) Increasing Interest in Nomenclature.— 
Probably at no time in the history of zoology has 
there been a more widespread interest in the sub- 
ject of nomenclature than exists at present. This 
interest is probably due to several factors, one of 
which is the increased sense of necessity or at least 
desirability for international uniformity in use of 


12 SCIENCE 


technical names. As authors increase in number 
and attempt to monograph various groups the lack 
of uniformity in the use of names is brought home 
to them, and no matter what policy they may try 
to follow they usually find it necessary to change 
some of the names more or less current in their 
group. Under existing rules and under all stand- 
ard codes since 1845, and in spirit at least since 
the Linnean Code of 1751, the law of priority has 
in general been taken as fundamental criterion 
in deciding certain classes of the changes, and in 
fact so many points have been made upon basis 
of this law that it has aroused opposition from 
certain quarters. 

(65) In this connection it is interesting to note 
that if an author changes from Ameba to Ameba, 
or from Ameba vulgaris to A. princeps, or if he 
makes a change of name and gives as his reason 
the fact that the rejected name does not please 
him, or even if he divides an old collective genus 
into 40 or 50 new genera, introducing 39 or 49 
new names and retains the old collective generic 
name for the indefinite residuum, his action is not 
very likely to produce any particular indignation, 
but if any author consistently applies the law of 
priority, thus attempting to settle all cases ob- 
jectively he becomes what one author is pleased to 
eall a ‘‘fanatic priority ruler.’’ 

(66) As authors are increasing in number and 
as publications become so numerous, both the ap- 
plication of the law of priority and the protests 
against the law increase. 

(67) The commission is distinctly gratified if 
its efforts have contributed in even a small degree 
to the present increased interest in the subject. 
It may, however, be permitted to invite attention 
to three phases of the present status of the sub- 
ject which are somewhat disquieting. 

(68) 1. Intemperate Language.—Whether or not 
it be an actual fact, appearances to that effect 
exist that if one author changes or corrects the 
names used by another writer, the latter seems in- 
clined to take the change as a personal offense. 
The explanation of this fact (or appearance, as 
the case may‘ be) is not entirely clear. If one per- 
son corrects the grammar of another, this action 
seems to be interpreted as a criticism upon the 
good breeding or education of the latter person. 
Nomenclature has been called ‘‘the grammar of 
science,’’ and possibly there is some inborn feel- 
ing that changes in nomenclature involve a reflec- 
tion upon one’s education, culture and breeding. 
Too frequently there follows a discussion in which 
one or the other author so far departs from the 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


paths of diplomatic discussion, that he seems to 
give more or less foundation to the view that there 
is something in his culture subject to criticism. 
It is with distinct regret that the commisson 
notices the tendency to sarcasm and intemperate 
language so noticeable in discussions which should 
be not only of the most friendly nature, especially 
since a thorough mutual understanding is so val- 
uable to an agreement, but which are complicated 
and rendered more difficult of results by every 
little departure from those methods adopted by 
professional gentlemen. 

(69) In the opinion of the commission the tend- 
ency to enter into public polemics over matters 
which educated and refined professional gentlemen 
might so easily settle in friendly and diplomatic 
correspondence is distinctly unfavorable to a set- 
tlement of the nomenclatorial cases for which a 
solution is sought. It may be assumed that the 
vast majority of zoologists agree with the commis- 
sion in desiring results rather than polemics, and 
the commission ventures to suggest that results 
may be obtained more easily by the utmost con- 
sideration for the usual rules of courtesy when 
discussing the views of others. 

(70) 2. Education in Nomenclature—It may 
safely be asserted that comparatively few zoolo- 
gists upon beginning their independent profes- 
sional career have even a general idea of the sub- 
ject of nomenclature, for the reason that zoolog- 
ical grammar (namely, zoological nomenclature) 
is not usually taught in courses leading to the 
bachelor’s, the master’s or the doctor’s degree. 
Without wishing to emphasize the point unduly, 
the commission ventures to suggest that it would 
be in the interest of harmony if at least the ele- 
mentary rudiments of the subject were taught 
more generally to students preparing themselves 
for a career as professional zoologists. 

(71) 3. The Immensity of the Task before Us. 
—Despite the quite generally increased interest 
shown in the subject of nomenclature, there are 
some grounds for disquiet in the fact that rela- 
tively so few workers seem to grasp the immensity 
of the task involved in introducing harmony of 
system among so many different groups and in 
bringing about satisfactory conditions among so 
many hundreds of thousands of technical names 
scattered over so many different publications writ- 
ten or edited in so many instances by workers who, 
despite their erudition in respect to their subject, 
were so to speak not exactly grammatical—or at 
least rhetorical—when it came to their technical 
names. 


Tuy 4, 1913] 


(72) That present conditions are to be settled 
in a day or in a few years is not to be expected. 
The transitional period between the lack of uni- 
formity in the past and the hoped-for uniformity 
of the future will last at least one entire genera- 
tion, and to our generation falls the pleasure or 
the misfortune (according to one’s point of view) 
of undertaking the extensive and distinctly altru- 
istic duty of saving future generations of scien- 
tific workers from the dangerous inheritance of 
chaotic nomenclature that threatens them. 

(73) Stability in all zoological names during 
our generation is not in the dreams of the mem- 
bers of this commission, which at your request 
undertook eighteen years ago a most trying, most 
thankless and very extensive task, for which the 
only reward in its successful accomplishment ex- 
ists in the thought that our work is a sacrifice. 

(74) That many of our colleagues should differ 
with us in point of view does not disquiet us, but 
it is a matter of some misgiving to us that some 
of our colleagues are (or at least seemingly are) 
of the opinion that the difficulties at hand are to 
be settled so easily and in a few years. 

(75) The transitional period will be mentioned 
again in connection with the reference to the law 
of priority. 

(76) Whatever the outcome of the present situ- 
ation, the commission desires to express its grati- 
fication of the fact that, judged from the various 
postal card votes that have recently been taken, 
many persons to-day are hearing of the rules of 
nomenclature who probably rarely if ever heard of 
them before and many others are taking an active 
interest who formerly ignored the subject. At the 
same time the feeling that has been exhibited in 
some instances leads the commission to the view 
that the present occasion is one that calls for cool 
and calm deliberation rather than for attempts to 
obtain majorities in postal card votes, for surely 
the quiet deliberations of a few representatives 
selected because of their long experience in the 
intricacies of a very intricate subject are more 
likely to reduce confusion than is the conclusion of 
a large number of persons, voting upon a subject 
perhaps by mail and assuredly with less careful 
deliberation. 

(77) This latter point was clearly recognized in 
the Cambridge (England) meeting when the com- 
mission was not, because of a lack of unanimity 
in its report, even accorded a place on the program 
to present the rules, and again in the Berlin con- 
gress when the commission was urged to keep the 
subject of nomenclature out of the general meet- 


SCIENCE 13 


ings by reporting only upon propositions agreed 
upon by unanimous vote in commission. 

(78) The Relations of the Commission to the 
Congress.—Certain letters and certain published 
criticisms seem to indicate more or less clearly 
that there is considerable misunderstanding in re- 
gard to the relationship of the commission to the 
congress. In the hope of clearing up certain 
points and thus in the hope of a better under- 
standing, the commission ventures to give a brief 
statement bearing on this subject. 

(79) In 1889 and 1892, at the Paris and the 
Moscow congresses, a code of zoological nomen- 
clature was discussed and adopted. 

(80) In 1895, at the Leiden congress, a desire 
was expressed by one of the German delegates to 
have all codes submitted to a comparative study 
and to have the results presented to the next con- 
gress. As a result, a commission of five members 
was appointed to carry out this task. This com- 
mission worked for three years and was prepared 
to present its report to the Cambridge congress of 
1898, but because of the fact that this report was 
not unanimous on all points, the commission was 
refused a place on the program for the presenta- 
tion of its conclusions as to the rules. The com- 
mission was, however, increased to 15 members in 
the hope of reaching more satisfactory results in 
its vote, and upon motion the general session voted 
that all propositions that were to be reported upon 
at any given congress were to be in the hands of 
the commission at least one year prior to the meet- 
ing of the congress. 

(81) After another period of three years’ work, 
during which the enlarged commission had to re- 
study the entire report of the original commission, 
the former met at Berlin in 1901. Before its 
report was completed conferences were held with 
quite a number of the more prominent mem- 
bers of the congress. During these conferences 
the commission was given very distinctly to under- 
stand that the congress would not receive any 
report unless it was unanimous. As one prominent 
German member of the congress stated in effect: 
“‘Tt is the duty of the commission to become 
unanimous in its vote; give us a definite set of 
rules, good, bad or indifferent, but be unanimous 
in your report, and after you give us the rules, 
see that they are carried out.’’ The words of this 
prominent German savant were a fair reflection 
of the feeling we found at the Berlin meeting, so 
far as the secretary of the commission could 
discover. 

(82) Unfortunately the Commission could not 


14 SCIENCE 


agree upon all points, and after many conferences, 
it finally suggested to the congress the proposition 
that those portions of the rules upon which the 
commission was unanimous should be accepted, 
and that all other portions be referred back to 
the commission. This motion, suggested in the 
general session, prevailed. 

(83) After its experience at Cambridge and 
Berlin the commission was indeed not inclined 
again to repeat its action of preparing for the 
congress (as it did at Cambridge) any proposition 
unless all of its members present at the congress 
were unanimously agreed upon it. In order to 
make this point certain the commission adopted at 
the Berne congress the principle of reporting 
recommendations in regard to changes in the rules, 
only when the vote upon them was unanimously in 
the affirmative. Since the Berne congress this 
plan has, in the interest of conservatism, been 
strictly adhered to. From the Berlin congress in 
1901 until the present congress, no section on 
nomenclature has been provided by the program 
committee and the commission has endeavored to 
meet this situation by holding an open meeting of 
the commission which all persons interested in 
nomenclature were invited to attend. 

(84) The history of the commission has clearly 
demonstrated that the congress has thus far de- 
sired not to have its general meetings turned into 
open discussions on questions of nomenclature, but 
rather to have nomenclatorial discussions confined 
to sections and commissions and nomenclatorial 
questions decided in committee. 

(85) If at present there is a change of desire 
on the part of the congress and if the congress 
wishes these very technical and complex matters 
discussed in the general sessions, the commission 
would rejoice at the more general interest in nom- 
enclature as evidenced by such a desire, but at the 
same time it is constrained to state that nomen- 
clature is a subject that requires quiet delibera- 
tion rather than formal debate, and, further, that 
to throw open the general meetings of this con- 
gress as a forum for this exceedingly dry and com- 
plicated subject will be not only to jeopardize the 
success of future congresses, but, since this plan 
is not in accord with the plan under which many 
zoologists elected to follow the international rules, 
@ grave question arises as to following such a 
policy. 

(86) Amendments to the ‘‘Régles Internation- 
ales de la Nomenclature Zoologique.’’—There have 
been fifteen series of amendments submitted to the 
commission which has been in session since Friday, 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


March 22, studying the various suggestions, giving 
hearings, etc. For instance, a special hearing was 
given both to Professor Brauer and to Dr. Poche 
for presentation of any arguments or points of 
view they might desire to submit in connection 
with the proposed amendments in which they were 
especially interested. 

(87) A somewhat embarrassing situation pre- 
sented itself because of the unusually early date 
of the congress, but a valid parliamentary method 
was suggested under which it became possible to 
consider all of the propositions submitted. 

(88) Departing from the usual custom, the seec- 
retary had published in the Zoologischer Anzeiger, 
November 26, 1912, and March 11, 1913, all propo- 
sitions that had reached him and in addition sev- 
eral propositions that were known to him by fact 
of their publication. 

(89) Under the by-laws adopted by the com- 
mission, and published for general information in 
the last report, the commission proceeds as fol- 
lows: Under Art. IV., Section 1(a) the commis- 
sion reports to the congress ‘‘ Recommendations 
involving any alteration of the ‘Régles Interna- 
tionales de la Nomenclature Zoologique,’ but no 
such recommendation is to be reported unless it 
has first received a majority (8) vote of the com- 
mission and the unanimous vote of all commis- 
sioners present at the meeting.’’ 

(90) In accordance with this by-law, the com- 
mission herewith reports upon the following 
amendments with the recommendations that they 
be inserted in their proper place in the Régles. 

(91) (a) Suggested amendment No. 9, submit- 
ted by the First International Entomological Con- 
gress, has been modified slightly by the commis- 
sion, and is reported in the following form as a 
Recommendation: ‘‘It is recommended that in 
published descriptions of new species or new sub- 
species, only one specimen be designated and 
labeled as type, the other specimens examined by 
the author at the same time being paratypes.’’ 

(92) (6) Suggested amendment No. 13, submit- 
ted by J. A. Allen and T. D. A. Cockerell.—After 
considerable discussion, the commission voted that 
the first portion of the proposed amendment (con- 
cerning Gavia, Fregata and Piccoides) and the 
first portion of the second paragraph (concerning 
Plautus) are already covered by the Régles as 
interpreted by opinion 46. 

(93) The idea also obtains for at least a portion 
of suggested amendment No. 1, that the points in 
question are provided for in the code, and a for- 
mal opinion to this effect is now contemplated. 


JULY 4, 1913] 


(94) The Law of Priority—The law of priority 
has been affirmed by a number of zoological codes, 
and has been formally affirmed twice (1892 and 
1901) by the International Congress of Zoology. 
The original code of 1889 and 1892 permitted cer- 
tain exceptions to this law. Contrary to the very 
earnest appeals of the president and the secretary 
of the commission, the section on nomenclature in 
the Berlin congress adopted the view that these 
exceptions should be eliminated and in said sec- 

tion the view obtained that the law of priority 
should be rigidly enforced without any exceptions 
of any kind in any group. When the matter came 
to argument in the commission, the president and 
the secretary after a long discussion and with 
many misgivings, finally, for the sake of harmony 
accepted the will of the majority, but this was not 
until after they had received positive assurance 
from prominent members of the congress that the 
commission would be supported in its attempt to 
earry out the amended law, for which, in the 
minds of the president and the secretary, the zoo- 
logical profession was not then prepared. Clearly 
foreseeing at that date the tremendous dissatis- 
faction that the amended law would cause, in a 
profession not all of whose members are accus- 
tomed to dealing with a large number of names, 
the president and the secretary of this commission 
immediately, in part even before adjournment of 
the Berlin congress in 1901, made preparations to 
meet the discontent which to their minds was in- 
evitable as a result of the action taken at the 
Berlin congress. This discontent has now cul- 
minated in the presentation to the commission of 
several propositions which have for their purpose 
the authorization of exceptions to the law of 
priority. From the fact that the several proposi- 
tions submitted to the commission before this 
congress convened, and no less than four substitute 
propositions submitted formally or suggested in- 
formally during the present work, are very dif- 
ferent in character, the commission is persuaded 
that the adherents of the policy of making excep- 
tions to the law are far from being in accord as 
to the method that should be adopted. From the 
fact that memorials, protests, resolutions, letters, 
etc., both for and against the plan of exceptions 
have reached the commission evidence is clear that 
the conclusions of the International Congress of 
Zoology held in Berlin, Germany, are still subject 
to a considerable difference of opinion. The com- 
mission does not see its way clear to accept the 
postal card votes that have been taken as repre- 
senting a sound basis upon which its decision must 


SCIENCE 15 


be made, but incidentally it may be mentioned as 
a matter of more or less general interest that more 
persons have protested to the commission against 
changing the rules by admitting exceptions than 
have asked that exceptions be made. The inter- 
pretation the commission places upon the two votes 
is that there is a tremendously increased interest on 
both sides of the subject and that there are many 
zoologists who feel the same inconveniences that 
the commission has felt ever since its organization 
and the same inconveniences that all zoologists 
have felt who have tried to consistently apply the 
law. 

(95) Admitting without any reservation the 
point that the commission itself feels very keenly 
the inconveniences of the law, even claiming in 
fact that the original commission of 1895 was in 
favor of certain exceptions as evidenced by its 
report, the present personnel of the commission, 
whatever may be its views as to the wisdom of the 
action taken in Berlin, stands in overwhelming 
majority against admitting to the code any pro- 
vision looking to exceptions to this long-established 
tule. 

(96) The administrative office of the Deutsche 
Zoologische Gesellschaft, through a statement pub- 
lished (Zool. Anz., March 11, 1918) as official by its 
secretary gives its view to the effect that decision 
on this matter should be reached during the present 
congress and that this decision can not be post- 
poned for three years; furthermore, a number of 
members of the congress have expressed the view 
to the effect that this subject must now be settled 
definitely, finally and once for all, so that they 
may proceed in their work undisturbed by vacilla- 
tions in the rules. 

(97) So far as the question concerns the commis- 
sion, the matter may be viewed as settled; and if 
this matter, at least in its present form, come be- 
fore any future congress it will be because of the 
changes in the commission’s personnel that occur 
by death, resignation and expiration of terms of 
service, or because it is forced upon the commis- 
sion by circumstances. 

(98) In this report it has been unreservedly 
stated that the law of priority is a harsh law and 
produces inconveniences. It has also been stated 
that the president and the secretary of the com- 
mission, when defeated in the Berlin congress in 
attempt to make this law somewhat milder, imme- 
diately laid plans with a view of possibly meeting 
the situation in some other way. The general plan 
discussed by them after their defeat in Berlin in 
1901 has been constantly held in reserve to be 


16 SCIENCE 


presented when the proper time should come. It 
is this plan, in slightly modified form, that the 
commission presents to the congress as basis for an 
attempt to relieve zoologists, more especially teach- 
ers, of at least some of the inconveniences of which 
complaint is made. That this plan does not go far 
enough to suit some members of this congress is 
so self-evident that it need not even be admitted. 
It is, however, the unanimous opinion of the com- 
mission as assembled in Monaco, that this is the 
most feasible method in view by which this work 
may be inaugurated. Prior to giving the plan in 
detail, it may be stated that the secretary of the 
commission has asked a number of zoologists to 
give a rough estimate as to the number of names 
for which exceptions were desired and also the 
number of names in the working vocabulary of 
the average zoologist other than systematists. The 
estimates in reply to the first question varied ex- 
ceedingly, one man placing it as low as 20, others 
as high as 600; the estimate in reply to the latter 
question, as to vocabulary, usually varied from 
300 to 600, although one man placed it at 1,000. 
This highest estimate, namely, 1,000 names, is 
taken as present numerical basis in the suggestion 
here made, namely, the adoption of the following 
resolution: 

(99) WHEREAS, It is claimed that during the 
transitional period in nomenclature when the names 
are being reduced to a consistent, uniform and 
objective basis, hardships result to many zoologists, 
especially to teachers, because of the changes in- 
volved, therefore, be it 

(100) Resolved, That the Ninth International 
Zoological Congress establish an ‘‘ International 
Committee on Transitional Names,’’ as follows: 

1. No person is eligible to serve at the same 
time as a member of the International Commission 
of Zoological Nomenclature and on this new com- 
mittee. 

2. Said committee is to be composed of 15 zoolo- 
gists who shall have power to organize in such 
manner as they may deem wise. 

3. Said committee is empowered to select 1,000 
(and no more) zoological names, in such manner 
and with such aid from other zoologists as the 
committee may desire, and is instructed definitely 
to define the meaning of the names selected. 

4. Said list of 1,000 names is to be known as 
the ‘‘ Transitional List’’ and it shall be considered 
proper during the transitional stage of nomencla- 
ture of any given group, for any author to use any 
of said names, even though they be not in accord 

‘with the law of priority. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


5. All authors making use of the Transitional 
List are urgently requested to designate the name 
by a dagger ({) or by such other sign as the 
committee may select, in order to signify that they 
are using the names in the sense of the list. 

6. As soon as both the International Commission 
of Zoological Nomenclature and the International 
Committee on Transitional List vote independently 
by a two thirds majority that the time has come 
in the nomenclature of any group to drop any 
given name or names from the Transitional List, 
joint report to this effect is to be made to the 
International Congress and the name or names in 
question are then to be removed from the Transi- 
tional List. 

(101) Resolved, That this action is not to be 
interpreted as in any way restricting the applica- 
tion of the law of priority or of any other pro- 
vision in the rules of nomenclature. 

(102) Incidentally it may be stated that the 
commission has for some time had under informal 
discussion the advisability of a resolution by the 
congress placing in the hands of the commission 
the plenary power of suppressing entirely, in some 
way, certain names which it is claimed are at 
present applied in an erroneous sense and which 
when transferred to the correct genus or species 
under the law of priority are calculated to pro- 
duce unusual confusion. As yet the views of the 
commission are not formulated in a sufficiently 
safeguarded manner to make it advisable to report 
definitely on the subject at the present congress. 
[See below, Supplementary Report. ] 

(103) Although the resolution as reported places 
in the hands of the proposed Committee on Transi- 
tional List unrestricted power as to the selection 
of the names, this point does not raise any mis- 
givings in the mind of the commission. Further- 
more, the resolution gives to the committee in 
question unrestricted privilege of inviting coop- 
eration and it safeguards the list by requiring a 
two thirds majority in order to eliminate names 
from the list. 

(104) In reference to the personnel of the new 
committee, the commission presents the following 
resolution : 

(105) Resolved, That, for purposes of organ- 
izing, the initial members of the Committee on 
Transitional List shall be: Professor Brauer (sec- 
retary of the Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft), 
Dr. Mortensen (of Copenhagen) and Dr. Williston 
(of the University of Chicago); and 

(106) Resolved, That these men be authorized 


JuLY 4, 1913] 


and instructed to complete the personnel of the 
‘committee. 

(107) A New Edition of the Code——The com- 
mission recommends to the congress the insertion 
into the proceedings of the present congress a 
copy of the revised code of rules, and that the 
summaries of opinions be printed in the appendix. 

(108) Signed in name of commission. 

C. W. STILEs, 
Secretary 


(109) SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT 


[(110) After the foregoing report was pre- 
pared, an additional proposition was submitted to 
the commission that had been adopted by the Sec- 
tion on Nomenclature. This proposition, however, 
after presentation of the foregoing and this sup- 
plemental report, the section voted to reconsider 
and upon such reconsideration the section approved 
in its place the resolutions presented in this sup- 
plemental report—C. W. S.] 

[(111) In presenting this supplemental report, 
the secretary made a verbal statement to the effect 
that these resolutions were not completed until 
after the foregoing report had been adopted by 
the commission, hence they could not be included 
in the regular report. They were in fact not com- 
pleted until the morning of the last day of the 
congress. Prior to the meeting of the Section on 
Nomenclature, most of the members of the com- 
mission had approved the resolutions, and the 
section took a recess in order to permit the other 
commissioners to consider them. All commissioners 
approved the resolutions and the secretary was 
instructed to present them to the section and the 
congress as a supplemental report. From a par- 
liamentary point of view, they are accepted by the 
commission as addition to the subject discussed in 
paragraph (102) of the report and as substitute 
for several of the proposals that had been pre- 
sented as amendments to the code. The subject 
matter was first presented to the commission dur- 
ing its Gratz meeting, and since that time has been 
under more or less consideration. It was discussed 
during the Monaco (1913) meeting of the con- 
gress, but the form of the proposition was not 
agreed upon until immediately prior to its presen- 
tation at the joint session of the commission and 
of the Section on Nomenclature.—C. W. 8.] 

(112) The commission unanimously recommends 
to the congress the adoption of the following 
resolutions : 

(113) Resolved, That plenary power is herewith 
conferred upon the International Commission on 


SCIENCE if 


Zoological Nomenclature, acting for this congress, 
to suspend the Régles as applied to any given case, 
where in its judgment the strict application of the 
Régles will clearly result in greater confusion than 
uniformity, provided, however, that not less than 
one year’s notice shall be given in any two or 
more of the following publications, namely, Bulle- 
tin de la Soc. zoologique de France, Monitore 
zoologico, Nature, ScieNcE (New York) and 
Zoologische Anzeiger, that the question of pos- 
sible suspension of the Régles as applied to such 
case is under consideration, thereby making it 
possible for zoologists, particularly specialists in 
the group in question to present arguments for or 
against the suspension under consideration; and 
provided, also, that the vote in commission is 
unanimously in favor of suspension; and provided 
further that if the vote in commission is a two 
thirds majority of the full commission, but not a 
unanimous vote in favor of suspension, the com- 
mission is hereby instructed to report the facts to 
the next succeeding International Congress; and 

(114) Resolved, That in the event that a case 
reaches the congress, as heretofore described, with 
a two thirds majority of the commission in favor 
of suspension, but without unanimous report, it 
shall be the duty of the president of the Section on 
Nomenclature to select a special board of three 
members, consisting of one member of the com- 
mission who voted on each side of the question 
and one ex-member of the commission who has not 
expressed any public opinion on the case, and this 
special board shall review the evidence presented 
to it and its report, either majority or unanimous, 
shall be final and without appeal, so far as the 
congress is concerned; and 

(115) Resolved, That the foregoing authority 
refers in the first instance and especially to cases 
of the names of larval stages and the transference 
of names from one genus or species to another; 
and 

(116) Resolved, That the congress fully ap- 
proves the plan that has been inaugurated by the 
commission of conferring with special committees 
from the special group involved in any given case, 
and that it authorizes and instructs the commission 
to continue and extend this policy. 


ACTION OF THE SECTION ON NOMENCLATURE AND OF 
THE CONGRESS ON THE FOREGOING REPORTS 

At the Saturday morning session of the Section 

on Nomenclature the chairman gave the floor to 

the secretary of the Commission on Nomenclature. 

The secretary invited attention to the fact that the 


18 SCIENCE 


by-laws of the commission provided for an open 
meeting of the commission, and he moved that the 
present session of the section resolve itself into a 
joint meeting of the commission and of the sec- 
tion, in order to comply with the provision in ques- 
tion. Upon second, this motion prevailed. 

The secretary reported that he was under in- 
structions from the commission to present to the 
meeting the report and a supplemental report of 
the commission. The chair called for the reports 
which were read in full, except that upon motion, 
second and vote, he read paragraphs (31-45 and 
58) by title, or by title and examples. 

Following the reading of the regular report, the 
meeting took a short recess to enable certain mem- 
bers of the commission to examine and vote on the 
supplemental report. After the meeting was again 
called to order, the supplemental report was read. 

The secretary requested the adoption of the 
reports as a whole, explaining that this adoption 
did not carry with it the approval of the separate 
recommendations. Upon motion, and second, the 
reports were adopted. 

The secretary requested action on those para- 
graphs that involved recommendations, nomina- 
tions and resolutions. Acting upon each subject 
separately, the joint meeting, upon motion and 
second approved the following paragraphs sepa- 
rately: 

(5), (9), (11), (418), (14), (50) [commission 
instructed to continue the list], (52 a, b, c) [vote 
unanimous except for one], (55), (56), (57), 
(91), (107), (113), (114), (115), (116). 

The secretary was asked if it would be agreeable 
to him to resubmit the names in (31), (32), (33), 
(34), (35), (36) and (37) to subcommittees of 
specialists before they were formally approved. 
His reply was that the suggestion was entirely 
agreeable, and he withdrew his request for formal 
approval of these lists. 

The secretary gave notice that the list of bird 
genera in (38) would be published before action 
was taken by the commission. 

No formal action was asked upon (40), (41), 
(42), (43), (44), (45). 

In view of the fact that opinions 29-51, inclu- 
sive, had been printed in detail, it was moved, 
seconded, and voted that the section (58) of the 
report dealing with opinions 29-56 be read by 
title, and that the opinions be approved. 

Commissioner Stejneger stated that he now had 
some misgivings as to whether or not practical 
difficulties might arise in coordinating the resolu- 
tions of paragraphs (99), (100), (101), (105), 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 966 


(106) with (113), (114), (115) and he requested 
that action on the former be postponed until the 
next congress, in order to determine more clearly 
whether the two propositions contained anything of 
a contradictory nature. As any one commissioner 
has a right to cause postponement of action on 
any portion of the report (since the commission’s 
vote must be unanimous), Dr. Stejneger’s request 
was respected and no final action was taken in 
regard to the Transitional List; these sections 
were tabled. 

In reply to certain questions, the secretary ex- 
plained the following English parliamentary ex- 
pressions: 

“‘To table’’ or ‘‘to lay on the table’’ any 
motion means that final action is postponed upon 
the matter in question. Matters that are ‘‘tabled’’ 
may be ‘‘taken from the table’’ for further con- 
sideration and for final action. 

The expression ‘‘suspend the Régles’’ in the 
supplemental report is used in its accepted parlia- 
mentary sense. Parliamentary procedures are 
carried out under recognized or special ‘‘parlia- 
mentary rules’’ and under provisions contained in 
‘“constitutions’’? and ‘‘by-laws.’? Upon a unan- 
imous vote, by-laws may be temporarily ‘‘sus- 
pended,’’ that is to say, they may be set aside and 
the body takes action on the matter under con- 
sideration unrestricted by the provisions of the 
by-laws, and such action, if taken under a ‘‘spe- 
cial rule’’ framed for the case at hand or without 
reference to any rules, except the ‘‘constitution’’ 
and recognized ‘‘ parliamentary rules,’’ has all the 
validity of an action taken under the ‘‘by-laws.’’ 

Thus, if the congress confers upon the commis- 
sion the plenary power to suspend the Régles in 
any given case, it practically says to the commis- 
sion: ‘‘If you carry out the precautions provided 
for in the supplemental report, you may decide 
any given case arbitrarily without reference to 
the Régles or you may make a ‘‘special rule’’ to 
govern that particular case, and this congress will 
accept your decision as being just as authoritative 
as if you had made your ruling strictly in accord 
with the code.’’ A plan of this kind is thoroughly 
in accord with recognized parliamentary customs 
and it has the great advantage of saving the 
necessity of introducing ‘‘exceptions’’* to the 
Tules. 

1To make this point as to the difference be- 
tween ‘‘exceptions’’ and ‘‘suspension’’ of rules 
clearer to some of the non-English-speaking mem- 
bers, the secretary later used this comparison upon 
adjournment of the meeting: 


JULY 4, 1913] 


In reply to a question, the secretary stated that 
a number of special committees had been formed, 
consisting of specialists in various groups, and 
that the general policy had been adopted to confer 
with these committees upon questions and cases 
affecting their particular groups. Despite the ex- 
perience that this method added greatly to the 
routine of the secretary’s office, he felt the policy 
should be not only continued, but also extended, 
and he was willing to accept, without confirmation 
by the section, any special committees chosen by 
any general committees appointed for that pur- 
pose. 

In conclusion, the secretary invited attention to 
the fact that during part of the meeting the sec- 
retary of the section had been obliged to be 
absent from the session, and he therefore moved 
that the edited copy of the reports, with his mar- 
ginal notes as to action taken, be accepted as the 
minutes of the joint meeting. Upon second, this 
motion prevailed. 

C. W. STILEs, 
Secretary of Commission 


At the afternoon general session, the secretary 
of the commission reported in English upon the 
Tesignations, nominations, amendments and resolu- 
tions, recommended by the commission, and ap- 
proved by the Section on Nomenclature, but he 
did not read the report in full. 

The president of the commission gave a résumé 
of the subject in French, translating most por- 
tions of the resolutions verbatim, and adding cer- 
tain explanatory remarks. 

All matters involved were voted upon by the 
general session, en bloc and without discussion 
(which it had been decided should be confined to 


**Tt would be dangerous to make a law read: 

«¢ «Theft shall be punished by imprisonment for 
one to ten years, except in such cases where the 
thief has tuberculosis.’ But justice is tempered 
with mercy if one law reads: 

«¢<Theft shall be punished by imprisonment for 
one to ten years,’ and if another law reads: 

«¢ <The President (or the King) is empowered 
to suspend punishment in certain cases in which, 
in his judgment, a feeling of humanity demands 
such a suspension.’ 

‘¢Suppose, now, it is shown that a thief, who 
is sentenced to ten years imprisonment, is about 
to die of tuberculosis; even if the sentence is 
passed upon him, the President (or the King) 
could parole or pardon the man in order to permit 
him to go home to die.’’ 


SCIENCE 19 


the meeting of the section). Against only four 
dissenting votes, all the subject matter in question 
was adopted and approved. 
C. W. STILEs, 
Secretary of Commission 


APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY 
OF ILLINOIS 


On June 24 Governor Dunne signed ‘senate 
bill 675 carrying an appropriation of $4,500,- 
000 for the University of Illinois for the bi- 
ennium 1913-1915. 

A correspondent writes: 


The signing of this bill by Governor Dunne is 
one of the most important events in the history of 
higher education in Illinois. 

First of all the passing of this bill indicates 
that the legislature approved by an overwhelming 
vote the mill tax for the university which was 
passed by the preceding legislature, so that all the 
leading parties, democrats, republicans, progres- 
sives and socialists, have endorsed this policy with 
unanimity. It indicates, too, the high-water mark 
of the whole history of educational development in 
the state. 

In the second place it marks an epoch on ac- 
count of the particular form in which the bill was 
passed since it leaves to the judgment of the board 
of trustees, within certain broad lines, the use of 
funds in the development of the institution and 
puts a stop to tendencies shown in nearly all legis- 
latures to interfere unduly with the management 
of the institution by itemizing appropriations 
which have the effect often of thwarting the very 
purpose for which they were given. 

The people of the state are to be congratulated 
that the university has never entered into politics 
and that all parties have had an active part in its 
development. The university was founded under a 
republican administration, but it was in the régime 
of a democratic governor—Governor Altgeld—that 
it received its first large appropriation. It was a 
republican administration that passed the mill tax, 
but a democratic one that has made it permanent 
and initiated a new form of passing the appro- 
priation that marks a new era in the institutional 
development. 

The present legislature has definitely settled an- 
other important question—one upon which for 
years there has been much discussion. In the 
university bills that were first introduced this year 
there was an item calling for $100,000 a year for 
the support of medical education. A determined 


20 


attempt was made in the senate to amend the bill 
to the effect that no cent of the appropriation 
should be used for the support of a medical col- 
lege. The amendment was turned down by a vote 
of 34 to 9. A similar amendment in the house was 
defeated by the decisive vote of 94 to 37. 

The trustees, therefore, who are chosen by the 
people, are left with the authority to spend $100,- 
000 more or less, as it may in their best judgment 
seem wise, for the support of medical education. 
There is every reason to think that the trustees 
will be conservative in the carrying out of the 
duties entrusted to them by the people of Illinois. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Victor C. VauGHan, professor of hy- 
giene and physiological chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, and dean of the depart- 
ment of medicine and surgery, was elected 
president of the American Medical Associa- 
tion at the recent Minneapolis meeting. 


Ar the closing session of the meeting in 
Minneapolis of the Society for the Promotion 
of Engineering Education, Dean Anthony, of 
the Tufts Engineering School, was elected 
president. The next annual meeting will be 
held at Princeton, N. J. 


Tue Cannizzaro prize of $2,000, founded by 
the late Dr. Ludwig Mond, has been awarded 
by the Accademia dei Lincei, of Rome, to Mr. 
Frederick Soddy, F.R.S., lecturer in physical 
chemistry at the University of Glasgow, for 
his researches in radioactivity. 


THE University of Michigan has conferred 
the doctorate of laws on Dr. Roscoe Pound, 
professor in the Harvard Law School, the au- 
thor of contributions to plant geography, and 
the degree of doctor of public health on Sur- 
geon General Rupert Blue. 


Prorrssor ALFRED E. Burton, professor of 
topographic engineering at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology and dean, has been 
given the degree of doctor of science by Bow- 
doin College, from which he was graduated in 
1878. 


Tue University of Cincinnati has conferred 
upon Dr. L. A. Bauer, of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion, the degree of doctor of science. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


Tue University of Pennsylvania has con- 
ferred the degree of doctor of science on Mr. 
Witmer Stone, curator of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and editor of 
The Auk. 


Tue University of Vermont has conferred 
the degree of doctor of science on Mr. Chas. A. 
Catlin, chemist of the Rumford Chemical 
Works, Providence, a graduate of the univer- 
sity in 1872. 

Dr. Witt1am J. Mayo, of Rochester, Minn., 
has been elected foreign correspondent of the 
Academy of Medicine in Paris. 


Proressor Dwairrit Perrovirson Konova- 
LOFF, of St. Petersburg, and Professor Alfred 
Werner, of Zurich, have been elected honorary 
foreign members of the Chemical Society of 
London. 


Proressor S. A. MircHetn, of Columbia 
University, has been appointed director of the 
Leander McCormick Observatory at the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, as successor to Professor 
Ormond Stone. During the past year Dr. 
Mitchell has been on sabbatical leave from Co- 
lumbia and has spent his time at Yerkes Ob- 
servatory in the photographic determination 
of stellar paradox and in spectrographie in-— 
vestigations of motion in the line of sight. 


THE board of scientific directors of the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research an- 
nounces the following appointments and pro- 
motions: The following assistants have been 
made associates: Frederick Burr LaForge, 
Ph.D. (chemistry); James Bumgardner 
Murphy, M.D. (pathology and bacteriology) ; 
Gustave Morris Meyer, Se.D. (chemistry), 
and Martha Wollstein, M.D. (pathology and 
bacteriology). Michael Heidelberger, Ph.D., 
has been promoted from fellow to assistant in 
chemistry. The following new appointments 
are announced: Wade Hampton Brown, M.D., 
associate in pathology and bacteriology; Car- 
roll G. Bull, M.D., assistant in pathology and 
bacteriology; Frederick Lamont Gates, M.D., 
fellow in physiology and pharmacology. Dr. 
G. Canby Robinson, formerly associate in 
medicine, has been appointed associate pro- 
fessor of medicine at Washington University, 


JuLy 4, 1913] 


St. Louis. Dr. Jacques J. Bronfenbrenner, 
formerly assistant in pathology and bacteriol- 
ogy, has been appointed director of the patho- 
logical laboratory of the Western Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital, Pittsburgh. Dr. Richard 
Vanderhorst Lamar, formerly associate in 
pathology and bacteriology, has been appointed 
professor of pathology at the University of 
Georgia. 

Proressor RoBpert R. Benstey, of the de- 
partment of anatomy in the University of 
Chicago, has been made one of the editors of 
the Internationale Monatsschrift fur Anat- 
omie und Physiologie, published in Leipzig. 

Dr. Grorcr Fay Gracey, professor of chem- 
istry and toxicology in the University of 
Texas, has resigned to enter practise in 
New York as a specialist on diseases of the 
eye. f 

H. N. Conotty, formerly field agent in hor- 
ticulture of the Alabama Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, has accepted a position in the United 
States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 
Plant Industry. 

Mr. A. R. Hings, F.R.S., chief assistant at 
the Cambridge Observatory, and university 
lecturer in surveying and cartography, has 
been appointed assistant secretary of the 
Royal Geographical Society. 

Mr. L. G. Hunttey, of the Associated Geo- 
logical Engineers, is at present engaged in a 
study of the Pelican Portage gas field and 
other localities in central Alberta for the city 
of Edmonton. 

FREDERICK ANDEREGG, professor of mathe- 
matics at Oberlin College, has been granted a 
year’s leave of absence, for study and travel 
in Europe. 

Mr. Pau C. Minter and Mr. M. G. Mehl 
have returned from a two-months’ expedition 
in the Red Beds of Texas, the fourth into that 
region by the paleontological department of 
the University of Chicago. 

Mr. G. N. Wotcott, who is the traveling 
entomologist supported by the Porto Rico 
Sugar Growers’ Association, is collecting para- 
sites of the white grub, to introduce into Porto 
Rico, where the white grubs are a very serious 


SCIENCE 21 


pest in the cane fields. Mr. Wolcott has his 
chief headquarters in the United States at the 
University of Ilinois. 


Dr. W. D. Mawson, who is in charge of the 
Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which is 
now working on the Antarctic continent, south 
of Australia, has sent a wireless message to 
Professors David and Haswell, of Sydney, ask- 
ing them to arrange for Mr. E. R. Waite, 
curator of Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, 
New Zealand, to report on the fishes of the 
expedition. Last year Mr. Waite joined Dr. 
Mawson’s vessel, the Aurora, in an exploring 
expedition in the Southern Ocean, touching 
at the Macquarie and Auckland Islands, and 
obtained a number of specimens of fishes. He 
is now working on these, and further speci- 
mens will be sent to him from Adelie Land. 
Mr. Waite also reported on the fishes for Sir 
Ernest Shackleton’s expedition in the Nimrod. 


A sTaTUE of Lord Kelvin was unveiled on 
June 19 in the Botanic Gardens, Belfast. The 
chancellor of the Queen’s University, Belfast, 
the Earl of Shaftesbury, presided and Sir 
Joseph Larmor, M.P., F.R.S., delivered an 
address. The statue is the work of Mr. Bruce 
Joy. We learn further from Nature that the 
statue of Lord Kelvin erected by the contribu- 
tions of his fellow-citizens in Glasgow and the 
west of Scotland has been placed in position 
by the side of the new Kelvin Avenue, which 
traverses the Kelvingrove Park beneath Gil- 
morehill, close to the University of Glasgow. 
The statue will be unveiled on October 8 next, 
by the Right Hon. A. Birrell, lord rector of 
the university, and an address on Kelvin will 
be delivered by the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, 
Gifford lecturer in the university. The Kel- 
vin memorial window in Westminster Abbey 
will be unveiled on July 15. 


At the twenty-fifth reunion of the class of 
1888 of Washington and Jefferson College, on 
June 17, a library memorial fund was estab- 
lished in honor of Dr. Jesse W. Lazear, U.S.A., 
a member of the class, who left before gradua- 
tion to study medicine and who afterward 
became a member of the commission to in- 
vestigate the réle of the mosquito in the trans- 


22 SCIENCE 


mission of yellow fever, and sacrificed his life 
to the cause of scientific research. 


Proressor N. H. Atcock, professor of phys- 
iology in McGill University and the author 
of important contributions to this science, has 
died at the age of forty-two years. 


Dr. Forses Winstow, who founded the 
British Hospital for Mental Disorders and 
was the author of numerous works on insan- 
ity, has died at the age of seventy years. 


Sirk JONATHAN HUTCHINSON, a prominent 
London surgeon, died on June 23, aged fifty- 
four years. 


Tue University of Montana Biological Sta- 
tion will be open from June 17 until Sep- 
tember 1, under the direction of Dr. Morton 
J. Elrod, head of the department of biology. 
The laboratory is located on the east shore of 
Flathead Lake, at an altitude of 2,900 feet, in 
a tract of 87 acres of virgin forest donated by 
congress. Two other tracts of 40 acres each 
are on islands but a few miles distant. The 
Mission range of mountains come quite ab- 
ruptly to the lake at the station, rising to an 
elevation nearby of 8,500 feet. A few miles 
to the south the elevation is 10,000 feet. The 
lake is 80 miles long and at the middle, where 
the station is located, it is 19 miles wide. It 
covers nearly 400 square miles, has a shore 
line of almost 150 miles and is 300 feet deep. 
Up the lake from near the station a fringe of 
fruit ranches borders the lake. Down the 
lake and for many miles beyond, the country 
is an unsettled forest. Eastward the unbroken 
forest extends across range after range until 
the plains country is reached beyond the main 
divide. The station was established in 1899, 
and has continued with an interruption of 
two years. Its former location was at Big- 
fork, whére Swan River enters the lake at the 
upper end. Last year a building was erected. 
This is a two-story brick structure, capable of 
accommodating about 25 workers. The staff 
and workers live in tents, and meals are pro- 
vided at a mess table. The facilities for work 
are extended to elementary and advanced stu- 
dents and to investigators. Those attending 
the station may take such work as they please 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


within certain limits, and all the assistance 
possible will be rendered them. The field 
method is largely employed. Courses will be 
offered in botany, zoology, ecology, physiog- 
raphy, ornithology, entomology, photography 
and plankton, besides the facilities offered for 
research. 


AccorDING to an advance statement by 
Ernest F. Burchard, of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, the total quantity of Portland, 
natural and puzzolan cements produced in the 
United States in 1912 was 838,351,191 barrels, 
valued at $67,461,518, compared with 79,547,- 
958 barrels, valued at $66,705,136, in 1911. 
This represents an increase in quantity of 
3,803,233 barrels, or 4.78 per cent., and in 
value of $756,377, or 1.13 per cent. The dis- 
tribution of the total production among the 
three main classes of cement in 1912 is as fol- 
lows: Portland, 82,438,096 barrels, valued at 
$67,016,928; natural, 821,231 barrels, valued 
at $367,222; puzzolan, 91,864 barrels, valued 
at $77,363. The total production of Portland 
cement in the United States in 1912, as re- 
ported to the United States Geological Survey, 
was 82,438,096 barrels, valued at $67,016,928, 
compared with 78,528,637 barrels, valued at 
$66,248,817, in 1911. The output for 1912 
represents an increase in quantity of 3,909,- 
459 barrels, or nearly 4.98 per cent., and in 
value of $768,111, or 1.13 per cent. The ship- 
ments of Portland cement from the mills in 
the United States in 1912 are, according to 
reports received by the survey, 85,012,556 bar- 
rels, valued at $69,109,800, compared with 75,- 
547,829 barrels, valued at $63,762,638, shipped 
in 1911. The shipments therefore represent 
an increase in quantity of 9,464,727 barrels, or 
12.52 per cent., and in value of $5,247,162, or 
8.88 per cent. The average price per barrel 
in 1912, according to these figures, was a trifle 
less than 81.3 cents, compared with 84.4 cents 
in 1911. This represents the value of cement 
in bulk at the mills, including labor and cost 
of packing, but not the value of the sacks or 
barrels. The average price per barrel for the 
country is about 13.9 cents higher than the 
average price received for Portland cement in 
the Lehigh district, where it was sold at the 


JuLy 4, 1913] 


cheapest rate, and is near the average price 
received in the Iowa-Missouri district, but it 
falls 54.5 cents below the average price re- 
ceived on the Pacific coast, where Portland 
cement brought the highest figure during the 
year. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

Tue University of Chicago has received 
$300,000 for a building to be used as a social 
center and gymnasium for the women of the 
university. The donor is Mr. La Verne Noyes. 
The building is to be a memorial to his de- 
ceased wife and will be known as the Ida 
Noyes Hall. 


Av the recent commencement at Smith Col- 
lege, it was announced that the trustees had 
appropriated the sum of $140,000 for the con- 
struction of a new biological building. 


Dr. E. P. Lyon, professor of physiology and 
dean of the Medical College of St. Louis Uni- 
versity, has been appointed dean of the med- 
ical department of the University of Minne- 
sota and director of the physiological depart- 
ment. 


CuHarLEs S. WILLIAMSON, JR., associate pro- 
fessor of chemistry in the Alabama Polytech- 
nic Institute, has accepted an associate pro- 
fessorship of industrial and sugar chemistry 
in Tulane University. 


F. E. Curwester, Ph.D. (Clark), instructor 
at Rutgers College, has been advanced to the 
position of assistant professor of biology. 


THE department of zoology at Oberlin Col- 
lege will be enlarged during the coming year 
by the addition of Professor Charles G. 
Rogers, formerly of Syracuse University. 


PRoMOTIONS and new appointments at the 
Johns Hopkins University include the fol- 
lowing: In the philosophical faculty: J. Elliott 
Gilpin, Ph.D., now associate professor, to be 
collegiate professor of chemistry; Duncan S. 
Johnson, Ph.D., now professor of botany, to be 
professor of botany and director of the Botan- 
ical Laboratory and the Botanical Garden; 
Burton E. Livingston, Ph.D., now professor of 
plant physiology, to be professor of plant 


SCIENCE 


23 


physiology and director of the Laboratory of 
Plant Physiology; Edward W. Berry, now as- 
sociate in paleobotany, to be associate professor 
of paleontology; Joseph T. Singewald, Jr., 
Ph.D., now Henry E. Johnston scholar, to be 
associate in economic geology. In the medical 
faculty: Leonard G. Rowntree, M.D., now as- 
sociate, to be associate professor of experi- 
mental therapeutics; Warren H. Lewis, M.D., 
now associate professor of anatomy, to be pro- 
fessor of physiological anatomy; E. V. 
Cowdry, M.D., of the University of Chicago, 
to be associate in anatomy; Dr. Paul G. 
Shipley, of Yale University, and Dr. George 
Corner, to be assistants in anatomy. 

Fottowine the creation of the new office of 
chancellor at Leland Stanford Junior Univer- 
sity to be filled by Dr. David Starr Jordan and 
the appointment of Dr. J. C. Branner, to the 
office of president, Dr. John Maxson Stillman, 
head of the department of chemistry, has been 
made vice-president. The following promo- 
tions and appointments in the university fac- 
ulty have been made: In the sabbatical absence 
of Professor H. W. Stuart, in philosophy, Pro- 
fessor Warner Fite, of the University of Indi- 
ana, has been elected acting professor for the 
first semester. Assistant Professor George 
Holland Sabine, in the same department, has 
been made associate professor. In economics, 
Instructors Stephen Ivan Miller and Donald 
Frederick Grass have been made assistant pro- 
fessors. In graphic art, H. V. Poor has been 
appointed assistant professor. In mathematics 
Associate Professor H. F. Blichfeldt has been 
made professor, and Assistant Professor W. 
A. Manning, in applied mathematics, has been 
made associate professor. Instructor L. E. 
Cutter, in mechanical engineering, has been 
made assistant professor. In physiology, In- 
structor F. W. Weymouth has been made as- 
sistant professor. In medicine, Assistant Pro- 
fessor Thomas Addis has been made associate 
professor, and Instructor E. D. Congdon has 
been made assistant professor. Instructor Leo 
Eloesser has been made assistant professor of 
surgery. 

At Birmingham University Professor W. S. 
Boulton, professor of geology at University 


24 SCIENCE 


College, Cardiff, has been appointed to suc- 
ceed Professor C. Lapworth, F.R.S., who re- 
tires at the close of the present year. 


Proressok ABDERHALDEN goes to Vienna as 
the successor of Professor Ludwig, to take 
charge of the Institute for Medical Chemistry. 


A cHAIR of exotic pathology has been estab- 
lished at the Collége de France. The assembly 
of the professors of the college has submitted 
for the choice of the ministry, Dr. Nattan- 
Larrier as their first choice and Dr. Tanon as 
their second choice for this chair. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
SOME FACTS CONCERNING MENDELISM 


In the American Breeders’ Magazine, No. 1, 
Vol. 6, there is a short sketch of the life of 
Thomas Andrew Knight. Attention is drawn 
to the fact that Mr. Knight gave to the Hor- 
ticultural Society of London, in 1823, the re- 
sults of some experiments that he had carried 
on in eross breeding peas. Following this 
statement Mr. Knight’s reason for using peas 
is given, and it is remarked as peculiar that 
he was using the same plants, as Mendel later 
did, in breeding experiments and discussing 
these experiments a year after Mendel was 
born. Consulting the original paper of Mr. 
Knight’s in the proceedings of the Horticul- 
tural Society for 1823, a reference was found 
to another paper in the same volume of pro- 
ceedings which was written in 1822, the year 
Mendel was born. The author of this second 
paper was Mr. John Goss. It seems that Mr. 
Goss had been cross breeding the Prolific Blue 
pea and a dwarf pea and had obtained some 
results which he thought worthy of publicity. 

In part the article of Mr. Goss is as follows: 


In the ‘summer of 1820 I deprived some blooms 
of the Prolific Blue of their stamina and the next 
day applied the pollen of a dwarf pea, of which 
impregnation I obtained three pods of seed. In 
the following spring when these were opened, in 
order to sow the seed, I found to my great sur- 
prise, that the color of the peas instead of being 
deep blue, like their female parent, was of a 
yellowish white, like the male. Toward the end 
of the summer I was equally surprised to find 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


that these white seeds had produced some pods 
with all blue, some with all white, and many with 
both blue and white peas in the same pod. 

Last spring I separated all the blue peas from 
the white, and sowed each color in separate rows; 
and I now find that the blue produces only blue, 
while the white seeds yield some pods with all 
white, and some with both blue and white peas 
intermixed. 

It would seem from the above that Mr. Goss 
had a great law within his hands, but because 
of the fact that the first three pods of seeds 
seemed to show direct effect of pollen he lost 
sight of the very thing that was later stated 
as a law, and continued his paper as a 
discussion of direct effect of pollen in the first 
impregnation. 

Following immediately the paper of Mr. 
Goss’s in the proceedings is a note by the 
secretary of the society referring to a com- 
munication of one Alexander Seton, Esq., 
which was read before the Society on August 
20, 1822. It seems that Mr. Seton made a 
similar experiment to that of Mr. Goss, with 
the following results: Mr. Seton impregnated 
the Dwarf Imperial, a green variety of pea, 
with the pollen of a white, free-growing va- 
riety. From this pollination he obtained only 
one pod, which contained four peas, and which 
did not differ in appearance from the others 
of the female parent. The plants that grew 
from these four peas seemed to partake of the 
nature of both parents, being taller and more 
profuse than the Dwarf Imperial and less so 
than the male white parent, and the pods 
resembled those of the former, being short and 
having but few peas in each pod. On their 
ripening it was found that instead of their 
containing peas like those of either parent or 
of an appearance between the two, almost 
every one of them had some peas of the full 
green color of the Dwarf Imperial and others 
of the whitish color of the other parent. They 
were, however, found in undefined numbers in 
the pods, and all of the peas were completely 
of one color or the other, with none haying an 
intermediate tint, as Mr. Seton had expected. 
Accompanying these two papers and opposite 
page 273 of volume 5 of the transactions of 
the Horticultural Society of London, pub- 


JuLY 4, 1913] 


lished in 1824, there is found a plate showing 
one of the pods produced by Mr. Seton. This 
colored plate shows two green peas and three 
white ones in the same pod. 

Ii is interesting to note how close these 
men came, in the year of his nativity, to the 
law which later made Mendel famous. 

T. H. McHartton 

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, 

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 


. THE FOOD OF PLANTS 


Dr. BENEDICT in a recent number of SCIENCE 
opens the question regarding the definition of 
the word food as used by botanists. 

That we need to come to some agreement is, 
I think, generally felt by teachers in all grades 
of the subject. 

If we have in mind the plant’s relation to 
substances outside of itself which may be 
taken and used in any of its vital processes, 
then carbon dioxide, water and minerals are 
food. This notion was suggested by the ani- 
mal organism, which, however, is essentially 
unlike a plant in respect to immediate ex- 
ternal relations. The term plant food arose 
to emphasize the importance of certain min- 
eral constituents of the soil. Its use ignores 
the green plant’s unique place in nature, and 
by implication even denies it. 

Tf on the other hand we have reference to 
growth and repair of living tissue, carbon 
dioxide, water and minerals are waste prod- 
ucts, the antithesis of food. 

The question resolves itself into this, to 
which concept of the plant’s activities is the 
cancept food most nearly related? If the 
answer is nutrition then only such substances 
as can be oxidized in the tissues and energy 
thereby set free, are foods. To answer the 
question otherwise is not only to invite trouble 
from such a term as reserve food, but worse, 
make the whole subject of metabolism impos- 
sible of presentation. If we write the words 
“energy stored” and “energy set free” in 
the equations for photosynthesis and for res- 
piration, the term food, in its commonly ac- 
cepted sense is clear, and the term as applied 
to inorganic matter an absurdity. Neverthe- 


SCIENCE 25 


less, the term plant food as applied to nitrate 
of soda, ete., is with us to stay, just as surely 
as oysters will continue to be known as shell- 
fish. 

Tt is our business to fit pedagogic methods 
to the facts and see that fundamental truths 
are clearly set forth regardless of how many 
qualifying terms we must employ. 

I forbear quoting sentences from text-books 
in which the term food is used in opposite 
senses without explanation, thus by implica- 
tion denying the importance of photosynthesis 
and ignoring the law of conservation of en- 
ergy. Hypercriticism is born of pedantry, 
but consistency is a jewel. The agriculturist 
can not use our term fruit and we can not use 
his term plant food without contradiction and 
confusion. The trouble is not so much one of 
definition as of usage. A Frenchman who 
was learning English said: “ When a horse 
goes rapidly you say he is fast, and when you 
tie him to the post he is fast. Your language 
is very difficult.” 

H. N. Consrr 


UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, 
May 27, 1913 


A GOOD SOIL TUBE 


Guass tubes are generally used in soil phys- 
ics laboratories when carrying on experi- 
ments on capillary rise and distribution of 
water in soils. To give the best results these 
must be one and one half to two inches in 
diameter, and are expensive and fragile. In 
student laboratories with class numbering 
100 or more the writer has had an annual 
breakage of over 75 per cent. 

During the past year a new style of tube 
has been used in the soil technology labora- 
tories at the University of California. This 
form was suggested to the writer by Professor 
E. O. Fippin, of Cornell, and is in use there 
and in other laboratories. 

The tubes consist of a wire-mesh cylinder, 
two inches in diameter and of the desired 
length, made by wrapping one fourth inch 
mesh wire netting around a form and riveting 
the edges at intervals of six or eight inches. 
Celluloid tubes made of thin transparent sheet 


26 


celluloid, cut in strips seven or eight inches 
wide, and rolled into cylinders, are thrust 
into the wire tube. This makes a cylinder 
that is soil-tight, transparent and durable. 
With reasonable use it will last several sea- 
sons, though the celluloid may crack or be- 
come scratched and opaque. They prove very 
satisfactory for capillary rise experiments 
and are excellent for studying distribution of 
water, as the inner tube can be withdrawn 
and unrolled, exposing the soil for easy samp- 
ling. 
Cuartes F. SHAW 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


LEE’s “INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY ” 


To THE Epitor or ScieNcE: For a particular 
purpose I wish much to see a copy of James 
Lee’s “ Introduction to Botany,” published in 
London in 1760, the first edition. I have in- 
quired, but in vain, of all the large libraries 
in the United States, though all of them have 
later editions. Can any reader of SCIENCE 
tell me where a copy may be found in this 
country ? 


W. F. Ganone 
SMITH COLLEGE, 
NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 


THE LEONHARD EULER SOCIETY 


It is well known that in 1909 the Swiss 
Naturforschende Gesellschaft resolved to pub- 
lish the works of the extremely prolific and 
famous mathematician Euler. The estimated 
cost for the complete edition of over 40 large 
quarto volumes was supposed to be approxi- 
mately $100,000 and was covered by about 400 
subscribers (25 frances per volume, or $80,000 
by subscription) and the so-called Euler-Fund 
resulting from contributions of governing 
bodies, scientific societies, industrial estab- 
lishments and private persons. 

So far six volumes have appeared and a 
seventh is in press. The work is apparently 
very carefully edited, and the typography is 
perfect. 

Unfortunately the experience gained by the 
publication of the first volumes and the fact 
that a large number of additional papers and 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


letters recently found among the documents of 
the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg and 
in various other places will increase the total 
number of volumes show that the original esti- 
mate of cost is not nearly enough to guaran- 
tee a successful completion of the entire un- 
dertaking. 

In order to partly meet an expected deficit 
of $40,000 it is proposed to found a Leonhard 
Euler Society with unlimited membership. 
The annual dues will be 10 franes (about $2) 
and membership is merely an honorary obliga- 
tion to contribute to the success of a great 
scientific enterprise. 

The originality and importance of Euler’s 
writings, even at the present time, make it 
very desirable to have a uniform edition of all 
his works and it is so hoped that the appeal of 
the Swiss society will be generously answered 
by scientific circles. 


ArnoLtD EmMcH 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Fixité de la Céte Atlantique de Amérique 
du Nord. By Douctas W. JouNson. 

The quite harmonious interpretation of 
coast-level changes along the American At- 
lantic, made by scores of clean-witted and 
experienced observers through scores of years, 
are here briefly scrutinized and fundamentally 
contested. The supposed ups and downs of 
the Atlantic coast, which have been so care- 
fully and abundantly recorded from Gaspé to 
the Carolinas, had promulgated a widely ac- 
cepted notion that the North Atlantic sea- 
board was very uneasy, still undergoing warp- 
ings which might well have been in direct 
inheritance of its ancient Appalachian insta- 
bility. Dr. Johnson’s paper under the above 
title is not quite new, its date being rather 
more than a year back, but in these prolific 
and harlequin days of scientific ideas, it takes 
a little while for the leaven of reformation to 
register its effect. There are many excellent 
reasons for not taking grave exception to 
Dr. Johnson’s general conclusion that the 
eastern American land is as a whole in fairly 
stable equilibrium—that is to say, is not now 


JuLy 4, 1913] 


in the act of swinging through the vertical 
secular period which the diastrophism of geo- 
logical change calls for. Nevertheless, the 
first impulse of the local observer, let us sup- 
pose a geologist perfectly familiar with the 
undeniable indications of elevation or sub- 
mergence within his own Atlantic field, is to 
resent this conception and conclusion of gen- 
eral present stability as too lightly putting 
aside factors of very positive significance. 
The theorem is one of no little moment. 
Hither the Atlantic coast is dancing up here 
and down there, as the Philistines have de- 
clared, bringing alternate hope and despair to 
riparian owners, or else it is standing flat and 
firm. We have learned that the uneasiest 
thing in the earth is the earth itself, the very 
philosophy of terrestrial equilibrium precludes 
the notion of too long stability or of an end 
to the rhythm of vertical vibration. So we 
may, probably we must take this notion of 
stability as one limited to an inappreciable 
change through the “ present,” the “ historic ” 
period, at all events one of brevity, and this 
is of course a different proposition than one 
of actual stability. I am of those who 
frankly resented Dr. Johnson’s general con- 
clusions, for my records are sufficiently pro- 
fuse in what seemed best construed as local 
warpings. This was my attitude at a first 
reading of this and his other papers on this 
subject. A fallow interval and a second read- 
ing have led me to subject my data of appar- 
ent land rise and fall to his suggested treat- 
ment—to look at each by itself as a possibly 
localized effect of storm and stress against 
the coast, involving now and again the bury- 
ing of woodlands, undermining and poisoning 
of forest growth by salt water, etc., and I am 
disposed to think that very many of the cases 
I am most familiar with on the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence coast may be resolved by such meas- 
ures; and that, as the author himself has said, 
the absence of continuity in these destructive 
effects intimates their local character. Pro- 
fessor Ganong has recently suggested, con- 
cerning effects of this kind noted by him in 
New Brunswick, that it may be well to take 
record of the changes in the head-of-tide in 


SCIENCE 


27 


seaboard streams. This would be an interest- 
ing procedure, but even here there is a chance 
for large error; granted that if the historic 
records of head-of-tide were trustworthy, such 
variables as the scouring of freshet streams 
and the stress conditions from off the sea must 
both be estimated. 

There lies a large value in these conclusions 
of stability, though I confess to little enthu- 
siasm over some of the procedure by which 
the conclusion is reached. It may be a new 
geographical principle that assumes differ- 
ences in high level between the waters of a 
barachois and those of the open sea from 
which it is severed by a bar gullied with tidal 
tickles; and the vigorous attack by quiet and 
sheltered barachois waters against their bound- 
ing land, even when the gale blows hardest, is 
rather too leonine for general belief. 

The geologist, in considering such facts, 
will not forget that in dealing with the north 
Atlantic seaboard, we are facing a rias coast; 
in other words, the ocean forces, under pre- 
vailing winds, strike the anticlines and syn- 
clines of Appalachian land, head on, beating 
against their ends, not their flanks. They are 
playing at the greatest advantage in down- 
breaking ridges and overwhelming valleys. 
In fact, in many places in the northeastern 
and St. Lawrence lands the waters of the new 
bays lie in the old synclines of the paleozoic. 
Under such conditions of long-continued tur- 
moil and attack where the tide can rush with 
immensely increased volume and impetuosity, 
at greatest destructive advantage, in among 
the ancient troughs, there is a vast chance for 
the production of conditions which might on 
the one hand suggest subsidence where poi- 
soned forests are left by the retreat or lodging 
of the salt waters, and on the other intimate 
elevation, as the water level in times of rea- 
sonable quiescence lies below the field of its 
destruction in time of stress. 

Tf one will leave the debatable ground of 
the coast itself and take to the continental 
islands, such as Prince Edward Island and 
the Magdalens, the evidence of present sta- 
bility is fairly beyond stricture. The Mag- 
dalens are more particularly to the point as 


28 


they are far in the heart of the gulf, away 
from any recent entanglement with the main- 
land, which is not quite so true of Prince 
Edward Island. Here is a cluster of rock 
fragments knit together by sand bars which 
show no single trace or semblance of recent 
elevation or depression. Even the broad dune- 
covered bars patched with stunted spruce and 
dune-grass afford no indication of tree burial 
or poisoning by encroachment of the water 
without or of the great lagoons within. The 
rocks of the islands are rather homogeneous 
in quality, except for the volcanics. The 
sandstones are retreating rapidly under the 
wave attacks, and while the volcanics stand 
out in better resistance, the broad submarine 
platform about the islands is uniformly 
smoothed. The soundings of the admiralty 
chart show how uniform the smoothing has 
been. The five-fathom platform ties all the 
islands of the Magdalens proper into one. 
The walrus bones heaped together on the top 
of the low horizontal rock shelves where they 
were left by the hunters more than a century 
ago, lie as they lay then, only coated with a 
century of soil and quietly falling away into 
the sea as the waters gnaw down the rocks. 
The five-fathom level is approximately a true 
wave platform, but the ten-fathom level, which 
outlines a platform of a hundred times the 
present superficies of the surviving islands, is 
unquestionably a wave-cut level deeply sub- 
merged. In this ten-fathom level there is no 
appeal from the evidence of a submergence at 
a time not far back of the present or from the 
conclusion that the Magdalens are mere inter- 
woven shreds of a once great island, but we 
must not be pressed to declare how long ago 
the negative movement ceased. Not long, 
probably; but for this day, this present, we 
lack the right to say that there is any move- 
ment in process, up or down. A clue is sug- 
gested as to the length of this actual stability ; 
facing the great interior lagoon bounded by 
the double chain of sand bars are ragged rock 
cliffs, with bare faces that never could have 
been torn by the feeble waters of the lagoon 
even in times of tempest. These cliffs, now 
enmeshed by sand and facing only placid 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


waters, were made ragged and bare in the 
days when the sea itself pounded at their base. 
Since then the whole network of sand has been 
built up about them, and yet all this without 
any definite indication of change of water 
level. 

JoHN M. CiarKke 


Hinfiihrung in die Mathematik fir Biologen 
und Chemiker. Von Professor Dr. Leonor 
MicHAELis, Privatdozent an der Universitat 
Berlin. Verlag von Julius Springer, Berlin. 
1912. 

It is the purpose of this book to bring be- 
fore the chemist and the biologist, in con- 
venient form, some mathematical information 
that is necessary to an understanding of 
methods that are being used more and more 
in chemistry and biology. The first chapter 
of the book gives a recapitulation of some 
very elementary mathematics, including plane 
geometry, the most elementary algebra and 
trigonometry. The second chapter is given to 
the study of some very simple functions such 
as are usually treated in a first course in 
analytic geometry. The main part of the 
book is given to the calculus, to differential 
equations, and to applications to chemistry 
and physics. 

The author has succeeded in bringing a 
large amount of useful material into a small 
space, and the book will perhaps serve well its 
purpose. Although the reviewer recognizes 
that, in an elementary book, one may sacrifice 
too much simplicity for the sake of precision 
in the statement of fundamentals, there is 
some danger that the chemist and biologist 
will get incorrect views as to the precision of 
the processes of differentiation and integra- 
tion when presented as they are in this book. 
To illustrate, on p. 107, we find the statement 

3. Che. Cle 
sin 2 = o 

and analogous statements are to be found at 

many points in the book. 

I note the following numerical and typo- 
graphical errors: Line 23, p. 87, should con- 
tain 0.7071 instead of 0.7069, and line 9, 
p. 107, should have 


JULY 4, 1913] 


sinw/2 1 
ID) Lear 
instead of 
sinr/2 0 
m [2 » 158° 


In carrying out his purposes, the author 
has very properly included a brief treatment 
of exact and inexact differentials, Fourier’s 
‘series, and the application of imaginary num- 
bers to the solution of some differential equa- 
tions that are important in mathematical 
physics. 

The final chapter of the book is devoted to 
directions for the representation of experi- 
mental data by mathematical functions, but 
the presentation is so brief that it is doubtful 
if the biologist or chemist could carry the 
directions into numerical effect without more 
mathematics than is given in this book. 

On the whole, the author has shown good 
judgment in the selection of material for his 
purposes, and the biologist and chemist not 
familiar with the calculus will find the book 
of value. 

H. L. Rrerz 


Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations. 
By E. RutHerrorp. Cambridge, University 
Press. 1913. Pp. vii+ 700. Price, $4.50. 
The subject of radioactivity is now just six- 

teen years old, yet the volume of its literature 

already compares favorably with that of any 
of the other grand divisions of physics and two 
compendious text-books, Rutherford’s and 

Madame Curie’s—not to mention a host of less 

pretentious treatments—are available to initi- 

ate the student into its mysteries. 

It is now eight years since the second edition 
of Rutherford’s “ Radioactivity ” appeared, and 
in view of the fact that this period covers one 
half of the life of the science, it is scarcely to 
be expected that its present status could be 
adequately presented by a mere revision of 
that book. And it is to the author’s credit that 
he has not attempted to patch the new mate- 
rial into the old frame, but has instead built 
an entirely new framework and merely utilized 
the old lumber wherever it still proved service- 
able. 


SCIENCE 29 


Out of a total of 700 pages, only about 150 
are taken from the former work. Despite this 
fact, the present book makes very much the 
same impression as did its predecessor, whether 
it is given merely a cursory glance or whether 
it is made the subject of careful study. This 
is because the big problems of radioactivity 
were correctly solved at the start, and that 
largely by Rutherford himself. It is one of 
the most notable facts connected with this 
notable subject that within eight years of the 
discovery of the first radioactive rays, the phe- 


- nomena of radioactivity should have been so 


thoroughly worked out and so unerringly in- 
terpreted that scarcely a viewpoint then taken 
in a book of 560 pages needs, after eight more 
years of exceedingly active experimenting, to 
be discarded. 

The differences between the old book and the 
new are to be found not so much in method of 
treatment or in order of presentation, as in 
the incorporation of the new material which 
has accumulated within the past eight years. 
Much of this material has grown out of re- 
searches conducted in Rutherford’s own lab- 
oratory. The additions have come chiefly 
from the careful study of the following sub- 
jects, none of which are found in the old text. 

1. The range of the alpha particle, the law 
of its scattering in passing through matter, 
and the stopping power of substances for it. 
Through studies in these fields has come a 
great addition to our knowledge of the nature 
of the atom and the character of radioactive 
changes. 

2. The phenomena of recoil, undiscovered 
when the old book was written, but recently 
diligently studied and shown to be invaluable 
as a means of separating radioactive products. 

3. The methods of directly counting the 
alpha particles, one of which, namely, the scin- 
tillation method, has recently been of great 
help in the study of the short-lived products. 

4. The scattering and change in velocity of 
the Beta rays in passing through matter and 
the remarkable resolution into a large number 
of homogeneous components of the Beta rays 
emitted by Radium O—studies which have 
thrown new light on the nature of the atom. 


30 


5. The connéction between the Beta and the 
Gamma rays, the recent investigation of 
which has raised new and interesting ques- 
tions regarding the nature of electro-mag- 
netic radiation itself. 

6. The elaborate study of the thorium and 
actinium series of products, a study which has 
been chiefly responsible for the extension of 
the twenty radioactive products known in 
1905, to the thirty-two known in 1913. 

". The new evidence for and against the ac- 
tivity of ordinary matter. 

8. The bearing of radioactivity upon the age 
of the earth. 

The author’s style is always direct and 
simple and the present book, like its predeces- 
sor, can be read by those not trained in severe 
mathematical analysis. At the same time, the 
work of compiling has been carefully and 
thoroughly done, the references to the original 
articles are complete, and the author has been 
remarkably successful in dealing fully and 
fairly with the work of other investigators and 
in making a thorough and complete presenta- 
tion of the facts and theories of radioactivity 
as they stand in the year 1913. This book will 
undoubtedly be the standard work on radioac- 
tivity for the next five or six years at least. 

R. A. Miniixan 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 

RYERSON PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 
June 2, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


Tue April number (volume 14, No. 2) of 
the Transactions of the American Mathemat- 
ical Society contains the following papers: 


J. L. Coolidge: ‘‘A study of the circle cross.’’ 

W. W. Denton: ‘‘Projective differential geom- 
etry of developable surfaces.’’ 

K. P. Williams: ‘‘The solutions of non-homo- 
geneous linear difference equations and their 
asymptotic form.’’ 

A. B. Coble: ‘‘An application of finite geom- 
etry to the characteristic theory of the odd and 
even theta functions. ’’ 

W. F. Osgood and E. H. Taylor: ‘‘ Conformal 
transformations on the boundaries of their regions 
of definition.’’ 

Tue May number (volume 19, number 8) 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical 
Society contains: Report of the February 
meeting of the Society, by F. N. Cole; “ Three 
or more rational curves collinearly related,” 
by J. E. Rowe; “Second note on Fermat’s 
last theorem,” by R. D. Carmichael; “ An ex- 
tension of a theorem of Painlevé,” by E. H. 
Taylor; ‘“ Mathematical physics and integral 
equations,” by W. A. Hurwitz; “Shorter 
Notices ”: Schulze’s Teaching of Mathematics 
in Secondary Schools, by J. L. Coolidge; 
Hime’s Anharmonic Coordinates, by J. V. 
McKelvey; Beutel’s Algebraische Kurven, 
Zweiter Teil, by H. S. White; Scheffer’s Lehr- 
buch der Mathematik fiir Studierende der 
Naturwissenschaften und der Technik, by A. 
R. Crathorne; Sainte-Lagué’s Notions de 
Mathématiques, by R. C. Archibald; Weber 
and Wellstein’s Encyklopadie der Elementar- 
Mathematik, Band III., by J. B. Shaw; Whit- 
taker’s History of the Theories of the A‘ther 
and Electricity, Krause’s Theorie der ellip- 
tischen Funktionen and Mill’s Introduction to 
Thermodynamics, by E. B. Wilson; Annuaire 
du Bureau des Longitudes pour l’An 1913, by 
E. W. Brown; “Notes”; “New Publications.” 

The June number of the Bulletin contains: 
Report of the spring meeting of the Chicago 
Section, by H. E. Slaught; “ Concerning two 
recent theorems on implicit functions,” by L. 
L. Dines; “Concerning the property A of a 
class of functions,” by A. D. Pitcher; “The 
asymptotic form of the function &(x),” by K. 
P. Williams; “An erroneous application of 
Bayes’ theorem to the set of real numbers,” 
by E. L. Dodd; “Shorter Notices”: Weber’s 
Partielle Differential-Gleichungen der mathe- 
matischen Physik, Band II., and Féppl’s The- 
orie der Elektrizitit, Band I., by J. B. Shaw; 
“Notes”; “ New Publications.” 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
ACCESSORY CHROMOSOMES IN THE PIG 


SEVERAL points of interest were brought to 
light in this study of the spermatogenesis of the 
pig and the relation of the accessory chromo- 
somes to sex. Unusually good material was 
available for this investigation and it was 
found that eighteen chromosomes occur in the 


JULY 4, 1913] 


spermatogonia. Two of these, undoubtedly 
the accessories, are oval in shape and some- 
what larger than the others, which are rod- 
shape. 

In the primary spermatocytes ten chromo- 
somes appear in the late prophase of division, 
eight large bivalents plus the two unpaired ac- 
cessories. In the metaphase of this division 


the accessories pass to one pole, undivided, and 


in advance of the other chromosomes. Thus, 
this division which is evidently the reduction 
division gives rise to two different types of 
secondary spermatocytes. The one type con- 
tains eight ordinary chromosomes or auto- 
somes, and the other eight autosomes plus the 
two accessories. 

In the late prophase and early metaphase of 
division in the secondary spermatocyte four 
large chromosomes appear in the one type of 
cell and four plus the two accessories in the 
other. Thus a second fusion of the autosomes 
in pairs has evidently taken place. This is not 
to be looked on as a second reduction division, 
however, as the autosomes in the late meta- 
phase of division in these cells manifest their 
bivalent nature again. The secondary sperma- 
tocytes containing the four large chromosomes 
give rise to two spermatids each with four bi- 
valents or eight univalents; and those contain- 
ing the four large chromosomes and the two 
accessories give rise to spermatids containing 
four bivalents or eight univalent chromosomes 
plus the two accessories which have divided 
here for the first time since the last sperma- 
togonial division. 

The spermatids transform directly into 
spermatozoa. The conspicuous centrosome 
emerges from the sphere and divides into two 
parts which for some time remain connected 
by a thick strand of material. The anterior 
centrosome comes in contact with the nuclear 
wall while the posterior one becomes trans- 
formed into a ring through which extends the 
developing axial filament. In the meantime 
the sphere migrates around the nucleus to a 
point opposite the anterior centrosomes where 
it becomes fixed as the acrosome. Long before 
the axial filament is fully developed the pos- 
terior ring-shaped centrosome is thrown off 


SCIENCE 31 


and lies in the cytoplasm away from the axial 
filament. During the final development of the 
spermatozoan a large mass of cytoplasm con- 
taining the posterior centrosome is thrown off 
by the cell. Careful measurements of a large 
number of the mature spermatozoa show that 
they are of two distinct types, one being much 
larger than the other. 

The investigation was extended to studies 
of the germinal and somatic cells of both male 
and female pig embryos. It was again found 
in the male that the spermatogonial number of 
chromosomes is eighteen and that the same 
number prevails in the somatic cells, two of the 
chromosomes being somewhat larger. Twenty 
chromosomes, four somewhat larger and evi- 
dently the accessories, were found in the 
oogonia, and the same number prevails in the 
somatic cells of the female. It is evident that 
the eggs containing the reduced number of 
chromosomes, which is ten, when fertilized by 
the one type of spermatozoan containing ten 
chromosomes give rise to individuals contain- 
ing twenty chromosomes in their cells, or fe- 
males; while those fertilized by the other type 
containing only eight chromosomes give rise 
to individuals with eighteen chromosomes in 
their cells, which was found to be the number 
in the male. 

Many investigators have found a similar 
dimorphic condition in the number of chromo- 
somes in the two sexes of some of the inverte-’ 
brates; and although the same condition was 
predicted to exist in the vertebrates possessing 
the X-element, it has, heretofore, never been 
actually shown. 

N. E. Jordan in a recent abstract’ says that 
the heterochromosomes are unquestionably 
lacking in the pig and several other mammals. 
Since the appearance of this article I have 
carefully reinvestigated my material and am 
thoroughly convinced that my conclusion is cor- 
rect. A detailed account of this investigation 
will be published later. 


J. E. WopsepaLex 
ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, 
January 30, 1913 


1Scrmnce, N.S. Vol. XXXVIL, No. 946, pp. 
270-271. 


32 SCIENCE 


THE EFFECT OF EXTERNAL STIMULI UPON 
THE CELL 


THE structure of the trophoplasm is an ex- 
pression of the physiologic state. This struc- 
ture consequently varies with the changing 
functional phases of the trophoplasm. Thus, 
in the root tip of Vicia faba the trophoplasm 
in the later stages of inanition becomes homo- 
geneous; under the influence of antipyrine it 
becomes beautifully alveolar; under the influ- 
ence of ecaffein it becomes granular; and in 
cells subjected to high pressure it becomes 
filar. The quantity of the trophoplasm is re- 
duced as the cell activities are increased above 
the normal. Thus, in cells exposed to tem- 
peratures of 38 degrees Centigrade the tropho- 
plasm is greatly reduced in quantity, and may 
appear not unlike the trophoplasm in ad- 
vanced stages of inanition. A similar reduc- 
tion is noticeable when cells are subjected to 
two-per-cent. solutions of antipyrine. On the 
other hand, cells subjected to low tempera- 
tures—zero degrees Centigrade to + 2—the 
cell activity is reduced and the trophoplasm 
increased in quantity. The same is true, 
though to a less extent, when cells are sub- 
jected to a two-per-cent. solution of chloral 
hydrate. 

The kinoplasm is physiologically and mor- 
phologically distinct from the trophoplasm. It 
is destroyed at temperatures near zero degrees 
Centigrade and at 38 to 40 degrees. The 
trophoplasm endures these temperatures for a 
considerably longer time, with little or no in- 
jury. Chemical agents, like chloral hydrate, 
readily destroy the kinoplasm with little or 
no injury to the trophoplasm. The nucleolus 
varies in size, being large when the cell ac- 
tivity is greatly reduced and small when the 
cell activity is greatly increased. It is to be 
looked upon as reserve food material for gen- 
eral cellular activity. It is not food material 
solely for kinoplasm, nor does its substance 
penetrate the trophoplasm and thus activate 
or produce the kinoplasm. 

It is difficult or impossible to explain the 
behavior of the mitotic spindle under the dif- 
ferent stimuli, physical and chemical, with 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 966 


many of the theories now held in regard to 
spindle mechanism as a function. 


C. F. Horrrs 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 
SECTION G—BOTANY 


THE session of Section G, Botany, was held at 
Cleveland on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 
31, 1912. The program consisted of the address 
of the retiring vice-president, Professor F. C. 
Newcombe, on the topic ‘‘The Scope of State 
Natural History Surveys,’’ and of the following 
invitation addresses: ‘‘The Hffect of External 
Stimuli upon the Cell,’’? Professor C. F. Hottes; 
“*A Plea for Closer Interrelations in our Work,’’ 
Professor L. R. Jones; ‘‘A Field Study of Ori- 
ental Cycads,’’ Professor C. J. Chamberlain. Pro- 
fessor Newcombe’s address has appeared in Sct- 
ENCE, and the invitation addresses will also be 
published in ScIENCE. 

Professor Henry C. Cowles was elected vice- 
president of Section G for the following year, and 
Professor W. J. V. Osterhout was elected secre- 
tary for five years. Professor F. C. Newcombe 
was elected a member of the sectional committee 
for five years. Professor C. E. Allen and Professor 
B, E. Livingston were chosen as a special com- 
mittee to consider affiliation with the Botanical 
Society of America. Henry C. Cowles, 

Secretary 


BOTANISTS OF THE CENTRAL STATES 


A SPECIAL business meeting of this organization 
was held in connection with the meetings of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science at Cleveland, Tuesday, December 31, 1912. 
In the absence of the president, Professor T. H. 
Macbride, Past-president Professor F. C. New- 
combe occupied the chair. The business of the 
meeting was to consider the desirability of again 
holding scientific sessions. The secretary read the 
results of a questionnaire that had been sent to 
the members, and in view of the large majority 
favoring active continuance, it was voted to hold 
meetings in the future in those years when the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science meets outside the territory of the Botan- 
ists of the Central States, which, broadly speaking, 
is the Mississippi Valley. Of those expressing an 
opinion, a majority favored holding meetings in 
conjunction with the zoologists, preferably about 
Easter. Henry C. Cowles, 

Secretary 


SCIENCE 


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Discusses Morphology, Culture and Physiology of Micro-organisms, including Nutrition and Meta- 
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, CONTENTS OF THE MAY NUMBER 
A Problem in Evolution. Professor William Patten. 
The North American Indians of the Plains. Dr. 
Clark Wissler. 
Heredity and the Hall of Fame. Dr. Frederick 
Adams Woods 
The Man who discovered the Circulation of the 
Blood. Professor Fraser Harris. 
Great Erosional Work of Winds. Dr. Charles R. 
Keyes. 
Hospitals, their Origin and Evolution. Dr. John 
Foote. 
The New Optimism. Professor G. T. W. Patrick. 
Welfare and the New Economics. Professor Scott 
Nearing. 
Scholarship and the State. Professor F. C. Brown. 
The Progress of Science: 
The Number of Scientific Men in the World; The 
Scientific Career in the United States; Scientific 
Items. 


CONTENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER 


Some Further Applications of the Methods of Posi- 
tive Rays, Sir J. J. Thomson. 

The Abalones of California. Professor Charles 
Lincoln Edwards. 

The President of the Ninth International Congress 
of Applied Chemistry. Dr. George Frederick 

unz. 

The American College as it looks from the Inside. 
Professor Charles Hart Handschin. 

Edward Whymper. Alpinist of the Heroic Age. 
Professor B. E. Young. 

Alcohol from a Scientific Point of View. Dr. J. 
Frank Daniels. 

The Biological Status and Social Worth of the 
Mulatto. Professor H. E. Jordan. 

The Evidence of Inorganic Evolution. Sidney 
Liebovitz. 

A statistical Study of Eminent Women. Cora Sutton 
Castle. 

The Progress of Science: 
The Anniversary Meeting of the National 
Academy of Sciences; The History of the National 
Academy ; Scientific Items. 


CONTENTS OF THE JULY NUMBER 


Ancient Man, his Environment and his Art. Pro- 
fessor George Grant MacCurdy. 

Suspended Changes in Nature. Professor James H. 
Walton. 

Heredity, Culpability, Praiseworthiness, Punishment 
and Reward. Dr. C. B. Davenport. 

Gustav Theodore Fechner. Professor Frank Angell. 

The Intellectual and the Physical Life. Dr. James 
Frederick Rogers. 

Women Teachers and Equal Pay. Mrs. Elfrieda 
Hoehbaum Pope. 

The Business Man and the High School Graduate. 
James P. Munroe. 

Vulgar Specifics and Therapeutic Superstitions. Dr. 
Max Kahn. 

Lester F. Ward as Sociologist. Professor A. E. Ross. 

The Progress of Science: 
The Passing of the Victorian Era; Vital Statistics 
and the Marriage Rate; Scientific Items. 


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———————————————— 


Fripay, Juty 11, 1913 


CONTENTS 


University Education in London: PROFESSOR 
1D, 12 WON Goo oooddooumooodaKeoUdoodS 33 


The Optical Activity of Petroleum and its 
Significance: PROFESSOR W. F. BusHoNG . 39 


An Ascent of the Snow Mountains of New 
Guinea: Proressor A. C. Happon ....... 44 


Scientifie Notes and News ................ 45 


University and Educational News .......... 47 


Discussion and Correspondence :-— 
The Complexity of the Microorganic Pop- 
ulation of the Soil: Proressor L. H. 
BoutEy. Fowlerina Eigenmanni a preoccu- 
pied Generic Name: Henry W. FOwueEr. 
The Blowing of Soils: ALBERT B. REAGAN. 
Mosquitoes Pollinating Orchids: C. S. 
CRANDALL. Plus and Minus Again: Pro- 
FESSOR FLORIAN CAJoRI. An Institute for 
Bibliographical Research: AKSEL G. S. 
JOSEEIRON Cooke qaddaoooenolcnieseBodeuud 48 


Scientific Books :— 
Recent Books on Physics: PROFESSOR G. F. 
Huu. Pfeiffer’s Die Steinzeitliche Tech- 
nick: Dr. WaAuTER HoucH. Miinsterberg’s 
Psychology and Industrial Efficiency: Pro- 
FESSOR H. L. HOLLINGWORTH ............ 53 


Special Articles :— 
The Emission of Electrons from Tungsten 
at High Temperatures: PRroressor O. W. 
RicHaRDSoN. Mendelian Inheritance of 
Epidermal Characters: RICHARD WELLING- 
TON. Powdery Scab of Potatoes in the 
United States: W. J. Morsr ............ 57 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN LONDON? 


PROBABLY no document of greater im- 
portance to medical education, and to uni- 
versity education in general, has appeared 
in recent years than the report just issued 
by the Royal Commission. This commis- 
sion, appointed by Edward Seventh, con- 
sidered the organization and extension of 
the various institutions of higher education 
in London to constitute the new University 
of London. Its reports and extensive sup- 
plements have been published from time to 
time, and the parts which deal with med- 
ical education have been followed with in- 
terest by medical men in both Great Britain 
and America. 

The appointment of the Royal Commis- 
sion was not the beginning of the move- 
ment for reform of the educational insti- 
tutions in London; it was rather the cul- 
mination of a long agitation which arose 
from several motives supported by differ- 
ent bodies and persons. It was only after 
the failure to secure the support of the 
university senate and convocation that the 
alternative course of applying directly to 
the crown for a charter establishing a new 
university altogether was adopted. The 
movement which led to this petition arose 
from the medical teachers who applied for 
a charter empowering them to confer de- 
grees. From the point of view of univer- 
sity reform there was not much to be said 
for a proposal for substituting one exam- 
ining body for another with the express 

* Final report. T. Fisher Unwin, London, W. C. 
1913. Price 2 shillings. The article was prepared 
as a review of the report of the commission, but 
in view of the importance of the subject and its 


interest to American men of science, it is printed 
as a leading article—EDIToR. 


34 


object of providing a degree upon easier 
terms. Teaching and examining for de- 
grees had long been separate functions in 
London, and it is clear that the Royal Com- 
mission deemed it of first importance that 
these functions be united in a single body, 
the university faculty. 

Now the final report, which is a bulky 
volume, includes recommendations for the 
organization of the University of London 
with nine faculties. After discussing the 
present organization of the university, the 
essentials of a university in a great center 
of population are considered. As to the 
student, he should be young and should de- 
vote his entire time to his studies. A con- 
siderable amount of leisure is essential for 
independent reading, for common life with 
fellow students and teachers, and above all 
for the reflective thought necessary to the 
rather slow process of assimilation. Uni- 
versity knowledge should be pursued not 
merely for the sake of information to be 
acquired, but for its own extension and 
always with reference to the attainment of 
truth. This alters the student’s whole atti- 
tude of mind. Scientific thought becomes 
a habit, and almost incidentally intellectual 
power is developed. 

The higher work of the university should 
be closely connected with the undergradu- 
ate work, on the one hand, and with re- 
search, on the other. Teaching and re- 
search should be combined; the university 
teacher should be an investigator. The 
greatest evil which results from the present 
organization of the university is that now 
this is not the ease, and it is this which is 
most important to remove in the interest 
of higher education in London. The com- 
mission does not think it possible to get the 
best men as professors, if they are in any 
way restricted from doing their highest 
work, or are prevented from spreading 
their net wide to catch the best students. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


Research should not be exploited in the 
interest of individual capitalists, but should 
be a part of a great university. 

The various independent schools in Lon- 
don, University College, King’s College, 
technical schools, medical schools, ete., are 
to be blended in the new University of 
London, administered by various boards, 
so that they may give automatic rule, as is 
the case in Edinburgh, Oxford and Cam- 
bridge. It is a complex organization, 
much like that of our national government, 
and decidedly different from that of our 
American universities. 

The university is to have complete con- 
trol of everything relating to its work— 
property, organization, teaching and exam- 
inations—as is the case at Harvard, Co- 
lumbia or Chicago. In its organization the 
constituent parts fall into faculties and de- 
partments, and there will also be schools. 
No institution should become a constituent 
college in any faculty unless it is able to 
provide a full course for the first and 
higher degrees awarded by that faculty. 
A university department deals with a single 
subject or group of studies of less range 
than a faculty. Its teachers would have 
the same standing as other university 
teachers of similar status, and its students 
would rank with students of a constituent 
college. Institutions which are independ- 
ent but which are well equipped for the 
work they undertake, with a suitable staff 
of teachers, may become schools of the 
university. 

In a university college or department, 
the teachers must be of university rank, 
that is, they must be actively engaged in 
research and in teaching. This is the key 
to the entire situation, and is referred to 
again and again in the report. The teach- 
ing should be suited for adults; it should 
be scientific, detached and impartial in 
character. It should not fill the minds of 


JuLy 11, 1913] 


the students with facts and theories, but it 
should eall forth his own individuality and 
stimulate him to mental effort. He should 
become accustomed to critical study of 
leading authorities with occasional refer- 
ence to first-hand information, and thus 
implant in his mind a standard of thor- 
oughness and a sense of the value of truth. 
He then learns to state fairly the position 
of those whose conclusions he most stoutly 
opposes. He gains an insight into the 
conditions under which original research is 
carried on, which enables him to weigh 
evidence, follow and criticize argument and 
put his own value on authorities. 

The commission then recommends the 
formation of faculties of arts, science, tech- 
nology, economics, medicine, law, theology 
and music out of the existing institutions 
in London, Whether this is practicable is 
not for us to discuss, but their recom- 
mendations of necessity include a consid- 
eration of the whole university problem, 
and this they do in a masterful way. The 
tone of the report is the best, and for this 
reason it should be considered carefully by 
all American educators, especially at this 
time when our universities are under fire. 
In this review I shall confine myself to the 
part on medical education—and largely to 
the clinical side—as it has become the ques- 
tion of first importance in America. One 
fourth of the report, which is unanimously 
adopted by the commission, is devoted to 
medical education. What follows is largely 
verbatim. 

In the case of the faculty of medicine, as 
in the case of other faculties, the commis- 
sion considers what steps it is necessary to 
take in order to place the best teaching 
upon a real university basis. They can 
not, however, deal with the faculty of medi- 
cine on exactly the same lines they have 
followed in the case of other faculties, such 
as those of arts and science. In these fac- 


SCIENCE 35 


ulties the provision for teaching of the 
highest university standard may be defi- 
cient, but the standard itself is not ques- 
tioned. 

In the case of the faculty of medicine 
there is no test to apply; except as regards 
pathology and hygiene the university has 
not attempted to determine which of the 
teachers of the subjects classed as advanced 
medical studies are entitled to the status 
of professors. The university could not do 
so under its existing regulations for the 
conferment of those titles, because none of 
those teachers fulfil the requirements with 
regard to salary, time and other conditions 
of employment. What is more significant, 
it is denied that the university ought to do 
so. So far as clinical teaching is con- 
cerned, another standard has been set up 
in the past. The university professor, ac- 
cording to the conception of the commis- 
sion of him, can give instruction of the 
highest university standard only if he is 
actively engaged in the systematic advance- 
ment of knowledge in his subject. But in 
the case of medicine it is contended by 
many physicians that whether for univer- 
sity or other students the best teachers are 
men who are engaged in the practise of 
their profession, and have at most only as 
much time for original research as remains 
after the demands of their practise have 
been met. 

The teaching of the intermediate sub- 
jects, anatomy, physiology and pharma- 
cology, should be of the highest university 
standard, and should be provided in insti- 
tutions closely related to the clinical de- 
partments. 

The question of the reform of clinical 
teaching was first definitely raised before 
the commission in the evidence given by 
Mr. Abraham Flexner. They had received 
his report on medical education in the 
United States, and they had been informed 


36 SCIENCE 


that he was preparing a similar report on 
medical education in Germany, France and 
Great Britain. This report received their 
careful consideration. 

The fundamental principle underlying 
Flexner’s argument is that university 
teaching can be given only by men who 
are actively and systematically engaged in 
the advancement of knowledge in the sub- 
ject they teach. And this, of course, is a 
principle upon which the commission has 
insisted strongly in dealing with the gen- 
eral question of the essentials of university 
teaching, and the position and duties of 
the university professors. 

But what is suggested and insisted on is 
that if, as is admitted, cooperation is neces- 
sary for the practise of medicine at the 
level of medical science to-day, it is also 
necessary, even in a higher degree, for the 
advancement of medical science beyond its 
present stage; further, that his cooperation 
does not exist in the hospital medical 
school, and can not do so as long as the 
physicians make use of science only to aid 
them in recognizing and curing disease, 
and in teaching their students to do so on 
the basis of existing knowledge. It is 
maintained that they must give their time 
to attacking the problems of disease, and 
that they can not do so alone, but must be- 
come members, and controlling and direct- 
ing members of a group of men working 
together for a common end—a group in 
which the subordinate members are selected 
with a view to the special knowledge re- 
quired to aid and supplement that of the 
leading and directing mind. They must 
devote themselves to original research 
under the conditions which make it pro- 
ductive in the case of the exceedingly com- 
plex problems which medical science has 
to solve. Finally it is said that the hos- 
pital unit is the kind of organization which 
experience has already shown provides the 


[N.S. Vou, XXXVIII. No. 967 


conditions required; and that it is only 
when the conditions have been found and 
established which make research in medical 
science possible and actual that the true 
university spirit will inform the teaching, 
and that the teachers will be the kind of 
men the commission have spoken of as uni- 
versity professors—men who will do for 
medicine what other men do for physiology 
and chemistry, and, indeed, for every sub- 
ject. which is capable of being scientifically 
treated. If this kind of teaching is essen- 
tial, it seems to the commission clear that 
it can not be expected of men who are 
largely engaged in private practise; not 
only would the teaching and preparation 
for it make too great a demand on their 
time, but it is the kind of teaching which 
can really be successfully undertaken only 
by men whose main occupation is original 
research in the science of their subject. 
Further in the opinion of the commission 
the University of London ought not to be 
satisfied with the present clinical teaching 
in the London medical schools. It appears 
to them beside the point to say, as some 
witnesses do, that the time for training is 
not the time for research, that a man has 
enough to learn then in order to make him- 
self a good doctor, and that the leisure for 
research comes afterwards when he has 
taken his degree. It is not suggested that 
the undergraduate should engage in re- 
search in the medical faculty more than in 
any other, but that is no reason why he 
should not receive a university education. 
The commission has made it clear in the 
earlier part of the report—(a) that uni- 
versity education can be given only by 
university teachers, and (b) that it is a 
necessary condition of the work of univer- 
sity teachers that they should be systemat- 
ically engaged in original work. Again, 
it is said that a good deal of scientific 
teaching is done by the present teachers, 


JuLy 11, 1913] 


although they are in active practise. For- 
tunately, there are always exceptional men 
who succeed in doing things which the con- 
ditions of their life and work make difficult 
for most; but it is necessary to consider 
what conditions are conducive to the end 
in view and likely to promote its attain- 
ments as the general rule and not as the 
exception. Having regard to the growing 
complexity of the subject of medical sci- 
ence, it seems to the commission that it will 
become more and more difficult as time 
goes on, for the really scientific teaching in 
the subject to be given by men whose 
powers are largely required for the ardu- 
ous work of medical practise, and whose 
minds are quite rightly occupied for the 
most part with exacting claims and daily 
anxieties of their professional work. It is 
not conclusive that many eminent British 
physicians and surgeons have in the past 
made important contributions to the ad- 
vancement of knowledge in this subject. 
It is doubted if it can fairly be claimed 
that the representatives of British medicine 
make their proper contributions to the sci- 
entific literature of the subject to-day, and 
although admirable work is still being 
done, it is all a matter of individual effort, 
and generally carried out under difficul- 
ties. But quite apart from this it makes 
all the difference in the world to the stu- 
dents of a university whether they have 
received a purely professional training or 
a university education in the course of 
which they will come into contact with the 
fringe of their subject, and will realize 
that it is a subject which is growing—that 
they can even play their part in making it 
grow. 

The above summary from the report 
shows that the excellent and courageous 
studies on medical education by Flexner 
are being considered in Europe as well as 
in America. 


SCIENCE 37 


After Flexner testified before the com- 
mission a number of eminent clinicians, in- 
eluding Sir William Osler and Professor 
Friedrich von Miiller, gave their opinions 
on hospital organization and clinical teach- 
ing. The conditions prevailing in Munich 
were fully set forth by Miller, and Osler 
formulated an ideal plan based largely 
upon the German clinic. Osler’s hospital 
unit for each of the important clinical 
branches comprises about sixty beds, vari- 
ous clinical laboratories, an out-patient de- 
partment, and a director with a suitable 
staff. The principal teachers in clinical 
medicine and surgery in all the branches 
ought to be university professors in the 
same sense as the principal teachers in 
chemistry or physiology in a university. 
Under these conditions Osler thinks that we 
can expect the professor of medicine to 
carry out his three-fold duty; namely, eur- 
ing the sick, studying problems of disease 
and teaching his students. Thus it is clear 
that American influences are making them- 
selves felt in England. The recommenda- 
tions of Flexner and Osler are adopted in 
practically every detail by the commission. 
To what extent the clinician should carry 
on private practise is quite definitely stated 
by the commission, conforming much more 
with Flexner’s recommendation than with 
Osler’s. 

While it is conceded that the medical 
student should measure up to the univer- 
sity standard, it is also insisted upon that 
he should be taught by university clinical 
professors who are active in research. 

Another matter to which the commission 
refers is the question whether, and to what 
extent, the professor should be prohibited 
by the terms of his appointment from en- 
gaging in private practise. One of the ad- 
vantages of private practise is said to be 
that men gain in this way experience of hu- 
man nature which is of great value in the 


38 SCIENCE 


eure of the sick. It must be remembered, 
however, that the university professor of 
clinical medicine is not the less a physician 
because he is a man of science, and he ac- 
quires much of his knowledge in his treat- 
ment of the sick, although it may be ad- 
mitted that the social range of his experi- 
ence will be to some extent limited if it is 
confined to hospital work. The commission 
is inclined to think that the student whose 
sympathy is aroused by the condition of 
the hospital patient, irrespective of his so- 
cial station, is the man who will work best 
under the conditions of private practise. 

The experience of human nature, valu- 
able though it may be, is not the only or 
even the chief advantage of private prac- 
tise. To a limited extent, at any rate, it is 
said, on good authority, to be of scientific 
and professional value for the following 
reasons: 

First, it trains the physician to distin- 
guish with great accuracy between serious 
diseases and trifling ailments. The pa- 
tients in the wards of a hospital have gone 
through a sifting process before admission, 
and the physician may generally assume 
that an admitted case is a case of serious 
illness, and his diagnosis is very much in- 
fluenced by this knowledge. He may have 
to determine whether a patient is suffering 
from ulceration of the stomach, let us say, 
or it may be from cancer; but it does not 
matter much to the patient at the moment 
whether it is the one or the other. He is 
treated as seriously ill, and the treatment 
is such that even if the true diagnosis is not 
reached at once no great harm is done. 
But in private practise the great majority 
of cases that come before a doctor are cases 
of trifling ailments, and he is in danger of 
making fatal mistakes. If nine out of ten 
patients who complain of frequent internal 
pain are suffering from indigestion there is 
danger of failing to diagnose cancer in the 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


tenth case, and the delay resulting from 
the mistake may be fatal. Experience of 
this risk leads to more careful observation 
and finer discrimination of symptoms. 
Secondly, it is in private practise that a 
physician has opportunities for the scien- 
tific observation of the earlier stages of dis- 
ease. In the case of most patients admitted 
to the hospital the earlier stages are past, 
and the physician only hears the descrip- 
tion of a case given by the patient himself, 
or by the general practitioner who has at- 
tended him. In both these cases, however, 
it is the general practitioner who acquires 
the kind of experience described, rather 
than the consulting physician, who is at 
present the hospital teacher. On the other 
hand, if the out-patient department of a 
general hospital is properly and seriously 
made use of, it affords great opportunities 
for acquiring this kind of knowledge and 
experience. 

However, private practise has a tend- 
ency to make the physician consider the 
patient more than the disease, and for this 
reason it is of benefit to the teacher of 
medicine, and therefore he should not be 
prohibited from engaging in it to a certain 
extent. The amount of private practise 
would be limited by the work he had to do 
in the hospital together with the claims on 
his time by his own research if he were the 
right sort of aman. Of course there would 
be urgent cases which might be difficult to 
disregard. The commission meets this diffi- 
culty as follows: 

One way of dealing with a call of this 
kind is to attend it only if the case appears 
to be one in which the professor is specially 
qualified to be of use, and then to accept 
no fee. This may sound a hard condition, 
and it would be so if externally imposed, 
but so powerful is the attraction of scien- 
tific work that we understand this is a self- 
imposed condition in the case of some ex- 


JULY 11, 1913] 


isting professors. We think the conditions 
of a professor’s employment are a matter 
which must be left to the university to de- 
termine; but in our opinion it is not neces- 
sary or advisable to prohibit private prac- 
tise altogether. 

Thus the duties of the clinical teachers 
in a medical school are defined. They cer- 
tainly do correspond well with the opinions 
of some of our leading educators. Hnough 
has been said to show the trend of the re- 
port, the full meaning of which can not be 
had without studying all of the pages of 
this excellent document. At any rate it is 
clear that there are far-sighted reformers 
on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Whether or not a great hospital should 
conduct pay wards is not discussed. How- 
ever, it is stated that in a hospital which 
has no end in view but medical education 
and the advancement of medical science, 
the public interest must be considered, and 
the question of the privilege of access to 
the great London hospitals can not be 
treated as a matter of private right or de- 
cided as if it were the private property of 
the existing medical schools. 


FRANKLIN P. Maun 


THE OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF PETROLEUM 
AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE? 

THE wide distribution of deposits of 
bitumen, in its various forms, is attested in 
the very earliest writings, both sacred and 
profane. In the book of Genesis we learn 
that slime was used for mortar, and in the 
second book of the Maccabees we are told 
that 

Neemias commanded the priests to sprinkle the 
sacrifices with the thick water ... and when this 


was done ... there was a great fire kindled, so 
that every man marvelled. 


1 Address of the retiring president of the Kansas 
Academy of Science. Read December 23, 1912, 
at Topeka, Kansas. 


SCIENCE 39 


Herodotus gives us the following descrip- 
tion of the manner of its collection: 

At Ardericca is a well which produces three dif- 
ferent substances, for asphalt, salt and oil are 
drawn up from it in the following manner: It is 
pumped up by means of a swipe, and, instead of 
a bucket, half a wine skin is attached to it. 
Having dipped down with this, a man draws it up, 
and then pours the contents into a reservoir, and, 
being poured from this into another, it assumes 
these different forms: the asphalt and the salt 
immediately become solid, but the oil they collect, 
and the Persians call it rhadinance. It is black 
and emits a strong odor.” 


For more than 2,500 years the disciples 
of Zoroaster have worshiped the ‘‘eternal 
fires’? in the neighborhood of Baku, Rus- 
sia, and not until recently have their tem- 
ples been replaced by oil reservoirs and re- 
fineries. 

Within the last half century a new shrine 
has been set up in oildom, and our modern 
devotees have shown such zeal and activ- 
ity that it may again well be said ‘‘that 
every man marveled.’’ But the marvelous 
development of the petroleum industry has 
been rendered possible only by reason of 
the gigantic strides which have been made 
in the fields of natural science and tech- 
nology. We may look for even greater 
things in the future, for science is still in 
its infancy. I have chosen for my subject 
to-night what I consider to be one of the 
infant industries of science. 

Tn the year 1835 Jean Baptiste Biot pub- 
lished his memoir on the circular polariza- 
tion of light and its application to organic 
chemistry,*? which contains a table giving 
polarimetric data regarding essential oils. 
This includes a sample of ‘‘naphte’’ recti- 
fied by distillation, which, examined by red 
light gave a rotation to the left equivalent 

2¢¢Petroleum and its Products,’’ S. F. Peckham, 
1882, p. 1. 

3 Mem. de 1’Acad. de Sciences, 13: 39, 1835. See 


also ‘‘Die Polarimetrie der Erdéle,’’ M. A. Ra- 
kusin, Berlin, Wien, p. 6, 1910. 


40 SCIENCE 


to 15.21° for a tube length of 200 mm. It 
is, however, very unfortunate that we have 
no information as to the source of this very 
remarkable sample. 

Nearly fifty years later, in connection 
with their researches upon the petroleum 
of the Caucasus, Markownikow and 
Ogloblin examined the natural ‘‘white 
naphtha’’ as well as some petroleum distil- 
lates, and, finding these samples inactive, 
they did not continue this subject any 
farther. In 1885, however, Demski and 
Morawski® examined some of the more im- 
portant mineral oils of commerce, among 
which one rotated the plane of polarization 
1.2° to the right. In 1898, Soltsien® found 
that the commercial paraffin oils are dex- 
trorotatory, and that the amount of rota- 
tion increases with their specific gravity. 
Since that time general interest has been 
awakened in this subject and petroleums 
from all parts of the world have been ex- 
amined polarimetrically. In general, it 
has been found that the lightest and least 
colored oils (ineluding the so-called white 
naphthas) manifest little or no optical ac- 
tivity, while the heavier, dark and viscous 
ous yield active products.’ 

In a typical Kansas oil, examined in con- 
nection with the work of the University 
Geological Survey, slight optical activity 
was detected in the upper kerosene fraction 
which distilled between 250° and 300° 
under ordinary atmospheric pressure. The 
higher boiling portions of this oil after 
fractional distillation under diminished 
pressuré were dextrorotatory, the amount 
of rotation gradually increasing with the 
rise in boiling point until, in the neighbor- 

* Annales de chim. et de phys. (6), t. II., 387, 
1884. 

° Dingler’s Polytech. Jr., 258: 82, 1885. 

® Chemisches Centralblatt, I:, 869; II., 455, 1898. 


"Zaloziecki and Klarfeld, Chemiker Zeitung, 
1170, 1907. 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No: 967 


hood of 280° at 27 mm., it reached almost 
one degree of arc.® 

In some oils a maximum activity has been 
observed in the vacuum distillates collected 
at about 275°, and in the case of a German 
oil a second maximum was reached at a 
temperature of 310°. Javanese petroleum 
yields vacuum fractions boiling about 150- 
180° which are levorotatory, but the 
higher boiling fractions are dextrorota- 
tory. A sample of petroleum from Borneo 
yielded a distillate collected between 260° 
and 340° under atmospheric pressure which 
was levorotatory.‘° A levorotatory activ- 
ity has also been reported in an oil from 
Argentine Republic.* 

But the fractions obtained in the distil- 
lation of petroleum do not represent dis- 
tinct chemical individuals, but consist of 
more or less complex mixtures. Hence it is 
necessary for us to make use of other proc- 
esses before we can isolate the optically ac- 
tive constituents. The fact that the distil- 
lation products of petroleum have found 
such a ready market- without the necessity 
of chemically transforming them has, no 
doubt, greatly hindered the development 
of chemical methods for their utilization. 
But in recent years competition in the re- 
fining of illuminating oils is beginning to 
force the refiners to look to the utilization 
of their waste products. In Russian re- 
fineries the alkaline sludges are now treated 
so as to recover the so-called naphthenic 
acids which find a ready market for the 
manufacture of cheap soaps. 

The fact that the naphthenic acids de- 
rived from kerosene show greater optical 

* Univer. Geol. Survey of Kansas, Vol. IX., p. 
317, 1908. 

®<¢Die neueren Ansichten tiber die Entstehung 
des Erdéls,’’ C. Engler, Berlin, p. 55, 1907. 

1 Jones and Wootton, Jr. Chem. Soc., 91: 1146, 
1907. 


uQLongobardi, ‘‘Petroleum,’’ VI., 552, 1911. 
Jr. Russ. Phys.-Chem. Seoc., 43: 792, 1911. 


JULY 11, 1913] 


rotation than the kerosene was first ob- 
served by Rakusin.12 The naphthenic acids 
derived from lubricating oils were found 
by Marecusson!* to be much more strongly 
active than those derived from kerosene. 

A study of isomeric naphthenic acids? 
has recently been made in the laboratory 
of industrial research of the University of 
Kansas. Commercial naphthenic acids, 
after being freed from hydrocarbons, were 
converted into esters, which were repeatedly 
fractionally distilled. The lowest boiling 
fractions were strongly levorotatory. The 
succeeding fractions showed a gradual de- 
crease until in the intermediate fractions a 
neutral or inactive point was reached. 
Above this there was a gradual increase in 
dextrorotatory activity. A portion of free 
naphthenic acids, which were similarly puri- 
fied, were separately fractionated and gave 
results exactly parallel to those of their 
esters, the only difference being that the 
boiling points of the free acids were uni- 
formly about 50° higher than the boiling 
points of their methyl esters. In other 
words each and every optically active con- 
stituent boiled 50° higher in the one case 
than in the other. This shows that these 
optically active constituents are acids which 
are esterifiable, and marks the first distinct 
step toward their isolation. The simplest 
interpretation of these facts is that the 
cause of the optical activity resides within 
the naphthenic acids themselves. 


It does not necessarily follow, however, 


that the optically active constituents pres- 


%<<Die Untersuchung des Erdéls und seiner Pro- 
dukte,’’ p. 178, 1906. 

*® Chemiker-Zeitung, No. 33, p. 421, 1907. 

“Orig. Com. Highth Internat. Cong. Appl. 
Chem., VI., 57-67, 1912. The same _ isomeric 
naphthenic acids have since been independently 
isolated, by the method of repeated fractional 
erystallization of their amides, by Gadaskin and 
Zaverschinsky, Jr. Russ. Phys.-Chem. Soc., 45: 
377, 1913. 


SCIENCE 4] 


ent in the commercial naphthenic acids 
are identical with those originally present 
in the petroleum. There seems to be good 
evidence that this is not the case, for it has 
been shown by Albrecht?® that the optical 
activity of lubricating oils is not appre- 
ciably reduced by thorough refining by 
means of alkali. This result has also been 
confirmed by experiments with the Kansas 
oil distillates already mentioned, which re- 
tained most of their optical activity after 
being boiled with alcoholic potash. On the 
other hand, these experiments do not prove 
that no optically active acids are removed 
by the treatment with alkali, for it is quite 
possible that both levorotatory and dex- 
trorotatory acids may be removed in ap- 
proximately equal quantities. To satisfac- 
torily settle this question an experiment 
should be carried out at a refinery upon a 
large quantity of oil. 

The naphthenic acids are generally be- 
lieved to be the oxidation products of the 
naphthenes, or saturated cyclic hydrocar- 
bons of the series C,H.», which are present 
in most of the petroleums, but particularly 
in those of Russia. It is to be expected, 
therefore, that active acids should result 
from the oxidation of certain active hydro- — 
carbons. The determination of the consti- 
tution of any of the active acids to be found 
in petroleum products would thus shed 
light upon the constitution of the active 
hydrocarbons from which they were 
formed. 

The crucial test as to the correctness of 
our knowledge of the constitution and 
structure of organic compounds depends 
upon the methods for their synthesis. But 
chemical synthesis is a species of architec- 
ture, and just as the architect before be- 
ginning the erection of his structure must 

*% Chemische Revue, 18: 189, 1911. See also 


‘‘Tie Polarimetrie der Erdile,’? M. A. Rakusin, 
p. 39. 


42 SCIENCE 


lay down his plans and draw his designs so 
that each and every part shall be fitly 
adapted to its specific use, so the chemist 
must first in his imagination plan the 
order and arrangement of the various ele- 
ments and groupings which are to be com- 
bined in such a manner as to produce the 
desired specific results. 

The distinguishing characteristic in the 
structure of the optically active organic 
substances is that they contain at least one 
carbon atom which is combined with four 
different atoms or groups. If we consider 
the space distribution of the four different 
atoms or groups about the central carbon 
atom, we shall find that two arrangements 
are possible. The two resulting forms are 
related to each other in the same manner 
as an asymmetric object and its mirror 
image. Such a carbon atom is called an 
asymmetric carbon atom. We have for 
each substance containing such an asym- 
metric carbon atom the possibility of a 
right-handed structure and a left-handed 
structure. Corresponding to these theo- 
retical structures we find that nature has 
furnished us with dextrorotatory and 
levorotatory isomeric substances, which 
are closely identical in all of their physical 
and chemical properties, but differing 
chiefly in that the one rotates the plane of 
polarized light as far to the right as the 
other does to the left. When these two so- 
called stereoisomeric substances are mixed 
in equal quantities the resulting product is 
inactive. So also, when two asymmetric 
carbon atoms occur within the same mole- 
cule inactivity may result from internal 
compensation. It is thus found that 
among substances of asymmetric structure 
there are two classes which are optically 
inactive. The members of the one class— 
said to be inactive by internal compensa- 
tion—are not separable into active com- 
ponents, while the members of the other 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


class—said to be inactive by external com- 
pensation—are separable into dextrorota- 
tory and levorotatory components. 

We have three methods for the separa- 
tion of the optically active components, all 
of which are due to the researches -of 
Pasteur.?® 

1. In some instances enantiomorphie 
erystals may be formed which may be 
mechanically separated. 

2. By the aid of suitable active sub- 
stances compounds may be formed which 
differ in their solubility, thus permitting 
the two optical isomers to be separated by 
fractional crystallization. 

3. Through the action of certain micro- 
organisms one of the optical isomers may 
be destroyed by fermentation while the 
other remains unaffected. j 

The direct synthesis of optically active 
substances from inactive material has not 
been effected, because both of the stereo- 
isomeric forms are simultaneously pro- 
duced by synthetic processes, but the same 
result is accomplished indirectly by first 
synthesizing the inactive mixture, or com- 
pound, and then separating the compo- 
nents by one of the methods already men- 
tioned. 

When, however, we find in nature sub- 
stances which show optical activity we 
know that they must contain constituents 
which are asymmetric in structure. In 
endeavoring to determine their constitu- 
tion, the chemist, therefore, gains the dis- 
tinct advantage of leaving out of consid- 
eration all that vast array of substances 
which are symmetrically built, and of be- 
ing permitted to concentrate his attention 
and efforts upon the relatively few possi- 
bilities of asymmetric structure. 

But the chemist is not alone in the ad- 

10¢¢ Researches on the Molecular Asymmetry of 


Natural Organie Products,’’? by Louis Pasteur 
(1860), Alembic Club Reprint No. 14. 


JULY 11, 1913] 


vantage thus gained. From what has been 
said regarding synthesis from inactive ma- 
terial it follows that all theories accounting 
for the formation of petroleum from in- 
organic material, and excluding the action 
of optically active organic substances, must 
be rejected. 

But still another factor which must be 
considered by the geologist with reference 
to the origin of petroleum and other op- 
tically active bitumens is that of tempera- 
ture. All theories involving violently en- 
ergetic chemical reactions and the produc- 
tion of high temperatures must likewise be 
rejected. 

Having thus limited the possibilities of 
petroleum formation, it is well to inquire 
what sources remain which are capable, 
under the conditions imposed, of supplying 
a sufficient amount of material for the ac- 
cumulation of the vast stores which are 
~ being unearthed, and also whether the 
study of the polarimetric data gives prom- 
ise of furnishing positive specific evidence 
as to the kind of material from which 
petroleum has been derived. 

In answer to the first of these questions 
I quote from the report of Professor 
Haworth." 

Few people realize the vast amount of organic 
matter annually carried down to the ocean by sur- 
face drainage. Vegetation covers practically the 
entire dry land area of the earth and has done so 
throughout all geologic time. Varying climatic 
conditions and other influences doubtless have 
made a corresponding variation in the richness of 
organie materials in different rock masses. But 
when all allowances are made for such variations, 
it remains that the amount of organic matter thus 
entombed is and has been enormously great. And 
such matter need not be confined to vegetation, 
for our ocean-water is teeming with animal life. 
Speaking broadly, it is well known that animals 
subsist on vegetation, and that the constant addi- 


tion of food matter to the ocean-water for the 
ocean fauna comes from vegetation, as plants are 


The University Geological Survey of Kansas, 
Vol. IX., 194-195. 


SCIENCE 43 


the great agents for changing inorganic matter 
into organic matter... . If one will put himself 
into a position which makes it necessary to give 
a reasonable account for the whereabouts of all 
this vast quantity of organic matter, animal and 
vegetable, which has been engulfed in the masses 
of stratified rock, one will find that the quantity 
of oil and gas now available is all too small, rather 
than too large, for such accounting. 


Even though the study of the chemical 
constituents of petroleum is in its infancy, 
attempts have already been made to detect 
among them specific optically active sub- 
stances which may definitely and with cer- 
tainty reveal their origin. The substance 
which has received the greatest considera- 
tion from this standpoint is cholesterin, 
the optically active constituent of many 
animal fats, or phytosterin, its vegetable 
equivalent. Cholesterin when distilled 
yields products which closely resemble the 
distillation products of petroleum. Fur- 
thermore, the optically active petroleum 
distillates usually give the same color reac- 
tions as are given by cholesterin products. 
Chemists are inclined, however, to view 
color reactions with suspicion, and demand 
more positive methods of proof of identity 
than the supporters of the cholesterin hy- 
pothesis have been able to furnish. On 
the other hand, the amino-acids and numer- 
ous other decomposition products of al- 
buminous material as well as the remains 
of balsams, resins, terpenes, tannins, etc., 
must all be looked upon as contributing to 
the optical activity of the organic remains 
which may retain them. The time is ripe 
for the study and solution of problems of 
this nature. 

The knowledge of the nature of the sub- 
stances contained in petroleum which is to 
be revealed through the instrumentality of 
their optical properties may be put to prac- 
tical use in the development of methods for 
extracting them and utilizing them for in- 
dustrial purposes. The output of petro- 


44 


leum refineries in the past, even though 
enormous in quantity, has been restricted 
almost entirely to the extraction and clari- 
fication of products which exist ready- 
made in the crude oil. The various grades 
of gasoline and naphtha, illuminating oil, 
lubricating oil, paraffin, fuel oil and road 
oil are all marketed in a low-developed 
stage in the art of manufacture. The coal- 
tar industry, on the other hand, which 
utilizes a crude material closely resembling 
petroleum, and not a bit more inviting, has 
reached a high stage of development in 
that its products are completely trans- 
formed into an almost infinite variety of 
costly dye-stufts, flavoring matters, medic- 
inal preparations and other articles which 
have contributed to our wealth, our com- 
fort and to the advance of our civilization. 
This utilization of what was formerly a 
waste product which could be disposed of 
only at considerable expense is a splendid 
example of what chemical industrial re- 
search has accomplished. The fact that 
petroleum products are not similarly util- 
ized simply demonstrates that we lack the 
requisite knowledge. 
F. W. BusHone 


AN ASCENT OF THE SNOW MOUNTAINS 
OF NEW GUINEA 


Dr. A. F. R. Wotastron has recently re- 
turned from his second expedition to Nether- 
lands, New Guinea. Last year he published an 
official account of the unlucky expedition of 
the British Ornithological Union to the “ Snow 
Mountains” of New Guinea. Those who have 
read his: “ Pygmies and Papuans” (London, 
Smith, Elder & Co., 1912) will gain some idea 
of the extreme difficulty of traveling in the un- 
known districts of that island. That expedi- 
tion did not attain its main objects, but, deter- 
mined not to be beaten, Dr. Wollaston has made 
another attempt, which has proved successful. 
On the present occasion Mr. C. B. Kloss, cura- 
tor of the Kuala Lumpur Museum, Federated 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 967 


Malay States, accompanied Dr. Wollaston, 
and, in addition to an engineer and five native 
collectors, they took with them seventy-five 
Dyaks, and a large escort was provided by the 
Netherlands government. It took four and a 
half months to reach the mountains from the 
coast. The mountains, as approached from 
the south, are a steep escarpment of limestone 
rock rising abruptly from broken foothills, 
through which many large torrents flow in ex- 
cessively steep gorges. The heavy forest of the 
low country extends up to between 6,000 and 
7,000 feet, beyond which height it becomes less 
dense, and more herbaceous plants appear. 
Geraniums, gentians, daisies and many other 
palearctie forms, besides numerous terrestrial 
orchids, are found in the higher regions. The 
limit of perpetual snow on the Ingkipulu 
Mountains (Nassau range) was found to be at 
a height of about 14,200 feet. 

Unlike the Mimika River, visited by the 
former expedition, the Utakwa is uninhabited, 
probably on account of the absence of sago. 
The expedition was frequently visited by na- 
tives from other rivers, some of whom came 
from great distances. Unfortunately, they did 
not provide themselves with supplies for the re- 
turn journey, and as the expedition proceeded 
on its way it encountered the dead bodies of 
some 30 or 40 natives, mostly women and chil- 
dren, whose curiosity had led them down to 
the low country, and who had perished from 
exhaustion as they were going home. The 
meeting with these bodies was the most ter- 
rible experience of the expedition. A hitherto 
unknown tribe of a rather short people of 
Papuan type were met with at an elevation of 
some 4,000—-6,000 feet. Despite the very cold 
nights they wear no clothing. They are 
mainly collectors and hunters, but also grow 
sweet-potatoes, tobacco and sugar cane. They 
carry bows and arrows and shoulder bags con- 
taining apparatus for making fire, tobacco, 
knives, spoons and other small belongings in 
true Papuan style. Their knives are made of 
a hard, slaty stone that can be brought to so 
keen an edge that bamboos can be cut with 
them. The people are said to be extremely at- 
tractive, mest friendly and in some respects 


Juuy 11, 1913] 


more intelligent than the people on the coast. 
Considerable ethnological collections’ were 
made, a few skulls of the mountain people 
were obtained and numerous photographs 
taken. 

The extensive zoological collections comprise 
some 1,300 birds, 150 mammals, a large number 
of snakes and other reptiles, and several thou- 
sand insects. Among the birds is a very 
beautiful bird-of-paradise, which may prove to 
be new to science. A. C. Happon 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Joun H. Fintey, president of the Col- 
lege of the City of New York, was appointed 
State Commissioner of Education by the State 
Board of Regents on July 2. Dr. Finley suc- 
ceeds the late Dr. Andrew S. Draper. 

NortHwestern University has conferred 
the degree of doctor of science on Dr. Robert 
Andrews Millikan, professor of physics in the 
University of Chicago. 

Proressor ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL has 
received the honorary degree of doctor of laws 
from Dartmouth College in recognition of his 
invention of the telephone. 


Tue University of Michigan has conferred 
the honorary degree of doctor of science on 
Dr. Otto Klotz, astronomer of Ottawa, Canada. 


Tue Royal Agricultural Society of England 
has awarded its honorary diploma of member- 
ship to James Wilson, lately U. S. Secretary 
of Agriculture. 

On June 4 a number of former pupils of 
Professor W. E. Byerly, Perkins professor of 
mathematics, emeritus, at Harvard Univer- 
sity, gave an informal dinner in his honor at 
the Union Club, Boston. Professor EK. H. 
Hall was toastmaster, and the speakers were 
Professor Byerly, President Lowell, President 
Eliot, Professor Bécher and Professor E. B. 
Wilson, of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. At the close of the dinner Pro- 
fessor Byerly was presented with a gold watch 
as a gift from over 250 of his former pupils. 

WE learn from The Electrical World that 
at the annual meeting of the Verein Deutsche 


SCIENCE he: 


Ingenieure, held: at Leipzig, Germany, on 
June 23, and attended by the visiting mem- 
bers of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, the Grashoff gold medal was 
awarded to Mr. George Westinghouse. The 
medal was established by the Verein in 1894 
in honor of one of its founders, Frank Gras- 
hoff, who died in 1898. Each year the me- 
morial is presented to an engineer who has 
rendered distinguished service to technology. 
Mr. Westinghouse is the first American to 
receive the medal. Others to whom it has 
been awarded are Sir Charles A. Parsons, 
England; Mr. Gustav de Laval, Sweden; 
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Germany, and 
Mr. Aurel Stodola. 


Dr. C.-E. A. Wiystow has been appointed 
chairman of a commission on the experimental 
study of ventilation problems, with an appro- 
priation of $50,000 to be expended during the 
next four years. The other members of the 
commission are: Professor F. S. Lee, of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia 
University; Professor E. L. Thorndike, Teach- 
ers College, Columbia University; Professor, 
E. B. Phelps, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology; Dr. James Alexander Miller and Mr. 
D. D. Kimball. The fund is part of a gift 
made by Mrs. Elizabeth Milbank Anderson to 
the Association for Improving the Condition 
of the Poor. 


M. Desove, professor of clinical medicine 
in the University of Paris, has been elected 
permanent secretary of the Académie de 
Médicine, in the place of the late Professor 
J accoud. 


Dr. Ira D. Carpirr, professor of botany in 
the State College of Washington, has been 
appointed director of the Washington Experi- 
ment Station. 


Dr. J. A. ALLEN, of the American Museum 
of Natural History, has been working at the 
British Museum during the past six weeks on 
the mammals of Korea and South America. 
His work is particularly complete on South 
American squirrels, the material which Mr. 
Chapman’s expedition secured in Colombia 
and the large unidentified collections of the 


46 SCIENCE 


British Museum providing for an entire revi- 
sion of the group. The work on the Korean 
mammals collected by Mr. Andrews in north- 
ern Korea had the benefit of comparison with 
British Museum specimens secured by the 
Duke of Bedford’s earlier expedition to Korea, 
the British Museum being practically the only 
institution in the world which contains any 
series of mammals from the region. 


Mr. Guy West Witson has been appointed 
special agent by the U. S. Bureau of Plant 
Industry for the study of the relation of the 
chestnut blight fungus to tannin and other 
plant products. He will be stationed at Rut- 
gers College, New Brunswick, N. J., and work 
with Professor Mel. T. Cook, of that institu- 
tion. He began work on July 1. 


Proressor A. G. Tanstry, of Cambridge 
University, England, editor of the New Phy- 
tologist, will spend the greater part of the 
summer in America visiting botanical centers 
and participating in the phytogeographical 
excursion which is planned for the summer. 

Dr. P. E. Gopparp, of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, is preparing for a 
trip to the upper Peace River country of 
northwestern Canada to make a study of the 
Beaver Indians, a little known tribe of the 
northwest; and Dr. Herbert J. Spinden will 
spend the summer in New Mexico on ethno- 
logical work among the Pueblo Indians of the 
Rio Grande Valley. 


Mr. F. G. Ciapp, managing geologist of the 
Associated Geological Engineers, sailed for 
Europe on June 24, for professional work in 
Hungary. 

THe Princeton University department of 
geology is sending a party consisting of Pro- 
fessor Gilbert van Ingen, in charge, Messrs. 
Nelson C. Dale and A. F. Buddington, fellows, 
and Mr. B. F. Howell, Jr., assistant in geol- 
ogy, to Newfoundland, to study the geology 
of the Conception and Trinity Bays regions. 
Certain problems of Cambro-Ordovician strat- 
igraphy developed by Professor van Ingen and 
Mr. A. O. Hayes during their Newfoundland 
work in 1912, the pre-Cambrian pyroclastic 
and unaltered sedimentary clastic rock, and a 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 967 


highly interesting interbedded manganese de- 
posit are the special problems to be studied. 


Tue Charles Finney Cox collection of Dar- 
winiana has been installed in a case built for 
it and placed in the library reading room of 
the New York Botanical Garden. The privi- 
lege of consulting it has already been granted 
to several students, and its value as a prac- 
tically complete collection of the published 
writings of Charles Darwin will constantly 
increase. A bronze statuette of Charles Dar- 
win is placed on top of the case. 


Str ARCHIBALD GEIKIE writes to the London 
Times, under date June 12, as follows: 


Another of the vanishing literary landmarks of 
London is marked out for destruction. On the 
east side of St. Martin’s-street, immediately to 
the south of Leicester-square, there still stands 
the house in which Isaac Newton spent the last 
17 years of his life, and which he made the center 
of scientific life in this country. There he wrote 
and worked in the little observatory which he 
constructed at the top of the house. In later years 
the building was tenanted by Dr. Burney, author 
of the ‘‘ History of Music,’’ and there, unknown 
to him, and betaking herself to Newton’s quiet 
garret studio, his daughter Fanny wrote her 
“¢Fivelina.’’ The house thus became as famous 
for its literary associations as it had been for its 
connection with the leaders of science. The whole 
property, including this house and Orange-street 
Chapel, belong to a trust, which is offering it for 
sale at the price of £30,000 for the freehold or on 
a building lease for 80 years at a yearly rent of 
£825. Newton’s house occupies about a third of 
the site. I assume that to obtain an adequate 
return for the outlay of such sums would involve 
the demolition of the present buildings to make 
way for modern warehouses, offices or shops. I 
fear that no society or association, whether literary 
or scientific, nor any combination of such institu- 
tions could raise money enough to save Newton’s 
house from destruction. But I have thought it 
desirable to call public attention to the matter in 
the faint hope that means may yet be devised to 
preserve so interesting a memorial of the past 
intellectual life of London. 


WE learn from Nature that on June 5 the 
faculty of science of the University of Geneva 
erected a bust to the memory of Pierre Pre- 
vost (1751-1839), the Geneva man of science 


JuLY 11, 1913] 


whose name is remembered by Prevost’s the- 
ory of exchanges. Professor OC. E. Guye 
presided at the ceremony, and most of the 
learned societies with which Prevost was asso- 
ciated sent delegates, or addresses of congrat- 
ulation. M. G. Lippmann represented the 
Paris Academy of Sciences, and delivered an 
oration. The Royal Society and the Royal So- 
ciety of Edinburgh were represented by Dr. 
W. H. Young, F.R.S., and Mr. Mitchell, re- 
spectively, who presented addresses in Eng- 
lish. The Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences 
sent a letter of congratulation signed by Pro- 
fessor Planck. 


CHARLES GREEN RocKwoon, professor emeri- 
tus of mathematics at Princeton University 
since 1905, died on July 2 at Caldwell, N. J., 
aged seventy-one years. 


AT a meeting of the Royal Astronomical So- 
ciety in London on June 18, Professor E. C. 
Pickering described the work being accom- 
plished at Harvard College Observatory; Pro- 
fessor H. N. Russell, of Princeton University, 
spoke of his work in correlating the actual in- 
trinsic brightness of the stars with their 
spectra, and Mr. S. S. Hough, astronomer at 
the Cape of Good Hope, gave details of the 
work being done at the Cape Observatory. 


THE twentieth summer meeting and seventh 
colloquium of the American Mathematical So- 
ciety will be held at the University of Wiscon- 
sin, Madison, Wis., during the week beginning 
Monday, September 8, 1913. The first two 
days will be devoted to the regular sessions for 
the presentation of papers. The colloquium 
will open on Wednesday morning and will 
close Saturday morning. Courses of lectures 
will be given by Professor L. E. Dickson, of 
the University of Chicago, on “Certain as- 
pects of a general theory of invariants, with 
special consideration of modular invariants 
and modular geometry ”; and by Professor W. 
F. Osgood, of Harvard University, on “ Topics 
in the Theory of Analytic Functions of Sev- 
eral Complex Variables.” 


ArTHuR JAMES, London, has given the in- 
come of $100,000 to the Middlesex Hospital, 
London, in memory of his brother, William 


SCIENCE 


47 


James, for the investigation of the causes of, 
and the search for a cure for, cancer. 

Notice of the contest of the will of the late 
Henry E. Rutherford, who left a legacy of 
$200,000 to the Rockefeller Institute for re- 
search in cancer, has been filed. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Mr. ANDREW Carnecig has contributed $20,- 
000 toward the installation of the Institute of 
Chemistry of the University of Paris. 


Tue London Times states that in accord- 
ance with the policy of circumscribing the vast 
areas of affiliation of colleges to existing In- 
dian Universities, definite steps are being 
taken to establish a university at or near Patna 
for the recently created Province of Behar 
and Orissa. The Lieutenant-governor in 
Council has appointed a committee, with Mr. 
R. Nathan, I.C.S., as president, to frame a 
scheme for the purpose. As in the case of the 
similar scheme for a university at Dacca for 
the eastern portions of Bengal and for Assam, 
the report will be published and circulated for 
opinion before action is taken on the recom- 
mendations. 


Dr. Rem Hunt, chief of the division of 
pharmacology, U. S. Public Marine Service 
since 1904, has accepted the position of pro- 
fessor of pharmacology at Harvard Medical 
School to succeed Dr. Pfaff. 


Dr. J. B. Wuirenead, formerly professor of 
applied electricity in Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity and fellow of the American Institute of 
Electrical Engineers, has been appointed head 
of the department of electrical engineering in 
the new School of Technology of the univer- 
sity. 


Dr. Witrrep Haminton Manwarine, form- 
erly assistant in pathology and bacteriology in 
the Rockefeller Institute, has been appointed 
professor of bacteriology and immunity at Le- 
land Stanford Junior University, San Fran- 
cisco, Cal. 


Tue following changes have been made in 
the department of chemistry at Miami Univer- 
sity: Raymond M. Hughes, professor of chem- 


48 SCIENCE 


istry since 1898, and acting-president since 
1911, has-been elected president of the univer- 
sity. William H. Whitcomb has been ad- 
vanced from associate professor to professor 
and head of the department. James E. Egan, 
Ph.D. (Illinois, 1912), has been elected assist- 
ant professor to fill the vacancy caused by the 
resignation of Harvey ©. Brill, Ph.D. (Michi- 
gan, 1911), to enter the government service in 
the Philippine Islands. 

Dr. Geo. T. Hareirt, instructor in zoology 
at Northwestern University, has been ap- 
pointed assistant professor of zoology at Syra- 
cuse University to fill the position made va- 
cant by the transfer of Dr. Blackman to the 
School of Forestry. 

Mr. Maurice Picarp, M.A. (Columbia, 711), 
has been elected assistant professor of botany 
jin Middlebury College. 

Av the University of Wyoming Mr. C. J. 
Oviatt, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 
becomes extension professor of agriculture and 
state leader in farm management and demon- 
stration; Mr. A. E. Bowman, of the Utah 
Agricultural College, becomes extension pro- 
fessor of agriculture and assistant state leader 
in farm management and demonstration; re- 
search chemist, S. K. Loy, becomes professor 
of chemistry and research chemist; engineering 
chemist, Karl Steik, becomes assistant pro- 
fessor of chemistry and engineering chemist. 


Mr. H. Cray Lint, of the Kansas Agricul- 
tural College, has accepted the industrial fel- 
lowship in plant pathology recently estab- 
lished in Rutgers College. He will begin work 
on July 15. 

Tur General Board of Studies of Cambridge 
University have made the following appoint- 
ments: Dr. Baker to be Cayley lecturer, and 
Dr. F. H. A. Marshall to be university lec- 
turer on animal physiology, each for five 
years; and Mr. F. J. M. Stratton, M.A., Caius, 
to be university lecturer in astrophysics until 
March 31, 1918. } 

Proressor. Emin ABDERHALDEN, professor of 
physiology in the University of Berlin, has de- 
elined the call to Vienna as the successor of 
Professor Ludwig: 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE COMPLEXITY OF THE MICROORGANIC POPULA- 
TION OF THE SOIL 

Mr. E. J. Russet, of Rothamsted Experi- 
ment Station, has contributed a very interest- 
ing article in ScreNnce, under date of April 4, 
1913. 

In his opening sentence Mr. Russell says: 

During the last few years a series of experi- 
ments have been carried out in this laboratory by 
Dr. Hutchinson and myself which we can only 
interpret as showing that bacteria are not the 
only active inhabitants of the soil. 

I write to say that I agree with this conclu- 
sion. I also agree fully with most of his state- 
ments of fact in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 
6, and also with his paragraphs 7, 8, 9 and 10— 
in so far as they apply to the results obtained, 
though of course I can see no necessity of as- 


suming that the protozoa constitute the “lim- | 


iting factor” which is extinguished through 
partial sterilization. Mr. Russell is possibly 
right when he says: 

It is evident that the factor limiting bacterial 
numbers in ordinary soils is not bacterial, nor is 
it any product of bacterial activity, nor dees it 
arise spontaneously in soils. 

Though from their experiments, I see no 
necessity of assuming that the protozoa bring 
about this limitation. 

In my article entitled “Interpretations of 
Results Noted In Experiments Upon Cereal 
Cropping Methods After Soil Sterilization,” 
in Science, under date of February 10, 1912, I 
called attention to the thought that it might 
clarify matters to see what would happen in 
the case of “actual sterilization” of the soil. 

I now call attention to the fact that in the 
Russell-Hutchinson experiments the sort of 
sterilization mentioned as being “partial” is 
just as liable to be effective against a large 
number of saprophytic fungi as it is to be ef- 
fective against encysted amceboid types and 
that such saprophytic or semi-saprophytie 
fungus organisms are known to be as great 
reducers of organic matter, at least in its pre- 
paratory stages for bacterial activity, as some 
of the bacteria themselves. 

Tf Messrs. Hutchinson and Russell are only 


JULY 11, 1913] 


interested in finding out what limits the ac- 
tivity of the bacteria in the soil, then they and 
‘Tare working upon two different problems. It 
would: appear, however, that they wish to find 
out what it is that limits the bacterial activity 
in order that they can say that when this bac- 
terial activity is limited there is a lessened 
ammonification, so that they may make the 
further assumption that when there is lessened 
ammonification there is of necessity a lessened 
yield of grain on the soil. In other words, 
they would account for the lessened or deterio- 
rated grain product on such soils. In their 
regular reports in the Journal of Agricultural 
Science, they have actually made such thought 
transfers. 

We have gone at the problem more directly in 
our experiments with the purpose in view of as- 
certaining what it is that tends to limit the 
grain production or to bring about deteriorated 
grain on fertile soils, and in doing so we have 
found that if we bring about rather perfect 
sterilization in potted soils, the limiting factor 
on grain production is done away with, pro- 
vided we do not reintroduce it by means of 
internally infected seeds or other wheat dis- 
ease-producing matters. Bacteria and amecbze 
do not seem to play any primary part in this 
problem of deteriorated cereal crops. 

The chemists have so thoroughly filled our 
minds with their belief that improvement in 
grain production or deterioration in grain 
production can only be accounted for because 
of modified elements of plant food that it would 
seem that some bacteriologists are coloring 
much of their work with an attempt to prove 
that bacteria are necessary to bring about those 
modifications which the chemists assume to 
take place. 

The peculiar thing which our experiments 
make plain is that when we have a purified 
seedling placed in a purified soil, they show 
no element of weakness or tendency to deterio- 
rate. Furthermore, our experiments do not 
show any particular necessary relationship as- 
sociated with ammonification and such plant 
production. Deterioration takes place regard- 
less of the presence or absence of high ammoni- 
fication. We find, in ordinary soils, that a 


SCIENCE 49 


rather poor soil can produce perfect wheat 
seeds if free from parasitic organisms. We 
find also that a rich soil can not produce per- 
fect wheat, regardless of its fertility and the 
amount of ammonification, if certain organ- 
isms are present in the soil or the seed. 

Finally, I agree with Messrs. Russell and 
Hutchinson that microorganic population of 
the soil is “very complex,” and would call 
their attention to the fact that in order to 
produce wheat on certain kinds of soil they 
will have to find types of ameba or other 
microorganism which will be capable of eating 
some very large fungi endways. Though we 
have checked up much of the work on soil 
toxines and gone into the bacterial proposi- 
tion very carefully, especially with regard to 
ammonification, I yet must say that I am un- 
able to find any cereal crop-limiting factors of 
any importance associated either with indefi- 
nite toxic substances or with the activity of 
bacteria. Having a given amount of available 
fertility, the plants get along. We have, how- 
ever, found that there are at least one or more 
species each of the following mold-like fungi 
which, when in the soil, are real cereal crop- 
limiting factors: Fusarium, Alternaria, Hel- 
minthosporium, Colletotrichum, Macrosporium 
and Ophiobolus. 

We find that most of these organisms are 
not only persistent in the soil, remaining there 
by way of the stubble and roots of their host 
plants, but may be introduced with the seed, 
fresh or improperly composted manures, etc., 
most of them being what may be spoken of as 
internal seed-infecting organisms. I would 
again call attention to what to me is an evi- 
dent fact: that those who are working on the 
bacterial and toxine phases of the question of 
soil fertility will never have any results which 
they are justified in making use of until they 
are able to plant disease-free seedlings either 
in the soil or in their special cultures and to 
eliminate the disease factor in the soil. We 
have, of course, conducted many experiments, 
or I would not feel justified in making so 
strong statements as these. Were the problem 
of the soil fungi in wheat chopping less com- 
plex, I should long since have been giving out 


50 


much of the detail of the work at this experi- 
ment station. I will here, however, make one 
very interesting statement, based upon ex- 
perimental results: In 1911 we had made many 
plantings of what we call “agar purified 
wheat seedlings” placing these in soil which 
we found to be free from the sort of organ- 
isms which we find to inhabit the average seed 
grain of wheat. It is not an easy matter to 
get an agar purifted seedling—one which will 
grow in an agar made of synthetic media to 
represent the soil, or whose food basis consists 


of soil solution, in such manner that neither- 


bacteria, fungi, or other organisms are found 
to be present in association with the roots. 

When we were finally able to produce such 
agar-purified seedlings, they have been trans- 
planted. In one set of such plantings in 200 
lots, the average crop of wheat from such 
purified seedlings was 11.07 heads per seed 
produced on an average of 17.24 stools per 
seed. The heads thus grown were of rather 
perfect form and gave an average of 21.8 
grams of nice plump wheat per plant while an 
untreated seedling of the same pure-bred strain 
of wheat, selected to the same perfect form 
and planted on the same day on the same soil 
gave an average of 6.11 heads on 8.5 stools 
and an average of 4.7 grams of seed. 

It would make this piece of correspondence 
too extended to give other data of other types 
of seedling purification, seed treatment and 
soil treatment. These will not be given until 
published in tabular form in our regular sta- 
tion bulletins, but I may say that we have 
found that in a soil which has sufficient fer- 
tility to produce a crop, bacteria do not appear 
to be particularly needed so far as that indi- 
vidual crop is concerned, while there are cer- 
tain parasitic and semi-parasitic mold-lime 
organisms which love the soil and the seed 
which are particularly detrimental and repre- 
sent the chief crop-limiting factor aside from 
mineral elements and atmosphere. 

There was a time when the bacteriologists 
thought they could tell safe or potable water 
by making counts of the number of organ- 
isms present. So now, there seem to be quite a 
few who think they can tell a productive soil 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


by the number of organisms that are present 
therein, or by the amount of ammonification 
that may be or may not be taking place 
therein. It does not seem to be true with re- 
gard to either potatoes, flax or wheat. It 
made a material difference what kind of or- 
ganisms were in the drinking water, so also 
it makes a material difference what kind of 
microorganisms are in the soil, and I have 
been unable to find that the amcbe or their 
allies are particularly harmful or beneficial as 
associated with wheat cropping. There may, 
however, be some destructive fellows among 
them. 

In making these statements, I would, of 
course, not be misinterpreted as assuming that 
bacteria do not have a useful place in the 
formation of plant food in the soil,nor would 
assume that, to a certain extent, ameboid or- 
ganisms may not in part affect this develop- 
ment, but after a very careful reading of “ In- 
vestigations on Sickness” in soil by Russell 
and Golding in Journal of Agricultural Sci- 
ence, Vol. V., Part 1, and the report of Messrs. 
Russell and Hutchinson on “The Effect of 
Partial Sterilization of Soil on the Production 
of Plant Food,” as well as their original article 
on the same subject, October, 1909, in Journal 
of Agricultural Science, Vol. V., Part 2, I am 
unable to see that their experiments in any 
way prove a relation between ameeboid activ- 
ity and bacterial inactivity, nor can I see that 
there is any justification in the assumption 
that their studies in sewage-sickness show 
any feature characteristic of cereal sickness 
in arable soils. A sewage-logged soil is, at 
best, a poor analog of a cereal-sick arable soil. 
While no one can doubt that bacteria are the 
chief active agents in the preparation of plant 
foods from the rough organic remains of ordi- 
nary cropping refuse, that is one problem, and 
crop deterioration, as such, is another, which 
is superimposed upon the primary conditions 
of soil fertility. The crop deterioration prob- 
lem is probably a problem of crop sanitation 
as involved in infectious disease. 

H. L. Botiey 

NortH Dakota AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 

May 15, 1913 


Juny 11, 1913] 


FOWLERINA EIGENMANN A PREOCCUPIED GENERIC 
NAME 

In the American Naturalist for 1907, p. 767, 
Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann proposes very mag- 
nanimously the generic name Fowlerina for a 
genus of stethaprionine characins. He gives 
Tetragonopterus compressus Giinther as the 
type. 

The name, however, is antedated by Fowler- 
ina Pelseneer, Trans. Linn. Soc. London (2), 
X., February, 1906, p. 149, proposed as a new 
genus of mollusks. 


I therefore propose the generic name EPHIP- © 


PICHARAX, and give Tetragonopterus compres- 
sus Giinther also as the type. Apparently, 
two species are known from the Amazons, 
Guiana, Paraguay and eastern Brazil. The 
genus is remarkable for the peculiar scale-like 
predorsal spine, which fits into a depression 
in the back. It is closely allied with Steth- 
aprion Cope. Henry W. Fow.er 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 
PHILADELPHIA, 
June 12, 1913 


SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BLOWING OF 
SOILS ; 


In Science, Vol. XXVIII., pp. 653-654, I 
published an article on the “Blowing of 
Soils.” I wish to add these further notes on 
the same subject. 

It has snowed here (Nett Lake, Minn.) for 
practically one continuous week now and 
more than eighteen inches of snow has fallen 
in that time. The snow on the ground now 
is three and one half feet deep. Even the ice 
in the lakes is so pressed down by the addi- 
tional weight of snow that the water rising on 
it on account thereof has stopped all lake 
transportation and travel. But to the sub- 
ject. Yesterday with a nearly west wind, 
bearing a little to the north, with a velocity 
of probably eight miles per hour, the contin- 
uous snow that fell was so filled with dirt that 
it was brown. It was so conspicuous that 
even the Indians called my attention to the 
dirty snow. This dirt in the snow here was 
the product of a dust storm somewhere. With 
the snow three and one half feet deep here it 


SCIENCE 51 


must have come from the country about Medi- 
cine Hat in Canada or from the northern 
part of the Dakotas. From conditions here it 
must at least have come five hundred miles. 


AuBert B, Reagan 
Nett LAKE, MINN., 
March 20, 1913 


MOSQUITOES POLLINATING ORCHIDS 


In August, 1899, seven mosquitoes bearing 
pollinia of the tall green orchid, Habenaria 
hyperborea, were taken at a camp on the Medi- 
cine Bow Range in northern Colorado, at an 
altitude of 10,200 feet. Four individuals car- 
ried two pollinia each; three carried one each. 
The viscid disks were attached to the lower 
front of the head and in some cases partially 
covered the eyes. 

The captures were made on a rainy day 
within a tent located at some little distance 


-from the stream on the banks of which the 


orchid grew. Examination of a considerable 
number of spikes showed that pollinia had 
been removed from many of the flowers, but 
actual removal by mosquitoes was not ob- 
served. Mosquitoes were extremely abundant, 
only a relatively small number was examined 
and few carried pollinia, but the impression 
remains that this undetermined species of 
mosquito may be regarded as of some impor- 
tance as an agent in the pollination of this 
Habenaria. 

This observation was recorded in The Plant 
World, 3: 6, January, 1900. 


C. S. CranDALL 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


PLUS AND MINUS AGAIN 


Dr. Hatstep’s statement’ on the use of the 
symbol ++ in Widman’s arithmetic of 1489 is 
apparently in conflict with my own. As 
neither Widman’s book nor the descriptions 
of it in the Bibliotheca mathematica® are 
readily accessible to most American readers, 
it may be well to give a fuller account. The 

1 ScrENCE, May 30, 1913, p. 837. 

2 Scrence, April 18, 1913, p. 610. 

23. F., Bd. 9, 1908-09, pp. 155-157, 248; Bd. 
10, 1909-10, pp. 182, 183. 


52 SCIENCE 


statement that, with Widman, -+ meant 
simply “und” (and) is correct as a descrip- 
tion of Widman’s general usage. There is 
just one exception. Once, but only once, does 
Widman in his book identify ++ with “meer” 
(mehr). It is in the passage quoted by Dr. 
Halsted, “ was auss — ist, das ist minus... 
vnnd das -++ das ist meer.” It occurs in the 
explanation of a small table of weights. 

Widman does not use the word “plus”; 
his word for addition is “vnd.” As stated 
before, with Widman + had not yet become 
a purely mathematical sign. In his arith- 
metic (1489), as well as in a manuscript alge- 
bra in Latin, which he owned, + is used for 
“ynd” or “et” even in cases where “vnd” 
or “et” do not mean addition, as in the 
heading, “ Regula augmenti + decrementi.” 
It is interesting to note that he uses the word 
“minus” only twice in his book, and only 
once in the sense of —. Hence, in Widman, 
the words “plus” and “ minus” do not occur 
as ordinary terms for addition and subtrac- 
tion. The symbol + is often used for addi- 
tion; — is used for subtraction at times, but 
not regularly. Apparently, the regular asso- 
ciation of + with “plus,” and — with 
“minus,” came after Widman. 

A further study of manuscripts and early 
printed books may throw more light upon the 
origin of + and — (as well as upon the first 
use of the decimal point), but the evidence 
now at hand goes against Dr. Halsted’s claim 
that the + and —, used in the sense of 
w—3.14+ and ~=—3.1416—, “is historic- 
ally the first meaning of the signs + and —, 
which arose from the marks chalked on chests 
of goods in German warehouses, to denote 
excess or defect from some standard weight.” 
That they, were so used is not denied, but the 
facts do not warrant the categorical statement 
that this “is historically the first meaning.” 
No evidence has been adduced to establish the 
early use of + and — as marks chalked on 
chests. In the Bamberger Rechenbuch (1483) 
the tare to be deduced from the gross weight 
of a package is called “ Das Minus,” but the 
symbol — is not used. On the other hand, 

_ the regular connection of + with “vnd” in 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 967 


Widman’s book of 1489 is unmistakable; the 
resemblance of + with the “et” of Latin 
manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries rests upon independent paleographic 
researches carried on by several writers men- 
tioned by Cantor and Tropfke. 
Fror1an Cagori 
COLORADO COLLEGE 


AN INSTITUTE FOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH 


Tue writer has from time to time tried to 
interest librarians, bibliographers and men of 
science in the matter of bibliographical re- 
search and publication, or rather in organized 
work along these lines, in the hope that a con- 
certed movement in its favor might be 
brought about—but in vain. Men of wealth 
have also been approached, but so far the man 
who would see his opportunity and endow this 
important work has not been found. 

An effort is now being made to interest 
business men in the subject. Special empha- 
sis has lately been laid on the value of an in- 
stitution for the organization of bibliograph- 
ical research in the interest of agriculture, 
manufacture and commerce. A _ prospectus 
has been sent out to a number of business 
men in Chicago ealling attention to the value 


of research along these lines for both agri- 


culture, manufacture and commerce. A “ Com- 
mittee on Research Institute” has been 
formed for the purpose of promoting the idea. 

While the latest endeavor has been made 
along the line of business, the intention of the 
writer is now, as it has always been, that the 
only limits to the scope of the proposed insti- 
tute should be the actual needs of those who 
might seek its assistance. The functions of 
the proposed research institute would be en- 
tirely practical. The institute staff would be 
in readiness to make researches into definite 
subjects at the request of those desiring spe- 
cial information; it would also try to antici- 
pate the needs of inquirers and compile refer- 
ences on subjects of actual interest in advance 
of demand. 

It has been estimated that a sum of $50,000, 
or a guaranteed income of $10,000 a year for 
five years, would place the institute on a basis 


JuLy 11, 1913] 


firm enough to promise permanency. The in- 
stitute would, it is expected, soon become in 
part self-supporting. 

The writer has often been asked what rela- 
tion this proposed bibliographical institute 
would have to the other institutes of this 
kind, notably the Institut International de 
Bibliographie at Brussels, and the Interna- 
tionales Institut fiir Sozialbibliographie, and 
allied institutions, at Berlin. The answer is 
that it would supplement them and, as far as 
possible, utilize their material. The Brussels 
institute collects titles of all kinds, from all 
sources and of all dates, the Berlin institutes 
collect titles from the current year on a lim- 
ited number of sciences. The institute which 
the writer proposes would have for its object 
to collect titles from all sources and of all 
dates on a definite number of subjects, con- 
cerning which information is actually wanted. 

If anybody who reads the above should be 
willing to assist in any way in furthering the 
interest of bibliographical research along the 
lines suggested, he should communicate with 
the undersigned. 

AxseL G. S. Josepuson, Chairman, 
Committee on Research Institute 
THE JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY, 
CHICAGO 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


iements of Physics. By E. H. Hatt. Henry 
Holt & Co. Pp. 570. 
A First Course in Physics. 


By Miuirkan and 


Gate. Revised version. Ginn & Co. Pp. 
430. 
Applied Physics for Secondary Schools. By 


V. D. Hawes. 

Pp. 196. 

In a new text which may be looked on as a 
successor to Hall and Bergen’s “ Textbook of 
Physics,” Professor Hall has incorporated 
many changes which have been suggested by 
discussions carried on in SCIENCE and in meet- 
ings of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. These changes are 
seen in the arrangement and treatment of 
mechanics and they tend toward the simpli- 


Longmans, Green & Co. 


SCIENCE 


_ has been burdened with detail. 


53 


fication of that subject. Mechanics is treated 
more fully in this text than in other elemen- 
tary texts. The author has attempted to 
make the subject of the text deal with the 
experiences of the every-day life of the stu- 
dent. He has done this without introducing 
material and illustrations intended to make 
the book self-advertising, material which now 
figures in a number of texts. For this the 
text is to be commended. 

The criticisms which many teachers will 
make are: that the text is much too full of 
details, that general principles do not stand 
out, and that the treatment is at times too 
didactic. How many students beginning 
physics are apt to understand or become en- 
thused over this sentence on page 401, “ Two 
conductors are said to be at the same elec- 
trical potential when the potential energy of 
a quantity of electricity on one is just as 
great as the potential energy of an equal 
quantity of electricity on the other, so that 
there is no flow of electricity from one to the 
other when they are connected by a con- 
ductor”? This is an unnecessarily heavy 
statement. 

In attempting to bring in matter connected 
with the every-day life of the student the text 
Its five hun- 
dred and seventy pages (seventy of which deal 
with laboratory exercises) may be regarded as 
encyclopedic for an elementary student. 

The well-known and widely-used elementary 
text by Millikan and Gale has been revised, 
shortened by sixty pages, and improved in 
treatment. It is still, in its numerous details, 
a comprehensive text for elementary students, 
but it is interesting, original and up to date 
in subject matter. The authors aim to do 
away with the didactic method, yet in some of 
their abbreviated statements of general prin- 
ciples they do not accomplish this aim. To 
give only one example; in the deduction of 
the formula giving the object distance and 
image distance from a lens, they are content 
to state that a lens changes the curvature of 
a wave-front always by the same amount. 
This statement must appear an arbitrary one 
to a student, but had it been led up to by a 


54 SCIENCE 


geometrical construction, as has been done 
by numerous teachers, it would appear more 
reasonable. 

The two-thousand-year-old physics of Archi- 
medes is a part of every text. That many 
developments in the domain of physics have 
been made in recent years is also generally 
recorded. But what physicist of ten years 
ago would have prophesied that the path of a 
helium atom could and would be photo- 
graphed? And what must be the astonish- 
ment of even Mr. Wilson—whose patience and 
skill achieved this brilliant result—when he 
sees in the frontispiece of this elementary text 
published a few months after he did his work 
a reproduction of the photographs he obtained. 

It is an extraordinary thing that some of 
the great facts of science, so difficult to obtain 
in the first case, are so easily understood after 
they have been obtained. The authors have 
eclipsed all others, as far as the reviewer 
knows, in their inclusion of new and striking 
developments in physics. 

There is one general criticism which applies 
to this text and to several others. They 
introduce the student to the subject of physics 
by a study of liquids. The argument is that 
this study is fascinating. If that argument 
were to apply throughout the subject we would 
begin electricity with the discharge of elec- 
tricity through gases, we would come to light 
through spectrum analyses and soap-bubble 
colors. The fascination which these phenom- 
ena have for students would be none the less if 
they were introduced in their logical place. 
The custom of placing the study of liquids 
first implies that a boy knows more about row- 
ing or sailing a boat than he does about pull- 
ing an express-wagon or coasting on a sled; 
in general, that he is more at home in water 
or on water than on land. It may be that 
high-school laboratories are better equipped to 
show experiments setting forth the properties 
of liquids than experiments demonstrating 
motions and forces. But that does not alter 
the fact that force is a more elemental thing 
than pressure. Nor does it alter the fact that 
boys have a great fund of knowledge—un- 
classified, of course—in regard to motion and 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


force, which knowledge can at once be made 
use of by a capable teacher. 

It is interesting to compare the text written 
by Mr. Hawkins for technical high schools 
with the other texts arranged for general stu- 
dents of physics. In this text the student 
meets in the first chapter the difficult topics: 
machines, horse-power, and the Prony-brake. 
Later he begins the subject of electricity by 
the study of the dynamo. He continues this 
study to the performance of transformers, 
multiple generators, induction motors, ete. 
Evidently the technical high-school student 
must be prepared to assimilate strong food. 
Evidently, too, where facts of value to the 
commercial world are given large prominence, 
there is not much room for the discussion of 
scientific principles. For example, the ex- 
periment on the mechanical equivalent of heat 
is not described. Ohm/’s law is based on the 
definition of a volt! These but illustrate the 
criticisms which a physicist would make on 
the text. It does not give enough space to 
the presentation of the scientific method. But 
it does present in brief compass the main 
points at which physics touches commerce. 


A Textbook of Physics. By Hurst and Lat- 
Tey. Van Nostrand Co. In three volumes. 
Vol. I.; Dynamics and Heat; Vol. II., Sound 
and Light; Vol. III., Heat, Magnetism and 
Electricity; a total of 640 pages. 

This text is characteristic in places by its 
very elaborate and detailed explanations—the 
discussion of the passage of a beam of light 
through a prism takes up five pages—carried 
out into all the geometrical and arithmetical 
details. The problems are very numerous and 
are always identified as having been set in a 
certain examination. An American student 
may wonder why it is necessary to identify 
so highly original a question as this: “ De- 
seribe shortly how a mercury thermometer is 
made. (Camb. Loc. June, ’07.)” One sees 
that it is not the question, but the examina- 
tion that is the principal thing. This text 
would be a very complete guide to a student 
going up for the army or university exam- 
inations. 


JuLy 11, 1913] 


Laboratory Problems in Physics. By JONES 
and TatnaLt. Macmillan Co. Pp. 81. 
Physical Laboratory Guide. By Freprerick C. 
Reeves. American Book Co. Pp. 183. 

A Course of Elementary Practical Physics. 
By H. V. S. SHorrer. Clarendon Press, 
Oxford. Part I., Mensuration, Mechanics, 
Hydrostatics. Pp. 110. Part II., Heat 
and Light. Pp. 216. 

Jones and Tatnall’s text contains outlines 
of about seventy-five experiments in general 
physics of secondary school grade. Some of 
the experiments are qualitative, such as are 
usually given in demonstrations in the class- 
room. Their inclusion would tend to make a 
laboratory course more interesting and less an 
exercise in following directions than most 
laboratory courses in physics are apt to be. 
The experiments are very briefly but clearly 
outlined and are well proportioned among the 
various parts of the subject. The text is 
named “Laboratory Problems,” rather than 
“Laboratory Manual,” probably on account of 
the fact that emphasis is placed upon the ex- 
perimental problem, the principle or fact in- 
volved. In keeping with this idea, the outline 
of an exercise after giving a few brief direc- 
tions (in very short sentences) consists of a 
series of questions tending to sharpen the 
student’s powers of observation and reasoning. 
This is a most commendable feature of the 
text. 

Mr. Reeves, an electrical engineer who is 
also a teacher of physics, has written a manual 
which places larger emphasis upon some ex- 
periments bearing upon engineering than do 
most manuals in physics. One evidence of 
this influence is seen in the fact that elec- 
tricity (and magnetism) is given considerable 
space (from pages 23 to 59) almost at the 
opening of the text. Thirteen pages, an un- 
usual amount of space, is given to Archi- 
medes’s principle with its application to the 
measurement of density and specific gravity. 
The chapter on the mechanics of solids opens 
with an experiment on the bending of beams 
and closes with the verification of Boyle’s law! 

The course which has been given by Mr. 
Shorter for several years at King Edward 


SCIENCE 


55 


VIII. School, Sheffield, differs from that given 
in similar American schools in the larger 
space given there to mensuration. The vol- 
umes outlining the course consist of questions 
or directions with large blank spaces between 
—a cross between a series of report sheets and 
a laboratory manual. The spaces are rather 
small for the report sheets and the questions 
and directions rather attenuated for a man- 
ual. The heuristic method is rather over- 
done. 


An Introduction to Mathematical Physics. 
By R. A. Houstoun. Longmans, Green & 
Co. Pp. 197. 

In less than two hundred pages Dr. Hous- 
toun presents those ancient and honorable 
theorems in mathematical physics which Eng- 
lish university men look upon as essential to 
the training of a physicist, but which look 
rather formidable to most students of physics 
in American colleges. The text starts in with 
the theory of attraction and potential, Gauss’s 
theorem, Laplace’s and Poisson’s equations, 
and electrical images. It continues through 
hydrodynamics, Green’s theorem, irrotational 
motion, Stokes’s and Kelvin’s theorems, Four- 
ier’s series with application to the conduction 
of heat, wave motion with application to 
acoustics and tidal waves, electromagnetic 
theory with application to the reflection and 
refraction of radiation, and lastly, thermo- 
dynamics with applications to reversible cells. 
It is a matter of wonder that a text so small 
can contain so much. Most physicists will 
feel that the experimental point of view should 
have had a larger place—for example, that 
descriptions should have been given of har- 
monic analyzers and synthesizers, of sound 
analyzers, of wave meters, and that it should 
have included the telegrapher’s equation. The 
problems, too, might have been chosen with 
more thought of the actual and less of the 
geometric and ideal. But we can not have 
everything in two hundred pages. 

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE G. F. Hur 


Die Steinzeitliche Technick und Ihre Bezieh- 
ungen zur Gegenwart. Hin Beitrag zur 
Geschichte der Arbeit von Dr. Lupwia 


56 SCIENCE 


Preirrer, Geh. Med.-Rat. in Weimar, with 
250 Original-Abbildungen. Jena, Verlag 
von Gustav Fischer. 1912. 

Dr. Pfeiffer has produced an important 
work on the stone art in which he has not only 
detailed his own extensive researches on the 
subject, but has brought together the results 
found in the scattered and often inaccessible 
publications which have appeared from time 
to time. It is encouraging to workers that his 
enthusiasm has not been dampened by the 
difficulty of encompassing so vast a subject, 
the most part of whose materials are buried 
(archeological) and the rest only fragmen- 
tarily studied (ethnological culture history). 
If we regret that the historians of the past 
have not recorded for us the methods of an- 
cient arts, so do we also mourn that there were 
not more of the thorough workers like Holmes, 
Mason, McGuire, Cushing, Roth and others, 
to undertake the study of present man before 
he lost his inherited art. 

Dr. Pfeiffer remarks in his preface that or- 
ganized labor goes farther back than has been 
supposed and that in the immensely long 
period before metals, man had manufactured 
implements and discovered processes for a 
definite purpose and in so doing developed in- 
dustries and the tools necessary to carry them 
on. The work concerns the stone age up to 
the time of the beginning of the technical age 
when bronze, hard bronze and iron took the 
place of stone, the latter age small compared 
with the million years that flint dominated. 
He believes that the tools that have survived 
to us show a progressive modification as a re- 
sult of their transmittal from earlier to later 
social units, the changes marking the phases 
of culture which in European archeology are 
practically established. The most important 
material covered by the monograph is natur- 
ally flint, but Dr. Pfeiffer does not lose sight 
of the industries connected with wood, skin 
and other softer materials. 

The subject is so fascinating that excur- 
sions into it are almost irresistible and with 
some slight knowledge of the complexity of 
the study and the liability to error we must 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


honor the efforts of those who are the pio- 
neers. The problems are not simple, it is not 
enough to know how the American Indian 
made an arrowhead—there are 20 ways, or 
to set it on its shaft—there are many ways. 
A study of the mute point in a museum is 
good, but a study of the mind of primitive 
man correlated with its environment is neces- 
sary before we can loose the scientific imagi- 
nation on its quest. We must manipulate the 
substances ourselves; we must unravel and 
weave again until the possibilities are ex- 
hausted so far as our limits are concerned, 
going again and again to the man in the 
hinterland of civilization and hoping, also, 
that some survival can be wrested from bog 
or cave to give us light. 

The chapters are seven, as follows: (1) The 
History of Technic in the Stone Age, Treating 
of the Time Element; (2) The Physical Basis 
of Stone Technic; (3) The Products; (4) The 
Stone Age Bone Work; (5) The Stone Age 
Wood Work; (6) Animal Industry; (7) ine 
Extinction of the Stone Art. 

The subheadings of subjects treated under 
the chapters number 59 and form-an interest- 
ing synopsis. Wattrer Houcu 


Psychology and Industrial Efficiency. By 
Huco Miunsterperc. Boston and New 
York, Houghton Mifflin Company. 1913. 
Pp. 321. $1.50 net. 

There are three varieties of books on ap- 
plied psychology. To the first variety belongs 
the intensive monograph in which is reported 
some attempt to utilize the methods of experi- 
mental psychology in the detailed investiga- 
tion of some limited problem of general and 
practical importance. This variety is repre- 
sented by Thorndike’s studies in the quantita- 
tive measurement of school progress. A sec- 
ond variety attempts directly to apply the gen- 
eralizations of psychology to some particular 
field of daily life, and is represented by Scott’s 
books on psychology and business. Books 
of the third variety are designed primarily 
to stimulate general interest in the possible 
serviceableness of the science and to suggest 
various directions which this service may 


JULY 11, 1913] 


take at some future time. Of these three 
types the first is the most rare, the second the 
most familiar and the third the most popular. 
Professor Miinsterberg’s book belongs to the 
third type, and its popularity is indicated by 
the fact that during the month of April it was 
reported among the six best selling non-fiction 
books in the largest cities of Maryland, Massa- 
chusetts, Dlinois, Michigan, Florida; Minne- 
sota and New York, along with “The New 
Freedom,” “The Promised Land,” the Mon- 
tessori books, “Zone Policeman 88” and 
“ Auction Bridge of To-day.” 

The book contemplates the ultimate devel- 
opment of. a science of “ psychotechnics ” 
which shall handle the problems of industry 
and economies by the application of the tech- 
nique of experimental psychology. The vari- 
ous chapters give a series of interestingly 
presented illustrations of the psychotechnic 
point of view, the selection of examples being 
confined to those fields of industry which have 
not yet been systematically explored by ap- 
plied psychology. 

Tests for vocational guidance; methods of 
scientific management; elimination of unfit 
individuals from railway, ship and telephone 
service; economy of movement; fatigue and 
monotony; types of attention; the influence 
of weather, drugs, entertainment, rhythm, and 
other physical and social factors; the effective- 
ness of advertisements; illegal imitation; 
buying and selling;—all these topics, and 
similar ones, are discussed from the point of 
view of the three problems—“ How to find the 
best possible man, how to produce the best 
possible work and how to secure the best pos- 
sible- results.” Preliminary experiments are 
described and the work of other workers briefly 
summarized. The author frequently remarks 
that most of the experiments represent only 
the beginnings of investigations, which, it is 
hoped, will in time yield significant and use- 
ful results. 

Of particular interest is the author’s recog- 
nition of the importance of interests, inclina- 
tions and emotional attitudes, and of the de- 
‘sirability of devising tests which will measure 
‘an. individual’s ability to grasp a general sit- 


SCIENCE 57 


uation. Tests of this sort will doubtless 
prove to be of much greater diagnostic value 
than the simple sensori-motor measurements. 
More complete data are promised in forth- 
coming reports of detailed investigations now 
being carried on in the author’s laboratory. 
These reports will presumably belong to the 
rare first variety of monographs, and will be 
looked forward to with interest by professional 
psychologists to whom the present book con- 
stitutes not so much a contribution as a chal- 
lenge to fulfil the prophecies of a fellow 
worker. Perhaps the most immediate value of 
the book comes from the ingenuity with which 
its problems are conceived and the preliminary 
tests devised. Professor Miinsterberg’s hope- 
fulness for the future possibilities of “ psy- 
chotechnies ” does not keep him from placing 
a commendably conservative value on the ac- 
tual results and correlations of his own pre- 
liminary studies. 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


H. L. Horiineworth 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE EMISSION OF ELECTRONS FROM TUNGSTEN AT 
HIGH TEMPERATURES: AN EXPERIMENTAL 
PROOF THAT THE ELECTRIC CURRENT 
IN METALS IS CARRIED BY 
ELECTRONS 


Tart the carriers of the negative thermionic 
current from incandescent solids are negative 
electrons was first established by J. J. Thom- 
son. In 1901° the writer developed the view 
that this emission of negative electrons oc- 
eurred by virtue of the kinetic energy of 
thermal agitation of some of the electrons in 
the solid exceeding the work which was neces- 
sary to overcome the forces which tend to re- 
tain them in the body and which prevent them 
from escaping at lower temperatures. This 
conception has proved a very fruitful one and 
its consequences have been verified in a num- 
ber of ways. It has provided a quantitative 
explanation of the variation of the number of 
electrons emitted with the temperature of the 
body. It led to the prediction of a cooling 

1Phil. Mag., Vol. 48, p. 547 (1899). 

2Camb. Phil. Proc., Vol. 11, p. 286 (1901); 
Phil. Trans., A, Vol. 201, p. 497 (1903). 


68 


effect when electrons are emitted by a conduc- 
tor and a corresponding heating effect when 
they are absorbed. Both these effects’ have 
since been detected experimentally and found 
to be of the expected magnitude, within the 
limits of experimental error. The magnitude 
and distribution of energy of the emitted elec- 
trons has been found by experiment to be that 
given by Maxwell’s law,’ in accordance with 
the requirements of the theory. Finally, the 
same general train of ideas has led to valuable 
applications in the direction of the theory of 
metallic conductors,’ contact potential’ and 
photoelectric action.” 

It has long been known that ions are 
emitted in a number of cases in which solids 
react chemically with gases. The recent ex- 
periments of Haber and Just’® indicate that 
the alkali metals liberate electrons when they 
are attacked by certain gases. It seems likely, 
from various considerations, that effects of 
this nature would account for most of the 
emission from heated sodium which was 
measured by the writer.” In consequence of 
this conclusion, together with the results of a 
number of experiments which are at first sight 
in conflict with the theory referred to at the 
beginning of this paper,” the view appears to 
have become rather prevalent that the emis- 
sion of electrons from hot bodies is invariably 
a secondary effect arising in some way from 

3 Richardson and Cooke, Phil. Mag., Vol. 20, p. 
173 (1910), Vol. 21, p. 404 (1911); Cooke and 
Richardson, Phil. Mag., Vol. 25, p. 624 (1913). 

Richardson and Brown, Phil. Mag., Vol. 16, 
p. 353 (1908); Richardson, Phil. Mag., Vol. 16, 
p. 890 (1908); Vol. 18, p. 681 (1909). 

® Richardson, Phil. Mag., Vol. 23, p. 594 (1912); 
Vol. 24, p. 737 (1912). 

° Richardson, Phil. Mag., Vol. 23, p. 263 (1912). 

7 Richardson, Phil. Mag., Vol. 24, p. 570 (1912); 
Richardson and Compton, Phil. Mag., Vol. 24, p. 
575 (1912). 

8 Ann. der Phys., Vol. 30, p. 411 (1909); Vol. 
36, p. 308 (1911). 

°Cf. Fredenhagen, Verh. der Deutsch. Physik. 
Ges., 14 Jahrg., p. 384 (1912); Richardson, Phil. 
Mag., Vol. 24, p. 737 (1912). 

2 Phil. Trans., A, Vol. 201, p. 497 (1903). 

u Cf, Pring and Parker, Phil. Mag., Vol. 23, p. 
192 (1912). 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


traces of chemical action. That this view is 
a mistaken one is, I think, conclusively shown 
by the following experiments which I have 
made with tungsten filaments. 

The tests to be described were made with 
experimental tungsten lamps carrying a ver- 
tical filament of ductile tungsten which passed 
axially down a concentric cylindrical electrode 
of copper gauze or foil. The tungsten fila- 
ments were welded electrically in a hydrogen 
atmosphere to stout metal leads. These in turn 
were silver soldered to platinum wires sealed 
into the glass container. The lead to the 
copper electrode was sealed into the glass in 
the same way. The lamps were exhausted with 
a Gaede pump for several hours, during which 
time they were maintained at a temperature 
of 550-570° CO. by means of a vacuum furnace. 
The exhaustion was then completed by means 
of liquid air and charcoal, the tungsten fila- 
ment meanwhile being glowed out by means 
of an electric current at over 2200° C. Most 
of the tests were made after the furnace had 
been opened up and the walls of the lamps al- 
lowed to cool off. They were always consider- 
ably above the temperature of the room on ac- 
count of the heat radiated by the glowing fila- 
ment. 

The processes described are extremely well 
adapted for getting rid of the absorbed gases 
and volatile impurities which form such a per- 
sistent source of difficulties in experiments of 
this character. Unless some such treatment 
is resorted to, the metal electrodes and glass 
walls of these tubes continue to give off rela- 
tively large amounts of gas under the influ- 
ence of the heat radiated from the filaments 
and it has always been possible that this evo- 
lution of gas might have played an important 
part in the electronic emission. The mode of 
treatment used, for which I am largely in- 
debted to the experience and suggestions of 
Dr. Irving Langmuir, of the General Electric 
Company’s Research Laboratory at Schenec- 
tady, N. Y., seems very superior to anything in 
this direction which has previously been pub- 
lished. 

Tests have been carried out covering the 
alternative hypotheses as to the possible mode 


JULY 11, 1913] 


of origin of the electronic emission which are 
enumerated below: 

_ 1. The emission is due to the evolution of 
gas by the filaments. 

The lamp and McLeod gauge were cut off 
from the rest of the apparatus by means of a 
mereury trap, the volume being then approxi- 
mately 600 c.c. A filament 4 em. long giving 
a thermionic current of .064 amp. was found to 
increase the pressure from zero to <1 10~ 
mm. in five minutes. The number of mole- 
cules WN, of gas given off is therefore 
< 2.1810". The number of electrons given 
is N,=1.2 10". The number of electrons 
emitted for each molecule of zas evolved is 
thus V,/N, > 5.64 x 10°. 

In the above experiment a liquid air trap 
was interposed to keep the mercury vapor off 
the filament. In another experiment with a 
filament 8 em. long this was not the case and 
with a current of .050 amp. the pressure rose 
in thirty minutes to a value which was too 
small to measure, but which was estimated as 
less than 10-" mm. The corresponding value 
of N,/N, is 2.6 10°. In this case the cur- 
rent was unaffected when the mercury vapor 
was subsequently cut off by liquid air (a 
change of 0.4 per cent. would have been de- 
tected). 

The magnitude of the above numbers ef- 
fectually disposes of the idea that the emis- 
sion has anything to do with the evolution of 
gas. 

2. The emission is caused by chemical action 
or some other cause depending on impacts be- 
tween the gas molecules and the filaments. 

In a tube with a filament 1.4 cm. in length 
and haying 1.65 10° em® superficial area 
the pressure rose to <2 X 10~ mm. in 5 min- 
utes with an emission of .050 amp. If the gas 
is assumed to be hydrogen, which makes most 
impacts, using a liberally high estimate of the 
temperature of the copper electrode which de- 
termines the temperature of the gas, I find 
that the maximum number N* of molecules 
impinging per second during this interval 
would be <7.0 10". The number of elec- 
trons emitted per second would be N,= 
3.13><10". The ratio N,/N* is thus 


SCIENCE 59 


> 4.47 10°. If the putative hydrogen atoms 
simply turned into a cloud of electrons whose 
total mass was equal to that of the hydrogen 
the value of N,/N* would be only 3.68 X 10°. 
The data already referred to for the tube with 
the filament 8 cm. long give an even larger 
ratio for N,/N*, namely, 1.57 X 10°. Moreover, 
in some of our experiments the changes in gas 
pressure were much larger than those recorded 
above, but they were never accompanied by any 
change in the electronic emission: also the ad- 
mission of mercury vapor at its pressure 
(about 0.001 mm.) at room temperature pro- 
duces no appreciable change in the emission. 
Thus there is no room for the idea that the 
emission of electrons has anything to do with 
the impact of gas molecules under the condi- 
tions of these experiments. 

3. The emission is a result of some process 
involving consumption of the tungsten. 

To test this question some of the lamps were 
sealed off after being exhausted in the manner 
described. The filaments were then heated so 
as to give a constant thermionic current which 
was allowed to flow for long intervals of time. 
In this way the total quantity of negative 
electricity emitted by the filament was deter- 
mined. The wire was placed in one arm of a 
Wheatstone’s bridge so that the resistance 
could be recorded simultaneously. The cold 
resistance was also checked up from time to 
time. 

At these high temperatures the resistance 
of the filaments increases slowly but continu- 
ously. This increase is believed to be due to 
evaporation of the tungsten. It was found 
to be proportional to the time of heating 
when the thermionic current was kept con- 
stant, in the case of any particular filament. 
In the case of one filament which gave 0.05: 
amp. for 12 hours the increase in the resist- 
ance of the hot filament was 9 per cent. The 
accompanying proportionate increase in the 
cold resistance was slightly lower, namely, 7 
per cent. The latter may probably be taken 
as a fair measure of the amount of tungsten 
lost by the filament. The increase in resist- 
ance of the hot filament, which is less favor- 
able for our case, will be considered instead 


60 SCIENCE 


in the following experiment for which the 
other data are lacking, 

A filament 3 em. long gave 0.099 amp. elec- 
tronie emission continuously for 2.5 hours. 
The resistance when hot rose from 4,773 to 
4,787 in arbitrary units. The number of 
atoms of tungsten lost by the filament in this 
time was = 5.66 < 10”, whilst the number of 
electrons emitted = 5.57 X 10". The number 
of electrons emitted per atom of tungsten lost 
was 9.84 10°. The mass of the electrons 
emitted in this experiment was thus very 
close to three times the mass of the tungsten 
lost by the filament. 

This tube gave 0.1 amp. electronic emission 
on the average for 6 hours altogether. By 
that time the mass of the electrons emitted 
was approximately 2 per cent. of the mass of 
the tungsten filament. The tube came to an 
end owing to an accident: the filament grad- 
ually became deformed until it touched the 
copper electrode and broke. The hardness of 
the tube was then tested with an induction 
coil and the equivalent spark gap was found 
to be 3.3.em. The discharge through the tube 
gave a bright green fluorescence on the glass 
around the negative wire, but there was no 
indication of a glow or the faint purple haze 
which is obtained when traces of gas are pres- 
ent in tubes of this kind. There is thus no 
appreciable accumulation of gas even when 
the filaments are allowed to emit a large 
thermionic current continuously for a long 
time. 

Another tube with a wire 2.7 cm. long, giv- 
ing 0.050 amp., lost 1.19 & 10” atoms of tung- 
sten in 12 hours as measured by the change 
in the cold resistance. The number of elec- 
trons emitted for each atom of tungsten lost 
was thus 1.13 & 10° and the mass of the emit- 
ted electrons about one third of the mass of 
the tungsten lost. This tube ran altogether 
for about 23 hours, giving various currents, 
and finally gave out, owing to the local loss of 
material near one end, caused by the sputter- 
ing or evaporation. Local over-heating is very 
apt to occur in these experiments as the ther- 
mionic leakage causes the heating current in 
the wire to be bigger at one end than the 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 967 


other. The mass of all the electrons emitted 
by this filament was equal to 4 per cent. of 
its total mass. Under a low-power micro- 
scope the filament did not appear to be much 
changed except in the region where it had 
burnt out, where it was much thinner than 
elsewhere. ; 

There is no known reason for believing that 
the loss of tungsten is due to anything more 
profound than evaporation. But, in any 
event, the fact that the mass of the emitted 
electrons can, under favorable circumstances, 
exceed that of the tungsten loss proves that 
the loss of tungsten is not the cause of the 
electronic emission. 

4. The only remaining process of a similar 
nature to those already considered which has 
not been discussed is the bare possibility that 
the emission is due to the interaction of the 
tungsten with some unknown condensable 
vapor which does not affect the McLeod gauge. 
This possibility is cut out by the fact that the 
thermionic emission is not affected when the 
liquid air and charcoal is cut off and the 
vapors allowed to accumulate in the tube, and 
by the fact that very considerable changes in 
the amount and nature of the gases present 
(as by the admission of mercury vapor) have 
no effect on the emission. 

Taken together these experiments prove that 
the emission of electrons does not arise from 
any interaction between the hot filament and 
surrounding gases or vapors nor from any 
process involving consumption of the material 
of the filament. It thus follows that the 
emission of electrons from hot tungsten, which 
there is no reason for not regarding as ex- 
hibiting this phenomenon in a typical form, 
is not a chemical but a physical process. This 
conclusion does not exclude the possibility 
that, under other circumstances, electrons 
may be emitted from metals under the influ- 
ence of various chemical reagents, a phenom- 
enon which would be expected to exhibit the 
same law of dependence upon temperature; 
but it does involve a denial of the thesis that 
this emission is invariably caused by processes 
involving changes of material composition. 

The experiments also show that the elec- 


JuLy 11, 1913] 


trons are not created either out of the tung- 
sten or out of the surrounding gas. It fol- 
lows that they flow into the tungsten from 
outside points of the circuit. The experi- 
ments therefore furnish a direct experimental 
proof of the electron theory of conduction in 
metals. 

I wish to express my appreciation of the 
assistance I have received from Mr. K. K. 
Smith, instructor in the laboratory, in the 
preparation of the tubes and in carrying out 
some of the measurements. Mr. Smith and 
I are engaged in a more detailed quantitative 
study of the emission of electrons from tung- 
sten, the results of which we hope shortly to 
publish. I also wish to thank Dr. W. R. 
Whitney and Dr. I. Langmuir, of the General 
Electric Company, both for supplying the 
specimens of ductile tungsten used and also 
for giving me the benefit of their invaluable 
experience. 

O. W. RicHarDson 

PALMER PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 

PRINCETON, N. J. 


MENDELIAN INHERITANCE OF EPIDERMAL CHAR- 
ACTERS IN THE FRUIT OF CUCUMIS SATIVUS 


Tue fruits of the White Spine cucumber 
(Cucumis sativus) possess numerous white 
epidermal spines or trichomes which roughen 
the skin very markedly; while those of the 
Richard’s Invincible, an English forcing 
type (var. Anglica), possess but few, small, 
indistinct, early-deciduous and black spines 
that scarcely roughen the skin. By crossing 
these varieties, the White Spine having been 
used as the maternal parent, there was ob- 
tained a type of fruit apparently intermediate 
in size and in number and prominence of the 
spines, with the exception that all the spines 
were black like the paternal parent. In the 
F, generation, of the twenty plants grown 
fifteen bore black spines and five white spines; 
six possessed smooth skins with indistinct 
spines like the Richard’s Invincible and the 
remainder skins with various degrees of 
roughness—a few even surpassing the White 
Spine in the number of spines. No correlation 
of color of spines and roughness was noted— 


SCIENCE 61 


smooth-skinned progeny possessing white as 
well as black spines. 

The inheritance of the color of the spines 
apparently follows the simple Mendelian seg- 
regation, although the number of progeny is 
too small for a very exact interpretation; the 
small number of smooth-skinned types also 
indicates this character as a recessive one, 
especially as the F, fruits show no evidence 
of this character. Practically, these data are 
of little value unless they indicate that by 
crossing back one of these smooth-skinned, 
white-spined fruits with an English variety, it 
would be possible to obtain a new white- 
spined variety, differing in appearance but 
slightly from var. Anglica; theoretically, it 
adds a little more evidence to the support of 
Mendel’s universal law. 

RicHarD WELLINGTON 

New York AGRICULTURAL 

EXPERIMENT STATION, 
GENEVA, N. Y. 


POWDERY SCAB OF POTATOES IN THE UNITED 
STATES 


In a recent number of Phytopathology Pro- 
fessor H. T. Giissow, of Canada, Dominion 
Botanist, reported for the first time in Amer- 
ica the occurrence of the well-known Euro- 
pean “ powdery ” or “ corky ” scab of potatoes. 
The specimens upon which he based this re- 
port were received first from Quebec, where 
the disease appeared to be well established in 
some counties. It was also recorded in iso- 
lated cases in widely separated regions of 
Canada, namely, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta. These 
facts led Professor Giissow to suggest that 
probably the disease occurs in the United 
States. 

In connection with certain studies now be- 
ing carried on in the writer’s laboratory upon 
the general subject of potato scab, requests for 
specimens of scabby tubers have been sent to 
many individuals representing widely sepa- 
rated localities in the state of Maine and also 

1Giissow, H. T., ‘‘Powdery Scab of Potatoes, 


Spongospora subterranea (Wallr.) Johns.,’’? Phy- 
topathology, 3: 18-19, 1913. 


62 


to numerous friends and acquaintances in 
other parts of the United States. In asking 
for these specimens the fact was emphasized 
that potatoes affected by scab which differed 
in appearance from the ordinary type of the 
disease were especially desired. 

As soon as received all lots of tubers were 
subjected to careful microscopic examination 
for the presence of Rhizoctonia and for the 
spore “balls” of MSpongospora subterranea 
(Wallr.) Johns., or the fruiting bodies of the 
organism which is the cause of the powdery 
scab. None of the specimens showed the 
characteristic, superficial appearance of the 
last-named disease and the microscopic exam- 
ination failed to establish its presence in any 
case beyond doubt, but practically all, regard- 
less of the source, showed Rhizoctonia threads 
in the diseased areas. In addition poured 
plates were made from a large number of 
tubers from different sources and in every 
case tried the organism known as Oospora 
scabies Thaxter was isolated from some of the 
scabby spots. 

A few of the tubers received showed small 
but rather pronounced pits upon their sur- 
faces. Since these were usually more or less 
lined with Rhizoctonia threads it seemed pos- 
sible that this fungus might be the primary 
or secondary cause of the pitting. Specimens 
of all lots of tubers of this kind and a consid- 
erable number of others, including samples 
from several different states, were planted in 
ten-inch pots in the greenhouse. Before 
planting the pots and soil were sterilized by 
heating for two hours under steam pressure 
at 20 pounds. The pots were then placed in 
sterilized saucers upon a raised, slat-work 
platform. The platform was constructed of 
new lumber and it and the bench upon which 
it rested had been previously washed with a 
strong solution of formaldehyde. The pots 
were watered with boiled water and all other 
precautions were taken to avoid cross infec- 
tion or outside contamination. 

The tubers from a part of these pots have 
just been harvested and in two instances 
rather surprising results were obtained in that 
in both well-developed and typical cases of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 967 


powdery scab were found.” A careful reex- 
amination of other tubers from the original 
lots of specimens, which are now badly dried 
out, was then made and these showed the 
presence of a small number of yellowish brown 
bodies, now considerably shrunken, but which 
are evidently the dried spore balls of the 
causal organism. One of the original lots was 
sent by Dr. George E. Stone from Massachu- 
setts, while the other was received from Ne- 
braska through the courtesy of Mr. W. A. 
Orton, of the Bureau of Plant Industry at 
Washington. 

No conclusive evidence of the presence of 
powdery scab in other parts of the United 
States has been obtained, but tubers which 
show a few bodies in the diseased areas which 
somewhat resemble those upon the tubers de- 
scribed above have been received from one 
locality each in Maine, Vermont and Wiscon- 
sin. These have recently been planted in 
pots in the greenhouse, but it will be some 
time before a final decision can be made. 

The fact that the disease has been obtained 
from such widely separated localities as Mas- 
sachusetts and Nebraska would indicate that 
it may be quite generally distributed in the 
United States and suggests the possibility that 
it may be a factor in the cause of potato scab 
in this country. In order to obtain farther 
light on this and on the subject of potato scab 
in general the writer of this note wishes to 
obtain specimens of scabby tubers from as 
many different localities as possible, and will 
gladly pay transportation charges on any 
which are sent in response to this request. 

W. J. Morse 

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

May 27 


?Mr. M. Shapovalov, to whom credit should be 
given for carrying out a large part of the details 
of the work upon which this statement is based, 
isolated cultures of Oospora scabies from the two 
tubers which produced the crop affected with 
powdery scab. He has also demonstrated that the 
cultures thus obtained are capable of causing, 
upon inoculation, the typical form of seab which 
is associated with the last-named organism. Hence 
it is evident that both forms were present on both 
lots of tubers. 


Nzw SERIES 0 SINGLE Copies, 15 Cts. 
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SCIENCE 


———— 


Fripay, Juuty 18, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The Relation of Forests in the Atlantic Plain 
to the Humidity of the Central States and 
Prairie Region: DR. RAPHAEL ZON ....... 63 


Lester Frank Ward: Dr. ARTHUR HOLLICK . 75 


German and Swiss University Statistics: PrRo- 
FESSOR RUDOLPH TOMBO, JR. ............ 17 


Contributions to General Geology: DR. GEO. 


Onis: Siew) Se oeaanoos pocadoeoObOCuU COO 78 
Medical Research in Great Britain ......... 79 
The Educational Fund Commission of Pitts- 

BURA ceo ame oho Od oo 6 COOSA CTE 81 
The Rochester Meeting of the American Chem- 

CEGUNS OCLELY Marsinr neu cdetot ection siete aie eiereiaiessiehs 81 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 82 
University and Educational News .......... 86 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Nomenclature in Paleontology: Dr. W.. D. 

MatrHew. Mendelian Factors: G. N. Cot- 

LINS. Swedenborg: ANDREW H. Warp. A 

New Variety of Juglans californica Wat- 

SOME 10, 1k LYNGOCKS GoouosboueooedcouTse 87 
Scientific Books :— 

Recent Works on Mathematics: PROFESSOR 

Cassius J. Keyser. Lloyd Morgan’s In- 

stinct and HEaperience: PRoressor R. M. 

YERKES. Cammidge on Glycosuria: Pro- 

FESSOR J. J. R. MACLEOD :.............. 90 
Special Articles :— 

The Prevalence of Bacillus radicicola in 

Soil: Dr. Karu F,. KELLERMAN, L. T. LEON- 

ARD. Some Effects of Sunlight on the Star- 

fish: PROFESSOR HANSFORD MacCurpy ... 95 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE RELATION OF FORESTS IN THE 
ATLANTIC PLAIN TO THE HUMIDITY 
OF THE CENTRAL STATES AND 
PRAIRIE REGION 


INTRODUCTION 


Many of the dreams or presentiments of 
the early scientists are now coming true 
every day. The dreams of the alchemists 
are now almost within the realization of 
modern chemistry. The gropings of the 
early biologists are almost within reach of 
present-day experimental embryology, and 
so on practically in every science; at first 
a presentiment, ‘‘a hunch,’’ which can not 
be substantiated by any scientific facts. 
This, later, with the accumulation of more 
accurate observations is often entirely de- 
nied or minimized, only to reappear again, 
not as a presentiment any more, but as a 
scientifically established fact. 

From the earliest times there existed 
among laymen, and even scientists, a belief 
that forests exercised an influence upon the 
climate of entire countries. With the in- 
troduction of accurate methods of meteoro- 
logical observations, this popular concep- 
tion has seemingly been greatly discredited. 
All that most of the meteorologists were 
willing to admit was that forests have a 
local influence upon climate, extending 
only over the territory actually occupied 
by them. Within recent years, just when 
this view seemed to be completely disposed 
of, many new facts came up independently 
in different countries, which point strongly 
to the possibility of the forest exerting a 
potent influence upon the humidity of re- 
gions lying far away from it. I shall at- 
tempt to consider in the light of these new 
facts the conditions prevailing in the east- 
ern part of the United States, and to es- 


64 SCIENCE 


tablish a relation between the forests of 
the coastal plain and the southern Appa- 
lachians, on the one hand, and the humid- 
ity of the central states and prairie region, 
on the other. 

There are three fundamental facts upon 
which, in my judgment, this relation is 
based. 

1. In the eastern half of the United 
States there is a marked periodicity in the 
wind direction. In winter the prevailing 
winds are from the north and northwest; 
in summer the prevailing winds are from 
the south. When the prevailing winds 
come from the south the entire eastern 
half of the United States is wet. When 
the prevailing winds are from the north- 
west and west the precipitation decreases. 
Therefore, the precipitation of the eastern 
half of the United States depends largely 
upon the prevailing southerly winds which 
come from the Gulf and penetrate far into 
the interior of the continent. 

2. The evaporation from the ocean plays 
a comparatively unimportant part in the 
precipitation over the land; seven ninths of 
the precipitation over land is supplied by 
evaporation over the land itself and only 
two ninths is furnished by the evaporation 
from the ocean. Therefore, the greater the 
evaporation from the land which is in the 
path of the prevailing southerly winds, the 
more moisture must be carried by them 
into the interior of the continent. 

3. The forest evaporates more water 
than any vegetative cover and much more 
than free water surfaces. Therefore, for- 
ests entich with moisture the winds that 
pass over them and contribute to the hu- 
midity of the regions into which the pre- 
vailing air currents pass. 


PERIODICITY OF WIND DIRECTION IN THE 
EASTERN HALF OF THE UNITED STATES 


After Asia, North America is the largest 
continent in the world. One of the most 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


striking physiographical features of North 
America is that the mountains run along 
the meridians and not along parallels. 
The entire northern part of the American 
continent has no high mountains except in 
the western part. As the result of this the 
central part of the continent does not ofter 
any obstruction to winds from the 30th to 
70th degree of northern latitude, that is, 
from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea. 
Even the Asiatic continent does not have 
such a large continuous area free of moun- 
tains extending along the meridian. There 
the greatest extension is from the 38th to 
the 73d degree of northern latitude, that 
is, from the southern border of the plain 
of Touran to the northern shores of west- 
ern Siberia. To the south of the 30th 
degree extend the waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico. The mountains on the southern 
shore of the gulf begin only at 19 degrees 
of north latitude. The North American 
continent, therefore, together with the in- 
terior lakes forms an expanse for the move- 
ment of the air between the tropical and 
Arctic regions, such as is found outside of 
it only on large oceans, in the northern 
hemisphere, on the Atlantic Ocean. 
Another climatic peculiarity of the east- 
ern United States which has a bearing 
upon the question under discussion is the 
rapid decrease in temperature from south 
to north. Take, for instance, Labrador; it 
is entirely an Arctic region where agricul- 
ture is impossible. Yet it lies in latitudes 
at which in Europe and Asia agriculture is 
still flourishing and large populous cities 
are found (in 53d to 60th degree northern 
latitude are found Christiania, St. Peters- 
burg). Florida, on the other hand, be- 
tween 25th and 30th degree of north lati- 
tude, is almost a tropical country. Be- 
tween Florida and Labrador the drop of 
temperature for each degree of latitude 
(60 miles) is for January 2.9° F., for July 
1.08° F. and for the entire year 1.7° F. 


JULY 18, 1913] 


Comparing the same latitudes in Europe 
the drop for each degree of latitude is less 
than half of that for the North American 
continent. Between the Canary Islands 
and northern Scotland the decrease in the 
mean annual temperature for one degree 
of latitude is only 0.8 of a degree. 

Climatically the North American conti- 
nent can be divided into three parts: 

1. The narrow strip along the Pacific 
Ocean, which is separated from the interior 
of the continent by mountain ranges. This 
narrow strip from the Peninsula of Cali- 
fornia to the southern shore of the Penin- 
sula of Alaska, from the 32d to the 60th 
degree of worthern latitude, is under the 
influence of the Pacific Ocean, as it is open 
to the west, while in the east high moun- 
tains separate it from the interior of the 
continent; and as western winds are, as a 
rule, the strongest winds in the northern 
hemisphere, it is only natural that west- 
erly and northwesterly winds prevail in 
this part of the country both in summer 
and winter. 

2. The region of mountains and plateaus 
to the east of the Cascades and Sierra 
Nevada ranges. This extends not only to 
the Rocky Mountains, but beyond the 
Rocky Mountains to the 100th meridian. 
The high plateaus and the low valleys of 
this region are characterized by extreme 
dryness and only in the mountains does 
the snow and rain fall in any abundance. 
The dryness is due to the fact that the pre- 
vailing westerly winds give off the mois- 
ture on the western slopes of the Sierra 
Nevada and Cascades, and become dry 
winds on the leeward side of these moun- 
tains. During the winter the prevailing 
winds are from the west and northwest, 
but in the summer the direction of the 
wind changes considerably, becoming 
southwesterly. This change in the direc- 
tion of the wind in summer has been ob- 


SCIENCE 65 


served even on Pikes Peak, but is still 
more pronounced in the valleys and on the 
plateaus. 

3. Since the Appalachian Mountains do 
not offer a climatic boundary, the entire 
eastern part of the North American conti- 
nent east of the 100th meridian can be 
considered climatically as one unit. This 
climatic region is the largest of the three, 
including the Atlantic plain, the Missis- 
sippi Valley, except the upper part of its 
western tributaries, and the Lake Region 
to the Hudson Bay. During winter and 
partly in the fall and in the early spring 
the winds in this region come from the 
west and northwest. These prevailing 
winds bring cold and comparatively dry 
air from the interior of the continent. In 
the spring and early summer these winds 
are hot and dry. In summer the prevail- 
ing winds are from the southeast in Texas, 
and farther north and east they come from 
the south and southwest. Professor Henry, 
in his ‘‘ Climatology of the United States,’’ 
says that in midwinter northwesterly 
winds prevail uniformly over the Missouri 
Valley and the upper and middle portions 
of the Mississippi Valley. As the spring 
advances the region of southeast to south 
winds spreads northward and eastward 
from the Texas coast, so that by April it 
embraces the states of Texas, Oklahoma, 
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, 
western Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, south- 
eastern Nebraska and Iowa. By June the 
northwest winds of midwinter have been 
supplanted by southerly winds over prac- 
tically the whole of the country east of the 
Rocky Mountains. In autumn the north- 
west winds become more frequent and as 
autumn shades into winter they gain the 
ascendency in the Missouri and Mississippi 
valleys and the plains states. 

The periodicity is well illustrated on the 
two maps, on which is indicated by arrows 


66 SCIENCE [N. S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


wall 


\/ 
A\ 
Aer 


=a 


Se 


wes2 


NON 


ye 


NY a 


PREVAILING DIRECTIONS OF THE SURFACE WINDS AND THE MEAN PRECIPITATION 


IN THE UNITED STATBS DURING JANUARY 


the direction of the prevailing winds, based 
on twenty years of continuous records, and 
by lines the mean precipitation for the 
months of July and January. The map 
for the month of July is typical for 
the summer period and the one for the 
month of January is typical for the winter 
period. These maps show, very clearly, it 
seems to me, that the eastern half of the 
United States is under the influence of 
two prevailing winds; one, which originates 
in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic 
Ocean, is mild and humid; the other, which 
comes from the interior of the continent 
and from the Rocky Mountain region, is 
dry and continental in character, that is, 
dry and cold in winter and dry and hot in 
the spring and summer. 


Another important fact which the rec- 
ords of precipitation and wind direction 
establish is that there is a most intimate 
relation between the prevailing southerly 
winds and precipitation in the eastern half 
of the United States. It is during the sum- 
mer period when the entire eastern half of 
the United States is under the influence of 
the southerly winds, that most of the pre- 
cipitation falls over it. On the plains east 
of the Rocky Mountains the summer rain- 
fall forms from three fourths to four fifths 
of that of the entire year. In July 
when the southerly, southwesterly and 
southeasterly winds extend far into the 
interior of the continent as far north 
as North Dakota, and as far west as 
the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


& IB 


SCIENCE 67 


70° 65° 0° 
ae 
oe 
ap 


PREVAILING DIRECTIONS OF THE SURFACE WINDS AND THE MEAN PRECIPITATION 


IN THE UNITED STATES DURING JULY 


even into eastern New Mexico, and as far 
east as New England, the precipitation 
over the entire eastern half of the United 
States is very heavy. In winter the pic- 
ture of both wind direction and precipita- 
tion is radically changed. The northerly 
and northwesterly winds have not the same 
pronounced persistence as the summer 
winds. Yet through the entire south— 
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi—as well 
as the Atlantic states, the lake states and 
the central states, the prevailing winds are 
northerly and northwesterly winds. At 
the same time there is a perceptible de- 
erease in precipitation through the entire 
eastern half of the United States, and 
where in July there fell as much as three 
inches of rain, in January there is less 


than one inch, and where in July there fell 
as much as five inches there is in January 
less than two inches. 

This increase and decrease in precipita- 
tion over the eastern half of the United 
States, with change in the direction of the 
wind, points to the fact that the eastern 
half of the United States depends for its 
moisture upon the prevailing southerly 
winds, which originate in the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Professor Willis Moore, therefore, is en- 
tirely right, it seems to me, when he claims 
that the Pacific Ocean has little influence 
upon the precipitation of the eastern half 
of the United States, as Mr. Gannett and 
Mr. Bailey Willis have tried to prove. It 
is possible that some of the vapor that orig- 


68 SCIENCE 


inates in the Pacific Ocean drifts over the 
tops of the mountains and during winter is 
drained of its moisture by the excessive 
cold. This moisure may be precipitated in 
the form of snow over such states as North 
Dakota, but the amount can not be very 
great. 

The central interior region of the United 
States is thus the battleground of two 
titanic forces, of which one is harmful and 
the other is beneficial. The beneficial force 
takes its origin in the Gulf of Mexico and 
the adjoining ocean, the harmful in the 


interior of the continent and the Rocky 


Mountain region, and whether it comes as 
the warm chinook winds which blow out 
of the northern Rocky Mountains, or as the 
dry westerly winds of the upper Missis- 
sippi Valley and the western Lake region, 
occurring especially in the spring and 
early summer, it always carries in its wake 
serious injury to orchards and fields. 

The central states and the prairie region 
are geographically at the point where the 
battle between the two forces is fiercest and 
the victory is now on the one side and now 
on the other, being dependent upon the 
eold and humid, and the warm and dry, 
climatic cycles as well as upon the seasons 
of the year. 

When the humid southerly winds extend 
their influence far into the interior of the 
continent, and overpower the dry conti- 
nental winds, the central states and prairie 
region, the granary of the United States, 
produce large crops. When the dry winds 
overpower the humid southerly winds there 
are droughts and crop failures. 

The southerly winds on their way from 
the Gulf of Mexico do not meet any me- 
chanical obstructions. Since the Appa- 
lachian Mountains, running in a north- 
easterly and southwesterly direction, do 
not hamper their passage, they are capable 
of penetrating far into the interior of the 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


country and, therefore, determine the 
amount of precipitation, even in such 
states as Minnesota, Nebraska, North and 
South Dakota. The moisture-laden winds 
from the gulf, as soon as they reach the 
land and encounter irregularities, are 
cooled and begin to lose part of their mois- 
ture in the form of precipitation. 

As long as the air currents are saturated 
with moisture the slightest cooling or ir- 
regularity of the land that causes them to 
rise will cause precipitation. But as they 
move inland and become drier the remain- 
ing moisture is given off with difficulty and 
precipitation decreases. The sooner the 
humid air currents in their passage over 
land are drained of their moisture the 
shorter is the distance from the ocean over 
which abundant precipitation falls; the 
longer the moisture is retained in the air 
currents the farther into the interior will 
it be carried and the larger will be the 
area over which precipitation will be dis- 
tributed. 

If precipitation over land depended only 
on the amount of water directly brought 
by the prevailing humid winds from the 
ocean, the land would be pretty arid and 
rainfall would be confined to only a narrow 
belt close to the ocean. Fortunately, not 
all the water that is precipitated is lost 
from the air currents; a part runs off into 
the rivers or percolates into the ground, 
but a large part of it is again evaporated 
into the atmosphere. The moisture-laden 
currents, therefore, upon entering land at 
first lose the moisture which they obtained 
directly from the ocean, but in their far- 
ther movement into the interior they ab- 
sorb the evaporation from the land. Hence 
the farther from the ocean the greater is 
the part of the air moisture contributed by 
evaporation from the land. At a certain 
distance from the ocean practically all of 
the moisture of the air must consist of the 


JULY 18, 1913] 


moisture obtained by evaporation from the 
land. At least it must form a larger part 
than the water which was obtained directly 
by evaporation from the oceans. 

The vapor brought by the prevailing 
winds from the ocean is many times turned 
over or reinvested before it is returned 
again to the ocean through the rivers. 

If we could reduce the surface run-off, 
and at its expense increase the evaporation 
from the land, we should thereby increase 
the moisture of the passing air currents, 
and in this way contribute to the precipi- 
tation of that region into which the pre- 
vailing winds blow. ‘This conclusion is al- 
most axiomatic, and there can be no dis- 
pute about it. 


““CONTINENTAL’’ AND ‘‘OCEAN’’ VAPOR 


For a long time it has been accepted 
without any question that all the vapor 
that is condensed in the form of rain or 
snow over the land surface is furnished by 
the evaporation of water from the oceans. 

The part which vapor from the ocean 
plays in the precipitation over land has 
been altogether exaggerated, and it is 
hardly possible, therefore, to agree with 
Professor Moore when he says that ‘‘the 
precipitation over the eastern part of the 
United States is derived entirely from the 
evaporation from the Gulf of Mexico and 
the Atlantic Ocean.”’ 

A noted European meteorologist, Pro- 
fessor Bruckner, author of a classical work 
on the climatic fluctuations, has computed 
the amount of water evaporated from the 
ocean surface, land surface and the amount 
of water which is returned to the oceans 
and the land in the form of precipitation. 
The balance sheet of the circulation of 
water on the earth’s surface is made up as 
follows: 


SCIENCE 69 


CIRCULATION OF WATER ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE 
BALANCE SHEET 


Cu. Miles 
Vapor 


Depth | Per 
Inches | Cent. 


A, Entire earth surface (196,- 
911,000 miles). 
Evaporation from water sur- 


LACES eee reneemasaett eee 92,121} 29.5 | 80 
Evaporation from land sur-|-++ 
faGes stscc0 se cocesatantaenseens 23,270} 7.5 | 20 
Precipitation on entire earth 
BUTLACeIee terse eee ee .| 115,391} 37.0 | 100 
B. Oceans (141,312,600 sq. 
miles). 
Evaporation from oceans....| 92,121} 41.3 | 100 
Amount of ocean vapor car-|+- 
ried to the land (net?).....| 5,997 a2 2 S90 ee 
86,124} 38.5 93 


C. Peripheral Jand area (44,- 
015,400 sq. miles). 
Ocean vapor (net)............. 
Continental vapor from the|— 
peripheral land surface ...| 20,871 


5,997| 8.7 | 29 
100 


Precipitation over the per- 


ipheral land area............ 26,868 129. 
D. Closed interior basins with 
no drainage to the ocean 
(11,583,000 miles). 
Evaporation from closed 
BASINS! soseecceecetotecsesiocets 13.0 


2,399 100 


2,399! 13.0 | 100 


basingeetaccrctsscsccese coors 


The continental vapor which is fed from 
the periphery of the land surface is thus 
about 21,000 cubie miles. It plays, there- 
fore, an important part in supplying the 
moisture to the air, even a more important 
part than the vapor directly fed from the 
ocean. The peripheral regions of the con- 
tinents, 7. é., the regions tributary to oceans, 
are capable of supplying seven ninths of 
their precipitation by evaporation from 
their own areas. The moisture which is 
carried by the winds into the interior of 
vast continents, thousands of miles from 
the ocean, is almost exclusively due to con- 
tinental vapors and not to evaporation 
from the ocean. 

?TI. e., the difference between the amount of 


vapor that escapes from land to the ocean and 
from the ocean to land. 


70 SCIENCE 


In the interior enclosed basins the pre- 
cipitation and evaporation, as a rule, are 
equal to each other. 

Bruckner’s figures for entire earth’s sur- 
face are corroborated also by studies of spe- 
cific drainage areas. The most interesting 
study in this connection is that by Pro- 
fessors Francis E. Nipher? and George A. 
Lindsay on the rainfall of the state of 
Missouri and the discharge of the Missis- 
sippi River at St. Louis and Carrollton, 
Louisiana. Nipher found that the average 
discharge of the Mississippi River at St. 
Louis during the ten years ending Decem- 
ber 31, 1887, was 190,800 cubic feet per 
The amount of water falling per 
second upon the whole state during the 
same interval was 195,800 cubic feet per 
second, or equal within two per cent. to the 
discharge of the Mississippi River at St. 
Louis. If, however, a comparison is made 
between the total rainfall on the basin 
draining past St. Louis and the river dis- 
charge at this point, it appears that the 
drainage area of the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers above St. Louis is 733,120 
square miles, or over 10 times the area of 
Missouri. These figures show what small 
portion of the total rainfall over the drain- 
age basin of the Mississippi River is led 
into the rivers and conducted back to the 
sea. It is evident that by far the larger 
portion of the precipitation that falls over 
the drainage basin is evaporated back from 
the land into the atmosphere, and is not 
returned to the sea through the medium 
of drainage. These figures show further 
that the source of precipitation of the Mis- 
sissippi drainage is from evaporation over 
the land and not derived from evaporation 


second. 


8 Francis E. Nipher, ‘‘ Report on Missouri Rain- 
fall, with Averages for Ten Years ending Decem- 
ber, 1887,’’ Transactions of the Academy of Sci- 
ence of St. Louts, Vol. V., p. 383. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


over the sea. Mr. Lindsay* computed the 
discharge of the Mississippi River at Car- 
rollton, Louisiana, and found that the ay- 
erage for fourteen years was 117 cubic 
miles per year, or 545,800 cubic feet per 
second, which is less than three times the 
precipitation over the state of Missouri. 
The central portion of the United States 
is distinctly a continental region, particu- 
larly the prairie region, which suffers from 
lack of precipitation. On the other hand, 
large areas in the south and southeast suf- 
fer from too much humidity because of 
large swamps, which is caused not only by 
excessive precipitation, but also by deficient 
evaporation. Not only the south and 
southeastern areas suffer from too much 
water, but also many portions in the north 
and northeast, where the evaporation is 
also very slight. We have, therefore, two 
extremes on the periphery of the United 
States: (1) In the states adjoining the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico 
there is an excess of moisture on the 
ground, both on account of excessive pre- 
cipitation and slight evaporation; (2) in 
the vast interior of the central United 
States, on the other hand, there is a defi- 
ciency of moisture, both on account of the 
scant precipitation and of the intense 
evaporation. Is there not some connection 
between these two extremes? Is it not 
possible that changes which take place in 
one part of this vast region may exert 
some influence on the condition of the 
other? We have seen that in the central 
states in summer the prevailing westerly 
and northwesterly winds give way to 
southerly and southeasterly winds. In 
other words, in the summer the central 
states are under the influence of moist 
*Geo. A. Lindsay, ‘‘The Annual Rainfall and 
Temperature of the United States,’’? Transactions 


of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, June, 
1912. 


JULY 18, 1913] 


winds, just at the time when the evapora- 
tion is the greatest and the forest vegeta- 
tion is especially active. It seems, there- 
fore, that the amount of moisture evapo- 
rated within the more moist region of the 
United States can influence the conditions 
of humidity, not only in the States close to 
the ocean, but also in the region into which 
the prevailing moist winds flow. The more 
moisture there is evaporated from the 
ground in the southern and southeastern 
portions of the United States, the moister 
must be the air in the central states and 
the more precipitation must fall there. 


FOREST THE GREATEST EVAPORATOR OF 
WATER 


What are the sources from which the 
evaporation on land is the greatest? The 
evaporation from a moist, bare soil is, on 
the whole, greater than from a water sur- 
face, especially during the warm season of 
the year when the surface of the soil is 
heated. A soil with a living vegetative 
cover loses moisture, both through direct 
evaporation and absorption by its vegeta- 
tion, much faster than bare, moist soil and 
still more than free water surface. 

The more developed the vegetative cover 
the faster is moisture extracted from the 
soil and given off into the air. The forest 
in this respect is the greatest desiccator of 
water in the ground. 

The latest experiments of Russian agron- 
omists and foresters, corroborated by sim- 
ilar observations in France and Germany, 
have proved that in level or slightly hilly 
regions the forest has a desiccating effect 
upon the ground, causing the water table 
to be lower under forest than in the ad- 
joining open fields. Professor Henry, in 
his recent investigations on the effect of 
forests upon ground waters in level coun- 
try, has found that the minimum depres- 
sion of the water table produced by the 


SCIENCE Tall 


transpiration of forest trees in the Mondon 
forest near Luneville, France, amounts to 
11.8 inches. With a porosity of the soil 
strata ranging between 45 and 55 per cent., 
such depression would correspond to a 
rainfall of 5.9 inches, which amount to 21,- 
443 cubic feet per acre. This amount of 
water given off by the forest into the air 
obviously contributes greatly to the mois- 
ture content of the atmosphere above the 
forest. Dr. Franz R. von Hohnel, of the 
Austrian forest experiment station at 
Mariabrunn, carried on observations for a 
period of three years (1878-1880) upon 
the amount of water transpired by forests. 
He found that one acre of oak forest, 115 
years old, absorbed in one day from 2,227 
to 2,672 gallons of water per acre, which 
corresponds to a rainfall of from 0.09 to 
0.115 inch per day, or 2.9 to 3.9 inches per 
month. Taking the period of vegetation 
as five months, the absorption of water 
would be 158,895 cubic feet, which repre- 
sents a rainfall for this period of. 17.7 
inches. This amount of water is given off 
merely through transpiration from the 
leaves and does not include the physical 
evaporation from the surface of twigs, 
branches, and leaves. These figures, while 
only approximate, give an idea of the enor- 
mous quantities of water given off by for- 
ests into the air, which has justly given 
them the name of the ‘‘oceans of the con- 
tinent.”’ 

The most valuable and complete work 
on the subject is by Otozky, a Russian: geol- 
ogist and soil physicist, which appeared as 
a publication of the forest experiment sta- 
tions. Otozky worked up an enormous 
amount of observations, both his personal 
and those furnished him by other people, 
and did not find a single contradictory 
fact. His conclusion is that the forest, on 
account of its excessive transpiration, con- 
sumes more moisture, all other conditions 


72 SCIENCE 


being equal, than a similar area bare of 
vegetation or covered with some herbaceous 
vegetation. The amount of- water con- 
sumed by forests is nearly equal to the 
total annual precipitation; in cold and 
humid regions it is somewhat below this 
amount and in warmer and dry regions it 
is above it. 

This enormous amount of moisture given 
off into the air by the forest, which may be 
compared to clouds of exhaust steam 
thrown into the atmosphere, must play an 
important part in the economy of nature. 

If the present area occupied by forests in 
the Atlantic plain and the Appalachian 
region were instead occupied by a large 
body of water, no meteorologist would hesi- 
tate for a moment to admit that the water 
surface has a perceptible influence upon 
the humidity of the central states and 
prairie region. Should not, therefore, for- 
ests which give off into the atmosphere 
much larger quantities of moisture than 
free water surface, have at least a similar 
influence upon the regions into which the 
prevailing air currents flow. 

If the southern and southeastern winds, 
in their passage toward the north, north- 
west and northeast, in the spring and 
summer, did not encounter the vast forest 
areas bordering the shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico and the Atlantic coast and those of 
the southern Appalachian, and, therefore, 
were not enriched with enormous quantities 
of moisture given off by them, the precipi- 
tation in the central states and the prairie 
region would undoubtedly be much smaller 
than it is now. 

What would be the effect of complete or 
even partial destruction of forests in the 
Atlantic plain and in the southern Appa- 
lachian Mountains upon the humidity of 
the continental portion of the United 
States? As the mean temperature in the 
eastern part of the United States drops 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 968 


rapidly from south to north, the moisture- 
laden air currents upon entering land 
would be cooled off and rapidly drained of 
their moisture within a comparatively 
short distance from the ocean. The sandy 
soil which is so characteristic of the south- 
ern pine belt of the gulf and south Atlantic 
States would rapidly absorb the rain which 
would percolate into the ground, without 
returning much of it into the atmosphere. 
The rain falling upon the slopes of the 
mountains would rapidly run off into 
streams. While direct evaporation from 
the ground not sheltered by forest cover 
may become greater, yet the more rapid 
run-off and the absence of transpiration by 
trees would necessarily reduce the total 
amount of water evaporated into the at- 
mosphere. The land, were it even taken 
up for agriculture, would not return such 
large quantities of rain into the atmosphere 
as the forests did. The inevitable result 
would be that less moisture would be car- 
ried by the prevailing winds into the in- 
terior of the country, and therefore less 
precipitation would occur there. Such is 
the influence of forests in a level or a hilly 
country. 

Whether forests in the mountains have 
the same effect as forests in level countries 
upon the precipitation of the regions into 
which the prevailing winds that pass over 
them blow, is difficult to determine. The 
problem is more complicated for the rea- 
son that high mountain chains exert an 
influence upon the direction of the winds, 
not only by presenting a mechanical ob- 
struction to the free passage of the air, 
but also on account of the difference in the 
heating of the different slopes. A moist. 
current of air in passing over a mountain 
chain undergoes several changes. It is 
known that the air in ascending becomes 
cooler. The temperature of not fully sat- 
urated air decreases 1° F. for every 182 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


feet of ascension. In ascending the moun- 
tain slope the water-holding capacity of 
the air decreases until the saturation point 
is reached, and fogs, clouds and precipita- 
tion begin to form. The further cooling 
of the air is counteracted to some extent by 
the heat that is given off in the process of 
the condensation of vapor. This further 
cooling, therefore, proceeds only at the rate 
of about 0.5° F. for every 182 feet of ascen- 
sion, or only half as much as when the air 
is dry. After the air current has passed 
the crest of the mountain and lost an 
amount of moisture corresponding to the 
temperature which it had at the time of 
passage, it descends on the leeward side 
and becomes heated. 

In its descent it absorbs the fogs and 
clouds. In this process it consumes some 
heat. The further heating goes on at the 
rate of 1° F. for every 182 feet of descent. 
The more moisture there is extracted on the 
windward side of the slope, the greater is 
the temperature of the air on the leeward 
side. 

If, for instance, an air current before as- 
cending had a temperature of 50° F. at a 
barometric pressure of 30 inches, and the 
erest over which it passed was 9,900 feet 
high, then, on the leeward side at the same 
altitude at which it began to ascend, it 
would not have a temperature of 50° F., 
but of 77° F. at a relative humidity of 21 
per cent. At other ascensions by the same 
current of air, the same changes would take 
place. But new precipitation, as a rule, 
begins on the next chain of mountains only 
at an altitude equal to that of the crest of 
the previous mountain chain over which 
the current of air has passed. 

Professor Mayr® has shown that wherever 
there are several parallel chains of moun- 
tains perpendicular to the moist-air cur- 
rent, such as are found on the Pacific coast, 

5«¢Waldungen von Nord Amerika.’’ 


SCIENCE 73 


of which each one is higher than the pre- 
vious one, the forest appears in each con- 
secutive mountain chain only from an alti- 
tude equal to the altitude of the top of the 
preceding chain over which the air current 
has passed. Between the mountain chains 
there remain treeless, dry valleys. This is 
strikingly observed in the Pacific coast and 
Rocky Mountains, as well as in Caucasus 
and Turkestan. 

As a rule, the moist air currents, in pass- 
ing over wooded slopes, being chilled, de- 
posit most of their precipitation on the 
windward side. It is only in exceptional 
cases, such as when the air that passes over 
the wooded slopes is not fully saturated, or 
when warm currents rise from below, that 
the air current, instead of depositing mois- 
ture, becomes enriched with moisture and 
carries it over the crest to the regions lying 
farther on its way. 

This may occur on southern slopes, which 
are apt to become warm. The influence of 
wooded windward slopes upon the humidity 
of the regions lying to the leeward side of 
the mountain chains, therefore, varies. It 
is apparent, however, that, while the for- 
ests in the mountains at right angles to pre- 
vailing moist winds have a marked influ- 
ence upon local precipitation, their influ- 
ence upon the humidity of regions lying to 
the leeward of them can not, on the whole, 
be very great. 


CONCLUSIONS 


If the effect of mountainous forests upon 
the precipitation of regions lying in the 
lee of them is not entirely clear to us, the 
effect of forests in wide plains of conti- 
nents, especially in the path of moist winds, 
can not be doubted. By increasing the 
evaporation from the land at the expense 
of surface run-off they enrich with mois- 
ture the passing air currents, and in this 
way help to carry it in larger quantities 


74. SCIENCE 


into the interior of continents. The de- 
struction of such forests, especially if it 
leaves the ground bare or partly covered 
with only weak vegetation which does not 
transpire large quantities of water, must 
inevitably affect the climate, not so much 
the climate of the region in which the de- 
struction took place but the drier regions 
into which the prevailing air currents flow. 

I realize, of course, that direct proof of 
this climatic influence quantitatively ex- 
pressed is still lacking. It will take many 
decades before direct observations of such 
a character will be secured. If, however, 
the premises upon which the discussion 
rests, namely, that the precipitation of the 
eastern half of the United States is inti- 
mately connected with the prevailing south 
winds, that evaporation from land contrib- 
utes more to the precipitation over land 
than evaporation from the ocean, that for- 
ests evaporate more water than free water 
surface, or any other vegetation, then for- 
ests in the path of prevailing winds must 
necessarily act as distributors of precipita- 
tion over wide continents. 

What practical deductions can be made 
from these facts? 

1. Forests must be protected not so much 
in localities which already suffer from lack 
of moisture as in regions which lie in the 
path of prevailing winds and are still 
abundantly supplied both with ground 
water and precipitation. In the dry re- 
gions large bodies of forests may have the 
opposite effect upon the available water 
supply. There only forests growing along 
rivers may contribute to the humidity of 
the region. There rows of trees or wind- 
breaks surrounding fields and orchards, by 
preventing the drifting of the snow and 
decreasing the activity of the wind, will 
act more as conservers of moisture in the 
soil than solid bodies of timber. Therefore, 
the care with which forests should be pro- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


tected in the eastern half of the United 
States must increase from north to south 
and from west to east. 

2. In the Atlantic plain and southern 
Appalachians, which are the gateway for 
the prevailing winds from the Gulf of 
Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, forests 
must be especially maintained. i 

(a) On moist soils, provided the excess 
of water or the substances contained in it 
do not prevent their development, because 
the moister the soil on which forests grow 
the more moisture they evaporate. For 
this reason swamps, since they contribute 
less to the moisture contents of the air than 
crops or forests and lose considerable water 
by surface run-off, must be drained, as by 
doing this an increase of the evaporation 
at the expense of surface run-off may be 
secured. 

(6) On sandy soils. Forests on sandy 
soils readily absorb water through the roots 
and evaporate it into the atmosphere. De- 
nuded of forest cover, sandy soils readily 
absorb rainwater which percolates into the 
ground and often reaches the sea by under- 
ground channels without being returned 
to the atmosphere. 

(c) On steep slopes and rocky places; 
the removal of forests on such places in- 
evitably leads to an increase in the surface 
run-off and to a corresponding decrease in 
local evaporation. 

3. If clearing of the forest is a necessity 
it should be done only under condition that 
the cleared land is to be devoted to intense 
cultivation, as, after forests, crops contrib- 
ute most to the moisture of the air. The 
highest organic production, therefore, is in 
harmony with the safeguarding of the hu- 


midity in the regions which lie in the path 


of the prevailing winds. Cleared land that 
becomes waste or poor pastures or grows 
up to weak vegetation, means so much evap- 
oration lost to the passing air currents. 


JuLy 18, 1913] 


The effect of forests upon climate, if 
viewed as a local influence, must necessar- 
ily be insignificant. First we must not for- 
get that whenever we compare a forest with 
an open field adjoining it, the open field 
itself is under the influence of the forest 
and can not give a proper conception of the 
true effect of the forest. 

Such a meteorological authority as 
Lorenz Liburnau, at the end of his monu- 
mental work on ‘‘The Results of Forest 
Meteorological Observations,’’ remarks that 
his data and conclusions apply only to the 
influence which the forest exerts while it 
exists, but do not extend to conditions 
which may rise upon its complete destruc- 
tion. ‘‘If, for instance, according to our 
observations in the Carpathian foothills, it 
appears that the influence of the forest 
upon the neighboring country is only in- 
significant, this does not indicate that a 
complete destruction of all the existing 
forests will produce here also only insig- 
nificant climatic changes. Very likely 
that, if the forest were completely de- 
stroyed, the difference would be much 
greater than the difference that exists now 
between the climate of the forest and its 
neighboring areas.”’ 

Local observations, no matter how accu- 
rately and minutely carried out, can not 
lead us to the solution of the problem. The 
method of attack itself is wrong. It is only 
by approaching the problem from a much 
broader standpoint, by rising mentally to 
a height which opens wide perspectives 
both to the distant shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and to the 
most interior portions of the continent; 
only by following the moist south winds on 
their way from the gulf through the gate- 
way of the North American continent, the 
Atlantic plain to the Prairie region, by 
considering how many times the moisture 
carried by the wind is dropped in the form 


SCIENCE 


75 


of precipitation and raised again as evapo- 
ration, by studying the part which the veg- 
etative cover plays in this circulation of 
water on the land, especially the dense 
coniferous forests, that we can grasp the 
problem in its true light. 


RaPHAEL Zon 
U. 8. Forest SERVICE 


LESTER FRANK WARD 


Lester Frank Warp, A.B., LL.B., A.M., 
LL.D., was born at Joliet, Illinois, June 18, 
1841, and died in Washington, D. C., April 18, 
1913. 

Philosopher, sociologist, paleobotanist—few 
men in these days of specialization have earned 
such enviable reputation along such widely 
divergent lines of thought as are designated 
in these terms, which imply both a deep 
thinker on abstract subjects and a careful stu- 
dent of concrete facts. The scope of his men- 
tality was remarkable, not alone in the ability 
to master any subject in which he chanced to 
become interested, but also in the ability to 
completely dismiss any subject from his mind 
whenever he wished to concentrate attention 
on something entirely different, and to subse- 
quently resume the original trend of thought 
without apparent effort. 

His reputation as a student of and writer 
on ethical and sociological subjects assures 
that he will not be forgotten or fail of suitable 
recognition by those who are best qualified to 
discuss his activities in such connection. It 
is my privilege to merely say a few words in 
regard to Dr. Ward as a paleobotanist. 

Our personal acquaintance began in 1882, 
about a year after his appointment as assist- 
ant geologist on the staff of the United States 
Geological Survey. His special work was in 
connection with the problems of paleobotany 
and their relations to geological investigations, 
the importance of which was just beginning to 
attract some attention, and it was my good 
fortune to enlist his interest and to subse- 
quently enjoy the privilege of his cooperation 
and kindly criticism in my paleobotanical 
studies. and to feel the inspiration of his con- 


76 


scientious and careful methods of procedure, 
for a period of almost thirty years. 

Dr. Ward possessed a good working knowl- 
edge of botany and geology at the time when 
he entered upon his duties in the Survey, and 
it is interesting to note that one of the earliest 
of his published works was a “Guide to the 
Flora of Washington and Vicinity ”—the 
fruit of his many local tramps and explora- 
tions from which he derived the keenest pleas- 
ure. Several short articles, published in the 
American Naturalist and elsewhere, had pre- 
ceded this, two of which “On the Natural 
Suecession of the Dicotyledons ” and “ Homol- 
ogies in the Lauracex,” may be cited as fore- 
shadowing the philosophical and evolutionary 
tendency of the works that were to follow. 
The drift into paleobotany was almost inevi- 
table, even had it not been included in the line 
of official duties. Among the titles of papers 
which appeared in rapid succession, for ex- 
ample, were such as “ Evolution in the Vege- 
table Kingdom,” “The Ginkgo Tree,” “The 
Paleontologic History of the Genus Pla- 
tanus,’ “ Historical View of the Fossil Flora 
of the Globe,” “ Geological View of the Fossil 
Flora of the Globe,” “Botanical View of the 
Fossil Flora of the Globe,” “Sketch of Paleo- 
botany,” “ Geographical Distribution of Fossil 
Plants,” ete. The two last mentioned are ex- 
haustive dissertations which are standard 
works of reference for all who are interested 
in the bibliography and general principles of 
the subject and the recorded localities in which 
fossil plants have been found in the different 
parts of the world. These two works, issued 
in 1885 and 1888, respectively, demonstrate in 
a striking manner the wide acquaintance with 
paleobotanical literature which he had already 
acquired, and the wealth of such material 
which he had so rapidly gathered together. 
The pioneers of the science in America—Daw- 
son, Newberry and Lesquereux—had blazed 
the way; but it remained for Dr. Ward to real- 
ize the necessity for systematic preparation in 
order to insure accuracy and to place the sci- 
ence on a firm and dignified footing which 
would win for it the recognition that it de- 
served. With his tireless energy- and persist- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITI. No. 968 


ence he gradually gathered together, largely 
through personal correspondence and ex- 
change, all obtainable works directly or indi- 
rectly treating of fossil plants, and thus built 
up a library which, with recent additions, is 
to-day, without doubt, the most complete of 
its kind in the world. 

He also foresaw the necessity of having at 
hand, for ready and accurate reference, an in- 
dex of the genera and species of fossil plants 
and their places of publication. He fully real- 
ized the years of hard work, both mental and 
mechanical, which the undertaking involved, 
with but little to show as an ultimate result 
which would be appreciated or even under- 
stood by any except the limited number of 
persons actively interested in paleobotanical 
investigations. Nevertheless it was under- 
taken and has been successfully continued and 
elaborated and brought up to date; and it is 
no exaggeration to say that the accuracy and 
completeness which characterize the paleobo- 
tanical publications of the Survey are in large 
measure due to this work, conceived and begun 
by Dr. Ward. It includes some 80,000 refer- 
ences to descriptions and illustrations of fossil 
plants, and a bibliography of about 12,000 
titles by about 2,000 authors. Dr. Ward’s 
titles alone, including reviews, number about 
one hundred and fifty. Critical paleobotanical 
work in America can not be prosecuted without 
its aid, and all American students and writers 
on the subject must, at times, consult it and 
the library connected with it, in order to ob- 
tain information nowhere else available. 

The relations of fossil plants to geology, and 
their value and importance in stratigraphic 
investigations, were discussed and indicated 
in many of Dr. Ward’s more extended works, 
such as “ Synopsis of the Flora of the Laramie 
Group,” “ Evidence of the Fossil Plants as to 
the Age of the Potomac Formation,” “The 
Plant-bearing Deposits of the American 
Trias,” “ Principles and Methods of Geologic 
Correlation by Means of Fossil Plants,” 
“ Status of the Mesozoic Floras of the United 
States,” ete. He also contributed the article 
on Fossil Plants for Johnson’s Encyclopedia 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


in 1895, and the botanical and paleobotanical 
definitions for the Century Dictionary. 

Dr. Ward had a wonderful faculty for co- 
ordinating and systematizing facts and infor- 
mation. The former were always clearly 
stated and presented in logical sequence, and 
the arrangement of his text was always care- 
fully thought out. His guiding principle in 
all his writings was that he was not writing 
for himself, but for others, and he always tried 
to place himself in the position of those who 
would have occasion to read or consult or cite 
what he had written. The consequence is his 
works may be easily read, or quickly referred 
to, or accurately cited in any particular. 

His influence and example as a systematic, 
orderly, and conscientious. worker and writer 
have left an indelible impression upon all who 
were associated with him and will be felt, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, by all who may 
follow in his footsteps. 

ArtHurR Ho.iick 

NEw YorRK BOTANICAL GARDEN, 

June 30, 1913 


GERMAN AND SWISS UNIVERSITY 
STATISTICS 


Tur preliminary statistics of the number of 
students enrolled in German universities dur- 
ing the winter semester of 1912-1913 
(Deutscher Universititskalender, 83. ed.) 
show that the total number of matriculated 
students amounted to 58,844 as against 58,672 
in the summer semester of 1912. Including 
auditors the totals are 64,590 and 63,351, re- 
spectively. Of the auditors registered in the 
winter semester 3,997 were men and 1,749 were 
women, while of the matriculated students, no 
less than 3,213 were women, these being dis- 
tributed by faculties as follows: 


MMIGOOEA, cabicootonogoccooonNadod 11 
ILE ta cadosooabemooudaDcadoignoon 79 
IMIGCHOEIN®, GoocascosdoeoobooK0oDDD 715 
IAM, Gonbosdacuvbcoup 000K 2,408 


The following universities attracted the 
largest number of women students: 


Berlin 
Bonn 


SCIENCE OF 


MGM  oaonoapooondengoancoonct 262 
CMAneGM ~ SgoaqcdgnannoonnaobouoKD 237 
Merdelber ogame cisresiecisiele rele cleisiole 219 
IMGMWERS pools ooogobuddudadoGGRDG0 189 
IMME? | ddoooosonooogCoKGGODOD OD 172 
SHEEN (Coodoscoouoabgdbdo0G00DG0 150 
IUBVAI oo onooccObDOOODUODDOOD ODS 129 
MERIDIANS “SesadgoccouduoogucbaonDD 126 


It may be interesting in this connection to 
eall attention to some statistics recently pub- 
lished by the French Ministry of Education, 
showing that the percentage of women stu- 
dents in France in 1912 was 9.8 per cent. as 
against 4.8 per cent. in Germany. 

Excluding the emeritus professors, the 
faculties of the German universities in the 
summer semester of 1913 are manned by 
1,306 full professors, 131 honorary full pro- 
fessors, 788 adjunct professors, 8 honorary ad- 
junct professors and 1,210 docents. 

The matriculated male students enrolled in 
the winter semester were distributed by facul- 
ties as follows: 


Protestant theology ............ 3,386 
Catholic theology .............. 1,785 
TU seg Ath gnu AN NC A Hint eet Ua 11,376 


Medicine, pharmacy and dentistry 15,309 
Philosophy 26,988 


The largest number of matriculated students, 
namely, 9,806, was enrolled at the University 
of Berlin, this institution being followed by 
the remaining 20 institutions in the following 
order: 


Main chen miniaranis sprue steers oclaicts 6,759 
li yAeR Ged blog cs soado Mondo On ODN eG 5,351 
Bonini hep: tetcusteyeparuevsclcietelees coaerera) seas 4,179 
JEEMI \oooadaoplsaooodcoopon oad 2,906 
(Breslau) shee rsioreccvavscevaesoisvsitelove eusce 2,710 
COMB poocossdncboogocseoKes 2,660 
IMAM OMITS | cb doaodcoabreaooCemaeN 2,627 
eid elbeng wee ristiteceie cieaerer 2,264. 
WIGS: \opiaddeooogeonemuedauoes 2,154 
MEVAOUIIS | Lododcoceugaden ome Ouue 2,076 
SUMARIO? Hoacadganedcesous eur 2,063 
MMU, “Coucodotcopoudetoonene 1,898 
UGB csacobcceuss osocuocdauadoe 1,842 
IG IgpoebcocedccopcegaucoudeeD 1,738 
QUIT NIIR lo ooooodno0ccGp9OCHOD 1,616 
WADE  Gogoncocuacod0uddooOD 1,455. 
GHEE colocoucescododocogcduo0d 1,338 


78 
Erlangen ....... cere eee eee eee 1,261 
Greikswaldigaseiecie ae cllslelsieiciel eter 1,260 
ROSGOCKmmraetieralsierercueroisions eieistels cher 881 


The largest faculties of Protestant theology 
range in the following order: 


HBerdamiey ss eieocisrstojetsyeies lelonattsiol ehohel = 555 
IbGieyales. | GoAhagosnoooouseaocecccoc 466 
leh: YoososocsuoobdooDdOdooUTDD. 401 
MMi In EN) (ej-feye re) erelai=\s\sbe=)/ehei-le]sh=hes= 336 


For the largest Catholic schools of divinity 
the order is as follows: 


BON eek ieee kl ateeiictictts 400 
Whee |) EboooousdedunooogabU0G00 305 
IBWIIEM | SooodpoGanbooopUso0Np ODO 269 
Mire tung eye e cle rciekelelelere leis e/eieile)-/= "+1 225 


The University of Berlin possesses the larg- 
est schools of law (2,280) and philosophy 
(4,732), being followed in law by Miinchen 
(1,165), Leipzig (892), Bonn (846), Breslau 
(535) and Freiburg (519); in philosophy by 
Leipzig (2,882), Miinchen (2,347), Bonn 
(2,156), Gottingen (1,740) and Halle (1,642). 

The University of Miinchen leads in medi- 
cine with 2,287 matriculated students, to 
which must be added 203 in pharmacy and 94 
in dentistry; Berlin follows with 2,239 stu- 
dents; then come Freiburg with 1,029 students 
(plus 35 pharmacists), Leipzig with 947 (plus 
136 pharmacists and 78 dentists), Heidelberg 
with 734, Bonn with 652, Breslau with 641, 
and Wiirzburg with 615 (plus 76 dentists and 
47 pharmacists). 

The largest enrollment of foreigners during 
the winter semester of 1912-13 was found at 
the University of Berlin, where 1,605 matric- 
ulated foreigners were enrolled. Berlin was 
followed by 


lbeMhovAles | ‘Go bacodéacoooGddddadcdouNS 784 
MINOR Googe pocano5 C00 MOKOOOedS 687 
ENE SoogropooeoadKsdoodaHoOOoDD 315 
Hetdel ben gy iris cdlctslevereierste) -felveteheteh-te 264 
UTM HE GAgcoocotondEGGodOOKKG 244 
Simeone codcecoascocgogaoasoas 191 
DYN HFR | Gooonaboooocoboacdcescaocob 177 
Ghani,” CoaonpoocosooooesodoECo 174 
IBRESIEM SS oogko Cob soabo UO ODT OOGO 162 
BOM |, gaodooodanodopUDOdOODNOOODD 144 
VED) cadeoodonsocdoopponoocadeon 140 


SCLENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


Altogether there were 5,198 matriculated 
foreigners enrolled at the German universities; 
of these 4,648 hailed from Europe, 338 from 
America, 184 from Asia, 22 from Africa and 1 
from Australia. Of the Americans 171 studied 
at Berlin, 36 at Miinchen, 31 at Gottingen, 21 
at Heidelberg and 20 at Leipzig. Of the Euro- 
pean countries, Russia had the largest number 
of representatives, namely, 2,840, of whom 641 
were enrolled at Berlin, Russia being followed 
by 


INUISELIAN: Prcueyerier stereos ateterekotekeraciehetere 900 
Sywabzerlan deserves 340 
INDICE,  Goagaoooadccooueoodoo0 156 
Greate Britain eer cer eis cierortlererstete 145 
lapIKePMAE Go oooscooucouodoaqauod™ 111 
GIES CO iin ere sie siateliel aleveNetopeletatonene eyelets 100 
MT OVW ep yateveraiedxencroncleretheTetek kel eter 78 
SEiamey -GdcasaobabapoacbogogsooObN 61 
TeUXEMPOUT Lee yeeherete) oetaareje ier slerler ters 58 
IMEI) GosnsacopomadccuSDnooo5Od" 53 
IsilemGl: GoaodocaooododEsescoodc00 47 
IGEN) ogooodocaboddDdebOouoGDKDC 39 
Swedeniawecicverciciscieicrtech concrete 27 
Soba, Goosogoodddbuocdesccego0000 25 
INGMWEN? | oo qgdedpodoGoosOcdo00d0000 20 
Beloitimy y)eyefe) ois e+) =\eye\ei+.0)<]-1=)-\ = «jeter al 19 
D enmankmealerrattevetelavelelevelevetelelerehoicteneke 13 
Oni caluimepilerloreterstarcrsiersier Jodooand 10 
IMM MIENEEAL  GogodoconcodsoOdGo00C 1 


The number of students matriculated at the 
seven Swiss universities in the winter semester 
of 1912-13 amounted to 7,019 as against 7,226 
in the summer semester of 1912. 53.33 per 
cent. of these students hailed from Switzer- 
land, 30 per cent. from Russia and the Balkan 
States, 10 per cent. from Germany and Aus- 
tria, 2.5 per cent. from France and Italy, 
and 4.4 per cent. from other countries. No 
country in the world has as large a percentage 
of foreign students at its institutions of higher 
learning as Switzerland has. 


RupotF Tomso, JR. 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 


Or late years survey authors have become 
contributors to scientific and technical jour- 
nals to an extent that suggests the need of an 
official channel for papers of a certain type. 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


Participation in contributions to these outside 
journals is a valuable phase of the survey’s ac- 
tivity and should continue, but this method of 
publication has certain limitations by reason 
of both the capacity and the circulation of 
these journals. It appears, therefore, that the 
time has come to begin the issue of an annual 
volume in the survey series that will afford op- 
portunity for publication of short papers and 
preliminary reports of a character not well 
adapted to any of the present forms of publi- 
cation. 

It is significant that so many of the geolo- 
gists are making scientific contributions of 
general interest that represent results inciden- 
tal to other investigations or that are of the 
nature of by-products in strictly economic 
work. In order to develop greater breadth of 
observation and investigation among the 
geologists of the survey and to promote the 
scientific possibilities of their professional 
work means should be provided for prompt 
publication of such papers in a permanent 
form that will commend itself to the author 
and to the scientific reader alike. Provision 
has been made since 1902 for the current pub- 
lication of short papers relating to economic 
geology, and the time is opportune for a simi- 
lar provision for scientific papers relating to 
general geology. 

It is proposed to issue an annual volume in 
the Professional Paper series, entitled “ Con- 
tributions to General Geology ” (short papers 
and preliminary reports). 

In advance of the printing of the full vol- 
ume, separates, each including one or more 
papers, will be issued to the number of ten or 
twelve a year as the manuscript and illustra- 
tions are ready, without waiting for material 
for the full volume to be in hand or even prom- 
ised. The papers included in these “ Contri- 
butions to General Geology” may relate to any 
phase of geology, provided it possesses general 
interest—petrology, paleontology, stratigraphy, 
glaciology, structural geology, ete. This vol- 
ume is intended not as a catch-all for current 
odds and ends, but as a dignified collection of 
scientific contributions, each worthy in im- 
portance of subject, value of results and qual- 


SCIENCE 79 


ity of treatment for separate publication as 
a bulletin or professional paper if it were of 
sufficient length. Two papers before me which 
will probably be included in the first separate 
of the 1913 “Contributions” are Mr. Shaw’s 
“Mud Lumps at the Mouths of the Missis- 
sippi” and Mr. Gale’s “ Origin of Colemanite 
Deposits.” Illustrations in this publication, as 
in the “ Contributions to Economic Geology,” 
should be few in number and confined to line 
cuts and halftones, for prompt publication is 
essential. The date of actual publication will 
be printed on the title-page of each separate. 

The chief geologist will begin to receive 
manuscripts at once, in the hope that several 
separates may be issued between July and De- 
cember, and that the 1913 volume may be pub- 
lished early in January, when the first sepa- 
rate for 1914 will also be expected. 

Gro. Otis Suir, 
Director 


MEDICAL RESEARCH IN GREAT BRITAIN1 


Mr. Lioyp Gxorcr, as minister responsible 
to parliament for National Health Insurance, 
has appointed the following persons as a com- 
mittee with executive functions, to be known 
as the Medical Research Committee, for the 
purpose of dealing with the money made avail- 
able for research under the National Insurance 
Act: 


The Right Hon. Lord Moulton of Bank, LL.D., 
F.R.S. (chairman). 

Christopher Addison, M.D., F.R.C.S., M.P. 

Waldorf Astor, M.P. 

Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P., 
F.R.S., regius professor of physic, University of 
Cambridge. 

Charles John Bond, F.R.C.S., senior honorary 
surgeon, Leicester Infirmary. 

William Bulloch, M.D., F.R.S., bacteriologist to 
the London Hospital and professor of bacteriology 
in the University of London. 

Matthew Hay, M.D., LL.D., professor of forensic 
medicine and public health, Aberdeen University. 

Frederick Gowland Hopkins, M.B., D.Sc., F.R.S., 
reader in chemical physiology in the University of 
Cambridge. 


+From the London Times. 


80 


Brevet Colonel Sir William Boog Leishman, 
M.B., F.R.S., professor of pathology, Royal Army 
Medical College. 


These first appointments are for three years 
in each case; in and after 1916 three mem- 
bers, to be selected in manner to be prescribed, 
shall retire at intervals of two years, their 
places being filled (whether by reappointment 
or otherwise) by the minister responsible for 
National Health Insurance. 

The duties of the committee will be to for- 
mulate the general plan of research and in- 
quiry at the outset and for each year, to make 
arrangements for carrying it out, and to 
supervise its conduct so far as may be neces- 
sary, and in particular to secure adequate co- 
ordination of the various parts of the scheme. 
The committee will also deal with the collec- 
tion and publication of information, and of 
the results of statistical and other inquiries 

‘so far as suitable or necessary. For this pur- 
pose it will determine, subject to the assent of 
the minister responsible for National Health 
Insurance, the expenditure of the money avail- 
able each year, the total of the sums available 
under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of sec- 
tion 16 of the Act being about £57,000 per 
annum. Before the minister responsible for 
National Health Insurance gives his final as- 
sent to the Medical Research Committee’s 
scheme for any year, he will receive criticisms 
and suggestions in regard to it from the Ad- 
visory Council for Medical Research. 

This Advisory Council has been appointed 
for the purpose by Mr. Lloyd George, as min- 
ister responsible for National Health Insur- 
ance, after receiving suggestions for suitable 
names from each of the universities of the 
United Kingdom, from the Royal Colleges of 
Physicians and of Surgeons, from the Royal 
Society, and from other important public bod- 
jes interested in the question. It includes 
medical representatives of the four National 
Health Insurance Commissions, and the other 
principal government departments concerned 
in medical work. The first appointments are 
for three years in each case; in and after 1916 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


one third of the members, to be selected in 
manner to be prescribed, shall retire at inter- 
vals of two years, their places being filled 
(whether by reappointment or otherwise) by 
the minister responsible for National Health 
Insurance. 

The duty of the Advisory Council will be to 
consider the scheme of the Medical Research 
Committee, when referred to them, as above 
explained, and to afford to the minister all 
such criticisms and suggestions in regard to 
it as they may think desirable to submit to 
him from the point of view of securing that 
adequate consideration is given to the different 
problems arising and the various kinds of 
research work going on in the different parts 
of the United Kingdom and in other portions 
of the empire, in America, and in foreign 
countries, and also to the general scope of the 
research work to be undertaken under the 
committee’s scheme. 

The membership of the Advisory Council 
for Medical Research is as follows: 


The Right Hon. Lord Moulton of Bank, LL.D., 
F.R.S. (chairman), Miss L. B. Aldrich-Blake, M.D., 
M.S., Sir W. Watson Cheyne, Bt., C.B., F.R.C.S., 
F.R.S., Sir William S. Church, Bt. K.C.B., M.D., 
Sidney Coupland, M.D., David Davies, M.P., Sheri- 
dan Delépine, M.B., Sir James Kingston Fowler, 
K.C.V.0., M.D., Sir Rickman J. Godlee, Bt., 
F.R.C.S., Sir Alfred Pearce Gould, K.C.V.O., 
F.R.C.8., David Hepburn, M.D., Arthur Latham, 
M.D., Sir John McFadyean, M.B., W. Leslie Mac- 
kenzie, M.D., J. C. MeVail, M.D., W. J. Maguire, 
M.D., S. H. C. Martin, M.D., F.R.S., Robert Murr, 
M.D., Alexander Napier, M.D., Sir George New- 
man, M.D., Arthur Newsholme, C.B., M.D., J. M. 
O’Connor, M.B., Sir William Osler, Bt., M.D., 
F.R.S., A. C. O’Sullivan, M.B., Marcus S. Pater- 
son, M.D., Sir Robert W. Philip, M.D., Sir William 
H. Power, K.C.B., F.R.C.S., F.R.S., H. Meredith 
Richards, M.D., Lauriston E. Shaw, M.D., Albert 
Smith, M.P., J. Lorrain Smith, M.D., F.R.S., T. J. 
Stafford, C.B., F.R.C.S.I., T. H. C. Stevenson, 
M.D., Harold J. Stiles, F.R.C.S., Edin., Sir 
Stewart Stockman, M.R.C.V.S., W. St. Clair Sym- 
mers, M.B., Miss Jane Walker, M.D., Norman 
Walker, M.D., J. Smith Whitaker, M.R.C.S., 
L.R.C.P., Sir Arthur Whitelegge, K.C.B., M.D., 
G. Sims Woodhead, M.D. 


JULY 18, 1913] 


THE EDUCATIONAL FUND COMMISSION 
OF PITTSBURGH 


THe Educational Fund Commission of 
Pittsburgh, to which was intrusted one quar- 
ter of a million dollars some five years ago, for 
the betterment of teachers and teaching in the 
publie schools, has now made the awards for 
this year, making a total of about four hun- 
dred and seventy-five that this commission 
has sent out for study during the past four 
years. The chairman of the commission, Dr. 
John A. Brashear, writes: 


I think I can readily say that ninety-five per 
cent. of these teachers have brought back value re- 
ceived to our public schools in the way of effi- 
ciency. We do not ask these teachers to work 
hard, preferring that they take a very small num- 
ber of studies and enjoy a part of their time in 
rest, recreation and recuperation. Nor do we lay 
great stress on the purely intellectual side of their 
work, preferring that they bring back to us effi- 
ciency in the way of improving home life, social, 
moral and physical betterment. This they have 
not only done in the past, but through the splendid 
influence of their associations have distributed the 
good they have received in their summer studies 
among their fellow teachers in our great school 
system. 

I am also pleased to report that the deans of 
the various summer schools have received our 
Pittsburgh teachers with very great kindness, in- 
deed, to such an extent that perhaps fifty per cent. 
of them return the following year to study upon 
their own initiative and pay their own summer 
tuition and expenses. 

I wish I could give you the name of the donor, 
but notwithstanding the great work done for the 
public schools of Pittsburgh, he insists that his 
name remain anonymous. 


The summer schools for which scholarships 
were given, and number of teachers to be sent 
to each school by the Educational Fund Com- 
mission is as follows: 


Harvard University ................... 16 
ColumbiayUniversityseereceseeiceee ccc 15 
Chantanqualreerrirt teceieriiecicnicce 14 
University of Pittsburgh .............. 16 
Carnegie Institute of Technology ....... 13 
University of Wisconsin ............... 11 
ComnellMWniversitys cei eect ers 14 
University of Michigan ................ 7 


SCIENCE 81 


University, (of (Chicagoy c/s ces. ces. 4 
University of Colorado ................. 2 
University of Pennsylvania ............. 3 
CapeeMayaSchoolterttctereree cree sracieicrs 5 
Pennsylvania State College ............. 5 
Dantmouthyperrrt crits setter cies 3 
Zameriany Collepeyrsstrsitclkelsiiieicieleiel elicits 3 
SyracusemUMiversityamwrecrrtriieicie aero 2 
Northwestern University ............... 1 
New) Yorks Umiversitypury-)teir)<-lelciereie eieier 1 
Johns Hopkins University .............. 1 
Boothbay) Elarbor) ily) steietsi-r s/o) eielerelenene 1 
Art institutes Chicago), yerteii-ttelreieaciciets 1 
Vineland Training School .............. i 

139 


THE ROCHESTER MEETING OF THE 
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 


Tue forty-eighth annual meeting of the 
American Chemical Society will be held in 
Rochester, New York, September 9 to 18, in- 
elusive. A meeting of the council will be 
held on Monday night, September 8, at the 
Hotel Seneca, immediately following the com- 
plimentary dinner to be given to the council 
at seven o’clock. 

The program will open with a general meet- 
ing on Tuesday at 10 a.m., in the assembly 
hall at Kodak Park. The members of the so- 
ciety are to be the guests of the Eastman 
Kodak Company at luncheon following the 
morning meeting, and the afternoon will be 
spent in visiting the immense plant of the 
Eastman Kodak Company at Kodak Park. 

A smoker will be held at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, 
in Masonic Hall. The divisional meetings on 
Wednesday, all day, and Thursday and Fri- 
day mornings, will be held in the Eastman 
building, University of Rochester. The presi- 
dent’s address will be given at the East High 
School, Rochester, at 8 p.m., Wednesday; and 
the subscription banquet, Thursday en at 
7 p.M., at Powers Hotel. 

On Guinrce and Friday afternoons, excur- 
sions will be open to the following manufac- 
turing plants: 


Bausch and Lomb Optical Co., 
Taylor Instrument Co., 
Curtice Bros. Co. 

J. Hungerford Smith Co., 


82 SCIENCE 


Moerlback Brewery, 

German-American Button Co., 

Genessee Reduction Co., 

Municipal Incinerator, 

Stecker Lithographic Co., 
and possibly others. 


The following are the addresses of the di- 

visional and sectional secretaries: 

Industrial Division—S. H. Salisbury, Jr., Lehigh 
University, South Bethlehem, Pa. 

Physical and Inorganic—R. C. Wells, U. 8. Geolog- 
ical Survey, Washington, D. C. 

Fertilizer—J. E. Breckenridge, Carteret, N. J. 

Agricultural and Food—G. F. Mason, care of 
Heinz Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Organic—Wm._. J. Hale, University of Michigan, 
Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Pharmaceutical—Frank R. Eldred, 3325 Kenwood 
Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Rubber—Dorris Whipple, care of The Safety In- 
sulated Wire and Cable Co., Bayonne, N. J. 

Biological—I. K. Phelps, Bureau of Mines, 40th 
and Butler Sts., Pittsburgh, Pa. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. JosrepH Swain, president of Swarthmore 
College, was elected president of the National 
Educational Association at its recent Salt 
Lake City meeting. Dr. Robert J. Aley, presi- 
dent of the University of Maine, was elected 
president of the National Council of Educa- 
tion. 


Tue fourteenth series of the Lane medical 
lectures will be given by Professor Sir Edward 
Schafer, professor of physiology, University 
of Edinburgh. These lectures will be upon 
“The Functions of the Ductless Glands espe- 
cially in relation to other Secreting Organs.” 
They will be delivered on the evenings of 
September 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9, in the Lane Hall 
of the Stanford University Medical Depart- 
ment, San Francisco. 

Tue Berlin Academy of Science has awarded 
its gold Leibnitz medal to Professor Georg 
Schweinfurth for his explorations and re- 
searches in Africa. 

Proressor Rupotr Sturm, the distin- 
ezuished mathematician of the University of 
Breslau, has celebrated the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of his doctorate. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No.968 


Mr. WituiaMm Sraney, of Great Barrington, 
Mass., electrical inventor and engineer, has 
received the Edison gold medal awarded by 
the American Institute of Electrical Engi- 
neers for meritorious achievement in elec- 
tricity. 

Tue Michigan Agricultural College has con- 
ferred the degree of doctor of science upon 
Mr. William A. Taylor, chief of the bureau of 
Plant Industry, United States Department of 
Agriculture. 

Dr. Erwin F. Smirx, plant pathologist, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 8. Department 
of Agriculture, has been awarded a certificate 
of merit by the American Medical Association. 
This was consequent upon an exhibit made by 
Dr. Smith at the recent annual meeting of 
association at Minneapolis illustrative of the 
results of his researches upon cancer in plants. 
On June 28 Dr. Smith delivered an address 
upon this subject at the University of Wis- 
consin under the auspices of the Department 
of Plant Pathology. 


Dean W. F. M. Goss, of the engineering 
college, University of Ilinois, has been 
granted leave of absence for one year begin- 
ning July 1, 1918, to enable him to serve as 
chief engineer to the Chicago Association of 
Commerce committee on the investigation of 
smoke abatement and the electrification of 
railway terminals. 

Dr. J. S. Fuert, F.R.S., assistant director, 
Geological Survey of Great Britain; Dr. A. 
Lacroix, professor of mineralogy, Natural His- 
tory Museum, Paris, and Professor E. Wein- 
schenk, Munich, have been elected life honor- 
ary members of the Geological Society of 
South Africa. 


Tue alumni of Adelbert College, Western 
Reserve University, at the last commencement 
adopted the following resolution: 

WHEREAS: Charles J. Smith has continuously 
filled the chair of mathematics in this college for 
a period of forty-three years and is about to re- 
linquish the duties of an active professor, and 

WHEREAS: The alumni thereof duly appreciate 
his long and honorable career as such professor 
and the personal benefits they have derived from 
his instruction, 


JULY 18, 1913] 


Resolved, That we, the alumni of Adelbert Col- 
lege of Western Reserve University, express our 
deep appreciation of his scholarly attainments, the 
benefits we have derived from his instruction and 
our affectionate regard for him as a man, our hope 
that he may be spared for many years to enjoy 
the fruits of his life’s work, and that the secretary 
of this alumni association be instructed to place 
in Professor Smith’s hands a copy of this resolu- 
tion. 


Dr. M. W. Twircuett, formerly professor 
of geology at the University of South Caro- 
lina and now assistant state geologist of New 
Jersey, has returned from two months’ leave of 
absence, during which he served as acting pro- 
fessor of geology at the University of Colo- 
rado, while Professor R. D. George was en- 
gaged upon other duties as state geologist of 
Colorado. 


Proressor H. A. GuEAson, assistant pro- 
fessor of botany, University of Michigan, will 
leave in September for a year’s travel, dur- 
ing which he will visit Australia, the Philip- 
pines, Java and Ceylon. 


Proressor H. E. Grecory, of Yale Univer- 
sity, has been studying the geology and water 
resources of the Navajo Reservation, in parts 
of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, under the 
auspices of the U. S. Geological Survey. 


Ir is proposed to commemorate in 1914 the 
seventh centenary of Roger Bacon’s birth by 
erecting a statue in his honor in the Natural 
History Museum at Oxford, and by raising a 
fund for the publication of his works. 


Dr. Horace Jayne, formerly professor of 
vertebrate morphology in the University of 
Pennsylvania, dean of the college and of the 
faculty of philosophy, and director of the Wis- 
tar Institute, died on July 8, aged fifty-four 
years. 


Dr. Pumie Lurtey Sciater, from 1859 to 
1902 secretary to the Zoological Society of 
London, distinguished for his work on the 
systematic zoology of birds and mammals and 
on geographic distribution, died on June 27, 
aged eighty-four years. 


SCIENCE 83 


New York state civil service examinations 
will be held on July 26, as follows: In the 
State Department of Highways—for division 
engineer at a salary of $4,000 a year; for 
superintendents of construction and main- 
tenance at salaries of from $2,500 to $3,000; 
for chiefs of construction and maintenance at 
salaries of $4,000 a year. In the office of the 
state architect—for heating engineer at a sal- 
ary of $1,500 to $2,500 a year; for sanitary 
engineer at a salary of $2,000 to $2,500, and 
for electrical draftsman at a salary of $1,500 
to $1,800. Examinations will also be held for 
the position of bridge designer at a salary of 
$1,500 to $2,100 and of junior bridge drafts- 
man at a salary of $900 to $1,200. Application 


. blanks can be obtained from the office of the 


commission at Albany until July 16. 


Mrs. A. H. Crarke, of Earl’s Court, has 
given to the University of London the collec- 
tion of continental and exotic macrolepidop- 
tera made by her late husband, who was one 
of the senior fellows of the Entomological 
Society. The section of exotic butterflies con- 
sists of nearly 6,000 specimens from all parts 
of the world, and is particularly valuable as a 
reference collection, not merely from the num- 
ber and careful selection of the forms repre- 
sented (some being of great rarity), but from 
the perfect condition and beauty of the speci- 
mens themselves. The whole donation com- 
prises over 12,000 specimens all carefully set, 
arranged and labeled; and to it Mrs. Clarke 
has added her husband’s working library of 
entomological literature. After the work of 
arranging and cataloguing has been con- 
eluded, the collections will be available for 
reference by entomologists generally upon 
application to the professor of zoology at the 
university. 


Tue Board of Agriculture of Ceylon has 
appointed a committee in London to arouse 
public interest in the establishment of an Im- 
perial Central College of Tropical Agriculture 
in the far east. At the annual meeting of the 
Ceylon Association, held on June 12 in the 
Chamber of Commerce, London, it was unan- 
imously resolved that the association approved 


84 


of Peradeniya, Kandy, as the best site for the 
proposed college. It was stated that the Pera- 
deniya Gardens are uniquely situated for the 
purpose. The local climate is excellent. In 
every direction are vast plantations of all 
kinds of tropical products, which afford 
splendid opportunities for studying estate 
work on the spot. The whole of Ceylon, in 
fact, is devoted to every variety of tropical 
agriculture. Another great local advantage is 
that the student would find himself in con- 
tinual contact with the Tamil—the Indian 
agricultural laborer of the east and of most 
tropical colonies. 

Tue London Times states that the Terra 
Nova, which arrived at Cardiff on June 14, 
earried the natural history collections of 
the Scott Antarctic Expedition which fil 
nearly 200 cases. These have been trans- 
ferred to the Natural History Museum at 
South Kensington. The collections are of 
high scientific interest. Perhaps the most 
important, and from the personal point of 
view certainly the most precious, is the 
collection of fossils discovered by Captain 
Scott and Dr. Wilson during their ill-fated 
return journey from the South Pole. This 
box of fossils was found on a sledge when the 
relief party arrived at the place where Cap- 
tain Scott and his brave companions perished. 
The whereabouts of the sledge was indicated 
by a pole which Captain Scott had erected, 
knowing that the sledge would be hidden by 
snow. The box is at present intact. The 
other collections comprise birds (including 
many penguins), seals and whales. There 
is a very large and extensive collection of 
marine specimens—crustaceans, molluscs, 
echinoderms, etc. The botanical specimens 
are numerous, and there are many mosses and 
lichens. The collection as a whole is very 
much larger than that which was brought 
home by the Discovery. It bears testimony 
to the care with which Captain Scott organ- 
ized his expedition, and to the thoroughness 
with which his plans for its scientific work 
have been carried out. The results, when 
fully described, can not fail to add largely to 
our knowledge of the natural history and the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


past climatie conditions of the Antarctic 


regions. 


THE eighty-first annual meeting of the Brit- 
ish Medical Association will be held at Brizh- 
ton on July 22, 23, 24 and 25, under the presi- 
dency of Dr. William Ainslie Hollis. Sixteen 
scientific sections have been arranged and will 
meet daily, namely, Bacteriology and Pathol- 
ogy; Climatology and Balneology; Dermatol- 
ogy; Diseases of Children, including Ortho- 
pedics; Electro-therapeutics; Gynecology 
and Obstetrics; Laryngology, Rhinology and 
Otology; Medical Sociology; Medicine; Navy 
and Army and Ambulance; Neurology and 
Psychological Medicine; Ophthalmology; 
Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Dietetics; 
State Medicine; Surgery, and Tropical Medi- 
cine. On July 28, Professor George R. Mur- 
ray will deliver an address on medicine; on 
July 24, the address on surgery will be deliv- 
ered by Sir Berkeley Moynihan, and on July 
25, a popular lecture with cinematograph il- 
lustrations, entitled “Some Wonders of Ani- 
mal and Plant Life in Pond and Pool,” will 
be delivered by Mr. Edmund Johnson Spitta. 


Tue Australian Institute of Tropical Medi- 
cine at Townsville, which was founded as the 
result of an amalgamation of the schemes of 
Professor Anderson Stuart, of Sydney, and of 
the ex-Bishop of North Queensland, and now 
mainly supported by the commonwealth, was 
opened on June 28 by Sir William Macgregor. 
The Australian Universities, in conjunction 
with the institute, grant a diploma in tropical 
medicine. 


At the last session of the legislature of 
Maine a continuous annual appropriation of 
$5,000 was made to the Maine Agricultural 
Experiment Station for “ investigations in ani- 
mal husbandry.” The event is chiefly notable 
because of the fact that this is the first money 
ever appropriated by the state to the experi- 
ment station for the direct support of work of 
investigation. Hitherto all support of research 
has come from federal (Hatch and Adams) 
funds. The added funds were specifically ap- 
propriated and will be used for the extension 
of the investigations in the field of genetics, 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


earried on by the department of biology in 
charge of Dr. Raymond Pearl. The depart- 
ment has been accorded additional laboratory 
space in the station building. The staff has 
been increased by the appointment of Dr. 
Frank M. Surface, formerly biologist of the 
Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, as 
biologist; and of Mr. John Miner, a graduate 
of the University of Michigan, where he spe- 
cialized in the study of actuarial and statis- 
tical mathematics under the direction of Pro- 
fessor James W. Glover, as computer. 


On Friday, June 27, the new wing of the 
Rothamsted laboratories was opened. Accord- 
ing to the account in Natwre Mr. Runciman, 
president of the British Board of Agriculture, 
sketched the history of the Rothamsted Ex- 
periment Station from its beginning in 1843 
to the present time. The experiments grew 
out of some pot trials made by Lawes as a 
young man in the late ’thirties. The first 
result was the discovery of superphosphate, 
which alone had proved of almost incalculable 
benefit to the world, markedly increasing the 
yields of some of the British and Continental 
crops, and rendering possible the economic 
growth of wheat in Australia. Feeding ex- 
periments on animals came later, and proved 
of fundamental importance both to farmers 
and physiologists. During the fifty-seven 
years of their partnership, Lawes and Gilbert 
had investigated most of the important prob- 
lems connected with British agriculture, and 
laid the whole community under a great debt 
of obligation to them. The work thus begun 
had expanded considerably under Mr. Hall’s 
directorship (1902-12), and the growth was 
such that the new wing was already full, and 
the director, Dr. Russell, was preparing plans 
for new buildings to be erected in commemo- 
ration of the centenary of the birth of Sir 
John Lawes (1814) and Sir Henry Gilbert 
(1817). Mr. Runciman expressed the hope 
that the centenary fund would be well and 
widely supported. 


Mr. Geo. Otis Situ, director of the U. S. 
Geological Survey, on June 30 addressed the 
following letter to members of the survey: 


Seeretary Lane to-day presented Mr. Brooks 


SCTENCE 85 


with the Conrad Maltebrun gold medal which he 
had received from Paris through the Secretary of 
State. In making this presentation Secretary Lane 
expressed himself so thoroughly appreciative of the 
investigative work of the survey that I regret that 
a stenographie report of his remarks is not avail- 
able. He expressed himself as gratified that this 
honor had come to Mr. Brooks as the chief of the 
Alaskan division of the survey, and added that he, 
like his predecessors, had come to place large de- 
pendence upon Mr. Brooks’s intimate knowledge 
of Alaska and its resources; and he regrets that 
such signal honors as this medal awarded by the 
Société de Geographie of Paris come so seldom to 
the workers in the government service. 

Addressing also Messrs, White, Marshall, Grover 
and Spencer, who were present, Secretary Lane 
emphasized his appreciation of the fact that the 
Geological Survey and other branches of the De- 
partment of the Interior include among their mem- 
bers men who are giving their very best service to 
the government and are actuated by the highest 
patriotism. To-day at Gettysburg men are re- 
ceiving the honor due them for their services of 
fifty years ago, but these men who are serving the 
government to-day are no less worthy of medals 
for heroism and of other honors, as well as old age 
pensions, than are the veterans of the civil war, 
but the day will surely come when due recognition 
will be given to the civil service. In the mean- 
time, however, it will be the endeavor to recognize 
the worth of these leaders in scientific investiga- 
tion and so far as possible to entice them away 
from outside employment where their remunera- 
tion would be larger. 

In his response, Mr. Brooks told the secretary 
that he felt his indebtedness not only to his asso- 
ciates in the Alaskan work, but also to those in 
charge of the field branches of the survey, which 
have trained the geologists, topographers and engi- 
neers for service in Alaska, and thus made possible 
the suceess of these investigations. Others, he 
said, throughout the survey had done the work, 
and the medal had come to the chief of the Alas- 
kan division. 


THE zoological expedition to Colombia of 
the American Museum of Natural History 
returned early in May, after an absence of 
four months. As we learn from the Journal of 
the museum the objects of the expedition 
were first, to collect material for a habitat 
group illustrating the bird life of the Magda- 
lena Valley; second, to complete the ornitho- 
logical survey of the Colombian Andes, begun 


867) SCIENCE 


in 1910; third, to ascertain definitely the 
limits of the so-called Bogota region whence, 
for the past seventy-odd years specimens col- 
lected by natives, but unaccompanied by data 
of any kind have been received; fourth, to 
collect a series of topotypical specimens from 
the Bogota region. The expedition included 
Mr. Frank M. Chapman, and Messrs. George 
K. Cherrie, first assistant, Louis Agassiz 
Fuertes, artist, Thomas Ring, Paul G. Howes 
and Geoffrey O’Connell, volunteer assistants. 
This party left Barranquilla on January 19, 
and during the voyage of twelve days up the 
Magdalena River to Honda, by taking advan- 
tage of every opportunity when the boat 
stopped for cargo or fuel, collected three hun- 
dred birds. Studies for the habitat group 
were made at El Consuelo, on the western 
slope of the Eastern Andes, 2,700 feet above 
Honda; from this point a superb view is had 
of the Magdalena Valley, through which the 
river winds picturesquely, while in the back- 
ground the Central Cordillera rises crowned 
by the three great snow peaks, Tolima, Isabel 
and Ruiz, each of which has an approximate 
altitude of 18,000 feet. Having completed its 
work in this region, the expedition journeyed 
by mule to Bogota, making this city its head- 
quarters during the remainder of its stay in 
Colombia. From Bogota it passed first to the 
eastward to Villivicencio, at the eastern base 
of the Andes, stopping en route at all favor- 
able localities. On reaching Villivicencio, the 
section through the Andes from the Pacific 
coast to the upper drainage of the Orinoco 
was completed, and data are now in hand for 
the determination of the altitudinal life zones 
of the Colombian Andes. A month later the 
expedition returned to Bogota and passed 
southward to Fusugasuga, encountering there 
entirely different species from those which it 
had met with in its journey to the eastward. 
In all, some 2,300 birds and about 100 mam- 
mals were secured, and the diversity and rich- 
ness of the avifauna is illustrated by the fact 
that no less than 505 species of birds were 
secured during the comparatively brief period 
when the expedition was actually in the field. 


At the annual meeting of the American 
Association for Cancer Research, May 5, 1913, 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


the following resolution (the report of the 
committee on statistics and public education) 
was unanimously adopted: “It is the senti- 
ment of this association that: (1) the present 
instruction of medical students in the symp- 
toms and early diagnosis of cancer is seriously 
deficient; (2) the medical curriculum should 
include special lectures in the clinical depart- 
ments dealing specifically with this subject; 
(8) the universities should provide competent 
lecturers in this subject to address the local 
medical societies; (4) the associate members 
of the association should be urged to take up 
the question of the proper methods of ap- 
proaching the public on the subject of cancer; 
(5) the activities of this association should at 
present be chiefly confined to the education of 
the medical profession; (6) this resolution 
shall be sent to the deans of the medical 
schools and the secretaries of the state medical 
societies in the United States and published 
in the medical press.” 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Pusiic bequests aggregating $170,000 are 
provided in the will of Charles D. Sias, of 
Boston. Dartmouth College, the University 
of Vermont and Montpelier, Vt., Academy will 
eventually receive $15,000 each. 

Mrs. Gustavus F. Swirr and her son, Mr. 
Edward F. Swift, of Chicago, recently gave 
$10,000 toward the maintenance of the college 
of engineering of Northwestern University— 
an annual contribution since the opening of 
the college of engineering in 1908. Mr. 
Joseph Schaffner, of Hart, Schaffner and 
Marx, of Chicago, has given $12,500 toward 
the maintenance of the school of commerce of 
the university. 

Miss JEANIE Pottock, of Glasgow, has be- 
queathed £10,000 to Glasgow University for 
providing a materia medica research lecture- 
ship. 

Tue Atlanta College of Physicians and 
Surgeons and the Atlanta School of Medicine 
have been consolidated under the name of the 
Atlanta Medical College. 

Dr. Joun H. Lone, professor of chemistry 
in Northwestern University since 1881, has 


JULY 18, 1913] 


been appointed dean of the school of pharmacy 
of Northwestern University, to succeed the 
late Oscar Oldberg. 

Dean Davin Kintey, of the graduate school, 
University of Illinois, has been elected vice- 
president of the university for one year be- 
ginning July 1, 1913, at the meeting of the 
trustees on July 2. He succeeds Dr. T. J. 
Burrill, who retired from active duties last 
year. 

ALExanpDER GeorGE McApie, professor of 
meteorology in the Weather Bureau and di- 
rector of the California climate section, has 
been elected director of the Blue Hill Observa- 
tory and professor of meteorology at Harvard 
University. 

Dr. F. J. Auway, head professor of agricul- 
tural chemistry in the University of Nebraska 
and chemist of the Nebraska Agricultural 
Experiment Station, has been appointed pro- 
fessor of soil chemistry and chief of the divi- 
sion of soils in the University of Minnesota. 
Dr. Fred Upson, of the University of Chicago, 
has been appointed to succeed Dr. Alway in 
the University of Nebraska. 


Dr. James R. Nypeccrr, of the United 
States Public Health Service, has been elected 
professor of tropical medicine in the Univer- 
sity of Maryland. 

Me. W. G. Ferarnsipes, fellow and lecturer 
in natural sciences at Sidney Sussex College, 
and demonstrator in petrology in the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge, has been appointed to the 
Sorby chair of geology at Sheffield University. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


NOMENCLATURE IN PALEONTOLOGY 


To THE Epiror or Science: I ask the cour- 
tesy of your columns to explain certain allu- 
sions in a recent contribution which seem to 
have been somewhat misunderstood by my 
good friend Dr. Peale. In criticizing a prev- 
alent custom in vertebrate paleontology of 
identifying as to genus and species very frag- 
mentary material which is not really exactly 
identifiable, I spoke of its having “sadly mis- 
led” him into presenting as conclusive evi- 


SCIENCE : 87 


dence of identity in age a correspondence in 
fauna (7. e., in the fauna as listed) that was 
really no evidence at all. The criticism was 
in no wise directed at Dr. Peale, as he seems 
to suppose, nor at individual vertebrate pale- 
ontologists, but at a prevalent custom in this 
branch of science which I think ought to be 
amended. Naturally, Dr. Peale is perfectly 
justified in depending upon the published 
lists (7f they have not since been criticized or 
amended or new and better evidence secured) ; 
and vertebrate paleontologists are presumably 
justified in following the customs of their 
tribe. But this is a vicious custom, and the 


fact that it misled so eminent a stratigrapher 


was cited as an instance of the harm it does. 

Dr. Peale finds it “interesting to have a 
vertebrate paleontologist make the statement 
that ‘correspondence in fauna is not conclu- 
sive evidence of identity in age.” Well, I 
am not so rash as to say that it 7s, without 
making a number of reservations as to ade- 
quacy, presentation and interpretation of the 
evidence, etc. (for certain other considerations 
see article in Bull. Geol. Soc. America for 
1918, p. 283). But I did not make the state- 
ment he attributes to me, if I understand the 
meaning of words, and considering the con- 
text in which I was using them in the cited 
article. I was discussing faunal lists based 
upon specimens too fragmentary for exact 
identification. Such a “correspondence in 
fauna” is not conclusive proof of identity in 
age. That does not mean that vertebrate 
paleontology has no place in stratigraphic 
geology. Fossil vertebrates, provided the 
material is adequate and the identifications 
correct, afford a much more exact geological 
timepiece than do invertebrates or plants. 
But the material is always scanty and often 
inadequate, and the degree to which this is 
true must in each case be taken into consid- 
eration in interpreting their evidence. Fur- 
thermore, owing partly to the greater exact- 
ness of our timepiece, we are conscious of 
certain normal deviations from accuracy—if 
one may so speak—regional, environmental, 
ete., which although their effects upon the 
existing flora as well as fauna are obvious 


88 


enough, are not always considered by paleo- 
botanists and stratigraphers. 

It should be noted that my criticism was 
limited to the inference that the evidence 
from vertebrate paleontology as cited was con- 
clusive in this problem. JI have expressed no 
opinion as to the validity of Dr. Peale’s con- 
clusions in regard to the age of the Judith 
River fauna, chiefly because the subject is 
under investigation and the evidence is not all 
in yet. Mr. Barnum Brown has spent four or 
five months of nearly every year from 1899 to 
the present date, in collecting vertebrate and 
other fossils for the American Museum from 
the Lance, Hell Creek, Judith River, Ojo 
Alamo, Edmonton and Belly River beds, most 
of which are or have been included under the 
broad designation of the Laramie Group. 
He has secured a large amount of fine ma- 
terial, made extensive observations on the 
stratigraphy, and kept accurate records of the 
location and level of his finds. Certain other 
parts of the problem are under investigation 
by Messrs. Granger and Sinclair in New 
Mexico and Wyoming. Until these data have 
been compared, studied and coordinated with 
those previously published, it seems better to 
retain an open mind in regard to the tenor of 
the evidence from fossil vertebrates on the 
Laramie question. 

W. D. MarrHew 

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 

July 1, 1913 


MENDELIAN FACTORS 


To THE Epiror or Science: The alternative 
interpretation proposed by Dr. Henri Hus’ for 
ratios found in F, crosses between sweet and 
waxy varieties of maize, suggests the question 
whether, we are to use Mendelian factors 
merely as a form of notation to aid in the 
orderly arrangement of certain facts of hered- 
ity, or go further and insist that they have a 
real existence. The observed ratio of 9 horny 
seed, 3 waxy seed and 4 sweet seed was repre- 
sented as resulting from the interaction of 

1Not in the Laramie formation as now limited 
by the U. S. Geological Survey, 

* SCIENCE, June 20, 1913, p. 940. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968: 


two factors, a factor S for sweet endosperm 
and a factor X for waxy endosperm. The: 
presence of both S and X was assumed to: 
result in horny endosperm. In the self-pol- 
linated progeny of a sweet-waxy hybrid, both 
S and X would be present in 9 out of every 
16 seeds and this was the number of horny 
seeds observed. XY alone would occur in 3 out 
of 16, the ratio in which the waxy seeds oc- 
eurred. S would also occur alone in 3 out of 
16 seeds, but the number of sweet seed was. 
found to be 4 instead of 3 out of 16. On this 
hypothesis, therefore, the one seed out of every 
16 which would have neither X nor S was: 
included with the sweet seeds. 

Dr. Hus’s proposed changes are in effect to: 
substitute W for our X, H for our 8S, and to: 
add a common factor called S to all the mem- 
bers involved. 

To the writer the only object in premising- 
factors at all is that by their use predictions: 
are made possible, and in the present case two 
factors are adequate for this purpose. ‘To as-. 
sume a third factor is like adding an unknown: 
constant to both sides of an equation. 

The test proposed by Dr. Hus for the reality 
of the H factor is the same as one of the tests: 
originally outlined as a test for the same fac- 
tor which we called S. What is needed to 
prove the superiority of the formula proposed’ 
by Dr. Hus is some method of testing the: 
reality of the common basic factor. Until 
some plant is discovered in which the basic: 
character is absent there appears to be no way 
of doing this. The presence of a factor can 
neither be demonstrated nor disproven so long 
as it is assumed to be universally present. 

When sweet and horny were the only alter- 
native kinds of endosperm known the presence: 
and absence of a single factor was adequate to 
make predictions regarding their behavior.. 
With the discovery of waxy endosperm it was 
necessary to add a second symbol. But until 
another form comes to light it is difficult to: 
understand how a third symbol helps us to an 
understanding of the inheritance of these: 
characters. 

If the symbols are taken to represent actual’ 
entities it is of course anomalous to have a. 


JULY 18, 1913] 


character represented by the absence of all 
factors. But in avoiding this anomaly, cal- 
culation is made more difficult and the only 
object gained is to lend an unwarranted ap- 
pearance of reality to what is merely a con- 
venient formula for expressing the observed 
relations. 
G. N. CoLiins 
WASHINGTON, D. C., 
June 30, 1913 


SWEDENBORG 


._ To THE Epitor or Science: At the top of 
the second column of page 100 of Sctmncr for 
January 17, 1913, I note the following state- 
ment by one of your correspondents: “ But 
Swedenborg would be laughed out of a modern 
court of science.” 

I find in a brief Life of Swedenborg, by 
J. Stuart Boge (Frederick Warne & Co., Lon- 
don and New York, 1911), that Swedenborg 
was a wide traveler, a friend of learned men, 
a student of astronomy, metallurgy and anat- 
omy, an inventor, a practical-minded, useful 
member of the Swedish House of Nobles, 
assessor in the Royal College of Mines and an 
author of numerous scientific works. Among 
his inventions were a plan for a submarine 
boat and a plan for a flying machine based on 
the now known principles of heavier-than-air 
machines. He declared that a very slight 
force would be sufficient to keep such ma- 
chines up, but he knew nothing, of course, of 
gasoline motors. In the domain of astronomy 
he originated a method for finding terrestrial 
longitude by means of the moon. In the 
“House of Nobles he took an active interest in 
such matters as the finances of the country, 
the liquor traffic and the mines. Among his 
scientific publications were works on chem- 
istry, metallurgy, astronomical methods, ob- 
servations connected with the physical sci- 
ences, and the economy of the animal king- 
dom. Until he was fifty-five years of age he 
was wholly occupied in these scientific and 
_practical pursuits and was respected by schol- 
ars and patrons of learning at home and 
abroad. 

In a prospectus which lies before me of a 
new edition of Emanuel Swedenborg’s Sci- 


SCIENCE 89 


entific Works, I see that “ Swedenborg’s dis- 
coveries and theories in various departments 
of science have awakened an increasing in- 
terest among specialists during the past cen- 
tury,” that they led the Royal Swedish Acad- 
emy of Sciences to appoint a Swedenborg 
committee in 1902, and that this academy had 
in 1907 already published Vol. I. of the new 
edition in the original Latin and Swedish. 

In view of these facts it seems strange to 
me that any one should affirm that “ Sweden- 
borg would be laughed out of a modern court 
of science.” Is it possible that those who 
would laugh him out have never read his 
scientific works at all? If so, perhaps they 
could profitably reflect on the following quota- 
tion from Herbert Spencer: 

There is a principle which is a bar against all 
information, which is proof against all argument, 
and which can not fail to keep a man in ever- 
lasting ignorance; this principle is contempt prior 
to examination. 


ANDREW H. Warp 


A NEW VARIETY OF JUGLANS CALIFORNICA WATSON 


THERE recently appeared in these columns 
a brief note by N. B. Pierce entitled “ A New 
Walnut.” It included a very brief general 
description which could not be accepted as a 
diagnosis in the usual meaning of that term. 
Yet Dr. Pierce stated that he thought it de- 
sirable to give the new form a name at that 
time and that he intended to publish a full 
description later. But Dr. Pierce did not see 
fit to cite the diagnostic description of this 
form which was published (but without refer- 
ence to a scientific name) in Jepson’s “ Silva 
of California.”* Had he done so the name he 
proposed would stand, even though unsatis- 
factory to one who has studied the form care- 
fully. 

However, I take it that Juglans querctfolia 
Pierce is a nomen nudum and that it still 
remains to publish a scientific name and diag- 
nosis together. Therefore, I take pleasure in 
recording the same as follows: 

New Variety: Juglans californica var. 
quercina. Diagnosis by the undersigned in 

1Jepson, W. L., ‘‘Silva of California,’’ Univ. 
Calif. Memoirs, Vol. II., 1910, p. 54. 


90 


Jepson’s “Silva of California,” ’? the same to 
be reprinted under the above name in Univer- 
sity of California Publications, Agricultural 
Science Series, Vol. II., No. 1 (now in press). 

The chief reason for describing this form 
as a variety rather than a species is that it 
does not breed true. Several tests of seeds 
from different trees of this form have been 
made by the writer and in all but one test a 
number of the seedlings (never the same pro- 
portion) are typical J. californica in leaf 
characters. Obviously this is sufficient proof 
of a relationship which it is highly desirable 
to indicate by the name employed. 


The reason for rejecting the name querci-: 


folia is that the leaves are not oak-like. They 
resemble leaves of certain species of Rhus 
more than oaks. For this reason the writer 
had considered anacardifolia as a name, but 
the leaves are very unlike those of some spe- 
cies of the Anacardiacee. On the other hand, 
in general appearance of the trees this walnut 
does resemble a small-leaved oak. This is 
largely due to the habit of growth, the small 
size of the leaves and the dark green color of 
the foliage. Hence the name quercina is 
deemed proper, especially when used in va- 
rietal rank. 
E. B. Bascock 


SCIENTIFIC: BOOKS 


Principia Mathematica. By Atrrep Nort 
WHITEHEAD, Sce.D., F.R.S., Fellow and late 
Lecturer of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
and BrrtranD Russety, M.A., F.R.S., Lec- 
turer and late Fellow of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 
1912. Vol. II. Pp. xviii + 772. 

Differential and Integral Calculus. An Intro- 
ductory Course for Colleges and Engineer- 
ing Schools. By Lorram S. Hunpurt, Col- 
legiate Professor of Mathematics in the 


Johns Hopkins University. New York, 
Longmans, Green and Co. 1912. Pp. 
xvili + 481. 


An Elementary Treatise on Calculus. A Text- 
book for Colleges and Technical Schools. 
By WiuuiaM S. FRANKLIN, Barry MacNutt 


2 Ibid. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


and Roti L. Cuarues, of Lehigh Univer- 
sity. Published by the authors. South 
Bethlehem, Pa. 1918. Pp. vi 292. 


The Calculus. By Exurery W. Davis, Professor 
of Mathematics, the University of Nebraska, 
assisted by WintiaM ©. Brenxke, Associate 
Professor of Mathematics, the University of 
Nebraska. Edited by Hart RaymMonp Hep- 
rick. New York, The Macmillan Company. 
1912. Pp. xx-+ 446. 


Readers who desire to gain with a minimum 
of effort a fair knowledge of the nature, mag- 
nitude, method and spirit of Messrs. White- 
head and Russell’s great undertaking and 
achievement may be referred to the Bulletin 
of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 
XVIII, and to Sctence for January 19, 1912, 
where will be found somewhat extensive re- 
views of Vol. I. of the “ Principia.” The im- 
mensity of Vol. II., together with its exceed- 
ingly technical content and method, make it 
undesirable to review this volume minutely in 
this journal, and the purpose of this notice is 
merely to sizgnalize the appearance of the work 
and to indicate roughly the character and scope 
of its content. 

Owing to the vast number, the great variety 
and the mechanical delicacy of the symbols 
employed, errors of type are not entirely avoid- 
able and the volume opens with a rather long 
list of “errata to Volume J.” The volume in 
hand is composed of three grand divisions: 
Part III., which deals with cardinal arith- 
metic; Part IV., which is devoted to what is 
called relation-arithmetic; and Part V., which 
treats of series. The theory of types, which is 
presented in Vol. I., is very important in the 
arithmetic of cardinals, especially in the mat- 
ter of existence-theorems, and for the con- 
venience of the reader Part III. is prefaced 
with explanations of how this theory applies 
to the matter in hand. In the initial section 
of this part we find the definition and logical 
properties of cardinal numbers, the definition 
of cardinal number being the one that is due 
to Frege, namely, the cardinal number of a 
class C is the class of all classes similar to C, 
where by “similar” is meant that two classes 
are similar when and only when the elements 


JULY 18, 1913] 


of either can be associated in a one-to-one way 
with the elements of the other. This section 
consists of seven chapters dealing respectively 
with elementary properties of cardinals; 0 and 
1 and 2; cardinals of assigned types; homo- 
wzeneous cardinals; ascending cardinals; de- 
scending cardinals; and cardinals of relational 
types. Then follows a section treating of ad- 
dition, multiplication and exponentiation, 
where the logical muse handles such themes as 
the arithmetical sum of two classes and of two 
cardinals; double similarity; the arithmetical 
sum of a class of classes; the arithmetical 
product of two classes and of two cardinals; 
next, of a class of classes; multiplicative 
classes and arithmetical ‘classes; exponentia- 
tion; greater and less. Thus no less than 186 
large symbolically compacted pages deal with 
properties common to finite and infinite classes 
and to the corresponding numbers. Neverthe- 
less finites and infinites do differ in many im- 
portant respects, and as many as 116 pages 
are required to present such differences under 
such captions as arithmetical substitution and 
uniform formal numbers; subtraction; induc- 
tive cardinals; intervals; progressions; Aleph 
null, &%,; reflexive classes and cardinals; the 
axiom of infinity; and typically indefinite in- 
ductive cardinals. 

As indicating the fundamental character of 
the “Principia” it is noteworthy that the 
arithmetic of relations is not begun earlier 
than page 301 of the second huge volume. In 
this division the subject of thought is rela- 
tions including relations between relations. 
If R, and R, are two relations and if F, and F, 
are their respective fields (composed of the 


things between which the relations subsist), it - 


may happen that F', and F, can be so correlated 
that, if any two terms of F’, have the relation 
R,, their correlates in F’, have the relation R,, 
and vice versa. If such is the case, R, and R, 
are said to be like or to be ordinally similar. 
Likeness of relations is analogous to similar- 
ity of classes, and, as cardinal number of 
classes is defined by means of elass similarity, 
so relation-number of relations is defined by 
means of relation likeness. And 209 pages 
are devoted to the fundamentals of relation- 


SCIENCE 91 


arithmetic, the chief headings of the treat- 
ment being ordinal similarity and relation- 
numbers; internal transformation of a rela- 
tion; ordinal similarity; definition and ele- 
mentary properties of relation-numbers; the 
relation-numbers, 0,, 2, and 1,; relation-num- 
bers of assigned types; homogeneous relation- 
numbers; addition of relations and the product 
of two relations; the sum of two relations; ad- 
dition of a term to a relation; the sum of the 
relations of a field; relations of mutually ex- 
clusive relations; double likeness; relations of 
relations of couples; the product of two rela- 
tions; the multiplication and exponentiation 
of relations; and so on. 

The last 259 pages of the volume deal with 
series. A large initial section is concerned 
with such properties as are common to all 
series whatsoever. From this exceedingly 
high and tenuous atmosphere, the reader is 
conducted to the level of sections, segments, 
stretches and derivatives of series. The vol- 
ume closes with 58 pages devoted to converg- 
ence, and the limits of functions. 

To judge the “ Principia,” as some are wont 
to do, as an attempt to furnish methods for 
developing existing branches of mathematics, 
is manifestly unfair; for it is no such attempt. 
It is an attempt to show that the entire body 
of mathematical doctrine is deducible from a 
small number of assumed ideas and proposi- 
tions. Assuch it is a most important contribu- 
tion to the theory of the unity of mathematics 
and of the compendence of knowledge in gen- 
eral. As a work of constructive criticism it 
has never been surpassed. To every one and 
especially to philosophers and men of natural 
science, it is an amazing revelation of how the 
familiar terms with which they deal plunge 
their roots far into the darkness beneath the 
surface of common sense. It is a noble monu- 
ment to the critical spirit of science and to the 
idealism of our time. 

Of the making of many text-books of the eal- 
culus there is no end. The phenomenon is 
doubtless due to a variety of causes, literary, 
economical, scientific and educational. Chief 
among the causes is the felt desirability of 
producing text-books of mathematics that will 


92 SCIENCE 


work the miracle of pleasing at once mathe- 
maticians who are not engineers and engineers 
who are not mathematicians. 

Perhaps the most notable feature of Pro- 
fessor Hulburt’s book is the excellence of its 
English. No doubt mathematical truth is like 
other scientific truth in the characteristic re- 
spect that its significance does not depend pri- 
marily upon the form in which it is expressed. 
It ought not to be forgotten, however, that its 
accessibility does depend upon its form. A 
loose definition of a mathematical term is not 
a mathematical definition. A vague statement 
of a proposition is not a statement of a mathe- 
matical proposition. Discourse that is not pre- 
cise, cogent and concatenative is not mathe- 
matical discourse. For some unexplained 
cause departments of English fail to give their 
pupils such facility in English expression as is 
available for mathematical purposes. And 
those whose fortune it is to teach undergradu- 
ate mathematics find it necessary in classroom 
to devote half their time and energy to trying 
to secure on the part of their pupils decent, I 
do not say elegant or imposing or fine, but 
merely decent expression of ideas. In this im- 
portant matter, an excellent model is of very 
great assistance, and such a model Professor 
Hulbert has furnished. Most excellence is 
excellence of emphasis. In this respect, 
too, the book is a model; doctrines are 
presented in perspective. The nature of 
the differential and the utility of the dif- 
ferential notation are made perfectly, un- 
mistakably, intelligible—something that un- 
fortunately can not be said of some current 
presentations. As to the order of themes, 
there may be difference of judgment. Inte- 
gration is introduced on page 175. Practise 
in integrating is recommended and afforded 
before the use of tables, given at page 190. 
Teachers will value the introduction to an- 
alytical geometry of three dimensions, page 
265. Taylor’s series is presented as late as 
page 349. The work closes with an excellent 
account of simple differential equations, and 
a list of answers to exercises distributed 
throughout the volume. Printing and binding 
are well done and the page pleases the eye. 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


In the composition of their interesting work, 
Messrs. Franklin, MacNutt and Charles have 
been guided by certain convictions. For ex- 
ample, they believe that “to break the thread 
of the textual discussion by unnecessary alge- 
braic developments and by large and frequent 
groups of purely formal problems,” as is com- 
monly done, is a “really hideous feature”; 
and they have sought to avoid such a blemish 
by relegating the majority of the formal prob- 
lems to an appendix. This plan has not pre- 
vented them, however, from introducing a 
plenty of exercises into the body of the text. 
Again, they are convinced that, very unfortu- 
nately, nearly all scientific text-books carry the 
“false suggestion of completeness and final- 
ity,” and, accordingly, in order to guard the 
reader against gaining such an impression 
from their book, the authors have very laud- 
ably given in an appendix “a carefully selected 
list of treatises on mathematics and on mathe- 
matical physics.” The book is notable for the 
pains the writers have taken to keep the sci- 
ence of the calculus attached to reality, and 
everywhere throughout the work one detects 
the odor of physical science. On this account, 
perhaps, theoretical developments seem to have 
suffered in comparison, sometimes even con- 
sciously , as in case of the notions of infinitesi- 
mal, differential, divergence and curl. In- 
deed the authors characterize the articles deal- 
ing with these ideas as “fallacious,” “ mere 
plausibilities,’” and as being such that “the 
harder one tries to understand them the more 
vague and unintelligible they become.” We 
are disposed to think that the authors, if not 
too modest and frank, have overrated the diffi- 
culty of presenting the matters in question 
soundly and clearly. The final chapter, 43 
pages, is devoted to an elementary exposition 
of vector analysis, an element of the book that 
many will gladly welcome. 

Professors Davis, Brenke and Hedrick have 
produced a very teachable book. It would be 
more pleasing if the print were larger and the 
pages less crowded. In an unusual degree one 
finds here the spirit of the calculus. Designed 


equally for the college and the engineering 


JULY 18, 1913] 


school, the volume is rich alike in fine theo- 
retical considerations and in varied applica- 
tions. Theory, however, is not overdone and 
the applications are chosen with unusual re- 
gard to their intelligibility. 
OC. J. Keyser 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


Instinct and Experience. By OC. Luoyp Mor- 
GAN, Professor in the University of Bristol. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. 1912. 
Pp. xvii + 299. 


“Once more I urge that the more clearly 
we distinguish the scientific problems from 
the metaphysical problems the better it will 
be both for science and for metaphysics” (p. 
292). This, the concluding sentence of Pro- 
fessor Morgan’s book, suggests the tenor of 
his discussion. 

The volume is the direct outcome of a sym- 
posium on instinct and intelligence which was 
held in London in the summer of 1910. The 
several papers contributed to the symposium 
were published in the British Journal of Psy- 
chology, Vol. 3, 1909-10. Professor Morgan’s 
views concerning instinct and intelligence dif- 
fered in many respects from those of certain 
of the other speakers, and in the present work 
he has, at some length, presented and defended 
them in contrast with those of Messrs. Myers, 
McDougall and Stout. 

Although the author would doubtless resent 
the suggestion, the reviewer looks upon this 
work as philosophical rather than purely sci- 
entific in nature. It deals largely with defini- 
tions, relations, speculations and presupposi- 
tions, and with attempts to draw a line be- 
tween the naturalistic and the metaphysical 
disciplines. This is undoubtedly a profitable 
task from Professor Morgan’s standpoint, but 
from the reviewer’s it is decidedly less profit- 
able than attempts to supply the deficiencies 
‘in our knowledge of instinct and intelligence. 

- And yet Professor Morgan insists, even in 
his opening paragraph, “ My aim is to treat 
the phenomena of conscious existence as a 
naturalist treats the phenomena of organic 
life. I shall therefore begin with instinctive 
‘behavior and shall endeavor to give some ac- 


SCIENCE 93 


count of the nature of the instinctive experi- 
ence which, as I believe, accompanies it. In 
this way we shall get some idea of what I 
conceive to be the beginnings of experience in 
the individual organism” (p. 1). From this 
statement, one might suppose that the book 
would be devoted chiefly to the phenomena of 
instinctive and intelligent behavior, rather 
than to a consideration of the relations of 
instinct and experience or of the necessity of 
avoiding metaphysical problems. 

Resting his contention upon the physiolog- 
ical discoveries of Sherrington and Is co- 
workers, Professor Morgan insists that we 
must, in the end, distinguish instinctive 
from intelligent activities by describing the 
changes which occur in the central nervous 
system. The instinctive is dependent upon 
subcortical processes; and the intelligent, by 
contrast, is dependent upon cortical processes. 

Throughout the book, but especially in 
Chapters II., The Relation of Instinct to Ex- 
perience, III., Reflex Action and Instinct, and 
IV., Hereditary Dispositions and Innate Men- 
tal Tendencies, the importance of studying 
the functions of the central nervous system in 
their relations to different forms of activity 
is emphasized. 

Effective consciousness, by which the au- 
thor means consciousness that has something 
to do with the form of behavior, is supposed 
to be “ connected with the process of profiting 
by experience”? and to be “correlated with” 
the functions of the cerebral cortex. There is 
every reason, the author contends, to attempt 
to write a natural history of effective con- 
sciousness, a natural history of experience “ as 
it somehow actually runs its course.” 

Concerning the doctrine of epiphenomenal- 
ism, the author observes that we have no 
proof whatever that the same brain processes 
which occur in connection with intelligent 
activity, accompanied by consciousness, ever 
occur in precisely the same way when these 
accompaniments are lacking. Professor Mor- 
gan does not believe that behavior would re- 
main the same if the cerebral processes oc- 
eurred without “correlated intelligence” (p. 
262). 


94 SCIENCE 


At the very beginning of life, inherited 
mechanisms are set going by appropriate situ- 
ations. The reaction complex is instinctive. 
But immediately, if the organism possesses a 
cortical mechanism, profiting by reaction com- 
mences and each new performance, each new 
response to a given situation, in some measure 
modifies the creature, and by adding to its 
sum of experience, renders it more intelligent. 
Professor Morgan does not seriously discuss 
the question of whether intelligence or experi- 
ence may exist in organsms which do not pos- 
sess a cerebral cortex. 

The author’s conception of the relation be- 
tween instinct and emotion is thus stated: 
“When a specific situation affords an appro- 
priate constellation of stimuli, there issue 
reflexly from the subcortical centers two sets 
of efferent impulses, (1) those which evoke a 
specific mode of instinctive behavior, inclu- 
ding those motor responses which constitute 
much of the so-called emotional expression; 
(2) those which evoke visceral disturbance— 
changes of heart-beat, and of the respiratory 
rhythm, modifications of the digestive and 
glandular functions, alterations in the periph- 
eral vascular flow, a diffused influence on the 
general coonesthesis and so forth. From all 
this complex of bodily changes under (1) and 
(2) afferent impulses come into the central 
nervous system, and, when they reach the 
cortex, qualify the experience of the presented 
situation and thus complete the instinctive 
experience with its accompanying emotional 
tone. I regard it as probable that, in its 
primary genesis, the emotional tone is in large 
measure correlated with the cortical disturb- 
ance due to stimulation which is visceral and 
cenesthétie in origin” (p. 112). 

In the final chapters of the book, VII., The 
Philosophy of Instinct, and VIII., Finalism 
and Mechanism: Body and Mind, Professor 
Morgan offers a critique of the views of Mr. 
Bergson, together with comments on those of 
Messrs. Myers, McDougall and Driesch. 

The book is clearly and persuasively written 
and will undoubtedly prove agreeably profit- 
able to readers who approach it as a general 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


philosophical discussion of the subject, rather 
than as a contribution to the science of be- 
havior. The reviewer’s sole objection to the 


discussion is that it meets no urgent need. 
R. M. YERKES 


Glycosuria and Allied Conditions. 
Cammipcr, M.D. 


The increase which has occurred within the 
past decade or so in the number of cases of 
glycosuria—an increase which is only in part 
due to refinements of diagnosis—is demand- 
ing the attention of a large number of in- 
vestigators as to the causes which give rise to 
this condition. 

Although the milder degrees of glycosuria 
are not associated with the other well-known 
symptoms of diabetes, yet the latter are liable 
gradually to develop unless great care and 
judgment be used in controlling the diet of 
the patient. To do this efficiently the physi- 
cian must familiarize himself with the more 
strictly scientific work bearing on the history 
of carbohydrates in the animal body, and it 
comes to be of importance that for this pur- 
pose he should be able to procure reliable and 
up-to-date reviews of the work that has been 
done. 

In the present volume, from the pen of a 
clinical worker, a praiseworthy account is 
offered of much of the recent work—both 
clinical and experimental—bearing on the 
causes and treatment of various degrees of 
glycosuria. It is, however, more particularly 
with the part of the book bearing on the purely 
scientific aspect of the problem that the pres- 
ent review is concerned. 

In the first chapter the general chenmeal 
properties and relationships of the various 
carbohydrates are sufficiently explained for 
most purposes, greater details being offered in 
the form of an appendix. Too little attention 
is, however, given to the condition of carbo- 
hydrates in the blood, an omission which, in 
view of the large amount of recent important 
investigation, is rather disappointing. The 
statement on page 17 that the blood is of defi- 
nite alkalinity is hardly in keeping with mod- 
ern teaching. 


By P. J. 


JuLy 18, 1913] 


The two chapters which follow are devoted 
to a description of the different processes used 
in the detection and estimation of the various 
sugars in urine. There is much unnecessary 
detail regarding methods that are practically 
obsolete and the reader is not sufficiently in- 
formed as to which of those described the 
author, from personal experience, would recom- 
mend him to employ. The use of charcoal 
for the clarification of turbid urine (for 
polariscope examination) is condemned, be- 
cause of adsorption of some of the sugar (p. 
98), but no mention is made of the prevention 
of this adsorption when acetone or acetic acid 
is present in the solution. The method de- 
scribed for the estimation of the sugar in 
blood is obsolete. 

In the chapter entitled “ Experimental Gly- 
cosuria” a clear and well-arranged account of 
the results of some of the more recent labo- 
ratory investigations on this subject is given. 
The author, probably because he has not per- 
sonally participated in such types of investi- 
gation, does not attempt to.offer much criti- 
cism of the work; as a rule, he merely restates 
the views of others, thus leaving the reader to 
draw his own conclusions. In several parts 
of this chapter, however, the subject matter is 
not brought up to date as, for instance, in 
connection with the supposed antagonistic ac- 
tion of the pancreatic and adrenal glands in 
the control of the amount of sugar in the 
blood. The paragraphs on the relationship of 
the thyroid and parathyroid glands to carbo- 
hydrate metabolism and “on a theory of the 
co-relation of the ductless glands” are one- 
sided and highly speculative. 

The remaining chapters are devoted to a 
study of the various degrees of transient and 
persistent glycosuria met with in man. This 
is distinctly the most important half of the 
book, for, while giving a well-arranged review 
of the work of other investigators, important 
personal experiences of the author himself are 
presented. Although it would be out of place 
for us to review at all extensively, this clin- 
ical portion of the book, there are yet one or 
two criticisms which may be appropriate. 


SCIENCH 95 


i“ 
& 


The account of the behavior of the creatin- 
creatinin excretion in diabetes is not brought 
up to date; there is practically no mention of 
the recent observations on the changes in the 
amount of the blood-sugar in diabetes; the 
so-called pancreatic reaction in the urine is 
not described in sufficient detail to make it 
possible for one unfamiliar with the author’s 
previous writings to apply it properly, or even 
to understand upon what principles the reac- 
tion depends. The author lays great stress on 
the existence of pancreatic disease in most 
cases of diabetes, but beyond giving the case 
histories of a few diabetics in which pancre- 
atic lesions may have existed, he adds no 
further evidence in support of such a con- 
clusion. 

The chapters on metabolism and treatment 
are distinctly successful and should be most 
useful to those called upon to treat this dis- 
ease. 

Taking the book as a whole it is not too 
much to say that it ranks with the best that 
have been written in this field. It is con- 
servative and does not, as many of its fore- 
runners do, extol any “specific” treatment 
which can be applied in all cases. On the 
contrary, it is frequently insisted upon that 
every case of diabetes must be considered as 
a problem in itself, and that the treatment 
must be adjusted so as to meet the peculiar 
conditions which it exhibits. 

J. J. R. Mactrop 

WESTERN RESERVE MEDICAL COLLEGE 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE PREVALENCE OF BACILLUS RADICICOLA IN SOIL 


Tue fact that soils from fields where legu- 
minous plants bear nodules upon their roots 
may be used as a means of introducing this 
type of nitrogen-fixing bacteria into barren 
soil shows clearly that the different varieties 
of Bacillus radicicola, the organism which 
causes the root nodules, find a congenial hab- 
itat in many kinds of soil. Aside from its 
manifestations in the symbiotic relationship 
with leguminous roots, however, practically 
nothing is known regarding the distribution 


96 SCIENCE 


or function of B. radicicola as it occurs in 
nature. Within the past three years two 
authors, employing widely different methods, 
have attempted to supplement this rather 
meager information. With a rather compre- 
hensive plan for tracing the functional ac- 
tivity presumably of nodule-forming bacteria 
from the soil, through pure culture conditions, 
and into root nodules again Gage’ apparently 
confused himself with a variety of seemingly 
incompatible results, and by his unusual selec- 
tion of descriptive terms heightened the in- 
definite character of his report; but even if his 
conclusions were absolutely correct no real 
advance has been made in our knowledge of 
the life history of B. radicicola. 

A synthetic medium has been developed by 
Grieg-Smith,’ who states that it is almost 
specifically selective for Rhizobia. It should 
be noted that Rhizobia is not defensible as a 
generic designation for Bacillus radicicola.’ 
If the selective phenomenon of this culture 
medium were consistent for wide variations of 
soil flora and soil type, we should have in this 
medium a means for determining the approxi- 
mate numbers of B. radicicola in any soil and 
their relation to other members of the micro- 
flora of the soil. The agar medium as de- 
scribed contains levulose, asparagine, sodium 
citrate, potassium citrate and tap water. At 
the time of using from 0.06 to 0:10 cubic centi- 
meters of normal sodium carbonate is added 
to 10 cubic centimeters of the agar. 

Plates of a medium prepared by these eri- 
teria were exposed to the air in the laboratory 
at Washington for 15 minutes. An average 
of four species of molds to the plate developed; 
also numerous species of bacteria, some of 

1Gage, G. E., ‘‘ Biological and Chemical Studies 
on Nitroso Bacteria,’’ Centralblatt fiir Bakteri- 
ologie, Parasitenkunde und Infektionskrankheiten, 
2. Abt., Bd. 2%, No. 1/3, pp. 7-48, 1910. 

* Grieg-Smith, R., ‘‘Determination of Rhizobia 
in the Soil,’’ Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, Para- 
sitenkunde und Infektionskrankheiten, 2. Abt., 
Bd. 34, No. 8/9, pp. 227-229, 1912. 

* Kellerman, Karl F., ‘‘The Present Status of 
Soil Inoculation,’’ Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, 


Parasitenkunde und Infektionskrankhetten, 2. Abt., 


Bd. 34, No. 1/4, pp. 42-50, 1912. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


which were chromogenic. In order to com- 
pare the growth of molds in other media, there 
were exposed in various places in the labora- 
tory petri plates containing beef agar, the 
nitrogen-free agar developed by us for isola- 
ting B. radicicola,, and Grieg-Smith’s agar 
made with and without the addition of sodium 
carbonate. Table I. shows the results of these 
tests. 
TABLE I 
Number of Species of Molds Developing upon 
Various Media® 


Nitrogen- | Grieg-Smith |} Grieg-Smith Agar + 


ree Ags free Agar Agar Sodium Carbonate 
1 3 5 4 
3 2 2 2 
— 1 3 2 
2 3 4 4 


Further tests were made by inoculating 
various cultures of bacteria into Grieg-Smith’s 
agar, with the sodium carbonate added. Tubes 
of slanted agar were used and the organisms 
were streaked over the surface. The follow- 
ing organisms grew: 


Sulphur yellow bacillus, 

Bacillus coli, 

Bacillus cloaca, 

Micrococcus roseus, 

Bacillus rossica, 

Bacillus prodigiosus, 

Staphylococcus aureus, 

Bacillus mycoides, 

Azotobacter beyerinckii (on petri dish), 
Azotobacter chroococcum (on petri dish). 


The following organisms did not grow: 


Bacillus subtilis, black variety, 

Bacillus radicicola isolated from vetch nodules, 
Bacillus radicicola isolated from Ceanothus nodules, 
Bacillus radicicola isolated from Cycas nodules, 
Bacillus radicicola isolated from lima-bean nodules, 
Bacillus radicicola isolated from alfalfa nodules. 


*Tap water, 1,000 c.c.; cane sugar, 10 grams; 
monobasic potassium phosphate, 1 gram; mag- 
nesium sulphate, 0.2 gram; shredded agar, 15 
grams, with reaction adjusted to + 4 Fuller scale. 

* Petri dishes opened for 15 minutes in the labo- 
ratory rooms at different times during the day. 
The figures are the averages of two plates for each 
exposure. C 


JULY 18, 1913] 


The growth of pure cultures of B. radicicola 
on this medium was further tested by the 
usual methods of poured plates in petri dishes. 
The relative suitability of the different media 
is shown in Tables II. and III. 


TABLE II 


Growth of B. radicicola in Grieg-Smith’s 
Synthetic Media 


Media 
Source Strain Grieg- | Grieg-Smith’s 
Smith’s |Agar+Sodium 
Agar Carbonate 
Alfalfa ...cceceeee: No. 101 oh + 
Alfalfa............- No. 134 — — 
Alfalfa............. N. Y. soil + + 
Allfalfan-ccctedse-see D. C. soil’ — — 
Cowpea ..........5 No. 103 + + 
Crimson clover...| No. 156 + + 
TABLE III 


Comparative Suitability of Different Media for 
the Growth of B. radicicola 


“ Grieg- Grieg-Smith Nitrogen- 

Source Strain omits Agatti Sodium free Agar 
Alfalfa....| No. 153 — = aL 
Alfalfa....| No. 134 | — ae aL 
Vetch......| No. 151 — = tL, 


Following the technique outlined by Grieg- 
Smith, direct isolation of B. radicicola was 
attempted from soil of three types: (1) soil 
used in potting plants at the Department of 
Agriculture greenhouses; (2) soil from Akron, 
Colo., taken from around the roots of Astra- 
galus falcatus Lam., and known by check ex- 
periments to be able to inoculate the roots of 
Astragalus sinicus Linn.; and (8) soil from 
Ithaca, N. Y., which had been sterilized and 
inoculated with B. radicicola isolated from 
alfalfa nodules. The ordinary dilution tech- 
nique was employed and dilutions of 1: 100, 


®This test was made with New York soil fur- 
nished by Dr. B. M. Duggar, which he sterilized 
and then inoculated with a strain of bacteria iso- 
lated at Cornell University from alfalfa nodules. 

™This test was made with District of Columbia 
soil which was sterilized and then inoculated with 
alfalfa bacteria, strain No. 134. 


SCIENCE 


97 


1: 10,000 and 1:1,000,000 were taken. The 
agar was used with and without sodium car- 
bonate, and the plates incubated five or six 
days at room temperature. 

The greenhouse soil developed molds and 
various kinds of nonchromogenic bacteria on 
both media; on the media with sodium ear- 
bonate the Colorado soil developed molds and 
various kinds of nonchromogenic bacteria, 
while the media without the sodium carbonate 
gave an almost pure culture of one species; 
the New York soil gave pure plates with both 
agars. In observing these plates it was very 
noticeable that the agar with the sodium car- 
bonate showed fewer colonies than the agar 
without it; this has been noticed in regard to 
both pure and mixed cultures. 

The colonies selected for final test were 
those which resembled pure cultures of B. 
radicicola. The bacteria isolated from New 
York soil and from greenhouse soil were 
tested for their ability to infect alfalfa, and 
those from the Colorado soil were tested for 
their ability to infect Astragalus sinicus. 
These selections for tests were made because 
of previous empirical determinations of the 
inoculating power of these soils. 

The tests were conducted in sand nearly 
devoid of nitrogen, moistened with Sach’s 
solution from which the nitrogen compounds 
were lacking. Special glass jars designed to 
prevent contamination were employed for 
sheltering the plants which were grown from 
disinfected seeds. The plants grew well, con- 
sidering the abnormal conditions to which 
they were subjected. At the expiration of 
63 days the plants were taken from the jars 
and the roots carefully washed. Table IV. 
shows the inoculating power of the colonies 
selected from the petri plates of Grieg-Smith 
agar. 


TABLE IV 


Inoculating Power of Bacteria from Various Soils 
Isolated upon Grieg-Smith Agar 


Plant Source Tnoculation 
INGEN 6 oc0o008 600 New York soil + 
PA Pall haweiereteieteter-taiels Greenhouse soil —_ 
/Niiihiths oo pedaBeon Uninoculated — 
Astragalus sinicus .. Colorado soil _— 


Astragalus sinicus .. Uninoculated Plants died. 


98 SCIENCE 


Since the New York soil contained only 
living organisms of B. radicicola known to be 
capable of inoculating alfalfa, the inoculation 
of alfalfa by the organism isolated from the 
New York soil was to be expected. 

It seems fair to conclude that B. radicicola 
grows but sparingly and shows no especial 
characteristics upon synthetic agar made in 
accordance with the formula reported by 
Grieg-Smith, which seems to be no more selec- 
tive than the synthetic agar we have employed 
for many years in the Washington labora- 
tories, and is perhaps less selective than the 
congo-red agar described by one of us. Fur- 
ther development of technique or of culture 
media will be required before we may hope to 
secure reliable data regarding the relative dis- 
tribution and quantitative function of B. 
radicicola in the soil. 

Kart F, Kr_LermMan 
L. T. Lronarp 


BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SOME EFFECTS OF SUNLIGHT ON THE STARFISH 


StarFrisH have been much studied for their 
reactions to light. Their general reactions 
and behavior have been well described by 
Preyer, von Uexkull, Jennings and others, and 
there is general agreement in the results re- 
corded by these writers. Details of behavior 
of the different parts affected by light are for 
the most part meager or omitted. 

The general reactions of Asterias forbesit 
are essentially like those described for other 
starfish and there is no reason to suppose that 
its reactions are essentially different in detail 
so far as it is possible to observe them. It 
has been: previously shown by the writer’ that 
certain parts of the animal are sensitive to 
light. It has further been found that there is 
a definite time reaction between the moment 
when the light strikes the sensitive parts and 


® Kellerman, Karl F., ‘‘The Relation of Crown- 
gall to Legume Inoculation,’’? U. 8S. Department 
of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Cireular 
76, p. 4, 1911. 

1Scrence, N. S., Vol. 35, p. 119. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 968 


the moment when they show a definite visible 
response, and the general reaction which fol- 
lows, provided the light has sufficient in- 
tensity. 

Individuals without the pigment or “eye” 
spots react as definitely to light as do those 
with the pigment spots intact. This was also 
found to be true for Hchinaster (Cowles). 
The upper surface, the sides of the rays, the 
ventral surface and the tube feet are sensitive 
to light, since they show a direct response to 
it. The dermal branchia also show response 
to light stimuli. The behavior of dermal 
branchia is of peculiar interest, since their 
retraction must influence the extent of the 
aerating surface of the animal. The sudden 
illumination of a ray or a spot on it causes a 
retraction of the parts illuminated. If the 
area is large there is a bending of the ray ven- 
tralward no matter what the direction of the 
source of light. Following this primary re- 
flex, there arise movements which lead even- 
tually to the general response or behavior. 
Three stages are recognizable. These are: 
the initial or direct effect of light; the local 
direct response of the parts affected, and lastly 
the general effect and reactions in response to 
the influence of the preceding changes. It is 
apparently through these interactions that the 
external stimulus is finally transformed into 
reaction and behavior through the vortex of 
metabolic changes in protoplasm. 

Loeb has maintained that “reactions are 
caused by a chemical effect of light” and that 
“the velocity or the character of the chemical 
reactions in the photosensitive elements of 
both sides of the body is different,” and hence 
“the muscles or the contractile elements on 
one side of the organism are in a higher state 
of tension than their antagonists.” One 
wishes for more direct evidence and, if such is 
possible, direct proof that light does influence 
the chemical processes of normal metabolism, 
than the above assumptions afford. While it 
is generally assumed that light does cause 
chemical changes in organisms and these must 
influence the reactions of the organisms, there 
is a significant absence of direct experimental 
proof. 


(<3 


JuLY 18, 1913] 


Jennings sought an explanation of behavior 
based on physiological grounds and concluded 
that since the organism may react differently 
under apparently similar conditions, reactions 
are due to differences in physiological states. 
He cites instances in which the physiological 


conditions, such as hunger, for example, are . 


known to modify reactions. 

Mast (1911, page 369) admits that the “be- 
lief that light in some way influences the 
activity of organisms by chemical changes 
which it causes in them” is founded on hy- 
pothetical assumptions. Any direct evidence 
either in agreement with or opposed to these 
views, although it may need further verifica- 
tion, would be of importance. 

It must be remembered that little is posi- 
tively known concerning the character of 
chemical changes in metabolic processes. It 
is true, however, that of the various physiolog- 
ical states, or conditions which might effect 
them, the maintenance of the neutral or 
slightly alkaline condition in an organism is 
of the greatest importance, and this condition 
is not easily changed. Any change in this 
state it should be possible to detect provided 
a proper means be found. It is assumed 
that the organization of protoplasm involves 
and demands physical-chemical relations and 
changes of a progressive kind, with some 
range of disturbance possible without causing 
complete disorganization or breaking down of 
the chain of changes. These changes must be 
maintained within the limits of the conditions 
which make possible their continued recur- 
rence. This has aptly been likened to a 
“vortex.” 

The natural result of a stimulus breaking 
in upon these regular changes may be to stop 
some, accelerate others, divert others into com- 
binations different from those which would 
normally occur. That the stimulus (light) 
would cause a chemical change which would 
be the cause of the reaction is limiting the 
possibilities. From the viewpoint of the 
physiological processes it becomes a matter of 
importance to discover the nature of these 
disturbances. As previously stated, an acid or 
alkaline condition is of primary significance, 


SCIENCE 99 


the right condition being maintained through 
the interaction of certain basic and acid sub- 
stances present. If it is not possible to detect 
these conditions directly it might still be pos- 
sible to discover variations in the amount of 
elimination of products or alteration in their 
character. Accordingly, an attempt was made 
to discover any possible difference in these 
conditions. 

To test for differences in respiration in the 
starfish two methods were used. In one series 
of experiments an indicator for carbon dioxide 
was introduced into the given amount of sea 
water with the specimen to be tested. Parallel 
experiments, one in the shade and one in the 
sunlight and one control, were compared. In 
a second series specimens were exposed in the 
shade and the sunlight in equal amounts of 
tested sea water, the sea water then after 
equal intervals of time being again tested. 

Having made use of neutral red in class ob- 
servation on the reaction of protoplasm and 
vacuoles in Paramecia, this was tried in the 
starfish. Furthermore, neutral red might also 
show differences in intra vitam staining in 
light and shade. Dilute solutions of neutral 
red were made in sea water which is normally 
slightly alkaline in reaction, from 1: 10,000 to 
1: 60,000. A more dilute solution was used in 
some cases. Given amounts, 200 ¢.c. to 400 c.e. 
of the same solution were placed in each of 
three large clean finger-bowls. One of these 
was kept for control. Two starfish equal in 
weight and as nearly alike as it is possible to 
select, which were found to react normally to 
light were placed one in each of the other two 
vessels. One of these vessels was then placed 
in the sunlight and the other in the shade. 
Both vessels were placed in a shallow aquarium 
of fresh sea water in order to maintain equal- 
ity of temperature 18° centigrade. At inter- 
vals of two or five minutes a careful compari- 
son was made to note possible changes in ac- 
tivity and degree of staining shown by each 
specimen. In practically every experiment at 
the end of five minutes, solutions and speci- 
mens showed distinct differences. In the ves- 
sel in the shade the solution showed a charac- 
teristic acid reaction, while at the same time 


100 SCIENCE 


the one in the sunlight showed a very distinctly 
less amount of change, but when compared 
with the control it gave evidence of change. 
The specimen in the shade was usually more 
distinctly stained by the neutral red than the 
specimen in the sunlight, and the solution in 
the shade was apparently clear after the lapse 
of fifteen to thirty minutes, while that in the 
sunlight still distinctly showed the stain in so- 
lution. As might be expected in some of the 
experiments, the differences were more distinct 
than in others. It is taken that the acid reac- 
tion is due to the elimination of carbon diox- 
ide. 

A toxic effect was also evident in the ex- 
periments in the sunlight due probably to the 
action of the basic elements of the dye. What 
this is still remains to be determined. It is 
apparently due to effect of sunlight on proto- 
plasm influencing metabolism in such a man- 
ner that the injurious changes occur; or it 
may be the effect of sunlight on the interac- 
tion of the basic dye and protoplasm or its 
metabolic products. A similar effect is seen 
in experiments with Paramecia. In the sun- 
light there is a greater concentration of the 
hydroxyl ions which would give an alkaline 
reaction. The outcome is that hydrolysis 
takes place which interferes with the normal 
processes and produces injury to the proto- 
plasm. In the shade the hydrogen ions have 
a greater concentration with the more acid re- 
action. 

As a check upon these results a second set 
of experiments was made in which the reaction 
of the sea water was tested in which the speci- 
mens were placed without the presence of the 
indicator. In this series equal quantities of 
sea water, after being tested with the most ac- 
curate ‘Apparatus, were placed with carefully 
selected individuals in clean glass vessels and 
arranged, as in the former series, in the sun 
and in the shade. In this series it was pos- 
sible to use the same specimen for the test at 
different times after exposure for equal inter- 
vals of time in the sun and in the shade. The 
results agreed as closely as could be expected 
with those in the former series. 

In testing the sea water in each case an 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 968 


N/10 solution of hydrochloric acid and an 
N/10 solution of sodium hydroxide, and phen- 
olphtalein were used. It was found in a series 
of ten parallel experiments that at equal inter- 
vals of time after the lapse of about five 
minutes from the beginning of each experi- 
ment up to fifteen minutes, the sea water from 
the vessels in the sunlight showed less acid re- 
action than that taken from those in the shade. 
In four cases the sea water with the specimens 
in the sunlight remained slightly alkaline, but 
less so than the normal sea water; four showed 
a slightly acid reaction, the two remaining 
were neutral. Of the parallel series in the 
shade at the same intervals of time, seven 
showed an acid reaction, two were neutral and 
one was very slightly alkaline. Normal sea 
water is alkaline. It thus appears that the 
metabolic processes of protoplasm under these 
different conditions of illumination differ to a 
degree sufficient to affect the sea water through 
differences in elimination of the products of 
metabolism. Jt is to be remembered that ten 
or fifteen minutes is usually sufficient for con- 
tinuous sunshine to cause a starfish to take up 
a characteristic fixed position with respect to 
the light in as protected a place as possible. 

These experiments show that sunlight modi- 
fies the normal physiological changes taking 
place in protoplasm, checking some of the 
processes and probably accelerating others. It 
appears that the acid and alkaline relations 
are affected probably through a disturbance in 
the relations of the hydrogen and the hydroxyl 
ions. The starfish with one half of its upper 
surface in the light and one half in the shade 
moves from the light into the shade because of 
this interference with its normal physiological 
activities. 

These experiments were performed in the 
Biological Laboratory of the Brooklyn Insti- 
tute of Arts and Sciences, Cold Spring Har- 
bor, Long Island, July and August, and I am 
under obligations to Dr. C. B. Davenport, the 
director of the laboratory, for the privileges 
and opportunities so kindly extended. 

Hansrorp MacCurpy 


ALMA COLLEGE, 
Oetober 8, 1912 


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CONTENTS 


The Mutual Relations of Medical Progress 
and the Physician: PRoressor Henry H. 


DCRAMDSON! cebaddeeoseuadcogepobodsands 101 

The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science :— 

A National University based on National 

Ideals: H. K. BuSH-BROWN .........-... 109 

The Scientific Study of the College Stu- 

dent: CHARLES WHITING WILLIAMS ...... 114 
The American Mine Safety Association ..... 120 
The Crocker Land Expedition ............. 10 
merentujic Notes and) News) 2... ++ 6+ =r 6 121 
University and Educational News .......... 125 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Color Correlation in Garden Beans: Dr. J. 

K. SHaw. A New Method for Labeling 

Microscopic Slides: Zake Norturur. The 

Metric System: A. F. Gruman. The Yel- 

lowstone Park: PRoressor W. 8. FRANKLIN 126 
Scientific Books :— 

Britton and Brown’s Illustrated Flora of 

the Northern United States, Canada and the 

British Possessions: PROFESSOR CHARLES E. 

BrssEy. Ingersoll and Zobel on the Math- 

ematical Theory of Heat Conduction: C. 

12> IWANTOMASE one podaonOOo COBO OOO OORT OO 129 
Special Articles :— 

The Negative Phototropism of Diaptomus 

through the Agency of Caffein, Strychnin 

and Atropin: PRoFEssor A. R. Moorz. The 

Powdery Scab of Potato: I. E. MELHUS. 

A New Section South from Des Moines, 

OMAR VOCS Wy; WMO SocoapcsoocouNsue 131 
The American Association of Musewms: Dr. 

PACU Tap ME MER EAG Tr bexctloneyelrciictstcpebeheterep=teteorsicned fal 135 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y- 


THE MUTUAL RELATIONS OF MEDICAL 
PROGRESS AND THE PHYSICIAN! 

Some students of literature tell us that 
there are but seven different stories in the 
world. I should be inclined to add that 
there were but three different addresses 
for an occasion like the present. 

Thus it is possible to select a chapter in 
medical history and revive the past; or dis- 
cuss some striking achievement of the day 
and illuminate the present; or finally, to 
choose for consideration problems, the so- 
lutions for which are still in the making, 
and thus attempt to forecast and to mould 
the future. 

It is from these problems that I have 
made a selection for this occasion and I 
purpose to speak on the mutual relations 
of medical progress and the physician— 
for you are physicians—in the nascent 
state, to be sure—but like the freshly lib- 
erated hydrogen to which the adjective is 
most often applied—eapable of vigorous 
activity. 

To say anything really new to you upon 
the topic here set down would be most diffi- 
cult. We are all in the position of the old 
philologian who, when asked to explain 
why he gave no lectures, replied that he 
had not yet been able to get together a suffi- 
cient quantity of new facts to fill an hour. 
For the most part we who speak are obliged 
to overlook this unpleasant circumstance 
and endeavor to present familiar ideas in 
a new form—trusting by a happy presen- 
tation to drive them home. 

To be sure, all of us are wonderfully pro- 

+ Address given at the eighty-fourth annual com- 


mencement of the St. Louis University School of 
Medicine, June 5, 1913. 


102 SCIENCE 


tected against the infection of ideas—but 
it sometimes happens that our resistances 
are.particularly low and if then the idea be 
“‘exhibited’’ in a peculiarly virulent form, 
it ‘‘takes’’ and the experiment is counted 
a success. 

I turn now to the topic of the hour. The 
notion of progress which I wish to use neg- 
lects sheer turmoil and in a measure mere 
accumulative work—and puts the emphasis 
on our advance in leading ideas and guid- 
ing principles. 

It is your relation then to such progres- 
sive changes in medicine, the effect which 
these changes have on your intellectual life 
and economic opportunities, and in return 
the influence which you, as physicians, can 
exercise on the advancement of your sci- 
ence, which I purpose to present. 

My point of view is that of the labora- 
tory man working in a field cognate to 
medicine, and my attitude is one of en- 
couragement to yourselves and sympathy 
with the ills of the community that needs 
your aid. 

By way of introduction let me call your 
attention to the fact that the idea of prog- 
ress for humanity—so familiar to us now 
—is really rather new. 

The most ancient view is well illustrated 
by an allegory taken from an Arabian 
manuseript of the thirteenth century. I 
use the translation given by Lyell in his 
““Principles of Geology.’’ 

It serves to show how, in the absence of 
sufficient records, changes may be easily 
forgotten, and it runs as follows: 

I passed one day by a very ancient and wonder- 
fully populous city, and asked one of its inhabit- 
ants how long it had been founded. ‘‘It is indeed 
a mighty city,’’ replied he; ‘‘we know not how 
long it has existed, and our ancestors were on this 
subject as ignorant as ourselves.’’? Five centuries 
afterwards, as I passed by the same place, I could 


not perceive the slightest vestige of the city. I 
demanded of a peasant, who was gathering herbs 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


upon its former site, how long it had been de- 
stroyed. ‘‘In sooth a strange question! ’’ replied 
he. ‘‘The ground here has never been different 
from what you now behold it.’’ ‘‘Was there not 
of old,’’ said I, ‘‘a splendid city here?’’ 
““Never,’’ answered he, ‘‘so far as we have seen, 
and never did our fathers speak to us of any 
such.’’ 

On my return there five hundred years after- 
wards, I found the sea in the same place, and on 
its shores were a party of fishermen, of whom I 
enquired how long the land had been covered by 
the waters. ‘‘Is this a question,’’ said they, ‘‘ for 
a man like you? This spot has always been what 
UGS MM OWeaalel te 

Lastly, on coming back again after an equal 
lapse of time, I found there a flourishing city, 
more populous and more rich in beautiful build- 
ings than the city I had seen the first time, and 
when I would fain have informed myself concern- 
ing its origin, the inhabitants answered me: ‘‘Its 
rise is lost in remote antiquity: we are ignorant 
how long it has existed, and our fathers were on 
this subject as ignorant as ourselves.’’ 


To the people of this legend not only was 
the past unknown, but for them the future 
also must have shaped itself as an endless 
prolongation of the present. To talk to 
them about the scientific use of the imagi- 
nation would have been a thankless task. 
They merely drifted on the stream of time. 

When, however, the historical records 
were at hand and the great events were 
noted, attention turned to the possible 
changes in man himself. 

During the twelve hundred years when 
western Europe was adjusting itself to the 
new order of things, men looked back to 
the great classic past as something beyond 
repetition or improvement, counting its 
leading men as of a vanished race of intel- 
lectual prodigies. 

In his studies on ‘‘The Medieval Mind,”’ 
Taylor quotes a writer of the time as fol- 
lows: 

Bernard of Chartres used to say that ‘‘we were 
like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. If 


we see more and further than they, it is not due 
to our own clear eyes or tall bodies, but because 


JoLy 25, 1913] 


we are raised on high and upborne by their 
gigantic bigness.’ 

Here it is conceded that men changed, 
but the change was rather backward and 
for the worse. 

In harmony with this idea we find three 
centuries later, when Vesalius was found- 
ing modern anatomy, that the discrepan- 
cies between his observations and those of 
Galen—whose teachings were then domi- 
nant—were explained by the fact, that 
since Galen wrote, the human body had de- 
teriorated. 

It is only since we began to command the 
forces of nature through the development 
of chemistry and the power of steam that 
the modern notion of progress has taken a 
firm root, because only since then have im- 
portant discoveries followed one another 
with sufficient frequency to give the im- 
pression of a progressive series. 

At present we somewhat readily concede 
to the past the greater men, but when asked 
to compare ourselves with our representa- 
tives of an earlier time there is a strong in- 
clination to conclude that we ourselves are 
the better, for we can do so many things 
which they could not. 


When one looks critically at the matter. 


and endeavors to distinguish between ma- 
terial advances and biological improve- 
ment, this illusion disappears. It is evi- 
dent that despite the external changes, the 
human being has remained almost unmodi- 
fied. Although the average length of. life 
has been increased by conditions which 
permit a greater number of people to ap- 
proach old age, yet we see no evidence: that 
for the individual the normal span of life 
has been extended. Although we are more 
guarded from pestilence, famine and war, 
and relieved from the distractions which 
they cause, yet equivalent emotional strains 
have replaced these distractions,  Al- 
though for a number of' people the eco- 


SCIENCE 


103 


nomic situation makes the pursuit of food 
and shelter a less insistent occupation than 
before, yet into the vacancy so left there 
stream at once new obligations and unex- 
pected interests, while at the same time 
there is no evidence that our minds have 
become either more acute or more vigorous. 
Nevertheless, as heretofore, each of us must 
live on twenty-four hours a day. 

In brief, then, social development pro- 
tects us and the preservation of past ac- 
complishments leaves us free to attempt 
new ones, but within historic times, man— 
the dominant power on the earth—has 
changed but very little, if at all, while here 
and there the best achievements of his re- 
moter ancestors still mark the high levels 
of human thought. 

Nevertheless, in a sense, our opportuni- 
ties are much increased. The world, at 
least the active part of it, has been more 
firmly knit together. We can get our bod- 
les, our voices or our writing carried about 
the earth at marvelous speed and with 
wonderful safety. 

A few uncommon languages still hinder 
intercourse between the nations, but in the 
main it is easy to learn precisely what is 
going on now and what has gone on for 
the last fifty or a hundred years. : Ideas 
travel with the ease of Aladdin and his 
friends and everywhere men are testing, 
trying, proving and attaining new results. 

This opportunity to try rapidly and on 
a large scale any new ideas that require to 
be tested yields in return a great mass of 
conclusions and judgments which must be 
considered both quickly and seriously— 
lest confusion follow in their train. 

As a consequence of this condition one 
has at least the opportunity to think more 
often and more rapidly than a generation 
ago—not because the modern mind is nor- 
mally more active, but because the food for 
thought is more abundant and more varied. 


104 


At worst, this brings distraction; while at 
best, it makes us frugal and foresighted in 
our mental life. At every turn, therefore, 
the study of efficiency is forced upon us— 
all the way from the correct position of our 
inkstand on the desk to the arrangement 
of our thoughts. 

The interests which pass before us in a 
ceaseless train may prove almost. embar- 
rassing in their abundance, unless we are 
prepared for the experience. 

Thus a man often finds himself in a posi- 
tion analogous to that of the courteous 
gentleman who felt that one should always 
hold open for an approaching lady any 
swinging door. Once at the main entrance 
of a large department store he began this 
practise early in the day. Closing time 
found him still at his post, for never 
through the long hours had the stream of 
passing ladies been sufficiently intermittent 
to allow him to move on without some dam- 
age to his self respect. 

I say we find ourselves in quite an analo- 
gous position to this with regard to cur- 
rent ideas, and for this reason many of 
them must be resolutely disregarded. It is 
something of an art to use a protective in- 
hospitality towards these many vital inter- 
ests without creating by this act a feeling 
of dislike for those excluded, and thus 
weakening one’s sympathy by the lack of 
use. 

We may recall here as having particular 
fitness that view which regards life as a 
continuous adjustment between internal 
and external conditions. 

As we grow older this continuous ad- 
justment is made only with increasing diffi- 
culty. We become enmeshed in our special 
habits and loaded down with our private 
information—so that we do not move 
lightly or change with ease. 

Perhaps one of the most striking results 
of the rapidity with which new problems 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969. 


and new ideals follow one another is the 
attitude of the active world towards the 
man of sixty, or shall I say, fifty. 

Time was when the progress of ideas in 
a community moved at so moderate a pace 
that by gaining much experience in youth, 
a man in old age could have a store of facts. 
as the basis of wise judgments. 

To-day we have the startling situation. 
that the matters on which sound judgment 
is demanded often belong to a group of 
events and happenings that have occurred 
since the man interrogated was in a posi- 
tion to get the needed experiences. 

Such a one may be wise in the matters 
to which his own growing period relates— 
but unfitted to meet the questions of the 
moment which so often arise from situa- 
tions developed since that “period was 
closed. So it sometimes happens that a 
man advanced in life may belong not to 
his own generation, but to, that which has 
preceded it—and there is a\misfit. 

Yet experience is ever and always the 
foundation of wisdom, and it follows that 
the period of acquisition must be pro-: 
longed. The existence of this situation is 
beyond dispute. Some method of adjust- 
ment to it must be found, and, if need be, 
we must revise our intellectual manners. 
Speaking broadly, we have perhaps been 
leading a somewhat thriftless mental life. 
and needlessly curtailing the period of 
growth. 

Suffice it to say that the demands on our 
attention, numerous as they are to-day, are 
bound to be more numerous a decade hence, 
and the first practical step is to employ a 
method of selection among the things to 
which one attends. We must imitate the 
miner. Gold is pretty widely distributed. 
There is said to be one grain in every ton 
of sea water. The city of Philadelphia, 
stands on a brick clay deposit which con- 
tains enough of this precious metal to buy, 


JULY 25, 1913] 


a navy. But to recover this gold would 
cost many times its worth. One obtains 
gold, to be sure, by working in these places, 
but only at a great price. The distribution 
of knowledge is analogous and one must 
work or mine—to continue the simile—only 
where it really pays to work and leave the 
scattered dust of information to be dealt 
with by more effective methods. 

There is one further aspect of the in- 
crease in knowledge and the rapid altera- 
tion in point of view that still needs a 
word. One may safely predict that what 
you have learned of method and right rea- 
soning, such experience as you have 
gained in the art of observation and in- 
duction and the criticism of your own con- 
clusions, will stay with you throughout life. 
So will many of the bits of knowledge 
which have stood the test of years and thus 
inevitably survived many an’ assault. 
These are the relatively stable things, and 
by virtue of that fact they can be expressed 
in a few words, without elaboration. 

I desire to impress on you, however, that 
we must regard the knowledge of our time 
for the most part, not as final or ultimate 
in any rigid sense, but merely as the best 
available at the moment—certain to be im- 
proved with the advance of time, while, 
nevertheless, valuable and worth while in 
so far as it aids us to control natural phe- 
nomena, like disease. 

In holding that in large measure our 
knowledge is open to change and to im- 
provement, often of a fundamental char- 
acter, we admit that in this respect our 
generation is only a repetition of those gone 
before, and this admission should make us 
very sympathetic with the past. No earlier 
age is to be discredited because of its tools. 
Primitive man with his stone axe or copper 
knife is to be rated by the use he made of 
his: simple inventions. Thus in medicine 
your predecessors ‘are to be esteemed for 


SCIENCE 


105 


the intelligence with which they used their 
rough instruments and fragmentary infor- 
mation. Nothing is more certain than that 
the generations which follow us will also. 
need to mingle mercy with their judgments. 

Your knowledge then and the principles 
with which you work must be regarded in 
a twofold way: for each present moment, 
fixed; but for the future, transient. 

When an experiment is in progress to 
test an hypothesis, the hypothesis for the 
time must be held as if rigidly true, for it 
is the hypothesis which is to be examined. 

When, however, repeated tests fail to sup- 
port it, then it may perhaps be put in a 
psychological museum, as a matter of his- 
toric interest or relegated to the scrap heap 
—a procedure usually to be preferred. 
The reason for putting emphasis on this 
point of view is found in the fact that it is 
quite contrary to one which, I regret to 
say, has often been tacitly encouraged, 
namely: that by learning rather dogmatic- 
ally certain things through a small number 
of years, one was thereby fitted to care for 
the sick, and also thereby largely relieved 
from the need for further mental growth. 
Against such doctrine it is my desire to 
protest. 

Nothing could be more unfortunate if 
medicine is to be regarded as a science and - 
an art. As a matter of fact, the mental 
attitude evolved from the study of medi- 
cine depends but little on the precise sub- _ 
jects to which attention has been given. 
One may have studied more or less in many 
given directions—but if in his studies he © 
has been occupied with subjects involving 
important and fundamental ideas, topics 
therefore suitable for training, if his in- 
struction has been received from men who 
were not only informed on their subject, 
but contributing to its advance, he is well 
prepared for the problems of the physician. 

Tn the older days, especially in western 


106 


Europe and her colonies, the apprentice 
system was in vogue in medicine. Theo- 
retically there is no better. The apprentice 
learns from his master the history and 
principles of his science, receives correction 
and encouragement and watches at close 
range the master’s methods and the exhibi- 
tion of his skill, and has the opportunity 
to try everything himself. The system 
suffers mainly from the paucity of masters. 

In passing I should like to recall your at- 
tention to the fact that exactly these ad- 
vantages were those urged for the labora- 
tory method of instruction when the per- 
sonal contact of the teacher with a few 
chosen students were the features empha- 
sized, and these relations still remain the 
ones for which we strive. Yet in the com- 
petition between the several methods of in- 
struction during earlier centuries the di- 
dactic form prevailed—for reasons too 
obvious to need recounting here. From the 
first the weaknesses of the method were ap- 
parent, but teachers were in a measure 
misled by the persistent hope that through 
the spoken or the written word or through 
the picture of a thing or act they could 
effect in the nervous system of the student 
those changes which the independent act 
and thought by the individual himself 
alone can cause. We now know that if an 
animal be carried through a maze—even 
many times—it does not learn its way. It 
must go itself. The same is true for man. 

So at the present day more training of 
the eye and hand and of the powers of ob- 
servation and of inference are demanded. 
These pave the way for the many attain- 
ments which are to be exercised within the 
frame set by the philosophy, history and 
scope of your science. Through these at- 
tainments and within this frame you are to 
work in the light of the best knowledge to 
be had, realizing that among these condi- 
tions knowledge is the least stable and the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


most likely to take a turn for the better. 
Nevertheless, when one has reached the 
point of view that our knowledge is in a 
constant flux, there are some common diffi- 
culties which at once appear. Guided by 
the conviction that learning advances, we 
are sometimes in our enthusiasm misled by 
the notion that each new thing is probably 
an addition to the fund of truth. 

But old men shake their heads. The life 
of a new discovery has been said to be for 
three years, and after it has survived for 
that time, it too often fades away. 

I have a personal interest in this matter, 
for the laboratory is my habitat. It must 
be admitted that the atmosphere there is 
sometimes such as to force intellectual fruit 
unduly, and it may even be put upon the 
market while still quite green; but we grow 
wiser with experience, even in the labora- 
tory, and the future I am sure will contain 
proportionately fewer premature revela- 
tions than the past. But leaving aside the 
group of false alarms and false hopes which 
have gone far to discredit the influence of 
the laboratories, there still remain the 
significant and well-grounded results which 
they have furnished. To these the practi- 
tioner must be alive and responsive in the 
same manner as he is alive to clinical ad- 
vance, and not allow either prejudice or 
indolence to stand in the way of his utiliza- 
tion of these new facts for the benefit of 
those whom he is called to aid. 

When the ideal relation is established, as 
it surely will be, between the physician 
and the well springs of new knowledge, not 
only will the practitioner find continuous 
aid and stimulus coming from the labora- 
tory, but in return will use his best efforts 
for the extension and increase of the work 
which laboratories do; substituting enthusi- 
asm and cooperation for the less helpful 
relations which sometimes appear. — 

It must be admitted frankly that in this 


JULY 25, 1913] 


presentation the obligation seems to rest 
heavily on the physician, for he is urged to 
welcome and incite the activities of those 
who are bound as a result of these to ask 
him continually to replace older by newer 
knowledge. But it must be remembered 
that the interests of the community enter 
as a factor here, and since the community 
is better served by this, the equation is well 
balanced. 

Sometimes it would appear that the 
thought of service had departed from its 
ancient place of honor—but in truth, it has 
merely changed the form of its expression. 
In the olden time the long cross country 
drives of the friendly doctor to a distant 
patient were justly presented to us as part 
of the hardships of a devoted life. Now 
the scene has shifted a bit, long journeys 
over the literature, some of it often rather 
rocky and uneven, or hours devoted to tests 
and exact determinations in his office lab- 
oratory, or even to experiments which 
hazard life, take the place of the earlier 
expressions of devotion and accomplish the 
same end—they make the doctor a better 
man. 

Thus far it has been my purpose to indi- 
cate the relation of the progress of medi- 
cine, either by laboratory work in the strict 
sense, or through careful and systematic 
clinical studies, to your own mental atti- 
tude and growth. 

This, however, is but the first part of the 
story; the second part deals with quite 
another matter. The laboratory has al- 
tered the practical and economic situation 
of the physician in the last few years to an 
unprecedented degree, and it is concerning 
this alteration that I wish to say a word. 

. To-day no physician would remove to the 
Canal Zone with the idea of making his 
main practise among those suffering from 
yellow fever; nor would he to-day expect 
as an army surgeon to have a great experi- 


SCIENCE 


107 


ence with typhoid. In both these instances 
steps have been taken which lead to the 
elimination of the diseases named—they 
simply are not there. I use these instances 
merely as an illustration of the fact that 
the health of the community has been pro- 
tected and bettered in various ways. Thus 
we recognize that there are mechanical de- 
vices sometimes directed against the patho- 
genic organisms themselves or sometimes 
against their hosts. Pure milk and pure 
water mean fewer typhoid organisms—the 
draining of marshes, fewer places in which 
pestiferous mosquitoes can breed. The me- 
chanical protection of screens and traps 
keeps from us disease-bearing flies, and 
shoes go a long way toward blocking the 
entrance of the hookworm. 

Moreover you have vaccines for smallpox 
and for typhoid, to name but two, the ef- 
feet of which is to render the body inhos- 
pitable to the organisms against which they 
are directed. Even when the disease-bear- 
ing organism has established itself, it is 
possible in some instances to kill it within 
the host, as in the case of the malaria 
organism and the Spirocheta pallida. 

When this can not be done and the patho- 
genic organism is not only active but en- 
trenched—there are antitoxins available, 
as in the case of diphtheria, by which the 
poisons that are doing damage can be neu- 
tralized, and finally protection of the body 
in the widest sense can be accomplished by 
general hygienic measures, so that the in- 
roads of such persistent but unapproach- 
able organisms as the tubercle bacillus may 
be blocked and prevented. 

It is, however, not my object to give a dis- 
course on preventive medicine or public 
hygiene, but merely to point out that a 
ereat deal has been accomplished in bring- 
ing under control a number of diseases 
which heretofore have been treated by the 
physician single-handed. 


108 


Thus one of the ideals of the profession 
—namely, the prevention of disease—has 
in recent years made advances toward reali- 
zation beyond the dreams of the most san- 
guine a generation ago. 

Medicine, like the law, is in a measure en- 
‘gaged in attempting to remove the reasons 
for its existence. As the feeling for justice 

-and equity grows and the social conscience 
gains in strength, the law is freed to take 
up new and larger questions. So when we 
come to the province of medicine there 
opens before us a new order of things, aris- 
ing from our progress in the control and 
elimination of disease. 

The prevention of many important forms 
of disease has been carried far, but that is 
only the first step. This condition must be 
maintained. Here, as elsewhere, eternal 
vigilance applies. Moreover, new con- 
quests in this field are yet to be made and 
much devoted labor and keen thinking are 
needed to that end. This brings the physi- 
cian more and more into the service of the 
community at large. ; 

It is in this connection, however, that we 
find a depressing maladjustment between 
the community and the physician. All will 
admit that he who does good to the many 
is certainly entitled to as definite reward 
as is the man who benefits a single person. 
Surely that proposition needs no argu- 
ments in its support. Nevertheless, to put 
the case quite mildly, as matters stand, the 
man dealing with the single patient is 
usually the more certain of his remunera- 
tion ahd the more directly recognized. Yet 
of the two his service is the less. 

A fair adjustment of this defect in our 
social dealings has not yet been found— 

though certainly it will be. Despite this 
drawback, however, it can not, fail to be a 
great encouragement for all of us to ob- 
serve that those working for the public in- 
terest and the general good are many and 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 969 


industrious—too occupied with fruitful 
studies to make much talk about their own 
misfortunes. 

You can not fail to have noted that the 
progress I have mentioned has been largely 
in connection with those forms of disease 
which are due to pathogenic organisms. 
With these we may contrast the great group 
in which increasing age and functional 
misuse and strain seem to be the more 
prominent factors. 

Advances in this field might be noted 
too, but, passing over these, emphasis is to 
be laid on the fact that for the proper 
understanding and control of such diseases 
one is always seeking help from chemistry 
—organic, physiologic, biologic, as the case 
may be. To be sure, the use of chemical 
ideas by physicians is almost as old as 
medicine itself, yet the call for such ideas 
has never been so urgent as to-day, and this 
eall taxes a portion of medical training 
which, in the past at least, was under-em- 
phasized. It amounts almost to a sudden 
rearrangement of medical demands, for 
the commoner ailments, only slowly to be 
reduced by the gradual enlightenment of 
the laity, tend to become more and more 
those which must be met through the con- 
trol of nutrition and other modifications of 
our daily life. 

Of course when a period of rapid change 
like that at present in progress occurs in 
any profession or occupation, there is al- 
ways created a really tragic situation by 
reason of the fact that some among the 
older men have not been taught and can 
not learn the newer ways, and thus inevi- 
tably suffer disadvantage. For them the 
new ways are bad—and for them the times 
are out of joint. Naturally the capacity 
to progress is a highly variable gift, but 
many instances go to show that it is often 
thought to be exhausted where there is still 
much remaining in reserve. 


_JuLY 25, 1913] 


In his discussion of the energies of men, 
William James has pointed out some possi- 
bilities in this direction which both cheer 
and stimulate. To advance this way some- 

.times calls for the preliminary removal of 
worn-out mental furniture. Few of us have 
escaped some forms of undesirable instruc- 
tion—we have been given details in place of 
principles, aid instead of exercise, views as 
substitutes for demonstrations—and thus 
in respect to some sorts of knowledge it is 
as important to know how to let it go as in 
other cases to know how to grasp the parts 
worth while. Thus the aim of the progres- 
sive man must be to see life steadily and see 
it whole—prepared to change when change 
is growth, unwitting of fatigue, and never 
a worshiper at the shrine of his own past 
efforts, no matter how strenuous these may 
have been. Much more might be said upon 
this topic of the new demands and the ad- 
justment for which they call, but if enough 
has been given to make you see that a seri- 
ous problem lies that way my purpose is 
accomplished. 

The moment has now come, as it does to 
every speaker, to wonder whether success 
has followed his attempt to reveal what he 
had in mind. What I have wanted to show 
you was this: The attitude towards knowl- 
edge during our student days is almost 
necessarily such as to throw the idea of 
change into the background and unduly to 
emphasize the permanency of the things 
then taught. The facts are otherwise. 

Change has always been—will always be 
—and in the near future progress will be 
more rapid even than to-day. It is to this 
main fact that I urge you to adjust, for 
which I encourage you to prepare. The 
progress with which you have to blend your 
lives comes from work at the bedside, in 
the hospitals and in the laboratories and is 
also. a by-product from advances in fields 
often seemingly remote from medicine. .. 

Moreover, social advances, the growth in 


SCIENCE 


109 


the attitude of the community at large— 
which slowly alters like the form of a great 
cloud—presents an ever-changing back- 
ground for the activities of the physician. 
Two important consequences of this touch 
you as medical men. 

To succeed in truth, you must be pre- 
pared continually to replace old knowledge 
by new and to alter old economic methods 
and customs to meet the disappearance of 
some familiar forms of disease and their 
replacement in your life by newer medical 
problems and demands often of a general 
and a public nature. 

To the generation of physicians to which 
you belong this task is allotted and it calls 
for the best you have to give. Surely the 
devotion to human welfare can not be less 
strong with you than with your noble pre- 
decessors and no hampering self-interest 
should be allowed to obscure from you the 
larger purposes of science and the sacred 
responsibilities of your profession. 

Finally, it is through you that the lay- 
man learns of medical progress and its 
meaning, it is to you that he brings his 
questions and his doubts concerning meth- 
ods of experiment and modes of inquiry 
needful for the advancement of your sci- 
ence, and both your appreciation and sup- 
port of research in medicine are necessary 
to keep the public so informed that its rep- 
resentatives and lawgivers shall under- 
stand the purposes of this work and grant 
to it intelligent support. 

Henry H. Donaupson 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 
A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY BASED ON 
NATIONAL IDEALS 
BEFORE such a learned organization it is 
not necessary to dwell on the development 


‘of the modern university from its ancestral 


1 Address before the Section of Education at the 
Cleveland meeting’ of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science. 


110 _ SCIENCE 


prototype established by Abelard in Paris. 
By its very nature a university is the most 
conservative of organizations and its dom- 
inance over the thought of a people and all 
minor forms of education has been always 
acknowledged. The challenge to this right 
has always arisen outside its walls and in- 
fluence, and such challenge has taken the 
form of many kinds of technical institu- 
tions to meet specific needs of the com- 
munity forming their organization. 

Neither is it necessary for me to point 
out to this audience how the idea of a spe- 
cially favored educated class has always 
prevailed, and probably must always con- 
tinue to a great extent. It was not, how- 
ever, till our people grew up to independ- 
ence on the basis that all men are created 
equal that the free public school became 
the corner-stone of our national life. Our 
material success as a nation is largely at- 
tributed to the splendid system of common 
schools and we congratulate ourselves that 
they are the best in the world. This na- 
tional pride is flattered by the supposed 
acknowledgment of their superiority as 
evidenced by the visiting boards of inspec- 
tion that come here occasionally from for- 
eign countries. There seems, however, to 
be no fear that self-complaceney will lull 
us into inaction, for we are a progressive 
people, and are well aware that institu- 
tions which are too tightly bound by fixed 
methods inevitably begin to die. Hvery- 
where we are alive to our shortcomings, 
and great as our educational system is, 
nevertheless we are ever aware that some- 
where, somehow, things are not altogether 
right. 

It is safe to say that education is both 
an economic and a social question. Let us 
now consider them both. So long as the 
laws limit citizenship to those who have 
attained twenty-one years of age, is it wise 
economy to allow the youth of our land to 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


leave school at the age of fourteen or fif- 
teen? Physically, mentally, morally and 
spiritually they are only partly developed, 
and yet our boasted system of education 
loses its hold on 80 to 90 per cent. or 
from eight to ten millions of our youth- 
ful population. The recent exhibition in 
Washington of the International Congress 
of Hygiene and Demography showed one 
phase of the result of such neglect of our 
youth, and as we have printed a bulletin 
on its relations to the university, copies of 
which are here for distribution, I will not 
now dwell on these arguments, but simply 
state that the sum total of the scientific 
research into vital statistics goes to show 
that crime and disease and degeneration 
are increasing more rapidly than the in- 
erease of the population; that genetically 
we are not breeding most from the best 
types of humanity but from the weaker 
ones. I ventured to point out that, as the 
school system fails to hold the children 
between the ages of fourteen and twenty- 
one, we are losing the most potent years 
for the development of character; that 
the real salvation of man is through work, 
self-respecting, self-sustaining toil and the 
opportunity to obtain happiness through 
intellectual and spiritual growth. Now let 
us return to the thread of our argument. 

Inasmuch as over 80 per cent. of the 
youth leave the halls of learning so young, 
the conclusion is inevitable that the reason 
is because the education furnished, after 
that age, is not sufficiently in accord with 
the needs of the people. Hither there is 
lack of appreciation of the value of addi- 
tional academic education or else the mere 
cost of maintaining the child is too much 
of a burden on the family purse. Since by 
far the larger majority of the children are 
forced by circumstance or voluntarily leave 
school to earn a living, is it not self-evident 
that 80 per cent. of all public funds ex- 


Juny 25, 1913] 


pended for public education above the 


grammar grade should be for vocational. 


education? Not only so, but that such 
further public education should be for 
workers and home makers in the produc- 
tive industries. 

If you turn to the experience of the 
world you will find that the age of budding 
manhood has always been the age of ap- 
prenticeship. How can such a system of 
apprenticeship be established except by a 
close contact with the simplest forms of 
industrial life, developing each vocation 
as a natural sequence from the simple and 
fundamental to the complex and abstruse? 
In order to be explicit suppose we define 
the vocations as of two classes, the minor 
arts of expression or those which pertain to 
the care, development and maintenance of 
the body, and then the major arts of expres- 
sion or those which pertain to the care, 
maintenance and development of the mind 
and the spirit. These two kinds of expres- 
sion are so interlaced and interdependent 
that they can not be separated, and since 
also we are providing a university for a 
selected part of the eighty-odd per cent. 
of the youth of the land who now have no 
means of attaining a full development of 
their native ability we must consider the 
two as virtually one problem. 

The first duty of such an educational 
system is to make each student self-sup- 
porting as soon as may be through the 
minor arts of expression or the care and 
development of the body. This must 
necessarily begin with tilling the soil and 
following the industrial trades that con- 
tribute to husbandry, which, of course, in- 
eludes almost everything. This implies 
that the university and its subsidiary 
branches must be in control of a large 
quantity of land on which to demonstrate 
the application of all the arts and sciences 
to daily life. _ Not on the commercial basis 


SCIENCE 


111 


of making the student have the maxi- 
mum of efficiency in the production of 
wealth for the sake of profit and gain alone, 
but also in all the major arts of expres- 
sion which contribute to the intellectual 
and spiritual enjoyment of life—in plain 
words, to know how to live for the real 
things which make life worth while. To 
put it more bluntly, our present public 
school system will always fail of its final 
purpose unless it can develop the best there 
is In every one of our nation’s children, 
and this can be done only by making it a 
possibility for any one, with the ability and 
the will, to make his own way through an 
industrial university established on the 
American ideal that every one should have 
a fair chance in the race of life—a chance 
to be self-supporting, self-reliant and have 
an all-round physical, moral, spiritual and 
industrial education up to the period of 
manhood, instead of being turned loose on 
the world while still children, as is now the 
custom. 

Everything is ready for such a univer- 
sity. We have all the minor forms of the 
arts of expression already well established 
in state industrial schools, agricultural col- 
leges and experiment stations. It is only 
necessary to establish at some central posi- 
tion, like the national capital, a great uni- 
versity with abundance of acreage to dem- 
onstrate the infinite possibilities of the 
minor arts and also the major arts of ex- 
pression such as music, poetry, the drama, 
painting, sculpture and architecture, and 
devoted to the advancement of science. 
Our great new country with its marvelous 
natural, undeveloped resources has of 
course demanded the development of the 
people in the minor arts of expression first. 
After we have measured the greatness of a 
nation in its material resources and attain- 
ments, it remains to inquire what they 
have done in the realm of the major arts 


112 


of expression. It is only in the applica- 
tion and use of these major arts to the 
daily life of all the people that we can as 
a nation attain our inalienable rights to 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness— 
happiness that is spiritual and not merely 
physical. It is the lack of,this intellectual 
and spiritual resource within ourselves that 
is the cause of so much discontent and 
misery among our people. Depriving the 
youth of the land of these higher things of 
life is robbing them of their birthright as 
citizens of this great republic. Therefore 
such a national university devoted to these 
higher aspirations of the soul is just as 
much a national need and a national duty 
as the primary school, and without which 
our educational pyramid has no apex. 
Such a university in no way competes 
with or interferes with those state and de- 
nominational institutions which already 
exist, but by cooperating with them and 
supplementing the work they are doing it 
will bring all our educational forces into 
one harmonious whole and ever provide 
them leaders and teachers along new lines. 
By the establishment of local university 
centers wherever the present educational 
forces are inadequate for the needs of the 
people, it will be taking higher education to 
the people in a way that could never have 
been done before. We have at present an 
abundance of education for the rich and 
well-to-do; let us have in this new univer- 
sity an abundance of education for those 
who have to win their own way and are 
willing’.to give some share of their own 
services to the nation in part compensation 
for the advantages which the nation gives 
them through such an institution of learn- 
ing. Let it be an institution where high 
pressure and haste are not the dominating 
influences, but one where thoroughness and 
devoted service may be an essential ele- 
ment. It is not necessary to force all wis- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No..969 


dom through the human mind in a four 
years’ course. Study and research should 
be the constant companion through life and 
a distinct gain will result in having one 
university wherein there is always contact 
with active production, and application of 
the arts and sciences to the life of the 
people. Another distinct gain will be in 
the holding in one institution the inter- 
locking minor and major arts of expression 
just as they are in life, instead of having 
them separated as at present in various 
institutions. By this means we would 
teach that it is just as honorable to make 
a beautiful and useful basket or chair as 
to paint a picture or finance a railroad. 
The quality of excellence, honesty and util- 
ity applies to one as much as to another. 
We are not all qualified for the same work, 
and the influence of such a university 
would be to make it more easy for every 
one to find that occupation for which his 
natural gifts qualify him to attain success. 

Our present scheme of education is to 
keep the student in an uncertain frame of 
mind as to his future work for as long a 
time as possible in the hope that the broad 
general education attained under such in- 
fluence will enable him to choose a vocation 
more wisely. This may be true in a very, 
very, few instances but it usually has just 
the opposite effect of scattering the atten- 
tion and inclinations while limiting at the 
same time the horizon line, on account of 
the very few professional courses provided. 
The policy of most universities seems to be 
to fence themselves in and make it ever 
more difficult for the student to enter on the, 
plea that they are raising the standard of 
the scholarship. If a Phidias, a Raphael, 
a Mozart, a Galileo, a Shakespeare, a Tess- 
ler or a Hirschel, should ask admission to a 
modern university by reason of his ability, 
he would be examined in cube root, conic, 
sections, ancient and modern history, and 


JuLY 25, 1913] 


required to analyze and parse Spencer’s 
“‘Faerie Queene.’’ The basis of examina- 
tion is of analysis and criticism and not of 
construction and production. In all other 
things we are a practical people and our 
national university should broaden the 
lines of approach to higher education and 
make it possible to attain success in all the 
walks of life. Especially do we need an 
institution for constructive and vocational 
education in the major arts of expression. 
Only by a definite technical training in 
them from an early age, coupled with a 
broad general education, can we hope to 
attain great things in music, poetry, paint- 
ing, sculpture and architecture. 

The Department of Agriculture has had 
no great difficulty in building up a great 
system of scientific experiment and distri- 
bution of knowledge in everything which 
pertains to life on the farm, on the plea 
that all wealth comes from the soil, yet only 
one third of our population gain their liv- 
ing by tilling the soil. We ask of this new 
national university that it shall give an 
equal chance to the remaining two thirds of 
its citizens. We ask for the eighty-odd per 
cent. of our children the privilege of using 
the seven most important years of their 
childhood for their own development in an 
institution of learning where they may 
utilize their own earning capacities for 
their own growth. 

This new university should recognize 
that every youth has the inalienable right 
to such instruction as will develop all the 
best there is in him, and this can be done 
best by making him self-supporting and 
self-reliant until he can take his place at 
maturity fully equipped for the battle of 
life. This is not to be attained by pamper- 
ing and protection, but by tempered hard- 
ship and strenuous voluntary effort. Youth 
naturally seeks these environments and be- 
cause our schools and colleges do not fur- 


SCIENCE 


1138 


nish them for those who need them most, 
such an institution is not only an economic 
necessity but a moral necessity—if we are 
to rise to our national ideal that all men 
are created free and equal. Free to make 
the most of life and equal in the opportuni- 
ties for self-development. 

The government, early in its life, estab- 
lished schools for the Army and Navy on 
the necessity of national defence. Any na- 
tional university must obviously give place 
to training for the civil service and the con- 
sular and the diplomatic service. For 
these reasons, if no other, the university 
and its subsidiary branches should give 
degrees or diplomas that will answer for 
civil service examinations in the many 
grades of this occupation. This kind of 
training is so varied and frequently so tech- 
nical that no existing institution could be 
expected to do it for the government. 

Of course, the great central university 
devoted to the highest kind of research in 
science, arts and letters, should reserve to 
itself the higher degrees, and that the at- 
tainment of such high degrees should be of 
such a kind as to have national and inter- 
national importance. 

Every great movement for the salvation 
of man from the sloth of degeneration has 
taken the form of exalting the people’s 
ideals into a religion. Under such influ- 
ence the world has tried salvation by faith, 
salvation by creed, salvation by vicarious 
atonement, salvation by law. Each age 
has also built great temples to their ideals 
to give definite form and power to their 
aspirations. If we are true to our national 
ideals of liberty we will build a temple to 
liberty im every county and city ward, 
where we may enthrone science and art and 
liberty for the salvation of mankind. Dur- 
ing the centuries past the world has bowed 
before the privileges gained by force of 
arms, privileges granted by royal favor,’ 


114 


privileges gained by wealth. It remains 
for the American people to establish, by 
means of their ideals and temples to Lib- 
erty, the nobility of character as expressed 
by service to the welfare of all, through the 
realization of the brotherhood of man. 
““T ask not wealth, but power to take 
And use the things I have aright, 
Not years, but wisdom, that shall make 
My life a profit and delight. 


“‘T ask not that for me the plan 
Of good and ill be set aside, 
But that the common lot of man 

Be nobly borne and glorified.’’ 


H. K. BusH-Brown 


THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE COLLEGE 
STUDENT* 

Ir is worthy of note that, while the crit- 
ics of the college have been able to adduce 
facts as the basis of their unfriendly opin- 
ions, the colleges have, for the most part, 
been unable to point to any considerable 
collection of accurate data regarding their 
own present effectiveness. It is, of course, 
quite true that the deductions drawn from 
their facts by these unfavorable critics are 
oftentimes manifestly more imposing than 
the factual structure can properly stand. 
It is also true that along certain detached 
and scattering lines this college or that has 
been able to point with pride to a small 
amount of accurate material more or less 
scientifically collected. Speaking broadly, 
however, the statement first made is true. 
It is perhaps to be acknowledged that the 
introduction of the larger use of facts into 
the measurement and development of col- 
lege values will make education somewhat 
less interesting, for it will reduce the range 
of philosophical discussion and the applica- 
tion of personal opinion. Still, if the signs 
of the times are at all to be believed, the 

1 Address before the Section of Education at the 


Cleveland meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


day is fast approaching when the colleges 
and universities will be using facts and the 
scientific method as much in the direction 
of their educative processes, as a whole, as 
they already are using them in their lab- 
oratories and classrooms. 

Secretary Furst, of the Carnegie Foun- 
dation, has said that there should be little 
talk of efficiency in college work until 
something has been done to make use of the 
enormous collection of data already pos- 
sessed by the colleges of the country in the 
records of the hundreds of thousands of 
students who have passed through the four 
years of the campus and into the work of 
the world. Certainly there does exist a 
large body of facts worthy of study in con- 
nection with the administration of the 
present-day college. It seems to me rather 
doubtful, however, whether these facts are 
as likely to be given the attention they de- 
serve as those collected according to some 
new method and with closer reference to 
the various problems to be solved in con- 
nection with the present and the future 
generations of students. 

If this question is to be answered in the 
affirmative, it raises another. Shall the in- 
formation for measuring the effectiveness 
of the college work with the present genera- 
tion be attacked piece-meal—one problem 
one year, another the next, one phase in one 
college, another phase in another—or shall 
each college endeavor to conduct a study 
that shall be for it at once fundamental, 
broad, permanent and, in addition, as 
nearly scientific as the twentieth century 
permits ? 

A study possessing these dimensions has 
already been proposed by one of the great- 
est educators America has ever known. In 
1899, President Harper, of Chicago Uni- 
versity, recommended what he called the 
‘‘scientifie study of the student.’’ Said 
that educational path-finder: 


JULY 25, 1913] 


This study? will be made (1) with special refer- 
ence to the student’s character—to find out 
whether he is responsible, or careless, or shiftless, 
or perhaps vicious; (2) with special reference 
likewise to his intellectual capacity—to discover 
whether he is unusually able, or bright, or average, 
or slow, or dull; (3) with reference to his special 
intellectual characteristics—to learn whether he is 
independent and original, or one who works largely 
along routine lines; whether his logical sense is 
keen, or average, or dull; whether his ideas are 
flexible, or easily diverted, or rigid; whether he 
has control of his mind, or is given to mind-wan- 
dering, and to what extent he has power to over- 
come difficulties; (4) with reference to his special 
capacities and tastes—to determine whether these 
are evenly balanced, or whether there exists a 
marked preference for some special subject; 
whether he prefers those aspects of study which 
are of the book type, or those of a mechanical or 
constructive type, or those of a laboratory type; 
whether his special gift lies along lines of an 
esthetic character, or those of a literary or scien- 
tific or philosophical character; whether his special 
aptitude, supposing it to be in the literary field, 
lies in criticism, or interpretation, or creative 
work; whether his preference in scientific lines is 
for the observational or the experimental side of 
work, or for general principles; and, finally (5) 
with reference to the social side of his nature—to 
judge whether he is fond of companionship; 
whether he is a leader or a follower among his 
fellows; whether he is a man of affairs, or devotes 
himself exclusively to his studies; the character of 
his recreation; the way in which he spends his 
leisure hours; whether he is compelled to work for 
self-support, or for the support of others. 

These details, among others, will be secured in 
various ways; in part from preparatory teachers, 
in part from parents, in part from the student 
himself, in part also from careful observation of 
his work in the first months of his college life. 
It will be no easy task; but the difficulties will 
not be greater than its importance. 

Such a diagnosis would serve as the basis for 
the selection of studies; it will be of paramount 
value in determining the character of the in- 
structor under whom he should study; it will also 
determine the character of all advice given the 
student and of any punishment administered; like- 
wise, it will determine in large measure the career 
of the student—will help him to find himself and 
decide upon his life-work. 


2ecMhe Trend in Higher Education,’’ pp. 321— 
325. 


SCIENCE 


115 


The object of this paper is to reeommend 
in detail the plan thus proposed. It is 
urged not as possessing the virtue of a dy- 
namic in itself, but simply as a testing of 
the personal dynamics of the college to ef- 
fect the purposes for which it was estab- 
lished in the hope of making practicable a 
wiser direction of those personal dynamics. 

First of all, the college will need, in order 
to determine its effectiveness, will it not? 
to discover the position of the student at 
the moment of the beginning of his course. 
In order to accomplish this, it will wish to 
send out to the student’s teachers in the 
secondary schools a blank asking for much 
other informaton than that at present de- 
sired. This other information would cover, 
as far as found practicable, the mental, 
moral and temperamental characteristics 
of the student, though in a less detailed 
manner than that suggested in the blank 
to be exhibited. Inquiry could also wisely 
be made regarding the educational and 
moral advantages of the student’s parents 
and family, as well as the family’s social, 
and perhaps also its economic, status. 

At the same time a blank of a more inti- 
mate sort could be submitted to the parents, 
and also, in the case of a small town, to the 
local minister or the librarian, asking in- 
formation regarding the personal char- 
acteristics of the student in question— 
whether, for instance, he is ambitious, ener- 
getic, serious-minded, truthful, of a plod- 
ding or intuitive mind, possessing marked 
self-control, etc. In the cities the obtain- 
ing of such information might conceivably 
be difficult; in the small towns, however, 
there is a wealth of personal interest in the 
chosen few who go to college which will be 
happy to make itself useful the moment 
colleges become organized to take advan- 
tage of it.© The smaller towns and cities, 

At the University of California facts of the 


kind suggested are obtained in order to facilitate 
the assignment of the proper advisory officer. 


116 


also, will admit of study as to their educa- 
tional and moral characteristics by the offi- 
eers charged with the recruiting of stu- 
dents—a study which will be found of 
financial as well as educational value. 

To a student’s rating as thus obtained 
from his friends would be added that ob- 
tained from the student himself at the time 
of entrance regarding such matters as pur- 
pose in attending college and strongest in- 
fluence thereto, aim in life, favorite books, 
chief historical admirations, etc., as well as 
by a series of tests. Doubtless some adap- 
tation of the Binet and other tests such as 
those of Professor Thorndike could be ar- 
ranged by the department of psychology 
which would give in more or less approxi- 
mate form the student’s mental status and 
characteristics. To this there could very 
wisely be added by the same department 
the testing of the student’s range of in- 
formation by means of Professor Whipple’s 
list of key words. With very little modi- 
fication and extension, also, the present 
_ physiological examination could be made to 
include certain simple tests for the time 
and form of reaction to tactile and other 
sensations and perceptions—e. g., color, 
form, sound, ete. 

These tests, when assembled, would serve 
as an indication of the starting point for 
the agencies of the higher educative proc- 
esses. Reference to this starting place 
would at least make more definite and ex- 
act the controversy with the unfriendly 
eritics of higher education who assert that 
nothing definite can be claimed by the col- 
lege, simply for the reason that its human 
material is so selected that a large propor- 
tion of the effectiveness of its graduates is 
due to that selection rather than to its in- 
stitutional efficiency. 

With the starting point thus determined, 
the measurement of the effectiveness of the 
eollege’s activities becomes more serious as 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


well as more active. Toward this end, also, 
there can be used a body of persons whose 
judgment should be better trained for the 
work than those consulted in connection 
with the other preliminary measurements 
suggested. It can surely not be too much 
to ask that every teacher should be asked 
by the administration to fill in for each 
student a blank submitted to him in some 
such form as the accompanying ecard. I 
have had the courage to outline such a card 
simply for the reason that at this point the 
whole question of the feasibility of the pro- 
posed scientific study of the college seems 
to me to hinge less upon the matter of psy- 
chology than of mechanism. In the minds 
of many authorities who have been con- 
sulted, that is, the practicability of the 
plan depends not so much upon its worthi- 
ness as upon its ability to secure the coop- 
eration of the teacher, in competition with 
the other interests seeking his attention. 
Perhaps this will be accomplished all the 
better, accordingly, if the description of 
the student as called for by the card is not 
made of such a nature as to appeal only to 
the psychologist. At any rate, the plan is, 
apparently, likely to prove of practical 
value in proportion as it avoids the neces- 
sity for extra mechanical work at the hands 
of the teacher, who is very properly ex- 
pected to be more interested in other things 
than the writing of needless words upon a 
card. You will notice, therefore, that our 
proposed blank is supposed to go to the 
teacher with the student’s name, classifica- 
tion and other details above the double line 
already written upon it before it leaves the 
administrative office. You will notice, 
further, that the card submitted—as also 
the other questionnaires recommended—is 
supposed to be filled out almost entirely 

*It should be true of every one of the blanks 
used that persons asked to fill them should not be 


required to write a single word which the admin- 
istrative office is in a position to write itself. 


‘JuLy 25, 1913] 


by the use of checks (Z), these checks to 
‘be supplemented by one or two general 
phrases under the caption ‘‘Remarks.’’ 
A very little study by the administrative 
officer will detect plenty of ways by which 
they can save for the teachers enough time 
to offset the demand made by these cards. 

In order, at the same time, to facilitate 
its own operations, the administrative office 
will plan to prepare, at one writing, with 
the help of a manifolding machine, the 
blanks required by all the different teachers 
during one year for each student, inserting 
separately only the study-classification, 
e. g., ‘Soe. 17.’’ On receiving them back 
from the teachers they can be assembled in 
folders and their material collated upon 
sheets—prepared also at one writing—for 
the use of the departmental dean, the dis- 
ciplinary dean and the other advisory offi- 
cers. On this sheet there should also be 
room for indicating the reports of the vari- 
ous entrance tests, in addition to the grades 
reported by the registrar or the secretary, 
and in addition, further, to the student’s 
record in various student activities as re- 
ported by the officer charged with that re- 
sponsibility. Every dean and advisory 
officer of any kind would, accordingly, have 
in his possession a complete showing of the 
student’s whole life in college as well as the 
rating of a more general sort given him by 
his secondary teacher and his home friends, 
together with the more scientific rating re- 
sulting from the test on entrance. As his 
course advanced, more and more of this 
material should be shown on the upper 
parts of the blanks submitted to the teacher. 

The advice and the whole range of atten- 
tion given the student, therefore, at any 
time would be based upon this survey of 
his whole personality. Undoubtedly the 
attention given him by the various ad- 
visory officers would be immensely more 
valuable than is conceivable under the re- 


SCIENCE 


117 


cent and present method of parcelling out 
a limited number of students to a number 
of teachers in the vain hope that an occa- 
sional quarter-hour or half-hour of con- 
versation will serve to put the teacher in 
the position of an expert for the direction 
of the student’s present activities and fu- 
ture career. 

Is it going too far to take seriously Presi- 
dent Harper’s belief that ‘‘such a diag- 
nosis would serve as a basis for the selec- 
tion of studies’’? Is it not conceivable 
that, at least to some extent, in the recom- 
mendation of studies, the advisers could 
have in mind the correction of the defects 
shown on the collated report? If, for in- 
stance, all reports indicate that a certain 
student possesses an able mind but refuses 
to use it carefully, is what might be called 
a disorderly thinker simply from pure 
mental laziness, could the adviser not 
wisely emphasize the value of mathematics 
or certain other of the exact sciences? 
Similarly, for the student who is a plodder, 
taking each step conscientiously at a time, 
but lacking the imagination with which to 
take a half or a whole flight of mental 
stairs at a leap, could not a good teacher 
of history, economics or other study calling 
for broad grasp and ability to generalize 
be recommended very strongly, if not with 
compelling power? 

In that event each teacher could legiti- 
mately be expected to have in mind these 
uses of his teaching of a subject in addition 
to its usual informational or disciplinary 
values. Or, if that seem unfeasible, the 
teacher might be asked to bear in mind in 
connection with each member of his classes 
the particular mental aspect shown by the 
ecards received from the administration 
office to be of greatest interest or of great- 
est need on the part of that student. 

Whether such a use in the selection of 
studies is possible or not, there can be no 


118 SCIENCE 


doubt that the diagnosis would be found 
tremendously helpful—indeed absolutely 
necessary—to that newest officer in the 
college world—I mean the vocational ad- 
viser. If he is to make himself genuinely 
useful to the student he will find it essen- 
tial to possess himself of many more facts 
than can be obtained in any number of 
conferences with the student. It will be 
noticed, I venture to prophesy, that the 
vocational adviser, within six months after 
his election, will raise a cry for facts that 
will not be stilled until every part of the 
whole educational system—including the 
secondary schools—is busy handing them 
in perhaps in much the way here proposed. 
It is, as a matter of fact, significant that 
one of the few institutions in the country 
that have already been using a system com- 
parable to this, is a school where the claim 
of the vocation is strong, the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. There, in addi- 
tion to the gathering of detailed facts re- 
garding every student, at the hands of his 
instructors, a stenographer is present at 
every faculty meeting where names of stu- 
dents are mentioned to record any remark 
made about them. Everything ever said 
or written concerning a student is gathered 
together for the use of the officer in charge 
of the placing of graduates. As a result 
of this the dean of the institute has assured 
the writer that the officers have enjoyed a 
remarkable success in fitting their gradu- 
ates into positions making unique require- 
ments. Doubtless for the same reason an 
approximation of the same plan has re- 
cently been proposed for the adoption of 
the Springfield Y. M. C. A. Training 
School by the committee charged with the 
responsibility of testing and increasing the 
effectiveness of that institution. 

Further there will be added to the facts 
already collected the showing of the intel- 
lectual and general status of the student 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


at graduation. These tests can be chosen 
from, and related to, those made of the 
entering freshman in whatever proportion 
and extent seems desirable. Undoubtedly, 
the application of Professor Whipple’s 
“‘information range finder’’ would be par- 
ticularly significant. If the student shows 
a much greater familiarity with such terms 
as ‘‘southpaw’’ or ‘‘snapback’’ than with 
“‘eytology’’ or ‘‘Pythagoras,’’ it may be 
held to indicate that the realm of athletics 
had been more suggestive than that of sci- 
ence or philosophy. In any event, the 
tests chosen should serve as an approxi- 
mate measurement of the advance made in 
scholarship, mentality, character, tempera- 
ment and social qualities within the four 
years of the college. 

Only an approximation, of course. The 
real value of the years could only be shown 
after the secretary in charge of alumni 
relations had made it his business to secure 
in legitimate and effective ways some gen- 
eral measurement of the effectiveness of 
the former student as a person and a citi- 
zen. It is quite likely that the next college 
officer to follow the vocational adviser will 
be such a secretary for alumni relations, 
charged with the very serious and states- 
manlike responsibility of making the col- 
lege mean as much as possible to the grad- 
uate and the graduate to the eollege. Pos- 
sibly the vocational adviser would himself 
be this officer, traveling part of the year in 
order to consult with commercial, profes- 
sional and other leaders, with successful 
graduates and with unsuccessful ones—all 
for determining in what ways the college 
stands in need of improvement as a devel- 
oper of abilities, interests and viewpoints 
required for the meeting of the needs of 
the world. 

When the report of such an officer has 
been turned in and put alongside the ma- 
terial already mentioned, then the college 


JuLY 25, 1913] 


will have the right to feel that it is con- 
ducting a study sufficiently scientific, seri- 
ous and fundamental to be worthy of the 
seriousness and importance of its educa- 
tional responsibilities. Then and only then 
will it possess a body of facts from which 
it can gain genuine light with regard to 
such problems as the following: 

I. The relation between (a) the college 
course and ‘‘success in life’’ (however de- 
fined), (6) between scholarship and suc- 
-cess, (c) between particular fields of study 
and success, ete. II. The extent to which 
the college course modifies the student’s 
(1) character, (2) intellectual capacities 
and characteristics, (3) social and (4) 
moral nature, (5) life plans; with (6) the 
general direction of such modifications. 
III. The extent to which (a) it extends the 
fields of interest and information brought 
to college, and (6) adds new fields. IV. 
The approximate comparative importance 
as factors in these modifications of (a) 
teachers, (0) subjects, (c) student activi- 
ties, (d@) companions, ete. V. In compari- 
son with the college, the influence on schol- 
arship in college and on success in life of 
such elements of the home and preparatory 
environment, as (a) social, economic and 
educational status of parents (including 
the size of the family), (b) the geograph- 
ical location, size and chief characteristics 
of the home town or city—especially in its 
general educational and moral agencies, 
also (c) the educational standards and 
methods of the secondary school. 

Only then will every month and every 
year and every person connected in any 
way with the educative processes be made 
to contribute its proper quota to the wis- 
dom which the present should receive from 
the past and the future demands of the 
present, a quota of which our educational 
generation has been cheated by an unor- 
ganized and unscientific past. 


SCIENCE 


119 


Only then, also—and it is to be consid- 
ered one of the most important: products, 
if only a by-product of the whole plan— 
will there be an organized way for making 
evident the distinction between the college 
and the university teacher. For if the 
blanks coming from any one teacher are 
found invariably to indicate a complete 
lack of interest in, and just judgment of, 
the pupil, it will indicate that, so far as the 
college is concerned, that teacher has prob- 
ably not sufficient human interest to be 
worthy of his collegiate responsibility, 
though he may be entirely worthy of the 
work of interpreting his field within the 
less broad and general channels of the 
university.® 

Who will attempt to estimate the value 
of a five-year study along the line sug- 
gested as conducted by a number of insti- 
tutions, to say nothing of its value if con- 
ducted simply by one institution? Since 
President Harper proposed the plan, the 
world has made an amazing advance in the 
adoption of the scientific method. After 
all, the scientific method is nothing more 
or less than the collecting of facts and their 
use in the accomplishment of desired ends. 
In this use the facts are proved as well as 
taken advantage of. The period in which 
we live, as the result of the spread of this 
scientific method, may well be called the 
““pragmatic period’’—owing allegiance, 
that is, not so much to the reign of law as 
to the reign of results. No one believes 
that the college is going to be found per- 
manently unable to adapt itself not only 
to life, but to development and growth in 
such a period. But this means that it is 

*«“The college is the place for the student to 
study himself—and for the instructor to study 
each student and to point out his weak and his 
strong points... . The university is for men who 
have come to know themselves . . . to study in the 


line of their chosen calling.’?’ President Harper, 
“Trend in Higher Education,’’ p. 324. 


120 SCIENCE 


only a question of time until the college 
discovers its delinquency in having failed 
to observe that, while it, more than almost 
any other institution known, is charged 
with the development of broad human 
values, it is doing less to study these values 
and the means of their development in a 
broad, yet scientific, manner than are many 
commercial institutions not supposed to be 
at all concerned with human factors. 

Can we not here to-day among ourselves 
‘‘highly resolve’’ that President Harper 
shall not have lived and shall not have 
spoken in vain when he said regarding the 
plan thus described to you, ‘‘This feature 
of twentieth-century college education will 
come to be regarded as of greatest impor- 
tance, and fifty years hence’’—shall we not 
make it fifteen?—“‘‘will prevail as widely 
as it is now lacking. It is the next step 
in the evolution of the principle of indi- 
vidualism, and its application will, in due 
time, introduce order and system into our 
educational work where now only chaos is 
to be found.’’ 


CHARLES WHITING WILLIAMS 
OBERLIN COLLEGE 


THE AMERICAN MINE SAFETY 
ASSOCIATION 

Tuer annual meeting of the American Mine 
Safety Association composed of leading coal 
and metal mine operators, mining engineers, 
mine-safety engineers, and mine surgeons will 
be held in Pittsburgh, Pa., September 22-24. 

This association, which held its first meeting 
a year ago, has for its purpose a reduction of 
the number of accidents in the mines and 
quarries (3,602 in the year 1911) and the alle- 
viation of the more than 60,000 men who are 
‘injured each year. 

Following the recommendations of . the 
Bureau of Mines in the last three or four years 
many mining companies have organized rescue 
eorps: and first-aid teams, and as a result a 
number of different methods of procedure 
following mine explosions and fires and in the 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


caring for the injured have developed. The 
men who gathered a year ago to form this 
association felt there was zreat need for 
greater uniformity in the work of the rescue 
and first-aid crews and at that time some very 
important recommendations were made. 

This second meeting, which has been called 
by Mr. H. M. Wilson, of the Bureau of Mines, 
chairman of the executive committee of the 
association, promises to take up and discuss a 
number of the problems that have arisen in 
both the rescue and first-aid work. The mem- 
bers of the association declare that greater 
progress can be made in saving life and in 
reducing the seriousness of injuries by the 
adoption of the proposed standard methods. 

The program will include a mine-rescue and 
first-aid contest at Arsenal Park on September 
22; in the evening a reception to the members 
and motion-picture lecture on the mining 
industry. On the second day the opening ses- 
sion of the association will be held in the 
morning and a report of the executive com- 
mittee will be made on the proposed constitution 
of the society. In the afternoon there will be 
an explosion in the experimental mine of the 
Bureau of Mines at Bruceton, Pa., to which 
all the members will be invited to be present. 
On September 24, the third day, there will be 
a business session at the hotel and a selection 
of officers. In the afternoon members will visit 
the experiment station of the Bureau of Mines 
at 40th and Butler Sts., Pittsburgh, Pa. 


THE CROCKER LAND EXPEDITION 

Tue. Crocker Land. Expedition (George 
Borup Memorial) sailed from the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard, New York, in the Newfoundland 
steam sealer Diana, on July 2; with the major 
portion of its equipment aboard. The ship 
called at Boston for 13,000 pounds of pemmican 
and other stores and sailed for Sydney, N. S., 
on July 6. Sydney was reached in the morn- 


ing of the 9th, and there 40,000 pounds of dog 


biscuit, 13,000 feet of lumber, 40 pairs of snow 
shoes and 335 tons of coal were taken aboard. 
The Diana left Sydney on the 13th loaded to 


the rails, but she had yet to call at Battle 


Harbor, Labrador, to take up the 30-foot power 


JuLY 25, 1913] 


boat George Borup, which has been in storage 
there all winter, and twenty Eskimo dogs and 
an interpreter. The party was to leave Battle 
Harbor on Thursday, July 17, headed for the 
west coast of Greenland. A stop may be made 
at Disco, West Greenland, for the purpose of 
setting observation stakes in the glacier there, 
but the first real objective point is Cape York, 
where the walrus and seal hunting will begin. 

It is probable that much of the cargo will 
be landed at Payer Harbor, Pim Island, but 
the main headquarters of the expedition are to 
be established at Flagler Bay on the south side 
of Bache Peninsula. 

The Crocker Land Expedition, which is sent 
out under the auspices of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, the American Geo- 
graphical Society and the University of 
Illinois, is probably the most thoroughly 
equipped scientific expedition which has been 
sent into the arctic regions from this country. 
Its scientific staff is as follows: 

Donald B. MacMillan, A.B., A.M., F.R.G.S., leader 
and anthropologist ; j 

W. Elmer Ekblaw, A.B., A.M., geologist and bot- 
anist ; 

Fitzhugh Green, U.S.N., engineer and physicist; 

Maurice C. Tanquary, A.B., A.M., Ph.D., zoologist ; 

Harrison J. Hunt, A.B., M.D., surgeon and bac- 
teriologist. 


In addition to these there are: Jerome L. 
Allen, detailed by the United States Navy 
Department for service as wireless operator 
and electrician; Jonathan C. Small, mechanic 
and cook; while Edwin S. Brooke, Jr., is on 
the ship this summer as official photographer 
to the expedition. 

It may be recalled that the objects of the 
Crocker Land Expedition are 

1. To reach, map the coast line and explore 
Crocker Land, the mountainous tops of which were 
seen across the polar sea by Rear Admiral Peary 
in 1906. f 

2. To search for other lands in the unexplored 
Tegion west and southwest of Axel Heiberg Land 
and north of the Parry Islands. 

3. To penetrate into the interior of Greenland 
at its widest part, between the 77th and 78th par- 
allels of north latitude, studying meteorological 
and glaciological conditions on the summit of the 
great ice cap. 


SCIENCE 


121 


' 4..To study the geology, geography, glaciology, 
meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, electrical phe- 
nomena, seismology, zoology (both vertebrate and 
invertebrate), botany, oceanography, ethnology 
and archeology throughout the extensive region 
which is to be traversed, all of it lying above the 
77th parallel. 


The installation of a powerful wireless tele- 
graph station in connection with an arctic 
expedition is a new feature, by means of which, 
if all goes well, communication will be main- 
tained with the party throughout their stay in 
the north. It is expected that daily weather 
reports will be sent from Flagler Bay to the 
Weather Bureau at Washington by way of 
government wireless stations in Canada which 
have been kindly placed by the Dominion 
authorities at the disposition of the expedition. 
News of important events in the history of the 
expedition and of important discoveries will 
likewise be sent promptly to the American 
Museum and the public at large. 

The original program of work for the expe- 
dition contemplated two years or three summer 
seasons in the Arctic, but supplies have been 
taken north which will enable the party to 
remain three years or even longer if the results 
flowing from the work seem to justify the ex- 
tension of time. 

The mishap to the Diana, which went ashore 
at Barge Point, Labrador, since the above was 
written, may require the transfer of the equip- 
ment to another ship, but will not otherwise 
interfere with the expedition. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


TueE University of Edinburgh has conferred 
its doctorate of science on the Hon. James 
Wilson, lately U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. 


At Pekin University on June 16 the com- 
mencement address was given by Dr. Paul 
Monroe, professor of the history of education 
in ‘Teachers College, Columbia University. 
Addresses were also made by Dr. W. A. P. 
Martin, vice-president of the board of man- 
agers, and the Hon. James Bryce. The degree 
of doctor of laws was conferred on Professor 
Monroe. 


122 SCIENCE 


.Dr. A. Pencxk, professor of geography at 
Berlin, has been elected a corresponding mem- 
ber of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 


Tue Royal Society of Edinburgh has 
awarded the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize 
for the quadrennial period 1908-12 to Pro- 
fessor J. Norman Collie, F.R.S., for his con- 
tributions to chemistry, including his work 
on neon and other rare gases. 


Dr. W. Kitiine has for the second time 
been awarded the Lobachevski prize of the 
Physico-mathematical Society of Kasan. 


Str ARCHIBALD GEIKIE has been elected a 
trustee of the British Museum in succession 
to the late Lord Avebury. He was already 
an ex-officio trustee, as president of the Royal 
Society, but is now elected as a trustee for life. 


THE senate of the University of London has 
conferred the title of emeritus professor of 
chemistry on Sir William Ramsay, who has 
occupied the chair of general and inorganic 
chemistry at University College since 1887. 


On July 23 an expedition for the study of 
marine biology, under the auspices of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, set sail 
from San Francisco for Thursday Island, 
Torres Straits, Queensland, Australia. The 
party consists of Dr. Alfred G. Mayer, director, 
and Professor Hubert Lyman Clark, D. H. 
Tennent, E. Newton Harvey, Frank M. Potts, 
of Cambridge University, and Mr. John Mills, 
engineer. 


A caBLEeGRAM from Peru to the Harvard 
Medical School indicates that the special expe- 
dition led by Dr. Richard P. Strong has made 
an exceedingly important discovery in estab- 
lishing the difference between oroya fever and 
verruca Peruviana, a common and serious in- 
fectious disease. The party will return to this 
country in the fall. Their researches, besides 
those in Peru, have included investigations of 
the medical conditions in Guayaquil and the 
pest-ridden republic of Eeuador. Before their 
return they will study also the diseases in the 
countries of Central America and the regions 
of the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Strong sailed from 
New York on April 30. In his party are Dr. 


[N.S. Vou, XXXVIII. No. 969 


E. E. Tyzzer, of the Harvard Medical School, 
and C. T. Brues, of the Bussey Institute. 


Dr. Mawson has been informed by a wireless 
telegram that Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth has 
viven a donation of £1,000 to the fund that 
Captain J. K. Davis is raising for the Aus- 
tralasian Antarctic Expedition. Captain 
Davis leaves England on July 18 for Australia. 
On his arrival there the Aurora will be refitted 
and will proceed to Commonwealth Bay to 
bring back Dr. Mawson and his six com- 
panions at present in the Antarctic. 


Tur National Geographic Society has made 
a grant to Professor Lawrence Martin to en- 
able him to make detailed studies in Septem- 
ber at Grand Pacific and Muir Glaciers. He 
will (a) measure the recession of several ice 
tongues in Glacier Bay, (b) look for advances 
of glaciers, (c) study the exhumed forests in 
relation to former glacial oscillations, and (d) 
make soundings in Canada’s new harbor and 
other uncharted waters recently vacated by the 
glaciers, to see the effects of ice sculpture 
below sea-level. 
Francis CHURCH Lrvconn, professor “of min- 
ing engineering in the University of Illinois, 
has resigned to accept the position of resident 
engineer for the Bolivian Development Com- 
pany, La Paz, Bolivia. 


“Dr. FRANCIS Goron, professor of physiology 
since 1895 at Oxford University, has died at 
the age of 60 years. 


Dr. Epuarp Prcuvurt-Lorsrxe, formerly pro- 
fessor in the University of Erlangen, known 
for his contributions to geography and for his 
explorations, has died at the age of seventy- 
two years. 


Dr. Max Dirrricu, associate professor of 
chemistry at Heidelberg, has died at the age 
of forty-eight years. 


Dr. Max Kassowirz, professor of diseases of 
children in the University of Vienna, has died 
at the age of seventy-one years. 

Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for editorial clerk, 
for men only, on August 6 and 7, 1918, to fill 
a vacancy in this position in the Geological 


ee ee 


JuLy 25, 1913] 


Survey, Washington, D.C., at a salary ranging 
from $1,500 to $1,800 a year. The appointee 
to this position should have such a knowledge 
of English, printing, and book-making, ele- 
mentary geology, and geologic nomenclature 
as will fit him to eriticize and correct, accepta- 
bly to their authors, the manuscripts of the 
survey’s reports; to prepare them for printing; 
to carry along the work of proof-reading 
through all its stages, and to prepare satis- 
factory indexes to the reports. 


Tue Vienna Society for the Investigation 
and Prevention of Cancer has established a 
laboratory for experimental work on the sub- 
ject, mainly in the domain of chemistry and 
chemical therapeutics. It is to be amalga- 
mated with the Spiegler Institute, which has 
been in existence nine years. Professor S. 
Fraenkel has been appointed director. 


Detains of the allocation by the Mansion 
House committee of the Scott Fund are given 
in Nature. The allocation falls under the 
three main headings of provision for the rela- 
tives of those lost (or, in one instance, inca- 
pacitated), for the publication of the scien- 
tific results and for memorials. The provi- 
sion for the relatives includes £8,500 each for 
Lady Scott and Mrs. Wilson, £6,000 for Mrs. 
Scott and her daughters, £4,500 for Mrs. 
Bowers and her daughters and £3,500 in trust 
for the child Peter Scott, with smaller sums 
for Evans’s family and to meet need in other 
two cases. One of the honorary secretaries of 
the Royal Geographical Society, Capt. H. G. 
Lyons, F.R.S., undertakes the editorship of 
the scientific results of the expedition, and 
representatives of that body and of the Royal 
Society, with Surgeon Atkinson, will control 
the work. A total sum of £17,500 provides, 
besides the cost of publication, for the services 
of three biologists, three geologists, two phys- 
icists, other specialists and a draughtsman, 
and the figure of £800 is earmarked for the 
production of charts and maps. For memo- 
rials, a tablet in St. Paul’s Cathedral and a 
group of statuary in Hyde Park facing the 
Royal Geographical Society’s house are pro- 


SCIENCE 


123 


posed. A contribution to a memorial to 
Oates is being raised by his regiment as a 
special expression of regard for the memory 
of one whose relatives need no assistance from 
the fund. The published results of the ex- 
pedition will not form its only scientific me- 
morial; the establishment of a trust fund of 
some £10,000 for the endowment of future 
polar research will preserve the memory of the 
expedition, and would, in the belief of the 
committee, have commended itself greatly to 
its leader. 


Tue United States Bureau of Mines is 
about to investigate the conditions under 
which a miner works, believing that the un- 
sanitary conditions which exist in some of the 
mines as well as in some of the mining towns 
are a factor in the death rate among the men. 
It is intimated that these conditions not only 
unnecessarily cause the death of miners 
through disease, but they are often responsible 
for accidents which might not have happened 
if the miners were in perfect health. The 
bureau has organized what is known as the 
Mine Sanitation Section, in charge of J. H. 
White, engineer. The bureau hopes to bring 
about progress by appealing to the miner, the 
manager and the owner, showing that all three 
can assist, and how all three can be benefited 
by good sanitary conditions. It will reach 
the miner by means of illustrated lectures, 
moving picture exhibits and pictorial circu- 
lars. These will show how sickness and suf- 
fering are spread by careless habits, and will 
drive home the importance of personal and 
household cleanliness. The bureau will assist 
the managers by pointing out glaring sanitary 
menaces, and showing methods and costs of 
abatement. I+ will describe in bulletins com- 
mon unsanitary practises and show the evils 
which follow in their wake. It will submit 
sanitary rules and regulations and show the 
best methods for their enforcement. 


Av the Minneapolis meeting of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association the committee on 
awards, of which Professor W. T. Councilman 


124 


was chairman, made the following repore 
which was adopted: 

In view of the general excellence of all the ex- 
hibits, your committee found great difficulty in 
deciding as to their relative merits. It wishes to 
recommend highly the exhibits as a whole and the 
very effective manner in which the demonstrations 
were made. 

The committee has awarded the gold medal to 
Dr. C. C. Bass, of Tulane University, for the ex- 
hibit of the ‘‘Cultivation of Malarial Plasmodia 
in Vitro.’’ 

As exhibits to be distinguished by certifi- 
cates of merit, the committee recommends the 
following: 

‘*Cancer in Plants,’? Erwin F. Smith, United 
States Bureau of Plant Industry. 

‘«Tntestinal Parasitic Diseases,’’ Lillian H. 
South, Kentucky State Board of Health. 

‘“Histology of Goiter,’’ L. B. Wilson, Mayo 
Clinie. 

“*Studies in the Physiology of Anesthesia,’’ W. 
D. Gatch, Frank Mann and Dowell Gann, Indian- 
apolis. 

“Exhibit of Fetal Peritoneal Folds by Means 
of Specimen Photographs and Drawings,’’ Joseph 
Rilus Eastman, Indiana University School of 
Medicine, Indianapolis. 

“*Blood-vessel Suturing and Transplantation of 
Blood-vessels and Intestines,’’ J. S. Horsley, St. 
Elizabeth Hospital, Richmond, Va. 

‘«Roéntgen-ray Plates of Lesions of Various In- 
ternal Viscera,’’? D. H. Carman, Mayo Clinie. 


In the Journal of the American Medical 
Association there is some further information 
as to the International Medical Congress 
which will meet in London in August. In the 
section of the history of medicine a wide inter- 
pretation has been given to the subject. In 
some cases the papers will be more or less of 
an anthropologic nature. A paper on the his- 
tory of. the relations of medicine and vivisec- 
tion is among these to be presented. That 
the artistic side of the subject will be well 
represented is shown by the following titles: 
“Relations between Art and the History of 
Medicine,” Hollander; “ Physiology of Vision 
and Impressionism in Art,” Leonard Hill, and 
“Painting in Relation to the History of 
Medicine,” Corsini. Sir Shirley Murphy has 
promised a paper on the origin and growth of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


public health legislation: Sir William Osler 
will, give an illustrated lecture on ‘the earliest 
printed medical books. Dr. Sambon will dis- 
cuss the light thrown by the healing practises 
of animals and savage men on the study of 
primitive medicine. In the section of psychi- 
atry, over which Sir James Crighton Browne 
will preside, Janet will discuss psychanalysis; 
Dr. Adolf Meyer will read a paper on the 
psychiatric clinic, its aims, educational and 
therapeutic, and the results obtained in the 
promotion of recovery. Dr. Morselli will dis- 
cuss the psychology of crime. In the séction 
of anatomy Dr. C. U. Ariens-Kapper, of Am- 
sterdam, will read a paper on cerebral cir- 
culation and the precise function of the fur- 
rows of the brain. In the section of physiol- 
ogy there will be a debate on the correlation of 
the organs of internal secretions and their dis- 
turbances. In the section of pathology shock 
is one of the subjects to be discussed, and there: 
is a special subsection devoted to chemical 
pathology. In the section of bacteriology and. 
immunity, among the subjects to be discussed 
are theories of immunity and anaphylaxis, 
the nature of virulence, filter passers, leprosy 
and allied bacteria. In the section of thera- 
peutics there are many novelties, such as non- 
bacterial toxins and antitoxins, the compara- 
tive value of heart remedies, and thermal 
treatment. In the section of surgery there will 
be a special subsection devoted to anesthesia, 
general and local, and recent methods, such as 
spinal analgesia, and there will be a discussion 
of recent special methods of general anesthesia. 
Professor Yandell Henderson, of New Haven, 
Conn., will contrast the immediate and. after- 
effects of spinal and local analgesia with in- 
halation anesthesia, particularly with regard 
to shock. Postoperative shock will also come: 
under review. In the section of ophthalmol- 
ogy Professor Carl von Hess, of Wiirzburg, 
will read a paper on “ Affections of the Eye © 
produced by Undue Exposure to Light.” In 
the section of hygiene and preventive medi- 
cine, the following subjects will be discussed: 
the effect of dust in producing diseases of the 
lungs, infant mortality in the first weeks of © 
life, the factors that determine the rise, spread’ 


JULY 25, 1913] 


and severity of epidemic diseases, the super- 
vision of the health of children between. in- 
faney and school age, and the causes, preven- 
tion and treatment of visual defects in school 
children. In the section of naval and mili- 
tary medicine, the subjects are: hospital ships 
and transport of wounded, transport of 
wounded in hill warfare, water-supplies in the 
field, antityphoid inoculation, sanitary organi- 
zation in the tropics, caisson disease and the 
physiology of physical training and marching. 
In the section of tropical medicine and hy- 
giene the subjects to be discussed are plague, 
beriberi, leishmaniasis and relapsing fevers. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON COLLEGE has 
closed a successful campaign for increased en- 
dowment, having raised the amount necessary 
to secure $100,000 promised by the General 
Education Board on condition that $400,000 be 
raised by the college. On June 30, the time 
limit set by the General Education Board, 
after an active campaign begun on April 15, 
last, with the Hon. Ernest F. Acheson as gen- 
eral manager, over $440,000 was reported. The 
entire sum thus added to the resources of the 
college may go to the general endowment fund, 
except $51,090 which represents the cost of the 
physics building, a notice of which was pub- 
lished in Science, June 27, 1913. 


THE registration of students for the summer 
quarter at the University of Chicago shows a 
satisfactory imcrease over that of the last 
summer quarter, when more than three thou- 
sand students were enrolled. As usual, there 
is a large representation from the southern 
states. 


Aut records for attendance at the summer. 


session of Columbia University have been 
broken this year, the total number of students 
being 4,550, an increase of nearly 1,000 over 
last year, when the registration was 38,602. 
This is the fourteenth year of the session, 
which began in 1900 with 417 students. Since 
then there has been a steady increase in num- 
bers, except in 1907, 1910, and this year, when 
the increase was much greater than the aver- 


SCIENCE 


125 


age. One of the reasons for the great increase 
in attendance this year is believed to be the’ 
improvements in the curriculum, especially in 
the courses in English. The classes here have 
been so large that it has been necessary to 
divide and subdivide them. Evening classes, 
a new thing this year, have also added to the 
popularity of the session, as have also the busi- 
ness classes. Besides this the entertainments 
provided are more numerous and varied than 
in any previous year. The attendance is al- 
most as large as at the regular sessions of the 
university and the dormitories are almost as 
well filled. 


THE government of India has refused to 
sanction the appointment of three professors 
in Caleutta University on the ground of their 
political connections. The senate of the uni- 
versity has passed a resolution objecting to 
this action and public meetings of protest 
have been held. 


Dr. Grorce KE. Freiitows, formerly president 
of the University of Maine, succeeds Dr. Al- 
bert R. Taylor as president of James Millikin 
University, Decatur, Dlinois. 


Dr. J. Frank Corsett, for thirteen years 
state bacteriologist of Minnesota, has resigned 
to devote his entire time to his work in the 
department of experimental surgery in the 
University of Minnesota School of Medicine. 


Dr. FranK D. Kern, after nearly ten years 
as assistant and associate in botany to the 
Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station and 
part time imstructor in Purdue University, 
has resigned to become professor of botany 
and botanist to the experiment station in the 
Pennsylvania State College. Dr. Kern has 
been a co-worker with Dr. J. OC. Arthur in 
the taxonomic, cultural and other investiga- 
tions of the rusts, and assisted in the prepara- 
tion of part of the manuscript for the Uredin- 
ales in the “North American Flora,” espe- 
cially contributing the portion pertaining to 
the genus Gymnosporangium. 


Tue following announcements and appoint- 
ments have been made at the University of 
North Carolina: President F. P. Venable has . 


126 


been granted a year’s leave of absence for 
travel and study abroad, and Dean E. K. Gra- 
ham has been appointed to act in his stead; 
Professor M. H. Stacy, of the department of 
civil engineering, will act as dean of the col- 
lege of liberal arts in place of Professor Gra- 
ham; Robert L. James, C.E. (Cornell), has 
been appointed assistant professor of drawing; 
Parker H. Daggett, S.B. (Harvard), has been 
promoted from associate professor of electrical 
engineering to full professor in charge of the 
department; James M. Bell, Ph.D. (Cornell), 
formerly associate professor of physical chem- 
istry, becomes full professor; W. L. Jeffries, 
A.M. (University of North Carolina), has 
been appointed instructor in chemistry. 


Dr. P. G. Stites, assistant professor of 
physiology at Simmons College, has been 
elected instructor in physiology in Harvard 
University. 

Dr. Kart von Auwers, professor of chem- 
istry at Greifswald, has accepted a call to 
Marburg, as successor to Professor Th. Zincke. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
COLOR CORRELATION IN GARDEN BEANS 


Tue note by Professor Hedrick on page 917 
about the correlation of the color of the inside 
of the calyx cup and flesh of the peach is in- 
teresting. A similar correlation in garden 
beans has recently been observed at this sta- 
tion. 

The blossom colors of many varieties of 
beans have been described as either white, 
light pink or pink, and most of the common 
varieties can readily be referred to one of 
these classes, though some varieties of the sev- 
eral classes may differ slightly among them- 
selves ‘in the depth and distribution of color. 

There seem to be definite and constant cor- 
relations between these blossom colors and the 
color of the seed coat. A white or eyed bean is 
always white flowered unless possibly when the 
eye is very large. A white-flowered variety may 
have mottled or self-colored beans, but a zenu- 
ine black pigment, such as seen in the black wax 
varieties, never accompanies a white or light 
pink, but always a pink flower. I do not re- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


call any exception to this last. The bean-may: 
be pure black or mottled, with black appearing 
in the mottling, but in either case the flower is 
a pretty constant shade of pink. Sometimes 
a light pink flower may be associated with very 
dark colored seeds, yet their color is distinet 
from the genuine black of the black wax beans. 

In general light pink flowers are associated 
with mottled or self-colored seeds of various 
shades of yellow, red and brown, but, as indi- 
cated above, never with a genuine black pig- 
ment, nor with white or eyed beans unless pos- 
sibly when the eye is very large. It is prob- 
ably due to the various seed coat colors that 
the flowers classed as light pink vary as much 
as they do among themselves; they are not as 
uniform as those classed as pink. 

Just where the connection is between the 
blossom and seed coat color is not obvious but 
it is certain that there is some connection. 
Not only are the times of manifestation of the 
colors far apart, but there is no obvious re- 
semblance between the colors. Why should a 
black bean arise from a pink or more exactly: 
a purplish pink flower? Yet there must be 
some connection, and it would seem reasonable 
to believe that they arise from a common 
cause: that the plant possesses some pigment- 
producing substance capable of producing one 
color in the flower and an apparently entirely 
different color in the seed coat. 


J. K. SHaw 


MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIMENT STATION, 
AMHERST, MASS. 


A NEW METHOD FOR LABELING MICROSCOPIO 
SLIDES 

Ir is very desirable that permanent micro- 
scopic mounts have permanent labels. Ordi- 
nary labels, even if of the best manufacture, 
are unsatisfactory, because the adhesive prop- 
erty of the glue becomes impaired with age. 
The so-called “ Diamond Ink” which may be 
easily applied to glass, produces an etched 
surface which may be written upon and a 
permanent label obtained. This ink, how- 
ever; is only sold by certain firms and as a 
consequence is not easily obtained. 


‘JULY 25, 1913] 


this laboratory successfully is merely printing 
or writing the necessary description upon the 
slide with India ink. “ Higgin’s Waterproof 
(Black) India Ink,” such as is sold at all book 
and stationery stores, is the ink used; a crow- 
quill drawing pen completes the outfit. The 
only necessary precaution to take in its ap- 
‘plication is to have the writing surface free 
from oily matter. This is removed simply by 
‘breathing on the slide and wiping briskly 
with a dry cloth. 

The label so made is permanent as far as 
ordinary treatment is concerned. Xylol may 
be used freely to dissolve any cedar oil or 
balsam on the mount, with no injury what- 
ever to the label; only a prolonged soaking in 
water would impair its permanence and such 
an occurrence would only be accidental. 

This form of label has the advantage over 
that of the etched surface in-that it may be 
as easily removed as applied; the whole label 
or portions may be changed by removing the 
unnecessary word, letters or figures with a 
penknife when the ink is thoroughly dry, or 
the whole label may be removed by rubbing 
off with a damp cloth. The India ink label 
because of its nature is more easily read than 
any other form of label. 

A trial of this method will convince any one 
of its practical value. 


Zaz NortTHRUP 
MicHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
Hast LANSING 


THE METRIC SYSTEM 


To THe Epitor or Science: The attention 
of the writer was attracted to an article in a 
recent number of ScIENCE by A. H. Patterson, 
of Chapel Hill, N. C., in which he refers to 
the “wickedly brain-destroying piece of bond- 
age under which we suffer ” on account of the 
system of weights and measures in common 
use among the American people. 

The only thing that the present system has 
to commend it to general use, if it has any 
redeeming quality at all, is that it is easier to 
follow along a beaten path than to make a 
‘change for the better. 

The metric system is a simple, sensible, 


SCIENCE 


127 


scientific and easily operated system of units 
and the best system that has ever been devised. 
That the metric system is practicable has been 
effectively demonstrated, for it is the uni- 
versal system of scientific laboratories and it 
is high time that a strong public sentiment 
be created in favor of its general adoption. 
No doubt “a great part of the under-weight 
and false-measure frauds are due to our con- 
fused system of units.” 

It seems that the chief arguments against 
the adoption of the metric system are: first, 
the expense to manufacturers and commercial 
houses in connection with making the change; 
and second, the difficulty that would be en- 
countered in educating the employers up to a 
new system. In the opinion of the writer 
neither of these difficulties is as serious as 
some people would try to have us believe and 
it is chiefly “ selfish interests which are block- 
ing the way of reform.” 

The cooperation of all scientists, the various 
reform leagues, the government bureaus and 
as many others as possible should be enlisted 
for the passage of the bill in favor of the 
metric system at as early a date as possible. 


A. F. GinMan 
RIPON COLLEGE 


THE YELLOWSTONE PARK 

To tHe Epitor or Science: I have tramped, 
with knapsack and sleeping bag, more than a 
thousand miles through the wildest and rough- 
est parts of the Rocky Mountains, camping 
out in the cheapest and most primitive fash- 
ion; and every one will understand, I think, 
that it is not as a molly-coddle that I say, 
from my experience during the summer of 
1911, that the bear in Yellowstone Park are 
an outrageous nuisance. 

I know of no more flagrant example of de- 
tached, red-taped sophistry than this: “ A few 
instances are on record where people have been 
attacked and injured by bears” but “in all 
eases where the facts were known the person 
injured was more or less to. blame.”’* In 


+See letter of Jesse L. Smith in Science of 


‘June 20. 


1128 


speaking of this as detached I mean that it 
‘ must have been written either with little 
knowledge or scant appreciation of the facts. 

During the summer of 1911 I traveled with 
three boys about 300 miles through the coun- 
try south and southeast of the Yellowstone 
Park, and one night a man who had been 
turned away from the Reclamation Camp at 
. Jackson Lake was seen prowling around our 
wagon, which was at some distance from the 
tent where we were sleeping. A little biggity 
talk about guns and shooting was enough to 
scare the poor fellow away, but if he could not 
have been scared away he would certainly have 
gotten a dose of lead. 

When we got into the Yellowstone Park we 
pitched our tent in a good place and proceeded 
to take in the wonderful sights; but we were 
warned by a soldier that we must stand guard 
over our camp after dusk or we would be 
cleaned out by marauding bear. How would 
you, curious reader, like to be tied down to 
guard duty over a side of bacon in Yellow- 
stone Park? We went there for another pur- 
pose; but we remembered that we were a long 
way from a base of supplies! 

Our first night in the park we slept with an 
axe under our pillow, thinking to drive Mr. 
Bear out of our pantry if he should come in 
the night; which is precisely the most foolish 
thing we could have done, Mr. Jesse L. Smith 
to the contrary notwithstanding. If Mr. Bear 
should happen to be Mrs. Bear with a cub it 
would be pretty dangerous business. One of 
the killings (man killings) we heard of dur- 
ing the summer of 1911 was a three-cornered 
affair or rather a three-in-a-row affair of this 
kind, and the man was unfortunately in the 
middle, Quoting from the park superinten- 
dent we would say that this man “ was more or 
less to blame.” At any rate we must admit 
that he was thinking too much of his stock of 
grub and of his remoteness from a base of 
supplies. But we would not have been blame- 
worthy if we had shot the poor hobo from 
Jackson Lake. No, before God, we wouldn’t. 

Mr. Jesse L. Smith’s reference to the fright- 
ening of bear with Roman candles reminds me 


SCIENCE 


tion. 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


of the crank who proposed to squirt olive oil 
and phosphorus over the Bastile to set it on 
fire at the beginning of the French Revolu- 
Phosphorus was only a chemical curi- 
osity in those days, and probably all that had 
ever been made would have amounted to less 
than a pound, and it is extremely amusing to 
read Carlyle’s exhortation to this visionary 
erank to bring forth his phosphorus and olive 
oil! The unfortunate but blameworthy man 
above referred to ought to have had sense 
enough to have used a Roman candle, or, bet- 
ter still, a hand grenade filled with liquid 
anhydrous ammonia! He showed his respect 
for law, however, in not using a bomb contain- 
ing liquefied prussic acid; that would have 
killed the bear. 

We lost all of our grub at the Canyon, and 
we ate at the hotels during the remainder of 
our trip; a very pleasant change after eight 
weeks of rough and tumble camping, but ex- 
travagantly expensive from a teacher’s point 
of view. We knew directly of several small 
camps besides our own that were raided during 
our five or six days in the park. Greenhorns, 
Mr. Smith would say. Yes, they were green- 
horns in the park under the fatherly care of 
the superintendent and his company of cav- 
alry; but it would not have been healthy for 
man or beast to have gone very far on that as- 
sumption outside of the park. 

We heard incessant talk about marauding 
bears; just as we hear incessant talk about the 
weather in Kansas, without fear, but with 
deep concern. And we heard circumstantial 
accounts of at least two campers who were 
seriously hurt in trying to save their grub. 
Their midnight sallies were not like “ routing 
a neighbor’s cow from a garden patch,” to 
quote Mr. Smith. 

The simple fact is that either ninety-five 
per cent. of the Yellowstone Park bears must 
be killed off or soldiers must be placed on all- 
night guard around the chief camping places 


‘in the park. Mr. Smith, and to some extent 


also the park superintendent, make themselves 
ridiculous in looking at this matter in the 
spirit of complacent. statisticians unmindful 


- JULY 25, 1913] 


of the cold fact that the cree tons cases are 
cbedlerely not to be tolerated. 

“T would not have a single person,” says Mr. 
Smith, “miss the great fun and superior ad- 
vantage of camping out during the tour of the 
park because of the fear of the bears.” Mr. 
Smith is pedantic in his choice of words. It 
is purely a question of vermin. And Mr. 
Smith, who boldly routs marauding bear with 
. Roman candles, perhaps, if properly armed, he 
would not be afraid even of a bed bug. 


W. S. FRANKLIN 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United 


States, Canada and the British Possessions. 


from Newfoundland to the parallel of the 

southern Boundary of Virginia, and from 

the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d 

Meridian. By NaruanieL Lorp Briton, 

Ph.D., Se.D., LL.D., Director-in-Chief of 

the New York Botanical Garden, Professor 

in Columbia University, and Hon. Appison 

Brown, A.B., LL.D., President of the 

New York Botanical Garden. The descrip- 

tive text chiefly prepared by PRroressor 

‘Britton, with the assistance of specialists 

in several groups; the figures also drawn 

under his supervision. Second edition, re- 
vised and enlarged. In three volumes: Vol. 

I., Ophioglossaceae to Polygonaceae, Ferns 

to Buckwheat (pp. xxix +680); Vol. IL., 

_Amaranthaceae to Loganiaceae, Amaranth 

to Polypremum (pp. iv-+ 735); Vol. IIT., 

Gentianaceae to Compositae, Gentian to 

Thistle (pp. iv + 637). Octavo. New York, 

Charles‘Scribner’s Sons. 1913. 

Nearly seventeen years ago the writer of 
this review had the pleasure of making a no- 
tice’ of the first volume of “a new manual of 
systematic botany,” the same being the first 
‘edition of the book now before us. Two 
sentences in that review may be reproduced 
‘here. 

It is in every way a new work—new in its plan, 
new in its descriptions, new in its illustrations. 
. . . It will give renewed life and vigor to sys- 

tAm. Nat., October, 1896: 


SCIENCE 


129 


tematic botany, and doubtless will be the means 
by which many a student will be led to the study 
of the more difficult families. 


Less than two years later in a notice of the 
third volume’ the writer commented upon the 
“Rochester nomenclature” of the work, and 
said: 

It is inevitable that one result of its publica- 
tion’ [‘‘ Illustrated Flora ’’] will be that the 
number of those actively opposing these modern 
features will rapidly grow less. It will soon be 
much easier to follow the modern innovations 
along the plain highway here made than to con- 
tinue in the less and less frequented paths of the 
conservatives. 

These prophecies have long since come to 
pass, and their quotation now enables us to see 
how far we have traveled since they were 
written. When the original volumes were 
written they seemed very radical, and almost 
revolutionary, but now as one runs them over 
they have lost their radicalness, and do not 
appear at all revolutionary. In their latest 
version, in this second edition, even the con- 
servative reader finds little that will shock 
him. In these years we have moved very far 
in our notions as to systematic botany, and 
the “Tllustrated Flora” has been a potent 
force in bringing about this change. The au- 
thors are to be congratulated for the part they 
have played in this revolution in systematic 
botany. 

Comparing the present edition with the first 
we find that the whole number of species has 
risen from 4,162 to 4,666, while the genera 
have increased from 1,103 to 1,229, and the 
families from 177 to 194. Of the grasses 
(Gramineae) the first edition contained 371 
species, while in the second there are 466. So 
the species of Carex are increased from 205 to 
242. The Compositae, in the wider sense (in- 
cluding also Cichoriaceae and Ambrosiaceae) 
are increased from 569 to 625. 

The treatment of Crataegus in the two edi- 
tions may well be contrasted. In the first edi- 
tion 15 species are recognized as occurring 
within the range covered by the “ Flora,” and 
the remark is made that “four or five others 

? ScIENCE, August 12, 1898. 


130 


occur in the southern and western parts of 
North America,” and for the genus, as a whole, 
it is said that there are in the world “ about 50 
species, natives of the north temperate zone, 
Mexico and the Andes of New Granada.” In 
the second edition 73 species are figured and 
described from the same range, while the fol- 
lowing statement is made for the genus as a 
whole. “About 800 species, natives of the 
north temperate zone, the tablelands of Mex- 
ico and the Andes; the center of distribution 
is the eastern United States.” The genus has 
been of great taxonomic interest for ten years, 
about 1,000 species having been described from 
the United States during that period. Data 
are fast accumulating tending to show that 
many of these newly described species are 
hybrids. 

In the Introduction (pp. ix, x) one finds the 
following condensed version of the “ American 
Code,” which takes the place of the longer 
statement in the first edition: 


1. The nomenclatorial type of a species or sub- 

: species is the specimen to which the describer 
originally applied the name in publication. 

(a) When more than one specimen was origi- 
nally cited, the type or group of speci- 
mens in which the type is included may be 
indicated by the derivation of the name 
from that of the collector, locality or host. 

(0) Among specimens equally eligible, the type 
is that first figured with the original de- 
scription, or in default of a figure the 
first mentioned. 

(c) In default of an original specimen, that 
represented by the identifiable figure or 
(in default of a figure) description first 
cited or subsequently published, serves as 
the type. 

2. The nomenclatorial type of a genus or sub- 
genus is the species originally named or 
designated by the author of the same. If 
no species was designated, the type is the 
first binomial species in order eligible under 
the following provisions: 

(a) The type is to be selected from a subgenus, 
section or other list of species originally 
designated as typical. The publication of 
a new generic name as an avowed substi- 
tute for an earlier invalid one does not 
change the type of a genus. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 969 


(b) A figured species is to be selected rather 
than an unfigured species in the same 
work. In the absence of a figure, prefer- 
ence is to be given to the first species 
accompanied by the citation of a speci- 
men in a regularly published series of 
exsiccatae. In the case of genera adopted 
from prebinomial authors (with or with- 
out change of name), a species figured 
by the author from whom the genus is 
adopted should be selected. 

(c) The application to a genus of a former 
specific name of one of the included spe- 
cies, designates the type. 

(d) Where economic or indigenous species are 
included in the same genus with foreign 
species, the type is to be selected from 
(1) the economic species or (2) those 
indigenous from the standpoint of the 
original author of the genus. 

(e) The types of genera adopted through cita- 
tions of nonbinomial literature (with or 
without change of name), are to be se- 
lected from those of the original species 
which receive names in the first binomial 
publication. The genera of Linnzus’s 
‘¢Species Plantarum’’ (1753) are to be 
typified through the citations given in his 
‘*Genera Plantarum’’ (1754). 


Enough has been said to show that the new 
edition differs so much from the earlier one 
that it must find a place upon the shelves of 
every botanical library. 

It only remains to be said that while the new 
edition was passing through the press Judge 
Brown closed his labors, but not before he had 
seen the pages of the new book. To the sur- 
viving author we must offer our congratula- 
tions upon the publication of the present edi- 
tion. 


Cuartes E. BEssry 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


The Mathematical Theory of Heat Conduc- 
tion. By L. R. Incersott and O. J. ZoBEL. 
Ginn & Co., Boston. 171 pages. 

The accurate solution of problems in heat 
transmission has been neglected in the past 
by engineers. They have been content to ar- 
rive at approximate results by empirical meth- 
ods or by guessing.. With. the increased use 


JULY 25, 1913] 


of electricity for the generation of heat has 
come the need for greater accuracy in cal- 
culating the rate of heat flow through insula- 
tion, the temperature distribution in bodies 
after any time interval, etc. In 1811 Fourier 
developed the mathematical theory of the con- 
duction of heat, but until lately the practical 
applications have been few. The “ Mathe- 
matical Theory of Heat Conduction,” by L. R. 
Ingersoll and O. J. Zobel, although primarily 
a text-book, is a step towards making Fourier’s 
methods available to the engineer. 

After a historical sketch in the first chapter, 
the authors derive the Fourier conduction 
equation from the fundamental laws of the 
flow of heat. This equation is solved first, 
for bodies in which the temperature distribu- 
tion has become steady. These bodies are the 
thin plate, the long thin rod, the infinitely 
long thin rectangular plate, ete. The general 
cases in which the temperature is not steady 
are then attacked. Equations are developed, 
giving the temperature as a function of the 
variables time and_distance, the temperature 
distribution at zero time being known. These 
general solutions require Fourier’s series and 
integrals, which are developed, and extended 
to the limits -+ co and — oo. Solutions are 
given for such specific shapes as the infinite 
solid, the semi-infinite solid, the slab, the thin 
rod, the sphere, ete. Also solutions are given 
for the cases where there is either an instanta- 
neous or a permanent source of heat in the in- 
terior of the body. No attempt is made to 
prove that any of the solutions are unique, as 
this rightfully belongs to larger treatises. 

Throughout the work the authors give many 
numerical applications, such as calculating the 
flow of heat through furnace walls; the rate of 
cooling of a setting concrete wall in cold 
weather; the heating effect of thermit weld- 
ing; the rate of cooling of steel in tempering; 
the rate of cooling of the earth, taking into 
account the effect of radioactivity; the rate at 
which heat penetrates a fire-proof wall, ete. 

In deriving the fundamental equations the 
authors assume, in’ common with previous 
writers, that thermal resistivity does not vary 


SCIENCE 


131 


with temperature. The error due to this as- 
sumption is usually unimportant for metals, 
but the so-called insulating materials often 
show large temperature coefficients. It is 
necessary to consider this in many cases if 
we are to secure accurate results. In dealing 
with problems involving heat losses from a 
surface exposed to the air, the authors follow 
the custom of assuming the rate of energy loss 
to be proportional to the temperature of the 
surface. It is well know that this is not true, 
and there is sufficient data available in the lit- 
erature to allow a much closer approximation 
than can be secured with the above assump- 
tions. 

One of the most important applications of 
the theory of heat conduction is to problems 
in which there are permanent.sources of heat, 
as in dealing with electric furnaces. The 
authors solve a few problems of this kind, but 
they do not give them nearly enough atten- 
tion. 

Considerably more values of thermal con- 
ductivity constants have been published than 
are given in the appendix. The statement 
that “in the constants for poorer conductors 
the disagreement between different observers 
is frequently 50 per cent. or more” is correct. 
But there need be no such disagreement if 
the conditions of the measurements are given. 

The book is quite the most satisfactory yet 
published, as a text for the study of heat con- 
duction, and it should be widely used in engi- 
neering schools. As a reference book for the 
practising engineer it leaves much to be de- 
sired, although the material included in it is 
made more easily available than heretofore. It 
is a long step towards the development of an 
engineering knowledge of the transmission of 
heat. 

C. P. Ranpotpn 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE NEGATIVE PHOTOTROPISM OF DIAPTOMUS 
THROUGH THE AGENCY OF CAFFEIN, 
STRYCHNIN AND ATROPIN 
Since the discovery that fresh-water crus: 
tacea which are normally indifferent to light 
could be made positively phototropic by means 


132 


of acids, alcohols and esters,’ there have been 
various attempts to bring about a negative 
reaction by chemical means. 
raising the temperature, or the addition of 
alkalis, tends to break up positive. collections 
of these animals, but such treatment does not 


cause a negative gathering. Until. recently - 


ultra-violet light of wave-length shorter than 
3,341 A. u. has been the only generally suc- 
cessful means of artificially causing a nega- 
tive collection of fresh-water crustacea.” But 
it has lately been shown by Drzewina® that 
the larve of lobsters give such a negative 
response when treated with potassium cyanide. 

In a former paper it was pointed out. that 
the addition of strychnin to water containing 
Daphnia destroys the positively phototropic 


responses of these animals, and that such 


treatment when applied to Diaptomus causes 
them to form a strong negative collection. 
Atropin gives the same result, but to a less 
marked degree.* 

In order still further to test the effect Nes 
alkaloids and other substances upon the light 
reactions of fresh-water crustacea, the follow- 
ing experiments were carried out at the New 
Monterey laboratory during December, 1912. 
The material used consisted of Diaptomus 
bakerv’ taken from the Del Monte lake.. The 


freshly collected animals were put into finger-' 


bowls, each of which contained 25 e.c. of lake 
water. The preparations were then placed 
upon a table near the window, but never in 
direct sunlight. Normally, Diaptomus is in- 
different to light, the individuals remaining 
pretty evenly distributed about the dish. But 
the addition of acids, alcohols or ether always 
causes the animals in the dish treated to form 
a dense collection on the window side. In 
1Loeb, J., 
131. 
2 Loeb, G., Pfliiger’s Archiv, Bd. 115 s.; Moore, 
A. R., Journ. Exp. Zool., Vol. 13, p. 573. 
*Drzewina, Anna, C. R. Soc. Biol., Vol. 71, p. 
555. 
*Moore, A. R., Uniy. Calif. Publ. Physiology, 
Vol. 4, p. 185. 


“‘Dynamies of Living Matter,’’ p. 


*T am indebted to Professor Kofoid for the 


identification of this form. 


SCIENCE 


It is true that . 


[N.S. Vout. XXXVIII. No. 969 


order to insure’ equal concentration of a given 
substance throughout the preparation, the lat- — 
ter was always thoroughly stirred after the — 
addition of the reagent. — 

If, now, to a normal preparation there be 
added 0.6 c.c. of a 1 per cent. solution of caf- 
fein, in two minutes the animals all collect in 
a dense cluster on the side of the dish away 
from the light, 2. e., they become negatively 
phototropic. This collection remains thirty 
to thirty-five minutes. It was thus possible 
to observe opposite effects in two dishes of 
the same material placed side by side, the one | 
with all of the animals forming a dense clus- 
ter nearest the window (caused by adding the 
acid), the other with all the animals collected 
on the side of the dish farthest from the 
window (caused by adding the caffein). In 
either case after the characteristic gathering, 
if the dish be turned through an angle of | 
180° the crustacea in it swim back across the — 
dish and re-form, the collection having the 
former position with reference to the light. 
The addition of 0.05 c.c. of a 4 per cent. solu- 
tion of strychnin nitrate to a normal prepara- 
tion causes all of the animals to become nega- 
tively phototropic, but does not result in their 
forming a dense collection as in ‘the case of 
caffein. Strychnin, because of its toxicity, 
causes the Diaptomus treated with it to die 
within five minutes. It was also found that 
if 0.5 ec. of a + per cent. solution of atropin 
(alkaloidal) be added to a normal preparation 
of Diaptomus, we obtain much the same result 
as with strychnin, 7. e., a weak negative col- 
lection. Other alkaloids such as digitalin, pilo- 
carpin, physostigmin, ricin and cocain, gave 
no significant results with this form. 

If the Diaptomus were first made positively 
phototropic by the addition of alcohol or acids, — 
it was found impossible to alter their response 
by the action of caffein, strychnin or atropin. 
On the other hand, animals which had formed 
a negative collection under the influence of 
caffein, if treated with carbonated water, at 
once changed their response and, swimming 
to the light side of the dish, formed a positive 
gathering. This confirms my former state- 
ment: j 


Juuy. 25, 1913] 


While negative phototropism in Diaptomus can 
be reversed by acids, positive phototropism 
brought about by chemical means can not be re- 
versed by strychnin (atropin or caffein).° 

A. R. Moore 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 

July 8, 1913 


THE POWDERY SCAB OF POTATO (SPONGOSPORA 
SOLANI) IN MAINE 


Tue potato tuber scab caused by Spongo- 
spora Solant (Brunch) has been known in 
Europe since 1842. It was recently reported 
from Canada by Giissow,’ but has hitherto not 
been found in the United States. That it 
would become established here has been feared 
by those acquainted with the serious injuries 
it causes in Great Britain, whence heavy 
importations of potatoes were made in 1911 
and previous years, to supply American 
markets. 

The writer discovered this disease on June 
23 in potatoes just brought to Houlton from 
Presque Isle, Aroostook County, Maine. 
There is no probability as yet that a large 
amount of Spongospora exists there, but 84 
diseased tubers were sorted out of four barrels, 
which represented a lot of 500 barrels. 

The milder forms of powdery scab resemble 
the common Oospora scab. The pustules are 
at first closed, but later break out into large 
open sori. Twenty-six of the tubers collected 
showed this form. 

The source of the disease is not known. 
The original infection may have been brought 
from Europe before the Plant Quarantine Act 
went into effect or seed potatoes bearing the 
disease may have come from the adjacent 
province of New Brunswick, in Canada, where 
powdery scab already occurs. 

It is hoped that pathologists all over the 
country will now watch for this disease and 
that every effort be made to stamp it out. 

I, E. Meituus 

BUREAU oF PLANT INDUSTRY, 

U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
HOovULTON, MAINE 


*Moore, A. R., loc. cit. 
aitonadiciogu, February, 1913, p. 18. 


SCIENCE 


133 


A NEW SECTION SOUTH FROM DES MOINES, IOWA 


Tue grading of a new railroad line from 
Des Moines to Allerton, passing from Polk 
County through Warren, Marion and Lucas 
into Wayne County, affords an excellent series 
of exposures such as have never before been 
available in this region. The relation which 
this series makes evident assists in the inter- 
pretation of observations already recorded, and 
the section itself serves as a standard with 
which to compare work yet to be accomplished 
in south central Iowa and adjacent Missouri. 
The general relation will be of interest to all’ 
who keep informed on the Pleistocene work of 
the country. 

The Loess 


The best exposure of loess that the writer 
has seen in this portion of the state is south of 
Des Moines, half a mile north of Coon Valley. 
Here twelve to fifteen feet of grayish yellow 
porous loess with faint horizontal lamination 
may be seen capping the bluff for a quarter ° 
of a mile. At the two ends of the cut the 
loess is exceedingly fossiliferous, and charged 
with concretions. In the hills east of Car- 
lisle, even as far.as Hartford, a distinct fos- 
siliferous loess may be seen; but further south: 
it does not form a conspicuous deposit. On 
the brow of hills away from the highest por- 
tion of the upland it is not present at all. 


The “ Gumbo ”—The Loveland 


Along the sides of all cuts through the up- 
land may be seen a clay yellowish above, 
bluish below, of a thickness varying from a 
few feet up to perhaps twenty feet. It is 
nearly free from pebbles, but here and there a 
few scattered ones may be found that are half 
an inch in diameter, and very rarely one as 
large as an inch. Two were recently found 
as large as two inches in diameter. There are 
found scattered through the clay grains chiefly 
of granite about an eighth of an inch in 
diameter. The clay is generally free from 
distinct stratification, often silty in appear- 
ance, and slumps badly throughout the entire 
length of the railroad. In the upland where 
thickest it is found on the bowlder and pebble- 
bearing portion of the Kansan drift with no 


134 


intervening plane of oxidation; but in places, 
and apparently at lower levels, a line of scat- 
tered pebbles is sometimes evident. In other 
places at still lower levels the plane of separa- 
tion is marked by bowlders and a yellowish 
oxidized surface of the bowlder-bearing por- 
tion of the Kansan, the horizon that is so 
commonly seen in Warren, Madison and Lucas 
counties, which appearance led Bain to coin 
the term “ferretto.” Here and there the de- 
posit is replaced by beds of stratified sand 
revealing: places of current action. 

This is the deposit which McGee called the 
“oumbo ” of southern Iowa. Perhaps there is 
no more important relation brought to light in 
the entire series of exposures than the relation 
of this common deposit for this part of the 
state. It is so free from pebbles, weathers so 
quickly, and forms a soil so like that formed 
from loess that it has by some (including 
myself) been judged to be a modified loess; 
but these excellent extensive exposures of the 
deposit in many variations leave no chance to 
doubt the conclusion that this “gumbo” is 
not a loess, but is related to the Kansan drift 
and deposited in the closing stages of the 
Kansan invasion. 

The writer has thus far looked in vain for 
evidences of kames and drumlins. He has 
also in previous years endeavored to trace the 
boundaries of this same “ gumbo ” to ascertain 
whether it thinned out as if in basins, but 
found it through the upland and dissected by 
ravines. A main difficulty has been to distin- 
guish between a low-ground gumbo and an 
upland gumbo, which were apparently con- 
nected along the sides of the large ravines. 
The sides of these new railroad cuts and the 
various excavations in low ground reveal such 
mixture and gradation due to wash and creep, 
in which stratification due to wash has not 
persisted, that it now seems necessary to 
recognize this form of low-ground gumbo as 
not contemporaneous with the upland gumbo, 
but largely derived from it. However, gumbo 
ten to twenty feet above the surface of the 
river valleys is found banked in against and 
on the Kansan drift, and apparently identical 
with the upland gumbo. (Such is the deposit 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 969 


at the Siegel Brick and Tile Works at 
Osceola.) 

In the deep cut east of Sandyville the de- 
posits above the bowlder-bearing portion of 
the Kansan drift are in two portions: a lower 
portion six feet thick and an upper portion 
one to two feet thick. The surface of this 
lower portion contains hemispherical depres- 
sions three to five feet in diameter filled with 
clay of the upper portion. It is probable that 
this irregular surface was due to a slight final 
movement of the ice before the last of the 
Kansan ice disappeared. No pebbles are 
found in the depressions, as might be expected 
if the depressions were potholes, and the cross 
sections are too rounded to appear due to 
stream erosion. The whole appearance sug- 
gests moulding by overriding ice. 

Hitherto the oxidized portion of the Kansan 
drift found at a depth of thirty feet from the 
surface in wells of the upland, seen as the 
upper level of the “ ferretto” at the same dis- 
tance below the upland on so many hillsides, 
and’ marked on others as close to the bottom. 
of the upland gumbo, was judged to be the 
oxidized surface of the Kansan plain, so con- 
spicuous throughout south central Towa, the 
gumbo itself being then considered a later de- 
posit on this plain. Classing this gumbo as 
related to the Kansan drift rather than to the 
post-Kansan deposits raises the supposed level 
of this Kansan ground moraine by an amount 
equal to the thickness of the “ gumbo,” twenty 
to thirty feet, and supplies that much of un- 
eroded material that in places could well have 
been surface settlings on the upland of the 
extensive Kansan plain as the Kansan ice 
gradually disappeared; in other places a de- 
posit in hollows on the surface; in other places 
not deposited at all, or eroded since deposition. 

On comparing the evidence revealed in this 
series of railroad cuts with the description 
which Professor B. Shimek gives of the 
“Loveland” found along the Missouri River 
in the western part of the state, announced in 
the Bulletin of the Geological Society of 
America, 1910, in Screncr, 1910, and very 
fully described in his “Geology of Harrison 
and Monona Counties,” volume 20, Iowa Geo- 


JULY 25, 1913] 


logical Survey, it is evident that this 
“oeumbo” corresponds to his “ Loveland,” 
which he has found there well exposed and 
widely distributed, and has been the first to 
recognize. 


The Bowlder-bearing Portion of the Kansan 


At the fine exposure at Coon Valley only a 
trace of Kansan bowlder-bearing clay is left; 
but it appears in all the deep cuts to the south. 
The characteristics of this portion of the drift 
have been so frequently stated that a descrip- 
tion is here omitted. South of Whitebreast 
Creek and across Lucas County numerous 
sand bowlders form a conspicuous feature of 
the Kansan bowlder clay. In places, where 
“ oumbo” is not present, there is evidence of 
post-Kansan wash. 


No Aftonian nor Nebraskan Exposed 


The study of the section was undertaken 
with the expectation that numerous exposures 
of Aftonian interglacial deposits and of Ne- 
braskan drift (sub-Aftonian) would be found; 
but the cuts are through the hills, and fills 
extend across the valleys. At the Avon gravel 
pit in the southern part of Polk County a 
steam shovel is now removing a coarse sand 
close to a level at which near by mastodon or 
elephant remains are said to have been found 
a number of years ago. These deposits are 
thought to be of Aftonian age. In a cut in 
Marion County the bottom of the Kansan 
drift there exposed contained a bowlder of 
blue clay apparently Nebraskan. With the 
exception of these two places all evidence of 
distinct Aftonian and of distinct Nebraskan 
is wanting. (The work of excavation is not 
fully completed near the southern part of 
Marion County.) 


The Des Moines Formation 


The Des Moines shales are frequently found 
above the level of the track bed from the out- 
erop near Coon Valley to the northern boun- 
dary of Lucas County, south of which place 
they appear but once. These exposures afford 
excellent opportunity to study variations in a 
preglacial surface. 


SCIENCE 


135 


The exposures in their present perfection 
will not last long, but at present they will well 
repay a day’s tramp south from Des Moines, 
or, at Chariton, north from Chariton River. 


Acknowledgments 


During the summer several of the most im- 
portant exposures were visited by Professors 
George F. Kay, B. Shimek and James H. 
Lees together with the writer, and the condi- 
tions found discussed in the field; but the 
parties named are not responsible in any way 
for the above presentation. 


JoHN L. Tinton 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF 
MUSEUMS 


THE eighth annual meeting of the American 
Association of Museums was held in Philadelphia, 
June 3-5. The most prominent feature of the 
convention was the discussion of general questions 
of policy in relation to future work. 

The representation of museums of science in the 
membership has always largely exceeded that of 
museums of art, although the essential idea in the 
organization of the association was to afford a 
common meeting ground for the discussion of the 
‘‘principles of organization and administration of 
museums, and their problems of technique, rather 
than matters of art, history or science as such.’’ 
There is a strong sentiment among both science 
and art members that, since all museums exist for 
the purpose of giving visual expression to ideas, 
the methods of accomplishing this purpose must be 
fundamentally similar and vary only in applica- 
tion according to the nature of the material and 
of the ideas to be expressed. The field of the 
association, therefore, in no way conflicts with any 
of the many scientific, artistic or historical socie- 
ties. For the purpose of promoting a more gen- 
eral appreciation of these facts, and to endeavor 
to secure greater equality of representation of the 
various classes of museums in the membership and 
in the programs of the meetings, a special com- 
mittee was appointed. With an art man as presi- 
dent for the ensuing year, the time seems par- 
ticularly opportune for this movement which is so 
essential to the full function of the association. 

A committee was also appointed to consider 
what methods the association may adopt to pro- 
mote the increase and successful development of 


136 


museums. It is generally recognized that the field 
for special museums in our large cities is extend- 
ing rapidly, not only in the more familiar forms 
of museums of art, history and science, but in the 
newer form of industrial, commercial, technolog- 
ical and social museums. It is also recognized 
that the field of the general museum as a center, 
not only of education, but of civic and social 
movements in smaller communities is only begin- 
ning to be appreciated. These smaller institutions 
differ in many ways from those of the larger 
museums of more limited scope, and they feel the 
need of organized assistance from the association. 

Taken as a whole, the papers and discussion at 
recent meetings indicate a desire that the associa- 
tion shall formulate a digest or compendium of 
museum practise which may be used as a guide by 
the smaller museums. The Directory of Museums, 
published for the association in 1910, was designed 
to afford a part of the data for such studies, and 
more recent statistics on some of the points cov- 
ered by that work will be available in the forth- 
coming report of the United States Commissioner 
of Education, which will include, for the first time, 
a section on museums. 

The following papers were read at the meeting 
and will be published in full in the Proceedings: 

“<Tndustrial Museums for American Cities,’’ 
Franklin W. Hooper, The Brooklyn Institute of 
Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

‘A Group Showing Animals of the Wharf 
Piles,’? Roy W. Miner, The American Museum 
of Natural History, New York. 

“‘Meteorite Collecting and Collections,’’ Oliver 
C. Farrington, Field Museum of Natural History, 
Chicago. 

‘*A Method of Mounting Wet Specimens Show- 
ing their Natural Environment,’’ Charles F. Sil- 
vester, Museum of Princeton University, Prince- 
ton, N. J. 

““Use of Museum Resources in Publie Instruc- 
tion,’? Witmer Stone and Stewardson Brown, 
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 

‘Observations in European Museums of Art,’’ 
Benjamin Ives Gilman, Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston. 

“‘Museum Work at the Capital of Canada,’’ 
Harlan I. Smith, Victoria Memorial Museum, Ot- 
tawa, Canada. 

‘(Museum of the Ohio State Archeological and 
Historical Society,’’ William C. Mills, Ohio State 
Archeological and Historical Society, Columbus, O. 

‘‘Tchthyological Explorations in Colombia,’’ C. 
H. Higenmann, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 969 


‘*Why this Association should Promote Museum 
Extension Work,’’ W. B. Ashley. 

‘““The Museums and the Boy Scouts,’’ Charles 
Louis Pollard, Staten Island Association of Arts 
and Sciences, New Brighton, N. Y. 

‘‘Museum Work for the Boy Scouts,’’? William 
L. Fisher, The Philadelphia Museums, Philadel- 
phia. ; 

“¢Tnsurance, Retiring Allowances and Pensions 
for Museum Men,’’ M. J. Greenman, Wistar Insti- 
tute of Anatomy, Philadelphia. 

““Needless Regulations in Museums,’’ A. R. 
Crook, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Ill. 

‘“The Functions of Museums and the Question 
of Special Exhibitions,’’ Frederie A. Lucas, Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History, New York. 

““The Museum Point of View in Botany,’’ Ed- 
ward L. Morris, Museum of the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

‘The Molding and Casting of Mushrooms and 
other Plants,’’? Antonio Miranda, Museum of the 
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, 
INERYS 

‘*A Celestial Sphere—An Apparatus Installed 
to Promote Interest in Astronomy,’’ W. W. At- 
wood, Chicago Academy of Sciences, Chicago. 

‘<The Deutsches Museum at Munich,’’ Charles 
R. Toothaker, The Philadelphia Museums, Phila- 
delphia. 

“‘Tegislation in the Interest of the Ohio State 
Museum,’’ William C. Mills, Ohio State Arche- 
ological and Historical Society, Columbus, O. 

The following officers were elected for the en- 
suing year: 

President—Benjamin Ives Gilman, secretary of 
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

First Vice-president—Oliver C. Farrington, cu- 
rator of geology, Field Museum of Natural His- 
tory, Chicago. 

Second Vice-president—Arthur -Hollick, curator 
of fossil botany, New York Botanical Garden, 
New York. 

Secretary—Paul M. Rea, director, The Charles- 
ton Museum, Charleston, S. C. 

Treasurer—W. P. Wilson, director, The Phila- 
delphia Museums, Philadelphia. 

Councilors (1913-16)—Henry L. Ward, director, 
Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Mil- 
waukee; Edward K. Putnam, director, Davenport 
Academy of Sciences, Davenport, Iowa. 

The association selected Milwaukee as the meet- 
ing place for 1914. 

Pau M. Rea, 
Secretary 


PoCIENGE | 


SINGLE Copixs, 15 Crs. 
ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


NEw SERIES 


VoL, XXXVIII. No. 970 F RIDAY, Avaust 1, 1913 


Teachers 


We have many books on our list which you would find most excellent as text-books for your classes. 


They are books that: meet the needs of High Schools, Preparatory Schools, and general College 


work. They are up to date books—kept so by frequent revisions. 
know their subjects—and how to impart their knowledge to others. 


They are written by teachers who 
Will your classes use our 


books? We honestly believe you will find it worth your while to examine our list with a view to 


adopting such as meet your text-book needs. 


Economic Zodlogy. By L. S. and M. C. 
DAUGHERTY. Part I: Field and Laboratory 
Guide. 12mo of 237 pages, interleaved. $1.25 
net. Part II: Principles. 12mo of 406 pages, 
illustrated. $2.00 net. Just ready. 


Biology. By JoSEPH MCFARLAND, M.D. 12mo 


of 440 pages, illustrated. $1.75 net. 


Veterinary Bacteriology. By Rosert E. 
BUCHANAN, Ph.D. Octavo of 516 pages, 214 
illustrations. $3.00 net. 


Veterinary Anatomy. By SrptTimus SISSON, 
S.B., V.S. Octavo of 826 pages, 588 illustrations. 
$7.00 net. 


General Bacteriology. By EpwiINn O. JoRDAN, 
Ph.D. Octavo of 623 pages, illustrated. 
( Third edition. 


Bacteriologic Technic. By J. W. H. Eyre, 
M.D. Octavo of 518 pages, with 219 illustra- 
tions. $3.00 net. Just ready.— New (2d) edition. 


Laboratory Bacteriology By FReEpDERIC P. 
GoruaM, A.M. 12mo of 192 pages, illustrated. 
$1.25 net. 


Personal Hygiene. Edited by WALTER L. 
PyLe, M.D. Chapter by H. W. WiLEy, M.D. 
12mo of 515 pages, illustrated. $1.50 net. 

Fifth edition. 


Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for 
Women. By ANNA M. GarsraitTH, M.D. 
12mo of 371 pages, illustrated. $2.00 net. 


Exercise in Education and Medicine. By R- 
Tair McKENzIE, M.D. Octavo of 406 pages, 
346 illustrations. $3.50 net. 


W. B. SAUNDERS COMPANY 


Read over the titles below. 


Nutritional Physiology. By PrErcy G. SLILEs, 
Ph.D. 12mo of 295 pages, illustrated. $1.25 
net. 


Invertebrate Zodlogy. By Gitman A. Drew, 
Ph.D. 12mo of 213 pages. $1.25 net. 
Just ready.— New (2d) edition. 


Physiology. By Witt1am H. Howe1t, M.D., 
Ph.D. Octavo of 1018 pages, illustrated. $4.00 
net. Fourth edition. 


Elements of Nutrition. By GrAaHAM LuSK, 
Ph.D. Octavo of 402 pages, illustrated. $3.00 
net. Second edition. 


Normal Histology and Organography. By 
CHARLES Hitt, M.D. 12mo of 468 pages, 337 
illustrations. $2.00 net. Second edition. 


Histology. By A. A. Boum, M.D., M. von 
Davivorr, M.D., and G. CARL Huser, M.D. 
Octavo of 528 pages, 337 illustrations. $3.50 
net. Second edition. 


By J. C. HEISLER, M.D. Octavo 
205 illustrations. $3.00 net. 
Third edition. 


American Pocket Medical Dictionary. Edited 
by W. A. NEwMAN DoritanpD, M.D. 610 pages. 
$1.00 net. Seventh edition. 


Embryology. 
of 432 pages; 


Immediate Care of the Injured. By ALBert S. 
Morrow, M.D. Octavo of 360 pages, 242 
illustrations. $2.50 net. Second edition. 


Hygiene. By D. H. Brercry, M.D. Octavo 
of 555 pages, illustrated. $3.00 net. 
Fourth edition. 


Philadelphia and London 


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List 36 (32 pages) describes several sizes 
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Radioactive Measurements, Apparatus for 
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List 37 (4 pages) is devoted to a New 
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List 35 (6 pages) tells of the Hydrody- 
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illustrating various electrical and magnetic 
phenomena. 


All of these lists are of recent date and we 
are prepared to supply copies to interested 
scientists. 


“Please let us know which ones you wish, 
and also state what instrument equipment you 
are interested in so that we may forward full 
data. 


JAMES G. BIDDLE 


Special U.S. Representative 


1211-13 Arch Street 
PHILADELPHIA 


When in Philadelphia be sure to visit our Permanent 
Exhibit of Scientific Apparatus. 


ll SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


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——_—[—_————SSEESES SE 


Frmay, Aucust 1, 1913 


CONTENTS 
The Good Engineering Teacher, his Person- 
ality and Traming: PROFESSOR Wm. T. 
_ MAGRUDER 


Practical Work in Science Teaching: Pro- 
FESSOR DEXTER S. KIMBALL 


The Mining Congress and Exposition in 
Philadelphia 


Memorial to Sir William Logan............. 


Scientific Notes and News 


Unwersity and Educational News 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Word ‘‘Selva’’ in Geographic Litera- 
ture: PRESIDENT J. C. BRANNER. Does a 

' Low Protein Diet produce Racial Inferi- 

. ority: H. H. Mircueny. The Spirit of 
Agricultural Education: A. N. Hume. The 

. Tariff on Books: PROFESSOR ALFRED C. 
DUNN THR Paral Qoysly Nar vemenaresc de tehciepsneveyexerevaisuerete 155 


Scientific Books :— 
' Miller’s Catalogue of the Mammals of 
Western Europe: Dr. J. A. ALLEN. Herms 
on Malaria, its Cause and Control: Dr. 
FREDERICK KNAB 


Special Articles :— 
. The Oriental Cycads in the Field: Pro- 
FESSOR CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN 164 


The Society for the Promotion of Engineer- 
mg Education 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE GOOD ENGINEERING TEACHER, HIS 
PERSONALITY AND TRAINING? 

At the meeting of Section E on Engi- 
neering Education of the World’s Engi- 
neering Congress which was held in Chi- 
cago in 1893 in connection with the World’s 
Columbian Exposition, there were as- 
sembled ‘‘seventy or more’’ engineering 
educators from the United States and eight 
or more foreign countries. This society 
owes its existence to the congress and to 
the thought and labors of Professor Ira O. 
Baker, chairman of the Division Com- 
mittee, and Professor C. Frank Allen, its 
secretary pro tem. Of the seventy charter 
members, twenty-nine have either gone to 
their reward or have withdrawn from the 
society. Only forty-one of the seventy are 
now members of the society. Eleven of the 
living past-presidents are charter mem- 
bers, three became members in 1894, and 
one each in 1895, 1897 and 1902. That was 
twenty years ago. Some of us are no 
longer boys, even if we do feel as young and 
as full of enthusiasm as we did then. If 
time and your patience permitted it, and I 
were able, it would delight me to recall in 
great detail the lives and examples of some 
of the giants in engineering education 
whose successors we are—of the cultured 
Thurston, of that dynamic giant, DeVolson 
Wood, of that inventive genius, Robinson, 
of the courtly Chanute, of the erudite John- 
son, and of the versatile Storm Bull. I 
offer you my congratulations on being al- 
lowed to follow where they have led the 
way. 

But after twenty years of this society’s 


+ Address of the President of the Society for the 
Promotion of Engineering Education. 


138 


existence for the promotion of engineering 
education, at this its twenty-first meeting, 
when our growth betokens that we have 
come to our legal majority, at least in years, 
I desire to lead your minds into the con- 
sideration of what is a good engineering 
teacher and to give you an appreciation of 
his personality, and what he is as I have 
seen him in three score and more of engi- 
neering colleges and technical schools. 
What then is a good teacher? And my 
first answer is that he is one who knows 
enough of his subject to have something to 
impart. I sometimes think the reason men 
from the highest ranks of consulting engi- 
neers so frequently make poor teachers, 
from the point of view of the students, is 
that they know too much, and can not ap- 
preciate the fact that the students are down 
in the basement of the structure whose 
facade they are embellishing with artistic 
points of elegance and efficiency, and that 
the students are crawling on hands and 
knees along the path they are traveling 
with seven-league boots. In order that the 
teacher shall have something to impart, he 
should have had a proper education and 
some training, experience, travel and ob- 
servation, as these are among the necessary 
qualifications for a good teacher. The man 
who has never earned his daily bread in the 
close commercial competition of the fac- 
tory, works or mine, needs to learn one of 
the essential requirements of the success- 
ful engineering teacher, namely, to have 
rubbed elbows with workingmen of the 
artisan type and to have measured himself 
by their standards of knowledge and skill. 
One who has received only the education 
that he is trying to impart, possibly at his 
alma mater, probably in the same room in 
which he received it, who has never cut 
himself loose from his college’s apron 
strings, and who has not taught or worked 
elsewhere, is not likely to make a good 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


teacher until he has been trained in the 
school of experience elsewhere. If gradu- 
ate students should migrate for their best 
good, surely college teachers should do the 
same. In a previous paper before this so- 
ciety I have already referred to one insti- 
tution, almost one hundred per cent. of 
whose teachers in one department are the 
educational offspring of the great mind 
which presided over the department for 
thirty years. Experience of any kind al- 
Ways serves a teacher well, and the more 
he has had of that which pertains to the 
subject that he is teaching, the better it will 
be for him and his students. Travel and 
inspection trips, to learn by observation 
how others are doing the same thing that he 
is expected to do, are extremely broaden- 
ing and take him out of his natural groove. 
It is needless to say that continued reading 
and increase in one’s knowledge of his pro- 
fession is absolutely essential for the ad- 
vancement of the good teacher. 

A good teacher is one who can talk on 
his feet audibly enough to be heard without 
effort and intelligently enough to be under- 
stood without subsequent correction. For, 
if the listener can not hear what is being 
said for his instruction, both parties are 
wasting time which is more or less valuable. 
If the recipient of the instruction continu- 
ously fails to get an intelligent under- 
standing of what has been said, he has no 
right to be in attendance; and, similarly, 
if the teacher continuously fails to give an 
intelligent understanding of what he is 
trying to say, he should be removed and 
not allowed to waste the valuable time of 
the students. A man who can not impart 
his knowledge can not be a good teacher. 
Hence, health, adequate previous rest and 
endurance are essential to the good teacher. 
Few of us, I think, appreciate the difference 
in the instruction given and taken in Sep- 
tember and in May, on Monday and on 


August 1, 1913] 


Friday, after a holiday spent in restful 
occupation and amusements and after an 
entertainment lasting until far past mid- 
night. Some of us occasionally fail to con- 
sider and measure accurately the cash 
value of an hour of a eclass’s time. We 
should be greatly disturbed if in our fac- 
tory the power were needlessly shut off 
during the working hours of the day, or the 
lights went out at night, or the subsistence 
department failed to provide suitable food 
and lodging for our workmen, and we 
would at once discover the causes for this 
industrial inefficiency; but if the class is 
made to wait while a visitor or an assistant 
detains us, we may have little remorse, or 
indeed thought, concerning our academic 
inefficiency. To attend an engineering col- 
lege it costs a student at least one dollar 
per week per credit hour of college work, 
or from sixteen to twenty dollars per week. 
If, therefore, the teacher in a college of 
engineering is absent without a substitute 
from a one-hour class-room engagement, it 
may be causing each of the ten to two hun- 
dred students to spend a dollar in need- 
lessly trying to fulfil his part of the con- 
tract with the institution. The same is true 
of inexcusable latenesses. 

A good teacher is one who has an unim- 
peached and deserved reputation for mental 
honesty, right living, patience under ha- 
rassment and sound character. The engi- 
neering teacher who describes tricks of the 
trade, petty dishonesties, evasions of both 
the spirit and the letter of the law, without 
showing at least his disapproval of them, 
who shuts his eyes to dishonesties in class- 
room and college life, is neither a good 
teacher nor yet a.good citizen. The teacher 
who is a leader in trickery, deceit and 
bluff during the term and who permits stu- 
dents to sit in an examination room so close 
together as to be under constant tempta- 
tion to undesired dishonesty is particeps 


SCIENCE 


139 


crimims to any dereliction of the student 
then, and possibly later. When cheating 
in examinations is made a sine qua non for 
honor and high grades, if not for gradua- 
tion, and when the most skillful compiler 
of invisible ponies and the most successful 
cheater becomes the honor man of the class, 
as I have heard reported in recent trips 
among the colleges, it would seem that an 
old-fashioned course in moral philosophy 
and ethies should be in order for both the 
teachers and the students. We all fail, I 
fear, frequently enough, but we should not 
be forced, or allowed, to fail inordinately. 
Occasionally we hear condonation expressed 
at the human frailties of the teacher, be- 
cause he is considered as a genius in his 
specialty, and on account of his lovable 
qualities. Far be it from me to cast stones 
at my brother man, but I have never been 
able to discover a reason why a drunkard, 
or a libertine, should be tolerated in the 
teaching profession and frowned out of so- 
ciety in other professions and not allowed 
to work where the physical well-being of 
others was involved. Surely the mental 
and the spiritual well-being of our young 
men are paramount to their physical ex- 
istence, 

The one moral trait which seems to be 
most frequently demanded above all others 
from the teacher is that of patience. Some 
of us do not enjoy walking with persons 
who walk slowly or with very short steps, 
and who take a long time to get over very 
little ground. Similarly, we have to go 
equally slowly in expounding a new prob- 
lem to a class, or in drawing out of even 
the average student the principle underly- 
ing the problem in hand, and in causing 
him to think about the subject consecu- 
tively and logically. We have all asked 
ourselves at the end of the hour, ‘‘How 
many in that class really took in the full 
significance of what I was talking about??” 


140 


If this is true with the average class, how 
much more is it so with those members who 
are lazy or are naturally slow in their men- 
tal operations ? 

From the above it follows as a matter of 
course that the good teacher should de- 
serve the respect of his students and his 
colleagues as a man, as a teacher and as an 
engineer. I think it frequently happens 
that the students know our failings and our 
strong points better than we do ourselves, 
or than they are known by our superiors. 
Student criticism may sometimes be unjust 
for want of full and complete information, 
but it must be remembered that the young 
human mind is likely to be as keen in its 
perceptions as is the older mind of the man 
who occupies the other end of the room. 

Another requisite in the good teacher is 
unbounded enthusiasm for and intense loy- 
alty to the work of the teacher and of the 
engineer. We can tolerate the hireling in 
the commercial office and the drafting 
room, and the time-server may have to be 
put up with out on the works and in the 
mine, but the teacher, as a leader of young 
men and as a man who should be looked 
up to with some degree of that kind of re- 
spect which may grow into veneration 
should be so bubbling over with enthusiasm 
that it will be contagious. 

That prince of cultured scientists, Dr. S. 
Weir Mitchell, in giving at the semi-cen- 
tennial celebration of the foundation of the 
National Academy of Sciences some of his 
recollections of the eminent men of science 
whom he had known, told the story of Pro- 
fessor Joseph Leidy’s being asked ‘‘if he 
never got tired of life.’’ ‘‘Tired!’’ he said, 
““Not so long as there is an undescribed in- 
testinal worm, or the riddle of a fossil bone 
or a rhizopod new to me.’’ So, the enthusi- 
astic teacher is never tired, so long as there 
is an intelligent boy to be trained or a 
mind to be developed. The engineer sets 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 970 


in motion the wheels of thousands of ma- 
chines; the successful educator sets in mo- 
tion the wheels of a thousand minds. Such 
a man can always get the work out of his 
students, even if they have to curtail the 
time properly due to some other instructor 
who is less inspiring. The enthusiastic 
teacher never counts the cost to himself of 
his labor for those whom he loves to eall 
“his boys.’’ 

I am of the opinion that our engineering 
colleges are less handicapped than are the 
academic colleges by the services of men 
who are teaching for a year or two either 
while studying for the bar or for holy 
orders, or to enable them to repay the debts 
contracted for their college education by 
the means which will permit the least effort 
during the shortest time. As a rule, the 
eall to work in the bustle of the manufac- 
turing and constructive world is preemi- 
nent in the mind of the engineering gradu- 
ate. He is ready for the fray, and to-day 
he wants to get into it as never before, and 
no waiting until cooler weather or until 
after a summer vacation for him. ‘‘I am 
going to work next Monday,”’ is his battle 
ery on commencement day. The courage 
of youth is beautiful to behold, and his zeal 
is a lesson to his teachers and to those who 
are following him. 

Akin to enthusiasm for his work in the 
good teacher is his inspirational value to 
his students and his colleagues in the fac- 
ulty. The former is the child of youth; 
the latter is the product of age and genius. 
When the teacher begins to lose his en- 
thusiasm, he should begin to think that 
possibly he may be getting old, or else lazy. 
Not infrequently, however, the teacher who 
is devoid of enthusiasm may be of great 
inspirational value. He is the seer. He 
may be even halting in his speech, but by 
his ideas, his skill, or his manner of pre- 
senting the subject he may impress the stu- 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


dent with the greatness of the profession 
that he is studying and lead him on to 
larger visions. Fortunately, the world 
needs both draft horses and speed horses, 
otherwise some of them would have to be 
put out of the way. Similarly, it is a great 
comfort to some of us to think that pos- 
sibly we are doing the work of the world 
for which we are created, even if we are not 
breathing out great ideas at every breath. 
All hail to the man, however, who has ideas 
and can cause others to adopt them, to lift 
the world up and into larger visions, and 
so to do bigger things for the benefit of 
mankind. Great men are not necessarily 
either enthusiastic or yet inspirational, and 
some of the poorest teachers under whom I 
have sat were great men in other lines of 
human endeavor. But I am sure we ean all 
recall some one of our own teachers who 
was both a great man and a good teacher at 
the same time. But, may I not ask, was he 
not a good teacher because he was enthusi- 
astic and inspirational, and had no thought 
of apologizing for being a teacher? The 
man who can never be a good teacher is he 
who is ashamed of his job, for to him it is 
most likely to be only the line of least effort 
to the pay-check. 

The good teacher is he who has felt the 
thrill of having been called to the upbuild- 
ing of character in others, who day by day 
sees the unfolding of the innermost life of 
his fellow citizen, who has a life of service 
to live and enjoy, and who deals with hu- 
man minds in the laboratory of life; for, 
after all, is not education only scientific 
research applied to character? Just as we 
go to the physician for improvement of the 
body, and to the priest for the betterment 
of the human soul, so we should go to the 
good teacher for the training in character 
which the young all need in different de- 
grees. One of the inspiring sights of the 
college year and the one which always gives 


SCIENCE 


141 


me a genuine thrill of happiness is on com- 
mencement day to look over the sea of up- 
turned faces of men and women who have 
just been graduated and feel that we have 
been in some small degree a party to their 
training and responsible for their future 
success in the battle of life and in the part 
that they will hereafter play, for weal or for 
woe, as our fellow citizens in this republic. 
In their promise of success is our joy and 
reward for a year of hard work. But for 
the joy of service, some of us would not be 
willing parties to what the governor of 
Ohio recently described as ‘‘the scandal of 
low salaries paid to college professors.’’ I 
sometimes think that school boards and 
trustees occasionally take advantage of the 
idealism of the teacher to get his services 
below the proper market rate; and this is 
especially true of engineering teachers who 
in most cases can, and sometimes do, earn 
more money from their clients during a 
part of the year than they receive from 
their professorship during the major por- 
tion of the year. All the pay of the good 
teacher does not come inside the pay en- 
velope. Much of it comes in that inward 
consciousness of work well done in the 
training for citizenship, for that efficiency 
which will prevent poverty, for success in 
whatever wall of life may be followed, and 
finally for the larger life here and _ here- 
after. Some one has defined the profes- 
sional class as the one that has no leisure, 
as instanced by the minister, the physician 
and the lawyer. Judged by that standard, 
we, as teachers, belong to the professional 
class. 

Probably some of you have been wonder- 
ing why I have not as yet said anything 
about the good engineering teacher being 
above all other things a good engineer. 
That goes almost without saying in this 
presence, provided you mean the best 
teacher. The engineering teacher who has 


142 


never practised anything that he has 
taught, who has never seen built anything 
that he has designed, who has never pre- 
pared for an elaborate test of some plant 
or machine and found that he had foreseen 
all the various requirements in the way of 
labor, apparatus and equipment, even to 
the board and lodging of himself and his 
assistants, can not expect to be considered 
as yet a really good engineering teacher. 
However, it must be remembered that as 
this is an educational society, and not an 
engineering or a technical society, as Dean 
Charles H. Benjamin has so aptly put it, 
so it must be remembered that the colleges 
need men who to be teachers must be first 
able to impart their knowledge, draw out 
from their students all that is in them, and 
cultivate in them the habits of correct 
thinking, clear vision, active imagination, 
sound reasoning powers, and good judg- 
ment; and because they possess these 
things themselves and can train others in 
them, they are therefore fit to be counted 
among the good teachers. It is for these 
reasons that good engineering teachers are 
said to be more difficult to find than are 
good teachers of other subjects. 

A good engineering teacher must know 
what engineering really is. He must have 
clearly defined ideas on what are the dis- 
tinguishing features of engineering, tech- 
nical, manual training, trade school and 
industrial educations. He must have no 
half-hearted ideas as to where the engi- 
neering trades stop and where the profes- 
sion begins. He must not be afraid to get 
out into the deep water of the profession 
of engineering. He must not believe that 
the proper engineering education is strictly 
utilitarian and vocational, and not one bit 
cultural. He must look between the folds 
of the ancient armor of his colleague in 
the college of arts of his institution, and 
discover that the scientific spirit has largely 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


superseded the literary spirit even in such 
subjects as Latin, Greek and the modern 
languages; that in fact in the work of some 
language teachers there is more of science 
than of language; that the so-called liter- 
ary colleges are training men for vocations 
just as truly as are our colleges of engi- 
neering, law and medicine; that while the 
old-time classical colleges used to train men 
to be gentlemen, their successors in the edu- 
cational world train men for journalism, 
insurance, politics, trade and business, as 
well as for education, the law and the min- 
istry as heretofore. We engineers think 
that they are to be congratulated, in that 
they have enlarged their system of educa- 
tion and no longer make it so general as to 
fit the student for nothing in particular 
and so non-technical as to be useless except 
as a preparation for one of the professions. 

““No know the best that has been thought 
and said in the world’’ is what Matthew 
Arnold calls culture. To the engineer, 
this is not the fullness of culture, but the 
rather to know the best that other men 
have thought, and said, and done. Hven 
this is only half of the full duty of a ecul- 
tured engineer. He should not only know 
the best that others have thought, and said, 
and done, but he should, as far as he may 
be mentally able, have contributed to the 
thought, and writings, and doings of the 
world. The engineering, above all other 
professions, demands that its members shall 
not be solely scholars, nor yet students of 
unsolved problems, but they shall have 
solved some of the problems which have 
pressed upon civilization for solution. 
Engineering teachers should be not schol- 
ars solely, nor yet students only, but pio- 
neers and creators in the work of civiliza- 
tion. The first live in the spiritual palace 
called a library, where time, memory and 
the receptive faculties are alone required. 
The student lives in the laboratory where 


Auveust 1, 1913] 


the powers of observation are developed, 
logic reigns and laws are discovered. The 
successful engineer lives on the frontier of 
civilization, on the firing line of human 
endeavor, where those material problems 
have to be solved that have been set for the 
ages, and where the art of creation is wed- 
ded to the science of industry. The scholar 
deals with the past. The student lives in 
the present. The engineer looks into the 
future and solves its problems. 

To be a good engineering teacher, one 
must be something of a scholar, student 
and creator and, highest of all, an educator 
capable of leading others to be the same. 
Such men are necessarily scarce, and while 
their financial rewards may be small, the 
satisfaction that they very properly get 
from their work transcends all their many 
self denials and enables them to hold their 
heads up with the world’s best people. 

This society was formed for the promo- 
tion of the kind of education which has 
been described. This is its twenty-first an- 
nual meeting. It may be now said to be 
of age. In closing this address I desire to 
leave with the next program committee and 
the incoming officers just two suggestions 
with the hope that they may be possible of 
adoption. 

Let the program next year include a 
rousing session on ‘‘EHducation as a Sci- 
ence, rather than as an Art.’’ Those of 
you who are familiar with the proceedings 
of the society know that we have had the 
subject of education considered as an art 
dealt with from many points of view. 
Until this meeting, little, if anything, has 
been done to consider the rationale and 
science of our chosen profession of educa- 
tion. Let the best minds in the educa- 
tional world tell us, and in a practical way, 
all that time will permit concerning the 
science of education, ineluding its psychol- 
ogy as applied to engineering education. 


SCIENCE 


143 


Schools of salesmanship have their special 
courses in the psychology of their chosen 
vocation; but did any one ever hear of a 
course in psychology being demanded as a 
part of the necessary training required for 
the engineering teacher? As training and 
instruction in the normal school are re- 
quired of grammar-school teachers, and as 
graduation from a college of arts or of 
education is expected or demanded from 
the would-be high-school teacher, and since 
successful courses are given in our colleges 
of education on how to teach mathematics, 
chemistry and physics, surely courses are 
needed on how to teach the applications of 
these subjects. Hence I claim that some 
professional training in education should 
be required of the man who desires to 
impart his knowledge and to train young 
men for the practise of the engineering 
profession. We are engineering educators. 
Why should we be required to possess much 
professional knowledge and training in 
engineering and none in education? 

And this leads me to my last suggestion, 
which is that the faculties of some of those 
universities which maintain colleges both 
of engineering and of education should 
offer in their summer terms strong courses 
of study in psychology and in education 
considered both as a science and as an art. 
These should be conducted by their most 
virile and experienced men, and college 
presidents, deans and heads of departments 
should be requested to influence their 
younger assistants and fresh graduates 
who expect to go permanently into the 
work of education to take these proposed 
courses of study in the summer term in 
preparation for their work in the college 
of engineering in the succeeding year. If 
this is done, more engineering teachers will 
become engineering educators. 


Wo. T. MacrupEr 
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 


144 


PRACTICAL WORK IN SCIENCE TEACHING 


Most of us, and particularly those who are 
interested in teaching some one special branch 
of learning, are likely to forget that the great 
aim of all educational processes is to uplift 
and benefit humanity; and are likely to hold 
an exaggerated opinion of the value of our 
special branch in the general scheme of educa- 
tion. This view is perhaps natural and justi- 
fiable, since without it enthusiasm could not 
exist and teaching would lose much of its 
pleasure. The breaking away from the older 
forms of stereotyped abstract forms of educa- 
tion where a somewhat narrow point of view 
was so long held came in response to a de- 
mand that men be free to study all forms of 
natural phenomena living or lifeless and to 
draw therefrom spiritual inspiration or bodily 
sustenance as might be available. This move- 
ment was greatly aided and hastened by the 
fact that the conclusions drawn from the 
study of natural phenomena were of direct use 
in industry. They were to a large extent, and 
are still, the result of industrial demands and 
in so far as they answer these demands they 
have been of tremendous assistance in af- 
fording better support to human life, which 
after all is the great central problem. In 
later years this movement has been further 
strengthened by the discovery that the study 
of natural phenomena led to a certain form 
of mental training that afforded a powerful 
means of attacking abstract problems. The 
term “scientific method” has come to mean 
a somewhat definite way of approaching the 
solution of all problems as opposed to older 
and so-called empirical methods. And at the 
same time it has appeared that this same 
study of things mundane, if properly con- 
ducted, actually bestowed upon the student 
thereof a certain amount of general or liberal 
training, greater perhaps than the adherents 
of the old school would admit, and less per- 
haps than the more ardent advocates of the 
new methods usually claim. 

From time to time we are warned by educa- 
tional reformers that education to be effective 
must be kept close to the ground, and must 
draw its inspiration from the life of the com- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XX XVIII. No. 970 


munity it tries to serve. Education is life 
and not merely preparation for life, and all 
forms of educational effort that ultimately 
survive will be those that in some way throw 
light on the current problems of existence. 
That this is so can not be doubted by any one 
that has noted the changed point of view of 
many of the older forms of educational effort. 
History is no longer a mere chronological 
record of kings and battles, but is rapidly 
being vitalized into a lesson for the future by 
analyzing the records of the past; and the 
classics themselves will not reach their highest 
development and usefulness till they are inter- 
preted by their sponsors, not as the dry and 
dusty records of past ages, but as vital lessons 
in the mainsprings of human thought and 
action. In no document that I know of has 
this point of view been so clearly and con- 
cisely expressed as in the Morrill act. the 
foundation of our state colleges of agriculture 
and the mechanic arts, which states that “the 
leading object of these colleges shall be, with- 
out excluding other scientific and classical 
studies and including military tactics, to teach 
such branches of learning as are related to 
agriculture and the mechanic arts in such 
manner as the legislatures of the states may 
respectively prescribe in order to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the indus- 
trial classes in the several pursuits and pro- 
fessions of life.’ Truly this document may 
well be called our declaration of educational 
independence and is worthy of the careful 
perusal of every teacher. 

In the general truth and expediency of these 
principles most of us are fully agreed. In 
fact in these days when industry is the idol, 
not only of our own, but of all other progres- 
sive nations, they hardly admit of argument. 
The teaching of so-called practical courses 
holds an assured place. But apparently the 
influence of heredity runs strong in our veins, 
and no sooner do we lift the study of a prac- 
tical subject from the realm of empiricism to 
a scientific basis, than we begin to codify, 
classify and tabulate its scientific basis, math- 
ematically, chemically and physically. This 
is a natural and correct thing to do, as it is 


Avausr 1, 1913] 


the most accurate and most convenient way 
to express and record the principles of the 
phenomena that we have studied. It is also 
the best way in which these principles can be 
expressed to be of service in future investiga- 
tions and to scientific men generally. But in 
our enthusiasm over our specialty we are 
prone to forget some of the foregoing prin- 
ciples. We are likely to forget that men 
come in different sizes and grow to different 
heights; we may forget that the requirements 
and capabilities of the scientist and the plain 
every-day man are vastly different in char- 
acter, though perhaps not so different in 
degree. As a matter of fact, our public school 
system is founded on the supposition that all 
men are born equal in opportunity as well as 
in an intellectual sense, which is far from 
being a reality. The result is that most of 
our educational processes tend to grow away 
from industry and the soil and the prepara- 
tion of those that are to labor in the more 
humble callings and to take cognizance only 
of those who are, presumably, to occupy the 
higher positions. No thinking man can doubt 
the supreme importance of training leaders; 
it is hardly a debatable question. But in so 
doing we should not forget that in these days 
intelligent leadership is useless or at least 
greatly handicapped without intelligent fol- 
lowers; and our educational methods should 
take cognizance of all kinds of men, keeping 
in mind that the vast majority of these will 
always be found in the ranks of the followers. 

So there has lately grown up a sentiment 
that our science teaching is drifting away 
from the close contact it should have with 
life and democratic education. We are con- 
fronted with the strange charge that our sci- 
ence courses, formerly looked upon by the 
classical scholar as the very essence of things 
practical, are no longer practical. We are 
told that they are neither life itself nor prepa- 
ration for life. We are told that just as the 
older educational methods erred in supposing 
that the repeating of words and the observ- 
ance of forms produced educated men, so we 
are likely to mistake the shadow for the sub- 
stance in expecting to send out men trained 


SCIENCE 


145 


in the scientific method and filled with the 
scientific spirit simply because they have 
worked over and perhaps memorized certain 
standard forms of mathematically expressed 
scientific laws. In other words, we are 
charged with transferring the error of the 
older methods to new fields, and the cry has 
gone forth that science teaching must be again 
vitalized, that it must be made more practical 
and brought back close to the industries 
whence modern science sprung. Most of us 
will admit freely that there is some truth in 
these assertions, particularly as regards the 
failure of our highly developed science courses 
to take cognizance of the needs of the great 
mass of men and women who go no further in 
academic work than the end of the high school 
course. The majority of them do not engage 
in callings where expert scientific knowledge 
is an essential. Yet all should have some sci- 
entific training, first to acquire, if possible, the 
scientific method of attack, because this is the 
weapon with which we have made ourselves 
masters of physical things, and second that 
they may be reasonably intelligent regarding 
the natural phenomena that surround them on 
every hand with ever increasing complexity. 
There is no doubt that high school science can 
be made more effective for the great mass of 
the people by making it somewhat less formal, 
and bringing it closer to the lives of the plain 
people. 

But before we proceed far with our reforma- 
tion it may be well to define first just what we 
mean by practical scientific education. Do we 
mean (1) the giving simply of descriptive in- 
formation and explanations of every-day phe- 
nomena; or do we mean (2) the using of these 
every-day phenomena to interest the student in 
rediscovering the laws that underlie them; or 
again do we mean (8) the application of these 
rediscovered principles, formally expressed, to 
practical every-day problems in sufficient de- 
gree to secure to the student ability to handle 
the formal mathematical statement of these 
principles in an easy and confident manner. 

A very cursory examination of college and 
high school curricula will show that all three 
of these progressive steps are in common use. 


146 


I have in mind a certain course given in a cer- 
tain college, that shall be nameless, that is 
strictly of the first kind. It is eminently 
practical and I believe it is as eminently use- 
less as far as mental development is con- 
cerned. 

This interpretation of practical education 
is common and the inadequateness of this 
form of instruction taken by itself is so glar- 
ing when compared with some of the old and 
much-maligned classical methods as to make 
one pause and wonder. Yet there are, as we 
shall see, places in our educational structure 
where such courses are not only desirable but 
necessary. The error comes in assuming that 
they are sufficient unto themselves as educa- 
tional tools. 

The second interpretation forms the basis of 
the arguments presented by some of those who 
would reform our high school science teaching. 
The claim is made, and with good reason, that 
the interest of the student is much more read- 
ily secured through familiar visualized phys- 
ical phenomena than through the abstract 
mathematical statements of the underlying 
principles. Once his attention and interest are 
secured, it is easy to lead him to investigate 
and rediscover these laws, thereby acquiring a 
general knowledge of the phenomena and also 
the scientific method of approach which should 
be of use in attacking the many other prob- 
lems of his life. Or, as Professor Mann* has 
expressed it, the present order of procedure is 
usually: principle, demonstration, exemplifi- 
cation in laboratory, application; while the 
newer ideas would make the order: applica- 
tion, problem, solution in the laboratory, prin- 
ciple. Professor Mann’s reasoning for this 
order is based on his definition of the benefits 
to be derived from the study of physics (and 
the same argument holds for all other funda- 
mental sciences). These benefits he says are of 
two kinds; they consist of (1) useful knowledge 
of physical phenomena; (2) discipline in the 
methods of acquiring this useful knowledge. 
No fault can be found with this statement as 
far as it goes and, as will be shown, there are 
parts of our educational structure where this 

1<¢The Teaching of Physics,’’ p. 213. 


SCIENCE 


[N.8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


form of instruction, like the former one, is not 
only justifiable but sufficient. The error again 
is in assuming that this order of procedure 
forms an educational basis sufficient for all 
men and all forms of study. Let us see where 
this reasoning will carry us. 

As this writer himself points out, knowledge 
of physical phenomena and discipline in ac- 
quiring it may be either specific or general, 
and specific knowledge and training acquired 
by studying some special field becomes more 
and more useful as it becomes more and more 
general by being used and interwoven with a 
wide range of experience. This is true not 
only of scientific studies, but of all forms of 
educational effort. Let us then apply this new 
theory to the teaching of some simple funda- 
mentals such as reading and spelling, where, 
incidentally, the method of approach advocated 
is already well developed. By means of the 
common objects of the child’s environment he 
soon is taught the principles of reading and 
spelling and may acquire not only much in- 
formation regarding these objects, but a con- 
siderable mental development in attack, with 
a considerable knowledge of the principles in- 
volved in reading and spelling. But he is still 
a long way from being able to either read or 
spell even after these principles have been 
made evident to him. He must now apply 
these principles long and tediously before he 
can master this fundamental study. This is 
even more marked in mathematics. Approach 
through applications, demonstrations and in- 
vestigation to secure data, and the discovery 
of the principles involved are not sufficient. 
To use these principles freely requires long 
and close application of them, and while this 
labor may be made more interesting by using 
practical problems, there is a quantitative ele- 
ment that can not be overlooked. This is very 
clearly instanced in the case of factoring in 
algebra. Many cases of a similar kind may be 
cited even when the processes are manual 
in their character. It is easy, for example, to 
approach the making of good letters and fig- 
ures through the making of mechanical draw- 
ings of some familiar object that the student 
is interested in. But even after the student 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


sees the application and need of good letters 
and figures, and even after he has had the 
theory of any good system of lettering care- 
fully expounded, he will never make good char- 
acters till he has toilsomely applied that theory 
many, many times. Again we may awaken the 
interest of the student in, say, the art of plan- 
ing wood with a hand plane by showing first 
the principles of power planing machines and 
then the construction and principles of hand 
planes. But he will never master the use of 
the instrument except through persistent and 
often toilsome effort, even though that effort 
be made interesting by application to practical 
problems. And the general principle is true of 
all fundamental work, mental or manual, that 
the student expects to build upon for the future. 
There is a tremendous difference between 
knowing a lot about general physical phe- 
nomena with the methods of finding the prin- 
ciples involved, and the power to use the 
formal statements of these principles in at- 
tacking other problems. And while, as before 
stated, it may sometimes be desirable and sufii- 
cient to stop at the end of the first or second 
stage noted above, care must be exercised that 
this is not done in any subject where the accu- 
rate and confident use of the formal principles 
rediscovered are essential to future progress. 
Evidently this applies to the teaching of all 
elementary fundamental subjects, but the di- 
viding line may perhaps be made more clear 
by studying the problems presented in so-called 
industrial education, which is very likely to be 
effected by this new movement. 

Aside from inherent ability and general or 
liberal knowledge the accomplishments that 
industrial workers must possess are of three 
kinds: (1) Manual skill; (2) industrial or 
manufacturing knowledge; (8) scientific 
knowledge and the ability to wse it. The first 
is self-explanatory. The second refers to the 
knowledge of shop processes and methods of 
manufacturing and the finance and economics 
of production. The first two may be partially 
acquired in schools, but as a general principle 
their full attainment must be acquired in the 
atmosphere of the shop or factory. The third 
refers to the knowledge of the natural scien- 


SCIENCE 


147 


tifie laws that may, in general, be acquired 
from books better than from actual shop work. 
Now the position which an industrial worker 
may occupy is governed by the relative amount 
of these three accomplishments that he may 
possess. Thus a good tool-maker must possess 
a certain amount of scientific knowledge and 
must possess a maximum of manual skill. 
The shop manager must possess a certain 
amount of scientific background but must be 
highly informed regarding manufacturing 
methods. The engineer must have some man- 
ual skill and shop knowledge and must be well 
grounded in scientific principles and their ap- 
plication. It is important to note that he 
must not only have a general knowledge of the 
scientific phenomena on which his work is 
based, but he must be able to anply their for- 
mal mathematical expressions freely and ac- 
curately. Superficial knowledge is not enough. 
In his most highly developed form the engi- 
neer must pass out of the realm of visualized 
principles and reason with abstruse, abstract 
scientific phenomena far removed at times 
from the practical. The ability to do this re- 
quires not only a full knowledge of principles 
but an ability to use them that can come only 
from long and persistent practise. And it is 
to be especially noted that the foundation of 
this ability must be laid in the school. Time 
was when a bright man could easily acquire 
in the shop the scientific background required 
for any engineering work. The complexity of 
modern engineering has, however, changed all 
this and the man who is to rise to any height 
in the field must in general acquire this scien- 
tifie background before he enters it. Men 
seldom add to their scientific base line after 
leaving school, and the height to which they 
rise along scientific lines is measured almost 
absolutely by the amount of solid scientific 
training they take away from the school. This 
is not dogma, but history, and can be easily 
verified by any one. It is particularly true of 
the electrical engineer and similar industrial 
workers in the higher levels of industry. 

But all the courses offered to the embryo 
electrical engineer need not be of the search- 
ing character indicated by the above. Thus 


148 


his principal work in life may be “ buttressed ” 
and made more effective by a course in steam 
engineering, for instance, that goes no further 
than the second stage mentioned above. It is 
sufficient if he knows the forms of steam appa- 
ratus and the general principles underlying 
their construction without ever applying these 
principles to design or investigation. On the 
other hand, the steam engineer and civil engi- 
neer are rounded out and their work made 
more effective by a course in the forms and 
characteristics of electrical machinery with- 
out going into the rigid application of the 
fundamental principles involved. It thus ap- 
pears that we may with good logic stop at 
either the first or descriptive stage or at the 
end of the second or experimental stage of a 
given line of instruction, provided we properly 
interpret the effect; but for fullest mental de- 
velopment and ability to make practical use 
of the theory involved the process must be 
continued through the phase of thorough 
mathematical application. 

What is true of the college is true also of 
the secondary school. When we have fully 
developed our secondary school system we shall 
have several, if not many kinds of such schools. 
The preparation of the few going to engineer- 
ing colleges will be conducted more and more 
along the lines of general or humanistic 
studies. They will study fewer courses and 
will study them more thoroughly. For the 
many going out into the world from the high 
school we shall have, as before stated, several 
kinds of schools all with vocational direction 
and some of them plain trade schools. Each 
one of these schools will have a central course 
or courses carried as far as possible through 
the third stage, and these central courses will 
be strengthened and buttressed by other prac- 
tical or scientific courses that will be stopped 
not later than the end of the second stage. 
Some of these central courses will be very 
practical and some more mathematically sci- 
entific than we may perhaps imagine. For 
industry tends to become more scientific and 
as a consequence more mathematical. If one 
doubts this he should look carefully into the 
mathematical work inyolved in reducing to 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


workable form, Mr. W. F. Taylor’s’ experi- 
ments in the very practical study of the laws 
underlying the cutting of metals. It required 
high mathematical attainment to solve what 
might seem at first to be a simple prac- 
tical problem, and to-day many workmen in this 
country are doing such extremely practical 
work as setting the cutting speeds and feeds 
of machine tools by means of slide-rules the 
mathematical basis of which is far beyond 
their conception. And these same general ob- 
servations and principles will apply through- 
out the entire range of vocational education. 
This, I believe, is the true interpretation of 
this new movement. 

There is a place for courses much more prac- 
tical and more attractive to the student than 
those built solely along mathematical lines. 
But do not let us delude ourselves that this idea 
constitutes a complete new educational scheme. 
In this connection it is well for us to remember 
the history of some of the educational reform 
movements we have already witnessed. When 
we tore away from the old classical form of 
education it was firmly believed that we could 
build up an educational edifice that would 
give as good, if not better results, not only as 
regards mental development, but as regards 
general training and outlook on life. It is 
interesting to note that the engineering col- 
leges, that have benefited by this separation as 
much if not more than any other form of edu- 
cational activity, long ago realized that we can 
not profitably throw away human experience 
and have already begun to swing back and 
more and more to build their work on the hu- 
manities as a sure foundation. When the 
broadly elective system was brought forward 
it was heralded as the final solution of educa- 
tional problems, but already we have evalu- 
ated its influence and adopted it partially, 
only, in the form of elective groups of study. 
And so this new movement in science teaching 
can not disregard human experience. No 
power of concentration and no mental develop- 
ment worth while can ever come. about ex- 
cept by hard and unremitting toil. We may 

2See Trans. American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, Vol. 28. 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


sweeten the dose, but to be fully effective the 
student must swallow it all, including the rig- 
orous drill that can come only from the many 
applications that must be made before the 
benefit becomes an integral part of his per- 
sonality. 

And I am not so sure that we may not 
do some harm by oversweetening the dose. 
The theory that there is no pleasure in ab- 
stract mental effort is in my opinion more or 
less of a fallacy. There is a certain satisfac- 
tion that comes from successful effort, whether 
the work accomplished be abstract or prac- 
tical. Students are naturally more interested 
in practical than in theoretical matters, and a 
teacher lacking in inspiration can very well 
help his work by a careful choice of illustra- 
tions. But to the student who sits under a 
teacher whose instruction is illuminated by 
the “divine spark ” all things are interesting, 
whether they be music or logarithms. Let us 
not confuse mechanism with inspiration. Fur- 
thermore, it is a good thing for boys and girls 
to be compelled to do a certain amount of un- 
interesting if not unpleasant work. The 
duties of life are not, on the whole, entirely 
pleasant; and since proficiency in overcoming 
obstacles is obtained only by overcoming a few, 
perhaps a little uninteresting work is a good 
thing, after all. Huxley says, “the best way to 
learn how to do a thing is by doing something 
as near like it as possible, but under easier 
and simpler conditions.” There is no royal 
road to learning; and if the three R’s are the 
basis of our educational methods, so the way of 
mastering them and attaining the mental 
heights their mastery leads to lies through the 
three T’s. No high mental development ever 
has or ever will be accomplished without a lib- 
eral application of toil, trouble and tears. 

Dexter S. KIMBALL 

January 17, 1913 


THE MINING CONGRESS AND EXPOSITION 
IN PHILADELPHIA 
MANUFACTURERS of mining machinery, rescue 
and first-aid apparatus and safety appliances 
are to be given an opportunity to display their 
wares before the mining men of the country at 


SCIENCE 


149 


an industrial exposition to be held under the 
auspices of the American Mining Congress, 
in Philadelphia, Pa., during the week of Octo- 
ber 20. y 

This exposition, the first of its kind in this 
country, will be held in conjunction with the 
annual convention of the Mining Congress. 
It will be national in scope, the metal mining 
interests of the west to be as fully represented 
as the coal mining of the east. There is a 
tentative plan to have a gold mining camp in 
full operation with a mill crushing the ore. 
Horticultural Hall, situated in the heart of 
the city, has been engaged for the occasion. 

While the plans are still in embryo, a num- 
ber of the leading manufacturers have already 
been approached and have shown sufficient in- 
terest to lead to the belief that all the space 
will be taken. 

A number of the large coal companies that 
have developed the “safety first”? movement 
at their mines are arranging for space to show 
the mining men and the public what they are 
doing in behalf of their men. These com- 
panies will send rescue and first-aid crews and 
there is talk of exhibition drills between the 
various crews. The U. S. Bureau of Mines 
will be represented by one of its safety cars 
and a picked crew of helmet men. The state 
of Illinois and a number of the anthracite 
companies may send rescue cars for exhibition 
purposes. 

The convention is the first to include all the 
mining interests of the country and an at- 
tempt is to be made to show the need of a 
stronger national organization that will repre- 
sent all phases of the industry. Perhaps the 
leading topic of the convention will be the new 
system of mine taxation recently put in opera- 
tion in some states and being discussed in 
others at the present time. It is expected that 
a definite policy toward Alaska from congress 
will be asked. 

The smelter fume problem will be discussed 
with the hope that an amicable adjustment. 
may be reached soon. California has, at the 
present time, two commissions considering this 
problem and Montana, one. 

The disposal of debris from placer mining is 


150 


another question that will be discussed by 
western men. They will declare that the 
placer mining industry of California has been 
nearly wiped out through drastic rules and 
regulations, some of them imposed by the U. 8S. 
government. At the present time the debris 
question is in charge of a commission of the 
United States army engineers and it is claimed 
that while they zealously watch the interests 
of the farmers, they know nothing about the 
mining problem. A demand may be made for 
the inclusion of a mining engineer on this 
board to see that the interests of the mines are 
protected. 

The coal men of the east will be mostly 
interested in two problems, the “ safety first ” 
movement and the conservation of the coal 
lands adjacent to the great eastern industrial 
centers. This latter, it is said, has become a 
question of most serious moment. It is fully 
realized by the eastern men that their coal 
fields are being used up at a tremendous rate 
and that when these coals are gone, it will be 
useless to think of getting coal from the west, 
for the commercial prosperity of the east de- 
pends upon a supply of coal at reasonable price 
‘and transportation charges from the west 
would be too great. 

The proposed system of leasing mineral 
lands will also come up for extended discus- 
sion. The fact that the federal government 
some time ago leased coal lands in Wyoming 
to a coal company, thus making the entering 
wedge in this system of disposing of the gov- 
ernment’s mineral lands, will undoubtedly call 
for comment. Then there is the proposal for 
the revision of all the mining laws of the 
country. A great many mining men are of 
the opinion that the laws are antiquated and 
cumbersome, imposing hardship upon every 
one who has to deal with them. 


MEMORIAL TO SIR WILLIAM LOGAN 


On July 16, in the little fishing village of 
Percé, on the Quebec shore of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, a memorial was unveiled to Sir 
William Edmond Logan, Kt., LL.D., F.R.S., 
founder and first director of the Geological 
Survey of Canada. The day selected for this 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


interesting event was the occasion of the visit 
of seventy members of the International Geo- 
logical Congress to the Gaspé country and the 
memorial was erected by the Congress to com- 
memorate the important official services of Sir 
William Logan which began in Gaspé in 1842. 
Though the day had been set apart for the 
exploration of the picturesque and involved 
geology of Percé, a half hour was appropriately 
devoted to the ceremony of effectively remind- 
ing the visitors who it was that first lifted the 
veil from the geological problems of Gaspé. 
The memorial is a bronze slab bearing a strong 
and effective medallion portrait of Sir William 
accompanied by a suitable inscription and is 
the highly artistic work of Mr. Henri Hébert, 
of Montreal. It has been attached to the face 
of a natural rock wall in the heart of Percé 
village. At the unveiling ceremony suitable 
addresses were made by Dr. A. E. Barlow, 
chairman of the Logan Memorial Committee, 
and by Dr. John M. Clarke. As a further ex- 
pression of their desire to establish the mem- 
ory of Logan and his work in Gaspé, and to 
acknowledge their appreciation of the extra- 
ordinary attractions of Percé, the committee 
contemplates acquiring the land about the 
present memorial in order to present it to the 
town as a public park. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue Kelvin Memorial window in West- 
minster Abbey was dedicated on July 15. The 
dean of Westminster made the address and 
the ceremonies were attended by many dis- 
tinguished scientific men. The window, 
which was designed by Mr. J. N. Comper, is 
in the east bay of the nave on the north side. 
The light from it falls upon the graves of 
Kelvin and Isaac Newton, and immediately 
beneath it are the graves of Darwin and 
Herschel. 

A COMMITTEE has been formed to erect a 
memorial in honor of the late Sir William 
White, the distinguished naval architect, at 
the time of his death president of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 


ForMer students of Ralph S. Tarr, of Cor- 
nell University, wish to place on the campus 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


a permanent memorial of his work. They 
have thought that a suitable memorial would 
be a boulder carved so as to form a seat and 
bearing an inscription. If a boulder is found 
that can be brought to the campus it will 
probably be placed on the brow of the hill 
near McGraw Hall, where Professor Tarr 
taught physical geology for twenty years. 


Lorp AveBury has bequeathed one thousand 
pounds to the University of London to found 
a prize in mathematics or astronomy in mem- 
ory of his father, Sir John William Lubbock, 
first vice-chancellor of the university. 


A NUMBER of the friends of the late Samuel 
Franklin Emmons have presented to Colum- 
bia University a memorial fund for the en- 
dowment of the “Emmons Geological Fellow- 
ship,” the purpose being to continue, through 
investigations and publications, the scientific 
research carried on by Mr. Emmons during 
his lifetime, more particularly in the field of 
economic geology. The fellowship will be 
awarded from time to time to graduates of 
any college or university who show excep- 
tional capacity, by a committee consisting of 
Professor James F. Kemp, professor of geol- 
ogy in Columbia University; Professor John 
D. Irving, of the Sheffield Scientific School, 
Yale University, and Professor Waldemar 
Lindgren, of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. The recipient will be at liberty 
to travel and to conduct his investigations 
either in this country or abroad. 


By the will of the Rey. L. C. Chamberlain, 
who died at Pasadena, Cal., on May 9, $25,- 
000 is bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion for its mineralogical collections, and 
$10,000 for its collection of mollusks. There 
was also bequeathed $5,000 to the Academy of 
Natural Sciences in Philadelphia for increas- 
ing and maintaining the Isaac Lea collection 
of Eocene fossils. These bequests were made 
for the benefit of the scientific work in which 
Isaac Lea was interested, Mrs. Chamberlain 
having been the daughter of Isaac Lea and 
having inherited the money from him. Mr. 
Chamberlain also bequeathed $100,000 and his 


SCIENCE 


151 


residual estate to the Thessalonica Agricul- 
tural and Industrial Institute, Turkey. 


Amone the degrees conferred by the Univer- 
sity of Michigan at its recent commencement 
was the degree of doctor of laws on Dr. John 
Dewey, professor of philosophy at Columbia 
University, and the degree of doctor of science 
on Dr. Ludwig Hektoen, professor of pathol- 
ogy at the University of Chicago; on Dr. 
Lafayette B. Mendel, professor of physiolog- 
ical chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale University, and on Dr. Armin 
O. Leuschner, professor of astronomy and 
dean of the graduate school of the University 
of California. 


St. AnprEws University has conferred its 
doctorate of laws on Dr. G. A. Boulenger, of 
the natural history department of the British 
Museum. 


Dr. Harry C. Jones, professor of physical 
chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University, 
has been awarded the Edward Longstreth 
medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadel- 
phia for his work on the nature of solutions. 

ProFessoR VON WASSERMANN has been ap- 
pointed head of the newly-established Kaiser 
Wilhelm Institute for Experimental Thera- 
peutics, one of the laboratories founded by 
the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Scientific 
Research. 


Mr. C. W. Mason, of Wye, England, and 
Mr. Donald McGregor, of Oxford, have been 
appointed Carnegie scholars in entomology 
under the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. 
Mr. Mason arrived in the United States early 
in July and is now studying at the laboratory 
of parasitology of the Bureau of Entomology 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture at 
Melrose Highlands, Mass. He will study in 
this country for one year. Mr. McGregor 
will arrive in New York soon and will prob- 
ably join Mr. Mason at Melrose Highlands. 

In accordance with the decision of the 
council of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, Dr. Robert M. 
Ogden, of the University of Tennessee, has 
been appointed by the committee in charge of 
making the selection of the temporary asso- 


152 


ciate secretary of the American Association 
to further the interests of the association in 
the south and to promote the meeting to be 
held next winter at Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. 
Ogden will enter upon his duties the first of 
next October. 


Mr. F. P. Gutuiver, as geographer of the 
Chestnut Tree Blight Commission of Pennsyl- 
vania, is studying the relation of soil and 
climate to the growth of chestnut trees and 
the spread of the blight. 


Me. O. E. Jennines, of the Carnegie Mu- 
seum, Pittsburgh, is engaged in a botanical ex- 
pedition to the north of Lake Superior to 
study the ecological distribution of plants. 


Proressor W. M. Davis, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, delivered two lectures before the stu- 
dents in geology and geography at the summer 
session of Columbia University, on ‘“ The 
Mountains of the Great Basin” and “ Princi- 
ples of Geographical Descriptions.” Professor 
G. A. J. Cole, director of the Geological Sur- 
vey of Ireland, addressed them on “ Ireland, 
the Outpost of Europe.” 


Director Cuartes E. Tuorne, of the Ohio 
Agricultural Experiment Station, gave an ad- 
dress on July 15, at the University of Illinois, 
on “The Relation of Cattle Feeding to Soil 
Fertility.” The occasion was the attendance 
of 250 cattlemen to inspect the baby beeves 
that had just completed a 210-day feeding 
experiment. 


Dr. Ropert VON LENDERFELD, professor of 
zoology and director of the Zoological Insti- 
tute in Prague, has died at the age of fifty-six 
years. Dr. von Lenderfeld’s numerous and 
valuable publications in zoology, especially 
those on the morphology and classification of 
sponges, ate well known. At the time of his 
death he was rector of the German University 
in Prague. 


Crvin service examinations are announced 
as follows: chief in the Office of Information, 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, at 
$2,500 a year; bacteriologist at a salary 
ranging from $1,800 to $2,000 a year in the 
New York food and drug inspection labora- 


SCIENCE 


[N.8. Vout. XX XVIII. No. 970 


tory, Bureau of Chemistry, Department of 
Agriculture. 


THE minister of public instruction of Ar- 
gentina has authorized the preparation of an 
expedition from the National Observatory at 
Cérdoba to observe the total solar eclipse 
which will occur on August 20-21, 1914. The 
expedition will be composed of three members 
of the observatory staff, with an extensive 
equipment of instruments and will proceed to 
a point (as near to the central line as pos- 
sible) in southern Russia, not far from the 
Black Sea. It is expected that the expedition 
will be joined by astronomers from the Berlin, 
Potsdam and Koenigsberg observatories. 


Secretary Houston has announced that 
hereafter the Department of Agriculture will 
send a weekly letter to the correspondents of 
the department, giving the latest agricultural 
information of value to the farmer. The let- 
ters will treat of crop conditions and prices, 
the discovery of new plant or animal pests, 
pure food decisions, and those which affect 
users of irrigated land and the national for- 
ests, and any other work of the department 
which can benefit the farmer. The letter is 
to be sent weekly, so that the news may reach 
the farmers promptly. The Crop Reporter, a 
monthly publication which has been issued by 
the department for some years past, is to be 
discontinued, Secretary Houston having de- 
cided that it reached the farmers too late to 
be of any practical use. 


THE first annual meeting of editors of pub- 
lications of agricultural colleges in the middle 
west was held at the University of Illinois on 
July 10. Representatives of six states met 
and discussed informally the problems in con- 
nection with the gathering, editing and pub- 
lication of agricultural material. It was voted 
to hold a session in 1914, to which many other 
states will be invited. The association elected 
Dr. B. E. Powell, of Illinois, executive secre- 
tary to make necessary arrangements for the 
next meeting. 


Fo.nowine is the New York Botanical Gar- 
den’s program of late summer lectures, which 
will be delivered in the museum building, 


Avaust 1, 1913] 


Bronx Park, on Saturday afternoons, at four 
o’clock: 


August 2, ‘‘American Desert Plants,’’ by Dr. 
William Trelease. 

August 9, ‘‘The Biology of Cheese,’’ by Dr. 
Charles Thom. 

August 16, ‘‘Wild Flowers of the Late Sum- 
mer,’’ by Dr. N. L. Britton. 

August 23, ‘‘ Explorations in Mexico, II.: Mex- 
ieo City to Cuernavaca,’’ by Dr. W. A. Murrill. 

August 30, ‘‘The Mammoth Trees of Cali- 
fornia,’’ by Dr. Arthur Hollick. 

September 6, ‘‘Shade Trees and their Ene- 
mies,’’ by Dr. F. J. Seaver. 

September 13, ‘‘A Visit to the Panama Canal 
Zone,’’ by Dr. M. A. Howe. 

September 20, ‘‘Scenic and Botanical Features 
of Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin,’’ by Dr. A. B. Stout. 

September 27, ‘‘Explorations in Mexico, III.: 
Colima and Manzanillo,’’? by Dr. W. A. Murrill. 

ARRANGEMENTS have been made between the 
New York State College of Forestry at Syra- 
cuse University and the Palisades Inter-State 
Park Commission whereby the College of For- 
estry will prepare and carry out a plan of 
management for the 14,000 acres of forest 
land controlled by the commission and lying 
along the Hudson River. The work of get- 
ting the forest land into shape will be started 
about the middle of August by four advanced 
students under the direction of Professor 
Frank F. Moon, of the College of Forestry, 
who was forester for the former Highlands of 
the Hudson Forest Reservation. The various 
properties will be mapped out and studied to 
ascertain the amount of the timber now stand- 
ing and the amount to be removed. In addi- 
tion, the fire problem will be studied and even- 
tually a long term reforestation plan put into 
force. Centers of insect and fungus damage 
will be located and timber will be marked so 
that during the coming winter the park em- 
ployees will be busy removing the dead, dis- 
eased and undesirable specimens. A forest 
nursery will be developed and active refor- 
estation begun in 1914. 


THE national congress of Brazil has passed 
and the president of that republic has ap- 
‘proved a law fixing legal time in Brazil. 
Following is a translation of the bill: 


SCIENCE 


153 


Art. 1. For purposes of international and com- 
mercial contracts the meridian of Greenwich shall 
be considered fundamental in all Brazil. 

Art. 2. So far as the legal hour is concerned 
Brazilian territory is divided into four distinct 
zones as follows: 

(a) The first zone includes the archipelago of 
Fernando de Novorha and the island of Trinidad, 
and shall have Greenwich time ‘‘less two hours.’’ 

(b) The second zone includes all the coast, all 
the states of the interior (except Matto-Grosso 
and Amazonas), and the part of the state of Para 
east of a line starting from Mount Grevaux on the 
frontier of French Guyana, following down Rio 
Pecuary to the Javary, along this last river to the 
Amazonas, and southward along the Rio Xingu to 
the state of Matto-Grosso. This zone shall have 
Greenwich time ‘‘less three hours.’’ 

(¢) The third zone includes all of the state of 
Parad west of the line just mentioned, the state of 
Matto-Grosso, and all of the state of Amazonas 
east of a line drawn on a great circle starting at 
Tabatinga and ending at Porto Acre. This zone 
shall have Greenwich time ‘‘less four hours.’’ 

(d) The fourth zone includes the territory of 
Acre and the region west of the line just men- 
tioned, and shall have Greenwich time ‘‘less five 
hours. ’’ 


Tue following letter from President John 
C. Branner was published in the Journal do 
Commercio, Rio de Janeiro, June 14, 1913: 


The first volume of the ‘‘Monographs of the 
Geological and Mineralogical Service of Brazil’’ 
has just appeared, published by the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. It bears 
the title ‘‘Devonian Fossils of Parana, by Dr. 
John M. Clarke,’’ Rio de Janeiro, 1913. 

It is a work of the greatest importance to 
science, not only that of Brazil, but of the foreign 
world as well. 

The Federal Geological Service has been in 
operation in Brazil for six years. In this rela- 
tively short time the director has, amongst many 
other achievements, succeeded in bringing together 
an important collection of Devonian fossils of the 
highest interest to science and in inducing Dr. 
Clarke, the official geologist of the state of New 
York and one of the highest authorities on this 
subject, to undertake their study, description and 
discussion. In the words of Dr. Clarke himself, 
‘‘the results are of world-wide import.’’ The 
interest and importance of this monograph are due, 


‘jn great part, to the fact that the studies embrace, 


154 


aside from the Devonian fossils of Parana, those 
of Matto-Grosso, the Amazonas [Argentina] and 
the Falkland Islands, while the general conclu- 
sions extend to the Devonian of all the continents 
of the world. 

The text of this monograph, in Portuguese and 
English, covers 353 pages, which are accompanied 
by 27 handsome plates printed in Germany by the 
most advanced processes of the lithographic art. 

This fine work as a contribution to pure science 
does honor to the author, to the director of the 
Geological Service, to the Ministry of Agriculture 
and to the country. 


THE composition and characteristics of the 
population of Hawaii, as reported at the Thir- 
teenth Decennial Census, are given in a bul- 
letin soon to be issued by Director Durand, of 
the Bureau of the Census, Department of 
Commerce. It was prepared under the super- 
vision of Wm. C. Hunt, chief statistician for 
population. Statistics are presented of num- 
ber of inhabitants, increase and density of 
population, proportions urban and rural, race, 
nativity, parentage, sex, age, marital condi- 
tion, place of birth, males of voting and 
militia ages, citizenship, year of immigration 
of the foreign-born, school attendance, illiter- 
acy, inability to speak English, and number of 
dwellings and families. A previous population 
bulletin for Hawaii gave the number of in- 
habitants by counties and minor civil divi- 
sions. That and the forthcoming bulletin 
cover all the principal topics of the population 
census except occupations and the ownership 
of homes. The population of Hawaii at each 
census from 1832 to 1910, inclusive, was as 
follows: 1832, 180,313; 1836, 108,579; 1850, 
84,165; 1853, 73,188; 1860, 69,800; 1866, 62,- 
959; 1872, 56,897; 1878, 57,985; 1884, 80,578; 
1890, 89,990; 1896, 109,020; 1900, 154,001, and 
1910, 191,909. Racially the population of the 
territory is extremely heterogeneous. In 1910 
the pure Caucasian element numbered 44,048, 
constituting 23 per cent. of the total popula- 
tion. Of this class, which is itself composed of 
diverse racial elements, 22,301, or slightly more 
than one half, were Portuguese; 4,890 were 
Porto Rican; 1,990 were Spanish, and 14,867 
were of other Caucasian descent. The Japan- 
ese, numbering 79,675, constituted 41.5 per 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


cent., or more than two fifths, of the total pop- 
ulation, while the Japanese, Chinese and Ko- 


-reans combined, numbered 105,882, or 55.2 


per cent., of the total population. Persons of 
pure native Hawaiian stock numbered 26,041 
and constituted 13.6 per cent. of the popula- 
tion. In the decade 1900-1910 the number of 
Caucasians in the population increased 15,- 
229, or 52.8 per cent., the percentage of in- 
crease for this race being practically the same 
in this as in the preceding decade. The in- 
crease of the Japanese in the decade 1900-1910 
was 18,564, or 30.4 per cent. In the same 
period the Chinese decreased 4,093, or 15.9 
per cent. The number of pure Hawaiians de- 
creased from 34,436 in 1890 to 26,041 in 1910, 
the decrease in the decade 1900-1910 being 
somewhat less than that in the preceding de- 
cade—3,758, or 12.6 per cent., as compared 
with 4,637, or 13.5 per cent. Slightly more 
than one half (98,157, or 51.1 per. cent.) of the 
population in 1910 was native, and slightly less 
than one half (98,752, or 48.9 per cent.) for- 
eign born. The native element embraces all 
persons born in Hawaii, or in any state or out- 
lying possession of the United States. Per- 
sons born in Porto Rico or in the Philippine 
Islands, whether of Porto Rico, Filipino, or 
other racial origin are accordingly classified 
as native. For the Japanese the percentage 
native was 25; for the Chinese, 33.2; for the 
Portuguese, 61.7, and for the “other Cauca- 
sian ” element, 66.7. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tue board of trustees of the University of 
Tllinois at a recent meeting voted to reopen the 
college of dentistry which was closed in 1911 
because of no appropriations. Doctor Freder- 
ick B. Moorehead, of Chicago, was appointed 
dean of the new dental college. The principal 
items in the new building program for the im- 
mediate future are: An addition to the chem- 
istry laboratory, costing $250,000; an exten- 
sion on the commerce building, costing $125,- 
000; a school of education building, costing 
$120,000; a woman’s residence hall, $100,000; 
another engineering building, costing $100,- 


Auveust 1, 1913] 


000; completion of armory, $90,000; a boiler 
house, $45,000; addition to the natural history 
building, $65,000; ceramics building, $65,000; 
addition to library and horticultural buildings, 
$48,000; stock judging pavilion, $30,000; for 
an extension of the present university campus 
and for an enlarged agricultural building, 
$400,000 was voted. 

M. Pierre Boutroux has accepted a pro- 
fessorship of mathematics at Princeton Uni- 
versity, and will assume his duties in the 
autumn. M. Boutroux is a son of the dis- 
tinguished professor of philosophy, M. Emile 
Boutroux, and is closely related to the Poincaré 
family. 

Dr. R. E. McCorter, instructor in anatomy 
in the University of Michigan, has been ap- 
pointed professor of anatomy at Vanderbilt 
University. 

Mr. Freperick DuNwaP, assistant in the 
forest service, physicist at the Forest Plant 
Product Laboratory and lecturer in the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, has been elected pro- 
fessor of forestry in the University of Mis- 
souri. 

Tue following appointments have been 
made at Northwestern University: Edward 
Leroy Schaub, Ph.D., of the University of 
Towa, to be professor of philosophy William 
H. Coghill, M.E., to be assistant professor of 
mining and metallurgy; William Logan 
Woodburn, Ph.D., to be assistant professor of 
botany; Elton J. Moulton, Ph.D., to be as- 
sistant professor of mathematics; Charles 
Ross Dines, Ph.D., to be instructor in mathe- 
matics; George Leroy Schnable, M.A., to be 
instructor in physics; Paul Mason Bachelder, 
M.A., to be instructor in mathematics; Harlan 
True Stetson, M.S., of Dartmouth, to be in- 
structor in astronomy; Gilbert Haven Cady, 
M.S., of the University of Chicago, to be 
instructor in geology and mineralogy. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE WORD “SELVA” IN GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 

I WisH to enter a protest against the use of 
the Portuguese word “selva” as applied to 
the forests of the Amazon Valley in geo- 


SCIENCE 


155 


graphic literature. I am under the impres- 
sion that the word was formerly used by sey- 
eral writers, but that it has been pretty gen- 
erally dropped of late as unnecessary. ‘This is 
written away from my library, however, and it 
is not possible to verify this statement at 
present. 

In Mr. James Bryce’s late book, “South 
America; Observations and Impressions, New 
York, 1913,” the word “selva” is used as if 
it were not only the every-day and generally 
accepted name of certain and particular Bra- 
zilian forests, but as if it were so descriptive, 
so characteristic, and so appropriate that no 
English word could take its place. 

I quote a few of Mr. Bryce’s expressions: 

The great Amazonian low forest-covered country 
—the so-called Selvas (woodlands) (p. 168). The 
great central plain of the Amazon and its tribu- 
taries which the Brazilians call the Selvas (woods) 
(p. 555). The Selvas or forest-covered Amazonian 
plain (p. 558). 


I regret to have to say that I know of no 
reason whatever for such a use of the word 
selva. In the first place, it is not the word 
used in Brazil either for the Amazonian forest 
or for any other forest, Mr. Bryce to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. It is true that it is a 
good Portuguese word, but it is not in com- 
mon use, and during the forty years I have 
been acquainted with Portuguese language I 
doubt if I have heard it used by a Portuguese- 
speaking person more than two or three times, 
and then only in a poetic sense. 

The Brazilians speak of the forests of the 
Amazon as mattas, just as they speak of the 
forests of any other part of the country. In 
1907 Dr. H. von Ihering, director of the 
Museu Paulista in 8. Paulo, Brazil, published 
a paper in Portuguese on the distribution of 
Brazilian forests. The occasion certainly 
seemed to offer an opportunity for saying 
something about the “selvas” and their pe- 
culiarities, but I do not find the word “ selva” 
used once in the 53 pages of that article. The 
forests are there either designated by the 
special names used in the country, or they are 
called mattas, mattos or florestas, which are 
the words in common use all over Brazil. 


156 


Besides its use in Mr. Bryce’s book, I find 
“selvyas””? mentioned in E. W. Heaton’s “ Sci- 
entific Geography; South America,” London 
(1912), at pages 17, 39 and 55. Elsewhere in 
that book the author seems to get along quite 
comfortably without the word. 

Selva is a Portuguese word like any other, 
but it is very little used and has no special 
application to the forests of the Amazon. The 
Brazilians do not distinguish the forests of 
the Amazon by any special word; they are 
' called mattas, which is the word applied to 
any and all heavy forests alike. 


J. C. BRraNNER 
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL, 
June 6, 1913 


DOES A LOW-PROTEIN DIET PRODUCE RACIAL IN- 
FERIORITY ? 

To Tue Eprror or Science: In your issue of 
June 13, 1913, is contained a communication 
by Dr. Edgar T. Wherry entitled: “Does a 
Low-protein Diet Produce Racial Inferior- 
ity?” The purpose of the article is to dispose 
of two objections that have been raised against 
such a dietary, by the application of the re- 
sults of recent investigations. It seems to me 
that, in attempting the removal of the first ob- 
jection, the article is open to some misconcep- 
tion, while, in the case of the second objection, 
the attempted disposal is far from being effec- 
tive. 

Dr. Wherry is presumably dealing with in- 
stances of recognized racial inferiority, and 
the inclusion of the Japanese people in this 
category, especially by an advocate of the low- 
protein theory, is a matter of some surprise. 
That the Japanese exhibit “some points of 
physical inferiority, or lack energy, aggres- 
siveness, or courage,” when compared with the 
European, for on a _protein-rich 
dietary, is hardly a generally recognized fact, 
nor is it in harmony with the contentions of 
Chittenden and others of his belief that in the 
Japanese we have an instance of a people 
“who for generations have apparently lived 
and thrived on a daily ration noticeably low 
in. its content of proteid. .. .” Chittenden 


instance, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S8. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 970 


utilizes this fact “as confirmatory evidence, 
on a large scale, of the perfect safety of low- 
ering the consumption of proteid food to some- 
where near the level of the physiological re- 
quirements of the body,” and believes that 
“generations of low-proteid feeding, with the 
temperance and simplicity in dietary methods 
thereby implied, have certainly not stood in 
the way of phenomenal development and ad- 
vancement when the gateway was opened for 
the ingress of modern ideas from western ciy- 
ilization.” * 

The conceptions regarding the etiology of 
beri-beri have not undergone any radical 
change in the last year or two. The informa- 
tion that has been accumulated recently in re- 
gard to this disease has served to confirm and 
extend such conceptions, not to revolutionize 
them. For years it has been definitely known 
that the use of polished or husked rice is di- 
rectly or indirectly involved in the causation 
of beri-beri. In proof of this statement I only 
need quote the extensive investigations of 
Fletcher® and of Fraser and Stanton, pub- 
lished six and four years ago, the results of 
which, obtained from large numbers of indi- 
viduals, point unequivocally to an intimate re- 
lation between the consumption of polished 
rice and incidence to beri-beri. The compara- 
tively recent discovery by several investiga- 
tors of a constituent in rice-bran which cures 
the polyneuritis of beri-beri simply confirms 
the previous work above mentioned. Further- 
more, this discovery does not at all militate 
against the contention that has often been 
raised that a diet containing a liberal and 
varied protein value is an effective preventive 
against beri-beri. 

I doubt whether Dr. Wherry would find 
many dietitians, on either side of the argu- 
ment, who consider the relation between the 
protein intake and the incidence to beri-beri 
one of the “supposedly most typical illustra- 


1¢¢Nutrition of Man,’’ pp. 222-223. 

2? William Fletcher, ‘‘Rice and Beri-Beri,’’ 
Lancet, June 29, 1907. 

*H. Fraser and A. T. Stanton, ‘‘An Enquiry 
Concerning the Etiology of Beri-Beri,’’ Lancet, 
February 13, 1909. 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


tions of the unfavorable results of a deficiency 
of protein in the dietary.” 

The statement most open to criticism in the 
article of Dr. Wherry is that concerning the 
generally recognized inferiority of the native 
inhabitants of India. A recent estimate ob- 
tained by the Rockefeller Sanitary Commis- 
sion that 60 to 80 per cent. of these people are 
infected with the hookworm, is supposed to 
“explain away” this inferiority, without ref- 
erence at all to the diet in vogue. By those 
who are familiar with the elaborate investiga- 
tions of D. McCay of the dietaries of the Ban- 
galis and other races of India, upon which has 
been based, rightly or wrongly, one of the most 
formidable arguments against the well-known 
views of Chittenden, this statement of Dr. 
Wherry must have been read with no small 
degree of interest and curiosity. 

In Publication No. 6 of the Rockefeller 
Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of 
Hookworm Disease, entitled, “ Hookworm In- 
fection in Foreign Countries,” the estimate 
above quoted of the degree of infection in 
India is given on the authority of various 
medical men who are undoubtedly well-in- 
formed on the matter. However, the Ameri- 
ean Vice-consul, C. B. Perry, is quoted as say- 
ing (1911): 

Nothing is being done by governmental agencies 
to alleviate or eradicate the disease except the 
usual sanitary measures for the prevention of fecal 
contamination of the soil and hospital treatment 
of incapacitated patients. . . . The conclusion that 
I have arrived at is that though widely prevalent 
in India, the disease is not considered of a dan- 
gerous nature and no special steps have been 
deemed necessary as yet to combat it. 

An editorial appearing in the Indian Med- 
ical Gazette, a journal from which the Rocke- 
feller Sanitary Commission obtained much of 
its information concerning conditions in 
India, in the issue of May, 1913, is of great 
interest in this connection. In commenting 
upon a clinical method recently investigated 
by Stiles and Altman of this country, for de- 
termining the completeness of cure in ankylo- 
stomiasis (hookworm disease), the following 
is said: 


SCIENCE 


157 


It would be interesting to compare the figures 
with those of India, but in attempting to do so 
one is faced at once by the difficulty that the 
question seems to have been approached in the two 
countries from entirely different points of view. 
In America, it is evident from the huge number 
of worms per ease, which is well over 1,000, that 
those are being treated who are suffering from 
ill-health as the result of infection, that is to say, 
that they are real instances of ankylostomiasis. 
In India, on the contrary, the matter has been 
chiefly taken up as a routine examination of all 
prisoners admitted into a jail, and most of such » 
men are healthy. In these cases an infection of 
100 worms appears to be quite unusual, and quite 
naturally an infection of a dozen worms will make 
no appreciable difference to a man. These slight 
infections are the rule in India, the percentage 
infected varies in different parts from about 35 
to 75 in men of the laboring classes, and the mild 
infection seems to have no effect on the health of 
the host. This general mild infection makes any 
anti-ankylostoma campaign quite hopeless in this 
country for many years to.come. Severe cases do, 
of course, occur, but, speaking generally, we hear 
little of them. Their relative distribution in dif- 
ferent parts of India is unknown. Our knowledge 
of ankylostomes in India is quite meager, in spite 
of the amount of work which has been done by 
I. M. S. officers, and much of the work will have 
to be done over again. ‘ 


Apparently, hookworm infection, while com- 
mon in India—at least among the laboring 
classes—is in the great majority of cases ex- 
tremely light and can not be supposed to exert 
any noticeable effect upon health and develop- 
ment. To ascribe the racial inferiority of the 
inhabitants of India, therefore, to such infec- 
tion seems entirely unwarranted from the data 
at hand. 

Thus, the question of Dr. Wherry, “ Is there 
any evidence whatever that a low protein diet 
ever causes or aids in the production of racial 
inferiority,” is in precisely the same status 
now as it was before his article appeared. In 
fact, however much one may disagree with the 
interpretation that McCay puts upon his own 
data, the unprejudiced must admit that the 
data are extremely suggestive of a deleterious 
effect of long-continued adherence to the low- 
protein dietary. However much one, may be- 


158 


lieve that the low physical development and 
efficiency of the native races of India as com- 
pared with the Eurasian or the European in 
the same country and under the same condi- 
tions, are due to unsuitable food materials, 
insufficient diet during the period of growth, 
or to any other factor than the low-protein in- 
takes of the adult population, the possibility 
that the latter is a contributory factor at least 
can not be denied, nor can it even be supposed 
to be very improbable. 


H. H. Mircnen 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 
URBANA, ILL. 


THE SPIRIT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 


THE recent communication to ScrENcE for 
May 9 by Dr. Raymond Pearl, and the discus- 
sion thereon in Science of June 13, by Dr. 
Davenport, causes one to surmise there are at 
least two opinions in the United States rela- 
tive to research in experiment stations. 

Dr. Pearl apparently deplored the seeming 
fact that experiment station workers must 
“supplicate the great Goddess Truth with one 
ear closely applied to the ground in order that 
he must catch the first and faintest murmur 
of ‘ What the public wants.’” He did not say 
“the public be damned” and perhaps he did 
not mean to. He did, however, give at least 
one reader the impression that he has small 
faith in farmers as patrons of experiment-sta- 
tion work. He apparently did not council ex- 
periment station workers to make an effort to 
adapt their results to the understanding and 
needs of “uncritical farmers.” He would 
seem to think that this genus farmer, true to 
type as he is, had better be taught to look 
“through a glass darkly.” 

If agricultural experiment stations were es- 
tablished for any particular purpose toward 
our civilization, it was and is to serve the 
needs of farming people. It is a part of their 
job to adapt themselves and their work to the 
needs of such people. If they will do that very 
genuinely and sincerely, they will find these 
same people appreciative. If in any such in- 
stance they do not respond so quickly as they 
should, the greater is the obligation upon the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 970 


experiment station and its associated college 
to help them. Who does the work, anyway, 
which supports these various experiment sta- 
tions, from the favored state of Maine to the 
other ocean ? 

These paragraphs are not written solely to 
disagree with so evidently an_ illustrious 
worshiper of the “great goddess Truth” 
with his “ear to the ground.” Such would 
hardly be worth while. But it has virtually 
been charged in public print, by a reputable 
member of an experiment station staff, that 
much work and many workers of experiment 
stations are insincere. Such a charge, insid- 
ious as it is, does most insidious damage—un- 
democratic as it is in spirit, it would lead log- 
ically to the discrediting of our experiment 
stations as unworthy of support in a democ- 
racy. 

If there is anything the matter with the 
land-grant colleges and experiment stations, 
it is that they have occasionally loaded upon 
them such pseudo-scientific junk as Dr. Pearl 
might apparently like to have our “ uncerit- 
ical farmers” unwittingly support. It is a 
mighty serious matter that if any of our land- 
grant institutions fail of popular support it 
will be because they fall victims to pseudo- 
science. 

By pseudo-science I mean that so-called 
pure scientist who does his work or holds his 
job (and draws his salary) under the name of 
agriculture, with contempt in his heart for 
real farm people. Just such codfish aristoc- 
racy has failed visibly to accomplish much 
for the peasant farmers of Germany. How- 
ever erudite it may be, it will fail of accom- 
plishing much for American farmer citizens, 
as such. 

Right now the land-grant colleges and ex- 
periment stations are on trial to show what 
real service they are capable of rendering to 
our farm citizenship. It is within their power 
to make a most conspicuous success. 

If our American agricultural institutions 
should continue to organize themselves around 
pseudo-scientifie units—e. g., agricultural 
chemistry, agricultural botany, agricultural 
economics, agricultural what-not, or any old 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


thing to give some old-school aristocrat a job 
of foisting some mighty poor science and 
poorer agriculture upon farmers, then they 
will deserve to go down with those they fail to 
minister unto. 

Tf our American land-grant colleges and ex- 
periment stations shall faithfully and fear- 
lessly disregard old, artificial precedents, and 
organize themselves around agricultural units, 
it will be they who preserve the intellectuality 
of our great body of farmer citizenship. Will 
they do it? is the question to-day in the mind 
of the “uncritical farmer.” This same farmer 
has time and again since the battle of Lex- 
ington shown his willingness to bear the 
burden of any real and sincere educational 
need. 

And now, if any pure scientist delights not 
in agriculture, and in the problems of the 
farm, he should draw his salary from some 
more congenial source. It is the function of 
pure science to increase the sum of human 
knowledge. Let her worshipers be about their 
high calling. 

It is the function of the experiment stations 
to apply themselves to the solution of the 
problems of agriculture. Such work this 
hour demands not only the finest skill and 
cleverness, but the most searching integrity. 
Such is real worship of the “great Goddess 
Truth.” 

The very insincere practise of trying to de- 
ceive their constituency, which Dr. Pearl 
seems to cite, as the only recourse for doing 
scientific work in experiment stations, is that 
which could result in the prostitution of all 
science, and which might result in the degen- 
eration of American agriculture. 

A. N. Hume 


SoutH DAKOTA HXPERIMENT STATION 


THE TARIFF ON BOOKS 

To tue Eprror or Science: As most of us 
probably think of the new tariff law as one that 
reduces duties, it may be well to call the atten- 
tion of readers of SCIENCE to one or two items 
of increase that are of interest. 

Books in foreign languages are no longer 
to be on the free list, and books over twenty 


SCIENCE 


159 


years old must also have been bound over 
twenty years to be entitled to free entry. 

As most German books are bound after pub- 
lication, and there is no telling when, this 
might be a serious impediment to easy order- 
ing of books from second-hand catalogues. 

As a revenue measure will it yield enough 
to pay for the delay and obstruction to the 
free circulation of knowledge involved? This 
is not a bit of the “ New Freedom,” I trust. 

ALFRED C. LANE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Catalogue of the Mammals of Western Europe 
(Hurope exclusive of Russia) in the collec- 
tion of the British Museum. By Gerrit 8. 
Mittrr. London. Printed by order of the 
Trustees of the British Museum. Sold by 
Longmans, Green & Co., 39 Paternoster 
Row, S. C.; B. Quaritsch, 11 Grafton 
Street, New Bond Street, W.; Dulau & Co., 
Ltd., 37 Soho Square, W., and at the British 


Museum (Natural History), Cromwell 
Road, S. W. 1912. All rights reserved. 
8vo. Pp. 15-+ 1019; 213 text figures. 


Mr. Miller’s “ Catalogue of the Mammals of 
Western Europe” supplies a long-needed au- 
thoritative manual of the mammal fauna of 
Europe. It includes, however, only the land 
mammals, it excluding the seals and ceta- 
ceans. The Gibraltar macaque and the In- 
dian buffalo are omitted as being artificially 
introduced species. Geographically it is re- 
stricted to continental Europe outside the 
Russian frontier and the immediately adjoin- 
ing islands, but includes also Spitzbergen, Ice- 
land and the Azores. 

The preface, by Dr. Sidney F. Harmer, 
keeper of zoology at the British Museum, 
states that a work of this nature “was many 
years ago suggested by the late Lord Lilford, 
who kindly contributed an annual sum to- 
wards the collecting necessary for its realiza- 
tion,” but “the possibility of issuing the pres- 
ent catalogue has mainly grown from the 
work which its author, Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, 
of the United States National Museum at 
Washington, has for some years been doing 
independently on the subject.” Through the 


160 


Lilford Fund and contributions by Major G. 
E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, who has published 
many papers on European mammals, and by 
Mr. Oldfield Thomas, curator of mammals at 
the British Museum, material for the work 
slowly accumulated, but its preparation was 
not begun till 1905, when, as Dr. Harmer 
states, “ Mr. Miller arranged to devote his 
entire time for a considerable period to the 
study of European mammals. The oppor- 
tunity was taken of having the results of this 
work published here instead of in America, 
by inducing him to write a British Museum 
Catalogue; thus utilizing his knowledge, and 
combining for the purposes of his studies the 
material of both the American and the British 
National Museums. Collections were then 
made in various selected areas, partly by Mr. 
Miller himself and partly by trained collectors 
. .. the cost of whose services were contrib- 
uted by friends of the museum.” Mr. Har- 
mer adds: “The catalogue could hardly have 
been contemplated if it had not been for Mr. 
Thomas’s unremitting efforts in developing 
the collection. He has not merely regarded 
these efforts as an official duty, but he has in 
addition been a generous donor who has fre- 
quently supplied funds for the purpose of ob- 
taining specimens. Mr. Miller has thus had 
at his disposal a collection fairly representa- 
tive of all parts of western Europe, and im- 
mensely superior to anything that had been 
thought of before he began work.” 

The author, in his introduction, goes into 
details in respect to the gathering of this 
material, with reference to its geographical 
sources, donors and collectors, and the mu- 
seums, public and private, from which types 
and other important specimens were borrowed 
for examination. Altogether the number of 
specimens on which the work was based, it is 
stated, “ approximates 11,500,” of which about 
5,000, including 124 types, are in the British 
Museum, about 4,000 in the United States 
National Museum, and the rest in various 
European collections. Nearly every section 
of the area embraced is represented by collec- 
tions, more or less extensive and recently 
gathered, but not always sufficient for the task 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


in hand, for the author states: “ This material 
has been found sufficient, in most of the 
groups, to give what appears to be a fairly 
satisfactory idea of the essential features of 
the fauna. In the ungulates and the larger 
carnivores, however, it is so totally inadequate 
that no attempt could be made to revise the 
genera by which they are represented. This 
is especially to be regretted on account of the 
fact that some of these larger mammals are 
nearly extinct, while others are being modified 
by the introduction of foreign stock to re- 
plenish exhausted game preserves. Immediate 
action is necessary if the final opportunity to 
gain a clear understanding of this part of the 
European fauna is not to be lost.” 

The number of forms recognized is 314 (195 
species’ and 119 subspecies), referred to 69 
genera. All are represented in the British 
Museum except 22, and all but 6 of those in- 
cluded were examined by the author. All 
questions of nomenclature have been decided 
by the rules of the International Code. The 
citations of the literature are “ restricted to 
those which seem of importance in giving a 
clear idea of the systematic history of each 
animal ”—to synonymy and original descrip- 
tions of the genera, species and subspecies, to 
the first use of the names adopted, to the 
“monographic works” of JBlasius and 
Trouessart, and to such other publications as 
are pertinent to particular cases. Of the 213 
text figures, representing skulls and teeth, 
nearly one half are original, drawn by Mr. A. 
J. Engel Terzi, of London; the others were 
loaned by the Smithsonian Institution and 
were drawn by Mr. H. B. Bradford. 

As usual in similar monographs, keys are 
given for the families, genera and “ forms” 
(species and subspecies). The descriptions of 
the species are detailed and comprehensive, 
and include external and cranial measure- 
ments. The cranial measurements are tabu- 
lated and often occupy a number of pages for 
a single species. The illustrations are re- 
stricted to the skull and teeth of each species, 
there being three outline views of the skull, all 


1 Only 30 per cent. of the species are represented 
by subspecies, 70 per cent. being monotypic. 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


natural size except when the skull is too large 
for full representation on the page, when it is 
shown reduced to a stated scale; the teeth of 
small species are represented in well-executed 
drawings, enlarged 5 to 10 diameters; those of 
large species are drawn natural size. Lists of 
“specimens examined” are given for each 
form, with their localities, and in addition a 
catalogue of those belonging to the British 
Museum. 

It is to be regretted that the author found 
the literature of European mammals “so 
voluminous, particularly as regards local lists 
and special notes on distribution,” and so diffi- 
cult to correlate with our present “ conceptions 
of species and local races,” that he considered 
the labor of citing it in “extended biblio- 
graphical tables for each form recognized ” 
would be “incommensurate with the impor- 
tance of the results.” The labor would have 
been undoubtedly very great, and the citations 
would have considerably increased the size of 
an already rather bulky volume, but it is work 
greatly to be desired, and also work that can 
be properly done only by an author having 
Mr. Miller’s expert knowledge of the subject. 
The citation of the more important general 
works and papers relating to Kuropean mam- 
mals, however, would have been an aid to stu- 
dents desiring information additional to the 
technical descriptions of the present work. 

As an illustration of the author’s resources 
and method of treatment, the genus Sciurus, 
or the arboreal squirrels, may be cited. It may 
also serve as an illustration of the early slow 
and recent rapid development of European 
faunistic mammalogy. 

The describing and cataloguing of the 
mammals of western Hurope began long before 
the labors of Linné, but he was the first to 
give them modern systematic names. During 
the last half of the eighteenth century about a 
dozen different authors had described and 
named European mammals, so that by the end 
of that century nearly one half (90 out of 195) 
of the forms given in the present work as full 
species had been described and named. These 
comprise all the leading types, those added 
later being for the most part small or obscure 


SCIENCE 


161 


forms, many of which would not have been 
given recognition in that early day even if they 
had been known. Of these eighteenth century 
species, Linné alone named two thirds, and 
three other authors (Schreber. Pallas, Erx- 
leben) named two thirds of the remainder. 

During the first 95 years of the nineteenth 
century (1800-1894) 56 species and subspecies 
were added by 34 authors. Up to 1895 the au- 
thorities for the names of species and sub- 
species, on the basis of Miller’s nomenclature, 
number 50; but most of the post-Linnean gen- 
era and subgenera were founded by systema- 
tists whose names do not often occur as de- 
seribers of the species and subspecies here re- 
ferred to them. 

In striking contrast with the record from 
1758 to 1894 is the record for the next sixteen 
years (1895-1910), during which period 170 
forms were first described, the work of 20 au- 
thors, of whom 8 described 133, 66 of which 
were described by the author of the present 
“ Catalogue,” 25 by Barrett-Hamilton, and 10 
each by Cabrera and Thomas.” 4 comparison 
of the two periods—one covering a century and 
a quarter, the other sixteen years—on the basis 
of Miller’s “Catalogue,” shows that 55 per 
cent. of the now recognized species and sub- 
species have been described since 184. 

We now return to the illustration afforded 
by the genus Sciwrus, represented in the “ Cat- 
alogue” by a single species, divided into 12 
“forms” or subspecies. 

(a) Method of Treatment—Following a 
page and a quarter devoted to the “ charac- 
ters” and geographical distribution of the 
family Sciuride, including a key to the Eu- 
ropean genera, the treatment of Sciwrus oc- 
cupies 26 pages (pp. 898-923). A half page, 
devoted to the synonymy, geographical distri- 
bution and characters of the genus, is fol- 
lowed by six pages on the species Sciurus vul- 
garis Linné, including (1) distribution, (2) 
diagnosis, (3) external characters, (4) color, 

*Two additional species were described after 
1910—one in 1911 and one in 1912. Also many 
others were described, by various authors, during 
the 1895-1910 period, which in the present work 
are relegated to synonymy. 


162 


(5) teeth, (6) illustrations (skull and teeth), 
and (7) key to the European forms. The 
synonymy is given only under the several sub- 
species, which are each diagnostically de- 
scribed, with measurements, a statement of its 
range, the sources and amount of material ex- 
amined, and a list of the specimens contained 
in the British Museum. The descriptions of 
the subspecies occupy 14 pages, an average of 
a little more than a page to each, while the 
tables of cranial measurements fill four addi- 
tional pages and include a total of 103 skulls, 
with 11 measurements of each skull. 

(b) Resources and Results——Although three 
of the here accepted subspecies of Sciurus vul- 
garis date from the eighteenth century, and 
two others from the early part of the nine- 
teenth, none had become authoritatively recog- 
nized as tenable forms prior to 1896,° so that 
of the twelve forms now admitted six have 
been described and five others established 
since 1904. All but three of the 12 recognized 
forms are represented by fair series of speci- 
mens (5 to 174), the material examined ag- 
gregating 512 specimens. A list of the ac- 
cepted forms, with their ranges and the num- 
ber of specimens of each examined, here fol- 
lows: 

1. Sciurus vulgaris vulgaris Linné, 1758. Scan- 
dinavian Peninsula, except extreme north. 
Specimens examined, 53. 

2. Sciwrus vulgaris varius Gmelin, 1789. Extreme 
north of Scandinavian Peninsula, east into 


Russia. Spee. ex., 8. 

38. Sciurus vulgaris leucurous Kerr, 1792. British 
Islands. Spee. ex., 174. 

4, Sciurus vulgaris russus Miller, 1907. West- 


central Europe. Spec. ex., 26. 
5. Sciurus vulgaris fuscoater Altum, 1876. Fast- 
central Europe. Spec. ex., 170. 


6. Sciurus vulgaris italicus Bonaparte, 1838. 
Ftaly. Spec. ex., 38. 

7. Sciurus vulgaris lileus Miller, 1907. Greece. 
Spec. ex., 3. 

8. Sciwrus vulgaris alpinus Desmarest, 1822. 
Pyrenees. Spec. ex., 2. 

9. Sciurus vulgaris numantius Miller, 1907. 
North-central Spain. Spec. ex., 22. 


> Nearly a dozen others of early date, proposed 
as ‘‘varieties,’’ have never had currency, and are 
treated by Miller as untenable. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 970 


10. Sciurus vulgaris infuscatus Cabrera. 
Spain. Spec. ex., 5. 

11. Sciurus vulgaris segure Miller, 1907. 
west Spain. Spec. ex., 11. 
as the next.) 

12. Sciurus vulgaris beeticus 
Spain. Spec. ex., 0. 


Central 


South- 
(Probably same 


Cabrera. Southern 


In general method and in details of treat- 
ment the “Catalogue” may well serve as a 
guide and an inspiration in similar undertak- 
ings. It furnishes for the first time a solid 
and orderly foundation for further systematic 
work on the mammal fauna of the area 
treated. Although the author’s conclusions 
can not safely be challenged except on the 
basis of equal or better opportunities for in- 
vestigation, doubtless some forms have been 
accepted that further study will show are not 
well founded, while others probably remain to 
be discovered. Finally, it is pleasant to con- 
template the combination of circumstances 
that led to the preparation and publication of 
the work through a combination of the re- 
sources of two great national museums, and 
by an author so eminently fitted for the task. 


J. A. ALLEN 


Malaria, Cause and Control. By WituiaM B. 
Hers. New York, The Macmillan Com- 
pany. 1913. Pp. xi-+ 163. 

The purpose of this little work is to awaken 
the public interest in the control of malaria 
through the control of mosquitoes. Its ap- 
pearance at this time is opportune, as, no 
doubt due to the example and influence of 
Celli in Italy, there has been a growing senti- 
ment in many quarters in favor of the control 
of malaria by the extensive administration of 
quinine. Quinine control has not only proved 
impracticable under many circumstances, but 
under rigorous tests—particularly in the 
tropics—has even failed altogether. Professor 
Herms’s book is based upon California experi- 
ence and addresses itself directly to Cali- 
fornians; but in so far as similar conditions 
obtain elsewhere, it should have a much wider 
field of usefulness. The treatment is elemen- 
tary throughout. A large part is devoted to 
the practical side of mosquito control. 


Auveust 1, 1913] 


The opening chapter, Economic Considera- 
tions, sets forth the direct and indirect losses 
occasioned by malaria and gives a concrete 
case to illustrate how serious these may be to 
a small community. It is shown that in a 
town of 4,000 inhabitants, in the northern 
Sacramento Valley, the expense and loss in- 
eurred during 1911, leaving out of considera- 
tion the resultant depreciation of real estate, 
amounted to about $75,000. In the itemized 
account it is shown that this community in 
combating malaria during 1911 spent $972.50 
for quinine and $1,800 for patent medicines. 
The latter item is particularly striking when 
one considers that quinine is the only specific 
for malaria and that such medicines usually 
contain little or no quinine. They are there- 
fore’ simply an additional drain upon the 
malarial victims. The author, basing upon 
experience elsewhere, states that effective mos- 
quito-control work would cost this community 
about $2,000 a season and that the result 
would be the reduction of malaria by at least 
50 per cent. the first year and 80 per cent. in 
the second year. The figures show strikingly 
how well mosquito-control work pays in a 
malarious region. 

In the chapter, Malaria and its Transmis- 
sion, the complex life history of the malarial 
parasites is explained in the simplest possible 
language, although not altogether satisfac- 
torily. The author seems unaware that the 
pigment spots of the malarial parasites are 
the products of the ingested hemoglobin. The 
following statement is surely an inversion of 
eause and effect, both the enlargement of the 
blood corpuscles and the anemia being directly 
brought about by the parasites: “ Enlarged 
parasitized corpuscles occur in this species 
[Plasmodium precox], but merely as a coin- 
‘cident, since enlarged corpuscles commonly 
‘occur in anemia, and these may be entered by 
the sporozoits ” (p. 21). On page 28 the ques- 
tion is again brought up, and favored, whether 
there are reservoir hosts other than man for 
the asexual phases of the parasites. This 
needlessly obscures the subject, as there is a 
wealth of evidence to controvert such a belief 
and it is dismissed by all careful students. 


SCIENCE 


163 


The two chapters Mosquitoes in General 
and Anopheline or Malaria Mosquitoes show 
a fragmentary knowledge which the author 
might easily have remedied by a little careful 
reading in the works cited in his brief bibliog- 
raphy. On page 31 the statement is made 
that “the Culicide are distinguished from all 
other Nematoceran Diptera by the presence of 
scales on the wings and body.” Such scales, 
however, occur in the Psychodide and in cer- 
tain Tipulide and Chironomide. On page 33 
the Culicide are said to divide into two sub- 
families, the Anopheline with the palpi long 
in both sexes, and the Culicine with the palpi 
long in the male and short in the female. 
Aside from the fact that the relative length of 
the palpi is now discarded as a primary char- 
acter by most students, there exist a consid- 
erable number of species with the palpi short 
in both sexes (Atdine of the older authors) 
and still others which must be looked upon as 
intermediate. The statement that “the males 
of all species of mosquitoes, as far as known, 
are provided with plumose antenne” is far 
from correct. The statement (p. 42) that in 
all “culicine” (as against “ anopheline ”) 
mosquitoes “except Stegomyia calopus the 
eges are placed on end, forming a boat-shaped 
pack or raft,” shows that the author is un- 
aware of the considerable progress made 
within the last ten years in the knowledge of 
mosquito biology. The statement, too, that 
single mosquitoes may lay 750 eggs is con- 
trary to the experience of many reliable ob- 
servers. On the other hand, it is gratifying 
to find the author contending against the com- 
mon idea that mosquitoes fly considerable dis- 
tances. He rightly states that as a rule mos- 
quitoes do not fly far and that the salt-marsh 
species are an exception in this respect. The 
chapters which follow! deal with mosquito con- 
trol. The importance of locating actual 
breeding-places is emphasized. The value of 
different control measures is discussed, the 
permanent abolition of breeding-places being 
held out as the ideal. An insight is given 
into practical work by a brief account of the 
local campaigns with which the author has 
been connected. The book should be useful in 


164 


convincing the uninformed that malaria-con- 
trol through the control of mosquitoes is not 
only possible, but that it pays. While the in- 
accuracies do not materially detract from the 
practical value of the book, it is to be hoped 
that in the interest of truth they will be cor- 
rected in a future edition. 
FREDERICK KNAB 
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE ORIENTAL CYCADS IN THE FIELD 


Cyoaps in the field, cycads in the botanical 
garden and cycads in the greenhouse, are so 
different that descriptions based upon plants 
growing in the garden should be checked by 
observations in the field, and accounts based 
upon greenhouse material must be viewed 
with great suspicion. 

In the field, Cycas circinalis is said to pro- 
duce a crown of leaves every year, and under 
ordinary greenhouse conditions, new crowns 
are usually produced every year; but where 
the heat is extreme and the rainfall excessive, 
two crowns each year may be produced for 
many years in succession. Dzoon at Kew sur- 
passes anything I have ever seen at Chavar- 
rillo, but if the Kew specimens should be ex- 
posed to the blazing sun of the Mexican trop- 
ics, their magnificent crowns would probably 
wither in a few days. In cycad seedlings at 
the University of Chicago, scale leaves, which 
in the field would never have been anything 
but scale leaves, quite regularly develop into 
foliage leaves. The cycads, like roses, pinks 
and chrysanthemums, may appear to better 
advantage on account of greenhouse condi- 
tions, but for phylogenetic studies, their value 
is doubtful. 

During the past year it was my privilege to 
study in the field the five oriental genera of 
cycads. 
in South Africa, two only in Australia, and 
the remaining genus, Cycas, extends from 
Japan to Australia and Madagascar. Thus 
all the oriental cycads, except Cycas, are con- 
fined to the southern hemisphere; while all 
the western cycads, except Zamia, are confined 


Two of these genera are found only 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 970 


to the northern. No genus is common to the 
east and the west. 

The three genera found in Australia are 
Cycas, Bowenia and Macrozamia. All three 
are abundant in Queensland, the northeast 
part of Australia, and Cycas and Bowenia 
may be confined to this region; Macrozamia 
extends into New South Wales and is repre- 
sented by at least one species on the western 
coast. 

Cycas, in Australia, is represented by five 
species, only one of which, Cycas media, was 
studied in the field. The other three were 
seen in gardens. Cycas media was studied at 
Rockhampton, on the Tropic of Capricorn, 
and at Freshwater, in the Cairns district, 
about 700 miles farther north. 

Eichler’s account, in Engler and Prantl’s 
“Tie Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien,” gives 
Cycas media a height of 20 meters, making it 
the tallest of the cyecads. This is undoubtedly 
a mistake. Dr. F. M. Bailey, in his “ Flora 
of Queensland,” states that the species reaches 
a height of 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.05 meters) 
and sometimes twice that height. Mr. Sim- 
mons, director of the Botanical Garden at 
Rockhampton, and Mr. Anderson, director of 
the Botanical Garden at Townsville, assured 
me that the plant seldom exceeds 3 meters in 
height and that specimens 6 meters in height 
were extremely rare. Mr. Sydney Snell, who 
for many years has lived and hunted in the 
Berserker Ranges near Rockhampton, showed 
me the tallest specimen he had seen, and it 
measured about 6 meters. I received similar 
reports all the way from the southern to the 
northern limit of the species. At Freshwater, 
in the Cairns district, I found one plant which 
was 7.01 meters in height. The mistake in 
Eichler’s account probably arose in mistaking 
feet for meters. 

A section of the trunk shows the polyxylic 
condition, but a specimen 2 meters high shows 
only two or three zones of wood, while a speci- 
men of Cycas revoluta half a meter in height 
might show as many as three or four. 

The trunk is ribbed, like that of Dioon 
spinulosum, and the ribs are due to the alter- 
nation of foliage leaves. and scale leaves or 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


sporophylls. 
color. 

The taxonomic descriptions of the four Aus- 
tralian species of Cycas are very incomplete, 
but may be sufficient for identification. All 
the species grow in the omnipresent but scanty 
eucalyptus bush, often associated with 
Xanthorhiza, Pandanus and Macrozamia. 

Material has been secured for a complete 
morphological study, including the anatomy 
of the adult plant and the seedling. 

The most peculiar of the Australian cycads 
is Bowenia, whose bipinnate leaves readily dis- 
tinguish it from all other cycads. There are 
two species, Bowenia spectabilis, which is 
abundant in the northern part of Queensland, 
about Cooktown, Cairns and Innesfail; and 
B. serrulata, which is at its best in the neigh- 
borhood of Rockhampton, about 700 miles 
south of Cairns. The range of the species 
could not be determined, but from the reports 
of directors of botanical gardens, amateur 
botanists and others, there seems to be a con- 
siderable region between the Rockhampton 
and Cairns districts, where neither species has 
been found. Bowenia spectabilis has only a 
few leaves, but they have a deep green color 
and retain their beauty long after they have 
been cut from the plant. Bowenia serrulata 
has a much greater display of foliage and, in 
some places, is so abundant that it forms a 
dense, but easily penetrated underbrush. 

The stems of both species are subterranean, 
so that one of the most striking differences 
between them might be overlooked. The stem 
of B. spectabilis is elongated and fusiform, 
while that of B. serrulata is nearly spherical. 
In both, the leaves are borne on branches from 
the top of the stem. 

Macrozamia, with more than a dozen spe- 
cies, is the dominant genus, and it ranges 
from the northern part of Queensland to the 
southern limit cyeads in New South Wales, 
and has at least one species in western Aus- 
tralia. 

Most of the species have tuberous, subter- 
ranean stems. Among these species, M. spira- 
lis is probably the most abundant and widely 
distributed. It is generally believed that spe- 


The ovules have a bright orange 


SCIENCE 


165 


cies in eycads are rather fixed, but a study 
of this species and associated species would 
soon convince one that there is great varia- 
tion and, perhaps, mutation. Some of the 
species, like M. Miquelit, closely resemble M. 
spiralis; while others, like M. heteromera, 
bear less resemblance; but nevertheless, speci- 
mens of these two species could be selected 
which so closely resemble each other, that some 
eall them both M. spiralis. 

M. corallipes, M. Fawcetti and M. Paulo- 
Guilelmi rather closely resemble M. spiralis. 
A field study of several species warrants the 
suggestion that M. spiralis is the source from 
which the rest of the tuberous species have 
been derived. 

There are only three species with tall, cylin- 
drical trunks, and these are so distinct that 
they are easily recognized at a glance. All 
three species are found in Queensland—M. 
Denisoni, on Tambourine Mountain near 
Brisbane, is regarded by Eichler as the most 
beautiful species of the genus. The ovulate 
cones are nearly a meter long and reach a 
weight of 35 kilos. The seeds are so large 
that they are used as match boxes. Macro- 
zamia Mooret, almost on the Tropic of Capri- 
corn, at Springsure, is of more than ordinary 
interest on account of its close resemblance to 
the Mesozoic Bennettitales. Unfortunately, 
the leaves of this species, like those of most 
eycads, contain a poison which is very disas- 
trous to cattle; consequently, cattlemen are 
trying to exterminate the plant, and are suc- 
ceeding so well—or, from another standpoint, 
so badly—that in a few years it may be im- 
possible to get a specimen for a conservatory. 
They poison the plant by chopping a notch 
and injecting arsenic into the pith. 

Macrozamia Hopei, in the Cairns district, 
is the tallest of all cycads. I did not see it, 
except in cultivation, but Dr. F. M. Bailey 
told me that the statement in his “ Flora of 
Queensland” that the species reaches a height 
of 60 feet (about 18 meters) is based upon re- 
liable information. 

Material, photographs and notes for an ex- 
tended study of all the Australian genera and 
most of the species have already been secured, 


166 


and collections to make the life history stud- 
ies more complete are being forwarded to 
Sydney, where they are cared for by Professor 
Maiden. This work will be continued by my 
friend, Professor A. A. Lawson. 

The two African genera, Stangeria and 
Encephalartos, are confined to a narrow strip 
along the southeastern coast, and throughout 
most of the range the two genera are asso- 
ciated. 

Stangeria is quite fern-like in appearance 
and was described as a species of Lomaria be- 
fore the cones were discovered. There is 
probably only one species, S. paradoxa, al- 
though several attempts have been made to 
make more species. A species maker, un- 
familiar with Stangeria in the field, could 
easily be tempted by carefully selected plants, 
or even by different leaves from the same 
plant, for leaves vary from entire to serrate, 
and sometimes the serrations are so deep that 
the leaf becomes almost bipinnate. We all 
know what gardeners can do with ferns of the 
Nephrolepis type. 

Stangeria is most abundant on the open 
grass velt, where it grows in dense grass as 
tall as the plant itself. It also grows in the 
shade in the bush velt, and here it becomes 
much taller than in exposed situations. Were 
it not for the obvious relation between the 
grass velt and bush velt forms, one might 
describe them as distinet species. 

Stangeria in the field, with one, two or 
three leaves, and only rarely with five or six, 
presents a striking contrast to the cultivated 
plant, with its abundant foliage. 

My own collections, supplemented by collec- 
tions made in Zululand by Professor W. C. 
Worsdell, and in the Transvaal by Professor 
W. T. Saxton, and particularly by collections 
made near Kentani by Miss Sarah van 
Rooyen, have made the series for morpholog- 
ical study very complete. 

Encephalartos, with about a dozen species, 
is the dominant genus. I was able to study 
nine species in the field and saw the rest in 
botanical gardens. The various species may 
be placed in three fairly definite groups, one 
with the stems tuberous and subterranean or 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 970 


extending slightly above the surface; and the 
other two with stout cylindrical trunks. 

Encephalartos villosus, the most familiar 
species in cultivation, is a type of the tuberous 
group. It grows in the shade, has a wide 
range, and at various places is associated with 
species of the other two groups. FE. brachy- 
phyllus in Zululand is an interesting but little- 
known member of this tuberous group. Still 
less is known of HE. cycadifolius, which I saw 
in the field only at East London. The ovulate 
cone is quite characteristic, but is clearly of 
the #. villosus type. EH. Hildebrandtii, quite 
familiar in cultivation, does not occur as far 
south as Zululand, and, consequently, I did 
not see it in the field, but it certainly belongs 
to the #. villosus group. 

LH. caffer may be taken as the type of one 
of the two groups with cylindrical stems. It 
is abundant at Van Staadens, near Port Eliza- 
beth, where it grows in the sun, on rocky 
mountain sides. The ovulate cones are the 
largest ever reported for any gymnosperm, 
sometimes reaching a weight of 90 pounds 
(45 kilos). 

A nearly related species, H. Altensteinii, 
quite common in cultivation, was studied at 
various places from Zululand to East London. 
This species looks so much like EH. caffer that 
the labels in botanical gardens are not always: 
convincing, and local botanists assured me 
that they could always select leaves from LE. 
Altensteinii, which taxonomists, at a distance, 
would identify as #. caffer. Some confusion 
may have crept into the literature through 
such practical jokes. A young plant of EH. 
Altensteinii—and a plant 100 years old might 
be called young—could hardly be mistaken for 
EH. caffer; but an old plant is sure to make 
trouble, if one is trying to identify it with a 
manual. <A fine specimen of Hncephalartos 
in the Botanical Garden at Melbourne, Aus- 
tralia, bore no label, and the director informed 
me that he had removed the label, placed there 
about fifty years before by Baron von Miiller, 
who had identified the plant as H. Alten- 
steinui, because the specimen did not agree 
with that description. A couple of young 
leaves, doubtless due to a wound at the base 


Aveust 1, 1913] 


of the trunk, showed typical H. Altensteini 
characters. In Baron von Miiller’s time the 
plant probably agreed with the taxonomic de- 
scription, which was certainly based upon a 
young plant. No plant of H. Altensteinw 
with a trunk more than three meters high is 
likely to agree with the taxonomic diagnosis. 

The big cones, as in most of the species, 
have seeds with a brilliant red seed coat. 

The remaining section, which might be 
ealled the horridus section, on account of its 
forbidding leaves, comprises four species, all 
confined to the southern part of the cycad 
range. 

Encephalartos Frederict Guilelmi occurs in 
greatest abundance at Queenstown and Cath- 
cart. It has a majestic trunk and a fine 
crown of glaucous leaves. The leaflets are 
pungently pointed but the margins are not 
spiny, so that it is only by the numerous inter- 
grades between this species and the next that 
it deserves a place in the horridus section. 
No other cycad has such a densely tomentose 
bud. The cones, sometimes five or six in 
number, are lateral and are arranged around 
a central bud. 

Encephalartos Lehmannii is often confused 
with the preceding species, but has a broader 
leaflet, which may be entire, or spiny or may 
have big, coarse teeth like H. horridus. The 
staminate cones, which have a reddish color 
and are not very hairy, distinguish the species 
at a glance. The ovulate cones are equally 
characteristic, being very tomentose in #. 
Frederici Guilelmi and nearly smooth in E. 
Lehmannii. 

The type of the section is #. horridus, whose 
jagged leaves, as sharp and rigid as if they 
had been cut out from sheets of tin, give this 
plant a clear title to its name. No cycad is 
more xerophytic and the various aloes, cotyle- 
dons and crassulas associated with it would 
make a fine study for an ecologist. 

An almost unknown member of this section, 
which I saw only at Trapps Valley, in the 
vicinity of Grahamstown, is H#. latifrons. It 
occurs in the open grass velt and the plants 
are widely separated from one another, half a 
mile or more apart. The leaflet is jagged, 


SCIENCE 


167 


like that of H#. horridus, but the trunks are 
stouter and the cones several times larger. 
The growth is even slower than in Dioon 
edule. Two plants, about one meter in height, 
on a lawn at Trapps Valley, have been under 
observation for nearly fifty years, and I was 
assured that they always bore leaves, some- 
times new leaves, but that they were no taller 
than when first set out. 

One object of the trip was to secure material 
for a complete morphological study of the five 
oriental genera. Through the generous coop- 
eration of directors of botanical gardens and 
local botanists, this object was attained in far 
greater measure than I had dared to hope. 

Even a morphologist should know his ma- 
terial in the field, and so I made careful ob- 
servations and notes on all the species I could 
find. One result of the field study was not 
anticipated. From a field study of the Mex- 
ican genera, I had begun to regard the species 
of ecyeads as rather rigid. Of the four western 
genera, Dioon, Ceratozamia and Microcycas 
are monotypic or nearly so; Zamia, with its 
thirty or more species, would probably show 
considerable variation if one could study it 
from Florida to Chili. The spiralis section 
of Macrozamia in Australia and the three sec- 
tions of Hncephalartos in Africa show that 
some cycads are still plastic and show varia- 
tions which may be fluctuating or which may 
be mutations. Unfortunately, most cycads do 
not produce cones until they are from twenty 
to fifty years of age, and, consequently, one 
could not begin experimental work with much 
prospect of seeing results. 


Cuartes J. CHAMBERLAIN 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF 
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION 
OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION 


THE regular annual meeting of the Sovriety for 
the Promotion of Engineering Education was held 
in Minneapolis from June 24 to 26 inclusive. The 
principal sessions were held in the new Engineer- 
ing Building of the University of Minnesota and 
in the West Hotel, the latter being a joint session 
with the American Water Works Association. A 
comprehensive series of papers was presented by 


168 


members and non-members covering many of the 
important phases of engineering education and 
allied matters. Several of these took tangible 
form in committees appointed to carry out the 
suggestions presented in the papers. For ex- 
ample, a paper by Professor E. V. Huntington, 
of Harvard University, on ‘‘The Units of Force’’ 
was partly instrumental in causing the appoint- 
ment of a Committee on the Teaching of Mechan- 
ies to Engineering Students. In another paper 
Mr. D. M. Wright, of the Henry & Wright Mfg. 
Co., suggested the appointment of a committee to 
study and report upon the standardization of 
technical terms. This suggestion was carried out. 

The presidential address of Professor Wm. T. 
Magruder, of The Ohio State University, was 
devoted to the qualifications required in a good 
instructor. He pictured an ideal instructor as one 
who knows his subject but is also in mental reach 
of his students; who has the highest reputation 
for honesty, right living, patience and sound char- 
acter; who is in practical touch with the subjects 
he has to teach and who has unbounded enthu- 
siasm for the work of both teacher and engineer. 

Other important papers treated of the construc- 
tion of buildings for technical schools, instruction 
in highway and in hydraulic engineering, in shop- 
work and in drawing. The general subject of aca- 
demic efficiency was discussed by Professor H. 8S. 
Person, director of the Amos Tuck School of Dart- 
mouth College. President A. C. Humphreys, of the 
Stevens Institute of Technology, and Professor G. 
¥F. Swain, of Harvard University, championed the 
four-year as against the courses requiring five years 
or longer, while the opposition was led by Professor 
F. H. Constant of the University of Minnesota. 
The results of the operation of the systematic 
grading system in use at the University of Mis- 
souri were described by Professor A. L. Hyde. 
Professor F. P. McKibben, of Lehigh University, 
called attention to the advantages of summer work 
for engineering students and explained how his 
students arrange for such work. A very interest- 
ing session was devoted to engineering college 
shop practise and engineering drawing. Professor 
J. V. Martenis and Mr. W. H. Richards described 
how shop work is made attractive and stimulating 
to the students by making the exercises lead to 
something definite. An extensive exhibit was used 
to illustrate the working out of the plan. Pro- 
fessor T. E. French, of The Ohio State University, 
a most successful teacher of engineering drawing, 
showed how this subject can be taught effectively. 
Among other papers one by Professors C. E. Sher- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 970 


man and R. K. Schlafly, of The Ohio State Uni- 
versity, described a novel practise of sending civil 
engineering students into commercial work during 
the summer under the direction of instructors if 
the students could not obtain regular summer 
employment. Professor H. Wade Hibbard, of the 
University of Missouri, presented directions for 
thesis work and gave a long list of subjects suit- 
able for investigation. Mr. Ivy L. Lee, executive 
assistant, the Pennsylvania R. R. Co., gave some 
excellent suggestions from the employers of tech- 
nical graduates to the teachers, indicating how the 
latter can exert helpful influences in the right 
direction. These suggestions were well received 
and provoked considerable discussion. In addition 
to the papers there were committee and officers’ 
reports, all of which showed the society to be in 
good condition and alive to its opportunities. 

A number of social functions and excursions 
increased the pleasures of the meeting and enabled 
the members to meet the faculty of the University 
of Minnesota and their families and to appreciate 
the remarkable beauty of the country around 
Minneapolis. 

The following members were elected to serve 
for one or more years in the positions indicated: 
President, G. C. Anthony, Tufts College, Mass. 
Vice-presidents, H. S. Jacoby, Ithaca, N. Y., and 
D. C. Humphreys, Lexington, Va. Secretary, H. 
H. Norris, Ithaca, N. Y. Treasurer, W. O. Wiley, 
New York, N. Y. Councillors, H. W. Tyler, Bos- 
ton, Mass.; J. F. Hayford, Evanston, Ill.; A. 8. 
Langsdorf, St. Louis, Mo.; S. M. Woodward, Iowa 
City, Iowa; M. S. Ketchum, Boulder, Colo.; F. P. 
Spalding, Columbia, Mo., and P. F. Walker, 
Lawrence, Kans. 

President Magruder made the following impor- 
tant committee appointments, carrying out the in- 
structions of the society: Joint Committee on 
Engineering Education, G. C. Anthony, A. N. 
Talbot; Committee on Teaching Mechanics to 
Engineering Students, E. R. Maurer (chairman), 
L. M. Hoskins, S. M. Woodward, C. E. Fuller, L. 
A. Martin, Jr., Wm. Kent, S. A. Moss, Albert 
Kingsbury, H. F. Moore; Committee on Teaching 
Physics to Engineering Students, D. C. Miller 
(chairman), G. V. Wendell, J. M. Jameson, W. S. 
Franklin, H. M. Raymond, O. M. Stewart, E. P. 
Hyde, G. A. Goodenough, F. K. Richtmyer; Com- 
mittee on Standardization of Technical Nomen- 
clature, J. J. Flather (chairman), W. D. Ennis, 
S. C. Earle, F. N. Raymond, D. M. Wright; Com- 
mittee on Statistics, A. J. Wood (chairman), F. 
A. Barnes, F. A. Fish, J. D. Phillips, H. H. Stoek. 


f SCLENCE ~* 


SINGLE Copigs, 15 Cts. 
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NEw SERIES 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 971 


ENTOMOLOGY 


With Speclal Reference to its Biological and Economical Aspects. 2nd Edition, Revised. 


By Justus Watson Fousom, Sc.D. (Harvard), Assistant Professor of Entomology at the 
University of Illinois 
“<«Rntomology,’ by Dr. Justus W. Folsom, is an advance over all other American works of its kind. It 
should be in the hands of every entomologist or entomological student, and in every public library. A most 
careful work, containing much information that only an expert has heretofore known where to find.”— 
Mr. F. M. WEBSTER, in charge of the Cereal and Forage Crops Insect Investigations, Department of Agri- 


Fripay, Aucust 8, 1913 


culture at Washington. 
Four Plates and 304 other Illustrations. 


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CONTENTS 


The Interpretation of Nature: 
Wm. T. SEDGWICK 


PROFESSOR 
169 


The Fitness of Organisms from an Embryo- 
logist’s Viewpoint: PRoFEssoR B. F. 


TINESROENT 15 do doouedaooMDooUGU dds ouHouR 174 


The Final Examination of Seniors in American 


Colleges: PRoFESSOR GREGORY D. Waucorr 179 


Wiliam McMurtrie: 
Hart 


PROFESSOR EDWARD 
185 


Publications of the Department of Agriculture 187 


Scientific Notes and News 188 


University and Educational News 192 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Three Ice Storms: CHARLES F. Brooks. 
A Phlebotomus the Practically Certain 
Carrier of Verruga: Dr. CHartes H. T. 


TOW ANSI 6 Gogoaodocoo0DDGDUDOOOOUUGOD 193 


Scientific Books :— 
Thresh on the Examination of Waters and 
Water Supplies: PROFESSOR GEORGE C. 
WHIPPLE. Arber’s Herbals, their Origin 
and Evolution: PRoFESSOR CHARLES KE. 
BressEy. Jordan’s Vergleichende Physiol- 
ogie Wirbelloser Tiere: Dr. OTTO GLASER. 
Géldi on Die sanitarisch-pathologische Be- 
deutung der Insekten und verwandten 
Fliedertiere: DR. CHARLES T. BRUES..... 


Scientific Journals and Articles ..........+. 


Branch Movements Induced by Changes of 


Temperature: J. G. GROSSENBACHER ..... 201 


Special Articles :— 
“‘Vellow’’ and ‘‘ Agouti’’ Factors in Mice: 
C. GC. Lirrtz. Antigravitational Gradation: 


Dr. CHARLES R. KEYES .......... Be ealtAN ye.03) 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE AND 
THE TEACHING LABORATORY? 


There is a universal tendency among mankind 
to conceive all beings like themselves and to 
transfer to every object those qualities with which 
they are familiarly acquainted—Dayvid Hume, 
1817. 


I 


In all ages human conduct has been 
largely determined by contemporary opin- 
ion, and contemporary opinion by current 
interpretations of nature. When, for ex- 
ample, the Greeks held that the sun was a 
god, driving a chariot of fire daily across 
the sky, it was natural for them to worship 
and revere the sun as the great giver of 
light and life. For us moderns, holding, 
as we do, that the sun is a flaming globe of 
gas, to do likewise is impossible. Savages, 
believing that disease is due to demoniacal 
possession, naturally employ charms for 
prevention and incantations for cure, while 
we, holding as we do, that typhoid fever 
comes only by microbes discharged by an- 
tecedent cases of that disease, invoke for 
prevention disinfection of excreta and pro- 
tective inoculation, and for cure reinforce- 
ment of the vital resistance of the patient. 
In all cases conduct is determined, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, by contemporary 
interpretations of nature, and we shall find 
it instructive as well as helpful to review 
briefly some of those accepted interpreta- 
tions of the past which for longer or shorter 
times have occupied the minds of men. 

And first we must touch upon those sav- 
age and barbarous interpretations character- 

1 An address at Bates College on the dedication 


of the Carnegie Laboratories of Physics and Biol- 
ogy, January 14, 1913. 


170 


istic of the childhood of the race in which 
everything outside of man is interpreted 
as essentially manlike in essence, life more 
or less manlike being assumed to be every- 
where—in sea and sky and air and earth— 
acting in manlike ways and thinking man- 
like thoughts. This interpretation, the 
basis of much of our most imaginative 
speech and poetry, is still fascinating and 
full of interest. 

We need not here raise the world-old 
questions of realism versus idealism in 
philosophy. In the childhood of the race, 
as in the childhood of every one of us to- 
day, the visible universe was intensely per- 
sonal, palpitating with a life closely similar 
to our own and only gradually separated 
from it by the slow teachings of experience. 
For precisely as the child of to-day gazes 
upon kitten, doll or dog and interprets 
these as charged with a life and character 
similar to his own, so in the childhood of 
the race mankind saw in the wind-swept 
tree, generally at rest but sometimes 
swayed as by an unseen hand, a living 
agency to whose touch the awakened tree 
responds as if from sleeping or dreaming, 
now by deep sighs or soft murmurs, now 
by groaning or roaring. And when Lowell 
in his ‘‘Under the Willows’’ exclaims, 
‘‘My Elmwood chimneys seem crooning to 
me,’’ he is simply making modern poetical 
use of a fireside music which by his remote 
ancestors would have been interpreted as 
spirit voices. 

It was doubtless one of the greatest 
forward steps ever made in the emancipa- 
tion of the human intellect when Pytha- 
goras of Samos before the Golden Age of 
Greece detected a constant and impersonal 
relation between the length of a vibrating 
string and the sound which accompanied 
it. This discovery of the monochord still 
stands as the very foundation of acoustics 
in spite of the fact that it was immediately 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


misinterpreted by Pythagoras and his fol- 
lowers as signifying a universal relation 
between sound and music and number, and 
a universal existence of undetected har- 
mony in seemingly silent bodies, an inter- 
pretation which lingers even yet in the 
phrase ‘‘the music of the spheres,’’ and 
has furnished us with many beautiful lines 
of poetry, such as those of Shakespeare 
and Milton, and the following much later, 
from Pope’s ‘‘Essay on Man’’: 

If Nature thundered in his opening ears 

And stunned him with the music of the spheres, 

How would he wish that heaven had left him still 

The whispering zephyr and the purling rill. 

Longfellow only yesterday referred to 

The Samian’s great AXolian lyre 
Rising through all its seven-fold bars 
From earth unto the fixed stars 
And through the dewy atmosphere 
Not only could I see but hear 
Its wondrous and harmonious strings 
In sweet vibration sphere by sphere. 
— ‘The Occultation of Orion.’’ 

And 

even in recent times no meaner a philosopher 
than Karl Ernst von Baer has asked if there is 
not ‘‘perhaps a murmur in universal space, a har- 
mony of the spheres, audible to quite other ears 
than ours.’’ (Gomperz.) 

Yet Pythagoras lived not long before the © 
golden age of Greece and we do not find 
even among the Greek nature philosophers 
many less mystical interpretations. 

Students of the history of mathematics 
refer to three famous mathematical prob- 
lems of antiquity as ‘‘the three classical 
problems,’’ so called because no satisfac- 
tory solution of them could be found; but 
external nature and inductive science had 
also their ‘‘classical’’ problems, such as 
the meaning of day and night, the periodic 
coming and going of the seasons, the 
rhythmic phases of the moon, the annual 
rise of the Nile, the winds, the pulsating 
tides, all sorts of sounds and music, the 
origin of man and of the lower animals 


AuveusT 8, 1913] 


and plants, the significance of life, death, 
generation, sleep and dreams. These were 
all perennial problems and all insoluble. 
The men of Greece moved as in a maze, not 
only ignorant, as we are, of man’s origin 
and fate, but, unlike us, dreading the 
things around them, since most of these, 
like the lightning and the hurricane, were 
not only not interpreted but seemingly 
might come at any moment to kill or to 
crush. 

At first man stands before the roaring loom of 
Time, gazing in helpless perplexity at the move- 
ments of the infinite shuttles, ignorant of the 
movements which may be beneficent and of those 
which may be destructive to him. . . . He has to 
find his friends and his foes amid the multitude of 
forces which surround him. . . . The spontaneous 
activity of his growing intellect urges him to 
make out some scheme by which the various phe- 
nomena may be bound together. He begins to 
link the known and accessible on to the unknown 
and inaccessible; he animates the universe; inter- 
prets all he sees by all he feels.—G. H. Lewes. 


This childlike anthropomorphism, how- 
ever, failed to satisfy the minds of the 
more cultivated Greeks, who, having noth- 
ing else to fall back upon, retreated from 
it into a kind of agnosticism or into crude 
forms of atomism such as that of Democ- 
ritus. Hyen the great Hippocrates, while 
pleading for observation and virtually be- 
ginning clinical observation as well as 
holding to the healing power of nature, was 
so ignorant of anatomy and physiology and 
pathology as to be able to offer nothing 
better as a theory of disease than his well- 
known suggestion of the four humors, of 
which the sole merit—though at that time 
a very great merit—was that it focused 
attention upon the patient rather than on 
priest or temple or bloody sacrifice; that is 
to say, on the disease itself rather than on 
some ancient dogma. Empedocles, it is 
true, is believed to have used natural 
means to forestall disease when he cut 


SCIENCE 


171 


down the hill behind Girgenti and drained 
the malarial marshes of Selenunti, the 
parsley city. Aristotle, too, for the most 
part seems far away from anthropomor- 
phism in most of his thought and work, but 
while all the middle age regarded him 
with Dante as ‘‘the master of those who 
know,’’ Lewes has truly said: 

It is difficult to speak of Aristotle without exag- 
geration; he is felt to be so mighty and is known 
to be so wrong. . . . His influence has only been 
exceeded by the great founders of religions; never- 
theless, if we now estimate the product of his 
labors in the discovery of positive truths, it ap- 
pears insignificant when not erroneous. None of 
the great germinal discoveries in science was due 
to him or his disciples. 

The Roman period was practically sterile 
as to any helpful interpretations of nature, 
the great work of Lucretius being for the 
most part an amplification of that of Epi- 
curus; while the triumph of christianity 
and, later, of Mohammedanism over the 
Roman world, or parts of it, merely im- 
posed upon it oriental interpretations 
which by substituting few gods or one for 
the multitudes of Greek mythology, simpli- 
fied without wholly depersonifying nature. 
It may well be, however, that the introduc- 
tion of the Hebrew Scriptures into the 
western world afforded a real relief from 
the overhumanized and top-heavy interpre- 
tation of the Greeks and Romans. What a 
cool refreshment follows, for example, a 
verse like this taken from those Scriptures: 
““The wind bloweth where it listeth; thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh or whither it goeth.’’ 
Here is no excessive anthropomorphism. 
The wind and its blowing do not strike us 
as interpreted differently from our expla- 
nations of to-day. Sound is personified, but 
at the same time we have a frank admis- 
sion of ignorance as to its origin and fate. 
As opposed to the theory of: AXolian origin 
and the assumption of personality we have 


172 


cool, calm abstraction which may well have 
been grateful even to Greeks weary of a 
refined anthropomorphism. 

All through the dark and the middle 
ages interpretations of nature more or less 
anthropomorphic and childlike remained 
common. Shakespeare is deeply tinged with 
them, while Francis Bacon, catching cold 
and dying from his famous experiment on 
the cold storage of poultry, stands out as 
even more original for this than as the 
author of the ‘‘Novum Organum.’’ It is 
the glory of the Renaissance that it began 
the age of experiment. Hippocrates had 
displayed something of the modern spirit, 
but he was born too soon. Roger Bacon 
had it in fuller measure and paved the 
way for Gutenberg and Copernicus and 
Leonardo da Vinci and Columbus and Gil- 
bert and Magellan. In the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries for the first time in 
history a succession of ardent students in- 
vestigated, and in our modern fashion in- 
terpreted, the external world. 

Thenceforward events moved rapidly. 
Galileo and Kepler were followed by Harvey 
and Boyle and Newton; the telescope, the 
thermometer, the barometer and the com- 
pound microscope came into being; scientific 
societies sprang up and the modern order 
began. Old interpretations gradually 
passed away. All things gradually be- 
came new. Matter and energy in myriad 
forms and combinations replaced the gods 
of old, with the result that since the time 
of Newton man has looked out upon the 
world about him, without fear and as if 
upon the face of a friend. 


Ir 


Teaching must forever recapitulate and 
epitomize the achievements of the race. 
Consciously or unconsciously it acts along 
the lines of the biogenetic law. Beginning 
with the child who thinks as a child, it 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


offers to him fairy tales in which nature is 
personified and encourages (note the word) 
him to see in things about him a life 
akin to his own. Then comes the awaken- 
ing, when Santa Claus becomes a benevo- 
lent myth and dolls are discovered to be 
stuffed with sawdust. Next follows the 
slow recognition of earth and sky, of sun, 
moon and stars as inanimate objects, and 
finally the discovery of law and order in 
the universe. 

To facilitate and abbreviate this process 
and to ensure a sound result, teachers of 
natural philosophy in the old days per- 
formed experiments before their classes. 
Then came the teaching laboratory, not so 
much as a workshop as a place for demon- 
stration, experiment and research. The 
real workshop or laboring place is oftenest 
none of these, but simply a space in which 
routine operations of one or various kinds 
are done over and over again for profit, as, 
for example, in a shoeshop, a box factory 
or a cotton mill. The college laboratory 
of physics and biology is not, and never 
should be, this sort of workshop. It is 
rather a place where such demonstrations 
of principles or processes are made as shall 
serve for education rather than commerce. 
A. place where old and perhaps famous 
experiments, chosen for their educational 
value, can be performed with and by suc- 
cessive classes, and where investigations 
that promise to yield new or improved re- 
sults can be prosecuted under favorable 
conditions. It supplies the room, the appa- 
ratus, the power, the raw materials and 
especially expert and wise guidance, by 
means of which a personal knowledge of 
nature can be gained in orderly fashion, 
and a fundamental and lasting training 
effectively acquired. It is an indispensable 
tool or instrument with which to gain rapid 
and intimate personal acquaintance with 
nature and the laws of nature. It should 


AueusT 8, 1913] 


afford for the student a kind of moving 
picture of the progress and the conquests of 
science. With the vast extension of the 
field of knowledge during the last three 
hundred years it has become impossible for 
any one to grasp the enormous quantity of 
facts at our disposal. And yet the child, 
instead of beginning where his father left 
off, must begin exactly where his father 
did. Hence the urgent need of careful 
choice of facts, choice of experiments, of 
apparatus and of educational machinery 
if he is to go in one short life even a little 
further than his father went. In short, 
the modern college laboratory is not so 
much a workshop as a school room, in which 
selected natural phenomena, facts and 
processes may be conveniently, rapidly and 
successively demonstrated and enforced. 
It should provide at the outset an epitom- 
ized, easy and rapid recapitulation of the 
slow and laborious discoveries of the past, 
and thus somewhat resemble the mu- 
seum of art or natural history which like- 
wise affords examples or models of past 
achievement. That it is essentially dynam- 
ical while the museum is statical alters 
nothing of its recapitulative educational 
function ; that it must necessarily compress 
the long history of the past into a short 
time, so that it shall give only an epitome 
of human progress, is inevitable, and if 
well done is not merely unobjectionable but 
desirable. 

We hear much nowadays of economy and 
efficiency in education, as elsewhere, but 
we have yet to learn that true efficiency in 
education is not to be measured so much 
by the number of hours devoted by the 
teacher to his pupils or to his laboratory 
or by the time spent by scholars upon their 
tasks as by the wisdom of his decisions 
what to teach, and in what order, and espe- 
cially what to omit. It is easy, though 
never wise, to seek to cover the whole field, 


SCIENCE 


173 


but it is not easy to discover which phe- 
nomena, which experiments, which demon- 
strations are most worth while, most pro- 
ductive of genuine learning, of good judg- 
ment, common sense, real wisdom and 
power. 

But whatever our endeavor, this must 
always be—consciously or unconsciously— 
an attempt to lead the student on to a 
sound and true interpretation of nature. 
And surely the modern interpretation, as 
we seek and find it in laboratories like 
this one which we dedicate to-day, is ob- 
jective rather than subjective. It be- 
gins with the rigorous abnegation of our- 
selves, and a calm survey of the world 
about us, charged with impersonal matter. 
The lightning plays about us with the same 
energy as in Homeric days, but it is no 
longer Zeus who sends it forth. The waves 
fling themselves upon our rocky shores 
to-day precisely as of old they beat upon 
the islands of the Agean, but we do not 
see in them, as did the Greeks, the fury of 
Poseidon. We see only an almost irresisti- 
ble pressure of the atmosphere in motion. 
For us the winds are not the messenzers 
of AXolus, but only lifeless gases caught up 
and dragged by the swiftly spinning earth 
or seeking an equilibrium upset by local 
expansions or contractions due to heat or 
cold. 

Is there, we may well inquire, any more 
important function for modern scientific 
education than to interpret, in a laboratory 
like this which is dedicated ‘to-day, to 
earnest and eager youths such as the state 
of Maine sends to her colleges, that nature 
of which man himself is at once the 
crowning glory and the principal problem! 
To inform, to instruct, to adjust—if pos- 
sible even to attune—the thought, the opin- 
ion of youth; to correlate its activities to 
its environment so that its internal rela- 
tions may become usefully, efficiently and 


174 


happily adjusted to those external rela- 
tions which were never more complex or 
more exacting than to-day,—this is our 
problem. We hear at present much of wars 
and rumors of wars, and a new social 
heaven—or at least a new earth that is to 
become a new heaven. But the universe 
moves on in its appointed ways. The sun 
and the moon and the stars and the seasons 
and day and night are with us, as of old. 
Plants and animals only slowly change 
their nature, and mankind is born and 
lives and dies much as it has always done. 
Art, to be sure, has become vastly longer, 
but life is still nearly as short as ever and 
relatively to the things to be seen, to be 
learned and to be done, infinitely shorter. 
The fundamental problem of all education, 
namely, preparation for life, is therefore no 
less, but rather infinitely more, important. 
But with the aid of laboratories like this, 
generously furnished by lovers of their 
kind, in which wise teachers, themselves 
models of devotion to truth and scholarly 
living and endeavor, by means of examples, 
epitomes and recapitulations of the zreat 
experiments and discoveries of the past, 
shall enable their pupils to appropriate for- 
ever to themselves and to the service of man 
the accumulating wisdom of the ages, we 
may go forward with a cheerful courage. 
Nor does it seem too much to believe that an 
interpretation of nature which has robbed it 
of most of the terrors which it possessed for 
primitive man and has made it increasingly 
serviceable to the race, will long endure. 


W. T. SEDGWICK 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 


THE FITNESS OF ORGANISMS FROM AN 
EMBRYOLOGIST’S VIEWPOINT? 


I am glad to accept an invitation to address 
this club, for I believe that it is an excellent 


1Talk before the Agassiz Club of Cornell Uni- 
versity, February 24, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


custom, indeed, almost necessary in these days 
of specialization, for a biologist to look at his 
problems now and then from others’ points of 
view and to be brought into contact with men 
working on quite different aspects of life than 
his own. The same fundamental problems 
face all workers in the biological field, be they 
ecologists, structure-workers, process-workers, 
breeders, or, I might add, workers in the broad 
field of the medical sciences, for I believe that 
the clinician fully appreciates that the prob- 
lems of health and disease are, on one aspect 
at least, problems of life and that medicine on 
its science side belongs in the broad field of 
biology. It is the unitary character of life 
and life phenomena that binds us all together 
and creates bonds of common interest and the 
goal toward which we all must strive, whether 
we know it or not—if the minor problems 
which we attack are correctly solved—is the 
explanation of life. 

It is a goal which perhaps we may never 
reach or whose outline at some future time 
will be made out in but crude and hazy form, 
and yet it does us good ever and anon to pause 
in our detailed work of analysis and technique 
and turn our eyes in the direction we believe 
it lies and to ponder on the road before; it 
helps us I believe toward a clearer apprecia- 
tion of the setting of the petty problems that 
immediately confront us. Perspective is too 
apt to be lost in the close scrutiny of high 
specialization. In such a contemplation from 
afar of the end-problem of the biologist, some, 
overwhelmed by what lies between, believe it 
unattainable; and others proclaim that the 
solution is close at hand; one sees in the intri- 
cacies of life evidences of a vital force while 
for his fellow-worker the explanation is to be 
wrought out in terms of physics and chemistry 
alone. For each the attitude of mind that will 
color his speculations will be compounded out 
of his personal make-up, the daily routine of 
his work and the time and concentration that 
he has devoted to it. The field naturalist 
easily inclines toward vitalism; the bio- 
chemist, perhaps, is biased toward a physico- 
chemical interpretation; the structure-worker 
—and in this group I would place myself—in 


Aueust 8, 1913] 


more or less intimate contact with both fields, 
may be drawn toward the one or the other 
camp. 

In the interpretation of life phenomena, we 
can not, of course, escape from the domain of 
physics and chemistry; the living body is 
material, and the fundamental physical laws 
of the conservation of matter and energy hold 
there as in the inanimate world. In the trans- 
formations that take place in organisms, there 
is no evidence whatsoever known to me of or 
the least indication that new matter has ap- 
peared or new energy been created. We are 
constrained therefore, if we must postulate a 
vital force, to conclude that it is a new form 
of energy developed out of the other energy 
forms and transformable into them again. 
Since we know nothing about such a special 
life form of energy, but only the energy of 
inanimate matter, there has always seemed to 
me no value in its assumption, since the anal- 
ysis must always proceed from the known to 
the unknown and be expressed in terms of the 
physics and chemistry of the organism. If in 
course of time it becomes apparent that an- 
other energy form exists in living organisms, 
it will then be time enough to discuss it; for 
the present I do not believe it helps to intro- 
duce it. 

In all analysis of life phenomena, very 
fundamental it seems to me is the analysis of 
life conditions, those absolutely essential for 
its manifestation, and you will, I know, par- 
don my introducing here so elementary a 
matter as their enumeration. They are: (1) 
Food-stuffs, 7. e., the necessary chemical con- 
ditions; (2) oxygen; (3) water; (4) heat, 7. e., 
the adequate temperature; (5) pressure. Out 
of these, together with a few more that rest 
upon them as a basis—(6) protection, of diver- 
sified forms; (7) elimination of useless mate- 
rial; (8) formation of new individuals as 
centers of organic transformation—are com- 
pounded the fundamental life activities, of 
the higher organisms at least. It is hardly 
necessary to insist upon the broad application 
of the aboye thesis. Following through the 
sum total of the activities of an organism— 
and I would include its structure as but the 


SCIENCE 


175 


partial expression of these same activities— 
untangling in your analysis the complex that 
they form you come back to the fundamental 
categories of life manifestation enumerated 
above and the conditions that underlie them. 
There is, of course, nothing fundamentally 
different in the manifestation of life under 
the given necessary conditions and a chemical 
or physical reaction. To take a simple exam- 
ple, the rusting of iron. Given the necessary 
conditions, namely, the presence of water, oxy- 
gen, some acid, I am told, such as carbonic 
acid, and of course iron, under an adequate 
temperature, and the reaction will proceed at 
a given rate. Under somewhat different and 
more complex conditions, the presence of some 
other acid or salt, and with less pure iron, the 
reaction will proceed more rapidly. But I am 
venturing on rather dangerous ground and 
must withdraw. 

There are two aspects of life manifestation 
which I desire to mention and which wilk 
introduce the subject that I chose to discuss 
with you. The first of these is the continuity 
of life and all that it includes—growth and 
reproduction. This in itself would possibly 
be regarded as more intimately characteristic 
of life, but I believe that if we were to stop to 
analyze it out, we would find nothing distinc- 
tive in mere continuity. One might, I think, 
find illustrations of purely physico-chemical 
reactions taking place in the earth’s crust 
to-day that have been proceeding since its 
foundations. It is that in organisms insuring 
the continuity which is peculiarly biological. 
The molding of the life activities of organisms 
to a more or less specific environment supply- 
ing the necessary life conditions so that en- 
vironment and organism constitute an inter- 
related system of more or less complexity, is 
the second aspect I made reference to, and 
adaptation” appeals to me as a second very 
fundamental fact in biology. Of the truth of 
this and the great diversity of patterns in 
which life activities and environment are 
interwoven in different organisms, you doubt- 
less know better than I who have largely only 

*The term is employed in the broad sense, and 
as a passive instead of active noun. 


176 


second-hand knowledge of ecological relations. 
The constancy as well as the complexity of 
each pattern is the striking thing. 

I trust you see with me that there is noth- 
ing in the mere element of fitness that is 
peculiar to life. Any chemical reaction re- 
quires a fitness of conditons, if we choose to 
use the word. It is the pattern that embodies 
elements more peculiarly biological. The 
pattern in the world of living things at the 
present day is complex indeed, but particularly 
so in the higher animals, in whose evolution 
there has been established a complexity of 
pattern in which the woof colors of organism 
more and more dominate the warp of outside 
environment, or, to abandon the metaphor, in 
the thought of Professor Matthews at the 
recent symposium on Adaptation, the highest 
step in the perfection of adaptation has been 
reached by making the organism superior to, 
adapted to, all environments; or, differently 
put, in the taking the immediate life condi- 
tion environment within the organism itself, 

And now we come to the critical point in 
our attitude toward adaptation. In the use of 
such terms as fitness, adaptation, control of 
environment, we invoke teleology. The objec- 
tion has been raised, and I believe rightly, 
that to an analysis in terms of cause and 
effect any consideration of use, purpose, or 
aim must be extraneous. We should in all 
instances differentiate between the explana- 
tion of the phenomena and whatever teleologi- 
cal significance may attach thereto. The 
analysis may perhaps not necessarily be 
directly in terms of matter and energy, but it 
ean take no cognizance of a teleology as a 
link in the chain. I should like to discuss 
this aspect of the adaptation problem at some 
length, but time is inadequate. Here, how- 
ever, we stand at the branching of the road, 
we have a choice before us. (1) Hither there 
must be found some substitute for the term 
adaptation that will avoid the teleological ele- 
ment, or (2) accept a pervading life force in 
all organisms, animal or plant, whose highest 
development appears in human consciousness 
and intelligence, a mind force coextensive 
with the matter and energy of organized 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


matter. Some day we may be compelled to 
postulate a directive principle such as the 
entelechy of Driesch, but I do not believe its 
assumption at the present stage of knowledge 
and analysis is necessary or helpful. Per- 
sonally I believe that the right road leads 
toward an ultimate analysis and recasting of 
what we mean by adaptation. The recasting, 
however, must needs strike deep: ideas of co- 
operation of organs with specific functions, 
expressing a division of labor, belong in the 
same category. The unitary character of the 
entire life processes and the structure as but 
the material expression of these is it seems to 
me the keynote that must be struck and 
emphasized in all our analyses of life phenom- 
ena on the side of explanation in the terms of 
cause and effect. 

And yet I think that the belief prevailing 
in some quarters that ‘all in life may be ex- 
plained in terms of physics and chemistry errs 
equally on the other side. Life in an organism 
to-day is like a tapestry in which the threads 
of warp and woof are woven into e pattern of 
exceeding intricacy and delicacy whose weay- 
ing has been going on since the beginnings of 
life. You may analyze the threads of process 
as they run in and out to-day in terms of 
chemistry and physics, it may be, but the pat- 
tern stands as a history of the past and the 
weaving is still largely a secret of the ages. 
The pattern is the problem of evolution, and 
inheritance if you will. For me, the pattern 
in which the life activities of any organism are 
expressed is threefold, expressed by the words 
adaptation, form, consciousness. No one of 
these can I conceive as being explainable in 
physico-chemical terms. Granting that some 
day you may know the full chemistry (or 
physics) of the formation of secretin and how 
it causes the secretion of the pancreatic juice, 
there will still remain unexplained the adapta- 
tion. Full knowledge of the gross and fine 
anatomy of the face, the morphogenesis and 
histogenesis of its development and analysis 
of the physico-chemical processes underlying 
these, would, it seems to me, leave still un- 
explained the cast of feature. Even if we 
assume that future workers will be able to un- 


AucusT 8, 1913] 


ravel the complex histological tangle of the 
cerebrum and analyze the physico-chemical 
processes that take place therein when it is 
active, consciousness will remain incompre- 
hensible on such a basis. I have been told of 
a man who was working on the physical-chem- 
istry of instinct. I feel sure our psychological 
friends would reject with laughter such a 
thesis; they might perhaps accept it if it were 
worded as the physico-chemical processes under 
lying instinct. You can not analyze the “pat- 
tern by analyzing the component threads, al- 
though that might help you in the end toward 
fully understanding the pattern. I do not be- 
lieve you can analyze the pattern of the life 
activities in an organism, including of course 
its “behavior,” by analyzing the threads of 
process that compose it. Try it, and I proph- 
esy that failure will result, or you will resort 
to the assumption of an autonomous vital prin- 
ciple, as Driesch has done. You can not 
analyze phenomena of one category in terms of 
those of another. It is possible of course that 
in time we shall know so much of the activity 
pattern of organisms and how it was evolved 
that we shall be able to solve the problem of 
life, but I do not believe the explanation is so 
close at hand as some would have us believe, 
and perhaps we shall never know from inabil- 
ity to unravel the past. 

You may gather from what I have just said 
that so far from regarding those of you work- 
ing along ecological lines, as I know some of 
you are, as straying from the road that leads 
toward the explanation of life, I would con- 
sider you as pursuing lines of work in a field 
peculiarly biological for which I know of no 
broader and better term than that proposed 
by Minot—bionomics. My only comment is 
that such work should be analytical and not 
merely descriptive, and you can not neglect 
the texture of the fabric in tracing the pattern. 

I have now, I fear, gone far afield in laying 
before you my attitude toward adaptation and 
have little time in which to present one or 
two aspects of the subject that are of interest 
to the embryological worker and to you as 
members of a peculiarly bionomie club, if you 
will let me use the term. If in the following 


SCIENCE 


WOT 


I speak of adaptation, fitness, function, pur- 
pose, I shall do so for simplicity’s sake to avoid 
complicated paraphrases, using them as pat- 
tern terms solely. As one who is particularly 
interested in the analysis of structure, I can 
not but feel the all-pervading element of fit- 
ness—adaptation—in structure, and the im- 
portance of having a clear conception of what 
it stands for when interpreting structure. 
Whatever portion of the organism you 
select for critical examination offers illus- 
tration many-fold, so that I have been puzzled 
that the existence (not interpretation) of adap- 
tation can be questioned. There are, how- 
ever, structures in the vertebrate body, as you 
doubtless know, in which adaptation does not 
stand revealed; I refer to vestigial structures 
which, however, stand for adaptations, not 
present but past, and may be divided into two 
somewhat distinct groups, of which I will 
venture to present one or two illustrations. 
Again I will recall familiar facts to you, from 
a rather different point of view, perhaps. 

The past history of organisms is reflected, 
however imperfectly, in their development. 
Past adaptation patterns, no longer applicable, 
continue over. They may, or may not, play a 
part in meeting the life condition complex 
with which that organism is interwoven. The 
quality of fitness in them may exist or appear 
to be quite lacking. Numerous illustrations 
may be chosen from the embryology of verte- 
brates which are thoroughly familiar to you. 
The development of the branchial chamber, 
expressing a fundamental adaptation pattern 
in the lower vertebrates, subserves no such 
useful purpose in the higher forms. In con- 
nection with it come certain intensely inter- 
esting structures in which adaptation may or 
may not be revealed. I can not appreciate the 
functional importance of the thymus coming 
from the third branchial pouch, nor of the 
similar structure occasionally developing from 
the branchial chamber farther back. To me 
the tonsils have no deep hidden part to play 
in the bodily economy but, useless and in some 
cases detrimental, stand for a tiny portion of 
an adaptation that is past. No specific func- 
tions have been revealed; but in saying this, 


178 


do not understand me to say that these struc- 
tures are not without a possible effect in the 
organism. The mesonephros of mammals like- 
wise represents an important adaptation of 
the past, but Felix has once and again pointed 
out that evidence of an excretory function is 
lacking. But these illustrations will suffice. 
As a record of the past history of the race, 
they stand as a testimony to the very change 
in adaptation that the organism has under- 
gone with the progress of time and evolution. 
As such they afford valuable clues and are 
thus of taxonomic value. 

In the second group I include those adapta- 
tions that exist or appear in the course of 
development to meet the life conditions pecu- 
liar to that period. These structures introduce 
complexities in development. They are present 
at one period of the life cycle and pass away 
with changed conditions. Where traces of them 
remain, they are like the vestigial structures 
of the first group, a record of past adaptations, 
but in the individual history and not primarily 
that of the race. As an example, the Kiemen- 
reste (gill-remnants) of frogs and toads stand 
as a record of the early adaptations of the 
frog in its larval period. No function can be 
assigned them; they appear to have no past 
history in the race. Again let me repeat I do 
not say that they may not be without effect in 
the organism. The most noteworthy instances 
in this group of structures of interest to the 
vertebrate embryologist are the fetal mem- 
branes, structures developed out of the ani- 
mal’s body (essentially) mainly for the pro- 
tection, nutrition and respiration of the indi- 
vidual during the early period of its ontogeny 
and subsequently discarded when no longer 
needed. Since they are outside the body, they 
are not continued as vestigial structures; only 
insignificant folds and so-called ligaments 
remain as more or less useless remnants. 

Such transient adaptations in the individual 
life history have, of course, been evolved and 
perfected in the evolution and share with 
those of the first group a taxonomic value, but 
with this difference: such adaptations to meet 
very specific needs at a specific period in the 
individual’s life should, I believe, be used 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


with caution. Let me give the two examples 
that have impressed me most. 

In the development of the fetal membranes 
of mammals a very marked variation in the 
arrangement in the different forms occurs. 
In general the plan of development and rela- 
tions appears to be broadly characteristic of 
the different orders. In perhaps the majority 
the amniotic cavity is formed by folding essen- 
tially as in the reptiles and birds. In certain 
of the rodents, chiroptera, insectivora, and 
probably primates, however, the amniotic cav- 
ity appears precociously in the midst of the 
ectoderm or trophoblast and only subsequently 
do the typical structure and relations of the 
amnion become established. An eminent 
embryologist of Europe, Hubrecht, to whom 
are due many of the facts of the early develop- 
ment in these forms, concluded that this 
method of formation of the amniotic cavity, 
by dehiscence, is the primitive type and there- 
fore decides in favor of an origin of the mam- 
mals from amphibian-like forms. This 
method of amnion formation appears, how- 
ever, closely correlated with the method of 
implantation of the ovum and placenta forma- 
tion, and inasmuch as the type of placentation 
represented is obviously the highest and most 
direct the primitive character of amnion for- 
mation by dehiscence may be seriously ques- 
tioned. The uselessness of such a character 
for taxonomic purposes is further illustrated 
by the fact that in but one of the four groups 
where it occurs is it apparently constant, but 
amnion formation by folding is found as well 
in certain of the forms. 

My second illustration of the questionable 
character of such ontogenetic adaptations as 
clues to genetic relations is the tadpole stage 
of frogs and toads. The structural relations 
of the larval organism depart in detail so 
widely from the typical relations and are so 
obviously correlated with the immediate life 
conditions that one is justified, I believe, with 
Spemann and Versluys in regarding the adult 
as probably standing nearer the “ ancestral 
line.” Founding broad genetic conclusions 
from the conditions in the tadpole may be 
done only with caution and reserve. The per- 


AveusT 8, 1913] 


version of fundamental relations in the larva 
is well illustrated in the development of the 
middle ear and sound-transmitting apparatus 
where my personal interest has centered. 

Thus the embryologist in attempting to ex- 
plain development encounters illustrations of 
the formation of apparently non-adaptative 
structures and structures whose adaptative 
value has apparently been lost. The idea of 
adaptation must be ever present with him and 
yet he must avoid the assumption of a “func- 
tion” for all things, or seek “ fitness ” as the 
key to the interpretation of structure. The 
field or work for him is first of all the analysis 
of the underlying developmental processes in 
which adaptation is portrayed. There are, 
however, always the two aspects, pattern and 
texture, in life activities. 

lustrations of apparently non-adaptative 
structures which apparently never are or were 
adaptative will doubtless occur to you, many 
of them correlated with sex; others apparently 
useless and seemingly a pure exuberance of 
growth and behavior. These I can not dis- 
cuss; they lie outside my field. They empha- 
size again that the secret for them as for 
adaptation lies wrapped up in the complexity 
of life processes with the obscure and pro- 
longed evolutionary history involved, and our 
only hope lies in analysis. 

B. F. Kinessury 


THE FINAL EXAMINATION OF SENIORS 
IN AMERICAN COLLEGES 

WHETHER seniors at the end of their college 
course should be required to take examina- 
tions at the same time as other students, or 
several days or weeks earlier, or whether they 
should be excused from examinations alto- 
gether upon the basis of their term standing, 
is a problem which is not infrequently up for 
discussion. While one may hardly hope to 
settle the matter absolutely, to know the prac- 
tise in different institutions throughout the 
country may not be without value. 

Early in May, 1912, I sent out a postal 
questionnaire to all the institutions listed 
under the head of “ Universities, colleges and 
technological schools for men and for both 
sexes ” in the Report of the Commissioner of 


SCIENCE 179 


Education for 1909, which was the latest vol- 
ume accessible to me at that time. There 
were but two questions asked, viz., “Do the 
seniors in the collegiate department of your 
institution take their final examinations in 
the spring term, or second semester, at the 
same time as, or two or three weeks earlier 
than, the rest of the students?” “Are some 
of the seniors excused from the final examina- 
tion upon the basis of their high average, 85 
per cent., 90 per cent., 95 per cent., during 
the spring term, or second semester?” Of 
the 493 institutions to which postals were sent, 
347 replied, and those replies throw at least 
some light upon the problem. 

The simplest method of dealing with this 
material is to take the undifferentiated list of 
institutions in its entirety. Of the total num- 
ber, 493, 70 per cent., were heard from. Of 
these, 167 require the seniors to take their 
final examinations at the same time that the 
rest of the students do, while 154 set the senior 
examinations at an earlier date. There were, 
also, 26 replies which were not definite. This 
majority of 18, while not great, becomes more 
significant when one considers the variety 
which prevails among the other institutions. 
The date for these earlier examinations varies 
from two or three days before the regular 
examinations to seven or eight weeks. The 
tendency, however, is to have them scheduled 
one or two weeks earlier, as is shown by 68 
and 46 postals, respectively. 

The following tables are in the main self- 


explanatory. 
TABLE I 
Institutions at which Final Examinations for 
Seniors are Scheduled Earlier than for 


Underclassmen 

Two or three days Two or three weeks 
earlier) ed eerdaechar Gill Galler, Boe buoolse 19 
Five days earlier...... 1|/Three weeks earlier. .| 8 

Ten days earlier....... 3)/Three or four weeks 
One week earlier...... 68]| earlier........... 1 
One or two weeks Four weeks earlier...| 1 

Carlier emer 2)|Seven or eight weeks 
Two weeks earlier..... 46)| earlier........... 1 
Ncattering!. 2... sii il 
Totaly eae eho sa aay 23ibotaleeiemncinise 31 


*This term designates a card which indicated 
that some of the examinations are earlier, but did 
not specify definitely. 


180 


TABLE II 


Distribution of the Institutions of Table I. 
according to the Census Divisions 


North Atlantic........ |31 |\South Central...... 13 
South Atlantic........ DSiliwesternken erties 13 
North Central........ 69 || A 
|\UeRotaleermretetecksich: \154 

TABLE III 


Distribution of all the Institutions to which 
the Questionnaire was sent 


North Atlantic........ 91|\South Central....... 77 
South Atlantic........ 82||Western............ 46 
North Central........ 197||-—-@ ——__—_|—_ 
Motaleyeise ie 493 
TABLE IV 
Number of Institutions Heard from in each 
Division 
North Atlantic........ 72|South Central...... 38 
South Atlantic........ STliWestermsoe er). -e1- 35 
North Central........ 151 
Bho Galery ee th ee: 13472 
TABLE V 
The Percentage of Institutions Heard from in each 
Dwision 
North Atlantic..... 79% |\South Central...... 49% 
South Atlantic..... 62% ||Western........... 76% 
North Central..... 76% 
TABLE VI 


Distribution of the Institutions that require Senior 
Finals at the Same Time as for Other Students 


North Atlantic........ 38 llsouth Central....... 22 


South Atlantic........ 21 |/Western............ 18 
North Central........ 68 
Mo tale pees 1167 


If we compare Tables II. and VLI., it is evi- 
dent that the two methods of arranging senior 
finals run rather evenly. The low percentage 
of returns from the South Atlantic and South 
Central divisions, as shown in Table V., makes 
any inference decidedly hazardous. That the 
ratio in the other divisions would remain 
about the same, were all the remaining insti- 

2 This number, 347, represents all the postals re- 
turned. Twenty-six of them were too indefinite 
for use on this first problem. Most of them, how- 
ever, are usable on the second problem. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 971 


tutions heard from, is likely because of the 
high percentage of replies obtained from those 
sections. This part of the problem, then, re- 
mains rather indeterminate, when the undif- 
ferentiated list of institutions is treated in 
this simple way. 

If we turn, now, to the second problem, viz., 
excusing from examinations, we find that the 
alignment of the different institutions does 
not remain the same. About one half of those 
that schedule the senior finals early also ex- 
euse from the finals altogether provided the 
term work is satisfactory, and somewhat less 
than a third of the other group follows the 
same practise. The percentage accepted as 
satisfactory ranges from 65 per cent. in one 
case to 95 per cent. in several others. The 
majority of the institutions which approve 
this practise make either 85 per cent. or 90 
per cent. the sufficient grade. In Table VII. 
the distribution of these institutions is given. 

Table VII. shows that 121 institutions, or 
slightly more than one third of all that were 
heard from, are accustomed to excuse seniors 
from final examinations in the last term or 
semester upon the basis of their term or se- 
mester standing, or altogether as is true in a 
few cases. Since 70 per cent. of all the insti- 
tutions in the country responded to the ques- 
tionnaire, it is likely that the same ratio would 
be maintained if all reported. It is also very 
evident from this table that there is a greater 
tendency to excuse from examinations among 
the institutions of the North Central section 
than elsewhere, since about one half of all the 
institutions of that sort in the country that re- 
plied are located in that section, while only 
39 per cent. of all the institutions of the coun- 
try are in that division. Still further, since 
76 per cent. of all the institutions of the 
North Central division responded to the in- 
quiry, it is likely that this high average pre- 
vails among the other institutions of this lo- 
cality that were not heard from. This is a 
more definite result than that obtained with 
reference to the first question by the applica- 
tion of this simple method to the data in hand. 

Another method of dealing with the data 
confirms the result just. stated, and yields 


AucusT 8, 1913] 


SCIENCE 


181 


TABLE VII 
Distribution of Institutions that Excuse Seniors from Final Examinations 


North Atlantic South Atlantic North Central 
q =I ~ a =| a q 
3 is 3 mare Ss c) 
HY ~| else 2 ra Se wl] wise! 2] 3 Eh we] else & z 
28/81 8/e8| | 128) 8| S\es8| §| o\e8| 8) Siege] | 5 
& 3 2) a /8 6 S| a\é 3 S| a 
= = 4 P= A P= 
Institutions which otherwise require finals 
PIR EVnkso WNINA} se ioc oo Rede mabe O Todas 3/3 3/9 1 1) 2°) 9) 9 7 | 27 
Institutions which otherwise require finals 
ONE WEEK EARLIER.............-+-- 4 5| 9} 1 2 PAA BA Mee ey) bey ayo @ 
Institutions which otherwise require finals 
TWO WEEKS EARLIER.............-.. st a 1 2] 3/1) 2} 3) 1) 4/11 
Sevtberin gears ets setceiereunias clejolererstene clots Te} ayy ab) al QS Lo Sy 5) 6|17 
PING bea sierevey spent eters race jevsiaies suet elelaiesl sitters 7|3 10|20} 2} 2)]41]2/]61/16] 4/16/18] 2 | 21) 61 
South Central Western Lee 
Ge 
Fe a ile E g oil es Sg 
Sw! we] we los 2| a iael we] we Se| o/c ge 
2e| o| &/2a| & s 28| 6| S/28) § S 3A 
8 g |> 8 Salli a 
Institutions which otherwise require finals at SAME TIME.... PA jit Wal 4 1)/2/1)11] 5] 46 
Institutions which otherwise require finals ONE WEEK EARLIER | aby at 1 2| 25 
Institutions which otherwise require finals TWO WEEKS EARLIER 2 2 1 1} 2) 19 
Reamiaelcds Seon ees oops oo co boro od Ob ocd DET OStIe od obo D 12) 1) 4 1 3] 4] 31 
PRO CANS eee eet eT UT oat asta Neos aatelene. euercustshate So) 2a WO 2s 2a ro alsy dion 
rather definite information in connection with institutions in income groups. For this pur- 


the practise of setting senior finals at an early 
date. 

The list of institutions given in the “ Re- 
port of the Commissioner of Education” * is 
complex. If we analyze it and put the state 
universities in a group by themselves, state 
colleges by themselves, colleges and universi- 
ties on private foundations by themselves, and 
so on, and then get at the annual income of 
each institution and make corresponding sub- 
groups, much more information is elicited. 

It is, of course, not easy to arrange these 


* This term is used to designate those institutions 
which schedule senior examinations at other dates 
than just one or two weeks, as indicated on Table I. 

*The term ‘‘ Various’? is used to include ex- 
eusing from examinations at the option of the 
professor, with or without a definite percentage, 
and a number of other ways which hardly needed 


to be presented in detail, while the total of this 
and 90 per cent. are the preferred satisfactory 


grades. 
° Report for 1909, pp. 900-924. 


pose, I used the Report of the Commissioner 
of Education for 1909 and for 1910.° A very 
elaborate treatment would require a study of 
each institution through the last ten or twenty 
years. Even then there would be difficulty in 
determining what group an institution should 
be placed in because of the fluctuations of in- 
come due to growth or decay, increase or de- 
erease in tuition, and the varying amounts 
yielded by invested funds. The two reports 
just referred to, however, seem to furnish suffi- 
cient material for the purposes of this investi- 
gation. 

In determining the group to which an in- 
stitution belongs, I considered the annual in- 
come as made up of “tuition and other fees 
for educational services,” the amount obtained 
from “productive funds,” and the amount 
gained for “current expenses” from “ city, 
state or national government, or private bene- 
factions.” It is true that this represents only 


®Report for 1909 . 961-977. Report for 
DP » PP Pp 


1910, pp. 943-961. 


182 


rough work, and yet when the same test is ap- 
plied to each institution for two successive 
years the results can not be far wrong. Table 
VIII. gives these results in simple form for 
those institutions which replied to the ques- 


TABLE VIII 
Educational Institutions according to Groups 


Examina- oq 
tions Sched-| 5 
uled for i 
Seniors = 
= eI 
Po S| 2 
2 2Z\22 5) 
Salaa © 1) 5 
eee] 2) | 6 
Bal2a| 5| 8 
Bia Selle |e 
25(35| a| 3 
NO|<O a 
2 | |e 
ee 
Schools of technology........... 4) 5] 1 5) 15 
Agricultural schools.........-.... 1) 11) 11 10) 23 
State universities............... 17! 13) 3] 8] 41 
Statercollepesiervscrericiaereeiieie te Zi 2: Wy) oS} 
State schools of mines........... 4) 4 
Military and naval institutions...| 2 4, 6 
Universities 
and colleges | $100,000 or more. ..| 32) 14) 2} 2) 50 
on private | $ 50,000 to $100,000) 19} 17} 3} 6) 45 
foundations } $ 25,000 to $ 50,000) 17) 32) 5| 25) 79 
with an $ 5,000 to $ 25,000) 65] 50) 10} 59/184 
annual Less than $5,000...) 2) 1 6| 9 
income of 
Lotalsaeneererine 161'145! 25 !130/461 


tionnaire, arranged according to their attitude 
to the first question, and the institutions not 
heard from in a column by themselves. The 
institutions with no incomes listed in these 
two reports are of course not entered. This 
accounts for the discrepancy between the total 
461 and the 498 to which postals were sent. 
These income groups, too, I worked out espe- 
cially in connection with the colleges and 
universities upon private foundations, since it 
is with these that the problem seems to be 
most acute. 

From this table it is evident that a majority 
of the state universities and of the collezes 
and universities on private foundations with 
an annual income of $100,000 or more, follow 
the practise of requiring the seniors to take 

7™<¢Scattering’’ means that the postals did not 
indicate clearly whether the examinations for 
seniors occurred earlier or not. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


their final examinations at the same time as 
the rest of the students. Still further, of all 
the state universities, only four have an in- 
come apparently under $100,000 a year. One 
of these belongs among those with senior ex- 
aminations at the same time as for other stu- 
dents, two among those favoring an earlier 
date, and one among those not heard from. 
Combining these results, we get 48 institu- 
tions with an annual income of $100,000 or 
more favoring examinations for all students 
at the same time, and 25 favoring an earlier 
date for senior finals. The practise of these 
institutions seems to be decidedly in favor of 
the former. It is of importance, too, to note 
that all of the colleges and universities in the 
country on private foundations and belonging 
to this group were heard from except two. 

This table also shows that the practise of 
having senior finals at an earlier date is al- 
most equal to the other method among the col- 
leges and universities with an annual income 
of from $50,000 to $100,000, and that it 
reaches a majority of almost two to one 
among the institutions with an income of 
from $25,000 to $50,000 a year, or 40 per cent. 
of all the institutions of that class in the 
country. In the next lower income group, the 
ratio shifts back into approximate conformity 
with the highest income groups. 

The distribution of these institutions ac- 
cording to the census divisions is rather sug- 
gestive in places. We need consider only the 
state universities and the groups of institu- 
tions on private foundations, except the low- 
est. 

TABLE IX 
Distribution of State Universities 


aslaziselae| | 2 
Bslssloa|sa| 3| Ss 
az|az\4S/28| & | 6 

Final For all students at 
examina- the same time..| 2 | 2/10] . 3|17 
tions For seniors earlier. 3 | 3/3) 4/138 
scheduled / Scattering’....... 1| 2) 3 
Institutions not heard from... 1} 1)4] 2) 8 
Motalsievm ase 2/6/14] 8 }11|41 


§¢< Scattering’? means in Tables IX. to XIII. 
that the postals were indefinite on this point. 


Avucust 8, 1913] 


From Table IX. it is evident that in the 
North Central section where the state univer- 
sities are most numerous, and each of them 
has an annual income of more than $100,000, 
there are 10 out of 14 that schedule the final 
examinations for seniors at the same time as 
for the rest of the students. Tables X. and 
XA, also, show that in the North Atlantic 
section where the colleges and universities of 
the highest income class are most numerous, 
18 out of 28 follow the same practise, and 10 
out of 12 is the ratio of these same institutions 
in New England. These institutions are, 
presumably, especially well equipped and com- 
mitted to the highest educational ideals. Or 
to put the matter differently, 17 out of 41, 
that is, nearly a half of all the state universi- 
ties in the country, and 32 out of 50, that is, 
much more than a half of all the colleges and 
universities of the highest income, set the 
senior finals at the same time as for the other 
students. This is certainly significant. 

In Table XI. the situation is about evenly 
balanced, although the general results seem 
to be more in line with the two preceding 
tables than out of harmony with them. 

If we turn, now, to Table XII., it is evident 
that about half of all the institutions of this 
elass are in the North Central section, and 
that slightly more than a half of these set the 
senior finals at an early date. Or to put the 
matter differently, about two thirds, 20 out of 
32, of all the institutions in the country of 
this class that reported this practise are in 
this North Central section. 


TABLE X 
Distribution of Colleges and Universities on 
Private Foundations with an Annual 
Income of $100,000 or More 


a8 an aS aa Hn n 
Sole giPHi> el Oo] = 
5a/28\5a\3a| 3 | 3 
AR aR |438|25 > i= 

Final For all students at 
examina- the same time..|18] 4 | 7] 1 | 2 |32 
tions For seniors earlier|10| 1 | 2 14 
scheduled/ Scattering....... il |) 2 
Institutions not heard from.. . if) ak 2 
Motals weenie 28| 5 111] 3 | 3 |50 


SCIENCE 


183 


TABLE XA 
Special Analysis of the Distribution of Colleges 
and Universities on Private Foundations with 
an Annual Income of $100,000 or More 
in the North Atlantic Division 


Se 
Sasa eel all © 
Azania s| @| 6 
(3 er) 
Final For all students at the 
examina- same time......... 10| 6 2/18 
tions For seniors earlier....| 2} 2 | 2] 4/10 
scheduled/J Scattering........... Wy at 
Institutions not heard from...... 
Rotal shen 12/8 |2| 7 l29 


TABLE XI 


Distribution of Colleges and Universities on 
Private Foundations with an Annual 
Income of from $50,000 to $100,000 


Pesiet | aloe evelle alee 
Ealgalesles| 8/3 
Zales slgs| 8| & 
4) <|F0|"0) & 

Final For all students at 
examina- the same time...| 7 8] 2 | 2/19 
ations For seniors earlier | 7| 1 | 6 3 {17 
scheduled/ Scattering....... 1 1 |) & 
Institutions not heard from...| 3] 1 iby) at 6 
mataisee eee i8| 2 |16| 3 | 6 |45 


TABLE XII 


Distribution of Colleges and Universities on 
Private Foundations with an Annual 
Income of from $25,000 to $50,000 


2 lool _ 

azisgleeles| 5) 3 
BalEs|5s\2q| 2] S$ 
ASINZAd|20| F | 

Final For all students at 
examina- the same time..| 4] 2| 5| 4] 2 |17 
tions | For seniors earlier | 3| 6/20} 2] 1 |32 
scheduled J Scattering....... 1| 4 5 
Institutions not heard from...| 5} 5/10} 4) 1 | 25 
Motalsanereeecer 12|}14/39/10] 4 |79 


Table XIII. does not yield quite such dis- 
tinct results as Table XII. and yet it points 
in about the same direction. About one half 
of all the institutions in this class are in the 
North Central section, and nearly one third 
of these have the senior finals early. Still 
further, 29 out of 50, about three fifths of all 


184 


the institutions of this class that reported 
early finals from all parts of the country are 
in this North Central division. 


TABLE XIII 
Distribution of Colleges and Universities on 
Private Foundations with an Annual 
Income of from $5,000 to $25,000 


as\asl|oelae| 8! 2 

PalSalesies| 8] 3 

68lo2/58/25| 8 | 5 

Ax ne 48\ag p| a 

Final For all students at 

examina- the same time..| 4] 8/36/10] 7] 65 
tions For seniors earlier.| 5|10|29} 5] 1] 50 
scheduled/ Scattering....... 1} 1) 5) 2) 1) 10 
Institutions not heard from...} 5/12/21/19} 2] 59 
Motalssaeeerr. 15 | 31 | 91 | 36/11 |184 


The evidence is not absolutely conclusive 
and yet it tends to single out the North Cen- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


tral section as the home of this practise and 
among the colleges and universities with an 
annual income of from $5,000 to $50,000. 

Turning, now, to the second phase of the 
entire problem, the results obtained by the 
first somewhat rough method are reinforced 
by this more analytical method. Of the 347 
institutions heard from, 121, or a little more 
than one third, excuse seniors from final ex- 
aminations. Of these, 71 are institutions with 
an annual income of from $5,000 to $50,000. 
Still further, while but 39 per cent. of all the 
colleges and universities of the country are in 
the North Central section, 50 per cent. of all 
that excuse from examinations are located 
there, and 70 per cent. of these, or 43 out of 
61, are institutions with from $5,000 to $50,- 
000 income a year. These results are evident 
from Table XIV. 


TABLE XIV 


Distribution of the Institutions which Excuse Seniors from Final Examinations. 
Most of them Arranged according to Income Groups 


North South North South 
Atlantic Atlantic Central Central | Western oli 
Final Ex- | Final Ex- Final Ex- Final Ex- Final Ex- Final Ex- 
aminations | aminations | aminations | aminations | aminations | aminations 
Scheduled | Scheduled | Scheduled Scheduled Scheduled | Scheduled 
2 z g 2 2 2 3 
ao e ao ae ao oo ao 
Sale| VISE | wise | Sale | oiSele,) Siseie | o| © 
BE58) -BiSere es) 2 ISS )s 0) 2 /BS)3 2] = ealae) 2 Sela) 3 
Nolo! 9 |ND\OA| 9 |NX| OS] D9 Nolo] o|Nolog] S|MV|oE| o 
=8/23| SiI4 S/R) Sia gin] Slag | a| Slagioa] S [a gina| 
48/59) S$ |$8|58| 8 <8) 88) 8/48/55) § |S e]55] 8 8/55) & 
Bel | fess i | feel | Ole ie | le i Pl |S n 
= * &° &* mo =e a 
Schools of technology ............ 1 1} 1 BH oi 8 
Agricultural schools............... 2 1 1] 1 al Hy aki) 3 
Statesuniversitieseee eerie eee 1 1 Bi ah Dall: 1/2] 3] 5/ 3 11 
Statercollezes panier reer 2 1 33 3 
ava a [ $100,000 ormore...| 4 | 3| 1 2 1 2 8| 3] 2] 13 
en private. | 3. 20;000 to $100,000 2 By) a }) al WPS 4) 2 © 
Aer ee | $ 25,000 to $ 50,000] 2 | 1 3/1] 3] 6| 4] 2 ‘7 |10| 5 | 22 
acer oe $ 5,000 to $ 25,000) 2 Te) TVG MON won oaontS 1 |23)17| 9| 49 
eee Less than $5,000.... 1 1 al) i 2 
4 Notilisted) < jocrecter ip dey Wy wy ky Ss 
income of 
Motalsitae eee 9/10! 1/1/13] 2 |27|20)14)4]4]3)5) 4] 4 |46' 51) 24 |121 
otalsrcrs struc 20 16 61 isl 13 121 


*<<Scattering’’ means that these postals did not 
indicate the attitude of the institution toward 
earlier examinations for seniors or at the same 
time as other students. They did indicate clearly 


exemption from examinations under certain con- 


ditions. 
” This is a summary of the respective columns 


read across the table. 


AucusT 8, 1913] 


To make this study more complete one 
would need to show the tendency, that is, 
whether the custom of setting senior finals at 
the same time as the finals for other students 
is increasing, or vice versa, and whether ex- 
cusing seniors from finals is becoming more 
or less prevalent. The questionnaire did not 
provide for this aspect of the matter. It was 
arranged so as to elicit the information sought 
speedily, and with the least amount of effort 
on the part of college and university registrars 
to whom it was sent. This much, however, 
may be said. Three eastern institutions, each 
with an income of at least $175,000 a year, 
have tried the method of earlier examinations 
for seniors and have abandoned it. This was 
learned from other sources. One of the cards, 
also, indicated that an eastern institution in 
the $100,000 income elass, which is now fol- 
lowing that practise, is seriously considering 
a change to the method of scheduling the final 
examinations for all students at the same 
time. 

In regard to excusing from examinations, it 
may be said that the return postals from two 
institutions indicated that they are contem- 
plating adopting this method, but both are in 
the class with an annual income of from 
$5,000 to $25,000, and in the North Central 
section. Fifteen postals, rather evenly dis- 
tributed throughout the country, indicated by 
such expressions as “Never,” “All stand 
examination,” “ Not excused under any condi- 
tion,” “ All must take both mid-year and final 
examinations,” a decided opposition to any 
such practise. 

A few institutions indicated that the diffi- 
culty of grading seniors carefully, when their 
examinations come at the regular time, just 
before commencement, is met by putting 
senior subjects, so far as compatible with a 
rather wide range of electives, early in the ex- 
amination period, which, it was shown, extends 
through one or two weeks. 

In attempting to state briefly what this 
study has shown, I may not assume that there 
is any method that may be regarded as abso- 
lutely best. A practise which is generally 
favored may not be the best. It is the small 


SCIENCE 


185 


group of institutions, or a single institution, 
which may by experiment discover a method 
superior to one long tried and approved. 
None the less, the practise of a decided ma- 
jority of the better equipped institutions, 
judging from their annual income, is very 
significant. That majority is 48 to 25, as 
given on page 182. While not final, their in- 
sistence upon scheduling senior examinations 
at the same time as for other students, and 
their tendency not to excuse seniors from the 
second semester or spring term examinations, 
the majority against being about the same as 
in the other case, would seem to indicate what 
is best at present. 


Gregory D. Watcort 
HAMLINE UNIVERSITY, 
St. PAUL, MINN. 


WILLIAM MCMURTRIE? 


Witit1um McMourrri was born on March 10, 
1851, on a farm near Belvidere, N. J. He was 
an active, energetic lad at school and at 
Lafayette College, where he entered in the 
mining engineering course in 1868, graduating 
in 1871. While in college he was a member of 
the Franklin Literary Society and of the Zeta 
Psi fraternity. Among his classmates were 
the late John Meigs, proprietor of the famous 
Hill School of Pottstown; Dr. W. B. Owen, 
a well-known and influential member of the 
faculty of Lafayette College; D. B. King, of 
New York City, and H. P. Glover, of Mifflin- 
burg, Pa. 

In 1872 MeMurtrie became assistant chem- 
ist in the U. 8. Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, D. C., Dr. R. J. Brown being the 
chief chemist. Dr. Wiley says: 

+Several biographical notices of Dr. MeMurtrie 
have already appeared—one by Dr. C. P. Me- 
Kenna in The Percolator, issued regularly by the 
Chemists’ Club of New York City (June 20, 1913), 
a more extended notice by Dr. H. W. Wiley in 
the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 
istry (July, 1913, p. 616). The last named con- 
tains a bibliography by Douglas C. MeMurtrie. 
I have drawn upon both these sources. The dates 
are from Dr. Stonecipher’s ‘‘ Bibliographical Cat- 
alogue of Lafayette College’? and from ‘‘Who’s 
Who in America.’’ 


186 


On entering the laboratory, I found one as- 
sistant at work; a young man with jet-black hair 
and pleasing appearance, seated on a high stool 
before a desk, attending to some of the details 
of an analysis. ... This was my first meeting with 
Dr. MeMurtrie and the beginning of a friendship 
which continued unabated until the time of his 
death. ... Within the next two years from the time 
of which I speak, Dr. Brown retired from the posi- 
tion of chief chemist of the Department of Agri- 
eulture and Dr. MeMurtrie took his place. He was 
at that time, though only twenty-one years of age, 
well trained in chemistry, as training was regarded 
in those days. ... When he entered Lafayette Col- 
lege there was no special course of chemistry, so 
he took mining engineering because in that he 
could have the best chemical training which the 
college afforded. 

The story of how he was selected for. the suc- 
eession to Dr. Brown reveals one of the character- 
istics of his whole life, namely, unselfishness. 
Judge Watts was at the time Commissioner of 
Agriculture. When Dr. Brown retired a number 
of applications for this position came in. Com- 
missioner Watts called young McMurtrie into his 
office and asked him what he thought of the quali- 
fications of the applicants. He said he did not 
think any one of them was properly qualified for 
the position. Commissioner Watts then asked him 
if he thought he could do the work and would like 
the position. He replied that the idea of succeed- 
ing Dr. Brown had never entered his mind, but he 
thought he could do better than any of the men 
who were being considered. 

In 1876 he married Helen M. Douglas, who 
with his son, Douglas C., survives him. 

In 1878 he became agent of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture and superintendent 
of the agricultural section at the Exposition 
Universelle at Paris. His account of the 
work is contained in the first volume of the 
Report of the U. S. Commissioners, page 113. 
An interesting confirmation of Dr. McMurtrie’s 
modesty is to be inferred from a certain letter 
contained in the volume just cited from Mr. 
McCormick, Commissioner General, to Secre- 
tary Evarts, in which he states that “there 
is an eager movement upon the part of cer- 
tain Americans here to secure decorations 
from the French government.” Dr. Mce- 
Murtrie’s name does not appear in this list, 
but in 1883 he was made a Chevallier du 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 971 


Merite Agricola “because of service rendered 
in agriculture.” 

From 1879-1882 he was special agent of the 
Department of Agriculture in agricultural 
technology and wrote several valuable reports, 
only a part of which were published. Among 
these were reports on “The Mineral Nutri- 
tion of the Vine,” “A Report on the Culture 
of Sumac in Sicily,” on the “Culture of the 
Sugar Beet,” on the “ Examination of Raw 
Silks,” and “A Report upon an Examination 
of Wools and other Animal Fibers.” His re- 
ports upon “Sugar Beet Culture” and upon 
“Wool” are considered especially valuable. 
The subject last named he returned to, pub- 
lishing two further reports in 1887 and 1901. 

In 1882 MecMurtrie became professor of 
chemistry at the University of [llinois at 
Champaign, in 1884 chemist of the Illinois 
State Board of Agriculture and in 1886 chem- 
ist of the Agricultural Experiment Station. 

In 1888 he came to New York as chemist 
of the New York Tartar Company. He took 
charge of their factory in Brooklyn and revolu- 
tionized the methods of manufacture, trying 
one method after another until he finally suc- 
ceeded in making perfectly pure cream of 
tartar and tartaric acid on a manufacturing 
seale at a reasonable cost. In further prose- 
cuting the work of the Royal Baking Powder 
Company he organized a complete factory for 
making tin containers for their product. 
This was highly successful and is still consid- 
ered a model factory for this purpose. 

Dr. McMurtrie was very much interested in 
the reorganization of the American Chemical 
Society, which was undertaken in 1893 when 
Dr. Wiley became president. I was then 
editing the Journal of Analytical and Applied 
Chemistry and Dr. Wiley came to me with 
the suggestion that I had better either give 
up my own journal and run the Journal of the 
American Chemical Society as editor or edit 
both journals. I told him at once that I 
would decline the second proposition but 
would hold the first under advisement, and I 
finally consented. When the arrangement was 
concluded it was June. We had two papers 
and were six numbers in arrears. By the end 


Avaust 8, 1913] 


of the year twelve numbers had been issued 
and the membership had begun to increase. 
At that time, if my memory is correct, there 
were less than 500 members, many of whom 
were in arrears for dues. During my editor- 
ship, which continued for nine years, Dr. Mc- 
Murtrie was a very active member of the 
council and in 1900 became president. He was 
ready to sacrifice his time and means in the 
service of the society and expected the rest of 
us to do as much. The salary list during 
these years was ridiculously small, yet a tre- 
mendous amount of work was accomplished. 

Dr. McMurtrie was a man of fine presence, 
agreeable manners and great kindness of heart. 
He died May 24, 1913. 

Epwarp Hart 


PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE 

Tur Secretary of Agriculture has an- 
nounced new plans of publication work for 
that department. There has been an inde- 
pendent series of bulletins and circulars in 
each of the thirteen publishing bureaus, divi- 
sions and offices of the department. These 
have been discontinued and will be superseded 
by the Journal of Research for printing scien- 
tific and technical matter, and by a depart- 
mental series of bulletins, written in popular 
language for selected and general distribution. 
By this plan the confusion that has resulted 
from the multiplicity of series of publications 
will be avoided, and the saving of a consider- 
able sum will annually be effected. 

Under the new plan the department will dis- 
continue the general distribution of matter so 
scientific or technical as to be of little or no 
use to the lay reader. It will supply technical 
information only to those directly interested 
and capable of using scientific analyses, and 
of understanding the results of research work 
couched in scientific terms. A larger amount 
of information in popular form which the aver- 
age reader can immediately apply to his own 
direct advantage, and thereby increase the 
agricultural productiveness and the health of 
the nation, will hereafter be distributed. 

The highly scientific matter heretofore pub- 


SCIENCE 


187 


lished indiscriminately in bulletins and circu- 
lars will hereafter be published only in the 
newly established Journal of Research, which 
will be issued about once a month. It will be 
royal octavo, of the scientific magazine type, 
from 75 to 100 pages, 12 numbers to constitute 
a volume. Such of the matter in the Journal 
as seems to merit additional circulation may 
be issued in the form of reprints or separates. 
The Journal, for the present at least, will be 
limited to the publication of the results of 
research made by the various bureaus, divisions 
and offices, but it may be extended to include 
the scientific research work of the state agri- 
cultural experiment stations, in which event 
two editors representing these stations will be 
added to the editorial committee. Extensive 
scientific articles, embodying a complete report 
of research investigations, will be considered 
as monographs, and may be published as sup- 
plements to the Journal. 

Permission will be given to specialists to 
publish technical reports or even monographs 
in journals of scientific societies or technical 
magazines specializing in highly restricted 
fields of scientific endeavor. 

The Journal will be distributed free to agri- 
cultural colleges, technical schools, experiment 
stations, libraries of large universities and cer- 
tain government depositories and institutions 
making suitable exchanges; also to a restricted 
list of scientific men. Copies of the Journal 
will be sold to miscellaneous applicants by the 
superintendent of documents, Government 
Printing Office, and possibly an annual sub- 
scription price will be affixed, as is done with 
the Hxperiment Station Record. 

The Monthly Crop Reporter will no longer 
be published. The crop statistics will be col- 
lected as heretofore, and telegraphic and news 
summaries of these statistics will continue to 
be issued to the press. The printed Crop 
Reporter was discontinued because it did not 
bring the information into the hands of the 
recipients until from 10 to 17 days after the 
really important news had been circulated by 
telegraph and printed in the daily press 
throughout the United States and Europe, the 
statistical information, therefore, reaching the 


188 


actual crop correspondent and through him 
the local producer too late to be of practical 
service. 

As a partial substitute for the printed Crop 
Reporter, a Weekly News Letter to crop cor- 
respondents will be issued in typewritten fac- 
simile form. This can be prepared and put 
into the mails sooner than was possible with 
the printed Reporter. It is believed that the 
weekly news will be far more timely than 
notices issued heretofore only once a month. 
Its cireulation will be limited to official crop 
correspondents. The News Letter will con- 
tain summaries of more important discoveries 
and recommendations of the various bureaus, 
divisions and offices. 

The Experiment Station Record, the 
Weather Review and North American Fauna 
will continue to be issued with certain modifi- 
cations. The Yearbook will be restricted to 
articles of the magazine type, which, it is 
believed, will add greatly to the popularity 
and value of the volume, of which 500,000 
copies are printed and distributed annually. 

In the department series of bulletins all the 
publications of the various bureaus, divisions 
and offices will be printed. These bulletins 
may be any size from 4 to 60 pages, and will 
be semi-technical or scientific, or popular in 
character. They will capitalize for popular 
use the discoveries of laboratories and scien- 
tific specialists. 

The series of farmers’ bulletins will be con- 
tinued. The object of these bulletins is to 
tell the people how to do important. things. 
The bulletins will contain practical, concise 
and specific and constructional statements 
with regard to matters relating to farming, 
stock raising, fruit growing, ete. Under the 
new plan the bulletins will be reduced in size 
to from 16 to 20 pages, and will deal particu- 
larly with conditions in restricted sections, 
rather than attempt, as heretofore, to cover 
the entire country. Much of the information 
calling for immediate circulation will be is- 
sued hereafter in the form of statements to 
the press instead of being held back as hereto- 
fore for weeks until a bulletin could be printed 
and issued. The publication of bulletins deal- 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


ing with foreign crop statistics will be discon- 
tinued. Material of this character when 
deemed important will be furnished to the 
press for the information of the public. 

Consideration is being given to the discon- 
tinuance of certain annual reports of bureaus 
now required by law to be printed, with the 
belief that much of the matter therein con- 
tained is unnecessary, while certain portions 
could be more advantageously and more 
promptly printed as bulletins of the depart- 
ment. All executive reports of chiefs are to 
be reduced with the object of confining them 
to. strictly business reports. 

The new plan of publication work has been 
designed primarily to improve the character 
of the department’s publications, and second- 
arily to prevent waste in distribution, and 
through the economies effected, a greater out- 
put of information will become possible with 
the available appropriation. Certain changes 
will be made in the existing form of the pub- 
lications, designed with a view to improving 
their appearance, reducing their size and 
adapting them to wider distribution. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Cares F, Marvin, professor of meteorology 
in the U. S. Weather Bureau since 1891, chief 
of the instrument division, has been appointed 
chief of the Weather Bureau, to succeed Mr. 
Willis L. Moore. 


THE council of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons, London, has elected the following hon- 
orary fellows: Dr. Harvey Cushing, professor 
of clinical surgery at Harvard University; Dr. 
W. J. Mayo, surgeon at St. Mary’s Hospital, 
Rochester, Minn., and Dr. George Crile, pro- 
fessor of surgery at Western Reserve Univer- 
sity, Cleveland. 


Tue trustees of the Beit memorial fellow- 
ships, on the advice of the advisory board, have 
decided to assist further research as to the 
nature of the virus of sand-fly fever, a disease 
which is the cause of much sickness in the 
ships of the Mediterranean Squadron and 
among the troops stationed at Malta and in 
certain parts of India and elsewhere. The 


AuGuST 8, 1913] 


army council has approved of Captain P. J. 
Marett, R.A.M.C., who has already published 
papers on the subject, undertaking this re- 
search in addition to his military duties at 
Malta. Captain Marett will have the title of 
Beit Memorial Research Fellow. 


Mme. Curte has been organizing a radium 
laboratory in Warsaw, but will return to her 
laboratory at the Sorbonne in the autumn. 


Drs. Wittiam H. Wetcu and Lewellys F. 
Barker, of the Johns Hopkins University, have 
sailed for Europe. 


Dr. Joun A. FrerrRELL has been appointed 
general manager of the hookworm work of the 
Rockefeller Foundation, with headquarters in 
Washington. 


Tue steamship Hric, taking the McMillan 
Crocker Land expedition into the arctic re- 
gions, reached Battle Harbor on August 3. 
She takes on board supplies-and outfit landed 
from the disabled Diana, and expected to leave 
for the north on August 4. 


Mr. VitHJALMAR STEFANSSON cables to the 
New York Times that the Karluk and the 
Mary Sachs sailed from Port Clarence, 
Alaska, about midnight on July 23. “The 
Alaska will follow in four days and may over- 
take us near Herschell Island about the middle 
of August.” There are fifteen scientific men 
and twenty-two others on the three vessels. 
The outfit is complete for two years, and may 
be made to last longer. No fear need be felt 
for the Karluk if she is not heard from for 
two years. The Alaska and the Mary Sachs 
should be heard from twice yearly, in October 
by whalers through Bering Straits, and in 
January by mounted police through Dawson. 


Dr. K. Tu. Preuss, of the Berlin Anthro- 
pological Museum, will undertake in Septem- 
ber explorations in Colombia. 


Dr. R. S. Basster, of the National Museum, 
Washington, spent two days recently at the 
Oberlin Geologic Survey Camp at Rich Creek, 
Va., reviewing with them parts of the early 
and middle Paleozoic sections exposed in the 
vicinity. In the evening of July 25 he gave 
a lecture before the camp students on “ Some 


SCIENCE 


189 


Recent Developments in the Theory of Ap- 
palachian Stratigraphy.” 

Ir was stated in a recent issue of ScmENCE 
that the Hon. James Wilson, lately Secretary 
of Agriculture, has been given the degree of 
doctor of science from the University of Edin- 
burgh. The degree given was doctor of laws, 
the Scottish universities not conferring the 
degrees of doctors of science, letters or philos- 
ophy causa honoris, but only in course. 

Proressor M. A. Rosanorr, of Clark Uni- 
versity, has been invited to speak before the 
Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher at the 
University of Vienna, on the mechanism of 
esterification and esterhydrolysis. The con- 
ference will last from September 21 to 26. 
Dr. Rosanoff expects to sail on August 26 and 
to be back early in October. In course of 
the past academic year Dr. Rosanoff lectured 
on parts of the same subject before the New 
York and Northeastern Sections of the Amer- 
ican Chemical Society, the research staff of 
the General Electric Company at Schenectady, 
the industrial research department of the Uni- 
versity of Pittsburgh and the chemical depart- 
ment of Wesleyan University. 

THE city authorities of Berlin propose to 
appropriate $250,000 for the erection of the 
Rudolf Virchow House for the Berlin Medical 
Society. 

Proressor JouN Minne, distinguished for 
his work in seismology, died at his home in 
the Isle of Wight, on July 31, aged sixty-three 
years. 

Proressor CHARLES SIMEON DeENNISON, since 
1885 professor of descriptive geometry and 
drawing in the University of Michigan, has 
died at the age of fifty-four years. 

A MISCELLANY in honor of the sixtieth birth- 
day of Dr. William Ridgeway, professor of 
archeology in Cambridge University, is in 
course of preparation and will be issued in 
October. The volume will contain some con- 
gratulatory verses by A. D. Godley, public 
orator in the University of Oxford, Greek 
verses by Professor John Harrower, a photo- 
gravure portrait of Professor Ridgeway, and a 
series of articles on classics and ancient arche- 


190 


ology, medieval literature and history and 
anthropology and comparative religion. In the 
latter subjects the contributions are as follows: 


E. Thurston, ‘‘The Number Seven in Hindoo 
Mythology.’’ 

T. A. Joyce, ‘‘The Weeping God.’’ 

S. A. Cook, ‘‘The Evolution and Survival of 
Primitive Thought.’’ 

J. G. Frazer, ‘‘The Serpent and the Tree of 
Life.’’ 

W. Boyd Dawkins, ‘‘The Settlement of Britain 
in the Prehistoric Age.’’ 

W. Wright, ‘‘The Mandible from the Morpho- 
logical and Anthropological Point of View.’’ 

C. G. Seligmann, ‘‘ Ancient Egyptian Beliefs in 
Modern Egypt.’’ 

W. L. H. Duckworth, ‘‘ Craniological Notes.’’ 

W. H. R. Rivers, ‘‘The Contact of Peoples.’’ 

J. Rendell Harris, ‘‘The Dioscuri in Byzantium 
and its Neighborhood.’’ 

C. S. Myers, ‘‘ Primitive Music.’’ 

Henry Balfour, ‘‘Some Peculiar Fishing Appli- 
ances and their Geographical Distribution.’’ 

A. C. Haddon, ‘‘The Outrigger Canoes of Torres 
Straits and North Queensland.’’ 

J. H. Moulton, ‘‘Notes in Iranian Ethnog- 
raphy.’’ 

Tue British Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries has awarded research scholarships 
in agricultural science of the annual value of 
£150, tenable for three years, to the following 
candidates, viz.: E. W. Barton (Wales), eco- 
nomics of agriculture; W. Brown (Kdin- 
burgh), plant pathology; Miss E. C. V. Cor- 
nish (Bristol), dairying; F. L. Engledow 
(London), genetics; E. J. Holmyard (Cam- 
bridge), plant nutrition and soil problems; 
R. C. Knight (London and Bristol), plant 
physiology; F. J. Meggitt (Birmingham), 
agricultural zoology; H. Raistrick (Leeds), 
animal nutrition; G. O. Sherrard (Dublin), 
genetics; T. Trought (Cambridge), genetics; 
G. Williams (Wales), animal nutrition; S. P. 
Wiltshire (Bristol), plant pathology; Miss T. 
Redman (London), dairying. The scholarships 
have been established in connection with the 
scheme for the promotion of scientific research 
in agriculture, for the purposes of which the 
treasury has sanctioned a grant to the board 
from the development fund; they are designed 


SCLENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 971 


to provide for the training of promising stu- 
dents under suitable supervision with a view 
to enable them to contribute to the develop- 
ment of agricultural science. 


THe new Natural History Department of 
the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery was 
formally opened on July 17. The museum, as 
we learn from Nature, comprises four gal- 
leries, one of which is not yet opened, having 
been reserved for the Beale Memorial Collec- 
tion, which is to consist of nesting groups of 
British birds. The collections, which have 
been arranged by Mr. W. H. Edwards, con- 
tain representatives of most sections of nat- 
ural history, though birds, shells and insects 
predominate at the present time. 


TueE late Miss Henriette Hertz, who died at 
Rome on April 9, has, according to the London 
Times, left the following benefactions to the 
British Academy: £2,000 for an annual lecture 
or investigation or paper on a philosophical 
problem, or some problem in the philosophy of 
western or eastern civilization in ancient and 
modern times; £2,000 for an annual lecture or 
investigation or paper on some problem or 
aspect of the relation of art (in any of its 
manifestations) to human culture, art to in- 
clude poetry and music as well as sculpture, 
painting; £1,000 for an annual public lecture 
on some master mind, considered individually 
with reference to his life and work, specially 
in order to appraise the essential elements of 
his genius, the subjects to be chosen from the 
great philosophers, artists, poets, musicians; 
£1,000, the income of which is to be used to 
promote the publication of some philosophical 
work to reward some meritorious publication 
in the department of philosophy. The testa- 
trix has also left the sum of £1,500 to Girton 
College, the income to be used for the endow- 
ment of archeological research. Her main 
benefaction is devoted to the foundation of 
the “Bibliotheca Hertziana” in the Palazza 
Zuceari, for the promotion of Renaissance 
studies. 

THE inroads of the chestnut bark disease, 


or chestnut blight, on the chestnut trees of 
New England and the Middle Atlantic States 


Avueust 8, 1913] 


is resulting in the death of a great deal of 
chestnut timber. Officials of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture recommend, to pre- 
vent the spread of the disease, that shipments 
of chestnut timber should include only ma- 
terial from which the bark has been removed 


and from which the diseased spots have been : 


cut out. In the region affected there is a 
good market for all chestnut products except 
eordwood. The demand for poles and ties 
absorbs all that are offered, and lumber finds 
ready sale in local markets. Cordwood, how- 
ever, is often a drug except within shipping 
distance of tanning extract plants, brass foun- 
dries, lime kilns, brick yards and charcoal 
plants. The question has arisen as to whether 
the disease-killed timber is less valuable than 
that from green trees. Strength tests made 
by the Forest Service indicate that sound 
wood from chestnut killed by the bark disease 
is as strong as that from green timber. The 
bark disease kills the tree by girdling the 
trunk, and does not cause unsound or de- 
eayed wood, which is the result of attack by 
fungi or insects. Until two years after the 
death of the tree the wood generally remains 
sound, though at the end of that time insects 
have commenced working in the sapwood. 
Three years after death the sapwood is honey- 
combed with insect burrows; in four years it 
has decayed, and begins to dry and peel off in 
the fifth year. After this the heartwood 
checks badly. To avoid loss, therefore, all 
timber should be used within two years after 
being killed. At a recent meeting in Tren- 
ton, N. J., foresters were present from most 
of the states in which the chestnut bark dis- 
ease is prevalent. Connecticut, New Jersey, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, and the Forest Service 
and the Bureau of Plant Industry were repre- 
sented. Representatives of the states ap- 
proved the investigations undertaken by the 
Forest Service, and recommended that the in- 
dividual states give particular attention to 
the development of local markets for stands of 
blight-killed chestnut. Owners of such timber 
should apply to the state foresters or to the 
Forest Service for further information upon 
the uses and markets for chestnut. 


SCIENCE 


191 


We learn from Nature that a large number 
of distinguished physiologists, biologists and 
medical men have signed a letter addressed to 
the home secretary directing attention to the 
scientific aspects of the administration of the 
Mental Deficiency Bill. The signatories desire 
to secure the continuous prosecution of re- 
search into the conditions on which mental 
deficiency depends, and into the means by 
which it might be remedied or prevented. 
They point out that it may be said, in a gen- 
eral way, that the conditions in question must 
be due either to defective formation and de- 
velopment of the active structures of some 
portion or portions of the brain, or to defec- 
tive formation or supply of the fluids by which 
these structures are surrounded, and by which 
they are stimulated to activity. For example, 
one common form of idiocy is consequent upon 
the absence from the blood of the secretion 
which should be furnished by the thyroid 
gland, and may be remedied by the administra- 
tion of thyroid extract derived from lower ani- 
mals. The Mental Deficiency Bill will prob- 
ably bring together many of its subjects into 
institutions controlled by the state, and sup- 
ported by the public. It is therefore urged 
that the facilities for scientific study which 
such institutions would afford should be fully 
utilized for the general benefit of the commun- 
ity, and that the duty of so utilizing them 
should be committed to men of science, fully 
conversant with all that is already known in 
relation to the subject, and able to point out 
the directions in which further inquiry should 
be pursued. It is suggested that the objects in 
view could scarcely be obtained except by an 
adequate representation of biological science 
upon any commission to which the administra- 
tion of the law may be entrusted. 


AN agricultural colony in Palestine has 
applied to the U. S. Forest Service for 
help in planting trees to bind the drifting 
sands of the Mediterranean. The colony is 
near Jaffa, or Yafa, the ancient Joppa of the 
Bible, and there is being developed in connec- 
tion with it a seaside resort, with hotel, villas, 
bath houses and gardens. The experts of the 
service point out that the reclamation of sand 
dunes is not a serious problem in the eastern 


192 


United States because the prevailing winds 
are from the land and the sand is blown into 
the sea. On the west coast the situation is 
more serious. The most notable example of 
reclaimed sand areas there is furnished by 
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, where 
grasses, acacias and, later, trees and shrubs 
have converted sand wastes into pleasure 
grounds of great beauty. The attention of 
the Palestine colony is called to the wonderful 
reclamation of the Iandes, France, where a 
wealth-producing forest of maritime pine, the 
source of the French turpentine, has been 
grown to take the place of shifting dunes. 
The American foresters also give the address 
of the French seedsman who furnished this 
government with the maritime pine seed which 
has been used in planting experiments on the 
Florida national forest, near the Gulf coast. 


Tue Secretary of Agriculture has signed an 
agreement with the state of North Carolina 
for a cooperative study of forest conditions 
in the eastern piedmont region. The work 
will be carried on by the forest service and by 
the state geological and economic survey with 
one half of the cost paid by each. The study 
will determine the distribution and proportion 
of forest lands, and the relative value of lands 
for timber and for agriculture. It will take 
into account the present status of lumbering, 
the causes and effects of forest fires, and will 
recommend a system of fire protection and of 
forest planting. The study arranged supple- 
ments two already completed in the more 
mountainous regions of the state. The first, 
a study of forest conditions in the Appala- 
chians, has been published as a state report. 
A study of the forests of the western piedmont 
region was completed recently and the results 
are being prepared for publication. When 
the study of the eastern piedmont region is 
finished it is planned to proceed to a similar 
study of the coastal plain region, so that 
eventually the entire state will be covered by 
a forest survey. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

GoveRNoR TENER, of Pennsylvania, has, 
after revision, approved the following state 
appropriations made at the last session of the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


legislature: The Pennsylvania State College, 
$1,240,000, in addition to income from Land 
Grant Fund and congressional appropriation 
to Land Grant Colleges; University of Penn- 
sylvania, $820,000; University of Pittsburgh, 
$400,000 and Temple University, $100,000, 
making the total state appropriation for 
higher education $2,560,000. 

FRANKLIN COLLEGE, Indiana, has secured 
pledges aggregating two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars for additional endowment. 
Three sixteenths of this amount is from the 
General Education Board. 


MippLeBurY COLLEGE has received $30,000 
as the residuary legatee of the late Henry M. 
Barnum. 


Sir WiLiiaM Ramsay, emeritus professor in 
University College, London, has given the 
college £500 for books and journals for the 
chemical library. 


THE medical department of Tulane Univer- 
sity will hereafter be known as the Tulane 
College of Medicine and will be divided into 
four schools, each with a separate dean and 
staff, namely: the School of Medicine and 
Pharmacy, dean, Dr. Isadore Dyer; the Post- 
Graduate School, dean, Dr. Charles Chassaig- 
nac; the School of Hygiene and Tropical 
Medicine, dean, Dr. Creighton Wellman, and 
Dentistry, dean, Dr. Andrew Friedrichs. The 
following elections and changes have been 
made in the Post-Graduate School: Dr. Henry 
Dickson Bruns, transferred from the emeritus 
to the active list, as professor of diseases of 
the eye; Dean Creighton Wellman, elected 
professor of tropical diseases and preventive 
medicine; Dr. J. T. Halsey, elected professor 
of clinical therapeutics; Dr. C. C. Bass, elected 
professor of clinical microscopy; Dr. W. W. 
Butterworth, elected professor of diseases of 
children, and Dr. George S. Bel, elected pro- 
fessor of internal medicine. 

Proressor W. A. Stockine, JR., of the dairy 
department of the New York State Agricul- 
tural College at Cornell University, has been 
appointed to succeed Dr. L. H. Bailey as act- 
ing director of the Agricultural College. 

Mrs. Etta Frace Youne has withdrawn her 
resignation as superintendent of the Chicago 


AvueusT 8, 1913] 


public schools, the newly organized school 
board having declined to accept it, by vote of 
fourteen to one. 

Dr. ArTHur D. HirscHreLper, of Johns 
Hopkins Medical School, has accepted the ap- 
pointment of professor of pharmacy and di- 
rector of the pharmaceutical department of 
the University of Minnesota. 


Dr. J. M. Stemons, associate professor of 
obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medical School, 
has been appointed head of the department of 
obstetrics and gynecology and director of the 
woman’s clinic in the University of California. 

Mr. Harowtp S. Oster has been elected as- 
sistant professor of agronomy, in charge of 
the crops section at the University of Maine. 


Mr. J. B. DEMaReExE, recently of the Ohio 
Agricultural Experiment Station, and for the 
last six months engaged in the study of plant 
rusts at the Indiana Experiment Station, has 
accepted a position in the State College of 
Pennsylvania as instructor in botany. 


Proressor Kruse has accepted the call as 
director of the Hygienic Institute at Leipzig 
as successor of Professor Hofmann. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THREE ICE STORMS 


Dvurine the last two weeks in February, 
1913, two ice storms which were of rather un- 
usual meteorological interest, were observed 
at Blue Hill Observatory (10 miles south of 
Boston, Mass.). An “ice storm” (glatteis, 
verglas) occurs when raindrops falling on trees 
and other objects, cover them with ice. In 
both cases the ice storms began at the base sta- 
tion (400 feet below the summit and one half 
mile northwest) nearly three hours earlier 
than at the summit. The first ice storm oc- 
curred during the night of February 16-17. 
Throughout the sixteenth at the summit of 
Blue Hill, the wind was southerly, with the 
temperature in the forties (F.). In the mid- 
dle of the afternoon, a low fog appeared over 
Boston. By sunset, this fog filled the entire 
Boston basin and was beginning to send long 
fingers southward through the notches in the 


SCIENCE 


193 


Blue Hill Range and up the low Neponset Val- 
ley. Not till three hours later did the fog 
overtop Great Blue Hill with its accompany- 
ing northeast wind and freezing temperature. 
The warm south wind, whose lower boundary 
had now risen above the hill, continued above 
the lower wedge of cold air and with its rain 
supplied the material for the ice storm below. 

The second storm began in the morning, 
February 27, and continued for twenty-four 
hours, the ice attaining a thickness of one 
inch. The night before, at a temperature of 
26° a fine thick snow had set in with a brisk 
southeast wind. In the early morning, the 
temperature passed 32°, the snow changing 
to rain. At 5:20 a.m. the first influence of a 
cold current of air from the north was re- 
corded on the thermograph at the base station 
(temperature fell rapidly from 35° to 31°). 
Not till 8:15 a.m. did the wind on the sum- 
mit swing to the north, lowering the tempera- 
ture to that of the base station. The warmer 
air current continued above, unabated, for 
at 9 p.M. the light rain had become heavy 
(rain temperature 32.3°) and the cold, north- 
east wind (27°-31°) had increased to brisk. 
On the following morning in the warm sun- 
shine and rapidly rising temperature, the ice 
melted off the trees so rapidly that for half 
an hour the sound of falling ice resembled 
that of a heavy hailstorm. 

Another ice storm deserving mention here 
was that of February 21-22. The weather 
map of February 21 showed an ice storm in 
progress over a strip of country 100-200 miles 
wide, extending from northern Texas to south- 
ern Michigan. The next morning, this ice- 
storm belt was shown as a strip about forty 
miles wide from northern Vermont to southern 
Maine. The geographical distribution of the 
different forms taken by the heavy precipita- 
tion throughout New Hampshire was par- 
ticularly interesting as viewed from a train 
window two days later. At Jackson, N. H., 
the precipitation on February 22 had been 
about seven inches of snow and one inch of ice 
pellets. Southward, this snow-covering de- 
creased rapidly into a thin, compact blanket 
of ice pellets and frozen rain, ice appearing on 


194 


the trees within 20 miles south of Jackson. At 
40 miles south of Jackson, the smaller trees 
were so loaded with ice that they were bent to 
the ground and many branches had been 
broken off. Ten miles farther south, at 
Rochester, N. H., there was no more ice on the 
trees nor snow or ice on the ground. This 
great difference in ice and snow covering was 
the result of a difference in temperature of not 
more than 5° (31° Jackson, 33°-40° Blue 
Hill). 

In each of these three cases the daily weather 
maps showed an area of high pressure 
(“high”) directly north of a low pressure 
area (“low”), both moving slowly eastward, 
each more or less in the way of the other be- 
cause of the prevailing tendency of a “ high” 
to move east-southeast and of a “low” to move 
east-northeast in these parts of the United 
States. These cyclones (“lows”) were thus 
amply supplied with cold air in their northern 
quarters. The ice storms occurred in the re- 
gion where the normal warm southerly winds 
on the east side of the cyclones overlapped the 
cold north and northeast winds on the north- 
ern side. 

Cuarues F. Brooks 

BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 


A PHLEBOTOMUS THE PRACTICALLY CERTAIN CAR- 
RIER OF VERRUGA 


EXPERIMENTS on laboratory animals with 
bloodsucking arthropods, looking to the solu- 
tion of the problem of verruga transmission, 
have been under way at Chosica, Peru, in 
charge of the writer, since May 15, 1913. A 
study of the bloodsuckers occurring in the 
verruga zones has been going on for a longer 
time. At first the writer strongly inclined to 
the theory ‘of tick or other acarid transmission, 
but the trend of the investigation has been to 
make such transmission seem yery improbable 
of late. No argasid ticks have been found to 
occur commonly on mammals in the verruga 
zones, and ixodid ticks will hardly explain the 
night infection. The experiments in feeding, 
biting and subcutaneous injection of animals 
with the bloodsucking Gamasid mites of the 
vizeacha, which seemed at first most promis- 


SCIENCE 


[N.8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 971 


ing, have so far entirely failed of result. A 
resurvey of the situation had therefore become 
necessary in order to start out on new lines. 

Culicids, Simuliwm, Tabanids, Stomozxys,. 
fleas, lice and bugs are all precluded either by 
their extended occurrence, by their dependence: 
on man, or by their day-biting proclivities. 
The question of punkies and like small gnats. 
remains. The writer’s attention has recently 
been drawn to the possibilities of Phlebotomus, 
chiefly through the investigations recently 
published by Marett on the genus in the- 
Maltese Islands. His results are most impres- 
sive and suggestiye in this regard. The habits 
of the early stages and of the flies, as described’ 
by Marett, fit so well into the conditions ob- 
taining in the verruga zones that the conclu- 
sion was irresistible that a Phlebotomus must 
be the carrier of verruga. Hitherto there has: 
been no record of the occurrence of Phleboto- 
mus in Peru, or anywhere in the Pacifie coast: 
region of South America. 

Ceratopogon and other genera of Chirono- 
mide with mouth-parts more or less adapted’ 
for bloodsucking occur at night both in and. 
out of the verruga zones. They were therefore- 
contraindicated. Night collecting at Chosica,. 
just below the limits of the verruga zone, has. 
never disclosed Phlebotomus, and as these 
gnats are never seen under ordinary circum- 
stances in the daytime the writer determined’ 
to investigate the verruga zone by night in: 
order to demonstate if possible the existence of 
Phlebotomus therein. Accordingly he passed: 
the night of June 25, 1913, at San Bartolomé 
in the verruga zone of the Rimac valley. The 
result was that, besides Ceratopogon and other: 
Chironomids, several specimens of Phleboto- 
mus were actually found. The natives call alk 
nocturnal gnats ¢itira, considering that most 
of them bite, but certain of the more intelli- 
gent distinguish the true titra as the Phle-- 
botomus sp., stating that it has white wings. 

The true explanation of the oft-repeated 
facts that verruga is confined to deep and nar-- 
row canyons, with much vegetation, heat and 
little or no ventilation, evidently lies here. 
The flies of Phlebotomus avoid wind, sun and! 
full daylight. They appear only after sunset, 


AveusT 8, 1913] 


and only then in the absence of wind. They 
enter dwellings if not too brightly lighted, but 
are not natural frequenters of human habita- 
tions. They breed in caves, rock interstices, 
stone embankments, walls, even in excavated 
rock and earth materials. The verruga can- 
yons contain ideal conditions for such breed- 
ing. They hide by day in similar places or in 
shelter of rank vegetation. Deep canyons, 
free from wind and dimly lighted, are espe- 
cially adapted to them. Thick vegetation pro- 
tects them from what wind there is by day or 
night. This explains the very peculiar re- 
stricted distribution of verruga both local and 
altitudinal. The flies suck the blood of almost 
any warm-blooded animal, and even that of 
lizards in at least one known case. Thus they 
are quite independent of man, and this accords 
with the verruga reservoir being located in 
the native fauna. The habits of Phlebotomus 
correspond throughout so minutely with the 
conditions of verruga and the verruga zones 
that the writer wishes to announce his entire 
confidence in the belief that the transmission 
experiments, now about to be initiated with 
these gnats on laboratory animals, will demon- 
strate their agency in the transmission of the 
disease. 
Cuartes H. T. TownsEenp 
CHOsICcA, 
June 29, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Hxamination of Waters and Water Supplies. 
By Joun C. TuresH. Second edition. 
Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s Son & Co. 
1918. 644 pages; 36 plates; 16 illustrations 
in the text. Price $5. 

This is a new edition of a book that is well 
known to American waterworks engineers. 
The author is one of the foremost water an- 
alysts in England and the book shows evi- 
dences that it is written by one who speaks 
with authority. It is needless to describe the 
book in detail. 

Part I. relates to the examination of the 
sources from which water is derived. Part II. 
treats of the various methods of examining 
water and the interpretation of the results of 


SCIENCE 


195 


such examinations. Part III. describes in 
more detail the analytical processes and meth- 
ods of examination. 

Most American readers will be particularly 
interested in the first three chapters that re- 
late chiefly to ground water. The author de- 
scribes numerous personal experiences in the 
detection of underground pollution, and an 
excellent description is given of the use of 
fluorescein, and other substances which may 
be detected either by sight or by smell, in 
tracing the course of water through the 
ground. From his experience he states that 
water which enters a dug well at a depth of 
six to twelve feet, depending upon the porosity 
of the soil, is usually efficiently filtered and 
purified. Water entering at a less depth is 
nearly always liable to be imperfectly purified 
and unsatisfactory in quality. The nearer the 
ground surface at which water can enter the 
greater the danger of pollution. 

One statement of the author will strike 
most readers with surprise, namely, “ Every 
known fact with reference to typhoid fever 
epidemics indicates that the typhoid bacillus 
alone is not the cause of disease, and it has 
long been suspected that some other organism 
either by itself or in conjunction with the 
typhoid bacillus was the cause.” He then 
quotes from an article in the Lancet and de- 
scribes a new anaerobic bacillus which has 
been found only in the feces of typhoid fever 
patients and which is agglutinated by their 
serum. It is a spore-bearing organism and is 
said to be capable of retaining its vitality for 
a very long period. 

An interesting example of the growth of 
organisms in water mains is mentioned. A 
thirty-six-inch main at Hampton-on-Thames ° 
was recently taken up and found to contain 
fresh-water mollusks to such an extent that 
its bore was reduced to nine inches. It was 
estimated that ninety tons of mussels were 
removed from a quarter of a mile of this main. 

Reference is made to the ill effect of the 
continued use of soft waters on the human 
system, and a method of. artificially hardening 
water by the addition of calcium chloride and 
sodium bicarbonate is described. 


196 


Dr. Thresh makes occasional reference to 
permutit for purposes of water softening and 
recommends its use where the quantity of 
water to be treated is not large. This sub- 
stance is coming into vogue both in this coun- 
try and in Europe. By its use carbonates and 
sulphates of soda are substituted for the corre- 
sponding salts of lime and magnesia. 

In discussing lead poisoning it is said that 
“no water acts upon lead unless both carbon 
dioxide and oxygen are present. It seems 
probable that when carbonic acid is in a cer- 
tain excess a solvent action is exerted, whereas 
when oxygen is in excess the action is erosive.” 

The author’s treatment of the biology of 
water is somewhat less detailed than that of 
its chemistry, but some experiences are related 
by him which are of interest, as, for example, 
the effect which the process of water soften- 
ing has in reducing the number of bacteria in 
water. The bacteriological discussion is ma- 
terially strengthened by quotations from Dr. 
Houston’s answers to two specific questions, 
namely, “ What bacteriological proof would 
you consider conclusive as to the pollution of 
a water with sewage, or manurial matter, and 
what bacteriological proof would you consider 
conclusive that a water is free from such pol- 
lution or so free that it is safe for drinking 
purposes”? The answers to these questions 
can not be stated in a few words, but Dr. 
Houston apparently regards a water which 
never contains B. coli in 100 c.c. as safe for 
drinking; a water which contains B. coli in 
100 ¢.c. in less than half the number of sam- 
ples examined as probably reasonably safe; 
but a water which contains B. colt in 100 cc. 
in a majority of samples is one to be viewed 
with some degree of disfavor. Waters con- 
taining B. coli in smaller amounts in a ma- 
jority of samples can not perhaps with abso- 
lute certainty be classed as sewage polluted, 
but the presumptive evidence increases to a 
more than proportional extent as a 10, a 1 
and a 0.1 ce. standard is infringed. Dr. 
Houston’s standards appear to be somewhat 
more strict than those commonly discussed in 
this country. 

The section of the book which describes in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


detail the mineral constituents of the alkaline 
waters of the London basin is interesting to 
analysts. More than four hundred of these 
analyses are given in detail. 

In regard to the methods of analysis little 
need be said. They do not differ materially 
from those described in the first edition of the 
book and represent the ordinary English 
practise. 


GrorcEe OC. WHIPPLE 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


Herbals, their Origin and Evolution. A 
chapter in the History of Botany. 1470- 
1670. By Acnes Arprer. Cambridge, the 
University Press. 1912. Octavo. Pp. 
Xvili + 253. 

The reason for writing this book is well 
stated by the author in her preface as follows: 
“My excuse must be that many of the best 
herbals, especially the earlier ones, are not 
easily accessible, and after experiencing keen 
delight from them myself, I have felt that some 
account of these works, in connection with re- 
productions of typical illustrations, might be 
of interest to others.” A little later she says 
more specifically: “The main object of the 
present book is to trace in outline the evolu- 
tion of the printed herbal in Europe between 
the years 1470 and 1670; primarily from a 
botanical, and secondarily from an artistic, 
standpoint.” 

In carrying out this object the author di- 
vides her book into nine chapters, whose head- 
ings will give a fair idea of its scope, as fol- 
lows: I. The Early History of Botany (9 
pages); II. The Earliest Printed Herbals (23 
pages); III. The Early History of Herbals in 
England (12 pages); IV. The Botanical 
Renaissance of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth 
Centuries (72 pages); V. The Evolution of 
the Art of Plant Description (15 pages); VI. 
The Evolution of Plant Classification (20 
pages); VII. The Evolution of the Art of 
Botanical Illustration (50 pages); VIII. The 
Doctrine of Signatures, and Astrological Bot- 
any (17 pages); IX. Conclusions (6 pages). 
In addition there are two appendices, I., con- 
taining a Chronological List of the Principal 


Aveust 8, 1913] 


Herbals and Related Botanical Works Pub- 
lished between 1470 and 1670 (14 pages), and 
II., containing A List in Alphabetical Order 
of the Principal Critical and Historical Works 
dealing with the Subjects Discussed in this 
Book (6 pages). A good index completes the 
volume. 

In the first chapter we find some suggestive 
sentences. “From the very beginning of its 
existence, the study of plants has been ap- 
proached from two widely separated stand- 
points—the philosophical and the utilitarian. 
Regarded from the first point of view, botany 
stands on its own merits as an integral branch 
of natural philosophy, whereas from the sec- 
ond it is merely a by-product of medicine or 
agriculture. This distinction, however, is a 
somewhat arbitrary one; the more philosoph- 
ical botanists have not disdained at times to 
consider the uses of herbs, and those who en- 
tered upon the subject with a purely medical 
intention have often become students of plant 
life for its own sake. At different periods in 
the evolution of the science one or other aspect 
has predominated, but from classical times 
onwards it is possible to trace the development 
of these two distinct lines of inquiry, which 
have sometimes converged, but more often 
pursued parallel and unconnected paths.” 
From which it will be seen that the advocates 
of “practical ” botany to-day are but the mod- 
ern representatives of the utilitarian school- 
men of the past. 

The earliest printed book containing 
“strictly botanical information,” we are told, 
was a work by Bartholomew, “ Liber de 
Proprietatibus Rerum,” which appeared about 
1470. Quotations of text or figures are given 
from the “Ortus Sanitatus” (1491), “The 
Grete Herball” (41526), Brunfels’s “ Her- 
barum vivae Eicones” (1530), Turner’s sey- 
eral works (1538-1551), Gerard’s “ Herball” 
(1597), the works of Bauhin, Dodoens, Lobe- 
lius and many others. The illustrations are 
most interesting, as showing the development 
of scientific drawing. Some of the earlier 
representations of plants were little more than 
suggestions of their appearance (and often of 
habitat, also), while others, though crude, actu- 


SCIENCE 


197 


ally gave a good idea of the characteristic ap- 
pearance of the plants. The early artists ap- 
pear to have conventionalized many of their 
drawings after fashions of their own, then 
perhaps familiar to the reader, but now not 
understood. 

The chapter on the Doctrine of Signatures 
(VIII.) will repay reading, especially by the 
younger school of botanists of to-day. Will 
the time ever come when the botanists of some 
later century will look back to our beliefs with 
feeling similar to those we have when we read 
about the doctrine of signatures? 

Cuarues E. Bessey 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


Vergleichende Physiologie Wirbelloser Tiere. 
Von Professor Dr. H. Jorpan. Erster Band, 
Die Ernahrung. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 
1913. 8vo. Pp. xxii-+ 738, 277 text-figures. 
There is no telling to what extent our li- 

braries will need enlargement if Professor 

Jordan carries to completion his encyclopedic 

“Physiology of Invertebrates,” for the 738 

pages on Nutrition are to be followed by sec- 

tions on Respiration, Metabolism, Excretion, 

Movement, the Nervous System, the Sense 

Organs and “ Psychology.” 

Excluding the vertebrates, except for the 
necessary comparisons, and omitting entirely 
the physiology of reproduction, the plan, as 
outlined, is to present, with “the greatest 
unity attainable, a ‘biological’ treatment of 
the sum total of the phenomena that make up 
the life of the individual.” 

The first installment of this full-grown 
undertaking begins with a definition of life 
to which we can not subscribe, and a scene of 
some comic value in which teleology is shown 
the door, but asked to leave behind her ex- 
tremely useful vocabulary. After this follows 
a systematic treatment of the phenomena of 
nutrition in all the usual groups of inverte- 
brates, the material under each type or sub- 
type being conveniently divided so that a dis- 
cussion of the food, together with its modes 
of capture, always precedes an analysis of the 
various digestive processes and a discussion 
of the origin and nature of the involved se- 


198 


These topics in turn are followed 
by sections on absorption, the elimination of 
wastes, metabolism, reserve stuffs, and the 
phenomena of starvation. This list of regu- 
lars, now and again is lengthened to accommo- 
date some special structural or functional re- 
lation. 

Professor Jordan’s work inevitably courts 
comparison with Winterstein’s great coopera- 
tive handbook, but unfortunately both are in- 
complete, and the contrast between them in 
their present state is more apparent than real, 
for in Winterstein the section on the nutri- 
tion of invertebrates is also the product of a 
single pen. For the present, therefore, the 
relative merits of team work versus individ- 
ual play in the production of physiological 
encyclopedias must remain uncertain. 

On the whole, Winterstein offers more of 
immediate interest to the general physiologist, 
nevertheless, the space devoted by Jordan to 
comparable sections is nearly the same. Pos- 
sibly some day some one may read one or the 
other from cover to cover, but the normal fune- 
tion of each of these books will probably be 
that of a Thesaurus to be tapped when occa- 
sion requires. 

Jordan makes access to the wealth of ma- 
terial treated by him more convenient than 
Winterstein, not only on account of a greater 
regularity of treatment, but by the employ- 
ment of heavy-typed captions of various sizes, 
together with elaborate subject and author 
indices for which we are not made to wait 
until the bitter end. 

No work of this character ever comes off the 
ways without its share of misprints, mis- 
labeled figures, misinterpretations, misquota- 
tions ‘and sins of omission as well as com- 
mission. Numerically most of these types of 
defect fall well below the average, though one 
of them is quantitatively as well as qualita- 
tively thoroughly characteristic of the great 
German text, for it appears to be a law of na- 
ture that the mind of the continental book- 
maker is selectively impermeable to the efforts 
of American investigators. This is as true of 
Jordan as it is of his predecessors, and in con- 


cretions. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


sequence there is no group treated by him 
which here and there could not have been 
treated a bit better if he had drawn a little 
on our experience. Considering the numerous 
phases of nutrition in invertebrates and the 
number of Americans who have devoted years 
to the study of special groups, the omission 
of some of them, or the bare mention of 
others, shows that our work either does not 
reach the European, or is not assessed at the 
value placed upon it here. This may apply 
justly to some of our work; on the other hand, 
the discounts levied against certain men who 
might be mentioned are absurd. 

The attempt to cover single-handed a field 
as large as the physiology of invertebrates is 
not symptomatic of the age, but the attempt 
to do so at all certainly is. Whoever knows 
the highly dispersoid condition of the litera- 
ture and realizes how largely observation and 
experiment have been incidents in the work 
of morphologists and systematists, knows also 
the value of a reliable inventory of the facts. 
The importance of this for any special physi- 
ology needs no comment, whereas to those who 
agree with Winterstein that comparative 
physiology should be an independent science, 
rather than a method, the whole matter is ob- 
vious. However, we may relate special, com- 
parative and general physiology, Jordan’s 
book, like Winterstein’s, will do good, but in 
a somewhat different manner, for it is aimed 
more directly at teachers of zoology, and for 
them appears admirably suited. 

One of the worst faults of zoological 
courses on invertebrates is their over-emphasis 
of structure, a method grounded historically, 
and based on the belief that the best scientific 
use to which an organism can be put is to de- 
termine its relatives. No doubt this is im- 
portant, yet how the related things manage to 
live is also worth knowing. With its well-or- 
ganized material and superior illustrations 
Jordan’s book shows beautifully how anatomy 
and physiology can be taught as one subject. 
“Proofs of Evolution,” “ Evidences of Rela- 
tionship ” and “ Bases of Classification,” how- 
ever, will not readily cede their places, but 


“AuGuUST 8, 1913] 


‘much to enliven and augment them will be 
found in a book which modestly attempts to 
lay the foundations of a phylogeny of physio- 
logical processes. In the concluding chapter 
‘occur, among others, generalized summaries 
of the three principal methods of food intake; 
an interesting section on salivation with its 
numerous differentiations; and a phylogeny 
of the ferments in which trypsin or trypsin- 
like substances are held to be the oldest. 
‘Other matters considered in the final chapter 
are genetic comparisons of the histological 
processes involved in secretion and absorption, 
the fate of absorpta, and finally.a discussion 
of “the liver question,” especially interesting 
to those who question the validity of christen- 
ing invertebrate organs according as their 
eolor, form or location happens to resemble 
‘something or other in a vertebrate. This sec- 
tion is summed up in the following paragraph: 

“The specialization of a stomach with the 
secretion of free acid and the necessary pep- 
‘sin, the formation of special glands, segre- 
‘gated from the digestive epithelium, though 
_pouring their juices into the alimentary tract, 
the occurrence of a liver correlated with di- 
gestion, and finally complicated regulations in 
the functions of these organs; all this distin- 
guishes the digestive processes of vertebrates 
from those of invertebrates.” 

Otto GLASER 
ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 
May 13, 1913 


Die sanitarisch-pathologische Bedeutung der 
Insekten und verwandten Gliedertiere, 
namentlich als Krankheits-Erreger und 
Krankheits-Ubertrager. By Emm A. Goxnt. 
Berlin, R. Friedlander & Sohn. 1913. Pp. 
155, Figs. 171. 

The present small volume which contains a 
weneral account of the habits of insects in 
their relation to diseases is based on material 
presented by Professor Géldi in a course of 
Jectures which he has been giving for a num- 
ber of years in the University of Bern. 

In spite of its limited size it gives a very 


SCIENCE 


199 


good presentation of such facts as can be sat- 
isfactorily included in a university course on 
insects and diseases, and is much better suited 
for the general student than those portions of 
the text-books on tropical medicine that are 
devoted to insects. Its value lies mainly in 
the fact that the subject is considered pri- 
marily from the biological rather than the 
medical standpoint, and consequently in a 
more connected and intelligible way for this 
class of students. 

The subject matter is perhaps somewhat dif- 
ferent than would be indicated by the title, as 
much emphasis is laid upon insects which live 
partly or entirely as parasites of man and do- 
mestic animals, to which is added a supple- 
mentary discussion of their relation to the 
transmission of disease. The material is di- 
vided into three chapters: first, stinging, biting 
and caustic insects; second, insects and related 
Arthropods of parasitic habits; and third, in- 
sects and other Arthropods as carriers of dis- 
ease. The first section is quite fully treated, 
but the bulk of the text is devoted to the sec- 
ond section, and the third receives rather brief 
consideration. One might wish that the por- 
tion relating to insects as carriers of various 
infections had been presented in more com- 
plete form, but this omission is more appar- 
ent than real, for the second chapter contains 
much material (e. g., the development of 
trypanosomes) which one might expect to find 
in the third. 

Géldi describes the morphology and physi- 
ology of the poison apparatus in the Hymenop- 
tera, scorpions, centipedes and Hemiptera and 
points out the probable functions of the poison 
glands in different groups. Thus in the 
Hemiptera, spiders and centipedes, the so- 
called poison has apparently been developed as 
a digestive fluid. He is inclined to believe also 
that the venom of the scorpion has a digestive 
function in addition to its poisonous proper- 
ties. Following this is a discussion of insects, 
mainly caterpillars of various kinds, that are 
provided with poisonous bristles or spines 
which cause irritation to the skin. Numerous 
species are figured, including a considerable 
number from equatorial America. 


200 


The section devoted to parasitic insects and 
other Arthropods opens with an account of 
mosquitoes which covers some twenty pages 
and contains in addition to general matter 
much valuable information on the carriers of 
malaria and yellow fever, and on other mos- 
quitoes of the Amazonian region, based on 
original observations made by the author. 
Following this is a similar but shorter discus- 
sion of the gad-flies (Tabanide), the blood- 
sucking Muscide, Simuliide, Chironomid 
and Psychodide. The phlebotomic members 
of these families are spoken of by Gdldi as 
habitual (professionelle) blood-suckers and 
hemiparasites (Halbparasiten) in distinction 
of other wholly parasitic forms (Ganzpara- 
siten) which remain on the host during their 
entire life, or at least during their preparatory 
stages. Following this is an account of the 
more highly modified Diptera Pupipara and the 
fleas, the latter being treated at some length. 
The sucking lice are briefly mentioned as well 
as bedbugs and a few other blood-sucking 
Hemiptera. Ticks and mites follow, the mites 
receiving by far more space in proportion to 
their importance as disease carriers. Under 
the heading of myiasis are described many of 
the Diptera which develop regularly or occa- 
sionally as internal parasites of man and other 
mammals. 

The third chapter on “Insects and Related 
Arthropods as Carriers of Disease” deals with 
the distribution and manner of transfer of in- 
sect-borne diseases, as well as with the morph- 
ology and life-cycles of a number of the causal 
microorganisms, such as the malarial para- 
sites, trypanosomes, filarias, ete. 

The volume is profusely illustrated by 171 
text-figures, mainly in half-tone, derived from 
various sources with a smaller number of orig- 
inal figures. All are well selected, but many 
are inferior to those in the original works 
from which they have been copied. Some of 
the names applied to the insects mentioned 
are rather antiquated; thus one sees Lucilia 
macellaria and Musca vomitoria appearing in 
the text in place of generic names which have 
been used for many years. In the description 
of Fig. 103, representing some North Ameri- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


can ticks, there is an unfortunate confusion of 
names, where Dermacentor venustus, the vec- 
tor of Rocky Mountain spotted tick fever, is 
referred to as the “ gefleckte Texasfieberzecke 
des Felsengebirges ” (Rocky Mountain spotted 
Texas-fever tick). This species has, of course, 
no connection with Texas fever of cattle. 

The text is well printed, furnished with a 
good index, and shows only a small number of 
typographical errors. So far as the reviewer 
can judge, there are no serious errors of state- 
ment, although some parts, such as those on 
the food and anatomical characters of the 
larve of Stomozxys calcitrans, are open to some 
criticism. 

The book is one which may well be placed 
in the hands of students as a text, and it is to 
be hoped that its author may later see fit to en- 
large it into a more extended treatise. 


CuarLEs T. Brurs 
BussEY INSTITUTION, 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


In January, 19138, The American Mathe- 
matical Monthly passed into the control of an 
editorial board consisting of representatives 
of twelve supporting universities and colleges 
in the middle west, together with B. F. Finkel, 
founder of the Monthly and editor since its 
inception in 1894. 

It is the editorial policy of this journal to 
appeal especially to teachers of mathematics in 
the collegiate and advanced secondary fields, 
not only for the purpose of directing attention 
to questions of improvement in teaching in 
these fields, but also to foster the development 
of the scientific spirit among large numbers 
who are not now reached by the more technical 
journals. 

A selection from the Tables of Contents of 
the first six numbers includes articles on— 


The History of Mathematics, such as the 
following: 

‘¢History of the Exponential and Logarithmic 
Concepts,’’ by Professor Florian Cajori, of 
Colorado College. 

‘¢The Foundation Period in the History of 


AveusT 8, 1913] 


Group Theory,’’ by Josephine Burns, graduate 
student at the University of Illinois. 

‘¢Hrrors in the Literature on Groups of Finite 
Order,’’ by Professor G. A. Miller, University 
of Illinois. 

Pedagogical Considerations, such as the fol- 
lowing: 

‘“The ‘Foreword’ concerning Collegiate Mathe- 
matics,’’ by Professor E. R. Hedrick, Univer- 
sity of Missouri. 

‘*Mathematical Literature for High Schools,’’ 
by Professor G. A. Miller. 

‘‘Minimum Courses in Engineering Mathe- 
matics,’’ by Professor Saul Epsteen, Univer- 
sity of Colorado. 

“(Incentives to Mathematical Activity,’’ by Pro- 
fessor H. E. Slaught, University of Chicago. 

General Mathematical Information, such as 
the following: 

‘«The Third Cleveland Meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science,’’ 
by Professor G. A. Miller. 

‘¢ Western Meetings of Mathematicians,*’ by 
Professor H. E. Slaught. 

“‘Notes and News’’ of events pertaining to 
mathematics, under the direction of a com- 
mittee of which Professor Florian Cajori is 
ehairman. 

‘“Book Reviews’’ and announcements of new 
books in mathematics, under the direction of 
a committee of which Professor W. H. Bussey, 
University of Minnesota, is chairman. 

Topics Involving a Minimum of Technical 
Treatment, such as the following: 

“¢Maximum Parcels under the New Parcel Post 
Law,’’ by Professor W. H. Bussey. 

“‘Precise Measurements with a Steel Tape,’’ by 
Professor G. R. Dean, Missouri School of 
Mines. 

‘CA Direct Definition of Logarithmic Deriva- 
tive,’’ by Professor E. R. Hedrick. 

‘“A Simple Formula for the Angle between Two 
Planes,’’ by Professor E. V. Huntington, 
Harvard University. 

“‘Two Geometrical Applications of the Method 
of Least Squares,’’ by Professor J. L. Cool- 
idge, Harvard University. 

‘“Problems Proposed and Solved,’’ under the 
direction of a committee of which Professor 
B. F. Finkel, Drury College, is chairman, 

Topics Involving Somewhat More Technical 
Treatment, designed to stimulate mathe- 
matical activity on the part of ambitious 


SCIENCE 


201 


students and teachers; for example, such 
as the following: 

‘‘The Remainder Term in a Certain Develop- 
ment of F(a+m),’’ by Professor R. D. Car- 
michael, Indiana University. 

‘(A Geometric Interpretation of the Function 
F in Hyperbolic Orbits,’’ by Professor W. O. 
Beal, Illinois College. 

“Certain Theorems in the Theory of Quadratic 
Residues,’’ by Professor D. N. Lehmer, Uni- 
versity of California. 

‘‘Some Inverse Problems in the Calculus of 
Variations,’’? by Dr. E. J. Miles, Yale Uni- 
versity. 

‘‘Amicable Number Triples,’’ by Professor L. 
E. Dickson, University of Chicago. 


H. E. Sravenr, 
Managing Editor 


BRANCH MOVEMENTS INDUCED BY 
CHANGES OF TEMPERATURE? 


Tuat changes occur in the linear dimen- 
sions of metals following fluctuations in the 
temperature is common knowledge, but that 
similar changes result in wood and living trees 
is not so generally known. Pure water has its 
smallest volume at 4° C., and lowering the 
temperature further increases its volume until 
it freezes; while ice contracts regularly with 
decreasing temperature and at a greater rate 
than any of the metals. It is generally sup- 
posed that marked changes in temperature 
have some effect upon the volume of tree 
trunks because radical clefts occur so fre- 
quently in severe winters and old clefts close 
during the middle of warm winter days and 
open again as the temperature sinks during the 
night. Since freezing water often bursts its 
container it is popularly held that such tree 
trunks are burst by the expansion of the freez- 
ing water in them. Caspary* has shown this 


*This review of the literature of branch move- 
ments and observations grew out of a study of 
crown-rot of fruit trees and is published sepa- 
rately because it is only indirectly related to the 
main theme. 

*R. Caspary, ‘‘Ueber Frostspalten,’’ Bot. Zeit., 
13: 449-62, 473-82, 489-500, 1855; ‘‘Neue Unter- 
suchungen itiber Frostspalten,’’ Bot. Zeit., 15: 
329-35, 345-50, 361-71, 1857. 


202 


to be erroneous by calling attention to the 
facts that ice contracts as the temperature 
sinks while clefts in tree trunks open farther 
and farther as the temperature drops, 7. e., 
were the opening of the clefts due to the for- 
mation of ice they would close again as the 
temperature sank lower. As a matter of fact 
tree trunks begin contracting above the freez- 
ing point of water, as may be gathered from 
Caspary’s records given in the above cited 
papers on the opening and closing of clefts, as 
well as from direct measurement of circum- 
ferences.® 

According to the figures in text-books of 
physics changes in the lengthwise dimension 
of wood due to a change of temperature are 
only slight as compared to changes resulting 
in transverse direction. The transverse con- 
traction of wood is given as nearly the same as 
the linear contraction of ice. It has been sug- 
gested that different types of tree tissues con- 
tract at different rates and that the branches 
of trees are caused to move up and down by 
changes of temperature owing to a differential 
contraction and expansion of the tissues on 
the two sides. 

The literature of branch movements of trees 
is rather meager and not generally known, as 
may be gathered from an article which ap- 
peared in 1904, entitled, “An Undescribed 
Thermometric Movement of the Branches in 
Shrubs and Trees,’* as well as from some 
recent correspondence with C. C. Trowbridge 
who has made a study of the subject but had 
found only Ganong’s paper. The earliest pub- 
lished observations and experiments found on 
branch movements induced by changes in tem- 
perature were by Geleznow.’ He noted that 
branches of certain trees sink during cold 
weather and rise again as it becomes warmer. 


*“¢Crown-rot of Fruit Trees: Field Studies,’’ 
N. Y. State Agri. Expt. Sta. Technical Bull., 23: 
35-39, 1912. 

‘W. F. Ganong, Ann. Bot., 18: 631-44, 1904. 

°N. Geleznow, ‘‘ Recherches sur la quantité et la 
répartition de l’eau dans la tige des plantes lig- 
neuses,’’ Melanges Biol. Acad. Imper. Sc. St. 
Petersb., 9: 667-85, 1877. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


During a thaw branches of linden, birch, elm, 
and other epinastic species were cut and fixed 
in horizontal position by their bases, some with 
their lower sides uppermost; and the position 
of the tips was marked. As the temperature 
became lower the inverted branches moved in 
a direction opposite to that of the branches in 
normal position, indicating that the direction 
of movement depends on the make-up of the 
branches. It was noted, however, that al- 
though pine branches are hyponastic and 
linden branches epinastic, both bend down- 
ward as the temperature sinks, showing that 
the nature of the eccentricity could not be 
the cause of these movements. 

The relative amounts of water contained in 
the wood of the lower and upper sides of 
branches gave no convincing results, although 
it seemed possible that this might have a 
causal relation to the movement. It was 
found that the wood on the upper side of pine 
branches had a greater water content than that 
on the lower, while in the case of birch and a 
number of other trees the wood on the under- 
side contained more water than that on the 
upper. The water determinations were made 
once each month throughout the year and are 
interesting aside from any bearing they may 
have on branch movements. For instance, the 
bark on the larch was found to contain more 
water throughout the year than the wood; the 
wood often contains less water toward the dis- 
tal end of branches, while the bark usually 
contains more. 

Caspary also made some very interesting 
observations the year following the studies by 
Geleznow,’ although the work was not pub- 
lished until much later. The positions of the 
ends of convenient branches of ten species of 
trees were marked on upright stakes driven in 
the ground and their locations redetermined 
about sun-up each day from November 29, 
1865, to March 24, 1866. Heavy dew and rain 
were found to cause a slight depression of 
branches and snow induced considerable sink- 

*R. Caspary, ‘‘Uber die Verinderungen der 
Richtung der Aste hélziger Gewiichse bewirkt 
durch niedrige Wirmegrade,’’ Internat. Hort. Ex- 
hibit Bot. Congress, London, 3: 98-117, 1886. 


AveusT 8, 1913] 


It was also noted that after a period of 
rather strong wind the branches drooped much 
more than was the case in a calm period hay- 
ing the same temperature. But even such 
influences failed to prevent the rise of 
branches on the occurrence of low tempera- 
ture in case of species which normally raised 
their branches on the coming of cold weather. 
It was also found that branches were diverted 
to the right or left on some trees in proportion 
to the degree of cold. The branches of linden 
and those of conifers sank with the tempera- 
ture, while those of Pterocarya and Acer rose 
as the temperature became lower. The 
branches of Asculus, Carpinus, Rhamnus and 
Pavia rose on slight lowering of the tempera- 
ture and sank when it became colder. The 
distal ends of the branches on nearly all of 
the trees under observation stood higher in 
spring than they did in the preceding fall. 
The eccentricity of the wood of branches was 
thought to have no relation to this move- 
ment, but it seemed that it might be due to a 
differential contraction and expansion of the 
upper and under sides of branches, and it was 
held that this difference in contraction must 
be distributed over the entire length rather 
than being confined to the crotch regions. 
Ganong’s’ observations were more limited. 
He found that branches move or bend upward 
or toward the axis as the temperature sinks. 
He reports that the branches had a greater 
water content during warmer days of winter 
than during the colder ones and therefore the 
thermometric movement. According to the 
determinations by Geleznow the water con- 
tent of the wood of Pinus silvestris reached a 
minimum in June and a maximum in October, 
while bark has its maximum in October and 
its minimum in April. Acer platanoides had 
a maximum water content in the wood in June 
and a minimum in October; that is, it was 
found that the minimum water in the wood 
does not occur in winter, but since his deter- 
minations were made monthly they throw no 
light’ on the validity of Ganong’s inference 
that the movements depend on periodic varia- 
tions in the water content. The most recent 
7 Loe. cit. 


ing. 


SCIENCE 


203 


contribution to this subject is by CO. C. Trow- 
bridge.6 Although only a summary has ap- 
peared as yet it promises to be of interest not 
only because of its content, but also on account 
of the fact that it is from the physicist’s stand- 
point. Owing to its brevity this summary as 
given in the proceedings of the Torrey Botan- 
ical Club is quoted here in full: 


(1) That branch movements occur in certain 
trees, due to temperature changes below the freez- 
ing point of water, and that in certain other trees 
no movement whatever has been observed. (2) 
That the movements amount to as much as 3 or 
4 ft. differences in the distance from the ground 
to the ends of certain curved branches which are 
in length of the order of 20 ft., these changes 
occurring through a range of 30 degrees below 
freezing. (3) That little, if any, movement takes 
place above freezing point of water, and that the 
movements begin soon after the temperature re- 
mains at this point for several hours. (4) That 
there is a considerable lag in the movement of the 
branches behind the temperature changes, although 
a difference in the rate of change of temperature 
is followed at once by a difference in the rate of 
change of the position of the branches. (5) That 
the movements are practically of equal magnitude 
in December, January and February, that is, the 
seasonal change is not a ruling factor in this 
movement. 


According to Geleznow, then, tree branches 
may move either up or down as the tempera- 
ture sinks. He found that eccentricity of the 
wood is not correlated with this movement, but 
that a difference in the water content of the 
wood on the upper and under sides of branches 
seems to be, yet he did not consider that an 
explanation of the movements but only a 
suggestive parallel. Caspary found three 
classes of trees in regard to the manner of 
branch movements: In one class the branches 
sink and in another they rise on lowering of 
the temperature and in the third class the 
branches rise as the temperature is lowered 
slightly but sink when it gets still colder. 
According to him the movements of branches 
result from a differential contraction of the 

*<<Branch Movements of Certain Trees in 
Freezing Temperatures,’’ Torreya, 13: 86-87, 
1913. 


204 


under and upper sides of branches. These two 
investigators agree as to the main groups of 
trees in respect to the effect changes of tem- 
perature have on the position of their 
branches. It seems, therefore, that Ganong 
happened to use trees and shrubs which be- 
longed to only one of these classes. The expla- 
nation advanced by Caspary is suggestive be- 
cause it is based on a differential longitudinal 
contraction of the wood in branches. Some 
of his earlier studies’ have shown that tree 
trunks undergo transverse contraction in pro- 
portion to the degree of cold and that the 
assumptions to the contrary are incorrect. 
That longitudinal contraction of wood takes 
place as the temperature is lowered is upheld 
by many general observations. Trees are fre- 
quently cleft in forks of the trunk during 
winter and these clefts open when it gets cold 
and close as warmer weather comes. In an- 
other connection the writer found that 

crotch clefts were always at right angles to the 
branching and usually widest above, appearing as 
though the crotches had been split by driving in 
a thin wedge from above. In two instances where 
measurements were taken the component parts of 
the crotches had separated about 2 em., which 
seems to indicate that there had also been a longi- 
tudinal contraction of the outer portions of the 
trunks, thus resulting in an outward bending of 
the branches.” 

Caspary’s observations on the lateral dis- 
placement of some tree branches also fit into 
his contraction theory, although he failed to 
note it, provided it is assumed that the trees 
on which this movement occurred had trunks 
with the so-called twisted grain, for in such a 
ease longitudinal contraction would necessarily 
result in lateral movement of the attached 
branches. 

In this connection it seems of interest to 
notice some of the peculiarities of arrange- 
ment of the tissues about the bases of branches 
that were studied by Jost." He found that 
the cambium at the basal angles of branches 

° Loc. cit. 

” Loc. cit., pp. 36-37. 

4L. Jost, ‘‘Ueber einige Higenthtimlichkeiten 
des Cambiums der Biume,’’ Bot. Zeit., 59: 1-24, 
1901. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 971 


is not eliminated as the stems and branches 
grow in diameter, but that its cells and those 
of the tissues differentiating from the cambium 
glide between each other and also become 
shorter. In case of the adaxile side crowding 
and compression are more marked than on the 
abaxile side, apparently because the angle is 
usually much smaller. Sometimes the bark in 
the adaxile angle is not forced outward, but is 
included, and under such conditions the pres- 
sure in the angle compels the cambium under 
the included bark to cease growth. Most 
commonly, however, the wood-growth in the 
angle forces the bark outward and thereby 
induces a more rapid reduction in the cambial 
area and a greater increase in thickness per 
annual ring than on the abaxile side. In 
addition to gliding between each other, the 
cells in the adaxile side are turned at a 
tangential angle so that large groups of them 
come to lie almost horizontal or at right angles 
to the axis, while groups of cells from the 
branch and from the stem sides are forced in 
among these transverse cells of the crotch. 
Usually, then, no cambial cells are eliminated 
in branch-angles, but they are forced between 
their neighbors and complicated tangles re- 
sult in which often large groups of cells come 
to lie in a more or less transverse direction. 
The ends of medullary rays vertical to each 
other in the base of branches come closer to- 
gether and may even cross each other. 

In view of the fact that the groups of par- 
tially transverse tissues at the base of a branch 
are probably under more or less pressure and 
because changes of temperature have a much 
greater effect upon transverse than upon 
longitudinal dimensions it seems possible that 
the differential contraction which according 
to Caspary is the cause of the thermometric 
branch-movements may be chiefly confined to 
the bases of branches and depend upon these 
peculiar gnarly growths described by Jost, 
and perhaps their arrangement about the base 
of a branch which is usually characteristic 
for a species, may determine whether a branch 
shall move up or down as the temperature 
sinks. The relative amounts of “spring” and 
“ summer ” wood in the under and upper sides 


AuecusT 8, 1913] 


of annual rings at the bases of branches may 
also have a possible relation to the movements. 
At any rate, it seems more promising to seek 
for some anatomical differences between the 
upper and under sides of branches as the 
cause of the movement than to study their 
water content. 
J. G. GRossENBACHER 
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


“ VELLOW ” AND “ AGOUTI” FACTORS IN MICE 

Some time ago Mr. A. H. Sturtevant’ sug- 
gested the hypothesis that there is negative 
coupling between the “yellow” and the 
“agouti” factors in mice. At that time’ I 
offered certain facts which appeared to me to 
give evidence contradictory to the hypothesis 
which he advanced. 

I included in this evidence the data offered 
by certain matings of mice made by Miss F. 
M. Durham.’ It now appears that I misunder- 
stood the true meaning of her tables, which 
were somewhat ambiguous, and that accord- 
ingly the only remaining evidence which I pos- 
sessed against Mr. Sturtevant’s hypothesis was 
afforded by the results of certain matings 
which I made about five years ago. 

It seemed, therefore, advisable to make 
erosses calculated to test his hypothesis with 
the stock which I have at present on hand. 

The first of these matings was between wild 
agouti mice and yellow mice which did not 
carry the agouti factor. To use Sturteyant’s 
terminology these individuals were as follows: 


Yellows—Yt yt, 
Agouti—yT yf. 


Two sorts of individuals, yellow and agouti, are 
expected in equal numbers from such matings. 
The actual results were 14 yellow, 28 agouti. 
The yellows should on Sturtevant’s hypothesis 
be of the formula Y¢ yT and form only two 


1 Sturtevant, A. H. (1912), Am. Nat., Vol. 46, 
pp. 368-371. 

2Little, C. C. (1912), Am. Nat., Vol. 46, pp. 
491493, 

*Durham, F. M. (1911), Journal of Genetics, 
Vol. 1, pp. 159-178. 


SCIENCE 


205 


sorts of gametes Yt and yZ. Such yellows 
should by any non-yellow animal, or when 
mated inter se, give only two sorts of young, 
yellow and agouti. Actually they produced 23 
yellow and 18 agouti young. 

Thinking that possibly the black factor 
might be necessary to obtain such a result, I 
mated three homozygous dilute brown agouti 
animals with a single brown-eyed yellow 
(carrying no agouti). All these animals lack 
the factor for black. The first generation gave 
11 yellows and 5 brown-agoutis. The yellows 
were then crossed with dilute brown animals 
which did not possess the factor for agouti. If 
according to Sturtevant’s hypothesis there was 
negative coupling or repulsion between the yel- 
low and agouti factors there would be only 
yellow and agouti young from such a mating. 
Tf, on the other hand, these factors were en- 
tirely independent we should have non-agouti 


young as well. The results follow. 


e | oe | as 'e a3] a | oa 
a le lee Bee) 2 | es 
» (An | As Aas] & | 48 
Observed........-..00+ 31 [384 |24 | 27 0 0 
Expected by Sturte- 
vant’s hypothesis.|29 |29 |29 | 29 0 0 
Expected by inde- 
pendent recombi- 
NALION.....00..00ee00s 28.5 | 28.5 | 14.2| 14.2 | 14.2 | 14.2 


The conclusion is obvious that the factors 
for yellow and agouti are unable to go into the 
same gamete. On the other hand, the factors 
for “density” and “dilution” of pigmenta- 
tion show no such relation to any other factors. 

Since I have no reason to doubt the authen- 
ticity of the contradictory cases, in my own 
work, to which I have already referred, it 
seems probable that the factors for “yellow” 
and “agouti” are not absolutely incompatible, 
but that they may in rare cases occur in the 
same gamete. As a general thing, however, it 
seems that Sturtevant’s hypothesis is correct 
and that a negative association exists between 
these two factors. 

C. C. Littis 

BussEy INSTITUTION, 

Forrest HInus, MAss., 
July 7, 1913 


206 


ANTIGRAVITATIONAL GRADATION 


Nowuere on the face of our globe, we now 
know, are the effects of the gradational proc- 
esses so completely or so conspicuously exem- 
plified as on the broad intermont valleys of 
arid regions. There the graded plain is the 
dominant feature of landscape. It attains a 
degree of perfection that is wholly unknown 
elsewhere. It is more even than is theoretic- 
ally demanded of the ideal or finished pene- 
plain. It is, as Passarge astutely remarks, 
smoother than any peneplain possibly can be. 
Yet never has relief element been so generally 
misunderstood or so entirely overlooked. 

In the course of the wide discussion which 
the subject recently has aroused in almost 
every land it is fortunate that so many local- 
ized illustrations have been so carefully 
described. For the first time we are now able 
to cite definite references. The present aspect 
of the theme centers around the topic of local 
dissection and terracing of the steeper slopes 
immediately encircling many desert mountain 
ranges—the belt designated by physiographers 
as the bajada, the title being an adapted 
Spanish name. 

The remarkable phenomenon of bajada- 
terracing does not appear, as urged by Salis- 
bury, to be a necessary consequence of the 
general lowering of the highland by stream- 
action while the intermont lowlands are being 
filled up, because some of the best examples of 
terracing border broad plains having rock- 
floors. For the same reason it does not appear 
possible that there ever occurs during so-called 
topographic maturity an adjustment by water- 
action between one bolson and another adja- 
cent but lower one which results in the terrac- 
ing of the higher, as suggested by Davis. 
There is little or no evidence to show that 
bajadas were all formed during periods of 
glaciation, as advocated by Barrell, since 
some of the most typical forms of this class 
are found surrounding low knolls near sea- 
level and far below all possible altitudes of 
glacial action in the region. Neither does it 
seem likely that bajadas were constructed 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 971 


during interglacial epochs of materials which 
accumulated in the mountains when the 
latter were covered by ice, as argued by Hunt- 
ington, for this does not explain the many 
bajada-belts with rock-floors. Nor is it any 
better to postulate a recent increase of tem- 
perature and a different distribution and 
amount of rainfall abetted by the advance- 
ment of the area in the geographic cycle, as 
proposed by Visher, for the terracing is now 
going on before our very eyes at an astonish- 
ingly rapid rate, and as quickly is it also com- 
pletely obliterated. 

Terracing of desert tracts appears to be 
confined mainly to the foots of the loftier 
ranges; and its accomplishment is fully 
described elsewhere. Under the ordinary con- 
ditions of deflative action we would expect the 
locus of maximum lowering to take place in 
the middle part of the bolsons. According to 
this recognition of conditions eolic erosion 
necessarily operates from the lower to a higher 
elevation. As shown by Professor Davis, the 
winds in their action are not dependent like 
water on the gradient of the land surface for 
their gravitational acceleration; they may 
blow violently and work effectively on a per- 
fectly level surface. Unlike water they may 
also erode vigorously up-hill; and this is 
exactly what they manifestly and constantly 
do on the bolson-plains. 

Notwithstanding the fact that wind erosion 
operates both up and down the slope there is, 
owing to the peculiar configuration of each 
basin-shaped tract, a preponderance of effect 
on the up-slope part of the course. There also 
appears to be a limit to the gradient on which 
the wind is able to blow sands erodingly and 
extensively up-hill, and this limit seems to lie 
chiefly between a two and a four per cent. 
gradient. It is for this reason seemingly that 
the intermont plains are so smooth, so uni- 
form in grade, so high in gradient. Kolic 
gradation thus mainly works from a lower to 
a higher level. The direction of greatest 
activity is directly opposite that of stream- 
work. It is mainly up-hill. 


CuHarLes Keyes 


CIENCE 


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VoL. XXXVIII. No. 972 FRIpAy, Avaust 15, 1913 


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SCIENCE 


I 


Fripay, Aucust 15, 1913 


CONTENTS 
Professor Thomas Harrison Montgomery, Jr.: 


PROFESSOR EDWIN G. CONKLIN .......... 207 
Forecast of the Birmingham Meeting of the 

British Association ...............+..-0. 214 
The Principle of Mental Tests: Dr. FREDERIC 

IESE NONNT) VAIS AA Oy eS Hence OAR et 221 
The Fourth International Congress of School 

LED TOCIG: tne CGH GOBB LS OA COO Baan ae 224 
Scientific Notes and News >..............- 225 
Oniversity and Educational News .......... 229 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

The Name of the Sheep Measle Tapeworm: 

B. H. Ransom. Note on the Orientation 

of Bombilius to Light: Proressor 8. J. 

IEICE ST NYE Sano SBN e Oa cena aoe EMS 230 
Scientific Books :— 

Handwérterbuch der Naturwissenschaften: 

PROFESSOR ARTHUR GORDON WEBSTER. 

Buchner’s Studien an intracellularen Sym- 

bionten: PROFESSOR WM. A. RILEY ...... 230 
Botanical Notes:— 

Some Statistics as to the Flowering Plants ; 

Two Books on Trees; Southern Systematic 

Botany; Short Notes: PRoressor CHARLES 

Tie BUSS Sbobe "Oe aire AG Gore SIa Hore eae CRETE 234 
Special Articles :— 

The Applicability of the Photochemical 

Energy-Law to Light Reactions in Ani- 

mals: DR. WoLFGANG F. EWALD ......... 236 
The Iowa Academy of Science: Dr. lL. S. 

TROIS Bg curernini s S RN OU Eady Keven Pa RO TO StS 238 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
Teview should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


PROFESSOR THOMAS HARRISON 
MONTGOMERY, JR. 

THomas Harrison Montcomery, Jr., 
was born in New York City March-5, 1873, 
and died in Philadelphia March 19, 1912. 
Within this brief span of years he accom- 
plished much; by the strength and manli- 
ness of his character he exerted a deep in- 
fluence on all who knew him, by the extent 
and value of his scientifie work he has left 
a lasting impress on his chosen science of 
zoology. This biographical sketch has been 
prepared as a tribute to the memory of a 
friend and colleague and in the hope that 
a more intimate acquaintance with his life 
and work may be welcomed by all who 
knew him either in person or through his 
writings. 

In inheritance and education Professor 
Montgomery was unusually favored; he 
came of a distinguished family and his en- 
vironment and training were of the best. 
The Montgomery family came to America 
from Ayrshire and settled in New Jersey 
in 1701. Among the paternal ancestors of 
Professor Montgomery were many distin: 
guished clergymen, lawyers and business 
men. One of his great-great-grandfathers 
was William White, ‘‘the first bishop of 
English consecration in the United States.’’ 
Through his mother, Anna Morton, he was 
descended from a line of distinguished 
physicians and scientists; his grandfather, 
Dr. Samuel George Morton, was one of the 
founders of the modern science of anthro- 
pology and was president of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia from 
1849 to 1851. Professor Montgomery 
sometimes spoke of Dr. Morton in a way 
which indicated that he had been deeply 


208 


influenced by the example of his life and 
work. 

His father, Thomas Harrison Mont- 
gomery, was president of the Insurance 
Company of North America from 1882 
until his death in 1905. He was a gentle- 
man of unusual culture and ability, deeply 
interested in the work of churches, chari- 
table organizations and educational institu- 
tions, and the author of several publica- 
tions on genealogical: and historical sub- 
jects, among which the most notable was a 
book of nearly six hundred pages entitled 
“‘A History of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania from its Foundation to a.p. 1770.”’ 
In recognition of his scholarly ability the 
University of Pennsylvania conferred upon 
him the honorary degree of Litt.D. He 
had a large family, six sons and three 
daughters, and his influence over his chil- 
dren and their admiration for him deeply 
impressed all who came into their family 
circle. Professor Montgomery summed up 
his ‘‘Memoir”’ of his father in these words: 

One can paint certain traits of this large and 
rich character, but it is difficult to make a just 
portrait. A man of virile and broad mind, of very 
catholic tastes; a respecter of knowledge and a 
contributor to it; true and generous to all; with 
unimpeached personal honor; self-deprecatory but 
always compelling respect; ever active in work 
and economical of time, striving to do his best; a 
wise and tender husband and father, and a noble 
Christian gentleman. A man of religion that has 
no harshness but is filled with sweetness and hope 
and charity. 


In his education and environment Mont- 
gomery: was no less favored than in his 
inheritance. When he was nine years old 
his father removed to the country near 
West Chester, Pa., and here his real educa- 
tion began in the fields and woods about 
his country home. It was particularly in 
the study of birds that the mind of this 
naturalist was formed and moulded. Not 
later than his twelfth year he began to 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XXXVIII. No. 972 


make a systematic study of the birds found 
in the vicinity of his home and by the time 
he was fifteen he had a collection of about 
250 bird skins, and a record of each speci- 
men giving the date and locality, food, 
measurements, and, under ‘‘remarks,’’ 
many observations on anatomical and eco- 
logical features. By the time he was 
seventeen his collection had grown to about 
450 bird skins, and his observations en- 
tered in his notebooks form many pages, 
perhaps volumes,’ of interesting and dis- 
eriminating observations on the migrations, 
habitats, breeding and nesting habits, food 
and methods of getting it, care of young, 
songs and notes, and many other details of 
the life of birds. Other notebooks contain 
detailed drawings of dissections, skeletons 
and general anatomical features. Inter- 
mingled with these observations on birds 
are many expressions of delight in the 
beauties of nature, in the splendor of the 
woods in winter, the joys of an early sum- 
mer morning, the majesty of a thunder- 
storm, etc. 

His formal schooling began at Dr. Wor- 
rall’s School in West Chester; afterwards 
he attended the Episcopal Academy in 
Philadelphia, where he graduated at the 
age of sixteen. In the fall of 1889 he en- 
tered the University of Pennsylvania and 
continued there until the end of his sopho- 
more year. While at the university his 
only biological work was a course of lec- 
tures by Cope on recent and fossil verte- 
brates which gave him a deep and lasting 
interest in comparative anatomy and pale- 
ontology. Supplementary to his work at 
the University he spent much time at the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 
phia, studying in the museums and library, 
and there he developed that omnivorous 

+The earliest notebook I have seen is headed 


“*Note Book No. 5,’? and dates from his seven- 
teenth year. 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


taste for all kinds of zoological literature 
which was one of his strong characteristics. 
He once said to the writer that while he 
was at Berlin he read the whole series of 
the Naples Jahresberichte, and as his mem- 
ory was unusually retentive he soon ac- 
quired a very broad acquaintance with the 
literature of his science. 

In the summer of 1891 he accompanied 
his father on a trip to Europe, and, fas- 
cinated by the possibilities for the study of 
anatomy and zoology in Germany, he per- 
suaded his father to allow him to stay there 
for the remainder of his university course. 
He entered the University of Berlin in 
the autumn of that year, devoting atten- 
tion particularly to human anatomy and 
morphological zoology. He applied him- 
self with great energy and enthusiasm to 
his work and matured very rapidly as a 
student and investigator. It had been his 
intention to go to Leipzig for a portion of 
his university course, but his work in Ber- 
lin kept him so busy and so satisfied that 
he remained there for three years, taking 
the degree of Ph.D. in 1894, when he was 
but twenty-one years old. His preceptors 
in Berlin were Waldeyer, O. Hertwig, F. 
EK. Schulze, Schwendener, Mobius, Dames, 
Heider, Korschelt and Jaeckel. He pre- 
pared his thesis under the direction chiefly 
of Schulze. Student associates at Berlin 
whom he often mentioned and who left a 
deep impress upon him were Fritz Schau- 
dinn, afterward famous for his study of 
pathogenic protozoa, and F. Purcell, at 
present director of the Capetown Museum, 
South Africa. 

As indicative of the strong hold which 
studies of evolution had made upon him 
may be mentioned the three theses which 
he defended on the occasion of taking his 
degree: ‘‘I. Ftir die Phylogenie ist das 
Studium des Nervensystemes von der gross- 
ten Wichtigkeit.’’ ‘‘II. Die Nachsten jetzt 


SCIENCE 


209 


lebenden Verwandten des Limulus sind die 
Arachnoiden.’’ ‘‘III. Vogelarten, die pe- 
riodisch lange Wanderungen durechmachen, 
haben keine geographischen Varietiten.’’ 

Whereas his earlier studies had been de- 
voted largely to birds, his work at Berlin 
was chiefly on other classes of animals. 
His inaugural dissertation was an anatom- 
ical and histological description of a new 
genus and species of nemertean worm 
found at Berlin, and this was the first of a 
series of ten papers which he wrote on this 
group of animals. However, his interest 
in ornithology did not flag, and in several 
letters to Witmer Stone he expresses his 
great interest in the work of the American 
Ornithological Union, of which he had been 
elected a member, and his regret that he 
was unable because of the pressure of other 
work to continue his study of birds while 
abroad. Just before he took his degree he 
wrote to Mr. Stone: 

I have done absolutely no ornithological work in 
Germany, and will probably never have the time 
for it in the future. I have been studying espe- 
cially comparative anatomy and embryology, but 
I have not yet lost my little taste for collecting 
and general field work, though that is now for me 
simply a happy bygone. 

Nevertheless, after his return from Ger- 
many he continued for some time to record 
his observations on birds in his ‘‘Ornitho- 
logical Field Notes,’’ and he later pub- 
lished five papers based largely on these 
observations; up to the time of his death 
his interest in birds and in general field 
work never waned. 

He returned to this country early in 
1895 and for the next three years occupied 
a research room at the Wistar Institute of 
Anatomy in Philadelphia, where he con- 
tinued to work unremittingly at his re- 
searches. During the summer of 1895 he 
studied in the laboratory of Alexander 
Agassiz at Newport and at the U. S. Fish 


210 


Commission Station at Woods Hole. In 
the summer of 1896 he worked for a while 
at the marine laboratory of the University 
of Pennsylvania at Sea Isle City, N. J. 
The summer of 1897 he spent at the Marine 
Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and 
thereafter nearly every summer of his life 
was spent there, except for four summers, 
when he was in Texas. 

In 1897 he was appointed lecturer in 
zoology at the University of Pennsylvania ; 
in 1898 he was advanced to an instructor- 
ship and in 1900 to an assistant professor- 
ship. During the years 1898 to 1903 he 
was also professor of biology and director of 
the museum in the Wagner Free Institute 
of Science in Philadelphia. In 1903 he 
was called to the professorship of zoology 
in the University of Texas, where he re- 
mained until 1908, when he became pro- 
fessor of zoology and head of that depart- 
ment at the University of Pennsylvania, 
and in this position he continued until his 
death in 1912. 

He was a trustee of the Marine Biolog- 
ical Laboratory and clerk of the corpora- 
tion of that institution from 1908 until his 
death, and during the same period he was 
co-editor of the Journal of Morphology. 
He was a member of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, 
the American Society of Naturalists, the 
American Society of Zoologists, of which 
he was president in 1910, the American 
Philosophical Society, the Academy of Nat- 
ural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Texas 
Academy of Sciences, of which he was 
president in 1905. 

This bare catalogue of the positions of 
responsibility and honor which he held in- 
dicates how rapidly he rose to prominence 
in his science, but it does not indicate the 
means by which he achieved distinction. 
It remains to describe his unusual qualities 
as an investigator, as a teacher and organ- 
izer, and as a man. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIL. No. 972 


He was an unusually active investigator 
in many fields, and a ready and prolific 
writer. His life as an author extended 
only from 1894 to 1912, eighteen years in 
all, but in that time he made many valuable 
contributions to science and published one 
large book and more than eighty papers. 
His breadth of view and of sympathy is 
indicated by the numerous branches of 
zoology to which he contributed. Sixteen 
of his papers were devoted primarily to 
taxonomy, five to distribution, eleven to 
ecology and behavior, sixteen to morphol- 
ogy, twenty-five to cytology, eight to phy- 
logeny and one to experiment. He had 
just begun on experimental work during 
his last year, and there is no doubt that he 
would have contributed largely to this 
branch of zoology had he lived. His 
breadth of view is shown also if one con- 
siders the groups of animals studied. His 
earliest publications dealt with nemertean 
worms, on which he wrote ten papers; his 
observations on birds are given in five 
papers, and those on other vertebrates in 
two; he published ten papers on _ hair- 
worms, two on rotifers, fourteen on spi- 
ders, three on insects, twenty-five on cytol- 
ogy, of which fifteen dealt with insects 
alone, and sixteen on phylogeny and gen- 
eral topics (see bibliography). 

Most of this work was very good and 
some of it was remarkable for its influence. 
Among his most important contributions 
must be mentioned particularly his various 
papers on the habits of spiders (Nos. 31, 
37, 38, 41, 42) ; his studies on the nucleolus 
(Nos. 47, 48, 50) ; and his extensive studies 
on spermatogenesis (Nos. 49, 51-71). In 
the latter field a discovery of really epoch- 
making importance was his observation of 
the conjugation of separate chromosomes 
in preparation for the maturation divi- 
sions, and his clearly reasoned conclusion 
that one chromosome of each pair is of 
paternal and the other of maternal origin. 


Avueust 15, 1913] 


Another discovery of the utmost impor- 
tance was that in certain Hemiptera an odd 
number of chromosomes may be present in 
the divisions of the spermatocytes, but he 
just missed the discovery that this phe- 
nomenon is associated with the determina- 
tion of sex, though after this discovery was 
made by McClung, Stevens and Wilson, his 
later work did much to confirm it. His 
discrimination of the different kinds of 
chromosomes and his terminology for these 
(62) has been widely accepted and now 
forms part of the science of cytology. 
His studies on nucleoli, particularly his 
great work on the morphology of the nu- 
eleolus (48), contain a wealth of observa- 
tions on these structures in a great number 
of animals, and this work did much to 
establish the conclusion that the nucleolus 
is a relatively unimportant part of the 
nucleus. When he had reached this con- 
clusion he turned his attention at once, and 
with characteristic directness, to those 
parts of the cell which he considered most 
important, viz., the chromosomes. 

It was in studies of natural history and 
general zoology that he took greatest de- 
light and his work in these lines was par- 
ticularly valuable. His early training 
gave him a fondness for, and facility in, 
taxonomic and faunistic work. He de- 
scribed many new species of nemerteans, 
hairworms, rotifers and spiders; he made 
faunistic lists of these animals as well as of 
birds and certain insects; he loved museum 
work and had the systematist’s veneration 
for ‘‘type specimens.’’ But his taxonomic 
work was much more than a bare descrip- 
tion of species; it usually involved a thor- 
ough study of the anatomy and histology 
of the forms described, and to this he 
added, whenever possible, a study of their 
life histories and habits. He maintained 
that taxonomy of the right sort was one 
of the most inclusive and fundamental 


SCIENCE 


211 


branches of zoology, since it involved prac- 
tically all other branches of the science. 

His studies on the behavior of animals 
are especially important. With great pa- 
tience and enthusiasm he would spend days 
and nights studying the habits of different 
animals. His observations on the feeding 
habits of owls (13) are a model of their 
kind, and his studies of the habits of spi- 
ders (31, 37, 38, 41, 42) are worthy of the 
ereat masters of natural history, whose 
best works they recall. 

He was a naturalist before he was a 
laboratory scientist, and he looked forward 
to the time when he could direct all his 
researches to the study of spiders as 
Wheeler had done for ants. The character 
and methods of his work were his own and 
in many instances can be traced back to 
his early training as a naturalist. He al- 
lowed no one to bring him ‘‘material’’ for 
study ; indeed, the animals he studied were 
never mere ‘‘material’’ to him, but he did 
his own collecting. To all his friends the 
many newly turned stones in the fields 
about Woods Hole were a sign that Mont- 
gomery had been collecting there. 

Although he held tenaciously to the 
value of the old zoology, he was quick to 
grasp the importance of work in new fields 
and bold and independent in entering them 
and in reaping their harvests. This ap- 
plies especially to his work in cytology, for 
which he had made no special preparation, 
but in which he probably achieved his 
greatest successes. He clearly distin- 
guished large problems from small ones, 
and he went straight to the center of each. 
He was keen in seeing the theoretical sig- 
nificance of his observations, and critical 
but just in estimating the value of the 
work of others. He was peculiarly inde- 
pendent in his work and was not in the 
habit of discussing it with others nor of 
asking advice, and it often happened that 


212 


even his intimate friends did not know his 
conclusions on important matters until 
after they had appeared in print. 

He was primarily a naturalist and had 
no patience with experimental work done 
by men who had no intimate acquaintance 
with the animals studied; he characterized 
such experimentalists as ‘‘ Versuchstiere,’’ 
and hated their so-called ‘‘problems.’’ Later 
he came to be an enthusiastic advocate of 
the experimental method as a supplement 
to, but not as a substitute for, observational 
studies, and in his new laboratory he had 
made extensive provision for such work. 

He was a very rapid worker, and as he 
wrote up his results at once and published 
them without delay he always had several 
papers in press, and at his death it was 
found that he had left but little work un- 
finished. One notable exception is a text- 
book of cytology for which he had com- 
pleted eleven chapters, leaving the rest of 
it in outline. It is to be hoped that this 
valuable work will be completed and pub- 
lished. In it he manifests that unusual 
mastery of the literature of the subject 
which was one of his leading characteris- 
tics, and which particularly fitted him for 
such a task. 

As a teacher and organizer he was suc- 
cessful in a rare degree. His enthusiasm 
was balanced by critical judgment, and he 
was an inspiring and exacting teacher. 
His intimate acquaintance with the ma- 
terials and literature of zoology, his posi- 
tive and clear-cut opinions on most sub- 
jects,\a sense of humor and a certain pic- 
turesqueness of language made him a most 
instructive and entertaining lecturer; also 
he had marked ability to direct and stimu- 
late graduate students in research work. 
His plans for the development of zoology 
at the University of Pennsylvania were 
very comprehensive, including almost 
every great branch of the science. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


During the last three or four years of 
his life, his greatest work was the new 
zoological laboratory at the University of 
Pennsylvania, which will ever be a monu- 
ment to his energy, ability and foresight. 
He and his colleagues worked on the plans 
almost a year, and all details of construc- 
tion, equipment and furniture were care- 
fully planned. Almost another year was 
spent in constructing the building, and the 
labor of moving into it and getting things 
into working order had scarcely been fin- 
ished when he was stricken with his last 
illmess. He deeply regretted the loss of 
time from his researches which the con- 
struction of the building involved, but as 
the plans and building were completed 
rapidly, this lost time was reduced to a 
minimum, and he expected to enjoy for 
many years the facilities which he had so 
laboriously secured. 

Although he often spoke of the time lost 
from his researches while the building was 
on hand, it is nevertheless a fact that dur- 
ing those years he published almost as 
many papers as during any previous period 
of equal length, while the number of papers 
published during the last year of his life 
was as great as in any other year, with a 
single exception. He realized that the new 
laboratory must be justified by the research 
work done in it, and the responsibility of 
‘‘making good’’ rested heavily upon him. 
Undoubtedly during those last few years 
he worked beyond his strength, and when 
the fatal disease attacked him he had not 
resistance enough to overcome it. 

He was stricken with pneumonia on 
February 15, 1912, and after a long strug- 
gle, in which hope many times alternated 
with despair, he succumbed on March 19, 
only a few days after his thirty-ninth 
birthday. His death, which occurred on 
the opening day of the celebration of the 
centenary of the Academy of Natural Sci- 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


ences of Philadelphia, cast a shadow over 
that event. From boyhood days his inter- 
est in the Academy had been keen and he 
had taken an active part in the prepara- 
tions for the centennial celebration and 
had contributed an important paper on 
‘“‘Human Spermatogenesis’’ for the com- 
memoration volume of the Journal of the 
Academy; this paper, which was his last 
contribution to science, appeared as the 
first article in the commemoration volume, 
which was issued some time after his death. 
His funeral was attended by many people 
from a distance, who had been present at 
the Academy’s Centennial, as well as by his 
colleagues and students. His body was 
borne by his family and a few intimate 
friends to its last resting place on a hill 
overlooking the beautiful Schuylkill Valley 
and the great city with which his life had 
been so intimately identified. 

His influence on science has reached 
many who never knew him and will last 
long after his personality is forgotten, and 
yet it is as the person, the man of honor 
and fidelity, of high ideals and courage and 
courtesy, that his friends love to remember 
him. 

In person he was unusually tall and 
slender, with a serious but kindly face, and 
his general appearance gave the impression 
of great vigor of mind and will rather than 
of body. He was, however, capable of 
great physical endurance and was rarely 
ill. He matured early and appeared older 
than he really was and this appearance was 
strengthened by the way in which he re- 
garded himself. 

In 1901 he married Priscilla, daughter 
of John and Elizabeth Braislin, of Cross- 
wicks, N. J. To them were born three 
sons, Thomas, Hugh and Raymond, and 
the pleasure which he took in the society 
of his wife and boys, and his devotion to 
them, demonstrated that he was a man of 
affection as well as of intellect, a loving 


SCIENCE 


213 


husband and father as well as a distin- 
guished scientist. 

In his ornithological notebooks he has 
revealed his heart as in no other of his 
writings. Intermingled with the observa- 
tions which he records are many passages 
evidently intended only for his own eye, 
and it seems almost like intruding into 
private matters to make them public, and 
yet they reveal so fully his inner motives 
and the philosophy of his life that it seems 
to the writer that the sketch which has here 
been drawn would be sadly incomplete 
without some reference to them. Under 
date of September 22, 1898, he gives a list 
of the summer birds still to be seen near 
his country home, and then after some 
comments on the beauties of the changing 
seasons, writes some ten pages on what 
might very properly be called the religion 
of a naturalist. Unfortunately limits of 
space do not permit the publication in full 
of this passage, but the following extracts 
are taken from it: 


In the make-up of the naturalist belongs as 
much appreciative interest as keen perceptive 
ability. In a word the naturalist must feel him- 
self at one with nature. . .. The faintly heard 
note of a bird, the first odor of spring in the air, 
the moaning of wind in the spruces, or the won- 
drous insect humming on an August night—these 
are what set a train of vague but deliciously keen 
memories and longings in motion—a mental state 
which is the purest and most spiritual. Whoever 
has a true and tender love for the natural may 
experience at least the unexplained joy produced 
by such yearnings. . . . Such yearnings are the 
sublime in the experience of the naturalist... . 

To me there are memories more precious than 
all others, memories of elated mental states asso- 
ciated with enthusiastic appreciation of the nat- 
ural. ... Analysis of such states may be possible, 
but shall one tear apart the web of his best 
dreams? ... 

What is the basis of such longings? Many 
would regard them as trivial or foolish, but the 
many are not naturalists. I recall with startling 
vividness when as a small boy I first heard the 
cat-bird’s song in Central Park, New York City; 


214 


that was the first song that ever stirred me, but 
it left a yearning ineradicable as long as the mind 
lasts. Another time on the top of a small oak 
tree, on a bitterly cold winter day, I saw a pine 
finch, the only morsel of living nature in sight; the 
peculiar happiness of that moment will never be 
forgotten. The mating note of the red-winged 
blackbird, when it first arrives in the spring, or 
the tremulous note of the white-throated sparrow; 
at twilight the rich variety of notes of the screech 
owl; cold nights on the coast of Maine with the 
plover lined along the shore; or titmice in the 
pine forests of Germany;—such associations and 
innumerable others, appear to the memory time 
and time again, .. . and they are always an unex- 
plained joy. 

Perhaps such associations are hallowed merely 
in comparison with the tedium of life’s little cares. 
This is very probably the case, but it in no wise 
lessens the joy. Man must work, he is paid by the 
work rather than by the hire, and his enjoyment 
is found in his work. But far above the plane of 
such enjoyment is the wonderful ecstasy produced 
by yearnings whose object is unknown. In human 
nature the wonderful thing is the multiplicity of 
characters, and the infinite number of changes and 
moods in each character. One of these is the 
character of the poet and naturalist. A naturalist 
may not be ‘‘born’’ one, for this is a loose expres- 
sion. But he must become one in his earliest, 
purest and most impressionable years; let a few 
years go by, and the clay is too hard for the 
mould. Once a naturalist always a naturalist, the 
zeal of a naturalist never dies, but he must not be 
fettered in his pursuits. The cravings of which 
we have spoken are the poetic, spiritual side of 
the naturalist—the naturalist in contradiction to 
the Naturforscher. .. . One may become an excel- 
lent morphologist or physiologist, a clear eluci- 
dator of phenomena, and yet be without any poetic 
spirit. Or one may derive his most hallowed im- 
pressions from presentations in the laboratory, 
while another gets them from observation of ob- 
jects in the field. One can only postulate that for 
certain natures vague naturalistic sensations are 
productive of the greatest joy. I too can testify 
to the keen joy experienced when after months of 
toil and many failures one attains the solution of 
a difficult problem. But in my case such a joy 
does not make as lasting an impression as does the 
pleasure from the mental states spoken of above; 
and surely the strength of a joy may be measured 
by the length of its duration. 


He loved to spend many hours alone in 
fields and woods observing living creatures 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


and feeling himself to be ‘‘a modest but 
integral part of nature’’ and yet he was 
not a mystic nor a recluse, but a jovial and 
delightful comrade who took great pleasure 
in association with intimate friends. He 
had a fund of dry humor with which he 
lightened up serious subjects of conversa- 
tion and yet on such occasions he never let 
himself go beyond proper and dignified 
bounds. He was a firm friend and a good 
hater—a man who was reserved and strenu- 
ous, but tender and sympathetic; and above 
all one whose chief motive in life was an 
absolute devotion to truth. His great will 
power was one of his most striking charac- 
teristics. His ability to concentrate all his 
energies upon his work was remarkable; 
at such times nothing diverted him and he 
allowed himself no relaxation. His powers 
of self-control in all personal relations were 
equally remarkable; although his nature 
was intense he was always master of him- 
self. He was a strong and virile man— 
and yet he was not domineering nor self- 
willed and he preserved an exquisite bal- 
ance between self-contained dignity and 
charming courtesy toward others. He was 
always kind and sympathetic, and it was 
from real kindliness of nature, as well as 
from good breeding that those qualities 
arose which to many of his friends seemed 
to entitle him in a peculiar degree to ‘‘the 
grand old name of gentleman.”’ 

He was for a few years consciously and 
joyously a part of that nature which he so 
much loved. He has left to men the record 
of a life devoted to science and enlighten- 
ment, and to his family and friends the 
memory of a true and noble soul. 

Epwin G. CONKLIN 


FORECAST OF THE BIRMINGHAM MEET- 
ING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION? 
THE meeting of the British Association 

for the Advancement of Science, which will 
1From the London Times. 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


open in Birmingham on September 10, will 
be the fifth meeting which the association 
has held in the metropolis of the Midlands. 
The first Birmingham meeting was as far 
back as 1839, nine years after the associa- 
tion was established; the Rev. W. Vernon 
Harcourt, F.R.S., was president, and the 
attendance numbered 1,438. At the second 
Birmingham meeting, ten years later, when 
the Rev. Dr. T. R. Robinson, F.R.S., was 
president, the attendance sank to 1,071, one 
of the smallest musters in the history of the 
association; but at the third meeting, in 
1865, when Professor J. Phillips, F.R.S., 
was president, the attendances totalled 
_ 1,997. The last meeting held in Birming- 
ham was in 1886, two years after the asso- 
ciation had paid the first of its visits to the 
overseas empire at the invitation of the city 
of Montreal. As an acknowledgment of 
the hospitality then shown to the associa- 
tion, as well as of the high standard of 
scientific attainment in Canada, the presi- 
dent of the Birmingham meeting in 1886 
was Sir J. William Dawson, F.R.S., prin- 
cipal and vice-chancellor of McGill Univer- 
sity. Both in point of numbers and as 
regards the scientific interest of the pro- 
ceedings, the meeting was one of the most 
successful in the long record of the associa- 
tion. The attendance numbered 2,453, and 
among the sectional presidents were Pro- 
fessor (afterwards Sir) George Darwin, 
F.R.S., Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. Crookes, 
F.R.S., Professor T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 
and Major-General Sir F. J. Goldsmid. 
Hopes are entertained that the forth- 
coming meeting will be the largest of all 
the Birmingham meetings. There are ex- 
pectations of an attendance of over 3,000, 
and the program of the meeting, both on 
its scientific and social sides, is certainly 
one of a very attractive order. Appropri- 
ately enough, Sir Oliver Lodge will assume 
the presidential chair at the inaugural 


SCIENCE 


215 


meeting. By conservative men of science 
the principal of Birmingham University is 
regarded as decidedly heterodox in some of 
his views; but he has the courage of his 
convictions, and is not afraid, when grap- 
pling with problems of supreme human 
interest, to take a wide view of the scope of 
scientific research. How far he will allow 
himself to go in this direction in his presi- 
dential address is not known, but the sub- 
ject of it, so far as yet defined, offers nu- 
merous possibilities, and the address is cer- 
tain to be awaited with a good deal of 
curiosity. At present Sir Oliver Lodge’s 
idea is to take a wide and philosophical 
survey of the position of science in general, 
incidentally dealing with the discussions 
and controversies relating to the existence 
and the functions of the ether of space, and 
to the physical continuity of which it is 
the chief element. 


ACCOMMODATION AND ENTERTAINMENTS 


Birmingham is excellently fitted to ac- 
commodate the largest congresses, even 
when they attain the size and complexity 
of the British Parliament of Science. The 
twelve sections composing the association 
will be much less scattered than in many 
cities in which meetings have been held. 
No fewer than seven of the sections will be 
grouped in one of the university buildings, 
Mason College. Excellent quarters have 
been found for the other sections in 
Queen’s College, the Midland Institute, the 
Technical School and the Temperance Hall. 
The Town Hall has been allotted for the 
use of the association as a general recep- 
tion room, and in the new Art Gallery of 
the Council House the Lord Mayor will 
hold a reception on the evening of Thurs- 
day, September 11. On the afternoon of 
the same day the university will confer 
honorary degrees on some of the most dis- 
tinguished visitors, the ceremony taking 


216 


place in the new university buildings. 
Besides British men of science a consid- 
erable number of foreign men of science 
are expected to be present, among others 
who have accepted invitations being Pro- 
fessor Svante Arrhenius, of Stockholm, 
M. Lallemand, Professor Keibel, Professor 
Reinke and Professor Pringsheim. As 
usual, there will be various garden parties 
and other social functions for the enter- 
tainment of the visitors, as well as excur- 
sions on the Saturday to places within easy 
reach of Birmingham, including Stratford- 
on-Avon, Kenilworth, Worcester, Malvern 
and the Forest of Arden. A novel feature 
has been introduced into the program of 
entertainments in the shape of special per- 
formances at the Prince of Wales’s Theater 
(opera), the Repertory Theater (modern 
drama) and the Kinemacolor Theater. 
These festivities, of course, will be 
merely incidental to the serious work of 
the meeting, a permanent and valuable 
memento of which will be the handbook to 
the Birmingham district which is being 
prepared under the editorship of Dr. Au- 
den. Mr. Neville Chamberlain is contrib- 
uting to this handbook a section on town- 
planning, and a new and ingenious series 
of maps is being prepared for it under the 
direction of Professor Lapworth, F.R.S. 
Two evening discourses will be delivered 
on Friday, September 12, and Tuesday, 
September 16, the lecturer on the first occa- 
sion being Sir Henry H. Cunynghame, 
K.C.B., who will take for his subject ‘‘Ex- 
plosions in Mines and the Means of pre- 
venting them’’; while the lecturer on the 
second occasion will be Dr. A. Smith Wood- 
ward, F.R.S., who will treat of ‘‘Missing 
Links among Extinct Animals.’’ Five lec- 
tures have been arranged by the council at 
the Digbeth Institute for citizens who are 
not members of the association. The first 
of these, ‘‘The Decorative Art of Sav- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


ages,’’ will be given by Dr. A. C. Haddon, 
F.R.S., on Thursday, September 11, at 
8 p.m. Other lectures will be ‘‘The Pan- 
ama Canal,’’ by Dr. Vaughan Cornish; 
“‘Heredity in Relation to Man,’’ by Dr. 
Leonard Doncaster; ‘‘The Microscopie 
Structure of Metals,’’ by Dr. W. Rosen- 
hain, and ‘‘Radio-activity,’? by Dr. F. 
Soddy, F.R.S. For the following partic- 
ulars of the sectional proceedings we are 
indebted to the sectional presidents and 
recorders. 
THE WORK OF THE SECTIONS 

Section A (Mathematical and Physical 
Science) will have for its president Dr. H. 
F. Baker, F.R.S. He will probably speak 
of the relations of pure mathematics to the 
ordinary activities of life, trying to indi- 
cate what seem to him the justifications of 
a serious study of the subject, and thence 
proceeding to an attempt to set before 
those who have some mathematical knowl- 
edge an idea of the extent and present 
promise of the subject, by referring to 
some of the leading problems and their 
interconnection. During the week of the 
meeting the section will engage in several 
important discussions. Professor A. E. H. 
Love, Professor E. Rutherford and Pro- 
fessor Pringsheim have promised contribu- 
tions to a discussion on radiation; mathe- 
matical geography will be the subject of a 
joint discussion with the geographical sec- 
tion; the investigation of complex stress 
distribution will be discussed with the 
engineering section; and there will also be 
a discussion on non-Euclidean geometry. 
Among individual papers one on lightning 
and protection from it will be presented by 
Sir J. Larmor, another on atmospheric pol- 
lution has been promised by Dr. J. S. 
Owens, while the dynamics of evolution 
will be discussed by Mr. A. J. Lotka. 

The president of Section B (Chemistry) 


AvuGustT 15, 1913] 


will be Professor W. Palmer Wynne, F.R.S. 
His address will deal mainly with some 
problems and aspects of organic chemistry. 
A subject of national importance which 
will be discussed by the section is the eco- 
nomical use of coal and fuels derived there- 
from. Among others who are expected to 
take part in the discussion are Professor 
Armstrong, Dr. Beilby, Professor Bone, 
Dr. Wheeler, Dr. M. G. Christie, Dr. Col- 
man, Mr. J. H. Yates, Mr. J. Bond and Mr. 
R. Threlfall. The discussion will cover gas 
producers and the use of gas, coking and 
by-product recovery from small coal, gas 
fires and their efficiency. Other discus- 
sions have been arranged on radio-active 
elements and a periodic law, to be opened 
by Professor F. Soddy, and the signifi- 
cance of optical properties. Several metal- 
lurgical papers will be presented to the sec- 
tion, including one by Professor E. Cohen, 
of Utrecht, on strain diseases in metals. 
Professor Edmund J. Garwood will pre- 
side over Section C (Geology), and in his 
address will probably touch on the condi- 
tions under which certain sedimentary 
rocks were deposited, especially those laid 
down during lower carboniferous times. 
A large number of papers have been prom- 
ised for the section, among them one by 
Mr. V. C. Illing on recent discoveries in 
the Stockingford Shales, near Nuneaton, 
and another by Mr. F. G. Meacham on the 
probable development of the South Staf- 
fordshire coalfields to the west of the West- 
ern Boundary Fault and to the Shropshire 
Fault and the Severn Valley Fault, with 
some notes on the probable conditions of 
mining in the new area. The district 
round Birmingham offers exceptionally 
good opportunities for geological excur- 
sions, and these will be made the great 
feature of the sectional proceedings. While 
the mornings will be given up to the read- 
ing of papers, the afternoons will be given 


SCIENCE 


217 


up to short excursions, and at the close of 
the meeting there will be a three-days’ 
excursion into Shropshire. The organiza- 
tion of these excursions is in the hands of 
perhaps the greatest authority on all this 
country, Professor Charles Lapworth, 
F.R.S. As an introduction to the excur- 
sions Professor Lapworth will address the 
section on the geology of the country round 
Birmingham immediately after Professor 
Garwood’s presidential address. 

Section D (Zoology) will be presided 
over by Dr. H. F. Gadow, F.R.S., who, in 
addition to his presidential address, will 
Open a discussion on convergence in the 
mammalia. A subject of vital importance 
to the development of tropical Africa will 
be dealt with by Professor E. A. Minchin 
in a lecture on some aspects of the sleeping 
sickness problem. Among -+the papers 
promised are one by Dr. F. A. Dixey on 
the geographical relations of mimicry, and 
another by Mr. W. Bowater on heredity of 
melanism in lepidoptera. A discussion on 
mimicry will be opened by Professor E. B. 
Poulton. During the week a visit will be 
paid to the Burbage Experimental Station, 
by invitation of Major Hurst, to view the 
results of inheritance experiments. An 
important discussion, which will be held 
jointly with the physiological and botanical 
sections, will be opened by Professor B. 
Moore, F.R.S., on the subject of the syn- 
thesis of organic matter by inorganic col- 
loids in the presence of sunlight, consid- 
ered in relation to the origin of life. 


GEOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL QUESTIONS 

The professor of geography in Univer- 
sity College, Reading, Dr. H. N. Dickson, 
will preside over Section E (Geography). 
His address will concern itself with the in- 
creasing recognition of the importance of 
human geography in the study of social 
and economic questions. Besides the joint 


218 


discussion with Section A on mathematical 
geography, there will be a discussion on the 
natural regions of the world, to be opened 
by Professor A. J. Herbertson, of Oxford 
University. In connection with the former 
subject the work of the Ordnance Survey, 
which has lately been submitted to some 
severe tests, will come under consideration, 
and a paper of special interest will be one 
by Captain H. Winterbotham on the ac- 
curacy of the principal triangulation of 
Great Britain. Most of the papers at pres- 
ent promised relate to questions of home 
zeography, but Professor J. W. Gregory 
will deliver a lecture on Australia and Mr. 
I. N. Dracopoli will give an account of his 
recent travels in Jubaland, British East 
Africa. 

The Rev. P. H. Wicksteed, M.A., who 
will preside. over Section F (Economie Sci- 
ence and Statistics), intends to deal in his 
address with the simplifications in the teach- 
ing of political economy which appear to 
him to follow naturally from the accept- 
ance of the Jevonian, or marginal, theory 
of distribution, and a frank abandonment 
of the cost-of-production theory of value. 
He will point out the confusion which has 
arisen from the ambiguous use of the term 
‘‘ marginal ’’—sometimes to signify the 
least favorable conditions under which an 
industry is pursued or the least efficient in- 
dividual who pursues it, and sometimes to 
signify the dependence of the exchange 
value of any one of a group of indistin- 
guishable individuals upon the contraction 
or expansion of their number. An attempt 
will be made to show that many of the cate- 
gories and distinctions which still hold a 
prominent place in the text-books—such 
as the special laws of rent, interest, and 
wages, the treatment of buyers and sellers 
as opposed groups, the conception of in- 
ereasing and diminishing returns as rival 
principles that divide the field of industry 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


between them—should either be abandoned 
or reduced to a secondary position. No 
attempt will be made to introduce any new 
principles, or to defend the ‘‘ marginal ”’ 
theory against actual or possible attack; 
Mr. Wicksteed will simply endeavor to de- 
velop the modifications in the methods of 
teaching and systematic exposition which, 
in his opinion, follow upon adoption of the 
theory. 
The chief subjects which will come under 
consideration in the subsequent proceedings 
of the section are the cost of living, inland 
waterways, and trade unions in relation to 
profit-sharing and co-partnership. The 
discussion on the second of these subjects 
promises to be specially interesting. Lord 
Shuttleworth and Sir J. P. Griffith are 
among those who have promised to read 
papers, while Mr. Neville Chamberlain and 
Sir J. Brunner are among those who are 
expected to speak on the subject. A paper 
by Professor 8. J. Chapman will deal with 
progressive taxation, and Professor A. W. 
Kirkaldy will consider the economic effects 
of the opening of the Panama Canal. Pro- 
fessor A. L. Bowley will contribute to the 
discussion on the cost of living a paper on 
the relation between wholesale and retail 
prices, with special reference to working- 
class expenditure, and Mr. Cuthbertson 
will contribute a paper on working men’s 
budgets. 
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS AND WIRELESS SIGNALS 
In Section G (Engineering) the presi- 
dential chair will be occupied by Professor 
Gisbert Kapp. His address will deal with 
the electrification of main lines of railway. 
The treatment will be non-mathematical, 
and will be theoretical only in so far as it 
is necessary to develop certain features on 
a scientific basis. In the main the address 
will be a statement of what has actually 
been accomplished in this country and on 
the continent, including technical details 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


of lines and electromotives, tables of 
weights, speeds, acceleration, ete. The 
electromotives of the Loetschberg Tunnel 
line just opened will be among those dealt 
with in the address. The committee on 
gaseous explosions will present its report 
during the meeting, and among many indi- 
vidual contributors to the proceedings will 
be Professor Marchant with a paper on 
some effects of atmospheric conditions on 
wireless signals; Professor Howe, who will 
discuss the nature of the electro-magnetic 
rays employed in radio-telegraphy and the 
mode of their propagation; Mr. F. W. Lan- 
chester, who will deal with the internal- 
combustion engine as applied to railway 
locomotives and will also have something 
to say about aeronautics; and Professor 
Burstall, who has promised a paper on 
solid, liquid and gaseous fuel. 

The administrative value of anthro- 
pology will be the subject of Sir Richard 
Temple’s presidential address to Section 
H (Anthropology). He proposes first to 
explain the nature and scope of the science 
as at present understood, the mental equip- 
ment necessary for the useful pursuit of it, 
and the methods by which it can be success- 
fully studied. Next he proposes to deal 
with the extent and nature of the British 
Empire, the kind of knowledge of the alien 
populations within its boundaries required 
by persons of British origin who would ad- 
minister the empire with benefit to the peo- 
ple dwelling in it, and the importance to 
such persons of acquiring that knowledge. 
Lastly he proposes to note the steps taken 
or suggested by the Royal Anthropological 
Institute and the universities of Cambridge 
and Oxford towards the supply of the 
knowledge of mankind necessary for sound 
imperial administration, which, to his 
mind, is the practical result of the studies 
of anthropologists. The programme of 
papers to be submitted to the section in- 


SCIENCE 


‘state regulations of anesthetics. 


219 


eludes communications from Dr. H. R. 
Rivers on sun cult and megaliths in Ocea- 
nia, and from Dr. Landtman on the ideas 
of the Kiwai Papuans regarding the soul. 
A contribution with an important bearing 
on the history of human sacrifice will be a 
deseription by Mr. J. H. Powell of the cere- 
mony of hook-swinging in India, with lan- 
tern illustrations. The influence of geo- 
graphical environment on religious de- 
velopment in northern Asia will be the sub- 
ject of consideration by Miss Ozaplicka, 
while Major Tremearne will deal with the 
magic of the Nigerian Hausas. 


ARCHEOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY 

British archeology will be well repre- 
sented, as also will the results of archeologi- 
eal research in other parts of the world. 
Dr. Capitan, of Paris, who will be among 
the foreign guests, will describe paleolithic 
paintings recently discovered in the south 
of France; Professor Flinders Petrie will 
describe the results of his last season’s 
work; and Dr. T. Ashby, of the British 
School at Rome, will present a report on a 
recent examination of the archeological re- 
mains in connection with the Appian Way 
and some fresh material bearing on the 
system of aqueducts in Rome. A paper of 
great importance as an example of the sta- 
tistical method will be presented by Pro- 
fessor H. G. Fleure and Mr. T. C. James, 
dealing with the physical characters of the 
people of Wales and the borders. 

The president of Section I (Physiology) 
will be Dr. F. Gowland Hopkins, F.R.S. 
During the meeting the section will receive 
the report of its committee on anesthetics, 
in connection with which Sir Frederic 
Hewitt will speak on the subject of the 
The fea- 
ture of the proceedings will be the number 
of joint meetings with other sections, dem- 
onstrating the close relation between dif- 


220 


ferent branches of science. There will be a 
meeting with the agricultural section to 
discuss the physiology of reproduction, 
with special reference to the factors affect- 
ing fertility and sterility in livestock. 
Reference has already been made to the 
joint meeting with the zoological and bo- 
tanical sections. It is hoped to arrange a 
joint meeting with the chemical section for 
a discussion on fermentation. Finally the 
subsection of Psychology will hold a joint 
meeting with the Educationists. In indi- 
vidual papers Mr. W. McDougall will dis- 
cuss the theory of laughter; Miss M. Smith 
and Mr. McDougall will communicate a 
paper on memory and habit; Dr. J. L. Mc- 
Intyre will discuss the effects of practise 
on the memory of school children; Mr. 
Stanley Wyatt will report the results of 
some investigations into the reliability of 
children’s testimony; and Mr. T. H. Pear 
will report on recent experiments regard- 
ing the psychology of testimony. 

Section K (Botany) will present the 
rare, if not the unique, spectacle in the his- 
tory of the association of being presided 
over by a lady. In her address to the sec- 
tion Miss Ethel Sargant will deal with the 
subject of plant embryology, considering 
recent work on the subject and its bearing 
on various morphological problems. A 
semi-popular lecture will be delivered by 
Professor W. H. Land, F.R.S., on Epiphyl- 
lous Vegetation, and there will be a joint 
discussion with the agricultural section on 
problems in barley production. A joint 
meeting, as already stated, has been ar- 
ranged with the zoologists and physiolo- 
gists. Like the zoologists the botanists 
will engage in an excursion to the Burbage 
Experimental Station, and another excur- 
sion will be made to Sutton Park. 


EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 
Principal E. H. Griffiths will preside 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 972 


over Section L (Educational Science). In 
preparing his address his object has been 
to make an inquiry as to the general feeling 
with regard to the success of our educa- 
tional system, with special reference to 
primary education. He has collected the 
opinions of business men and teachers and 
has found the prevailing atmosphere to be 
one of pessimism. Venturing further afield 
he has made detailed inquiries of all the 
directors of education in the kingdom. 
Replies have been received from 112 di- 
rectors, representative of every kind of 
authority in all parts of England and 
Wales. These replies are confidential, but 
they provide the basis for certain conclu- 
sions which will be set out in the address 
and which will, it is hoped, be found useful 
at a time like the present, when it seems as 
though our educational system is in the 
melting pot. Principal Griffiths will urge 
in his address that we are making the mis- 
take of over-estimating knowledge and 
under-estimating character; that it would 
be better if we could model our educational 
system more on the boy scout movement, 
that is, cultivate character and intelligence . 
until the desire for knowledge is estab- 
lished. Touching briefly on matters con- 
nected with secondary and higher educa- 
tion, he will suggest that what we want is 
a more careful sifting of the products of 
the primary schools so as to ensure that 
only those who are really fitted to receive 
secondary education should be helped by 
the state to obtain it; that a more careful 
system of selection should be established, 
and that when the fittest have been found 
more generous help should be given when 
necessary. As regards the universities, the 
danger of their passing under state control 
will be pointed out. 

As usual, the section will follow the wise 
practise of discussing a few subjects of 
large importance rather than receiving a 


Auveust 15, 1913] 


multitude of disconnected papers. As an 
outcome of suggestions made at the Dun- 
dee meeting the section will meet with the 
anthropologists to discuss the educational 
value of museums. A discussion on the 
function of the modern university in the 
state promises to be very attractive, as the 
heads of the newer universities, including 
Sir Oliver Lodge, have promised to take 
part. The president of Stanford Univer- 
sity, Mr. Alfred Mosely and Miss Burstall, 
of the Manchester High School for Girls, 
are also expected to contribute to the dis- 
cussion. The discussion arranged with the 
psychological subsection of Section I will 
be concerned with the general question of 
the need for research in education, and with 
the specific researches which have been 
made into the vexed subject of the psy- 
chology of spelling. Two other discussions 
will be concerned with manual work in edu- 
cation and the registration of schools. The 
importance of the latter question was 
brought out by a committee at the Dundee 
meeting, while the importance attached to 
manual training is shown by the new em- 
phasis which is now being laid on it in 
educational practise. 

Professor T. B. Wood will preside over 
Section M (Agriculture). In his address 
he proposes to review the results of twenty 
years’ work in agricultural science, to 
point out the successes and failures, to 
discuss the reasons for success or failure, 
and to endeavor therefrom to make sugges- 
tions for the future. As already stated, 
the section will engage in joint discussions 
with the botanists (on barley culture) and 
the physiologists (on the physiology of re- 
production). Communications will also be 
made to the section by Sir Richard Paget, 
on the possibilities of partnership between 
landlord and tenant; Professor Fraser 
Story, on German forestry methods; Dr. H. 
B. Hutchinson and Mr. K. McLellan, on 


SCIENCE 


221 


the partial sterilization of soil by means of 
caustic lime; and Dr. Winifred E. Brench- 
ley, on the weeds of arable land. 


THE PRINCIPLE OF MENTAL TESTS 


Tue standpoint of applied psychology is 
implicit in the conception of mental tests. 
They represent a group of procedures, usually 
of simple technique, developed so that our 
knowledge of individual differences may, as 
Cattell puts it, be employed to guide human 
conduct. To justify themselves, they must 
earn their bread in terms of usefulness for the 
questions of life. In this respect they differ 
from the leisure-class problems of true psycho- 
logical science, which are exalted above these 
vulgar necessities. 

Two broad functions of psychological tests 
are distinguished. One is the measurement of 
changes in individuals under controlled differ- 
ences in experimental conditions. The studies 
of Hollingworth on caffeine and of Winch on 
the effects of school work are among the recent 
examples of this type. Here the problem has 
usually been defined in the determination of 
central tendencies. To this limit, measure- 
ments can be made with comparative relia- 
bility, because the external conditions are well 
controllable, and the errors due to subjective 
factors tend, on the whole, to compensate. 
That is, a gain of 10 per cent. in the same 
individual for a second performance repre- 
sents a gain of 10 per cent. in the same 
abilities as were concerned in the first per- 
formance. The more difficult question of just 
what these abilities represent in the individual 
case has been a secondary one for these studies, 
not usually coming into prominence. 

It must be squarely faced, however, in the 
other function of psychological tests, that of 
measuring and interpreting the differences 
between individuals under similar immediate 
conditions. One may not say because Peter is 
10 per cent. better in a memory test than Paul, 
that it is due to a 10 per cent. superiority in 
the same abilities as Paul’s. It is not a diffi- 
cult matter to construct tests in which con- 
sistent and certain individual differences ap- 


222 


pear. The quicksand begins at the next step; 
that of constructing tests which shall have a 
useful meaning. Individual differences in the 
tapping test are exquisitely clear through 
many aspects of the experiment; but what 
these individual differences represent in the 
personality of the subject we do not know. 
The problem of mental tests is duplex; to con- 
struct a test at once free from physical and 
physiological inaccuracies, and one that shall 
have a useful significance for the subject’s 
adaptation to life. Without the first the 
second is unattainable; without the second the 
first is futile. 

The questions of interpretation must not be 
taken too lightly. Psychological experiments 
of the present class must consistently repre- 
sent those mental properties of the individual 
that it is desired to compare, properties such 
as it is useful to know about. The value of 
mental tests depends upon their correlation 
with the personality of the subject; and the 
essential task in the scientific development of 
any mental test is to determine how well it 
indicates some phase of the subject’s per- 
sonality. 

Because it is much easier to do, we have 
been apt to develop handy psychological 
methods and then try to make them mean 
something, rather than to start from the things 
that are important to know, and trying to 
develop methods for determining them. But 
to start with the tapping test as a measure of 
voluntary motor ability, or with the A test as 
@ measure of rate of perception, is too obvi- 
ously approaching the problem at the wrong end. 
We must not be bound by the notion that one 
test tests one thing, another test another; one 
test usually tests several things, and it must 
take several tests to test one thing well. 
First must be known the direction our in- 
quiries must take; a task whose extreme com- 
plexity demands analytical and systematic 
observation of human behavior, not to men- 
tion insight. Then one may seek to develop 
measures which shall be themselves reliable, 
and shall show the most constant relation to 
the elementary traits that are to be measured. 
The test is never an ultima ratio. If we want 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


to determine how good a test the average daily 
wage is of the number of applicants for poor 
relief, we must have other, most reliable infor- 
mation of the number of such applicants. In 
the same way, in order to know how far any 
mental test is a reflection of personality, we 
must have accurate knowledge, from other 
experiential sources, of how this personality 
compares with others in the phase we may be 
testing. 

Mental faculties differ a great deal in the 
completeness with which they are experi- 
mentally covered. Those mental tests are of 
the best assured value where the use made of 
the method is immediate so to speak in terms 
of its own result. Thus we may interpret a 
test of astigmatism in terms of its own result, 
because it represents a nearly constant attri- 
bute of the individual, unaffected by other 
uncontrolled factors. A test of color-blindness 
can be interpreted in terms of its own result, 
to decide on the fitness of the subject for rail- 
way or marine service. But this is not so 
much the case with the strength tests, such as 
are used in the gymnasiums. A person max 
test quite high on the dynamometers who can 
not make nearly so efficient use of his strength, 
or actually not be so strong, as one who can 
not make so good a record with them. Prac- 
tical life puts the eyes to the same test that 
the Snellen types do, therefore they are a good 
test; it does not put the muscles to the same 
test that the dynamometers do, therefore they 
are an inferior test. 

There is in our experimental literature @ 
happily growing tendency, as exemplified in 
the work of Healy, G. G. Fernald, Simpson, 
and others, to submit the tests of the higher 
mental processes to the test of concrete experi- 
ence. The most prominent result of this Fra- 
gestellung has been the series of graded tests. 
We wish to be able to say that a child has in 
certain ways the ability of an 8, 9 or 10 year 
old. Therefore we determine what degree of 
these abilities is actually characteristic of 8, 
9 or 10 year old children. Just as, if we 
wished for a test of honesty, we should try to 
find some way in which persons known to be 
honest differed from persons known to be dis- 


Avueust .15, 1913] 


honest. Of course the child is ten years old 
only in those respects covered by the tests. 
And the striking results reported by Miss 
Weidensall at Cleveland illustrate that there 
are other mental factors, most important for 
adaptation to life, that are not reached even 
by the inclusive scope of the Binet tests. 

This fundamental weakness, one which is 
shared very liberally with the remainder of 
mental tests, seems to be that they are too much 
concerned with processes that for want of better 
mames we sum up under intellectual capac- 
ity and intelligence. External competence, not 
to speak of subjective balance, depends also 
upon the capacity to make the intellect effec- 
tive in the vital activities. An important fur- 
ther obstacle to making it thus effective arises 
when accompanying feelings are such as to 
make the proper reactions in any way disagree- 
able or less agreeable than other reactions 
which are less objectively adequate. 

Tt is difficult to estimate how much of the 
significance in our present mental tests may 
be lost through failure to attend to these 
factors. Three persons go through the num- 
_ ber-checking test; one in 140 seconds, the 
other two in 100 seconds. But the check- 
marks of the first two are all made in consecu- 
tive order, at regular intervals, while the 
third works erratically, skips back and forth, 
marks now very fast, now very slow. Probably 
this subject differs from the second far more 
significantly than the second does from the 
first. Any one might have the highest intel- 
lectual standing. The regularity with which a 
voluntary task is performed, the attentional 
control over it, and its freedom from subjec- 
tive interference is to my mind a far more 
important thing to observe than the absolute 
efficiency in some task but remotely connected 
with really vital reactions. 

Yet most of our psychological tests pretend 
to measure maximal capacities of some sort, 
and this maximal capacity is taken to indicate 
the subject’s essential response to the test. It 
is so in some simple tests, as those of the astig- 
matism type; but when the test is more com- 
plex, as the above-mentioned, gross efficiency 
is the product of many factors that are to be 


SCIENCE 


223 


interpreted only on the basis of other, more 
analytical controls. This is only a part of 
the subject’s whole reaction to the test, and is 
the less important part the less the test is 
related to the struggle for existence. In these 
tests it is not so important how much the sub- 
ject does as what he does. The manner of 
dealing with the situation represents the more 
fundamental traits; four minutes of method 
with Healy’s puzzle box is better than two 
minutes monkey-fashion. But because these 
factors are exceedingly difficult to describe and 
measure, the workers dealing with mental 
tests, who as a class are occupied with large 
masses of data gathered with relative per- 
functoriness, are apt to pass them by. 

The adequate interpretation of mental tests 
further requires that we understand their rela- 
tion to the subject’s emotional reactions. It 
is interesting to know that you can methodic- 
ally take up Healy’s puzzle-box and open it in 
fifty seconds; but it is far more important to 
know whether, if you were caught in Healy’s 
puzzle-box, and expected your enemy at every 
moment, you would preserve the same effective- 
ness of your reactions towards it. In what 
ways and to what extent is affective sensibility 
manifested in the subject? How much does 
the effectiveness of a performance depend upon 
its position in the affective scale? How to: 
measure this is what we are responsible for 
finding out; though I venture to predict that 
the answers, of which there will have to be 
many, will come not so much in terms of a 
capacity, like addition, or memory, as in terms 
of a tendency, like the individuality of free 
association responses, or the types in arrange- 
ments of relative position scales. 

What has the author tried to do—how has 
he done it, and—is it worth doing? This is 
the framework on which we used to be told to 
construct a review. And so in reviewing the 
question of mental tests, it is endeavored to 
indicate that their proper task is the measure- 
ment of functions concerned in the mental 
adaptation to life, and how they can best per- 
form it through giving a well-proportioned 
recognition to the intellectual, volitional and 
affective spheres. How much it is worth doing 


224 


is unwise to speculate on where it has been 
very inadequately done. The crucial question 
is if it will always be necessary, in order to 
correctly interpret our tests, to already know 
so much about our subject, that the test gives 
us no added information. To-day this is true 
in all the more complex mental processes; and 
it is not improbable that, as our tests are im- 
proved, a better understanding of human con- 
duct at large will develop. This brings more 
into the foreground the quantitative features 
of experiment; to tell us something good to 
know more accurately than we could other- 
wise know it. It is the form and direction of 
the tests that has to be dealt with now. If we 
do not first interpret our tests by our subjects, 
we shall never understand our subjects through 
our tests. 
Freperic LyMan WELLS 
McLEANn HOSPITAL, 
WAVERLEY, MAss. 


THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 
OF SCHOOL HYGIENE 

As has been already announced the fourth 
international Congress of School Hygiene 
meets at Buffalo from August 26 to 30. The 
congress is under the patronage of the presi- 
dent of the United States and Dr. Charles W. 
Eliot is the president. The vice-presidents are 
Dr. William H. Welch and Henry P. Walcott. 
The secretary-general is Dr. Thomas A. Storey, 
College of the City of New York, New York 
City, U. S. A., from whom programs and 
further information can be obtained. The 
congress meets in three sections, for each of 
which a large number of papers is announced 
on the preliminary program. The sections and 
the subjects covered are as follows: 

Section 1. “The Hygiene of School Build- 
ings, Grounds, Material Equipment and Up- 
keep.” This section will include papers on 
topics related to the location, plan, construc- 
tion, equipment and up-keep of city, village 
and rural schools, open-air schools, private 
schools, boarding schools, summer camps and 
special schools for backward, truant, delinquent, 
deficient, defective and deformed children, 2. e., 
site, architecture, decoration, ventilation, illu- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII, No. 972 


mination, cleaning system, plumbing, toilets, 
sewage disposal, school furniture, school books, 
water supply, drinking facilities, bathing 
facilities, swimming pools, school grounds, 
school athletic fields, fields for games, sport 
and play, lunch rooms and equipment, gym- 
nasium, social rooms, rest rooms, libraries, 
laboratories, class rooms, study rooms and 
lecture rooms. 

Section 2. “The Hygiene of School Admin- 
istration, Curriculum and Schedule.” This 
section will include all topics concerned with 
the hygienic factors found in school adminis- 
tration, curriculum and schedule as they apply 
to country, village and city schools; and to the 
modifications necessary for the best interest of 
our various special schools. Papers on such 
subjects as the following would belong to this 
section: Hygiene of the teacher; hygiene of 
the child; hygiene of the janitor and other 
school employees; hygiene of the schedule, 
growth and age; school fatigue; need for and 
management of school lunches and_ school 
baths; influence of the seasons; study periods; 
home work; recesses; vacations; athletics; the 
problems of heredity in relation to school hy- 
giene; overcrowding; the teaching of hygiene; 
the training of teachers of hygiene; special 
phases of hygiene: as personal hygiene; oral 
hygiene; preventive hygiene; educational hy- 
giene; community hygiene; sex hygiene; play; 
physical education; domestic hygiene; pueri- 
culture, and first aid; special plans for and 
results from the instruction of backward chil- 
dren, truant, delinquent and crippled children; 
the economics of school hygiene; relation to 
the home. 

Section 8. “Medical Hygienic and Sanitary 
Supervision in Schools.” This section will re- 
ceive papers on the management, operation and 
results of medical, hygienic and sanitary super- 
vision in public, private and special, country, 
village and city schools, colleges, universities 
and professional schools. 

Such subjects as the following will be in- 
eluded: The control of health inspection; sani- 
tary supervision; the organization of health 
departments in schools; the relationship to 
the board of health; the equipment, training 


August 15, 1913] 


and compensation of school physicians; school 
nurses; school clinics; relation of health super- 
vision in the schools to the practise of the 
physician, the dentist and the hospital; rela- 
tion of medical and hygienic supervision in 
the schools to health supervision in the home; 
standardization of examinations; sanitary 
supervision of school rooms (class rooms), 
locker rooms, swimming pools, toilets, school 
books and school furniture; supervision of dis- 
ease carriers; prevention of epidemics; follow- 
up methods and results; medical inspection 
and treatment; standardization of records. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


McGitt University held a special convoca- 
tion on August 2 for the purpose of confer- 
ring honorary degrees in connection with the 
visit of the International Geological Congress 
to Canada. The degree of doctor of laws was 
conferred as follows: Helge Backstrém, Ph.D., 
professor of mineralogy and petrography in 
the University of Stockholm (presented by 
Professor Howard Barnes, F.R.S.); Alfred 
Bergeat, Ph.D., professor of geology in the 
University of Kénigsberg (presented by Pro- 
fessor Dale, M.A.); Alfred Harker, M.A., 
F.R.S., university lecturer in petrology in the 
University of Cambridge (presented by Pro- 
fessor John Macnaughton, LL.D.); James 
Furman Kemp, D.Sc., professor of geology, 
Columbia University, New York (presented 
by Professor McLeod, F.R.S.C.); Alfred La- 
eroix, D.Se., professor of mineralogy at the 
Museum of Natural History, Paris (presented 
by Dean Adams, F.R.S.). 


Proressor W. A. Bons, F.R.S., has been 
awarded the Howard N. Potts gold medal for 
distinguished work in science or the mechanic 
arts by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, 
in recognition of his work upon surface com- 
bustion. 


(Mr. Joun Trssut, who has conducted a 
private observatory at Windsor, N.S. W., has 
recently celebrated two anniversaries, having 
entered on his eightieth year, and completed 
fifty years’ membership of the Royal Society 
of New South Wales. 


SCIENCE 225 


Dr. Homer Dottver House, associate di- 
rector and lecturer on botany and dendrology 
of the Biltmore Forest School, has received 


the appointment of assistant state botanist of 
New York. 


Mr. A. R. Hinks, F.R.S., of the Cambridge 
Observatory, has been appointed assistant sec- 
retary of the Royal Geographical Society. 


Accorpine to The Observatory Mr. Edward 
Kitto has retired from the superintendence of 
the Falmouth Magnetic and Meteorological 
Observatory. In consequence partly of finan- 
cial difficulties, the work of the observatory 
under its present constitution came to an end 
on June 30, but the department of terrestrial 
magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington has arranged to carry on some of 
the observations for a few months longer. 


Surcron-Generat Sir Davin Bruce, head of 
the sleeping sickness commission which was 
sent to Central Africa nearly two years ago, 
has returned to England with Lady Bruce. 
Sir David will in a few weeks return to 
Nyasaland, where the other members of the 
commission are still working. 


Mr. Cuartes H. T. Townsenp, who was 
some time since especially charged by the 
Peruvian government with the investigation 
of the insect transmission of verruga, injected 
a dog with triturated females of Phlebotomus 
on July 11, and on July 17 secured as result 
an unmistakable case of verruga eruption. 
The gnats used for the injection were secured 
on the night of July 9 in Verrugas Canyon, 
a noted focus of the disease. This is the first 
experimental transmission of verruga by 
means of insects, and adds a notable case to 
the list of insect-borne diseases. The details 
of the experiment will appear shortly. Fur- 
ther transmission work in laboratory animals 
will be pursued at once, both by injections 
and by causing the gnats to bite. 

Freperick G. Ciapp, managing geologist of 
the Associated Geological Engineers of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., and Alten S. Miller, of Humphreys 
& Miller, New York City, are examining the 
gas fields of Hungary in company with Pro- 
fessor Hugo Bockh, of that country. 


226 


Proressor VLADIMIR KARAPETOFF, professor 
of electrical engineering at Cornell Univer- 
sity, has started on a trip for the purpose of 
visiting hydro-electric developments and high- 
tension power transmission plants. He ex- 
pects to visit the recent development on the 
Mississippi River at Keokuk, Iowa, and then 
go to Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, 
San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, and to 
attend the Pacific Convention of the Amer- 
ican Institute of Electrical Engineers in Van- 
couver, B. C., September 9-13. 

A Frencu Arctic expedition, headed by 
Jules von Payer, sailed on August 10 for the 
purpose of exploring and gathering scientific 
data in Franz Josef Land. 

Unper the auspices of the Edinburgh Math- 
ematical Society, a colloquium was held in 
Edinburgh from August 4 to 9, when courses 
of lectures were given on “ Relativity and the 
new physical ideas of space and time,” by 
Professor Conway; on “ Non-Euclidean geom- 
etry,” by Dr. Sommerville, and on “ Harmonic 
and periodogram analysis,” by Professor 
Whittaker. 


A BRONZE panel has been unveiled at Lugar, 
Ayrshire, Scotland, in memory of William 
Murdoch, one of the inventors of coal-gas 
lighting. The panel, which takes the form of 
a life-size portrait medallion in bold relief, 
was placed on the wall of the cottage in which 
Murdoch was born. 


Tue last legislature of the state of Pennsyl- 
vania appropriated $100,000 for the control of 
the chestunt bark disease during the biennium 
1913-14. Governor Tener, after consulting 
with the Chestnut Tree Blight Commission, 
felt that this sum was inadequate for their 
task, and vetoed the appropriation. It is ex- 
pected, ‘however, that all the research work of 
the commission will be continued, in coopera- 
tion with the Bureau of Plant Industry. 


The Independent quotes the following items 
from its issue of fifty years ago: 

Professor Wolcott Gibbs, an able chemist, has 
been chosen Rumford professor at Harvard Uni- 
versity. Columbia College a year or two since 
refused to appoint him to a chemical professor- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 972 


ship. Because he did not understand chemistry? 
No; because he was a Unitarian! This is as if 
you should refuse to get your clothes of the best 
tailor because he did not make jack knives to suit 
you. 

Mr. Cyrus W. Field has gone to England in 
furtherance of his favorite Atlantic Telegraph 
enterprise. Both ends of the proposed telegraph 
line are to be under the control of England. No 
American is a real friend of his country who will 
give a cent to help England at present to such a 
tremendous military engine as that. 


THE appointment of Professor C. F. Mar- 
vin as chief of the weather bureau of the De- 
partment of Agriculture made by the Presi- 
dent of the United States was noted in ScIENCcE 
last week. Before the secretary of agriculture 
nominated Professor Marvin for this position 
he had carefully considered a large number of 
names suggested from all sources and had 
sought the advice of a number of university 
administrators and scientific men and had 
asked the National Academy of Sciences to 
make recommendations. A committee of the 
National Academy gave the matter very care- 
ful consideration and its opinions were com- 
municated to the secretary, who since has ex- 
pressed his appreciation of this assistance. 
The committee of the National Academy of 
Sciences unanimously recommended the ap- 
pointment of Professor Marvin. Meanwhile, 
the department, through its own sources of 
information, had come to the conclusion that 
Professor Marvin was the best man available 
for the position. Professor Charles F. Marvin 
was born in Putnam, Ohio, October 7, 1858. 
He graduated in mechanical engineering from 
the Ohio State University in 1883. He was 
instructor in mechanical and physical labora- 
tory practise at this university for some time. 
He was appointed on the civilian corps of the 
signal service in 1884. On July 1, 1891, he 
was transferred to the Department of Agricul- 
ture when the weather bureau service was 
transferred, and was professor of meteorology. 
Professor Marvin has made important investi- 
gations of anemometers for the measurement 
of wind velocities and pressures, and on experi- 
ments conducted by him the tables used by the 
weather bureau for deducing the moisture in 


AueustT 15, 1913] 


the air are based. He has also invented im- 
portant instruments for measuring and auto- 
matically recording rainfall, snowfall, sun- 
shine, atmospheric pressure, evaporation, etc. 
He has made extensive studies in, and written 
on; the use of kites for ascertaining meteoro- 
logical conditions in the free air, the registra- 
tion of earthquakes, the measurement of evapo- 
ration, solar radiation, etc. He was detailed 
for special purposes to the Cotton States and 
International Exposition at Atlanta in 1895, 
to the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at 
Nashville in 1897, and to the Jamestown Ex- 
position in 1907. In February, 1900, he was 
appointed a representative of the Department 
of Agriculture at the Meteorological Congress 
held in connection with the International Ex- 
position at Paris. For some time he has been 
in charge of the instrument division of the 
Weather Bureau, an important branch of the 
department. 


Tue British secretary of state for the colo- 
nies has nominated a committee to report: (1) 
Upon the present knowledge available on the 
questions of the parts played by wild animals 
and tsetse flies in Africa in the maintenance 
and spread of trypanosome infections of man 
and stock. (2) Whether it is necessary and 
feasible to carry out an experiment of game 
destruction in a localized area in order to gain 
further knowledge on these questions, and, if 
so, to decide the locality, probable cost, and 
other details of such an experiment, and to 
provide a scheme for its conduct. (3) Whether 
it is advisable to attempt the extermination 
of wild animals, either generally or locally, 
with a view of checking the trypanosome 
diseases of man and stock. (4) Whether 
any other measures should be taken in order 
to obtain means of controlling these diseases. 
The committee will be composed as follows: 
Lord Desart (chairman); Mr. E. E. Austen, 
British Museum (Natural History); Dr. A. G. 
Bagshawe, Director of the Tropical Diseases 
Bureau; Dr. Andrew Balfour, late director of 
the Wellcome Research Laboratories, Gordon 
College, Khartum; Sir John Rose Bradford, 
secretary of the Royal Society; Mr. E. North 
Buxton; Dr. W. A. Chapple, M.P.; Sir Mac- 


SCIENCE 227 


kenzie D. Chalmers; Lieutenant-Colonel Sir 
W. B. Leishman, professor of pathology, Royal 
Army Medical College; Sir Edmund G. Loder, 
vice-president of the Zoological Society; Dr. 
C. J. Martin, F.R.S., director of the Lister 
Institute of Preventive Medicine; Mr. J. Dun- 
ean Millar, M.P.; Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, 
secretary of the Zoological Society; Professor 
R. Newstead, Liverpool University; Mr. H. J. 
Read, of the Colonial Office; the Hon. L. Wal- 
ter Rothschild; Sir Stewart Stockman, chief 
veterinary office, Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries; Mr. A. C. C. Parkinson, of the 
Colonial Office, will act as secretary. 


THE production of coal in 1912 reached the 
great total of 534,466,580 short tons, valued at 
the mines at $695,606,071, according to a state- 
ment by Edward W. Parker, coal statistician, 
just issued by the United States Geological 
Survey. This year the report on the coal in- 
dustry of the United States begins the fourth 
decade in which coal statistics have been pub- 
lished annually by the Geological Survey. In 
1882, the first year of this period, the total coal 
production of the United States had reached 
what was then considered about high-water 
mark—103,551,189 short tons. In 1912 the 
production of bituminous coal alone in the 
state of Pennsylvania exceeded that figure by 
nearly 60 per cent. and the combined produc- 
tion of bituminous coal and anthracite in 
Pennsylvania in 1912 was two and one quarter 
times the total production of the United States 
in 1882. The total coal production of the 
United States in 1912 was more than five times 
that of 1882. In 1882 the United States was a 
poor second among the coal-producing coun- 
tries of the world, Great Britain having an 
output exceeding that of this country by nearly 
70 per cent. The United States supplanted 
Great Britain as the premier coal-producing 
country in 1899, and in 1912 it was as far 
ahead of Great Britain as that country was 
ahead of the United States in 1882. The 
United States at present is contributing 40 
per cent. of the world’s supply of coal and is 
consuming over 99 per cent. of its own produc- 
tion. In 1912 the production of coal in the 
United States not only surpassed all previous 


228 


tonnage records, but the average value per ton 
exceeded that of any normal year in the 33 
years for which statistics are available. There 
has been only one year when prices generally 
were higher than in 1912, and that was 1903, 
the year of the fuel famine. The gain in out- 
put in 1912 over 1911 was 38,095,454 short 
tons and the increase in value was $69,040,860. 
The production of bituminous coal increased 
from 405,907,059 short tons to 450,104,982 tons, 
a gain of 44,197,923 tons, with an increase of 
$66,607,626 in value. The decreased produc- 
tion of anthracite, amounting to 6,102,469 
short tons, was due entirely to the suspension 
of mining in April and May, when practically 
the entire region was idle. The factors which 
contributed to the increased output of bitu- 
minous coal were (1) the revival in the iron 
and steel industry, which stimulated produc- 
tion in the Eastern States, the coal made into 
coke showing, alone, an increase of nearly 
6,000,000 tons; (2) bumper crops of grain and 
other agricultural products, which gave pros- 
perity to the farming communities of the 
Middle West; (8) decreasing supplies of 
natural gas and fuel oil in the mid-continent 
field and their consequent lessened competition 
with coal from the southwestern states; (4) 
increased consumption by railroads and in 
nearly all lines of manufacturing; (5) activity 
in the mining and smelting of the precious and 
semiprecious metals in the Rocky Mountain 
and Pacific states. These factors combined 
made the year 1912 one of the rather rare 
prosperous years in the mining of bituminous 
coal. 


Iv the House of Commons on July 24 Mr. 
Runciman gave, as we learn from Nature, an 
account of the work of the Board of Agricul- 
ture duking the past session. Arrangements 
have been made for research on agricultural 
subjects to be carried on at a number of cen- 
ters, including Rothamsted, Manchester, Bir- 
mingham, Oxford, Cambridge, the Royal Vet- 
erinary College, Leeds, Wye, Bristol and Kew, 
and grants amounting to £20,000 a year have 
been made for the purpose. In addition, 
£3,900 has been given for special investiga- 
tions lying outside the scope of the program 
of the special institutes. All these investiga- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 972 


tions have reference to the great fundamental 
problems lying at the root of the agricultural 
and horticultural work of the country; the 
work is wholly scientific. In order to bring 
the scientific results into the region of prac- 
tical farming a number of advisers have been 
set up whose function it is to advise farmers 
or county organizers in the light of the re- 
sults of the scientific knowledge that is gained, 
A grant of £9,000 per annum has been made 
towards the salaries of these advisers. 


THE Geographical Magazine describes an 
important project for the construction of a 
vast port for the city of Milan destined to 
meet all possible future developments of in- 
ternal navigation. The municipality has ex- 
pressed approval of the project, and intends to 
apply to the state for powers to carry it into 
execution. Detailed studies have been carried 
out by MM. Beratta and Maiocchi, who, from 
wide experience of the most important river- 
ports of other European countries, have drawn 
up plans for the proposed port in respect of 
quays, wharfs, warehouses, railway and other 
communications, docks, workshops and in- 
stallations of all kinds on the most approved 
modern principles. The total area to be cov- 
ered by the port is 112 hectares (277 acres) 
of which about 50 acres will be occupied by 
the basins, an equal area by roads, railways, 
ete., 25 acres by the stations and the remain- 
der by the quays. It is hoped to begin opera- 
tions at an early date, so that the port may be 
ready by the completion of the great Venice- 
Milan waterway, which is to give passage to 
vessels of up to 600 tons burden. 


Tue federal Lighthouse Bureau and the 
Forest Service are cooperating in forest work 
on the shores of the great lakes in the lumber 
states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The light- 
house reservations here include a total of 
nearly 5,500 acres, and range in size from 30 
acres at Grand Island, Michigan, to 1,040 
acres at Grand Marais. An examination is 
just being started to determine the best forest 
methods to pursue on the reservations. On 
some, from which the timber has been cut, 
white pine and Norway pine will be planted. 
On others the timber already growing will be 


AveusT 15, 1913] 


preserved through use. On two of the reser- 
vations, the forest experts point out, the op- 
portunities are excellent for growing cedar 
and pine for spar buoys and piling, to be used 
in the work of the Lighthouse Bureau itself. 
All parts of the reservations can not be de- 
voted to forests. Some areas will have to be 
left clear for protection from fire, while others 
immediately adjacent to the beacons them- 
selves will have to be left bare in order that 
the lights may not be obscured. 

A CONTRIBUTION on the great glaciers of 
Alaska is Bulletin 526 of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, “Coastal Glaciers of Prince William 
Sound and Kenai Peninsula, Alaska,’ by U. 
S. Grant and D. F. Higgins. The report is 
profusely illustrated with photographs and 
with maps of the individual glaciers, as well 
as two comprehensive maps of Prince William 
Sound and the southwestern part of Kenai 
Peninsula, showing the location of scores of 
glaciers. The report is in fact a guide and 
handbook to this wonderful scenic region 
which must prove invaluable to the tourist. 
Many valuable data and important measure- 
ments of glaciers in the United States, Alaska 
and elsewhere have been brought together 
from time to time, and it is probably the 
general impression that since the vast ice 
sheet which covered the northern part of 
North America began its retreat the glaciers 
of the continent have been continually shrink- 
It is therefore interesting to note from 
the illustrations and descriptions in Bulletin 
526 that some of these Alaskan glaciers are 
progressing and growing larger rather than 
retrogressing, many huge forests being up- 
turned and devastated by the irresistible ad- 
vance of the ice. In other glaciers the retreat 
within a period of ten years has been more 
than a mile. The great magnitude of some 
of these glaciers is seen in the descriptions, 
which indicate the height of the tidal ice cliffs 
that form the termini of the glaciers as being 
from 300 to 400 feet. Slowly moving down 
the mountain valleys, some of them steeply 
pitched and others relatively flat, these stu- 
pendous ice fields include billions of tons of 
ice. Many young Americans can find here 
memorials of their alma mater, for along Col- 


ing. 


SCIENCE 


229 


lege iord are Yale Glacier, Harvard Glacier, 
Smith Glacier, Bryn Mawr Glacier and Vas- 
sar and Wellesley glaciers. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


As noted in ScreNcE last week, the governor 
of Pennsylvania has signed a bill appropriat- 
ing the sum of $1,226,000 for the next two 
years, to the Pennsylvania State College. Two 
years ago the college received $800,000, out of 
which $200,000 was to be applied for the pur- 
pose of paying off a long-standing debt, so 
this year’s appropriation is practically double 
that given two years ago. This is only in 
keeping with the great increase in students, 
as last year’s enrollment, including summer 
school for teachers, was 2,535. The increase 
has been among the largest in the United 
States. 


Proressor Lyman P. Powent, head of the 
ethics department at New York University, 
has accepted the presidency of Hobart College. 

Tue following resignations have recently oc- 
curred at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute: 
Professor Jesse M. Jones, recently appointed 
head of the department of animal industry, 
has resigned to become field agent in coopera- 
tive farm demonstration work in the states of 
Maryland, Kentucky and West Virginia for 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture. L. W. 
Shook, formerly field agent in live stock work, 
has resigned to accept a similar position with 
the North Carolina Station, and Mr. T. C. 
Bottoms, herdsman, has resigned his position 
to take up similar work at the same station. 
Mr. J. M. Johnson, assistant in the depart- 
ment of animal industry during the past year, 
has resigned to pursue graduate work in the 
University of Missouri. 

Dr. G. E. Gipson, of the University of Edin- 
burgh, has been appointed instructor in chem- 
istry in the University of California. 

Mr. R. A. Jenur, of the Kansas State Agri- 
cultural College, instructor in plant pathology, 
has been appointed instructor in plant pathol- 
ogy at Cornell University. 

Proressor R. M. Brown, of the geography 
department of the State Normal School, Wor- 
cester, Mass., has been appointed as head of 


230 


the department of geography at the Rhode 
Island Normal School, Providence, R. I. 

Ar University College, Reading, Mr. 8. B. 
McLaren, assistant lecturer in mathematics at 
Birmingham University, has been appointed 
professor of mathematics, and Mr. R. C. Me- 
Lean lecturer in botany. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE NAME OF THE SHEEP MEASLE TAPEWORM 


Coppotp in 1866 described a cysticercus 
from the muscles of sheep in England and 
named it Cysticercus ovis. The same species 
was later described by Maddox (1873) under 
the name of Cysticercus ovipariens. Other 
authors have considered the parasite to be 
either Cysticercus cellulose, the intermediate 
stage of Tenia soliwm, in an unusual host, or 
Cysticercus tenuicollis, the intermediate stage 
of Tenia marginata or hydatigena, in an un- 
usual location (muscles instead of serous mem- 
branes). Recent investigations by the present 
writer have proved that the parasite in ques- 
tion is neither C. cellulose nor C. tenutcollis 
but the intermediate stage of a distinct species 
of dog tapeworm. The correct name of this 
tapeworm would, therefore, seem to be Tenia 
ovis (Cobbold, 1866). B. H. Ransom 

BurREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


NOTE ON THE ORIENTATION OF BOMBILIUS 
TO LIGHT 


Wuitez on the hills east of Berkeley, Cal., I 
observed, among numerous insects visiting the 
flowers of certain shrubs, that there were sev- 
eral flies which kept hovering for a consider- 
able time in almost exactly the same position. 
The flies proved to belong to a species of 
Bombilius. The instinct of hovering is not 
rare among the Diptera, especially the Syr- 
phide, but what especially attracted attention 
was the accurate orientation of the hovering 
insects to the rays of light. In all the numer- 
ous cases observed the flies had their backs 
turned toward the sun, and in all cases the 
hovering occurred in the direct sunlight. 
Whenever a shadow was thrown upon a hoy- 
ering fly it immediately darted elsewhere. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITI. No. 972 


Occasionally the flies alighted on the ground, 
when they rested with the back exposed to the 
sun as before. When a shadow was thrown . 
on them they would soon fly to a sunnier spot. 
In a few cases I caused them to orient ob- 
liquely to the sun’s rays by slowly moving an 
object so that its shadow was thrown on only 
half the body of the insect; the body would 
then be turned so as to face more nearly the 
center of the shaded region. In basking in 
sunny spots and in orienting negatively to 
the rays of light the behavior of Bombilius 
resembles that of the mourning-cloak and 
other butterflies described by Kadl and 
Parker. Like the mourning-cloak, Bombilius 
under ordinary circumstances is positively 
phototactic. It will fly or walk toward the 
light as so many other Diptera do, but when 
resting on the ground in the sunshine or 
hovering in the air it assumes a negative 
orientation. It is of interest to find such 
striking similarities of behavior in two dis- 
tantly related orders of insects. 

When resting on the ground or hovering, 
Bombilius often darts quickly at passing in- 
sects. It is not very discriminating as to the 
objects of its approach and was several times 
seen to follow after honey-bees and twice after 
yellow-jackets. When the fly meets a mem- 
ber of its own species the two often spin 
around in a rapid whirl, but when a mistake 
is made the pursuit is immediately aban- 
doned. I have caused Bombilius as well as 
other species of hovering flies to dart after 
small pebbles that were tossed in the air. 
This behavior is probably associated with the 
instinct of mating, since it occurs in non- 
predatory as well as predatory species. 


S. J. Hotmes 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Handworterbuch der Naturwissenschaften. 
Herausgegeben von E. KorscHett, Zoologie ; 
G. Linck, Mineralogie u. Geologie; F. Out- 
Manns, Botanik; K. Scuaum, Chemie; H. 
Tu. Simon, Physik; M. Verworn, Physiol- 
ogie, und E. TrtcuMann, Hauptredaktion. 
Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer. 1912. 


AuveusT 15, 1913] 


In order to review a book it is at least ex- 
tremely desirable to have read it. Reading 
the encyclopedia is not “jedermann’s Sache” 
and, unlike Agamemnon in the story of the 
Peterkin family, the present writer can not 
pretend to have done it, but he has at least 
carefully examined each of the forty-six 
“TLieferungen ” of 160 pages each, which have 
so far appeared of this admirable work, and 
has perused with care many of the articles on 
which he is competent to have an opinion. 
The first thing that must certainly strike the 
scientific man on opening this work is the 
feeling of regret that it is impossible to pro- 
duce such a work in America, and, secondly, 
that, if it were, no publisher could be found 
to undertake it, for the, to him, very con- 
vincing reason that he would not be able to 
make any money out of it. Germany is pre- 
eminently the country of encyclopedias, and 
if one can judge of German greatness from 
the thoroughness with which they go about 
the manufacture of these aids to knowledge ha 
ean but wonder why the Germans have not 
already conquered the world. To be sure 
France is the home of what must always be 
known as the encyclopedia, to say nothing of 
Larousse and similar undertakings, and Eng- 
land is the home of eleven editions of the 
Britannica, to which in these latter days 
American methods of scientific management 
and booming have been added as well as 
British and American learning; but when we 
look at the “ Encyclopaedie der mathema- 
tischen Wissenschaften,” which has been ap- 
pearing now for thirteen years, and is not yet 
complete, and which has compelled the French 
to publish a French edition based with great 
fidelity upon it, we must admit the impossi- 
bility of competition in this line. 

The present work is, so far as known to the 
reviewer, the first attempt made, even in Ger- 
many, to produce an encyclopedia of all the 
natural sciences, and must put all scientists, 
as well as all liberally educated laymen who 
can read German (and the contrary is a nega- 
tion of terms) under great obligations to tha 
house of Fischer, so well known among the 


SCIENCE 


231 


great publishing houses of scientific works. 
It seems rather a pity that mathematics could 
not be included, because, although not a nat- 
ural science, it is, if not the greatest of the 
sciences, at least the common tool and com- 
petent servant of all. Of course mathematics 
is taken care of in the great work named 
above, but that is no reason that it should not 
have been treated in a briefer and less tech- 
nical way in a work of the scope of the present 
one, and its exclusion results in the inclusion 
of articles largely of a mathematical nature, 
such as the one on Fliissigkeitsbewegung, 
which appear in the mathematical encyclo- 
pedia by the nature of things, and also appear 
here as physical articles. In this connection 
the reviewer may perhaps be permitted to 
animadvert on the absurd classification of 
mathematics with philosophy, say in the group 
system at Harvard, which removes it from its 
closest friends and relatives, physics, astron- 
omy and chemistry, and puts it along with an 
almost total stranger, and calls it to the atten- 
tion of people most of whom are totally unable 
to use it. So much for logic, so little for 
common sense. 

What most impresses the reader of the work 
under consideration is the great competence of 
the writers of the articles, and their absolute 
up-to-dateness. To be sure, some of the au- 
thors are decidedly young, but their articles 
are none the less good, and we must bear in 
mind the great number in Germany of bril- 
liant minds among very young men, at least in 
physics. As an example of contemporaneous- 
ness we find in the extremely interesting ar- 
ticle on Fliissigkeitsbewegung by Professor 
Prandtl, of Gottingen, mention of the most 
recent researches on fluid resistance, illus- 
trated by a beautiful photograph of vortex- 
motion, involving work done only last year, 
while the famous principle of relativity, which 
was invented only in 1905, is treated in several 
articles, although not under a special heading. 
The articles on radioactivity and other radia- 
tions, those on Luftfahrt and Luftpumpe are 
further examples, the latter giving an excel- 
lent description of Gaede’s new molecular air 
pump, a characteristically German invention, 


232 


which, like the America in the yacht race, is 
first, with no second. 

This encyclopedia will fortunately not fill a 
five-foot shelf, but if we may judge from the 
present 46 parts, reaching Skelett, may go 
about to 60 and fill a little over two feet. 
According to German custom, it is issued 
unbound, and the parts do not appear in strict 
alphabetical order, which makes a slight diffi- 
culty in knowing at the present time exactly 
what it will contain. Nevertheless, the paging 
will be perfectly consecutive, and the piece- 
meal method of appearance has the advantage 
of permitting the articles to have the greatest 
possible freshness, and does not lead to the 
errors that sometimes crept into the “ Britan- 
nica” from the immensity of the task of 
printing. The only possible comparison of the 
present work is with the “ Britannica,” which, 
although of general scope, contains scientific 
articles which are of the same general caliber 
as these. In both cases the articles are not 
popular, and are written by thoroughly com- 
petent writers, but at the same time they are 
interestingly written, and so clear as to be 
understood by the layman desiring to obtain 
exact knowledge. The present encyclopedia is 
issued at 2.50 Marks per part, so that if there 
shall be sixty, the cost of the whole will be less 
than forty dollars, exclusive of binding, a 
price that will make its ownership possible to 
many a scientific man to whom the “ Britan- 
nica” at one hundred and twenty-five dollars 
would be an impossibility. The form of the 
page is also much more convenient than that 
of the “ Britannica,” and the volumes are less 
unwieldy. The print is as good, if not better, 
although decidedly different, the type being 
blacker and somewhat clearer, although not 
leaded, so, that it is not easy to say which is 
the easier to read. The printing is, however, 
certainly as good, and the illustrations, at least 
in the opinion of the reviewer, are decidedly 
better, some of the biological illustrations be- 
ing beautiful to look at, and even the physical 
ones being remarkably -clear. The reviewer 
admits with pain that many of the cuts in the 
“Britannica” have to him a decidedly cheap 
look, which is never the case in the German 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 972 


work. These are photoengravings of a high 
quality of workmanship, and are used in great 
profusion. For instance, in the article Hi und 
Eibildung we find a thirty-three-page article 
profusely illustrated with beautiful and in- 
structive cuts, while in the article Egg in the 
“ Britannica” we find an article of three and 
a half pages, without a single picture. Un- 
doubtedly: the matter of the article is found 
somewhere else, but as a matter of fact the 
article on Embryology is similarly devoid of 
illustrations. Whether this is due to the 
smaller expense of printing illustrations in 
Germany we do not know, but the presence of 
the illustrations is a very desirable feature. 

It is obviously impossible for any individual 
scientist to comment on all the sciences, so 
that the reviewer will confine himself to 
singling out a few articles on subjects with 
which he is familiar. The article on Elektro- 
optik is by Professor Voigt, of Gottingen, the 
chief authority on the subject, and the article 
on Lichtbogenentladung, a forty-page article 
on a new subject, by Professor Simon, of Gott- 
ingen, is a mine of information on that sub- 
ject, with very attractive figures, reproduc- 
tions of oscillograms by the author. All the 
electrical articles are well handled; we will 
mention only that on Elektrodynamik, by H. 
Scholl, which includes the treatment of all 
the theories from the classical ones down to the 
theory of relativity, in compact and clear 
statement, and that on Elektrische Masssys- 
teme, by F. Emde, in which, beside a very clear 
treatment of the subject, we find a very in- 
genious graphical treatment by a diagram 
showing not only the dimensions, but also the 
relative magnitudes of the most important 
dynamical units. For the sake of comparison 
we will consider the articles on Elasticity in 
the “Britannica” and the present work in 
some detail. In the “ Britannica” we have 2 
nineteen-page article by Professor Love, of 
Oxford, the author of the leading treatise on 
the subject in any language, in which the 
leading equations of the theory are stated, 
with the chief practical results, without any 
great mathematical detail. In the German 
work we have an article of twenty-seven pages 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


by Dr. Th. y. Karm4n, who, although a very 
young man, has no need to apologize for his 
article, which, although containing fewer for- 
mul, is written with great clearness and has 
even better cuts than the English article. To 
be sure Dr. Karman had the advantage of 
reading Professor Love’s article as well as his 
great treatise, but the article is decidedly inde- 
pendent, and concludes with an excellent treat- 
ment of elastic hysteresis or Nachwirkung, 
which is becoming more and more important, 
and which we do not find mentioned in Pro- 
fessor Love’s article. Very likely this is also 
due to the more recent appearance of the Ger- 
man work. For the biologist we will mention 
the fifty-three-page article on Descendenzthe- 
orie, profusely illustrated, as compared with 
the “Britannica” article on Evolution, of 
fifteen pages, without illustrations. 

A feature of the present work that is of 
great importance is found in the biographical 
sketches, which, although very short, are de- 
cidedly helpful. We have looked in vain for 
the name of Mendel, but find three genera- 
tions of Becquerels. It is a pleasure to note 
throughout the work frequent references to the 
work of Americans, living and dead, of whom 
we may mention Rowland, Newcomb, Michel- 
son, R. W. Wood, Campbell, E. B. Wilson and 
W. M. Davis, whose familiar hand is recognized 
in the admirable drawing of meanderings in 
the article Fluss. This fact, which is now be- 
coming more and more general, may partially 
reconcile us to the state of affairs upon which 
we have commented at the beginning. It may 
seem premature to review a work that is not 
yet finished, but it seems of importance to call 
the attention of the public to this very impor- 
tant and desirable work. 


ARTHUR GORDON WEBSTER 
July 26, 1913 


Studien an intracellularen Symbionten. I. 
Die intracellularen Symbionten der Hemip- 
teren. By Dr. Pui. Paut Bucuner, Pri- 
vatdocent in the University of Munich. 
Reprinted from “Archiv fiir Protisten- 
kunde,” Vol 26. Jena, 1912. Pp. 116, 12 
plates and 29 text figures. 


SCIENCE 


233 


For many years students of insect morphol- 
ogy and embryology have noted in the fat 
body of larval and adult insects and in certain 
eggs and embryos, peculiar corpuscle- or rod- 
like bodies, seemingly extraneous in origin 
and whose nature and function could not be 
satisfactorily explained. 

Thus, as far back as 1850, Leydig observed 
the appearance, in embryos of viviparous 
aphids, of “a green or yellow granular mass 
which at first apparently lay free between the 
cells, but later massed in spherical form, be- 
came enclosed by a membrane, and took part 
in the formation of the vegetative organs of 
the insect.” This constituted the mass later 
designated by Huxley and by Lubbock as the 
“ nseudovitellus,’ a name very generally ac- 
cepted by embryologists, though some have 
regarded: the mass as having a very specific 
function. According to Babiani, who demon- 
strated its origin within an enlarged cell of 
the follicular epithelium, it represents the 
vestigial male sex gland of the agamic indi- 
vidual. On the other hand, Witlaczil re- 
garded it in the form of the “green body” of 
the adult aphid, as an excretory organ, re- 
placing the Malpighian tubes which are lack- 
ing in some species. 

Of less striking appearance are the bac- 
teroidal bodies found by Blochmann, ’84, in 
the eggs of certain ants and, later, studied 
more fully by him in the eggs and adult fat 
body of Blatta and Periplaneta. These little 
bodies, which Wheeler, ’89, called Blochmann’s 
corpuscles, have also been found in the larval 
fat cells of Pieris and in various orthoptera. 
They are in the form of minute, straight or 
slightly bent rods, 6-8 » long and, as Bloch- 
mann was able to determine, multiply by cross 
division. He was unable to cultivate them, 
but regarded them as symbiotic bacteria. 

In recent years there has accumulated evi- 
dence to show that these scattered structures 
are related and that Blochmann was right in 
interpreting them as symbiotic forms. Many 
such suggestions appear in the literature of 
the past fifteen or twenty years, but it 1s espe- 
cially the work of Mercier (1906), Sule (1906 


234 


and 710), of Pierantoni (1909 and ’10), who 
succeeded in isolating and growing certain 
forms in pure culture, that has furnished the 
basis for a correct interpretation and for a 
comprehensive study of these bodies in the 
various groups of insects. 

Such a study has been commenced by Dr. 
Buchner and the extensive paper before us 
considers primarily the intracellular symbionts 
of the hemiptera. There is a very full his- 
torical discussion which will be of great value 
to other students of the general subject, and 
which will serve to put the reader, be he bot- 
anist or zoologist, en rapport with the topic. 
Then follows a detailed discussion of the 
author’s own investigations. 

Of special interest are the data on the 
method of infection of the developing eggs by 
the organisms. This may take place in a dif- 
fuse manner, as in the cockroaches, or it may 
be very definitely localized, as in the aphids. 
In any event, we are concerned with a heredi- 
tary transmission of bacteria-like or yeast-like 
organisms. 

Concerning the systematic position of the 
forms studied there is little definite to be said, 
though it is certain that the intracellular sym- 
bionts of insects, as we know them at present, 
do not represent a closely definable group. 
The forms in the cockroaches are apparently 
true bacteria and probably so also are those 
of the ants. 

On the other hand, the multiplication by 
budding, the type of mycelial formation, the 
lack of structures comparable to spore of bac- 
teria, the constant presence of a nucleus, and 
other characters in the other forms studied 
are suggestive of the yeasts, and it is here that 
most of the recent students of the subject are 
inclined ‘to place them. Thirty-four species, 
some of them new, loosely grouped here, are 
described and figured. 

‘It is obvious from Buchner’s studies that 
these puzzling organisms are not to be re- 
garded as parasites. So striking are some of 
the specializations and adaptations which their 
presence has brought about, that it is equally 
impossible to regard them as mere commen- 
sals. But certain as the author is that he is 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


_dealing with true symbionts, he is unable to 


explain, satisfactorily, the advantage which 
accrues to the host. 

Dr. Buchner’s work is of fundamental im- 
portance, but one must agree with him that it 
is but a beginning. With the foundation work 
done, the next few years should see wonderful 
advance in our knowledge of this difficult 
subject. 


Wm. A. Ritry 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


BOTANICAL NOTES 
SOME STATISTICS AS TO THE FLOWERING PLANTS 


In this inquiry I have considered only the 
proper Flowering Plants, Anthophyta or 
“ Angiospermae,” and have given most of the 
numbers in thousands, for easier memorizing. 


Number of species of Flowering Plants +132,500 


Micotyledonsieae sities liste 108,800 

Monocotyledons ..................- =E 23,700 
In the Dicotyledons: 

AXITOTAC Meee elelyealser relate cetorenetretate + 54,000 

QibGObIOED) ‘GoccoosasccoubenocoaKd = 54,000 
In these again: : 

Axiflorae—apopetalae ............- = 29,000 

Axiflorae—gamopetalae ............ = 25,000 

Calyciflorae—apopetalae ..........- + 33,000 

Calyciflorae—gamopetalae ......... =— 21,000 
So there are: 

Of Apopetalous Dicotyledons ...... = 62,000 

Of Gamopetalous Dicotyledons ..... == 46,000 
Again, there are in Dicotyledons: 

Ovaries, superior ................- = 72,000 

Ovaries mien onmtniatcrsiclelherisiereey = 36,000 
Those with superior ovaries are dis- 

tributed as follows: 

In Apopetalous species ............ = 50,000 

In Gamopetalous species ........... = 22,000 
Those with inferior ovaries are dis- 

tributed as follows: 

In Apopetalous species ............ + 14,000 

In Gamopetalous species ........... =~ 22,000 
In the Monocotyledons: 

With ovaries superior ............. = 12,000 

With ovaries inferior ............. = 11,000 


In Monocotyledons gamopetaly has not 
become established. 
So there are in the Flowering Plants: 
Of Apopetalous species ...........- = 86,000 
Of Gamopetalous species ........... == 46,000 


August 15, 1913] SCIENCE 235 
And again there are: aspects. Then follow many half-tone repro- 
With superior ovaries ............- + 84,000 quctions of photographs of forests and forest 


With inferior ovaries .........-.-- = 48,000 


TWO BOOKS ON TREES 

From the botanical garden and arboretum 
of the University of Michigan we have a little 
book of somewhat more than two hundred and 
seventy-five pages entitled “ Michigan Trees: 
A Handbook of the Native and Most Impor- 
tant Introduced Species,” by Charles H. Otis, 
curator. In its preparation the author has 
aimed to produce a book that would stimulate 
interest in the study of trees, having ulti- 
mately in view the betterment of forest con- 
ditions in the state. By means of keys (“ sum- 
mer” and “ winter”), good pictures and clear 
descriptions it is made possible for any one of 
ordinary intelligence to find out what is the 
name and general relationship of any of the 
trees commonly found in Michigan. In order 
that it may be widely distributed the regents 
of the university have arranged to send one 
copy of the book free to every legal high 
school in the state, to every public library, 
nature study club, and finally to every resident 
of the state “ who desires it.” Surely the resi- 
dents of Michizan, old and young, have no 
excuse hereafter for not knowing the trees 
growing about them. 

The second book is Monograph 8, of the 
Geological Survey of Alabama, and is Part 1 
of the “Economic Botany of Alabama,” by 
Roland M. Harper, this part being devoted to 
the forests of the state (228 pp.). The book 
opens with a map of the state, in colors, show- 
ing geographical and forest regions. Starting 
with the remark that “ Alabama has probably 
been more thoroughly explored by various 
kinds of scientists than has any other southern 
state,” the author gives first of all a bibliog- 
raphy of Alabama forestry, and fellows it 
with chapters on the natural regions, as the 
Tennessee Valley, Coal Region, Coosa Valley, 
Blue Ridge, Piedmont Region, Central Pine 
Belt, Black Belt, Southwestern Pine Hills, ete. 
In each region after geographical, geological 
and climatic details lists of trees are given, 
followed by a discussion of certain economic 


matters. An interesting feature of these illus- 
trations is that the exact dates when the 
photographs were taken are given. An un- 
usually full index closes the report. 


SOUTHERN SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 


Tren years ago Dr. John K. Small, head 
curator of the museum and herbarium of the 
New York Botanical Garden, brought out his 
“Flora of the Southeastern United States.” 
covering the region south of the southern line 
of Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas, 
and east of the 100th meridian. The book 
has proved so useful that the author has been 
encouraged to bring out a second edition. 
This has been done by the rewriting of 144 
pages, and the addition of 53 pages of descrip- 
tions of additional species in the appendix. 
making nearly 200 pages of new matter in the 
whole book. Since the book contains about 
1,400 pages the amount of revision is easily 
made out. 

The same author’s “ Flora of Miami” (206 
pp.) contains descriptions of the native gym- 
nosperms and angiosperms of southern Florida. 
In looking it through one is as much struck 
by the absence of certain well-known genera 
as by the presence of others which are quite 
unfamiliar. Thus Carex is unrepresented, as 
are also Ulmus, Populus, Brassica, Taraxacum, 
Rosaceae, Malaceae, ete., while of Ranun- 
culaceae there is but one species; Salix, one 
species; Mints, eight species; Helianthus, one 
species. Florida tourists should have this 
handy little book for use in the southern part 
of the state. 

A third book by Dr. Small will also be of 
interest to Florida tourists. It bears the 
title “Florida Trees” (107 pp.) and is in- 
tended to be a handbook of the native and 
naturalized trees of the state. When we real- 
ize that “nearly one half of the trees known 
to occur naturally in North America north 
of Mexico and the West Indies grow naturally 
in the relatively small area of the state of 
Florida” the importance of this little book 
may be appreciated. By actual count there 


236 


are here included 365 species. Of these 15 
species are gymnosperms; 10, palms; 23, oaks; 
with 48 species of Crataegus. 
These three books are published by the 
author. 
SHORT NOTES 


A NEW edition of the “ Guide to the Spring 
Flowers of Minnesota” (by Clements, Rosen- 
dahl and Butters) has just appeared, so 
broadened and extended as to include the 
plants that ordinarily blossom by the middle 
of June. Small but helpful figures of about 
160 genera are now given in the text. The 
plan of these “ Guides,” of which half a dozen 
have been published, is to be highly com- 
mended. 


ANNOUNCEMENT is made of the early appear- 
ance of a book on “ Rocky Mountain Flowers,” 
by F. E. and E. 8. Clements. It is to be “an 
illustrated guide for plant-lovers and plant 
users” and is to contain twenty-five colored 
plates, and about as many uncolored. An 
examination of some of the colored plates 
indicates that they will be highly artistic as 
well as botanically accurate. The volume is 
bound to be one that will appeal strongly to 
those who “summer” in the Rocky Mountains. 


Cuar.Les E. Bessey 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE APPLICABILITY OF THE PHOTOCHEMICAL 
ENERGY-LAW TO LIGHT REACTIONS IN ANIMALS 

Ir has been pointed out by Loeb that tro- 
pistic light reactions in animals should follow 
the law of Bunsen and Roscoe. This law 
states that in a light reaction the effect is 
proportional to the simple product of intensity 
and time. It was first proved to be true for 
the formation of hydrochloric acid from chlo- 
rine and hydrogen and for the blackening of 
silver chloride under the influence of light. 
Later it was found to apply to the phototropic 
curvature (Fréschel, Blaauw) of plants, as 
well as to the human eye, though within 
rather narrow limits (Bloch, Charpentier). 
For light reactions in animals it has fre- 
quently been stated that they do not follow 
this simple law. A large number of forms 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


seem to react to changes of intensity only, the 
effect in this case being proportional to the 
amount of change per unit of time. This is 
particularly true of the stimulating and in- 
hibitory reflexes of the locomotor apparatus, 
as shown by a large number of investigators. 

It occurred to me that it might be possible 
to get proof for the applicability of the 
energy-law by using a reaction which did not 
involve the locomotor organs. The eye move- 
ments of Daphnia seemed to afford a suitable 
object for the study of this question. These 
movements were first observed by Radl and 
his observations were confirmed and extended 
by myself some years later. The spherical 
eyeball containing a number of radially ar- 
ranged ocelli is capable of rotation and held 
in position by several thin muscles inserted at 
its periphery. The eye shows a definite nor- 
mal position with regard to light, a certain 
axis of the sphere having to be placed in such 
a direction that the ocelli on all sides of this 
axis get an equal amount of illumination. 
The muscles keep the eye in this position and 
one can cause rotating movements of the eye- 
ball, by shifting the position either of the 
source of light or of the animal. The eye will 
always maintain its fixed position to the 
source of light, no matter whether the body 
of the animal follows the eye or not. An 
unequal state of tension of the eye muscles 
seems to cause locomotor movements, which 
tend to restore the normal relative position of 
eye and body. Jy fixing the animal on a 
slide it can be prevented from moving and 
the eye movements may be observed at leisure. 
Instead of shifting the position of the light 
the eye can be placed in a position of equilib- 
tium between two sources of light and eye 
movements can be caused by increasing or 
decreasing the intensity of either of them. 
This shows these movements to be a function 
of the intensity of illumination. 

In order to test the energy law, it is neces- 
sary to combine different light intensities with 
different times of exposure. If the product 
of time and intensity, 7. e., the amount of 
radiant energy brought to bear on the eye, is 
the same, the eye will always give the same 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


reaction. To this end I proceeded in the fol- 
lowing manner. The animal was fixed in a 
definite position on the stage of a microscope, 
illuminated from below by a weak electric 
light of constant intensity. The microscope 
stood in a blackened dark-room. Through a 
hole in the wall of the room the light of an 
80 candle-power Tungsten lamp fastened out- 
side could enter. The light was made diffuse 
by a sheet of oiled paper fixed across the open- 
ing. The hole was 55 mm. in diameter and 
was closed by a piece of cardboard containing 
two diaphragms of varying sizes, side by side. 
A shutter with a spring motion could alter- 
nately close either the one or the other open- 
ing. I could thus make an instantaneous 
change from a stronger to a weaker light, and 
pice versa, by using diaphragms of different 
sizes and moving the shutter to and fro. One 
diaphragm was maintained at constant size 
(25 mm. diameter) and a sector wheel or 
episcotister, driven by a small electromotor, 
could be rotated before it. The light passing 
this diaphragm had an intensity of 0.9 cp. 
The distance between the animal and the 
diaphragm was about 60 em. Obviously, if 
two diaphragms were used whose areas were 
as 1:10 and a sector wheel with 1/10 of the 
periphery cut out were rotated before the 
larger one, so as to let light pass during 1/10 
of a revolution, then equal amounts of radiant 
energy would reach the eye of the animal 
through either diaphragm. 

The microscope was placed in such a posi- 
tion that the light from the diaphragms could 
fall on the stage from the side. If the 
smaller diaphragm was opened, the eye of the 
Daphnia took up a position, defined by the 
ratio of intensities of the light coming from 
the weak lamp below and from the diaphragm 
above. Changing from the smaller to the 
larger diaphragm would cause a change in the 
position of the eye. By varying the sizes of 
the diaphragms I found that a noticeable 
reaction was obtained upon changing from 
one diaphragm to the other, even when the 
difference between their areas was as small as 
10 per cent. Change between diaphragms of 
equal size, however, did not produce a reaction. 


SCIENCE 


237 


Using the diaphragm ratios 5:10, 2.5:10 
and 1:10 I invariably found that upon using 
a sector wheel cutting down the time of ex- 
posure for the larger diaphragm so as to make 
the amount of energy equal to the smaller one, 
I obtained no reaction on change from one to 
the other. If I used sector wheels giving too 
long or too short exposures, a reaction was 
noticed, where the error exceeded 10 per cent. 
These observations prove that for the eye 
movements of Daphnia the energy law holds 
within the limits of accuracy characteristic of 
the reaction. The speed of the sector wheel 
in these experiments was about 1/30 of a 
second for one revolution. If slower speeds 
were used, marked deviations from the law 
began to appear, the intermittent having a 
weaker effect than the constant light. In 
some cases I got a marked reaction of the 
eye on change from constant to intermittent 
light of equal energy when the speed of the 
sector wheel was about 1/10 of a second per 
revolution. The deviation becomes more 
marked, the slower the speed. The explana- 
tion for this phenomenon will be dwelt upon 
in a subsequent paper. 

Strictly speaking, the law proved by my 
experiments is not the Bunsen-Roscoe law, but 
the law discovered more than twenty years 
earlier (1834) by Talbot, which states that the 
effect of intermittent light equals that of a 
constant light, if it emits the same amount 
of energy through a given period. In our 
case it means practically the same as Bunsen- 
Roscoe’s law, each revolution of the sector 
wheel constituting one period, in which there 
is a given relation between intensity and 
duration of the light flash and a definite time 
for reaction. The variously arranged sector 
wheels provide the possibility of testing dif- 
ferent ratios. The constant light coming from 
the smaller diaphragm is used in such a way as 
to serve as a measure or standard of compari- 
son and circumvent the necessity of determin- 
ing a threshold of stimulation. 


Wotreane F. Ewarp 
THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE, 
DEPARTMENT OF BioLogy, 
July 14, 1913 


238 


THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 


THE twenty-seventh annual meeting of the acad- 
emy was held in Alumni Hall, Iowa State College, 
Ames, beginning at 1:30 P.M., Friday, April 25. 

President Pearson, of the Iowa State College, 
extended a welcome to the academy at 8:00 P.M., 
Friday. After this the public address on ‘‘ Wealth 
from Worthlessness’’ was given by Dr. Thomas J. 
Burrill, professor emeritus of botany, University 
of Tlinois. 

PROGRAM 
(Abstracts are by the authors) 
Tramping about Puget Sound: T. H. MacBripg. 


Pure Lines and What they Mean to Iowa’s Grain 
Crop: Ll. C. BURNETT. 


The Physiology of the Pollen of Trifolium pra- 
tense: J. N. MARTIN. 


The Comparative Morphology of the Legumes: 
J. N. MARTIN. 


A Preliminary List of the Parasitic Fungi of 
Boone County, Iowa: H. S. Cox. 


A Partial List of the Parasitic Fungi of Decatur 
County, Iowa: J. P. ANDERSON. 


The Pollution of Underground Waters with Sew- 
age through Fissures in Rocks: HENRY ALBERT. 
The possibility of pollution of underground 

waters through fissures in rocks has long been a 

well-established fact. The actual demonstration 

of such as the source of cases or epidemics of 
disease in Iowa has until recently not been proved. 

The more superficial rocks of the state present 

many joints or fissures. Although the epidemic 

of typhoid fever in Cedar Falls during 1911 was 
believed at that time to have occurred as a result 
of the pollution of waters through fissures in 
rocks, it is believed now that pollution occurred 
through a wooden conduit which conducted the 
water from the spring to the pumping station. 
The best example that we have of an epidemic no 
doubt traceable to pollution through fissures in 
rocks is ithe epidemic of typhoid fever which oe- 
eurred at Fort Dodge during the summer and fall 
of 1912, during which about one hundred persons 
were affected by the disease. The water supply of 

Fort Dodge comes principally from the deep wells. 

They also take the water from pipes beneath the 

river. The source of infection was apparently 

both from the pipes beneath the river and from 
one of the deep wells. The feature of interest is 
in connection with the latter. This well (well No. 

1), which was the first of the three wells as also 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


the deepest one—being 1,8273 feet deep and ex- 
tending to the Jordan sandstone—was started at 
the bottom of a large shaft which was constructed 
several years previously for the purpose of sup- 
plying the city with water. This shaft, which 
measures 10 X 10 feet across, extends down for 
90 feet. From the west side of the lower end of 
this shaft a tunnel of 9 feet in diameter was 
extended under the Des Moines River. This tun- 
nel was driven in sandstone, so required but few 
timbers for support, whereas the shaft has a 
wooden casing for almost its entire extent. The 
shaft extends successively from above downward 
through the following layers of earth: 


Alluvial soil and clay ............. 31 feet 
TGIMESTONE WORSE Ae ey Opa serckercre Ree 6 feet 
Shale bluesy si yee yieelverte lola 27 feet 
Thimestone yy. ces nesisevtiereysesoee Nevene erate 6 feet 
Sandstonewiterseideveveersieevere eis 42 feet? 


There are only about 20 feet of gravel, alluvial 
soil and clay from the bottom of the river to the 
first layer of limestone. Through this the water 
from the river and surrounding soil will probably 
pass quite readily and without efficient filtration. 
It then comes to a layer of limestone’ which is 
known to contain many fissures, through which 
water may readily enter the shaft. Beneath the 
limestone is a layer of blue shale, 27 feet in thick- 
ness. This is relatively impermeable to water, 
hence tends to keep the water from passing di- 
rectly downward and so hastens the passage of 
water laterally along the limestone fissures—in the 
direction of least resistance—namely, toward the 
shaft. Previous to the construction of the tunnel 
the seepage into the shaft was at the rate of about 
55 gallons per minute. This was increased to 80 
gallons per minute by the construction of the 
tunnel. This would seem to indicate that the 
water which enters the shaft is of recent surface 
origin. That the water must have come prin- 
cipally through such fissures in the rocks is indi- 
cated by the fact that when the shaft was con- 
structed but little water appeared until after the 
limestone layer with its fissures had been entered. 
That the water which comes from the shaft is 
polluted with sewage material has been shown 
repeatedly by clinical and bacteriological exam- 
inations. When the first artesian well was drilled 
(well No. 1) it was started from the bottom of 
the above-mentioned shaft. The casing of this 
well extends through the shaft and projects at the 


. + Tunnel in this formation. 


AucusT 15, 1913] 


top several feet above the level of the water in the 
shaft. The water flowing from the artesian well 
fell into the shaft which became filled with water 
to the top of the discharge pipe. In this manner 
the water from the artesian well and the seepage 
water from the shaft and tunnel were mixed. 
Soon after the completion of this artesian well a 
sample of this water was sent to us for examina- 
tion. We expected to find either no bacteria or 
only a very few. We found, however, that the 
bacterial count went up to 42 per cubic centimeter 
with two colonies of colon bacilli. Chemical exam- 
ination likewise showed evidence of contamination 
with sewage material. The reason for this was not 
explained until after a personal inspection and 
subsequent examination showed that the contam- 
ination occurred in the large shaft with water 
from the shaft and tunnel. The water taken di- 
rectly from the well did not show any evidence of 
pollution. We believe that the water of the tunnel 
and shaft comes largely quite directly from the 
river through fissures in the rocks and hence is not 
properly filtered. 


Bacterial Activities and Crop Production: P. EH. 

BROWN. 

The importance of soil bacteria in bringing 
about the change of insoluble material containing 
the essential plant food constituents into forms 
which are available for the feeding of crops is 
emphasized as a basis for the assumption that 
there should be some relation between essential 
bacterial activities and actual crop production. 
Determinations of total numbers of organisms 
using an albumen agar and estimations by the 
beaker method of the ammonifying power and the 
nitrifying power of the soils of several series of 
field plots were made. Comparison of the results 
of these bacteriological studies with the actual 
crop yield revealed the fact that in practically 
every case a soil showing greater numbers of or- 
ganisms, greater ammonifying power and greater 
nitrifying power than another soil showed like- 
wise greater crop production. Fresh soil with a 
solution of casein added for ammonification and a 
solution of ammonium sulfate added for nitrifica- 
tion allowed of the greatest differentiation accord- 
ing to bacterial activities of the soils tested. 


The Monterey Conifers: THoMAS H. MAcBRIDE. 

A discussion of the distribution and habits of 
the four conifers, Cupressus macrocarpa Hartweg, 
Cupressus Goveniana Don, Pinus muricata Don 
and Pinus radiata Don, which are found in the 
vicinity of Monterey, California. 


SCIENCE 


239 


Quercus borealis Micha. f.: B. SHIMEK, 

This is generally regarded as a synonym of 
Q. rubra, but it seems to be quite distinct. The 
paper contains a discussion of its characters and 
its distribution in Iowa. 


The Sedges of Henry County: JOHN THEODORE 

BUCHOLZ. 

A discussion of the physiography and topog- 
raphy of Henry County with special reference to 
the distribution and habitats of the sedges, fol- 
lowed by an annotated list of the species found in 
Henry County. 


The Diclinous Flowers of Iva xanthiifolia Nutt.: 

CLIFFORD H. Farr, 

The placing of this species among the Com- 
posite is favored by the fact that the walls of 
adjacent stamens unite by the fusion of contigu- 
ous cutinized layers. Furthermore, the flowers are 
arranged in a capitulum in concentric cycles of 
five flowers each. The outer cycle consists solely 
of pistillate flowers, and the remaining cycles are 
made up entirely of staminate flowers. The abor- 
tive stamens of the pistillate flower appear after 
the carpels, and were seen occasionally to have 
developed into pollen-bearing members. It is evi- 
dent that the stamens of the marginal flowers, 
being epigynous, would come in contact with the 
enlarged ends of the corollas of adjacent staminate 
flowers and with the apices of the floral and in- 
volucral bracts. That this crowding may have 
caused the abortion of these stamens seems cred- 
ible. The abortive pistil of the staminate flower 
doubtless aids in dehiscence by engaging the hook- 
like tips of the stamens. It possesses no ovary, 
but early develops a notch on its apex, which sug- 
gests its derivation from the typical bifid form. 
The gynecium of a flower is more susceptible, 
both in structure and in function, to the effects 
of desiccation than is the andrecium. The cen- 
tral flowers of this form are more exposed than 
the marginal on account of the following cir- 
eumstances: their distance from the involucral 
bracts, their tardy appearance, the minuteness or 
absence of floral bracts of the dise flowers, the 
convexity of the receptacle, and the remoteness of 
the disc flowers from the main vascular supply. 
It therefore seems that exposure to desiccation 
through many generations will explain the abor- 
tion of the pistil in the disc flowers. Excessive 
exposure of certain flowers and excessive protec- 
tion of others are therefore suggested as the 
major causes for the origin of decline in this 
species. 


240 


The Effect of Smoke and Gases upon Vegetation: 
A. L. BAKKE. 

Industrial centers have succeeded in having as- 
sociated with them a large quantity of smoke. 
Under ordinary conditions the amount of smoke 
decreases with the increase of the distance from 
the business center. In making a study of two 
smoke districts of Chicago it has been found pos- 
sible to use plants as an index to the amount of 
smoke present. ; 

Aroid Notes: JAMES ELLIS Gow. 

The taxonomy of a number of species of Aroids, 
chiefly tropical, has been worked out and is here 
presented for the first time. 

Phylogeny of the Monocotyledones: JAMES ELLIS 
Gow. 

Researches on the morphology of the Aroids, 
with special reference to the phylogeny of the 
group, have led the author to question the theory 
as to the primitive character of the monocotyle- 
donous plants; and he here defends the view that 
the most primitive forms are to be found among 
the spiral Dicotyledones. 

The Grasses of the Uintah Mountains and Adja- 
cent Regions: L. H, PAMMEL. 

Brief account of grasses collected in the Uintah 
Mountains and the adjacent regions based on 
collections made by the writer during several sea- 
sons in which the flora of the region was studied. 
The paper records the habitats, distribution and 
abundance of the species. 

Notes on the Flora of Johnson County, Iowa: 
M. P. Somzs. 

An annotated list of plants observed growing in 
Johnson County, Iowa, comprising 1,008 species, 
representing 413 genera, included in 101 families. 
Not including mosses, fungi or the other crypto- 
gams lower than the ferns. 

The Electrical Conductivity of Solutions of Elec- 
trolytes in Aniline: J. N. PEARCE. 

Equilibrium in the System; Cobalt Chloride-pyrt- 
dine: J. N. PEARCE and THOMAS E. Moore. 

The Osmosis of Optical Isomeres: A. R. JOHNSON. 

Observation on the Specific Heat of Milk and 
Cream: JOHNSON and HAMMER. 

A New Design for Specific Apparatus: JOHNSON 
and HAMMER. 

A Proposed Method for Determining the Ratio of 
Congealed to Uncongealed Water in Frozen 
Soil: JOHNSON and Ray SMITH. 

Factors in Milk Production: FRANK B. Hiuus. 
By a microscopical examination of many sam- 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 972 


ples of milk of different fat composition per- 
centages, numerous counts were made of the num- 
bers of fat globules of different sizes. A positive 
relation was found to exist between the per- 
centage fat composition of the milk and the num- 
bers of globules of different sizes, the correlation 
coefficient being .19. A study of the tabulated fat 
records of about 3,700 pairs of variates, taken 
from the Advanced Register Year Book of the 
Holstein Friesian Association, showed by a cor- 
relation coefficient of! 29, evidence of so-called 
prepotency of dams in the transmission of fat 
production to their daughters. This would indi- 
cate a probable sex linkage of some of the factors 
in the inheritance of fat production. A rearrange- 
ment of the data into groups for the study of the 
fat production of three consecutive generations of 
animals showed segregation of fat factors in a 
7:1 ratio, giving further evidence of linkage of 
some of the factors in the inheritance of fat con- 
tent in milk. 


Nitrogen and Chlorine in Rain and Snow: NicH- 

OLAS KNIGHT, 

Twenty-six specimens of rain and snow were 
carefully collected during the year 1911-12, and 
the amount of nitrogen in the nitrites, nitrates, 
free and albuminoid ammonia estimated. The 
amount of nitrogen that an acre of land received 
from each precipitation was computed. Chlorine 
was found in each specimen in which it was 
sought. This must come from the oceans as com- 
mon salt. 


Exhibition of Barograph and Thermograph Tra- 
cings of the Omaha Tornado: JoHN L. TILTON. 
The Limestone Sinks of Floyd County, Iowa: A. 

O, THOMAS. 

Notes on the Nebraskan Drift of the Little Sioux 

Valley in Cherokee County: J. E. CARMAN. 
The Wisconsin Drift-plain in the Region about 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota: J. BE, CARMAN. 
Some Additional Evidence of Post-Kansan Drift 

near Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa: Morris 

M. LEIGHTON. 

The Rock from Solomon’s Quarries: NICHOLAS 

KNIGHT. 

A specimen of what is locally known as the 
““Royal’? was received from Jerusalem for an- 
alysis. It was of the purest white, soft when first 
removed from the quarry, but it soon hardens on 
exposure to the air. The rock is very pure cal- 
cium carbonate, with little more than a trace of 
magnesium carbonate. 


AveusT 15, 1913] 


Iowan Cretacic Sequence: CHARLES KEYES. 

Deposits homotaxially equivalent to the Cretacic, 
or Chalk, formation of England were first recog- 
nized on the American continent along the Big 
Sioux River in a district which is now incor- 
porated in the state of Iowa. This correlation 
was almost the first attempt to apply the fossil 
criteria to the rocks of this country. Less than a 
decade had elapsed since this means had been 
formulated by William Smith in England. The 
use of the method was introduced in 1809 by 
Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist who during 
the following year ascended the Missouri River 
from St. Louis. Notwithstanding the fact that 
this region was visited repeatedly during a whole 
century which has elapsed since Nuttall’s visit, it 
has been only within the last year that the com- 
plete Cretacie section in Iowa has been with cer- 
tainty determined. The total thickness of the 
beds is now known to be not less than 800 feet. 
It is separable into seven distinct terranes. These 
are defined as the Nishnabotna sandstones, the 
Sergeant shales, the Ponca sandstone, the Wood- 
bury shales, the Crill limestone, the Hawarden 
shales and the Niobrara limestones. 


Terranal Differentiation of Devonic Succession in 

Iowa; CHARLES KEYES. 

Upon faunal grounds, as well as for lithological 
and stratigraphical reasons, the main Devonie 
limestones of Iowa, or the Cedar Valley formation 
as they are most widely known, were found more 
than a score of years ago to be separable into 
five well-defined terranes. No special geographic 
names were attached to these several subdivisions. 
They are, however, commonly recognized as valid 
by all who have studied the field in detail during 
the term of years mentioned. Calvin published 
the general section with these division-lines indi- 
cated but he gave no distinctive local designations. 
The terranes are easily distinguishable over wide 
areas. For the lower number the title Fayette 
formation is retained. The others are called the 
Solon, Rapid, Coralville and Lucas formations. 
The subdivisions are briefly characterized. 


Possible Occurrence of Tertiary Deposits East of 
the Missouri River: CHARLES KEYES. 

Deposits of Tertiary age have never been recog- 
nized as occurring within the limits of Iowa. 
Their presence, however, has long been surmised. 
The repeated invasions of glaciers have naturally 
removed nearly all vestiges of any soft rocks 
which may have existed in pre-glacial times upon 
the older indurated strata. 


SCIENCE 


241 


The majority of such remnantal deposits are 
easily mistaken for phenomena connected with the 
glacial drift-sheets. Yet there are several of these 
sections along the Big Sioux River, for instance, 
the beds of which appear not to be of glacial 
origin. They seem to belong to isolated patches 
of the Tertiaries which are fully represented in 
the eastern parts of South Dakota and Nebraska. 
One pocket in particular, exposed near Sioux City, 
and called the Riverside sands, now appears to be 
unquestionably Tertiary in age. 


Wright’s ‘‘Ice Age’’ on the Genesis of Loess: 

B. SHIMEE. 

In the second edition of Wright’s ‘‘Ice Age’’ 
objections are made to the exolian hypothesis of 
loess origin. This paper aims to meet these ob- 
jections, and sustains the exolian hypothesis. 


Preliminary Note on the So-called Loess of South- 

western Iowa: JAMES ELLIS Gow. 

This is a discussion of the nature and origin of 
a clay found in Adair County at the surface of 
the drift. It contains no gravel or bowlders aud 
in near-by localities has been described as 
“loess.’’ Investigation shows that it is neither 
aqueous nor eolian in origin and that it may occur 
in the Kansan drift at any and all depths. 


The Proper Use of the Geological Name, Bethany: 

JOHN L. TiTon. 

The term Bethany Falls limestone, or Bethany 
limestone, has been used with three different mean- 
ings. It properly applies to the second limestone 
of the section found at Winterset, which limestone 
is called the Earlham. 


A Pleistocene Section from Des Moines South to 

Allerton: JouNn L. Tinton. 

Along the new railroad line from Des Moines to 
Allerton are fine exposures of the Pleistocene, 
photographs and descriptions of which should be 
preserved for reference since the relation of the 
deposits will very quickly become obscured. The 
exposures present strong evidence, supported else- 
where, that the so-called ‘‘gumbo’’ was deposited 
in the closing stages of the Kansan, and that it is 
but one form of a deposit for which collectively 
the term Dallas deposits is here suggested. Kan- 
san drift and Des Moines shales are well exposed, 
but no Aftonian nor Nebraskan. Loess is found 
only in the northern portion of the area. 


Mound and Mound Explorations in Allamakee 
County, Iowa: HLLISON ORR. 
The paper covers in a general way the pre- 


242 


historic earthworks found in this country along 
the Mississippi and Oneota rivers. These earth- 
works consist of three types, the most common 
being the Cireular Mound. Following that the 
Long Embankment, these latter sometimes having 
a length of upwards of four hundred feet, and 
where found on the bluff tops they uniformly fol- 
low the divides separating the gullies and ravines 
opening into the main river valley. Following 
these in frequency of occurrence are the Effigy 
Mounds. It is somewhat difficult to say what 
particular animal or bird these mounds are in- 
tended to represent, but there is quite a variety. 
Near McGregor is a group of three which are in 
a very fine state of preservation and were un- 
doubtedly intended to represent. the buffalo. 
Along the Oneota River, but not found on the 
Mississippi, are embankments in the form of a 
circle. Some of these are on the bluff tops and 
some on the river bottoms. It is more than likely 
that a part of them are the remains of camps 
fortified with palisades, and others may have been 
built for some ceremonial purpose. The circular 
mounds are probably mostly burial mounds, and 
probably of great age, as no skeletal remains are 
found in any of them, and there is also a great 
scarcity of flint or other implements or of pottery. 


An Electrical Method of Measuring Certain Small 
Distances, and Some Interesting Results: F. C. 
BROWN. 

The Variation of the Resistance of Antimonite 
Cells with the Current Flowing, and the Prob- 
able Interpretation of this Variation: F. C. 
Brown. 

The Change of Young’s Modulus of a Soft Steel 
Wire with Electric Current and External Heat- 
img: H. L. Doper. 

Are the Photo-electric High Potentials Genwine: 
Pau H. Dike and F. R. York. 

Some Dangers in Statistical Methods: ARTHUR G. 
SMITH. 

The Problem of the Vision of an Illuminated Sur- 
face: Li, P. Stee. 

On the Existence of a Minimum Volume Solution: 
LeRoy D. WELD. 

Phase Relations and Sound Beats when the Tones 
are Presented One to Each Ear: G. W. STEWART. 
It has long been known that beats produced by 

two tones, presented one to each ear, are not quite 

like the beats produced when the same tones are 
presented to one of the ears. The experimental 
arrangement in this experiment was such that the 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 972 


frequency of beats could be changed, the tones 
being presented one to each ear, and the difference 
of phase could be observed optically. The observed 
results were as follows: When the beats were more 
frequent than one per second the beats were sim- 
ilar to ordinary beats except that there was no zero 
intensity minimum. This fact is not new. When 
the beats became less frequent than one per second, 
it was possible to persuade the hearer that there 
was a secondary maximum in the neighborhood of 
opposition in phase. When the beats became less 
frequent than one each five seconds the maximum 
intensity is difficult to select, the secondary max- 
imum being more pronounced. Further, the sec- 
ondary maximum seems to consist of two maxima, 
one just before and one just after opposition 
of phase. The tone at equality of phase is differ- 
ent in quality to that at the secondary maxima, 
the former being like the tone of the fork and the 
latter more of a noise. Some observers can not 
get the effect at all. When one of the tones is 
received through the teeth with the other received 
at one of the ears, there appears to be only one 
maximum, and that at opposition of phase. The 
proposed explanation involves a combination of a 
skull tone and an ear tone; but is too complicated 
to present in an abstract. The theory agrees with 
the experiments in a quantitative way if the 
velocity of sound in the skull is from two to three 
times that in air. The presence of a maximum at 
equality of phase does not seem to permit of ready 
explanation if the possibility of interference be- 
yond the cochlea is rejected. The experiments 
were with forks of frequency 128. The theory 
should be tested under varying conditions. 


The Use of the Rayleigh Disk in the Determina- 
tion of Relative Sound Intensities: Haro 
STILES. 

During the summer of 1912 some experimental 
work was done at the State University of Iowa 
by G. W. Stewart and Harold Stiles partly in- 
tended to test the Rayleigh disk in the determina- 
tion of relative sound intensities. The apparatus 
was mounted on the roof of the new physics 
building and results obtained experimentally were 
in close agreement with the theoretical values ob- . 
tained by Stewart? for sound intensities in the 
neighborhood of a rigid sphere, the source of 
sound being on the sphere. Air currents, the in- 
constancy of the sound source and more particu- 
larly the absorption of energy by the Rayleigh 


2 Phys. Rev., Vol. XXXVIII., No. 6, December, 
1911. 


Aveust 15, 1913] 


disk tube are difficulties in the use of the appa- 

ratus. 

A more extended account of the work may be 
found in The Physical Review, Vol. I., No. 4, 
2d series, April, 1913. 

An Experimental Investigation of the Relation 
between the Aperture of a Telescope and the 
Quality of the Image Obtained by It: FRED 
VORHIES. 

Through research work carried on at the State 
University of Iowa, the conclusion has been drawn 
that astronomers are able to detect certain details 
upon the planet Mars. A twenty-four-inch tele- 
scope, as used by Professor Lowell, seems to be 
capable of giving these details as distinctly as can 
be obtained with a telescope of larger aperture. 


Helpful and Harmful Iowa Birds: FRED BERN- 
INGHAUSEN. 


The Food Habits of the Skunk: 
PELLETT: 


A Further Study of the Home Life of the Brown 
Thrasher, Toxostoma rufens (Linn.): IRA N. 
GABRIELSON, 

The paper is a summary of the data obtained 
by watching from a blind the feeding of the 
young throughout one day. The total number of 
feedings was 169, of which 85 were by the male 
and 84 by the female. The following figures show 
the percentages of the various insects, ete., which 
comprised the food. Grasshoppers, 17.51 per 
cent.; May beetles, 29.95 per cent.; cutworms, 
13.36 per cent.; cherries, 8.75 per cent. Miscel- 
Janeous insects made up the remainder. From the 
data at hand it seems that the thrashers are de- 
cidedly beneficial. 


FRANK C, 


Nest Boxes for Woodpeckers: FRANK C. PELLETT. 

A review of three years’ successful experiments 
in attracting birds that supply no nesting material 
to artificial nesting sites. Three species not here- 
tofore known to occupy boxes have reared their 
families in boxes of special pattern. 


On Certain Features in the Anatomy of Siren 
lacertina: H. W. Norris. 

Apropos of conflicting statements as to the 
presence of a maxilla and an operculare (splenial) 
in the skull of Siren the writer finds both present, 
but in a much reduced condition. Connected with 
the antorbital cartilage are two muscles (mm. 
retractor et levator antorbitalis) which with the 
cartilage form an apparatus for regulating the 
size of the choana. These two muscles have their 
homologues in Amphiuma. The ramus palatinus 


SCIENCE 


243 


posterior facialis innervates a small vestigial 
muscle that has its origin on the fascia between 
the quadrate cartilage and the lateral edge of the 
parasphenoid bone, and its insertion on the lateral 
border of the ceratohyal cartilage. 


Life History Notes on the Plum curculio in Iowa: 

R. L. WEBSTER. 

A summary of insectary notes on the insect 
made in 1910 at Ames. These, taken with some 
field observations made by C. P. Gillette at Ames 
in 1889, give a fairly aceurate account of the 
seasonal history of the insect in central Iowa. 
Additional Mammal Notes: T. VAN HyNIne. 

The following species to the faunal list of Iowa 
have been added: 

Firmly established: Canada porcupine, Erethizon 
dorsatus Linn.; Lemming mouse, Cooper’s mouse, 
Synaptomys cooperi Baird; western harvest mouse, 
Reithrodonomys dychei Allen; pekan, fisher, Mus- 
tella permantii Erxleben. Now living in the state: 
American otter, Lutra canadensis Sereber; Amer- 
ican badger, Taxidea americana Boddaert; Can- 
ada lynx, Lynx canadensis Guldenstadt; American 
panther, cougar, puma, mountain lion, Felis con- 
color Linn. Additional to the catalogue: chick- 
oree, small red squirrel, Sciurus hudsonicus Pallas; 
star-nosed mole, Condylus cristata. 

The following have been listed for Iowa in Bull. 
Field Col. Mus. Zoot. Sur., Vol. 1, and may be 
looked for: Peromyscus michiganensis Audubon 
and Bachman, wood mouse; Peromyscus leucopus 
Rafinesque, wood mouse; Tamias quadrivittatus 
neglectus Allen, chipmunk; Scalops argentatus 
Audubon and Bachman, mole. 


Color Inheritance in the Horse: 

WORTH. 

Factors are recognized in horse color. The 
terminology of Sturtevant is used in part. C= 
ted or yellow basic pigment, possibly partially 
diffuse; H==Hurst’s factor or black; B=re- 
striction factor producing bay. This is the prin- 
cipal new feature in the paper. B restricts black 
to the extremities, 7. e., eye, mane, tail, lower 
limbs, ete. The ability of the chestnut horse to 
carry this factor and in mating to blacks to 
produce bays explains a phenomenon that has 
been more or less of a stumbling block. Factors 
for gray pattern, roan pattern, dappling pattern, 
white stockings and blaze in face, and for piebald 
and skewbald markings are identified. Browns 
are distinguished from bays by the presence of 
the dappling factor. Tables showing results of 
over 12,000 matings are appended. 


E. N. WENT- 


244 


Some Factors Affecting Fetal Development: JOHN 

M. Evvarp. 

The author showed that the size, weight, 
strength, vigor, character of coat, size of bone and 
general thrift of the newborn were markedly 
affected by the nutrition of the dam during the 
period of gestation. The specific food constitu- 
ents which when added to corn produced positive 
results were protein and calcium, both of which 
(when added to corn) produced larger and heavier 
offspring than when corn alone was used. The 
importance of calcium was emphasized by calling 
attention to the fact that ordinary animals con- 
tain practically two thirds as much calcium as of 
nitrogen in their bodies. Using analytical figures 
as a basis, the investigation showed that the sow 
to produce a normal ideal litter would have to eat 
not less than 13 pounds of corn daily to secure 
enough calcium for said litter, and this on the 
assumption that all the calcium was perfectly 
utilized without any waste whatsoever, no allow- 
ance being made for the metabolic uses of the dam 
herself. The work was done upon sheep and 
swine. This direct quotation is of interest. 
“‘Realizing that the development of the organism 
may be hindered as early as the embryonic and 
uterine stages is quite suggestive of a rational 
diet during the entire period of gestation. Those 
pregnant animals which are forced to subsist upon 
grain diets are much more unfortunate than those 
which have their digestive systems so constituted 
as to avail themselves of considerable roughage, 
which, if they be legumes, are very advantageous 
in the production of vigorous newborn offspring. 
It is quite fortunate indeed that the mother is 
able to store in the bones and tissues of her body 
a considerable amount of material which will tide 
her over periods of scarcity and enable her to 
give birth to her young even though the essential 
constituents are lacking to a large extent in the 
pregnancy feed.’’ 


A Case of Urticaria Factitia: WALTER S. NEWELL. 

During a course of elementary experiments in 
the ‘‘tactual localization of a point’’ it was ob. 
served that in the case of Miss M., wherever the 
tactual stimulus was applied a round welt or 
wheal arose. These welts, which resembled bee 
stings, measured from 3 mm. to 5 mm. in diameter 
and varied in size with the instrument used in 
giving the tactual stimulus. The sharp corner of 
a card drawn lightly across the skin produced a 
line of bead-like welts. The welts appeared within 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 972 


three minutes after the stimulation and reached 
the maximum of vividness within five or ten min- 
utes. They remained visible from half an hour to 
an hour and a half. Tests were tried with Miss M. 
at different hours of the day and at intervals of 
several days for a period covering eight weeks. 
Experiments showed that she exhibited this sensi- 
tiveness over widely distributed areas of the body, 
but no results could be obtained on the finger-tips 
or on other calloused portions. Most of the ob- 
servations were made upon the forearm, both on 
the front and on the back of the arm. A careful 
study of Miss M.’s nervous organization, with the 
testimony of several of her instructors, supplied 
abundant evidence of her instability, and pointed 
toward a functional disorder caused by ‘ ‘nervous 
irritability, emotion and hysteria.’’ A striking 
array of concrete instances of Miss M.’s nervous 
eccentricities could not be overlooked among the 
facts most significant in the diagnosis. 

Several tests were made to determine whether 
the ‘‘autographisms’’ could be caused by sugges- 
tion or by any means other than actual contact. 
No results were obtained in this series of experi- 
ments, but this may be due to the subject’s in- 
ability to fixate her attention for any length of 
time. The lightest contact was followed by the 
graphism, however, and according to Miss M.’s 
own testimony she has ‘‘known of this sensitive- 
ness since childhood, but has never regarded it as 
anything unusual.’’ 

No attempt was made to use hypnotic sugges- 
tion as a means of inducing the graphisms. The 
subject’s introspections are at times contradictory, 
although quite in accord with her own mental 
instability. This case throws a sidelight upon the 
prestige which in another age or in a different 
environment would be sufficient to lead to all 
degrees of religious extravagance or fanaticism. 

Officers elected for the ensuing year are: 

President—C. N. Kinney, Des Moines. 

Iirst Vice-president—H. 8. Conard, Grinnell. 

Second Vice-president—Henry Albert, Iowa City. 

Secretary—l. S. Ross, Des Moines. 

Treasurer—G. F. Kay, Iowa City. 

Elective Members of the Executive Committee— 
E. N. Wentworth, Ames; E. J. Cable, Cedar Falls; 
A. G. Smith, Iowa City. 

The next annual meeting will be held at the 
State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa. 

' L. 8. Ross, 
Secretary 
DRAKE UNIVERSITY, 
Des MorIngs, Iowa 


foCIENCE 


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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


Recent Additions to the 
Cambridge Manuals of Science 
and Literature 


A series of small volumes for the general reader, bound in Rose-coloured art cloth, 
AQ cents net per volume. 70 volumes ready, others in active prep- 

aration. Vols. 61 to 70. 

Beyond the Atom. By Prof. J. Cox, M.A. 

Bees and Wasps. By O. H.' Larter, M.A. 

The Wanderings of Animals. By H. F. Gapow, F.R:S. 

Submerged Forests. By CLiement Ret, F.R.S. 

Wireless Telegraphy. By Prof. C. L. Forrescus, M.A. 

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CTENCE 


os 


Fripay, Auaust 22, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The President’s Address at the International 


Medical Congress: SiR THOMAS BaRLow .. 245 


Cereal Cropping: PRroressor L. H. BottEy . 249 


Doctorates Conferred by American Universi- . 

ties 259 
267 
269 


Scientific Notes and News 


University and Educational News .......... 


Discussion and Correspondence :-— 
A Second Capture of the Whale Shark, 
Rhineodon typus, in Florida Waters: Dr. EK. 
W. GupeGer, ‘‘Carbates’’: PROFESSOR J. E. 


Topp. Frost in California: S. A. SKINNER 270 


Scientific Books :— 
Kiister’s Anleitung zur Kultur der Mikro- 
organismen: PROFESSOR C.-E. A. WINSLOW. 
Catalogue of Birds’ Eggs in the British 
Museum; Dr. F. H. KNowuron. Vortriége 
zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften: 


C, A. BROWNE 271 


Scientific Journals and Articles ......... Pe ALC 


The Rutherford Atom: 
FULCHER 


Dr. 


Gorpon S8. 
274 


Notes on Entomology: Dr. NATHAN BANKS . 276 


Special Articles :— 
Birds as Carriers of the Chestnut Blight 
Fungus: Dr. F. D. Heap, R. A. Stup- 
HALTER. The Relation between Abnormal 
Permeability and Abnormal Development 


of Fundulus Eggs: Dr. J..F. McCLenpon 278 


Societies and Academies :— 


Section of Geology and Mineralogy of the 
New York Academy of Sciences: CHARLES 
T. Kirk 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS AT THE INTER- 
NATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS? 

A WHOLE generation has passed away 
since the International Medical Congress 
last met in London. 

What a magnificent galaxy of talent in 
medicine, surgery, and pathology was 
gathered round the Prince of Wales, who 
was our royal patron at that time! 

It is fitting that we should follow the ad- 
monition of, Keclesiasticus and praise fam- 
ous men and the fathers that begat us. 
Our president, Sir James Paget, was a 
great clinical pathologist. His mind was 
stored with all that was then known of the 
morbid anatomy of surgical disease and in- 
jury, and of the family relationships of the 
different diatheses. He was a splendid 
teacher and possessed a lucid eloquence and 
a moral fervor not excelled by any of his 
contemporaries. Jenner and Gull, Wilks 
and Gairdner were our great teachers of 
clinical medicine. Each of them based his 
knowledge on the same foundation of the 
post-mortem room and the hospital wards. 
We shall not see their like again, for their 
careers began before the days of specializa- 
tion, and they were amongst the last of the 
great general physicians of our time. 
Hughlings Jackson was the philosophical 
exponent of the new neurology. Many of 
his forecasts were verified by the experi- 
ments of David Ferrier, of which I may say 
there was a remarkable demonstration at 
the 1881 congress. Jonathan Hutchinson 
was the patient accurate recorder of the 
natural history of disease in multitudinous 


*Given by Sir Thomas Barlow, Bart., M.D., 
F.R.S., at the opening meeting in the Albert Hall, 
London, on August 6. 


246 


departments, and characteristically enough 
he was the organizer of our congress clinical 
and pathological museum. The pioneers of 
abdominal surgery—Spencer Wells, Thomas 
Keith, and Lawson Tait—were with us. 
Huxley, the most brilliant expositor of 
natural science of his time, discoursed to 
us on the relations of medicine and biology. 
William Bowman, whose work on the 
minute anatomy of the eye was the founda- 
tion of modern English ophthalmology, 
was one of our most useful members. 

Last of all the Englishmen whom I will 
mention was our great Lister, then in the 
zenith of his grand career. He has but 
lately been taken from us in the fullness of 
years, and we commemorate him to-day in 
the medal of our congress. 

Our foreign brethren were not less illus- 
trious in the bede-roll of medical and sur- 
gical achievement. Virchow, the Nestor of 
morbid anatomy, honored and beloved by 
us as by his countrymen, delivered a fine 
historical discourse on the value of patho- 
logical experiments. Volkmann gave a 
eritical survey of the recent advances of 
surgery. Robert Koch gave what may truly 
be called a path-breaking demonstration of 
the microbial findings in several morbid 
conditions, and he illustrated their charac- 
teristic growth on different organic media. 
Von Langenbeck and Esmarch spoke for 
military surgery; Donders and Snellen for 
ophthalmology. Baccelli, Murri, and Pan- 
taleoni represented Italian medicine. From 
the United States came Austin Flint, the 
accomplished physician and master of phy- 
sical examination; Billings, prince of medi- 
eal bibliographers; and Bigelow the famous 
surgeon. 

The great French school was represented 
by Brown-Séquard and Charcot, Lan- 
cereaux and Bouchard and Verneuil and a 
host of others; but there was one great 
Frenchman with us who towered aloft 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


amongst all his contemporaries, and who, 
though not a medical man, exercised by his 
discoveries a profound influence on the 
medicine of the world, and that was Louis 
Pasteur. In his address on vaccination in 
relation to chicken cholera and splenic 
fever, he gracefully linked his most recent 
researches with the time-honored labors of 
Edward Jenner on cow-pox. 

Time fails me to speak of other great and 
honored names, but surely we may say 
there were giants in those days. 

Now let us realize to ourselves that the 
congress of 1881 marked not the parting of 
the ways, but emphasized the notable fact 
that the parting of the ways had already 
been passed. The times of superstition, of 
empiricism, and of transcendental specula- 
tion had vanished. But what of the period 
of accurate and detailed observation? That 
was neither superseded nor completed, but 
it was already supplemented and redirected 
into more fruitful channels by the new 
development of experimental methods. 

If it had not been for the work of Pas- 
teur, Lister and Koch, which was. ex- 
pounded to us thirty years ago, how pov- 
erty-stricken would have been the output of 
medicine and surgery in this our congress 
of 1913! 

The great men—both observers and ex- 
perimenters—of whom I have spoken were 
like mountain peaks towering above the 
plain of ordinary medical humanity, and 
we sometimes sadly ask where are the 
mountain peaks now? That is a shallow 
and unenlightened question. For indeed, 
thanks to the unremitting labors of workers 
in multitudinous paths, we have attained a 
glorious heritage—not of high mountain 
peaks and deep vaileys—but a lofty and 
magnificent tableland of well-ordered and 
correlated knowledge. 

Consider the bare fact that the fifteen 
sections of the 1881 congress have, by the 


‘AUGUST 22, 1913] 


‘inevitable specialization and concentration 
of work, become twenty-three sections and 
three subsections in 1913, but so imperative 
is the demand for mutual conference that 
we have no less than fourteen meetings 
arranged in which sections have found it 
desirable to discuss various problems in 
joint session. 

In what ways have we pursued and ex- 
panded the work of our fathers? First, 
unquestionably, in the development and 
application of bacteriolozy. Koch’s great 
discovery of the life-history of the tubercle 
bacillus was published in the year after the 
London Congress, and what an enormous 
body of knowledge has grown out of that 
discovery! We are learning to discriminate 
between the essential and causal factors of 
disease and the concomitants, such as com- 
bined and terminal infections. The by- 
products and the antibodies developed to 
neutralize bacterial life, of which we see the 
beneficent role in nature’s own cure of an 
acute specific disease, have been made to 
yield their share in two important methods 
of treatment—namely, sero-therapy and 
vaceine-therapy. 

We have also faced the problem of 
strengthening the phagocytosis of the pa- 
tient. I need not dwell on the history of 
the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus and the causa- 
tion of diphtheria, nor on the indubitable 
efficacy of the most important of all the 
antitoxins, nor on the singular parallelism 
between the bacteriological findings in 
atypical throat exudations with the ambigu- 
ous symptomatology which clinical observa- 
tion reveals. Nor need I dwell on the ex- 
tension of bacteriological investigation of 
typhoid fever which has been fruitful in 
new measures of prophylaxis and defence 
of the community. 

We have learned something about the 
natural history of the ultra-minute organ- 
isms which as ‘‘filter passers’’ elude our 
microscopic investigation. 


SCIENCE 


247 


There are still great gaps in our knowl- 
edge of the bacteriology of the acute specific 
diseases, but it is a gain to have learned 
from the study of recent epidemics that 
infantile paralysis must be grouped with 
the infective diseases, and, thanks to Flex- 
ner, we know many of the reactions of its 
elusive organism. 

Great advances have been made in proto- 
zoology, in helminthology, and indeed in 
the whole subject of the relation of para- 
sites to the diseases of man and animals. 
In tropical diseases these studies, as well as 
bacteriology, have brought about a rich 
harvest. Malta fever, plague, malaria, 
sleeping sickness, have all yielded more or 
less of their secrets. Sometimes the whole 
eycle of the disease has been discovered, 
rationalized in every respect, and its suc- 
cessful treatment has been evolved. 

In other cases, as in malaria, sleeping 
sickness, and yellow fever, where only parts 
of the natural history of the disease have 
been elucidated, nevertheless enough real 
knowledge has been acquired to enable im- 
portant, though sometimes costly, hygienic 
measures to be successfully employed. 
Here it is fitting that we should offer our 
homage to our American brethren for their 
splendid hygienic work in Cuba, in Pan- 
ama, in the Philippines and in Costa Rica, 
and for the efforts which they are organiz- 
ing for a world-wide crusade against ankylo- 
stoma disease. 

Chemical pathology has widened our 
knowledge and our resources, and the mys- 
tery of immunity has been to some extent 
illuminated. 

The detailed examination of the morpho- 
logical elements and the chemical charac- 
ters of the blood and of other body fluids 
has eventuated in the rewriting of some of 
our physiology, and the pathological exten- 
sion of the knowledge thus gained has im- 
proved the diagnosis and the treatment of 
several diseases. Thirty years ago Ord 


248 


demonstrated to the congress of that time 
examples of the disease which he had de- 
fined as myxcedema, but which, with surer 
instinct, Gull has described as a cretinoid 
state in adults. The gradual evolution of 
the doctrine of thyroid insufficiency and of 
its therapeutics is a model of induction; 
and this important discovery has given a 
great impetus to the whole study of internal 
secretions, as well as to the employment of 
organic extracts, of which the last and most 
interesting is that of the pituitary body. 

The empirical and then the experimental 
study of small variations in the ordinary 
diets of adults and children and infants 
in different social strata and in different 
countries has been fruitful in many un- 
expected ways. The great milk problem 
is still with us, but we have learned the 
blunders of our early generalizations. 
Cleanliness in the milk supply from start 
to finish has a far more exhaustive meaning 
than in days gone by. The curious disease 
beri-beri, which some of us have long 
thought had parallelisms with scurvy, has 
been shown, at all events amongst rice- 
eating people, to depend on the loss of the 
nutritive material just internal to the peri- 
carp, which the ordinary process of milling 
removes. 

The patient study of chronic alcoholism 
has opened up a new chapter in nervous 
diseases. The routine traditional employ- 
ment of alcohol in disease has happily been 
largely discredited. The open-air treat- 
ment of all forms of tuberculous lesions has 
had a ‘wide indirect influence, not only on 
the treatment of other chronic ailments, but 
on the daily life of the people. 

The recognition and radical treatment of 
oral sepsis due to damage to the gums in 
consequence of various disorders of the 
teeth has been followed by remarkable bene- 
fit. A strong case has been made out for 
intestinal stasis as a cause of various forms 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


of malnutrition and for operative measures 
in dealing with slight mechanical obstruc- 
tions; on this subject we hope for further 
evidence. 

The additions to diagnosis yielded by 
a-ray exploration are like the creation of a 
sixth sense, and its curative applications 
and those of radium are the opening of a 
new chapter of therapeutics. 

I ventured to hint that medicine had now 
and then led to the rewriting of some chap- 
ters of physiology, and I may add that re- 
cent researches on diseases of the heart have 
led to the reediting of neglected knowledge 
of the minute structure of heart muscle, 
and of orderly and disorderly mechanism of 
its movements. 

Of the magnificent triumphs of the sur- 
gery of this generation it is beyond my 
power adequately to speak, but I can refer 
to the wide fields opened up through the 
beneficent protection of Listerism. We are 
staggered by the reasoned and calculated 
audacity of our brethren when sinuses of 
the skull are drained, cerebral abscesses 
evacuated, cerebral tumors removed, the 
pituitary body even being investigated, 
when pleuro-pericardial adhesions are 
freed, to the great relief of the heart, when 
different parts of the alimentary canal are 
short-circuited and when one or other dam- 
aged viscus is removed either entirely or in 
part. The active cooperation of surgeons 
and physicians has gained for us some 
knowledge of what Moynihan and others 
have happily described as ‘‘living pathol- 
ogy,’’ and we gratefully acknowledge the 
invaluable information of correlated symp- 
toms, signs and morbid conditions, and the 
statistics of comparative frequency which 
surgical experience has brought to the com- 
mon store. 

The supreme gain, after all, is that many 
more useful lives are saved than in the last 
generation, that the realm of grave and 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


hitherto incurable disease is invaded on 
every side, and that the danger of opera- 
tion qua operation is retreating to a vanish- 
ing point. 

It is impossible even to enumerate the 
varied ways in which medicine has cooper- 
ated with economics, social legislation and 
philanthropy, which we sum up briefly as 
public health. The school house and the 
scholars, the home of the poor, the colliery, 
and the factory, the dangerous occupations, 
the sunless life of the mentally deficient, 
have benefited, and will benefit still more, 
by its friendly invasion. And I venture to 
foretell that, not many years hence, every 
department of life and work shall be 
strengthened and purified and brightened 
by its genial and penetrating influence. 

Surely I have said more than enough to 
justify my contention that we have come 
into a goodly heritage, and that that herit- 
age is like a lofty and magnificent tableland 
of knowledge and efficiency. The gaps are 
being filled; we are no longer isolated, but 
are working side by side on adjacent areas 
which are inseparably connected. Every 
day we gain fresh help from the auxiliary 
sciences, and we realize more and more the 
unity and the universality of medicine. 

Brethren from foreign lands, we thank 
you for the treasures, new and old, of ob- 
servation and experiment, and of a ripe 
experience, which you have brought to this 
congress for the common weal. 

I venture to affirm that the output of 
work of the congress week in its twenty- 
three goodly volumes will astonish civilized 
countries by its amount and its solid worth. 

I welcome you to our dear country, this 
ancient home of freedom, and I speak not 
only for the medical men of the British 
Isles but for our brethren of the overseas 
dominions, who join with us in our cordial 
greeting. 

May this congress add to the common 


SCIENCE 


249 


store of fruitful and useful knowledge; may 
it increase our good fellowship, our mutual 
understanding and cooperation, and may 
it help to break down the barriers of race 
and country in the onward beneficent 
march of world medicine. 

THomas BaRLOWw 


CEREAL CROPPING: SANITATION, A NEW 
BASIS FOR CROP ROTATION, MANURING, 
TILLAGE AND SEED SELECTION} 


Peoples truly rich are those who cultivate cereals 
on a large scale.—R. Chodat. 


FOREWORDS 


1. In cereal cropping, air, water and soil fertil- 
ity (plant foods) are primary matters of crop 
productivity. 

2. The problem of grain deterioration, as now 
observed by farmers, millers, chemists and agri- 
culturists, the writer thinks, involves the question: 
‘‘What is the matter with the crop and its prod- 
uct?’’ rather than: ‘‘What is the matter with the 
soil??? 

3. Deteriorated wheat, as seen in depressed 
yields and low quality, as now quite commonly 
produced in the great natural wheat-producing 
regions of this country, is not, primarily, a matter 
of lost fertility or of modified chemical content 
of the soil, but is specifically a problem of infec- 
tious disease which is superimposed upon the prob- 
lems of soil and crop management. Crop rotation, 
for example, is not, primarily, a farm process 
which is likely to conserve the fertility of the soil, 
but when properly arranged in a system so that 
the proper crops follow one another, it is defi- 
nitely a sanitary measure tending to maximum 
production. 

4. Wheat does not do well in the presence of its 
own dead bodies, not because of any changes 
which the wheat plants have made in the content 
of the soil fertility, nor because of any peculiar 
poisons (toxines) which the crops may be thought 
to have introduced, but primarily because of in- 
fectious diseases which are characteristic of the 
crop. 

5. Proper methods of soil tillage and handling 
of manures and artificial fertilizers are not merely 
measures for supplying plant food, but also in- 
volve vital features of a sanitary nature.—Bolley. 

*Outline of an illustrated address given before 
the students and faculty of the Division of Agri- 
culture, University of Wisconsin, July 20, 1913. 


250 


EVIDENTLY the writer of the foregoing 
quotation, who is one of Europe’s noted 
botanists, had in mind the evident biolog- 
ical fact that animal life is dependent upon 
plant life for sustenance, and the further 
fact that those countries possessed of till- 
able acres suitable for the growing of 
cereals need never suffer for food or for- 
age, for either man or beast—need not be 
dependent upon other nationalities, in time 
of either war or of peace. That there is 
something vital to the thought, let us note 
for the time being the fearful war that the 
mountaineers of Montenegro have lately 
waged, with the hope that they might add 
to their domain a slightly greater area of 
level-lying cereal lands in the valley about 
them. 

In late years, therd has been a vast 
amount of talk about cereal crop deteriora- 
tion, and, for many years, much has been 
said about ‘‘depleted or worn-out soils,’’ 
and the writers and talkers have lectured 
and scolded with a vim as strong as though 
they believed the air supply of the earth 
were actually proved to be limited (which 
possibly it is) and that the mineral ele- 
ments of the soil were rather readily to be 
lost. 

In cereal cropping, this talk and scold- 
ing has reached a stage when most of it is 
mere gossip, inane higher criticism of the 
common farmer. In this, as in other im- 
portant matters, there are now quite too 
many blind leaders of the blind. This is 
not said with any feeling of criticism, for 
the: writer well understands the thought 
that where there is smoke there is fire, and 
further, that through agitation, criticism, 
contest and investigation lies the road to 
progress. 

There is, however, at present, regarding 
this matter of soil depletion or cereal crop 
deterioration, not a little mental rambling 
and useless counter-criticism among the so- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


called scientists and agricultural ‘‘ex- 
perts,’’ a tendency to study over the work 
done by others in similar lines for the 
apparent purpose of finding and fighting 
error. The words scientist and expert, in 
this particular regard, are much over- 
worked. For the benefit of the common 
farmer, at least that he may escape con- 
fusion, we should give these words a rest. 
It would be less confusing to the general 
public if no titles were given to those who 
‘are trying to instruct on such a difficult 
phase of nature as how plants and animals. 
live—if they were not led to expect too 
much, only to meet with repeated evidence 
of fallibility of supposed agricultural 
principles. 

Within the past twenty-five years great 
progress has been made by the students of 
agriculture and of science in general in 
divorcing the work of life from mere men- 
tal philosophizing and in carrying prin- 
ciples of investigation direct to the field of 
work. In the manufacturing line, this has 
been done very directly. In the agricul- 
tural field we must, without sacrifice of 
accuracy of detail, do the same thing much 
more definitely than it has yet been accom- 
plished, if the students of agriculture are 
to aid the farmer in the way that he must 
be aided if he is to understand the relation 
of science to his life work. The introduc- 
tion of the agricultural college and experi- 
ment station idea started out with this 
thought strongly in mind, though the 
workers were poorly equipped for the 
ordeal. These institutions are now becom- 
ing powerful, even luxurious in equipment, 
and it is not at all without the possibility 
that in our intense desire to be scientific 
and accurate, and in our worship of the 
high culture and the accomplishments of 
the savant, too many of our workers who 
are paid to investigate agricultural prob- 
lems may only investigate for their own 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


enjoyment—may again deal in formulas, 
and theories, books and philosophies, and 
thus give out to the working public fine 
philosophies which may yet leave the 
worker helplessly in the dark as to what 
to do. 

My belief is that those who undertake to 
improve agricultural methods, who under- 
take to furnish the principles which shall 
direct farm processes, must not be satisfied 
with the mere study of such principles in 
the laboratory and the writing of books, 
which books and pamphlets, because of the 
nature of things, will be used by laymen 
for the instruction of the worker. Such 
men should dictate to themselves the study 
of actual life conditions of the particular 
erop which they have under consideration. 
In directing farm operations so that they 
shall leave the toiler any remuneration, the 
scientist must remember that reasoning by 
analogy is not apt to give him a reputation 
of infallibility before the farming public. 

This is one of the common errors of the 
present advocates of crop rotation. They 
give almost every conceivable reason why 
a crop rotation should be conducted, other 
than real reasons why the crop grows bet- 
ter under a particular type of crop rota- 
tion. For example, one of the chief argu- 
ments is that the farmer will have more 
kinds of crop to sell—will not have all his 
eggs in one basket. The writer considers 
such an argument as no reason at all for 
crop rotation. Indeed, all other types of 
business are conducted on the opposite 
basis, namely, a man should do one thing 
and do it well, and the farmer can not 
understand the business or professional 
man who reasons one way for himself and 
another for the farmer. 

It is my belief that the present reason 
why crop rotation and proper systems of 
manuring are not properly followed rests 
not in the innate shiftless or disinterested 


SCIENCE 


251 


nature of the American farmer, but be- 
cause such secondary reasons have been 
given in lieu of real arguments. For ex- 
ample, crop rotation has almost invariably 
been argued on the basis that it rests the 
land or improves its fertility, and yet we 
have been unable to find any proof what- 
soever of the truth of such assertion. The 
writer believes the reason farmers have not 
followed a persistent and consistent crop 
rotation is due to the fact that we have 
not heretofore been given the real reasons 
which primarily or essentially demand 
crop rotation in order that healthful, 
proper yielding plants may be produced 
on the land. 

It is confusing to the farmer and to the 
layman teacher to read the recriminating 
criticisms of criticisms, as to the principles 
of agriculture. Error does not need to be 
fought, for it falls of its own weight when 
truth arrives. We are, therefore, I think, 
to be highly congratulated in this country 
over the present evident intention of our 
government and our schools and our inves- 
tigators to carry the work into the field, 
whereby the investigator himself becomes 
more closely the instructor. Middlemen 
we must have in this work, but let them be 
as few as possible. I think those investi- 
gators of farm problems who have had ex- 
perience will invariably agree with me that 
they have encountered much more diffi- 
culty in educating the philosophizing insti- 
tute or extension worker than they ever 
experienced in getting a farmer of average 
intelligence to adopt a particular principle 
under consideration. 

The Influence of the Laboratory Chem- 
ist.—I am no pessimist as to the value of 
present scientific methods. They are a 
matter of development, but there can be 
little harm done in calling attention to pos- 
sible improvements in the methods. The 
laboratory chemist, because of his first 


252 


active occupancy of the scientific field and 
because of the very vital problems with 
which he deals, whereby each one of the 
natural fields of science must depend upon 
him for facts as to the construction of 
matter, has always had a very strong influ- 
ence upon the formation of all our theories 
and principles of agriculture, and I think 
I may not be open to too strong criticism 
when I say that we have allowed the labo- 
ratory chemist and the untrained middle- 
man or field agriculturist who, in the past, 
has taken his doctrines largely from the 
assertions of the chemist, to lead us past 
many of the problems in cereal cropping. 

In this matter of depleted soils and de- 
teriorated cereal crops, it may be admitted 
that there are depleted soils—soils too poor 
to grow pay crops of any one of the cereals, 
but they are not, in the belief of the writer, 
located in any of the present great natural 
wheat- or cereal-growing regions. The 
great flat prairie lands of this country 
which are now producing the so-called de- 
teriorated types, black-pointed, white-bel- 
lied, piebald wheat with attendant low 
yields per acre, are not comparable in the 
difficulties of maintaining fertility with 
the denuded water-washed hills of New 
England, New York, Maryland or Vir- 
ginia; nor should they be classed with 
sewage-clogged lands as described by Rus- 
sel and Hutchinson of the Rothamsted ex- 
periments. When I say this for the Amer- 
ican natural wheat-producing areas, I may 
say that I have investigated the problem 
sufficiently to feel certain that the world- 
wide problem is comparable to our fertile 
land problem, is, in fact, in large part the 
same problem. 

Soils may blow away, wash away, or 
may be sewage-clogged, but these are not, 
at present, the chief reasons for low yields 
of wheat, oats and barley in certain nat- 
urally very fertile lands of Wisconsin, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas and north- 
west Canada, or indeed, of the old winter 
wheat lands of southern Ohio or Indiana. 

That you may feel certain of where I 
stand in the matter, I feel justified in as- 
serting, from my studies and those of vari- 
ous assistants who have been aiding me in 
my investigations of problems of cereal 
deterioration, that the chemists are now no 
more nearly accurate in their diagnosis of 
the chief wheat troubles in these and other 
natural wheat-cropping areas than they 
were a generation ago when the most ex- 
pert among them insisted that the methods 
of the chemical laboratory would allow 
them to determine whether water is fit for 
drinking or not. They could not then tell 
whether water would or would not produce 
disease and death. Neither can the chem- 
ists in their laboratories determine the 
probable productivity of a particular piece 
of wheat soil. It seems clear, from the 
investigations of many men, that chemical 
analysis is no longer the yard-stick for the 
measure of the productivity of a soil. 
Rather must we say that the real measure 
of the fertility of a soil is the crop which 
it will produce under a given method of 
procedure, tillage, drainage, rotation, etc. 

I would remind you that I am not talk- 
ing against the use of fertility in the grow- 
ing of crops. I know well the list of essen- 
tial chemical elements that must be present 
in a soil in certain reasonable proportions 
in order that there may be a crop pro- 
duced. I would remind you, however, that 
this is not the problem under considera- 
tion. The problem under consideration is: 
Why is it that fertile wheat lands do not 
produce wheat of reasonably normal qual- 
ity? Why is it that the yield per acre 
diminishes rather than increases in spite of 
present best methods of agriculture? 

I again assert, the chemists are not more 
able to tell by chemical analysis of a wheat 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


soil whether it will produce normal wheat 
under normal weather conditions than they 
were able, twenty-two years ago, to predict 
whether a certain soil would or would not 
produce a scabby, gnarled, bin-rotting lot 
of potatoes. Nor are they any nearer ac- 
curate in their diagnosis of the causes of 
the irregularities of results which are at- 
tendant upon present best methods of crop 
rotation and especially attendant upon the 
results of the one crop system of wheat 
growing, than they and others were, but a 
few years since, when it was continually re- 
iterated that flax wears out or poisons the 
land against its own growth, that flax is 
a very ‘‘destructive crop on fertility,’’ 
that flax is very ‘‘hard on land,”’ etc., that 
flax “‘should have a deep, loose, mellow 
seed bed and be highly manured if one 
expects to succeed with it at all.’’ All of 
which assertions have been abundantly dis- 
proved within the past fifteen years. 

The chemist and his followers might not 
have made these errors had the laboratory 
investigators been willing to go more often 
into the flax fields and to delve more deeply 
into the dirt rather than more deeply into 
the archives of written books to gain ideas 
as to why the crop was dying. 

The Present Status of Cereal Cropping. 
—That there is a real problem before the 
agriculturists of the world, especially as 
affecting the question of maintaining the 
output of wheat in amount and quality, all 
must agree. The present approximate an- 
nual output of 700,000,000 bushels in its 
occurrence is somewhat analogous to the 
varying annual output of gold. It is 
maintained at these approximate figures, 
essentially not through increased yields of 
grain of better quality per acre on old cul- 
tivated areas through certain exact meth- 
ods, but rather through the breaking up or 
turning over of new areas, in the same 
wasteful methods. The most alarming fea- 


SCIENCE 


253 


ture of the whole condition rests not so 
much in these facts as in the evident rapid 
deterioration of the quality of grain which 
invariably accompanies the first few years 
of cropping upon the new land areas. 
Indeed, in some of the newer great wheat- 
producing regions the most fertile new 
lands do not produce wheat now either in 
yield per acre or in quality similar to that 
which adjoining lands did when first put 
under wheat culture. This and similar 
problems the writer believes he is now able 
to explain. Commonly, the new lands at 
first, even though of light texture, and of 
low chemical fertility, are expected and 
usually do produce grain above the ordi- 
nary average as to quality in color, form 
and milling texture, but, very soon, in spite 
of the best teachings of our experiment 
stations and most noted agricultural ad- 
visers and experts, even though they them- 
selves attempt the culture, the yield per 
acre and the quality drops off to such ex- 
tent that the millers complain bitterly. 
There is no certainty of quality (grade) 
occurring, year by year, regardless of the 
native fertility of the soil whether high or 
low. The best old cropped soils which the 
chemist himself will assert are of higher 
fertility than many of the new unplowed 
lands, are no more certain of giving success 
with wheat as to these matters of grade 
and milling quality than the very poorest. 
This is but to be expected, for even though 
there be only fertility of a particular type 
sufficient for three or four bushels of seed 
per acre, biologically, there are no reasons 
why the crop should not, under conditions 
of health, mature normal seed. 

On account of all these conditions of low 
yield and invariable deficiency in quality, 
there has gone up a great ery of ‘‘de- 
pleted’’ soils, ‘‘worn out”’ land, ‘‘bad agri- 
culture,’’ “‘shiftless methods,’’ ete. This 
ery follows the plowman regardless of his 


254 


improved tools and general farming im- 
provements, regardless of better methods 
of tillage which we know now obtain on 
the farm, as against those which our fore- 
fathers were able to accomplish, and all 
regardless of hard work. It is all right for 
the banker and the lawyer, and even some 
professors, to berate the farmer for idle- 
ness and inefficiency in methods and lack 
of business, but I say let such men try to 
raise wheat of high grade under the pres- 
ent general understanding as laid down in 
books, or by our best agriculturists. In 
spite of all these directions, the wheat soon 
becomes soft and shows all of the peculiar 
characteristics which we find named in the 
literature of the chemical laboratory, or in 
the milling tests of wheat as previously 
indicated, ‘‘white-bellied,’’ ‘‘piebald,’’ or 
shrivelled, bleached and blistered, ‘‘black- 
pointed,’’ in fact all of the qualities of 
deteriorated grain; and the chemist from 
his laboratory outlook cries out ‘‘depleted 
soils,’’ ‘‘lost fertility,’’ ‘‘bad physical tex- 
ture,’’ due to ‘‘worn-out humus,’’ ‘‘lost 
nitrogen,’’ ‘“‘insufficient phosphates,’’ 
“‘lime,’’ ete., forgetting, as it were, that 
almost every field in these matters is a law 
unto itself and that every one of these 
fields in the next few years may contradict 
all these assertions by the growth of splen- 
did crops for reasons no one seems to know. 
The expert agriculturist and agronomist, 
who take their cue largely from the chem- 
ists, ery out: ‘‘Give us intensified agricul- 
ture,’’ ‘‘Apply phosphates,’’ ‘‘Apply 
lime,’’ ‘‘Apply potash,’’ ‘‘Grow clover,”’ 
“*Raise corn,’’ ‘‘Rotate,’’ all in a confused 
jumble, and lately the bankers, afraid of 
their mortgages, have become very busy 
and tell how to farm and scold rather 
strongly about lack of business methods on 
the farm, berate the schools, ete. 

These conditions of farm cropping, 
though not exclusively American, are espe- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


cially in prominence at present because 
many of our most noted publicists are be- 
coming, perhaps properly, alarmed. They 
say our farmers show no ability of main- 
taining the supply of wheat, the bread 
grain, a permanent cropping element of 
old land agriculture, but rather, instead, 
are reaping lessened yields of poorer qual- 
ity .from larger acreages. They are 
strongly impressed with the fact that the 
crop largely tends to disappear as a per- 
manent factor in the agriculture of each 
community, and this without much ap- 
parent regard for the natural fertility of 
any particular soil. It is thus hardly to 
be looked upon with surprise that some of 
our most noted educators and conserva- 
tionists have become somewhat disturbed 
and have rather loudly scolded the Amer- 
ican farmer for supposed shiftlessness, in- 
efficiency and lack of desire to do his work 
in a regular way. Some have gone so far 
as to call the farmer a ‘‘soil robber,’’ for- 
getting that the average farmer, like other 
people, must live. Such men see the rapid 
increase of population and the rapid ab- 
sorption of the public domain and asso- 
ciating these two existing facts with the 
apparent thought that any intelligent man 
could raise wheat if only he would follow 
out present best methods, begin to say 
harsh things, each according to his own 
individual make-up, forgetting, or per- 
chance rather not seeing fully, that if he 
should try hard to learn how best to grow 
wheat, his mind would become confused 
by the multiplicity of advisers and the 
extreme variance of the explanations of 
why he just as often fails as sueceeds when 
trying to follow out a given method, as, 
for example, of crop rotation, soil manur- 
ing or soil tillage. 

The writer having grown up on the 
farm, and never having allowed himself to 
get away from the real love of working in 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


the dirt or soil, has found it rather easy to 
retain the farmers’ viewpoint. In my ef- 
forts to solve farm problems through the 
application of botanical principles, I have 
invariably commenced at the farm end of 
the problem, and with an understanding 
of the farmers’ explanation of the trouble. 
This, perhaps, in part explains why I have 
never been able to join the ranks of those 
who scold the American farmer for sup- 
posed things left undone. Personally, I 
have learned that when I have known a 
principle of plant production and have 
myself been able to put it into action, I 
have never had any trouble to get the 
‘average farmer to understand that prin- 
ciple and put it into practise. Thus if I 
were to turn scold, my arraignment would 
not be against the farmer, but rather 
against those who have been and are now 
too cocksure of their scientific principles 
as worked out in the laboratory, nor should 
I feel justified in very strongly scolding 
so-called extension workers. They are 
much like newspaper writers. They must 
interest their hearers. They must have 
something to talk about and can not talk 
more definitely than the investigators ad- 
vise. I hope I may not be too pointed in 
this matter, for these advisers are legion. 
We have each been guilty of essentially 
the same fault, namely, the repetition of 
supposed best principles, perhaps, often 
urging them more strongly than our per- 
sonal convictions would actually justify. 
Half truths are not apt to gain a consistent 
following among any class of American 
workers. The simple assertion that crop 
rotation improves the crop because it saves 
fertility could not of necessity appeal to 
the American farmer when he knows well 
that the next crop which follows may take 
out even more of the same elements of 
fertility than the one which has been fail- 
ing. It is apparent to him that there must 


SCIENCE 


255 


in some manner be a fallacy in the argu- 
ment. Thus it is that the writer explains 
the fact that there is not at present any 
consistent following of any definite system 
of crop rotation on the part of our farmers. 

Rather than join the ranks of the scold, 
I prefer to assert that wheat-growing is a 
complex problem of life, and that the 
farmer has never been shown very defi- 
nitely how to grow wheat. He has never 
been shown how, with any degree of cer- 
tainty, to make the crop an annual pay ele- 
ment upon his farm. He has, to be sure, 
been told to ‘‘select good seed,’’ to ‘‘prac- 
tise proper tillage,’’ ‘‘apply fertilizers,’’ 
and crop rotation, ete., but oh! the con- 
fusion of all, and the uncertainty of results. 

Who is there here who has the temerity to 
announce that he could follow the advice 
and win in cash returns with any annual 
regularity? (I am not here referring to 
the irregularity of present marketing con- 
ditions, but to crop returns, based on sup- 
posed fair markets.) What is the system 
of seed selection? What is the system of 
soil fertilizing? What is the system of 
crop rotation? and what is the why of 
each, or at least one why of each? Do we 
know the whys of wheat culture as for 
apple culture? or as for the growing of 
potatoes, or for the raising of the dairy 
cow? No, rather are we all confused, ad- 
visers and advised, much as we were with 
regard to potato culture twenty-five years 
ago. 

Too many advisers are yet talking of 
what they see in the test tube and report- 
ing to the farmer what they have read in 
books, assuming that they can thus accu- 
rately advise without studying the wheat 
plant in the field. 

With any crop, the farmer must be given 
something definite to do that may give the 
expected results, at least somewhat more 
often than not. This information he does 


256 


not now have available as to wheat and 
cereal cropping. That he succeeds as well 
as he does is proof positive that cereals are 
sturdy crops. Wheat, for example, is 
among those crops which man has always 
had with him since he became reasonably 
intelligent, and it is probable that only the 
survival of the fittest, acting under the 
many interfering unintelligent activities of 
man, now accounts for the fact that our 
wheat yields remain as high per acre as 
they do. 

The writer is one of those who believes 
that disease, as a factor, has been one of 
the main agents of elimination, directing 
the survival of the fittest among cultivated 
plants as among peoples themselves. I 
also believe that when we get our people to 
understand this problem, the question of 
sanitation, both our home life and farm 
cropping work will have a new meaning of 
very great importance to the public. 

The Problem not Alone an American 
One—That the problem of deteriorated 
yields in quality in cereals is not alone an 
American problem is evident from the lit- 
erature now appearing in England and 
other European countries, especially, at 
present emanating from the Rothamsted 
farm. By our noted American agricul- 
turists we have been almost led to believe 
that they had no wheat problems at the 
Rothamsted farm. All were settled by 
well-worked-out theories of soil fertiliza- 
tion and crop rotation. Our farmers have 
been told that if they would do likewise 
(which is an essential impossibility under 
present farm conditions) they would have 
no trouble in boosting our annual yield to 
25 or 30 bushels per acre. 

When it has been needed to drive our 
farmers a little harder, we have not hesi- 
tated to say to them, ‘‘Look at the wheat 
yields of England, France and Germany,”’ 
apparently all oblivious of certain great 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


differences in farm conditions existing 
there which do not exist and which can not 
exist here for many years to come, and to 
the further fact that in proportion to their 
intensified conditions of agriculture, they 
have the same great proportionate varia- 
tions in yearly success. Their grains show 
the same signs of deterioration and they 
have the same uncertainty that the crop 
will pay for the labors and money ex- 
pended. The writer now knows that their 
troubles are primarily the same as ours. 
If we are to judge from the reports from 
the Rothamsted Farm, they have no clearer 
explanation of the wherefor of the ill ef- 
fects of continuous cropping than has been 
given by our own agriculturists who have 
but largely repeated old explanations. 

Theories—There are many theories as 
to the causes underlying these irregulari- 
ties as to cereal-cropping under special 
methods; especially as to the causes under- 
lying apparent soil depletion and wheat 
deterioration. 

1. The Lost Fertility Theory: For ages 
the farmer has known that proper food 
prevents starvation, that hay and grain 
make the fat horse, ete., and from experi- 
ence knows that what he calls a fertile 
black, mellow, tillable soil commonly makes 
strong plants; that farm manures gen- 
erally tend to give crop increase, though 
in the case of cereals there is no certainty 
of this. There may be increased yields, 
with vital deterioration in quality of seed 
produced. He has, however, always lent a 
willing ear to the fertility doctrine and has 
willingly looked to the chemist to tell him 
what to do, what to eat, drink, and what to 
feed his stock. From this vantage point 
the chemist has from the first had slight 
trouble in dictating from the laboratory 
the measure of soil fertility, but I think I 
am safe in saying that he never has been 
able to explain why fertile soils and nor- 


AvGuSsT 22, 1913] 


mal weather conditions do not always 
measure the crop in yield and seldom in 
quality. He settles the matter by citing 
the probability of soil depletion in some 
measurable available matter of plant food; 
when this is supplied, if the crop yet fails, 
he circumlocutes the question by the asser- 
tion that there is ‘‘bad agriculture,’’ and 
if the farmer is unconvinced, he and the 
farmer together are apt to blame the 
weather or the variety. 

2. The Toxine Theory: The farmer, used 
to the observation that a single crop system 
sometimes gives sickly-looking plants and 
failing crops, and that a long rest of the 
land or a change of crop seems to tend to 
correct the difficulty, and associating these 
conditions with the well-known fact that 
animals, including man, too closely housed 
and associated with their own kind in large 
numbers fail to thrive, has always had a 
dim suspicion that when certain cropping 
plants are too thick on the land or too con- 
tinuously returned there, they may tend to 
poison the ground for their own growth. 
Certain bacteriologically inclined chemists, 
or rather, perhaps, bacteriologists with 
chemical training, unduly impressed with 
the fact that animals and plants and espe- 
cially bacteria in a closed space throw off 
substances toxic to themselves, have of late 
invented a very plausible poison, toxine or 
excreta theory by which they reason that 
plants may poison themselves or introduce 
into the soil substances poisonous to follow- 
ing crops of the same sort. Some even go 
so far, apparently, as to believe that almost 
any soil may contain such organic sub- 
stances. Thus, for example, Russell and 
Hutchinson, of Rothamsted, seem to think 
that a study of cabbage-sick soil might ex- 
plain barley-sickness; that a study of sew- 
age-logged soil might explain wheat-sick- 
ness on arable soils, and Professor Whitney 
has even tried to explain that grass fails to 


SCIENCE 


257 


grow under a tree because of the excreta 
thrown off by the tree. 

3. The Ammonification Theory: Certain 
of the bacteriologists, over-enthusiastic as 
to the efficacious power of bacteria to 
change organic substances into nitrate ni- 
trogen, etc., seem to imagine that culti- 
vated plants could not live in fertile soil 
without the activity of such organisms. 
Unable to get away from their chemical 
training, they attribute almost all of the 
powers of a soil to produce a crop to the 
bacterial flora, and have builded about bac- 
terial activities what I think I am correct 
in naming the ‘‘nitrification, ammonifica- 
tion denitrification theory’’ of crop pro- 
duction, until, when one reads their wri- 
tings he must, if he assents to their as- 
sumptions, believe that a wheat plant could 
not be expected to thrive in a fertile soil in 
the absence of such nitrifiers, ammonifiers 
and denitrifiers in fine adjustment. 

4. The Amceboid or Denitrification The- 
ory: Finally, at Rothamsted, England, a 
subdivision of the latter school of chemical 
bacteriologists has risen who would grant 
the essentials of the ammonification theory, 
but are unable to account for the fact that 
often in the presence of a highly nitro- 
genous and otherwise fertile soil there is 
yet crop failure and irregularity of crop 
as to quality. They would explain such 
irregularities or apparent soil deficiencies 
in crop production by assuming that the 
proper balance of bacterial flora in the soil 
has been interfered with. This they ex- 
plain by the assumption (wholly ground- 
less, I think) that certain amcebe or other 
organisms, which, for lack of better name, 
they call biological factors, eat up the good 
bacteria, the nitrifiers and ammonifiers and 
for some reason are unable to digest the 
denitrifiers, forgetting, apparently, the 
short life of all of the organisms thus con- 
cerned and the evident fact that such a 


258 


process could only result in a continuous 
freeing of fertility. These authors have 
also apparently made the mistake of study- 
ing some other soil than the one which 
should be studied. All of the phenomena 
which they mention for sewage-sick soil 
ean in all probability be explained on nor- 
mal chemical, physical and_ biological 
grounds without the necessity of intro- 
ducing a reversed Metchnikoff theory. 

It will be noted that all these theories 
have a strong chemical bearing, that, in 
fact, all are trying to explain crop de- 
terioration on the basis of chemical deple- 
tion or modification of the soil. They, ap- 
parently, all ask: ‘‘ What is the matter 
with this soil?’’ rather than, ‘* What is the 
matter with the crop?’’ They do not allow 
the cropping plant much character of its 
own as to ability to feed itself when fer- 
tility is available; and, to my thinking, 
there is a stumbling block in the way of all 
these theories. None of them explain im- 
mediate crop failure or modification on 
virgin lands, nor do they explain the pro- 
duction of seed of deteriorated quality on 
old-worked lands of high available fertility. 

As to explaining the types of seed deteri- 
oration which the millers have under dis- 
cussion, I am convinced all fail. Our ex- 
periments teach that there are other inter- 
fering causes than lack of fertility or of 
the presence or absence of toxines in the 
soil, or the presence or absence of a par- 
ticularly good bacterial flora, or the pres- 
ence or absence of ameboid organisms 
which feed upon them. For example, in 
the case of fruit culture, vegetable garden- 
ing and potato culture, I would call atten- 
tion to the fact that sanitation applied to 
cropping methods has made a record which 
should long ago have aroused the chemists 
and the teachers of agriculture from their 
apathy with regard to the influence of in- 
terfering diseases upon cereal cropping. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


I recognize that soil fertility in chemical 
matter, taken with climate and variety, 
constitute the primary gage of the crop- 
producing power of a soil, but I also feel 
sure that I am pointing out the chief in- 
terfering factor which accounts for the 
irregularities in cereal crop production, 
namely, infectious disease resident in the 
seed and in the soil. My experience with, 
observation on, and experiments upon 
potato-sick soil, flax-sick soil, wheat-sick 
and oat-sick soils leave me no room to 
doubt that the various chemical theories of 
soil deterioration or depletion do not in 
any way explain the causes of deteriorated 
grain as seen under the one-cropping sys- 
tem on soils which are characteristically 
cereal lands. Soil fertility is primary, but 
a disease problem is superimposed. 

Root diseases of cereals, as in the case of 
potatoes, in all probability account for 
many of the confusing results which have 
been obtained under the best and most 
persistently conducted series of crop rota- 
tion, soil fertilization, water culture experi- 
ments, etc. These experimenters never 
used, with certainty, healthy seedlings. 
When they used manure, they sometimes 
did and sometimes did not introduce crop- 
destroying diseases. When they have used 
artificial fertilizers they sometimes did and 
sometimes did not apply them to the crops 
which were particularly subject to disease. 
So, also, in the past conducting of variety 
tests of cereal grains, the results are very 
largely vitiated. In the presence of dis- 
ease, a resistant variety has been given 
undue credit for yield and quality, while a 
non-resistant variety has been unjustly 
militated against. 

My experience with cereal crops with 
reference to the application of fertilizers, 
the trial of varieties, experiments in seed 
selection, seed breeding and seed treatment, 
and seed purification furnish data which 


AvGuST 22, 1913] 


will allow me to say that I have no fear 
that all will eventually agree that sanitary 
considerations with reference to the char- 
acteristics of parasitic diseases which are 
now quite commonly resident in the seed 
and the soil will yet form the essential 
basis for the proper management of crops 
in rotation in series, and the same consid- 
erations will largely govern the type of 
tillage and the manner of handling waste 
materials on the farm, particularly farm 
manures. Further, aside from the matter 
of variety as to food value, the efforts of 
agriculturists and agronomists with refer- 
ence to cereal cropping will, in the future, 
give primary consideration to the selection 
of seed for sowing purposes, based directly 
upon its powers of resistance to disease. 

The ability of our farmers to do all these 
things can not be questioned, and when 
they realize that health among cropping 
plants is far more important because of the 
close association of individual plants in the 
soil, than it is with reference to animal life, 
they will understand, and will put into 
action proper sanitary measures for dis- 
ease control in cereal cropping. 

H. L. Bouey 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 


NortH Dakota, 
May 14, 1913 


DOCTORATES CONFERRED BY AMERICAN 
UNIVERSITIES 

As shown by the tables published on the 
following pages, the notable increase in the 
number of degrees of doctor of philosophy 
and of science conferred by American uni- 
versities in 1912 has been followed by a 
small decrease in 1913. The total number 
of degrees this year is 461, as compared 
with 482 last year; the degrees in the nat- 
ural and exact sciences fell from 273 to 
231. Such fluctuations are not, however, 
significant, being due to natural variations 


SCIENCE 


259 
TABLE I 
Doctorates Conferred 

3 ai A Roc} 

& a & e) a Ss a nN oc} & 3 = 

aot Ss So 4 b=] baal os Ig eT 

Ie SSS S| Sg Har 

454 Aas 

Columbia........ 32.2) 55) 59) 44] 75) 81) 66] 702 
@hicagoneeneeees 35.6} 54) 38) 42) 55} 57) 46] 648 
Harvyardee cians 33.8] 42] 38} 35] 42) 41) 52) 588 
alene ae hye 31.8] 32) 44) 27) 31] 31) 39! 522 
Johns Hopkins....| 30.5] 28] 27| 23) 28) 32] 32) 475 
Pennsylvania..... 22.5) 32} 29; 26) 29, 34] 31) 406 
Cornell eee. 18.1) 22| 34) 35) 34! 33) 35] 374 
Wisconsin........ 8.6] 17| 16) 18) 23) 27) 19} 206 
Clarke eyed als 8.7| 11} 9} 14] 16; 6) 16} 159 
New York........ 6.7| 15} 13} 11} 17) 10} 16] 149 
Michigan......... 6.9; 4] 13} 7| 6) 11) 15] 125 
Bostonee.. saa. 4.4| 11} 13} 6] 13} 8) 9) 104 
California........ 3.3) 4! 10) 6] 6] 15) 6} 80 
Princeton........ 2.6) 6} 4) 8] 9] 12) 13) 78 
Miimoisis eee. 5} 5] 4] 12} 11] 20) 20) 77 
Bryn Mawr....... 2.1; 4) 2) 5| 5) 9] 3) 49 
George Wash...... 2.8) 3] 4) 4] 5) 2} 2) 48 
Varginiasesnen ener 2.8; 4) 1) 4| 2) 4) 4) 47 
Browne eis 2.3) 2} 5] Ij) 4) 6) 1) 42 
Catholic. .......:. ZO Liesl sleo|ied|le ole 40) 
Minnesota........ 2.4; 3| 5) 1) 2) 2) 3) 40 
Stantordweisys eas 1.4) 2) 3] 5) 4| 4! 5) 37 
TOWa ey rt veasens Ta 3 |) tae: 9 ad Piers] ise) 
Nebraska......... 210212 LO is ee? iO 
Mass. Inst........ <3) Ol Ol oleae 2| Gla 18 
Cincinnati........ By OY Be By ay) By Pay alee 
Imdianayeeneieey: 0; 3] 3) O| 2} 4) 3) 15 
Ohiov sss avec. A) O} 2) O| 2). 5| 1 14 
Pittsburgh........ | PANO 21 t rel ae 
Washington...... Al Ul OO Bal” aes} 14 
IMissourine rier eS COPPA A ai ah als} 
Vanderbilt........ aT aD A Oy ay a aks 
Georgetown...... 1.0} 0} O; OF OF OF O 10 
Colorado......... ay OP UO Oy: wal a 
KANSAS Saye) viele eA OM OW ae oa ON) 7 
Syracuse......... PAL COL ay rl oar Oh) 7 
North Carolina. .. 5 Ol Li Ol Ole Oe20) 6 
Northwestern..... 4; 0; 1} O} 1) O| O 6 
Dutta eyernvatiste eke: .5| O} O} 1] O}| O| O 6 
Wash. and Lee.... A LOK OO eOli.0 5 
Lafayette......... =O LOO OlnO lOO 3 
Dartmouth....... AT a Oe Oy ON Oh 0} 2 
ehigh eee eee -2| 0} O| O| O| OF O 2 
Mulanesaeaee ye Sl OO OP Or at 2 
Motalheeeseoe. 272.4|378|389|358/445|482/46115,237 


in statistics when the total number of cases 
is comparatively small. It is not likely 
that the number of degrees conferred in 
any future year will fall appreciably below 
the record for the present year, whereas 
the average for the first five years covered 
by these statistics was 233. This repre- 
sents a doubling of graduate and research 


260 SCIENCE [N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 
TABLE II TABLE III 
Doctorates Conferred in the Sciences Doctorates Distributed According to Subjects 
Sas S23) 3 Ses 
22/2/8/3/8 (3/2 lasa|s Ses|2/alelals|el z 
Dera ad fixe Sata sa! Seb | SSI ee a Se) 2 Sea 2 
ee Seal ae yee 
Chicago...... 16.4) 37} 20) 24) 35) 37) 16} 333) 51 Chemistry........ 32.3| 54| 43] 48) 68] 78] 68] 682 
Johns Hopkins | 16.8) 17) 20) 15) 19) 23] 21) 283) 60 Physics.......... 15.5| 22] 25) 25| 33) 30) 21) 311 
Columbia..... 13.4) 21! 23) 11] 29) 36) 27| 281) 40 Zoology.......... 15.2} 25] 18] 24] 25] 20) 24) 286 
Cornell....... 10.4) 15) 24) 27) 27) 28} 30) 255) 68 Psychology....... 13.5} 23) 21] 20! 23) 29) 24) 275 
Harvard...... 14.1} 13] 14} 10) 20) 15) 22) 235) 40 Mathematics..... 12.1] 23) 14] 23) 25] 22) 20) 248 
MENS Bisa GH ou 12.4) 16} 27) 12] 15) 21) 19) 234) 45 Botany.......... 12.6] 11) 16) 10) 20) 30) 27) 240 
Pennsylvania. .} 9.0) 18] 13! 12) 10) 9; 9) 161) 40 Geology.......... 7.1| 5] 13] 10} 15] 23] 14] 151 
Clarkes ene 7.7| 11) 8] 14] 16] 6) 13) 145) 91 Physiology....... ALi 2713 | 04 neo |S io ies 
Wisconsin..... 2.8] 6} 4/ 13) 13) 14) 5) 83) 40 Astronomy....... 3.44 1] 7| 3] 4] 2] 11) 62 
California... .. 2.4, 2) 6) 4) 5) 12) 6) 59) 74 Agriculture....... 1.0/ 2} 7| 4] 11) 11) 8] 53 
Michigan..... 2:8| 1/ 5] 1] 3] 8] 10] 56) 45 Bacteriolosy...... 14) i) 5] 1) 4! 6] 3) 34 
Illinois....... 3] 0] 2| 9] 6] 15/11) 46] 60 Anthropology..... 1.0| 4| 4] 2] 2] o| 3] 25 
Princeton..... 1.1) 3] 3) 2) 5) 7 7 38) 49 Anatomy......... Ch SI) GY) SU a GE TU BD) 
George Wash. .] 1.7| 2) 2) 3) 4) 2) 1) 31/65  Paleontology...... 1.6) 1) O} 2] Oj} O} OF 19 
Stanford...... 1.1) 2| 2) 1) 4) 3) 5) 28) 76 Pathology........ FA Oe QW Se TH Sl BG 
Brown........ 1.2) 2) 2) 1) 3) 4 1) 25) 60 Bngineering.......] 8) 0] O| 1] 2] 2] Oo} 18 
Nebraska. .... 1.3) 1) 2} 1) 0) 0} 2) 19) 68 Miineralogy....... 6; 0; 3] 0} 1) Of ©} 10 
Virginia...... 1.1) 2) 0} 1) 1) 2) 2) 19) 40 Metallurgy....... 3} 0} 1} O} 1] Of O}| 5 
Mass. Inst..... 3] 3] 0] 3) 2) 6) 1) 18/100 Geography....... TUS Sal SO ahh Oh al 5 
New York..:/| 6/1) 3/2/12] 3) 118) 12 ‘Meteorology... WeOh OF OO O a. i 
Bryn Mawr...| 1.0} 1! O}; 2} 1 3). 0 E35. See ase RAPA) (ares Pe a fc (Se oa 
Minnesota....| .7/ 1) 2) 1) 2) 2) 2) 17) 48 otal umerncerey 124.1/184/194]/179/239/273)231|2,541 
Towa rer oA) OO Aa Bye 4 15} 50 Rarer Para PEN 
Washington otf) MO) Oi eaye aN aye Men) nals cooncooobasone 30] 27] 31] 35} 30} 39} 192 
Indiana....... OP Sh. SB Oh rey, a UE TBIE NOTA o Gduodoaueouas 32] 22] 25] 28} 20) 25] 152 
Ohioke eee | 0) 2) O| 2} 5) O} 13) 93 Beonomies............ 17| 42) 7| 17| 26) 16) 125 
Cincinnati..../  .1/ 0) 1) 1) 4| 1) 2) 10) 59 philosophy............ 25] 14] 19] 26) 15] 22] 121 
Missouri. ..... She (nlite 2 tier |Online O lire earch catl ones 6| 9| 13] 23] 21) 25) 97 
Catholic. ..... aa Sy, Oho UW Oh Sh 2 icewting Sh sedookeaosanen 12] 12] 15] 13] 17/ 19} 88 
Pittsburgheyy- |i) Ol Ol) Olen tT Leo SINS 7) Germanic meres 14] 14] 16) 8] 15| 21) 88 
Kansaspe errr 3} 0} OF 3; 1; OF O GLOOM Romances ssn ae 1216 | 6 ele |e) 
Vanderbilt . £3] SLO OR eel asidiRO Sie Socioloay eee meee 6| 6] 14) 18] 12} 11] 67 
Boston....... ay Ol OP Ol a Sh OS Okianills ss caonccososes 9| 15) 11) 1] 10) 8| 54 
mutts seer ere 5} 0} 0} 0} 0} O} 0} 5) 83 Political Science... .... 9| 4| 9] 6] 9] 15} 52 
North Carolina) .3/ 0) 1} 0} 0} 0} O| 4/67 Greek................. 13) 11) 5) 7| 5] 8} 49 
Northwestern. . A ON) a Oy ally > GL -@ 4! 67 TheolOaver eae 7| 2] al 7] 7] 6! 30 
Wash. and Lee} .3) 1) 0} 0) 0) 0} 0) 4/80  Philol. and Com. Lit....| 0| 1] 5} 1] 2| 3] 12 
Syracuse. ..... a OP Oi Die Oy Ol Bee Taro lssoosousau boner mh Oa) GB a a GB 
Colorado...... 21 0} O} O} OF OF O 2| 28 Classical Arch.......... Oy} CO}! SOP all SH a 5 
Dartmouth....| 1) 1) 0; 0) 0; O} O; 2/100 Music................ i O} a OM O| 8 
Lehigh. ...... 21 0) 0} O} Of Of O| 2/100 Fine Arts............. 0} o| of of 1] 1) 2 
Georgetown... SU Ol OH ON SO 0)! G) HL BL. O is eS A Re a ee ee ee 
Lafayette..... 1] 0} OF Of; OF OF OF 1) 38 Totaleeepetiere ie 194]195!179|206|209|230|1,213 
mulanes 5.022. AO ON LO OE: OF OH al 1) 50 
Total.. i... 124.1184/194|179|239|273123112,541| 49 Johns Hopkins—conferred nearly equal 
numbers of degrees, varying only from 356 
work in our universities within fifteen at Chicago to 305 at the Johns Hopkins, 
years. It is, however, still the case that, but during the last six years these five 


in proportion to its population, Germany 
has six times as many men officially certi- 
fied as competent to undertake advanced 
teaching and research work. 

From 1898 to 1907 five universities— 
Chicago, Harvard, Columbia, Yale and the 


universities have arranged themselves 
somewhat definitely in the order shown in 
the table, and it seems not improbable that 
this order will be maintained for a long 
time. Pennsylvania and Cornell have in 
this period come into the same group as 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


Yale and the Johns Hopkins. The most 
notable advance, however, has been in the 
case of the state universities, especially 
Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Both 
last year and this the last-mentioned uni- 
versity conferred twenty degrees, whereas 
during the entire ten-year period from 
' 1898 to 1907 only five degrees were con- 
ferred. In 1912 and 1913 Princeton has 
also increased to a considerable extent the 
number of its higher degrees. This year 
Harvard and Yale conferred more degrees 
than usual, while the number at Columbia 
decreased. Such annual changes have, 
however, no special significance. This 
year Columbia University conferred about 
500 master of arts degrees, by far the 
largest number in the history of any Amer- 
ican institution. 

When we turn to the degrees conferred in 
the natural and exact sciences, we find that 
Chicago and the John Hopkins have still 
conferred the largest numbers in these sub- 
jects, though this year they fall behind 
Columbia, Cornell and Harvard. Of the 
leading universities, Cornell and the Johns 
Hopkins have conferred the largest per- 
centages of their degrees in science, 68 and 
60, respectively. The percentage is ex- 
actly the same for Columbia, Harvard, 
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, namely, 40 
per cent. In the separate sciences there 
were this year 68 degrees given in chem- 
istry, 27 in botany, 24 each in zoology and 
in psychology and 21 in physics. More 
degrees than usual were conferred in as- 
tronomy, as many as six, all the degrees 
the university conferred, being granted by 
California. 

It is not altogether easy to make a satis- 
factory distribution of the degrees. Thus 
Harvard conferred degrees in applied biol- 
ogy and Cornell in plant breeding, and 
degrees may be conferred in genetics and 
plant pathology. It would scarcely do to 


SCIENCE 


261 


have entries for subjects such as these, yet 
it is not certain whether they should be 
placed under botany or agriculture. This 
is only an example of difficulties which 
occur in all such classifications; while the 
table is substantially correct, it is not cer- 
tain that exactly the same methods of 
classification have been followed from 
year to year. 

It will be noted that while this year the 
number of degrees in the exact and natural 
sciences falls from 273 to 231, the number 
of degrees in the humanities is increased 
from 209 to 230. In the latter subjects 
English leads decidedly, followed by his- 
tory, economics, philosophy and education. 
Latin and German are bracketed, while 
more degrees have been conferred in the 
oriental languages than in Greek. 

The institutions which this year con- 
ferred two or more degrees in a science 
are: in chemistry, Columbia, 13; Yale, 10; 
Cornell and Johns Hépkins, 7 each; Pitts- 
burgh, 5; Illinois, 4; Harvard, 3; Chicago, 
New York, Pennsylvania and Princeton, 2 
each; in physics, Cornell, 4; Harvard and 
Johns Hopkins, 3 each; Stanford and 
Yale, 2 each; in zoology, Illinois, 5; Har- 
vard, 4; Columbia, 3; Chicago and Stan- 
ford, 2 each; in psychology, Clark, 8; 
Chicago, Columbia and Cornell, 3 each; 
Iowa and Johns Hopkins, 2 each; in math- 
ematics, Harvard, 4; Columbia and Johns 
Hopkins, 3 each; Boston, Michigan and 
Yale, 2 each; in botany, Cornell, 5; Har- 
vard, 4; Michigan, Pennsylvania and 
Washington, 3 each; Columbia, Johns 
Hopkins and Wisconsin, 2 each; in geol- 
ogy, Johns Hopkins, 4; Yale, 3; Chicago 
and Columbia, 2 each; in astronomy, 
California, 6; Chicago, 2; in agriculture, 
Cornell, 8; in anthropology, Clark, 2; in 
pathology, Chicago, 2. 

The names of those on whom the degree 
was conferred in the natural and exact 


262 


sciences, with the subjects of their theses, 
are as follows: 


CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


Edward Riley Allen: ‘‘The Orcinolphthaleins, 
the Orcinoltretrachlorphthaleins and some of their 
Derivatives. ’’ 

Adeline Sarah Ames: 
poracee. ’”’ 

Hiram Douthitt Ayres: ‘‘The Refraction of 
Gases at Different Temperatures and Pressures.’’ 

Henry John Broderson: ‘‘Solubilities and 
Chemical Reactions in Anhydrous Hydrazine.’’ 

Karl M. Dallenbach: ‘‘The Measurement of 
Attention.’’ 

Maxwell Jay Dorsey: ‘‘Pollen Development in 
Vitis with Special Reference to Sterility. ’’ 

Alfred Washington Drinkard, Jr.: ‘‘ Heredity 
and Variation in Browallia.’’ 

Mary Alida Fitch: ‘‘Studies in Transpiration.’’ 

Harry Morton Fitzpatrick: ‘‘A Comparative 
Study of the Development of the Fruit Body in 
Phallogaster, Hysterangiwm and Gautieria.’’ 

William Silliman Foster: ‘‘On the Preservative 
Tendency.’’ 

Margaret Graham: ‘‘Studies in Nuclear Divi- 
sion of Preissia commutata.’’ 

Bascombe Britt Higgins: ‘‘A Contribution to 
the Life History and Physiology of Cylindro- 
sporium on Stone Fruits.’’ 

George Richard Hill, Jr.: ‘‘The Relation of 
Ripe and Unripe Fruits and Germinating Seeds to 
Air.’’ 

Arthur Romaine Hitch: ‘‘The Electrolytic and 
Thermal Decomposition of some Inorganic Trini- 
trides.’’ 

Earle Hesse Kennard: ‘‘The Rate of Decay of 
Phosphorescence at Low Temperatures.’’ 

Burton Judson Lemon: ‘‘The Electrolysis of 
Solutions of the Rare Earths.’’ 

James Martin Lohr: ‘‘The Tensile Strengths of 
the Copper Zine Alloys.’’ j 

Lawrence Martin: ‘‘Some Features of the Gla- 
ciers and ‘Glaciation in College Fiord, Prince 
William Sound, Alaska.’’ 

Tanomo Odaira: ‘‘A Study of Heredity and 
Variation in Pure Lines and in Hybrids of Phase- 
olus vulgaris.’’ 

Martin John Prucha: ‘‘Can the Efficiency of 
Bacillus radicicola in producing Nodules on the 
Legumes be altered?’’ 

Fred M. Rolfs: ‘‘A Bacterial Disease of the 
Stone Fruits due to Bacterium pruni E. F. 8.’’ 


““Studies in the Poly- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 973 


Christian Alban Ruckmich: ‘‘The Role of Kin- 
esthesis in the Perception of Rhythm.’’ 

Philip Edward Smith: ‘‘Some Features in the 
Development of the Central Nervous System of 
Desmognathus fusca Urodela.’’ 

Vern Bonham Stewart: ‘‘The Fire Blight Dis- 
ease in Nursery Stock.’ 

Roland Elisha Stone: ‘‘The Life History of 
Ascochyta of some Leguminous Plants.’’ 

Hawley Otis Taylor: ‘‘A Direct Method of 
finding the Value of Materials as Sound Absorb- 
ers.’” 

George Ellsworth Thompson: ‘‘An Experi- 
mental Study of Photoactive Cells with Fluores- 
cent Electrolytes.’’ 

Lawrence J. Ulrich: ‘‘Equilibrium in certain 
Binary Systems. ’’ 

Eleanor Van Ness Van Alstyne: ‘‘The Absorp- 
tion of Protein without Digestion.’’ 

Thomas Whitney Benson Welsh: 
tions to the Chemistry of Hydrazine.’’ 


‘¢ Contribu- 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

Erie Temple Bell: ‘‘The Cyclotomic Quinary 
Quintie.’’ 

Ralph Carpenter Blanchard: ‘‘Rocks of the 
Western Buckskin Mountains, Arizona.’’ 

Ethel Nicholson Browne: ‘‘A Study of the Male 
Germ Cells in Notonecta.’’ 

Burdette Ross Buckingham: ‘‘Spelling Ability: 
its Measurement and Distribution.’’ 

Cora Sutton Castle: ‘‘A Statistical Study of 
Eminent Women.’’ 

Herbert Anthony Clark: ‘‘Selective Reflection 
of Salts of Chromium and certain other Oxygen 
Acids.’’ 

Benjamin George Feinberg: ‘‘A Quantitative 
Study of some Aldehyde Reactions.’’ 

H. D. Goodale: ‘‘The Early Development of 
Spelerpes bilineatus (Green).’’ 

Gabriel Marcus Green: ‘‘ Projective Differential 
Geometry of Triple Systems of Surface.’’ 

Joseph Samuel Hepburn: ‘‘ Biochemical Studies 
of Cholesterol.’’ 

Ferdinand Friis Hintze, Jr.: ‘‘A Contribution 
to the Geology of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah.’’ 

Benjamin Horowitz: ‘‘A Study of the Action 
of Ammonia on Thymal.’’ 

Robert Melyne Isham: ‘‘The Preparation and 
Properties of certain Methoxylated Carbinols, Ole- 
fins and Ketones derived from Trimethyl Gallic 
Acid.’’ 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


Michael Levine: ‘‘Studies in the Cytology of 
the Hymenomycetes, especially the Boleti.’’ 

Walter Wilbert McKirahan: ‘‘The Surface Ten- 
sion of Aqueous Solutions of some Organic Salts.”’ 

Edgar Grim Miller, Jr.: ‘‘Studies in Patholog- 
ical Chemistry. ’’ 

Garry Cleveland Myers: ‘‘A Study in Inci- 
dental Memory.’’ 

Marks Neidle: ‘‘The Surface Tension of Aque- 
ous Solutions of Ethyl, Methyl and Amyl Alcohols 
and of Acetic and Formic Acids.’’ 

William Stockton Nelms: ‘‘A Systematic Study 
of Linear and Non-linear Resonators for Short 
Electric Waves.’’ 

Anton Richard Rose: ‘‘ Biochemical Studies of 
Phytophosphates.’’ 

Edward Schramm: ‘‘The Surface Tension of 
Molten Hydrated Salts and their Solutions.’’ 

George Gilmore Scott: ‘‘A Physiological Study 
of the Changes in Mustelus canis produced by 
Modifications in the Molecular Concentration of 
the External Medium.’’ 

Lloyd Leroy Smail: ‘‘Some Generalizations in 
the Theory of Summable Divergent Series.’’ 

Clayton Sidney Smith: ‘‘A Study of the Influ- 
ence of Cold Storage Temperature upon the Com- 
position and Nutritive Value of Fish.’’ 

Edward Collins Stone: ‘‘The Surface Tension 
of certain Organic Liquids and the Capillary Con- 
stants and Critical Temperatures calculated there- 
from.’’ 

Arlow Burdette Stout: ‘‘The Individuality of 
the Chromosomes and their Serial Arrangement in 
Carex aquatilis.’’ 

Charles Weisman: ‘‘ Biochemical Studies of Ex- 
pired Air.’’ 


JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 

Gardner Cheney Basset: ‘‘The Relation between 
Brain Weight and the Time required for Habit 
Formation in the Albino Rat.’’ 

Harvey Bassler: ‘‘Filicales and Pteridosperme 
of the Mofongahela Formations of Maryland, in- 
cluding certain Forms from Similar Formations 
in Pennsylvania.’’ 

Harry Bateman: ‘‘The Quartic Curve and its 
Inscribed Configurations. ’’ 

Bessie Marion Brown: ‘‘On the Reactions of 
both the Ions and the Nonionized Forms of Elec- 
trolytes. On the Reactions of Methyl Iodide with 
Sodium, Potassium and Lithium Ethylates at 0° 
and 25°.’ 

George Clyde Fisher: ‘‘Seed Development in 
the Genus Peperomia.’’ 


SCIENCE 


263 


Theodore Thornbur Fitch: ‘‘The Influence of 
Density of Gas on the Formation of Corona.’’ 

Marcus Isaac Goldman: ‘‘Types of Sediments 
of the Upper Cretaceous of Maryland.’’ 

Lon. A. Hawkins: ‘‘The Influence of Calcium, 
Magnesium and Potassium Nitrates upon the Tox- 
icity of certain Heavy Metals toward Fungous 
Spores. ’’ 

Janet Tucker Howell: ‘‘The Fundamental Law 
of the Grating.’’ 

Horatio Hughes: ‘‘Conductivity and Viscosity 
of Solutions of Rubidium Salts in Mixtures of 
Acetone and Water.’’ 

Willis Thomas Lee: ‘‘Stratigraphy of the Coal 
Fields of Northern Central New Mexico.’’ 

Florence Parthenia Lewis: ‘‘A Geometrical Ap- 
plication of the Theory of the Binary Quintic.’’ 

Patrick Joseph Nicholson: ‘‘Some LExperi- 
ments on the Physical Properties of Selenium, 
with a Theoretical Discussion based on the Elec- 
tron Theory.’’ 

William Armstrong Price, Jr.: ‘‘The Inverte- 
brate Fauna of the Pennsylvania of Maryland.’’ 

Philip Schneeberger: ‘‘The Fractionation of 
California Petroleum by Diffusion through Ful- 
ler’s Earth.’’ 

Edward John Shaeffer: ‘‘A Study of the Con- 
ductivity, Dissociation and Temperature Coeffi- 
cients of Conductivity of certain Inorganic Salts 
in Aqueous Solution as Conditioned by Tempera- 
ture, Dilution, Hydration and Hydrolysis.’’ 

James Houston Shrader: ‘‘On the Reactions of 
both the Ions and the Nonionized Forms of Ethyl- 
ates and Phenolates with Alkyl Halides.’’ 

Leslie Denis Smith: ‘‘Conductivity, Tempera- 
ture, Coefficients of Conductivity, Dissociation and 
Constants of certain Organic Acids between 0° 
and 65°. 

John Linck Ulrich: ‘‘The Number and Distri- 
pution of Trials in Learning in the White Rat.’’ 

Luther Ewing Wear: ‘‘On Self-dual Plane 
Curves of the Fourth Order.’’ 

John Brown Zinn: ‘‘Osmotie Pressure Meas- 
urements of Cane Sugar Solutions at Higher Tem- 
peratures. ’’ 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


David Francis Barrow: ‘‘Oriented Circles in 
Space.’ 

Elmer Keiser Bolton: 
Todanil.’’ 

James Wittenmyer Chapman: ‘‘The Leopard 
Moth and other Insects Injurious to Shade Trees 
in the Vicinity of Boston.’’ 


‘Some Derivatives of 


264 


Guy Roger Clements: ‘‘Implicit Functions De- 
fined by Equations with Vanishing J acobian.’? 

Donald Walton Davis: ‘‘ Asexual Reproduction 
and Regeneration in Sagartia lucie Verrill.’’ 

Richard Maurice Elliott: ‘‘The Psychophysics 
of Handwriting.’’ 

Rollins Adams Emerson: (a) ‘‘A Genetie Study 
of Plant Height in Phaseolus vulgaris’’; (b) 
‘¢The Inheritance of a Recurring Somatic Varia- 
tion in Variegated Ears of Maize.’’ 

Chester Henry Heuser: ‘‘The Development of 
the Cerebral Ventricles in the Pig.’’ 

John William MHotson: ‘‘Culture Studies of 
Fungi Producing Bulbils and similar Propagative 
Bodies. ’’ 

Roger Arthur Johnson: ‘‘An Analytic Treat- 
ment of the Conic as an Element of Space of 
Three Dimensions.’’ 

Augustus Locke: ‘‘The Geology of El Oro and 
Tlalpujahua Mining Districts, Mexico.’’ 

James Watt Mavor: ‘‘Studies on Myxosporidia 
found in the Gall Bladder of Fishes from the 
Eastern Coast of Canada.’’ 

Raymond Edwin Merwin: ‘‘The Ruins of the 
Southern Part of the Peninsula of Yucatan, with 
special Reference to their Place in the Maya Cul- 
ture.’’ 

Frederic Palmer, Jr.: ‘‘ Volume Ionization Pro- 
duced by Light of Extremely Short Wave-length.’’ 

Chauncey J. Vallette Pettibone: ‘‘The Quanti- 
tative Estimation of Urea in Urine.’’ 

John Wesley Shipley: ‘‘Floating Equilibrium 
Applied to Analysis and to Precise Thermometry; 
and the Compressibility of certain Liquids.’’ 

Edmund Ware Sinnott: ‘‘The Morphology of 
the Reproductive Structures in the Podocar- 
pinee.’? 

Joseph Slepian: ‘‘On the Functions of a Com- 
plex Variable Defined by an Ordinary Differential 
Equation of the First Order and the First De- 
gree.’’ 

Reynold Albrecht Spaeth: ‘‘The Physiology of 
the Chromatophores of Fishes.’’ 

Howard Moffitt Trueblood: ‘‘On the Measure- 
ment of the Coefficient of the Joule-Thomson Ef- 
fect in Superheated Steam.’’ 

David Locke Webster: I., ‘‘On an Electromag- 
netic Theory of Gravitation’’; II., ‘‘On the Ex- 
istence and Properties of the Ether.’’ 

Orland Emile White: ‘‘Studies of Teratolog- 
ical Phenomena in their Relation to Evolution and 
the Problems of Heredity.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


YALE UNIVERSITY 


Joseph Alfred Ambler: ‘‘A New Method of 
Synthesizing N-Alkyl Derivatives of a-Amino 
Acids.’’ , 

Alan Mara Bateman: ‘‘Geology and Ore De- 
posits of Bridge River District, British Co- 
lumbia.’” 

Robert Bengis: ‘‘The Synthesis of Amino Acids 
related to Adrenaline.’ 

Theodore Henry Brown: ‘‘The Effect of Radia- 
tion on a Small Particle revolving about Jupiter.’’ 

Wilbur Haverfield Cramblet: ‘‘On Intermediate 
Functions, being an Extension of Semi-continuous 
or Upper and Lower Functions to a Classification 
of Discontinuous Functions.’’ 

Ralph Dixon Crawford: ‘‘Geology and Ore De- 
posits of the Monarch and Tomichi Districts, 
Colorado.’ 

Arthur Joseph Hill: ‘‘The Catalytic Action of 
Esters in the Claisen Condensation.’’ 

David Upton Hill: ‘‘Experimental Studies on 
the Diffusion Theory of Reaction Velocity.’’ 

Simon Boghos Kuzirian: ‘‘The Elimination of 
Certain Volatile Products in Chemical Analysis.’’ 

Howard Bishop Lewis: ‘‘The Behavior of some 
Hydantoin and Thiohydantoin Derivatives in the 
Organism, together with a Study of Certain Re- 
lated Sulphur Compounds.’’ 

George Augustus Linhart: ‘‘On the Kinetics of 
the Decomposition of Certain Organic and Inor- 
ganic Salts.’’ 

Ben Harry Nicolet: ‘‘Some Derivatives of 
Aminomalonic Acid, and their Biochemical In- 
terest.’’ 

Willis Clarke Noble, Jr.: ‘‘Some Investigations 
into the Distribution and Habitat of the Tetanus 
bacillus. ’? 

Leigh Page: ‘‘The Photoelectric Effect.’’ 

Theophilus Shickel Painter: ‘‘Spermatogenesis 
in Spiders.’’ 

Ruth Wheeler: ‘‘Nutrition Experiments with 
Mice.’’ : 

Jay Walter Woodrow: ‘‘Experiments on Col- 
umnar Ionization.’’ 

Bruce Rose: ‘‘Geology of Savona District, 
British Columbia.’’ 

Norman Arthur Shepard: ‘‘ Researches on Pyri- 
midines: Uramils and Thiouramils.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
Aaron Arkin: ‘‘The Influence of Chemical Sub- 
stances upon Immune Reactions, with Special Ref- 
erence to Oxidations.’’ 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


Joseph Kumler Breitenbecher: ‘‘The Effect of 
Varying Water Content in the Medium upon the 
Activities of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) on 
Introduction into a Desert Habitat.’’ 

Albert Dudley Brokaw: ‘‘The Solution and 
Precipitation of Gold in Secondary Enrichment of 
Ore Deposits.’ 

Harold Caswell Cooke: ‘‘The Secondary En- 
richment of Silver Ores.’’ 

George Oliver Curme, Jr.: ‘‘The Thermal De- 
composition of the Symmetrical Diaryl-hydra- 
zines.’ 

Neil Stanley Dungay: ‘‘A Study of the Effects 
of Injury upon the Fertilizing Power of Sperm.’’ 

Curvin Henry Gingrich: ‘‘A Determination of 
the Photographic Magnitudes of Comparison Stars 
in Certain of the Hagen Fields.’’ 

Walter Samuel Hunter: ‘‘The Delayed Reac- 
tion.’’ 

George Lester Kite: ‘‘The Relative Permea- 
bility of the Surface Protoplasm of Animal and 
Plant Cells.’’ 

Oliver Justin Lee: ‘‘The Spectroscope System 
of Camelopardalis.’’ 

Edward James Moore: ‘‘ Reaction Effects Pro- 
duced by the Discharge of Electricity from Points 
in Oases and the Bearing of these Effects on the 
Theory of the Small Ion.’’ 

Fleming Allen Clay Perrin: ‘‘An Experimental 
and Introspective Study of the Human Learning 
Process in the Maze.’’ 

Mildred Leonora Sanderson: ‘‘ Formal Modular 
Invariants with an Application to Binary Modular 
Covariants.’’ 

Shiro Tashiro: ‘‘Chemical Change in Nerve 
Fiber during Passage of a Nerve Impulse.’’ 

Arthur Lawrie Tatum: ‘‘Studies in Experi- 
mental Cretinism.’’ 

Stella Burnham Vincent: ‘‘The Function of the 
Vibrisse in the Behavior of the White Rat.’’ 


CLARK UNIVERSITY 

George Davis Bivin: ‘‘A Study in Psychosyn- 
thesis. ’” 

Irving Angell Field: ‘‘The Biology and Eco- 
nomic Value of the Sea Mussel, Mytilus edulis.’?’ 

Erwin Oliver Finkenbinder: ‘‘The Remem- 
brance of Problems and of their Solution: A 
Study in Logical Memory.’’ 

Sara Carolyn Fisher: ‘‘The Processes of Ab- 
straction and Generalization and their Products.’’ 

Albert. Nicolay Gilbertson: ‘‘Some Ethical 
Phases of Eskimo Culture.’’ 


SCIENCE 265 


Arthur Taber Jones: ‘‘ Acoustic Repulsion of 
Jets of Gas.’’ 

Roy Franklin Richardson: 
Anger.’? 

Kirkman K. Robinson: ‘‘The Evolution of 
Plato’s Life and Philosophy: A Genetic Study.’’ 

Frank K. Sechrist: ‘‘The Psychology of Un- 
conventional Language. ’’ 

Asa George Steele: ‘‘The Organization and 
Control of the College.’’ 

Miriam Van Waters: ‘‘The Adolescent Girl 
among Primitive Peoples.’’ 

Elizabeth Lindley Woods: ‘‘An Experimental 
Study of Recognition.’’ 

Elias Yanoysky: ‘‘Esterification Catalysis.’’ 


“A Study of 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

James Edward Ackert: ‘‘The Innervation of 
the Integument of Chiroptera.’’ 

James Edgar Bell: ‘‘An Improved Method for 
Determining the Equivalent Conductances of 
Strong Electrolytes at Infinite Dilution.’’ 

Josephine Elizabeth Burns: ‘‘The Abstract 
Definitions of the Groups of Degree Hight.’’ 

Hugh Glasgow: ‘‘The Gastric Ceca and the 
Cecal Bacteria of Heteroptera.’’ 

Robert Douglass Glasgow: ‘‘ Relations and Dis- 
tribution of Phyllophaga Harris (Lachnosterna 
Hope) in Temperate North America.’’ 

John Wesley Hornbeck: ‘‘Thermal and Elec- 
trical Conductivities of the Alkali Metals.’’ 

Lloyd Francis Nickell: ‘‘Derivatives of Iso- 
camphoric Acid, Decomposition of Isodihydro- 
aminocampholytic Acid with Nitrous Acid.’’ 

Ralph Sydney Potter: ‘‘Molecular Rearrange- 
ments in the Camphor Series. Structure of the 
Amino Acids.’’ 

Harley Jones Van Cleave: ‘‘ Studies on Cell Con- 
staney in Neorhynchus with Descriptions of New 
Species in that Genus.’’ 

Paul Smith Welch: ‘‘Studies on the Enchytre- 
ide of North America.’’ 

Guy Yandall Williams: ‘‘The Dependence of 
Ionic Mobility on the Viscosity of the Medium.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 

Charles August Behrens: ‘‘An Attenuated Cul- 
ture of Trypanosoma Brucet.’’ 

Charles Wiggins Cobb: ‘‘The Asymptotic Devel- 
opment for a Certain Integral Function of Zero 
Order.’’ 

Charles Wilford Cook: ‘‘Salts and Brines of 


266 


Michigan: their Origin, Distribution and Exploita- 
tion. ’’ 

Harry Wolven Crane: ‘‘A Study in Association, 
Reaction and Reaction Times.’’ 

Maynie Rose Curtis: ‘‘A Quantitative Study of 
the Factors influencing the Size, Shape and Phys- 
ical Constitution of the Eggs of the Domestic 
Fowl.’’ 

Frank Caleb Gates: ‘‘The Relation of Winter 
in the Xerofyty of Peat Bog Ericads.’’ 

Clyde Elton Love: ‘‘The Asymptotic Solutions 
of Linear Differential Equations.’’ 

Walter Byron McDougall: ‘‘On the Mycorhizas 
of Forest Trees.’’ 

Charles Herbert Otis: 
Emersed Water Plants: 
Relationships. ’’ 

Lambert Thorp: ‘‘Condensation of Nitromal- 
onie Aldehyde with Certain y-Diketones.’’ 


‘Transpiration of 
its Measurement and its 


UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

William Elijah Anderson: ‘‘ Determination of 
the Mean Declinations of 136 Stars for the Epoch 
TOT 527 

William Ira Book: ‘‘ An Electric Converter. ’’ 

Lennie Phoebe Copeland: ‘‘On the Theory of 
Invariants of Plane N-lines.’’ 

Herbert Spencer Harned: 
Columbium. ’’ 

Hiram Stanhope Lukens: ‘‘The Electrolysis of 
Potassium Chloride,’’ ‘‘A Study of the Action of 
Sulphur Monochloride on Certain Minerals,’’ 
‘Scandium in American Wolframite.’’ 

Thomas Franklin Manns: ‘‘Some New Bacterial 
Diseases of Legumes and the Relationships of the 
Organisms Causing the Same.’’ 

David Mitchell: ‘‘The Influence of Distractions 
on the Formation of Judgments in Lifted Weight 
Experiments. ’’ 

Francis Whittier Pennell: ‘‘Studies in the 
Agalinane, a Subtribe of the Rhinanthacee.’’ 

Jacob Joseph Taubenhaus: ‘‘ Diseases of the 
Sweet Pea.’’ 


‘¢Halide Bases of 


PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 

John Howard Dellinger: ‘‘ High-frequency Cur- 
rent Distribution in Hot-wire Ammeters.’’ 

James Cook Martin: ‘‘Geology of the Canton, 
New York, Quadrangle.’’ 

Elton Leroy Quinn: ‘‘The Atomic Weight of 
Cadmium by the Investigation of Cadmium Chlo- 
ride, Cadmium Bromide and Cadmium Oxide.’’ 

Edwin Eustace Reinke: ‘‘Dimorphic Sperma- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


tozoa in Prosobranchia with special reference to 
their Development in Strombus.’’ 

Harlow Shapley: ‘‘A Study of Eclipsing Binary 
Stars.’’ 

Guy Baker Taylor: ‘‘The Dissociation of Mer- 
eurie Oxide: A Study of Equilibrium in the Sys- 
tem, Oxygen and Mercury.’’ 

Kenneth Powers Williams: ‘‘The Solutions of 
Non-homogeneous Linear Difference Equations and 
their Asymptotic Form.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


Sturla Einarsson: ‘‘On the Orbits of the Minor 
Planets (624) Hector and (588) Achilles of the 
Trojan Group.’’ 

Anna Estelle Glaney: ‘‘On v. Zeipel’s Theory 
of the Perturbations of the Hecuba Group of 
Minor Planets.’’ 

Eli Stuart Haynes: ‘‘The Minor Planet 1911 
MT, (719) Albert.’’ 

Carl Clarence Keiss: 
RR Lyre.’? 

Paul Willard Merrill: ‘‘Class B Stars whose 
Spectra contain Bright Hydrogen Lines.’’ 

Emma Phoebe Waterman: ‘‘The Visual Region 
of the Spectrum of the Brighter Class A Stars.’’ 


‘¢The Cluster Variable 


UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 
Clinton Willard Clark: ‘‘The Pyrogenic Decom- 
position of Petroleum Products with special refer- 
ence to Gasoline Formation by Pressure Distilla- 


tion.’’ 


Hugh Clark: ‘‘An Improved Method for the 
Manufacture of Hydrogen and Lampblack.’’ 

Harry Percival Corliss: ‘‘The Distribution of 
Colloidal Arsenic Trisulphide between the Phases 
in the System, Ether, Water and Alcohol and the 
Binodal Curve and Tie-lines for the System.’’ 

Lester Albert Pratt: ‘‘Studies in the Field of 
Petroleum. ’’ 

Robert Rex Shively: ‘‘A Study of Magnesia 
Cements. ”’ 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

Samuel Stillman Berry: ‘‘The Cephalopods of 
the North Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands.’’ 

Harry Carleton Burbridge: ‘‘The Thermal Co- 
efficient of Contact Electromotive Force.’’ . 

Harry Drake Gibbs: ‘‘ Liquid Methylamine as a 
Solvent, and a Study of its Chemical Reactivity.’’ 

Joseph Grinnell: ‘‘An Account of the Mammals 
and Birds of the Lower Colorado Valley, with 
especial reference to the Distributional Problems 
presented. ’’ 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


George Wilber Moffitt: ‘‘A Study of some 
Changes in the Air-Liquid Contact Potential Dif- 
ference.’’ 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 

Irving EH. Melhus: ‘‘Germination and Injection 
in Certain Oomycetes.’’ 

William Harold Peterson: ‘‘Forms of Sulphur 
in Plants. ’’ 

Roy Lee Primm: ‘‘Some Phenomena associated 
with Cellulose Fermentation. ’’ 

Nellie Antoinette Wakeman: ‘‘Plant Pigments 
other than Chlorophyll. ’’ 

Jerry Edward Wodsedalek: ‘‘ Natural History 
and Behavior of Certain Ephemeride.’’ 


NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 


Raymond Bartlett Earle: ‘‘The Genesis of 
Paleozoic Interbedded Iron Ores.’’ 

John Wesley Marden: ‘‘The Quantitative De- 
termination of Perchlorates and a New Method 
for the Determination of the Specific Heat of 
Dilute Solutions.’’ 

Richard Edwin Lee: ‘‘A New Decision Method 
for determining the Density of Liquids.’’ 


WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 


Jacob Richard Schramm: ‘‘A Contribution to 
our Knowledge of the Problem of Free Nitrogen 
Fixation in Certain Species of Grass-green Algew 
with special reference to Pure Culture Methods.’’ 

Mildred Webster Spargo Schramm: ‘‘The Genus 
Chlamydomonas.’’ 

Charles Oscar Chambers: ‘‘The Relation of 
Alge to Dissolved Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide 
with special reference to Carbonate.’’ 


BOSTON UNIVERSITY 

Wilbur Alden Coit: 
Geometry. ’’ 

Winfield Hancock Stone: 
Harmonic Ratio.’’ 


‘<Tntroduction to Modern 


‘‘The Elements of 


UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 
Sebastian J. Mauchly: ‘‘On the Action of a 
Magnetic Field on the Electric Discharge through 
Gases. ’’ 
Charles H. Hecker: ‘‘A Study of some New 
Alkyl Hydroxylamines.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 
Walter Richard Miles: ‘‘Discriminative Ac- 
tion in Singing.’’ 
Thomas Franklin Vance: ‘‘The Psychophysics 
of Tonal Gaps.’’ 


SCIENCE 


267 


UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 
Lillian Cohen: ‘‘ Equilibria in Systems of Ace- 
tone, Water and Salts.’’ 
Elvin Charles Stakman: ‘‘A Study in Cereal 
Rusts: Physiological Races.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 
Claude William Mitchell: ‘‘Sex Determination 
in Asplanchna amphora.?? : 
Raymond John Pool: ‘‘A Study of the Vegeta- 
tion of the Sandhills of Nebraska.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 

John Wilbur Watson: ‘‘The Abstraction of 
Potassium during Sedimentation.’’ 

Charles Newman Wunder: ‘‘A Photometric Sur- 
vey of the Huyghenian Region of the Great Nebula 
of Orion.’’ 

BROWN UNIVERSITY 

Norman Edward Holt: ‘‘The Action of Acetic 

Anhydride on s-Tribromphenylpropiolic Acid.’’ 


GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 
Marcus Ward Lyon: ‘‘Treeshrews: An Account 
of the Mammalian Family Tupaiide.’’ 
INDIANA UNIVERSITY 


Jesse James Galloway: ‘‘The Stratigraphy and 
Paleontology of the Tanner’s Creek Section of the 
Cincinnati Series of Indiana.’’ 


MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 


Paul Vance Faragher: ‘‘Physico-chemical In- 
vestigations on Electrolytic Potentials and on the 
Equilibrium of Certain Organic Reactions.’’ 


UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 


Leroy Sheldon Palmer: ‘‘Study of the Natural 
Pigment in the Fat of Cow’s Milk.’’ 


TULANE UNIVERSITY 


Eleanor Elmire Reames: ‘‘On Fresh-water 
Chlorophycee and Cyanaphycee of Southern 
States. ’? 


VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 
Paul C. Bowers: ‘‘Tellurium, Atomic Weight.’’ 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
Tue International Medical Congress, at its 
London meeting, awarded its three prizes as 
follows: The Moscow Prize to Professor 


268 


Charles Richet of Paris, for work on anaphy- 
laxis; The Paris Prize to Professar A. von 
Wassermann, head of the Kaiser Wilhelm 
Institute for Experimental Therapy, for work 
on experimental therapy and on immunity ; 
The Hungary Prize to Sir Almroth Wright 
of London, for work on anaphylaxis. 


On the occasion of the International Cong- 
ress of Medicine the Royal College of Sur- 
geons conferred the honorary fellowship of the 
College on the following surgeons: Professor 
R. Bastianelli, Rome; Professor A. Bier, Ber- 
lin; Mr. F. D. Bird, Melbourne; Dr. G. W. 
Crile, Cleveland, U. S. A.; Dr. H. Cushing, 
Harvard; Dr. A. F. von Eiselsberg, Vienna; 
Dr. E. Fuchs, Vienna; Dr. H. Hartmann, 
Paris; Professor W. Korte, Berlin; Dr. W. J. 
Mayo, Rochester, U. S. A.; Dr. A. Monprofit, 
Paris; Dr. J. B. Murphy, Chicago; Dr. J. 
Nicolaysen, Christiania; Dr. F. J. Shepherd, 
Montreal, and Professor T. Tuftier, Paris. 


Pror. W. C. McIntosu, F.R.S., professor of 
natural history in the University of St. 
Andrews, and director of the Gatty Marine 
Laboratory, has been elected president of the 
Ray Society in succession to the late Lord 
Avebury. 


Mr. Haroutp Spencer JONES has been ap- 
pointed chief assistant in the Royal Observa- 
tory, Greenwich. 


Sir RickMaN GODLEE, president of the Royal 
College of Surgeons, has accepted the invita- 
tion to confer the fellowships of the American 
College of Surgeons at the first convocation of 
the institution which is to be held in Chicago, 
November 13. At this time it is stated that 
more than twelve hundred surgeons of the 
United States and Canada will receive fellow- 
ships., 

Dr. JAMES ALGERNON TEMPLE, formerly dean 
of Trinity Medical College, and professor of 
obstetrics and gynecology in the University of 
Toronto, has received the degree of LL.D. 
from McGill University. 

Masor E. H. Hinus, F.R.S., president of the 
Royal Astronomical Society, has been given 
the honorary degree of doctor of science by the 
University of Durham. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIIT. No. 973 


Tue Raymond Horton-Smith prize at the 
University of Cambridge for 1913 has been 
awarded to F. A. Roper and F. S. Scales, who 
are adjudged equal for theses for the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. Their subjects were: 
“Creatinine and creatin metabolism, espe- 
cially in reference to diabetes,” and “The 
electrocardiogram in diabetes.” 


Tur Baly medal has been awarded by the 
Royal College of Physicians to Dr. J. S. Hal- 
dane, F.R.S., reader in physiology at the 
University of Oxford. 


THE Paris Academy of Sciences has, as 
stated in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, awarded two Montyon prizes of 
$500 each, one to Mme. Lina Negri Luzani 
for her studies on the so-called Negri bodies, 
discovered by herself and her late husband in 
the nervous system of rabid animals; the other 
to Dr. L. Ambard for his “Memoir on the 
Renal Secretion.” The Barbier prize of $400 
was shared between Drs. Jules and André 
Boeckel, on the one hand, for their work, 
“Fractures of the Cervical Spine without 
Medullary Symptoms,” and Drs. Beurmann 
and Gougerot, on the other, for their volume 
on the sporotrichoses. The Argut prize of 
$240, a new biennial prize, intended to recom- 
pense the person who made a discovery curing 
a disease which previously could be treated 
only by surgery, thereby increasing the scope 
of medicine, was awarded to Drs. Robert 
Crémieu and Claudius Regaud for their work 
concerning the effects of the Roentgen ray on 
the thymus and the treatment of the thymus 
by roentgenotherapy. The Bréant prize of 
$20,000, intended for the discoverer of a cure 
for Asiatic cholera, was, of course, not 
awarded. Out of the interest on the fund, the 
academy awarded three prizes of $400, one to 
Dr. C. Levaditi for his work on acute epidemic 
poliomyelitis and acute infectious pemphigus; 
one to Drs. A. Netter and R. Debré for their 
work, “ Cerebrospinal Meningitis,” and one to 
Professor V. Babes for his treatise on rabies. 

Dean CHartes F. Emerson, of Dartmouth 
College, in conformity with the vote of the 
board of trustees passed several years ago, 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


limiting active service in the college faculty 
to the age of seventy years, has tendered his 
resignation as Appleton professor of natural 
philosophy and dean of the academic faculty 
and has been made dean emeritus. On gradu- 
ation at Dartmouth in 1868 Mr. Emerson was 
appointed instructor in gymnastics in Dart- 
mouth College and instructor in mathematics 
in the New Hampshire College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts, then connected with Dart- 
mouth College. He remained as tutor of 
mathematics in Dartmouth College four years 
and then was appointed associate professor of 
natural philosophy and mathematics, which 
title he held till 1878, when he was appointed 
Appleton professor of natural philosophy, as 
successor to Professor Charles A. Young, who 
had been called to Princeton; in 1878 he was 
appointed instructor in astronomy in addition 
to his professorship, which position he held till 
1892. In 1893 he was made dean of the aca- 
demic faculty, but continued teaching physics 
till 1899, after which he devoted all his time 
to the dean’s work. He, therefore, has been 
connected with Dartmouth College continu- 
ously for forty-five years. 

Dr. Louis DuresTEL, medical inspector of 
the Paris schools, and Dr. Felix Martel, in- 
spector general of public instruction for the 
government of France, delegates to the Fourth 
International Congress on School Hygiene, 
which will be held in Buffalo on August 25 
to 30, have arrived in New York. 

THE commission appointed by the Russian 
government to study the question of the re- 
organization of the sanitary services of the 
empire has presented a report recommending 
the establishment of a ministry of public 
health. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

Mrs. Juuia L. Burrerrieip, of Cold Spring, 
N. Y., has bequeathed $100,000 to Union Col- 
lege. There are many other public bequests, 
including $150,000 for a hospital and $60,000 
for a library in Cold Spring. 

MippiEesury CoLiEece, Vermont, has received 
$30,000 as the residuary legatee of the late 


SCIENCE 


269 


Henry M. Barnum, a graduate of the college 
of the class of 1858. 


THE memorial fund collected in honor of 
Alderman Beale, formerly vice-chancellor of 
the University of Birmingham, will be used to 
endow a chair of civil engineering. The 
amount collected now amounts to about 
$55,000. 

By the will of Baron Rendel, the sum of 
$25,000 is bequeathed to the University Col- 
lege of Wales, Aberystwith, of which he was 
president. 

THE regents of the state of South Dakota 
have placed the government of the state uni- 
versity under the charge of a commission, con- 
sisting of the deans of the college of arts and 
sciences, the college of law, the college of medi- 
cine, the college of engineering and the college 
of music. Each of the deans will act as chair- 
man of the board in rotation for one month. 


Dr. J. S. Kinestey, since 1892 professor of 
zoology in Tufts College, has been called to the 
University of Illinois as professor of zoology 
in charge of vertebrates. His address now is 
Urbana, Illinois. 

Dr. Epwarp O. Sisson, professor of educa- 
tion in Reed College and previously head of 
the department of education in the University 
of Washington, has been appointed commis- 
sioner of education for the state of Idaho. 


Dr. Otis W. CaLDWELL, associate professor 
of botany in the School of Education at the 
University of Chicago, has been appointed 
dean of University College at that institution, 
to succeed Mr. Walter A. Payne, who is now 
the university examiner. 

Dr. Kart F. Meyer, who has been a mem- 
ber of the veterinary faculty of the University 
of Pennsylvania since 1910 and director of the 
laboratories of the Pennsylvania State Live- 
stock Sanitary Board, has resigned to take the 
professorship of bacteriology at the University 
of California. Dr. J. B. Hardenbergh, an 
instructor, succeeds Dr. Meyer as director of 
the state laboratories. 

Dr. Grorce G. Davis, instructor in surgery 
at Rush Medical College, has obtained leave of 
absence for one year and sailed for Manila, 


270 


where he will serve as associate professor of 
surgery in the University of the Philippines. 

A LecturESHIP in fossil botany has been 
started at University College, London Univer- 
sity, to which Dr. Marie Stopes has been ap- 
pointed. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A SECOND CAPTURE OF THE WHALE SHARK, 
RHINEODON TYPUS, IN FLORIDA WATERS 


In Scrence for February 28, 1902, and 
again in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 
tions, Vol. 48, 1905, Mr. B. A. Bean, of the 
United States National Museum, has recorded 
the coming ashore on the beach three miles 
north of Ormond, Florida, of an 18-foot speci- 
men of the whale shark, Rhineodon typus, the 
skin and some parts of which are preserved 
in the National Museum. 

Mr. Bean, in the above papers, and Dr. Gill, 
in Science for May 28, 1902, and May 19, 
1905, have thoroughly and interestingly sum- 
marized almost all the scanty literature of 
this very large and very rare fish. The pur- 
pose of this note is to record the capture in 
Florida waters of another and much larger 
specimen than the one of which Mr. Bean has 
made note. 

On June 1, 1912, Captain Charles Thomp- 
son, of Miami, Florida, captured near Knight’s 
Key, Florida East Coast Railway Extension, 
what is probably the largest specimen of the 
whale shark ever taken by man. This mon- 
ster is reported to have been 45 feet long, and 
23 feet in circumference, and its weight is 
estimated at from 15,000 to 30,000 pounds. 

While in Miami last summer I talked with 
Captain Thompson and saw the as yet un- 
mounted skin. To one who has never seen a 
whale, the skin of this shark is inconceivably 
large. During the winter Captain Thompson 
has had the skin mounted, and photographs 
of it show that the work has been well done. 
Through his courtesy I have not only these 
photographs, but also one of the fish taken 
shortly after its capture. 

During the winter I have been collecting 
data on Rhineodon, and during the coming 
summer I expect to be in Miami, at which 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


time I purpose with Captain Thompson’s per- 
mission to describe and to make careful meas- 
urements and to get from him full data con- 
cerning the capture of this great fish. This 
will be embodied in another and more ex- 
tensive paper to be published later, in 
which will be included certain historical 
data not given in either Dr. Gill’s or Mr. 
Bean’s papers above referred to. In the 
meantime it seems well to call attention to 
this the second occurrence of the whale shark 
in the waters of the east coast of the United 
States. 

As to the name of this fish, Rhineodon 
typus, the following statement may be made. 
The whale shark was first described from 
Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 
by Dr. Andrew Smith in April, 1828. His 
description and figure were published in the 
Zoological Journal for 1829 under the name 
Rhincodon typus. However, this is clearly a 
typographical error, since the derivation is 
rhine, file + odous (odont), tooth. Muller and 
Henle (1838) first used the name given at the 
head of this paragraph, but later (1841) wrote 
it as it is commonly put, Rhinodon typicus. 
Dr. Gill, however (1905), goes back to the 
former spelling. 

E. W. GupcEr 

State NoRMAL COLLEGE, 

GREENSBORO, N. C. 


“ CARBATES ” 


To THE Enpitor oF Science: In this age of 
method, accuracy and conciseness, we say 
sulphates instead of sulphurates; phosphates 
for phosphorates (better still, sulfates and fos- 
fates); nitrates for nitrogenates; chlorates 
for chlorinates. Why should we not say car- 
bates instead of carbonates? 

We already say carbides instead of carbon- 
ides; why should we not follow the fashion 
consistently and say carbates? 

We should then have the word carbation to 
mean the formation of carbates, leaving the 
word carbonation to refer to the development 
of carbon in a substance which would fittingly 
correspond to the present word carbonize, and 
so avoid a puzzling ambiguity. 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


Furthermore, the saving of time and print- 
er’s ink would amount to something in a 


word so often used. J. E. Topp 
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 


FROST IN CALIFORNIA 


To THE EpITor oF ScrENCE: In a recent issue 
of ScrencE mention was made of the effect of 
a recent freeze upon the vegetation of south- 
ern California resulting in the destruction of 
many introduced varieties, including some 
very large trees. 

The writer has been considerably interested 
in observing the effect of the freeze in this 
section, especially upon the different varieties 
of trees. Immediately following the freeze it 
did appear that many of the trees were prob- 
ably killed. Peppers, eucalyptus, acacias and 
grevilleas among the larger trees suffered 
severely. Trees two to three feet in diameter 
and from twenty-five to thirty years old in 
some cases had the bark split clear to the 
wood almost from top to bottom of the tree. 
The bark turned black clear to the wood and 
great masses of it could be split off easily. 
Supposing that trees in such condition were 
certainly dead scores of them were cut down 
at once. Wiser counsel was to delay opera- 
tions until opportunity was given to see what 
the outcome might be. 

One can scarcely conceive what such a loss 
means to a community such as this, where 
shade means so much and where such magnifi- 
cent results have been obtained. Some of our 
streets were lined with rows of eucalyptus 
from 75 to 150 feet high. Many of these have 
been cut down. Subsequent results show that 
delay in cutting and pruning was the wiser 
course in this instance, for, incredible as it 
may seem, many of the trees which had their 
bark split and turned black and loosened from 
the wood seem to have begun to develop a new 
bark, or in many cases the old bark seems to 
be reuniting with the wood and leaves and 
branches are being put forth. 

I do not believe a single pepper of any size 
perished. In fact it seems to the writer that 
in their new coat of green they look brighter 
and fresher than ever. 


SCIENCE 


271 


Some of the acacias and grevilleas were 
probably killed, but I visited an acacia just 
recently which two weeks ago one would cer- 
tainly have pronounced dead. The bark was 
split and loosened from the trunk and dry as 
tinder, the limbs were bare and brittle and 
dry enough to burn, but to my surprise when 
last I saw it here and there along the trunk 
the bark seemed to be reforming and green 
shoots a foot or more in length had grown. 
It looks as if with judicious pruning and care 
the tree might be made to live, though prob- 
ably hideously deformed. : 

Perhaps the most surprising results are to 
be observed among the eucalyptus trees. Some 
varieties have suffered severely. The sugar 
gum (#. cornocalyx), lemon gum (H#. citri- 
odora), E. robusta and EH. callyophylla suffered 
considerably. The blue gum. FH. globulus, was 
injured in some localities. H. amygdalina 
was not injured at all. 

The surprising feature in every case is the 
formation of a new bark or the rejuvenation 
of the old. Trees on which the bark was split 
and black and loosened from the wood now 
have bark green and full of sap and firmly 
united to the wood. The branches are for the 
most part dead, except the very large ones, and 
stand out bare and brown. The trunk and 
larger branches are covered almost from top 
to bottom with a new extremely dense growth 
of adventitious branches, thickly covered with 
leaves, giving the tree a peculiar fuzzy ap- 
pearance. : 

Judging from the recovery of trees which 
two months ago were apparently lifeless, I 
believe it is safe to say that very few trees 
which were more than two or three years old 
and in a fairly healthy condition when the 
freeze came need have been cut. Judicious 
pruning will later be necessary. 

S. A. SKINNER 

REDLANDS HigH ScHOOL, 

REDLANDS, CAL. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Anleitung zur Kultur der Mikroorganismen. 
Von Ernst Kister. 2d edition. Leipzig 
and Berlin, B. G. Teubner. 1913. 


272 


Professor Kiister, now of Bonn, prepared 
this compact little book of about 200 pages as 
a result of his long experience in training stu- 
dents at the Botanical Institute of Halle. It 
is neither a text-book nor a laboratory manual 
of the ordinary kind, including a definite 
course of study, but a reference compendium 
of technique including “the most important 
culture methods for all groups of microorgan- 
isms.” The conception is an excellent one and 
Professor Kiister has carried it out well. 

The book is about equally divided between 
a general and a special part. The general part 
includes sections on water and glass, on liquid 
and solid media, sterilization, types of cul- 
tures, isolation and pure cultivation, inocula- 
tion, atmospheric conditions, temperature, 
light, evaporation, transpiration and cultiva- 
tion in agitated or flowing media, detection 
and effects of waste products, operation of 
poisons, microbiochemical analysis and aux- 
anography and the preservation of cultures. 
The special part includes sections dealing, re- 
spectively, with protozoa in general, with fla- 
gellata, with myxomycetes, with alge, with 
fungi and with bacteria. 

Two things are particularly notable about 
this book, its scholarly tone and the breadth of 
the field covered. Although the treatment is 
necessarily very condensed and no attempt is 
made to discuss with any fullness the philo- 
sophical problems involved, yet such funda- 
mental questions as the effect of water upon 
glass, the physical and chemical characters of 
culture media and the study of waste products 
are discussed in a spirit which should prove 
enlightening to the American student who is 
too often superficially trained to use a few 
arbitrary methods without knowing or caring 
for underlying reasons. The other special 
virtue of the book is the attention to groups 
other than the commonly studied pathogenic 
forms. Special media are described, for ex- 
ample, for the cultivation of fat-splitting bac- 
teria, the acetic acid bacteria, butyric acid 
bacteria, the nitrifying and denitrifying bac- 
teria, the sulphur bacteria and the purple bac- 
teria. Nine pages are devoted to the Protozoa, 
fifteen to the Alew and thirty-nine to the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


Fungi. In general, citations of the literature 
dealing with technical procedures are full and 
valuable although American and English 
methods are neglected. It is strange to find 
no reference to the Hesse and Hiss and North 
media or to the extensive work done on stand- 
ard methods of water examination. For Ger- 
man work, however, the book seems very com- 
prehensive and as a reference source for deal- 
ing with any of the more unfamiliar groups of 
microbes it should prove invaluable in any 
laboratory. C.-E. A. WINsLow 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 


Catalogue of the Collection of Birds’ Eggs in 
the British Museum. Vol. V., Carinate 


(Passeriformes completed). By W. R. 
Octnvie-Grant. 1912. Pp. xxiii+ 547; 
Pls. XXII. 


With the issue of the present volume the 
British Museum has brought to a successful 
conclusion the publication of another series 
of their splendid catalogues, which, while in 
most cases professing only to be records of 
their own collections, become in effect world 
records of the subjects covered. Ornithology 
has been especially favored with these reviews, 
the “ Catalogue of Birds” (27 volumes, 1875- 
1895), the “ Hand-list of the Genera and Spe- 
cies of Birds” (5 volumes, 1899-1909), and 
the “Catalogue of Birds’ Eggs” (5 volumes, 
1901-1912) being absolutely indispensable 
sources of reference to all working ornitholo- 
gists who would make pretense to more than 
local studies. The first British Museum pub- 
lication on birds’ eggs was a small work by G. 
R. Grey, issued in 1852, but this was merely 
an enumeration of the eggs of British birds, 
and has long been obsolete. The national col- 
lection of eggs continued to grow, both by 
donation and purchase, and by 1900 had long 
passed the 50,000 mark, making it in many 
respects the foremost collection in the world. 
In preparing the exposition of this wealth of 
material the trustees of the museum were for- 
tunate in securing the services of Mr. E. W. 
Oates, who is well known as the author of sey- 
eral of the bird volumes of the “ Fauna of 
British India,” and as the editor of the second 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


edition of Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs of Indian 
Birds.” Mr. Oates prepared and published the 
first four volumes of the “ Catalogue of Birds’ 
Eggs,” and had considerable manuscript for 
the final volume, when his death in 1911 
brought the work to a close for a time. After 
considerable unavoidable delay Mr. Ogilvie- 
Grant has finally completed the undertaking 
with the present volume, which covers nine- 
teen families of passerine birds, beginning 
with the white-eyes (Zosteropide) and ending 
with the crow-shrikes (Striperide). It treats 
of 1,117 species and over 19,000 specimens. 
The nomenclature and systematic arrange- 
ment—as in previous volumes—follows that 
of Sharpe’s “ Hand-list,” and in all cases ref- 
erence is made to that work and to the “ Cata- 
logue of Birds,” where the species was known 
when the latter work was published. There is 
also reference to the other more important 
works, especially those having figures of eggs. 
The descriptions appear to be carefully drawn 
with average measurements as well as men- 
tion of unusual or peculiar sizes and markings. 
The plates are beautifully executed and as the 
species treated are all of small size it has been 
possible to include something over four hun- 
dred figures. Altogether this is a highly suc- 
cessful completion of a notable undertaking. 
¥F, H. Knowtton 


Abhandlungen und Vortrage zur Geschichte 
der Naturwissenschaften. Vol. II. By 
Professor Dr. Epmunp O. von LippMANN. 
Published by Veit and Co., Leipzig. 1913. 
Large 8vo. 491 pp. 

Those scientific readers who enjoyed Pro- 
fessor Lippmann’s “ Essays and Addresses on 
the History of the Natural Sciences,’ which 
appeared in 1906, will welcome the appearance 
of this second companion volume. 

Since the time of Kopp, whose monumental 
“Geschichte der Chemie” was printed just 
40 years ago, no one in Germany has delved 
so deeply as Lippmann in the abstruse field of 
ancient chemical science, and certainly no 
one has better understood how to arouse an 
interest in matters which might seem to the 
general reader to lack importance. 


SCIENCE 


273 


The 82 papers in Vol. I. of the “ Abhand- 
lungen” dealt with such themes as the scien- 
tific and chemical knowledge contained in the 
works of Pliny, Dioscorides, Albiruni and 
Shakespeare; alchemistic poetry; the history 
of freezing mixtures, gunpowder, glass and the 
thermometer; biographical essays upon Marg- 
graf, Achard, Mitscherlich, Leonardo da Vinci, 
Francis Bacon, Descartes and Robert Mayer; 
an account of two unpublished letters of Lie- 
big; an address concerning Goethe’s “ Theory 
of Colors”; and other papers too numerous 
to mention. 

In the new collection of “ Abhandlungen 
und Vortrige,” which has just been published, 
we note the same range and variety of sub- 
jects as were treated in the first volume. 
There are in all 36 additional papers in which 
we find discussed such topics as the chemical 
and scientific knowledge of the ancient Egypt- 
jans and Greeks and of the middle ages, as 
shown by the Ebers Papyrus, by the works of 
Plato and Aristotle and by the thirteenth-cen- 
tury “ Régime du Corps” of Aldebrandino di 
Siena; the history of the water bath, the spe- 
cifie gravity spindle and the autoclave; the 
history of lead-soldering and of distillation 
and of the uses of petroleum as a fuel and of 
sugar as a preservative; the derivation and 
history of the terms “ caput mortuum,” alco- 
hol, gas and potash; biographical papers upon 
Jean Ray, upon Alexander von Humboldt as 
the precursor of the theory of isomerism, and 
upon Liebig’s relationship to Robert Mayer 
and the theory of conservation of energy; 
critical interpretations of obscure passages in 
Aristotle’s Meteorology and in Goethe’s 
Faust; and many other papers equally inter- 
esting and important. The pages of the book, 
as of the previous volume, are enlivened with 
anecdotes and curious bits of folklore, and it 
is difficult to recall another work of the kind 
which combines equally so much instruction 
and entertainment. 

In these two volumes of the “ Abhandlungen 
und Vortrige” additional surprises and pleas- 
ures are in store for those who have come to 
marvel at the many-sidedness of Professor 


274 


Lippmann’s achievements. There are many 
who know the results of his practical work as 
director of the large sugar refinery at Halle, 
and of his researches in the laboratory, as 
comprised in his exhaustive two-volume 
treatise “Die Chemie der Zuckerarten,” but 
there are fewer, perhaps, who know what he 
has done during leisure hours in the study 
along historical and cultural lines, as exem- 
plified in his masterful book “ Die Geschichte 
des Zuckers” and in these two volumes of 
scientific papers and essays. To be technolo- 
gist, chemist, historian and scholar, and all 
surpassingly well, is a record of accomplish- 
ment such as few men have realized. Adapt- 
ing a phrase from that ancient “father of 
science,” Aristotle, of whose works Professor 
Lippmann is such an enthusiastic commenta- 
tor, we may say: it is a record of accomplish- 
ment, “ four-square and truly good.” 


C. A. Browne 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


THE July number (Vol. 14, No. 3) of the 
Transactions of the American Mathematical 
Society contains the following papers: 

L. E. Dickson: ‘‘Proof of the finiteness of 
modular covariants.’’ 

R. D. Carmichael: ‘‘On transcendentally trans- 
cendental functions. ’’ 

M. Fréchet: ‘‘Sur les classes V normales.’’ 

G. R. Clements: ‘‘Implicit functions defined by 
equations with vanishing Jacobian.’’ 

Dunham Jackson: ‘‘On the approximate repre- 
sentation of an indefinite integral and the degree 
of convergence of related Fourier series.’’ 

L. P. Hisenhart: ‘‘Certain continuous deforma- 
tions of surfaces applicable to the quadrics.’’ 


Tue concluding (July) number of volume 
19 of the Bulletin of the American Mathe- 
matical Society contains: Report of the April 
meeting of the Society, by F. N. Cole; Report 
of the twenty-third regular meeting of the 
San Francisco Section, by W. A. Manning; 
“The total variation in the isoperimetric 
problem with variable end points,” by A. R. 
Crathorne; “A note on graphical integration 
of a function of a complex variable,” by S. D. 
Killam; “The unification of vectorial nota- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


tion,” by E. B. Wilson; “ Shorter Notices”: 
Kowalewski’s Grundziige der Differential- und 
Integralrechnung, by R. L. Borger; Vivanti- 
Cahen’s Fonctions polyédriques et modulaires, 
by G. A. Miller; Markoff-Liebmann’s Wahr- 
scheinlichkeitsrechnung, Carvallo’s Calcul des 
Probabilités et ses Applications, and King’s 
Elements of Statistical Method, by A. C. 
Lunn; “Notes”; “New Publications”; 
Twenty-second Annual List of Published 
Papers; Index of Volume XIX. 


THE RUTHERFORD ATOM 


To explain the observations made by Geiger 
and Marsden’* on the scattering of a particles 
through large angles by metal foils, Ruther- 
ford’ suggested that in such cases the deflec- 
tion of each ray was due to an intimate en- 
counter with a single atom of the matter 
traversed. It was necessary to assume that 
the positive charge is highly concentrated in 
a very small volume at the center, surrounded 
by an equal amount of negative electricity 
distributed throughout the remainder of the 
volume of the atom. To compare the theory 
with experiment, suppose we consider the effect 
of allowing a narrow pencil of a rays to strike 
a thin metal foil from a direction perpen- 
dicular to its surface. The probable number 
of reflected or deflected rays which may be 
expected each second to strike any given square 
centimeter of a spherical screen whose center 
of curvature is the point of bombardment, 
was shown by Rutherford to be, according to 
his theory, 


Qnt ( NeE \2 o 
7 te \ an) CE yp 
where: 
@=number of a rays striking the foil per 
y g Pp 
second; 


nt number of atoms in the foil per unit area; 
7r=radius of the spherical screen; 
¢ =angle between the radius vector to the area 
and the direction of the striking beam 
of rays; or the angle of deflection; 
Ne=central charge of the bombarded atom; 


1Proc. Roy. Soc., 82A: 495, 1909; 83A: 492, 
1910; Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc. Proc., 1910. 
2 Phil. Mag., 21: 669, 1911. 


AvUGUST 22, 1913] 


H=charge of an a ray; 
m=—=mass of an a ray; 
u=velocity of an a ray. 


More recently, Geiger and Marsden® have per- 
formed a very thorough series of experiments 
which verify this formula, within an experi- 
mental error of about 20 per cent., for wide 
variations of nt, u and ¢. In addition, by 
testing foils of various metals they found that 
P is proportional to the square of the atomic 
weight of the bombarded metal, other things 
being the same. Their experiments prove, 
then, that, for gold, platinum, tin, silver, 
copper and aluminium, 


a cent 
P=K ya : (5 cosect 5, 


where A is the atomic weight. The striking 
agreement of their results with the predictions 
of the Rutherford theory certainly lend it 
great support. It surely deserves careful con- 
sideration to see whether other conclusions 
from it may be tested experimentally and 
whether other atomic phenomena may be ex- 
plained by it. Assuming the correctness of the 
Rutherford formula, Geiger and Marsden com- 
puted from an absolute determination of Q 
and the other quantities involved, the positive 
charge which must be assumed to be concen- 
trated at the centers of the atoms of the metals 
investigated; and they found that it is, within 
20 per cent., numerically equal to half the 
atomic weight in each case times the charge of 
an electon; that is, 


=2 (14> 


a most important conclusion, if true. 
Evidently, since hydrogen can not have as 
a nucleus a charge of + ie, it must be an ex- 
ception; the above law can not hold for all the 
elements. In this connection some experiments 
of Kleeman* on the relative ionization in vari- 
ous gases, are of interest. He found that the 
ionization per cubic contimeter of various com- 
pound gases by a given agent can be predicted 
from the ionization by the same agent of the 
> Phil. Mag., 25: 604, April, 1913. 


“Proc. Roy. Soc., 79A: 220, 1907; 83A: 530, 
1910. 


SCIENCE 


275 


separate elements composing the compounds; 
that is, ionization is roughly an additive, 
atomic property. From the results obtained 
with a number of simple and compound gases, 
he computed approximately the atomic ioniza- 
tion for various elements as given in the fol- 
lowing table :* 


Atomic Ionization seorlononization 
Agent Waiag Panemnau seo riY 
B Rays | y Rays B Rays | y Rays 
H (gas).| .08 08 1 082 | .080 
G sncenasoa 46 46 12 038 038 
IN Eee oas ces AT 45 14 034 0382 
Obsisccces 58 58 16 .036 .036 
).2oco00000 1.60 1.60 32 .050 .050 
@eescosed 1.44 1.44 35.5 .040 .040 
iBT wevencee 2.67 2.81 80 033 035 
Ae etene 4.10 4.50 127 032 035 


While other factors enter, such as the valence 
or the position of the elements in the periodic 
table and chemical linkage with other atoms, 
atomic ionization seems to depend primarily 
on the atomic weight, which is probably pro- 
portional to the number of electrons in the 
atom. The fact that hydrogen has approxi- 
mately twice the atomic ionization which 
should correspond to its atomic weight, sug- 
gests that it may have twice as many electrons 
in proportion to its atomic weight as the other 
elements—in agreement with the above con- 
clusion from the Rutherford theory. It is 
also noteworthy that canal ray deflection ex- 
periments performed by Sir J. J. Thomson, 
Wien, Koenigsberger and others have given 
no evidence for the existence of doubly 
charged hydrogen atoms in a discharge tube, 
whereas doubly charged atoms of other gases 
are often present. This would tend to con- 
firm the conception of the hydrogen atom 
as a small positive nucleus with a single elec- 
tron revolving as a satellite around it. 

As for helium, we may suppose, perhaps, 
that a particles, since they are projected from 
radioactive substances with such enormous 
velocities, are stripped of all satellite elec- 
trons; that a particles are merely positive 
nuclei with a charge of + Ye. If so, the num- 
ber of satellite electrons in the neutral helium 

5 Proc. Roy. Soc., T9A: 220, 1907. 


276 


atom must be two, or half its atomic weight— 
also in agreement with the Rutherford theory. 

So far so good. But when we consider the 
hydrogen and helium spectra, we get into 
difficulty immediately. Stark, Fischer and 
Kirschbaum,’ from a recent careful study of 
the Stark-Doppler effect in connection with 
helium canal rays, conclude that the series of 
single lines which Runge and Paschen ascribe 
to “parhelium” are emitted by the doubly 
charged helium atom. Also, according to 
Stark’s hypothesis (which, though not proved, 
yet seems probable from certain indirect evi- 
dence) the hydrogen series lines are emitted 
by the single charged hydrogen atom. Now, 
both the “ parhelium ” and the hydrogen series 
lines show the normal Zeeman effect and there- 
fore can not be emitted by systems devoid of 
vibrating electrons. Stark’s hypothesis there- 
fore demands a more complex atom; it is in- 
compatible with the Rutherford theory as far 
as hydrogen and helium are concerned. 

Also, recent experiments seem to associate 
the compound spectrum of hydrogen with the 
positively charged molecule. It is of course 
enormously complex. Many of its lines show 
a normal Zeeman effect, others an abnormal 
effect, others apparently no effect at all.’ How 
such a spectrum can be due to the vibrations 
of a single electron around two positive nu- 
clei seems inconceivable. 

Certainly the Rutherford atom seems much 
too simple to explain these spectral phenomena, 
though perhaps these and other objections may 
be overcome. Is this conception of the atom 
the only one which leads to the expression for 
the distribution of scattered @ rays which 
Geiger and Marsden have so thoroughly veri- 
fied? If possible, the scattering effect of 
hydrogen should be tested. Perhaps this might 
be done by the use of a compound of hydrogen 
or liquid hydrogen. Such experiments on the 
scattering of a and B rays seem our most 
promising means of securing more exact knowl- 
edge of the actual structure of atoms; but the 
conceptions thus suggested must explain or be 
in accord with a wide variety of atomic phe- 

* Ann, d. Phys., 40: 499, March, 1913. 

T™Dufour, Annal. chim. phys. (8), 9: 413, 1906. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 973 


nomena before they can expect general accept- 


ance. Gorpon S. FULCHER 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, 
June 27, 1913 


NOTES ON ENTOMOLOGY 


Economic entomologists will welcome the 
appearance of a new monthly journal—The 
Review of Applied Entomology. It is pub- 
lished in London (Dulau & Co.) and issued 
in two series: series A, agricultural; series B, 
medical and veterinary. It consists almost 
wholly of reviews of other works, or reports 
sent in by various investigators. The journal 
is supported by the Imperial Bureau of Ento- 
mology, and Guy A. K. Marshall is the editor, 
while a series of distinguished entomologists 
and naturalists form a committee of manage- 
ment. The parts so far issued average 32 
pages for series A, and 20 pages for series B. 
In series B there are references to new species 
in certain groups of general medical impor- 
tance, as mosquitoes and Tabanide. 


THE perfection of preservation of the amber 
insects has made them a most attractive field 
of study. Most fossil insects are so discour- 
agingly imperfect, that a knowledge of the 
actual structural details of some prehistoric 
insects is a most welcome contribution to the 
phylogeny of the group. And when this is 
brought out by so able a specialist in the 
group as by Dr. G. Ulmer in his “ Amber 
Trichoptera ”* we can place confidence in the 
interpretations. Probably the most important 
point is that the Limnephilide, now a domi- 
nant family in northern Europe, is lacking in 
amber, although all other families are repre- 
sented, and the Sericostomatide by many re- 
markable genera. The presence of a few 
genera such as Ganonema, Marilia and Tri- 
plectides, now occurring in tropical regions, 
give one the impression (probably erroneous) 
of a warmer climate. Besides describing in 
detail the genera (56) and species (152) 
known from amber Dr. Ulmer presents many 

1<¢TDie Trichopteren des Baltischen Bernsteins,’’ 
Schriften Physik.-Okonom. Gesellsch. Konigsberg; 
Beitriige zur Naturkunde Preussens, Heft 10; 380 
pages, 480 figs., 1912. 


AvuGusT 22, 1913] 


new ideas in their classification and their 
bearing on the system of recent caddice-flies. 
It is thus a work of great use to all who study 
these insects. 

M. E. Guyenor is the author of a morpho- 
logical study on the papille of the proboscis of 
Lepidoptera. These occur on all Lepidop- 
tera, but are variable in number and slightly 
in structure. The ordinary form is a sub- 
cylindric or fusiform process with the tip 
margined by a ring or a row of spinules. 
From the middle of the tip arises a short 
cylindric process or a spine. This process 
contains a nerve extending back through the 
main part of the papilla. Those on different 
parts of the proboscis vary in length and in 
development of spinules. Sometimes the pa- 
pillw are ribbed on the outside or with whorls 
of spinules. The author reaches no conclu- 
sion as to their function, but criticizes the 
tactile theory of Breitenbach. 

THE increasing interest in medical ento- 
mology results in new treatises thereon; one 
of the most recent is by Dr. E. A. Goeldi® 
It is a very good and well-illustrated compila- 
tion on the subject. There are three principal 
chapters: I., Stinging, Biting and Urticating 
Insects; II., Parasitic Insects; III., Insects as 
Disease-carriers. Mites and other arachnids 
are included, and also the life cycle of the 
various Hzmatozoa. 


TuHE stable fly, because of its biting habits 
and abundance, has been suspected of trans- 
mitting several diseases. In the Philippines 
it has been accused of carrying surra. Re- 
cently Dr. M. B. Mitzmain has investigated 
the matter.“ He conducted a long series of 
experiments, and only when the fly had bitten 
several hundred times was there a case of 

*““Ties papilles de la trompe des Lepidoptéres,’’ 
Bull. Sci. France Belg., XLVI., pp. 279-343, 3 pls. 
(1913); many text figures. 

*“<Tie sanitarisch-pathologische Bedeutung der 
Insekten und verwandten Gliedertiere, namentlich 
als Krankheits-Erreger und MKrankheits-Uber- 
triger,’’ 155 pages, 171 figs., 1913, Berlin, Fried- 
lander u. Sohn. 

*‘¢Role of Stomoxys calcitrans in the transmis- 
sion of Trypanosoma evansi,’’ Philipp. Journ. Sci. 
(B), Vol. VIL., pp. 475-518, 1913, 5 pls. 


SCIENCE 


277 


transmission. The trypanosome does not pass 
through any development in the fly, and so 
rarely is the fly an accidental vector that it 
may be absolved from connection with the 
disease. 


Keitwy has lately noted’ that among the 
higher Diptera those forms that have on the 
ventral wall of the pharynx longitudinal 
chitinous folds are saprophagous, while the 
parasitic (including plant-parasites) and pre- 
daceous forms do not have these folds. It is, 
therefore, possible by examination of struc- 
ture to learn the habits of certain Diptera. 
Thus Graphomyia, supposedly coprophagous, is 
probably carnivorous, and feeds on the other 
larve present in its habitat. Later Keilin 
shows that the Trypetide living in fruits have 
these folds which would indicate that they live 
on tissue attacked by a microorganism, intro- 
duced perhaps with the egg. 


THE first volume on the flies of India is by 
Mr. Brunnetti,” who for some years has re- 
sided in that country. Forty-four pages are 
devoted to an introduction including direc- 
tions for the preparation of specimens for the 
cabinet. Over 425 species are described, a 
very large number being new, or recently de- 
scribed by the author. The Tipulide (with 
Ptychopterine) occupy a large part of the 
work. The genera are mostly the same or 
similar to our own, and only a few are de- 
scribed as new. There is also a glossary of 
terms used in Dipterology. 


Many entomologists will be interested in 
the new color manual’ of Dr. R. Ridgway. 
On the fifty-three colored plates are 1,115 
named colors, and in text an alphabetical list 
of colors. A shorter series, if made available 
to all entomologists, would do much to stand- 
ardize descriptions. Natuan Banks 


5“¢Structure du pharynx au fonction du régime 
chez les larves de Diptéres eyclorhaphes,’’ C. R. 
Acad. Sct. Paris, t. 155, pp. 1548-1551, 1912. 

6¢¢The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon 
and Burma. Diptera Nematocera (exclusive of 
Chironomide and Culicide),’’ 581 pages, 7 pls., 
1912. 

™“¢Color Standards and Color Nomenclature,’’ 
Washington, 1912, 43 pages, 53 col. plates. 


2718 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
PRELIMINARY NOTE ON BIRDS AS CARRIERS OF THE 
CHESTNUT BLIGHT FUNGUS" 

QraremMeNts have been made by various writ- 
ers that birds play a part in the dissemination 
of the chestnut blight fungus. Murrill’? men- 
tions the possible relation of birds to the dis- 
ease and writes as follows: “ Millions of mi- 
nute summer spores emerge from day to day in 
elongated reddish-brown masses to be dissemi- 
nated by the wind and other agencies, such as 
insects, birds, squirrels, ete.,” also,’ “ every bird 
and insect that rests upon an infected spot is 
liable to carry the spores upon its feet or body 
to other trees.” A few years later Mickle- 
borought mentions birds as carriers of blight 
spores. He says: “ The minute spores are car- 
ried by wind, on the feathers of birds and the 
fur of squirrels.” Still later Metcalf and Col- 
lins® say, “there is strong evidence that the 
spores are spread extensively by birds, espe- 
cially woodpeckers.” Various writers have em- 
phasized the fact that woodpeckers frequent 
chestnut trees in search of insects. Fulton® 
states in a report on field work done at Orbi- 
sonia, Pa., by R. C. Walton that “ woodpecker 
work was noted in about one tenth of the old- 
est lesions,” but offers no conjecture as to the 
part played by birds, in the dissemination of 
the blight. 

Stewart’ says, “undoubtedly the spores are 
carried long distances by birds, especially 
woodpeckers, which visit the diseased trees, 
seeking borers, in the tunnels of which most 

1Investigations conducted in cooperation with 
the Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commis- 
sion. 

2 Murrill, W. A., ‘‘A Serious Chestnut Disease,’’ 
Jour. N. Y. Botanical Garden, 7: 146, 1906. 

8 Tbid., 152. 

4Mickleborough, J., ‘‘A Report on the Chestnut 
Tree Blight,’’? Pa. Dept. of Forestry, unnumbered 
bulletin, p. 11, 1909. 

5 Metcalf, Haven B., and Collins, J. Franklin, 
‘<The Control of the Chestnut Bark Disease,’’ U. 
S. Dept. Agr., Farmers’ Bul. No. 467: @, Uli, 

® Fulton, H. R., ‘‘Recent Notes on the Chestnut 
Bark Disease,’? Harrisburg Conf. Rep., p. 56, 
1912. 

7 Stewart, F. C., ‘‘Can the Chestnut Bark Dis- 
ease be Controlled?’’ Harrisburg Conf. Rep., p. 48, 
1912. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 973 


of the infections occur.” This statement is 
based on the report of Metcalf and Collins 
previously referred to, and is discredited by 
Fisher,® who brings out the point that this and 
similar statements are not based on positive 
evidence. There are numerous popular 
articles which also accuse birds of being in- 
strumental in the spread of the blight, but 
these as well as the statements already quoted 
are based entirely on circumstantial evidence. 

The first serious attempt to determine 
whether birds actually do carry the spores of 
the blight fungus were made by the field pathol- 
ogists of the Pennsylvania Commission during 
the summer of 1912.° They report the testing 
of twenty birds as follows: eight downy wood- 
peckers, three creepers (kind not mentioned), 
two hairy woodpeckers, four flickers, and three 
blue jays, all with negative results. No sug- 
gestions will be made at present to account for 
their negative results, but our positive results 
will be presented. 

During the past spring the writers have de- 
voted considerable time to the testing of birds 
as carriers of the blight fungus. The first 
accurate analyses were made in February and 
the work was continued until about the middle 
of May. Thirty-six birds belonging to nine 
different species have been examined.” The 
birds were shot in the field and placed at once 
in sterile paper sacks for transport to the com- 
mission laboratory at the University of Penn- 
sylvania, where the quantitative analyses were 
completed. Most of the birds tested were shot 
at either West Chester, or at Martic Forge, or 
in the vicinity of these places, since we wished 
to use the rainfall records which we were 
keeping at those stations. The method of 
making an analysis was as follows: A flask 
containing 100 c.c. of sterile water was emp- 
tied into a sterile moist chamber, and the bird 

8 Fisher, A. K., Harrisburg Conf. Rep., p. 103, 
1912. 

® Anderson, P. J., Elza, W. H., and Babcock, 
D. C., ‘‘Field Studies on the Dissemination and 
Growth of the Chestnut Blight Fungus,’’ Bulletin 
Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission 3: 
(in press), 1913. 

2 The birds used in this work were shot by Mr. 
C. E. Taylor, who was formerly employed by the 
Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Commission. 


Avugeust 22, 1913] 


to be tested was placed in this vessel, and its 
feet, tail and head and bill scrubbed vigorously 
with a sterile brush. The bird was then re- 
moved and the wash water shaken to secure a 
uniform suspension. By means of a sterile 
pipette, one cubic centimeter of this wash 
water was then added to a second flask of sterile 
water to make 100 c.c. Using another sterile 
pipette measured quantities (1 ¢.c. or fraction) 
were removed from this dilution flask and 
plated out in Petri dish cultures in 3 per cent. 
dextrose agar, plus 10. The plates were incu- 
bated as nearly as possible at 25° CO. and the 
colonies suspected of being the blight fungus 
were marked at the end of four days and their 
later development followed. Whenever neces- 
sary they were transferred to other culture 
plates to verify the diagnosis. A determina- 
tion was made of the number of bacterial and 
yeast colonies, the total number of fungous 
colonies, the number of colonies of the chestnut 
blight fungus and the number of species of other 
fungi represented. The original wash water 
was retained and centrifuged later for micro- 
scopic examination. The entire operation was 
carried out in a culture room with special care 
to exclude any sources of error. The following 
is a summary of results obtained up to May 12. 


No. Car- 
3 oh |e Ee 
REIEO OH Tested Petit Fungus Carried 
Blight | by Single Bird 
Fungus 
Hairy woodpecker (Dry- 
obates villosus villosus).. 3 0 0 
Downy woodpecker (Dry- 
 obates pubescens medi- 
CATS) os beer steeaesccsqencsa|| 3K) 13 757,074 
Flicker (Colaptes auratus 
(RYZE) \copenqsonccoso5oncooas 1 0 0 
Nuthatch (Sitta carolin- 
ensis carolinensis)........ 2 1 5,655 
Golden-crowned kinglet 
(Regulus satrapa sa- 
WHT) \o.oc0540008600000000008 i 1 6,565 
Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus 
VATIUS VATS) ...22-...20+ 2 2 7,502 
Brown creeper (Certhia 
familiaris americana)...) 2 1 254,019 
Black and white creeper 
(Mniotilta varia)........ 0 0 0 
Junco (Junco hyemalis 
hyemalis) .....--00-00eeeeee 2 1 10,000 
Mota ee fisvscdeseneesscs 36 19 


SCIENCE 


279 


The analyses show a direct relation between 
periods of maximum rainfall and the maxi- 
mum numbers of spores obtained. During the 
time covered by the analyses there were four 
periods of heavy rainfall. The highest num- 
bers of blight spores were invariably obtained 
from birds shot two to four days after a period 
of considerable rainfall. The maximum num- 
bers for the four periods are as follows: 


Date paca aNe Name of Bird qo Spores 
3/19 4 Downy woodpecker...) 109,022 
3/29 2 Downy woodpecker...| 757,074 
4/18 4 Brown creeper......... 254,019 
4/30 2 Downy woodpecker...| 624,341 


The number of species of fungi besides 
Endothia parasitica carried by the birds varied 
from four to fourteen as determined from the 
cultures. A microscopic examination of the 
centrifuged sediments showed, however, a much 
larger number, which could be detected by 
form, size and coloration of the spores. The 
total amount of wash water for each bird was 
centrifuged in 10 ¢.c. quantities and the final 
amount (about 2 ¢.c.) containing all the sedi- 
ment was given a thorough microscopic ex- 
amination. In sediment from birds which had 
yielded the high number of spores of the 
blight fungus it was very easy to find the 
pycnospores, but in those giving the low re- 
sults the pycnospores were located with more 
difficulty, but they could always be found. 
In no cases were any ascospores found in the 
sediment. During the time covered by our 
analyses there were only five periods when 
ascospores were expelled in the field. The first 
was on March 21 and the last on April 28. 
The microscopic examinations substantiate 
the results obtained by the cultures, since the 
rate of development of the colonies indicated 
their origin from pycnospores. 

To summarize, our results show that the spores 
of the blight fungus carried by birds are pycno- 
spores and not ascospores and that the maxi- 
mum numbers are being carried during the 
few days following rain periods. We are also 
led to the conclusion that the pycnospores car- 
ried are brushed off from either the normal or 


280 


diseased bark or both in the movements of the 
birds over these surfaces. This conclusion is 
supported by the fact that the birds tested 
were not carrying ascospores; that we have no 
evidence that ascospores are washed down the 
trees during the winter and spring months;™ 
also that following a rain period pycnospores 
are to be found in abundance on the healthy 
bark below blight lesions. 

F. D. Harp 

R. A. StupDHALTER 

Forrest PATHOLOGY LABORATORY, 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 


THE RELATION BETWEEN ABNORMAL PERMEABILITY 
AND ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT OF FUNDULUS 
EGGS 


In a previous paper the suggestion was 
made that certain abnormalities in Fundulus 
embryos are caused by increase in permeability 
since osmotic pressure is not the cause and so 
many different substances have the same effect. 
It was found that the normal egg in distilled 
water or a “balanced” salt solution is imper- 
meable to salts (Appendix II.). The egg ap- 
peared to be impermeable to water also, since 
enormous osmotic changes have no effect on it. 
The egg was found to contain nearly three 
times as much ash as sea water. The greater 
part of the ash is insoluble, but some of it may 
have been rendered so by the ashing. How- 
ever, the soluble ash (3.18 per cent.) is as great 
as the total salts (2.84-8.29 per cent.) in the 
local sea water. And yet the egg develops 
normally, with little or no change in volume, 
in distilled water or in sea water that is evapo- 
ratd to one half its volume, suggesting im- 
permeability to water. The fact that the eggs 
dry up when exposed to air may be taken to 
indicate an increase in permeability to water, 
due to drying of the superficial layer or plasma 
membrane. 

1 Heald, F. D., and Gardner, M. W., ‘‘ Prelim- 
inary Note on the Relative Prevalence of Pycno- 
spores and Ascospores of the Chestnut Blight 
Fungus during the Winter,’’ Screncg, N. S., 37: 
916-917, 1913. 

1MecClendon, Am. Jour. Physiol., 1912, XXIX., 
p. 290. 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 973 


In the same paper some preliminary chemi- 
cal studies of the permeability were described, 
and the view advanced that the egg is normally 
impermeable to Mg ions, but since Mg was 
found to diffuse out of the eggs in a pure NaCl 
solution, this solution may have increased the 
permeability to Mg (p. 296). Only one experi- 
ment to test the permeability to anions was 
described. MgSO, solution was used, with 
negative results. However, the MgSO, con- 
tained too large a trace of chloride to make it 
possible to detect a very small diffusion of 
chloride from the eggs. 

During the present season I was able to 
obtain especially pure salts, and have observed 
diffusion of both anions and kations from the 
eggs in pure solutions of these. The mon- 
strosities produced in unbalanced salt solu- 
tions have also been studied. The experiments 
support the following generalizations: 

1. Any solution of one or more of the salts 
of sea water, which is sufficiently unbalanced 
by other salts, 2 e., has a certain excess of 
some one kation, produces a number of types 
of monstrosities in F'undulus eggs. The types 
of monsters produced by the excess of one ka- 
tion (e. g., Na) are the same as those produced 
by any other (e. g., K, Ca or Mg). Thus a 
qualitatively specific action of a salt or ion 
does not exist. 

2. These unbalanced salt solutions cause an 
increase in the permeability of the egg to 
salts. This conclusion is based on the follow- 
ing data: The eggs in distilled water or in 
van’t Hoff’s solution (made with nitrates) lose 
no salts or ions that can be detected, except 
the ions of carbonic acid. On the contrary, 
the eggs give out salts or their ions in a mix- 
ture of NaCl and KCl or in pure solutions 
of the following salts: NaCl or nitrates of Na, 
K, Ca or Mg in concentrations that do not 
kill the eggs during the experiment. If the 
eggs are killed a more rapid diffusion takes 
place. The methods used will be published 
elsewhere. 

J. F. McCienpon 

U. 8. BUREAU OF FISHERIES, 

Woops Hoe, Mass., 
July 25, 1913 


AUGUST 22, 1913] 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION OF 


GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY 


THE section was called to order by the chair- 
man, Professor J. Edmund Woodman, immediately 
on adjournment of the business meeting of the 
academy, at 8:20 P.M., March 3, 1913, at the usual 
meeting-place in the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History. Some thirty-five members and visi- 
tors were present. 

After calling President McMillan to the chair, 
Professor Woodman presented the subject of 
‘¢The Interbedded Iron Ores of Nova Scotia.’’ 
The field evidences were elaborately illustrated by 
lantern views and hand specimens—some half a 
hundred of each. The net results seemed to war- 
rant a modified form of the replacement theory for 
the explanation of these deposits. 

Professor Kemp commented on the interesting 
new evidence in the light of the older body of data 
which seems to argue somewhat in opposition to 
the findings of Professor Woodman, as presented 
by workers in other regions. He concluded with 
an invitation for remarks by Professor Van Ingen, 
of Princeton University, a former officer in the 
New York Academy of Sciences. Professor Van 
Ingen stated that the results of his investigations 
into the iron ore deposits of Newfoundland were 
as yet inhibitive, but that he had found ex- 
tremely probable evidence of Paleozoic faunal 
connection between Newfoundland and certain 
European localities. 


ON adjournment of the usual business meeting 
of the academy at 8:25 P.M., April 7, 1913, Chair- 
man J. Edmund Woodman called to order the joint 
meeting of the Section of Geology and Mineralogy 
and the New York Microscopical Society in the 
regular meeting-place in the American Museum of 
Natural History. Sixty-six persons were present. 

On a reading by Dr. E. O. Hovey, recording 
secretary of the New York Academy of Sciences, 
of the invitation extended the academy by the 
Twelfth International Geological Congress, which 
meets in August, 1913, at Toronto, Canada, the 
following delegates were nominated by the sec- 

‘tion: Professors J. J. Stevenson, J. Edmund 
Woodman, James F. Kemp and Charles P. Berkey. 

The paper of the evening, on ‘‘The Genesis of 
Certain Paleozoic Interbedded Iron Ores,’’ was 
presented by Mr. R. B. Earle. Some 50 lantern 
slides showing both microscopic and gross struc- 
tures and textures were presented, several being 
projected by the splendid apparatus of the New 


SCIENCE 


281 


York Microscopical Society. About 125 hand 
specimens were also exhibited. Mimeographic 
copies of a summary of the paper were available 
for all present. 

Mr. Earle’s work has been furthered by a grant 
made by the New York Academy of Sciences some 
months ago. He has visited many exposures along 
the Paleozoic bedded ore region of the Appala- 
chians, and compared notes with many students of 
that problem, finding that ninety per cent. of 
them agree with Smyth’s theory, as modified after 
James Hall, giving the ores a contemporaneous 
sedimentary origin. 

Certain evidences underground seemed to Mr. 
Earle to discredit the theory of residual origin; 
inadequate source for the iron seemed to argue 
against that of replacement according to processes 
formerly suggested. While certain cavernous con- 
solidations containing non-ferruginous sand and 
some granules coated with calcite argue for re- 
placement, he finds evidence in the relatively im- 
pervious strata above and below the somewhat 
permeable iron formation for a different form of 
circulation of the iron-bearing solutions than pre- 
viously appealed to, namely, artesian. He pointed 
out that not merely the Clinton horizon, but vari- 
ous other geologic epochs in the Appalachians 
carry iron formations of similar origin. 

Professor Kemp congratulated the speaker on 
his excellent presentation, and suggested rather 
reasonable sources of iron from bicarbonates car- 
ried into estuaries, there deposited as hydrous 
oxides, later to be dehydrated. He inquired as to 
oxidation at such great depths by artesian waters, 
as to the sources of iron, and thought that stagna- 
tion rather than circulation would be probable 
under the conditions as presented. 

Dr. George F. Kunz suggested that present con- 
ditions along saline shores, inland seas, and even 
in fresh-water bogs might be analogous to those 
during deposition of the Paleozoic ores, and cited 
the association of the Syracuse salts and Clinton 
ores, as well as the Swedish bog ores. 

Professor J. J. Stevenson called attention to 
certain fragments of the ores in the superjacent 
sediments, and to certain points bearing on leach- 
ing from sediments above. He thinks the whole 
truth is not told by the new theory. 

The lateness of the hour precluded further dis- 
cussion at this meeting, so that on motion of Pro- 
fessor Berkey additional time for consideration of 
the paper was granted place on the program of 
the next monthly meeting. 

Dr. Hovey read by title a paper by Mr. Warren 


282 


M. Foote on ‘‘ Factors in the Exchange Value of 
Meteorites. ’’ 


THE section was called to order at the usual 
meeting-place in the American Museum of Natural 
History by the chairman, Professor J. Edmund 
Woodman, at 8:25 p.M., May 5, 1913. Thirty-five 
persons were present. 

Following the acceptance of the resignation of 
Charles T. Kirk, secretary of the section, Dr. A. B. 
Picini was recommended to the council of the 
academy for election to that office. 

The following papers were read by title: 

‘“A Contribution to the Geology of the Wasatch 
Mountains, Utah,’’ by Mr. Ferdinand F. Hintze, 
Jr. 

““Physiographic Studies in the Allegheny Pla- 
teau, Particularly along its Western Margin in 
Ohio and Kentucky,’’ by Dr. Jesse E. Hyde. 

‘“*A Limestone Dike in Southern Ohio,’’ by Dr. 
Jesse E. Hyde. 

Then was continued the discussion of Mr. R. B, 
Harle’s paper on ‘‘The Genesis of Certain Pale- 
ozoic Interbedded Iron Ores,’’ presented at the 
April meeting. 

Professor Kemp was invited to open the discus- 
sion, and inquired: (1) If there are not other 
oolites than the Clinton horizon which have been 
replaced by iron? (2) Would there not be stag- 
nation of the water below the vadose region? 

Mr. Earle referred number (1) to his colleagues, 
and replied to number (2) by saying that the 
““mpervious’’ beds are not wholly so, but only 
more so than their contained loosely aggregated 
beds—the iron formations, He believes, more- 
over, that there have been fluctuations of the 
ground water level. He observed also, in reply to 
Professor Stevenson’s inquiry at the last meeting, 
that the fragments in the superjacent beds are not 
directly in contact with the iron formation, and 
vited replacement of pebbles and not of their 
matrix, a feature also described in U. S. Geol. 
Survey Bull. 430. 

Professor Woodman, in comparing with the iron 
ores of Nova Scotia, showed that various materials 
are replaced, and that there are isolated granules 
of iron ore contained in a matrix of mud, an 
observation similar to those of Mr. Earle. Pro- 
fessor Woodman maintains that the cavernous con- 
solidations are unexplained by any syngenetic 
theory; also that there is either partial replace- 
ment or partial leaching in various regions. He 
finds, incidentally, that the materials typically re- 
placed are siliceous rather than calcareous. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 973 


Professor Grabau discussed the iron ore deposits 
of Tennessee, stating that they are replaced fossils 
which have not been rolled. He observed that the 
deposits in Wisconsin have pebbles with surfaces 
resembling desert varnish, and that the pebbles lie 
at all attitudes. There are no fossils; the beds are 
lens-shaped—apparently cross-bedded by wind ac- 
tion. There is little cementing silica. He believes 
that the original sediments in these instances have 
been replaced by iron. 

Dr. A. B. Picini followed with observations on 
the chemistry of iron ore deposition, showing that 
there is yet too little known of such processes in 
nature to prophesy certainly as to oxidizing or 
deoxidizing conditions underground. He referred 
to Van Bemmelen’s results, which show that the 
yellow oxides of iron deposited chemically are non- 
colloidal, while the red are colloidal. 

Mr. A. P. Picini gave account of experiments 
still under way in which he has already secured 
some replacement in a few hours by passing iron 
in carbon dioxide solution through porous calcite 
and silica at about 10 atmospheres. 

Professor A. W. Grabau’s paper on ‘‘ Irrational 
Stratigraphy: The Right and Wrong Way of Re- 
constructing Ancient Continents and Seas’’ was 
of the nature of a critique. It was illustrated 
with paleographie maps by Schuchert, Ulrich, 
Willis, and Chamberlin and Salisbury. The thesis 
indicated that these maps are too often based on 
paleontology alone to the neglect of the sediments 
themselves—especially their origin. There are 
sometimes arms of the sea across areas where the 
origin of a bed of conglomerate would be ex- 
pected. Erosion was here left out of the question, 
and a ‘‘stratigraphic hash’’? was the result.. Fur- 
ther, basins where crinoids, corals, brachiopods, 
ete., are found are mapped too small. 

Questions followed by Professor Woodman on 
the probable width of Appalachia, by Dr. C. A. 
Reeds on the connection between the Atlantic and 
Pacific in Silurian time, on the origin of the 
Silurian salts, and on the position of the present 
Atlantic deep where once Appalachia, a consider- 
able continent, is supposed to have lain. 

Professor Grabau thinks Appalachia may partly 
have lain where the Atlantic coastal plain now is, 
and did not extend over to the present Atlantic 
deep; that is, was perhaps less than 500 miles 
wide. The Silurian salts he thinks have originated 
while the Taconic land mass lay to the eastward 
in such a position as to cut off moisture-bearing 
wrindss CHARLES T, Kirk, 

Secretary of Section 


— 


SCIENCE 


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By WILLIAM E. KELLICOTT, Professor in Goucher College 
v+376 pp. 8vo. $2.50. 


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(Ready in September) 


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CIENCE 


——————— 


Fripay, Aueust 29, 1913 


CONTENTS 
A Mechanistic View of Psychology: Dr. 


GEORGE W. CRILE 283 


The Chestnut-blight Parasite (Endothia para- 
sitica) from China: Dr. C. L. SHEAR, NEIL 


EH. STEVENS 295 


The Discovery of the Chestnut Bark Disease 


im China: Dr. DAvip FAIRCHILD ......... 297 
Scientific Notes and News ...............- 299 
Unwersity and Educational News........... 301 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Color Correlation in Cowpeas: Dr. W. J. 

SPILLMAN. Variations in the Earth’s Mag- 

netic Field: PROFESSOR FRANCIS EH. NIPHER. 

Eacusing Class Absences in College: Dr. E. 

PAV MIVELTUTHEN Rr aletavodafetayartunsyel even etalcparsyie ite nlshuiay tells 302 
Scientific Books :— 

Pycraft’s The Infancy of Animals: Pro- 

FESSOR FRANCIS H. HERRICK. Brunswig on 

VLR ESS ID, (IDS Sa soodsosouuseCKs 304 


Notes on Meteorology and Climatology :— 
The Solar Constant of Radiation; West 
India Hurricanes; Humidity and Frost 
Damage; Australian Meteorology; Notes: 


CHARLES F. Brooks 309 


Special Articles :— 


The Rediscovery of Peridermium pyriforme 
Peck: Prorgessor J. C. ARTHUR, Dr. FRANK 


D. Kern. A Wine-red Sunflower: Pro- 

Fessor T. D. A. COCKERELL ............. 311 
Societies and Academies :— 

The Biological Society of Washington: M. 

Wo IPO, Dts Guooddascogedondosdunnane™ 313 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


A MECHANISTIC VIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY * 


TRADITIONAL religion, traditional medi- 
cine and traditional psychology have in- 
sisted upon the existence in man of a tri- 
une nature. Three ‘‘ologies’’ have been 
developed for the study of each nature as 
a separate entity—body, soul and spirit; 
physiology, psychology, theology; physi- 
cian, psychologist, priest. To the great 
minds of each class, from the days of Aris- 
totle and Hippocrates on, there have come 
glimmerings of the truth that the phenom- 
ena studied under these divisions were in- 
terrelated. Always, however, the conflict 
between the votaries of these sciences has 
been sharp, and the boundary lines be- 
tween them have been constantly changing. 
Since the great discoveries of Darwin, the 
zoologist, biologist and physiologist have 
joined hands, but still the soul-body-spirit 
chaos has remained. The physician has 
endeavored to fight the gross maladies 
which have been the result of disordered 
conduct; the psychologist has reasoned and 
experimented to find the laws governing 
conduct; and the priest has endeavored by 
appeals to an unknown god to reform 
conduct. 

The great impulse to a deeper and 
keener study of man’s relation, not only to 
man, but to the whole animal creation, 
which was given by Darwin, has opened 
the way to the study of man on a differ- 
ent basis. Psychologists, physicians and 
priests are now joining hands as never 
before in the great world-wide movement 
for the betterment of man. ‘The new sci- 


+Paper read before Sigma Xi, Case School of 
Science, Cleveland, Ohio, May 27, 1913. 


284 


ence of sociology is combining the func- 
tions of all three, for priest, physician and 
psychologist have come to see that man is 
in large measure the product of his en- 
vironment. 

My thesis to-night, however, will go be- 
yond this common agreement, for I shall 
maintain, not that man is in large measure 
the product of his environment, but that 
environment has been the actual creator of 
man; that the old division between body, 
soul and spirit is non-existent; that man is 
a unified mechanism responding in every 
part to the adequate stimuli given it from 
without by the environment of the present 
and from within by the environment of the 
past, the record of which is stored in part 
in cells throughout the mechanism, but 
especially in its central battery—the brain. 
I postulate further that the human body 
mechanism is equipped first for such con- 
flict with environment as will tend to the 
preservation of the individual and second 
for the propagation of the species, both of 
these functions when most efficiently car- 
ried out tending to the upbuilding and per- 
fection of the race. 

Through the long ages of evolution the 
human mechanism has been slowly devel- 
oped by the constant changes and growth 
of its parts which have resulted from its 
continual adaptation to its environment. 
In some animals the protection from too 
rough contact with surroundings was se- 
cured by the development of an outside 
armor; in others noxious secretions served 
the purposes of defense, but such devices 
as these were not suitable for the higher 
animals or for the diverse and important 
functions of the human race. The safety 
of the higher animals and of man had to be 
preserved by some mechanism by means of 
which they could become adapted to a 
much wider and more complex enyiron- 
ment, the dominance over which alone 


SCIENCE 


[N.S8. Von. XXXVIII. No. 974 


gives them their right to be ealled ‘‘su- 
perior beings.’’ The mechanism by the 
progressive development of which living 
beings have been able to react more and 
more effectually to their environment is 
the central nervous system, which is seen 
in one of its simplest forms in motor 
plants, such as the sensitive plant and the 
Venus fly trap, and in its highest develop- 
ment only in the sanest, healthiest, hap- 
piest and most useful men. 

The essential function of the nervous 
system was primarily to secure some form 
of motor activity, first as a means of se- 
curing food, and later as a means of es- 
caping from enemies and to promote pro- 
creation. Activities for the preservation 
of the individual and of the species were 
and are the only purposes for which the 
body energy is expended. The central 
nervous system has accordingly been de- 
veloped for the purpose of securing such 
motor activities as will best adapt the indi- 
viduals of a species for their self-preserva- 
tive conflict with environment. 

It is easy to appreciate that the simplest 
expressions of nerve response—the reflexes 
—are motor in character, but it is difficult 
to understand how such intangible reac- 
tions as love, hate, poetic fancy, or moral 
inhibition can be also the result of the 
adaptation to environment of a distine- 
tively motor mechanism. We expect, how- 
ever, to prove that so-called ‘‘psychiec’’ 
states as well as the reflexes are products 
of adaptation; that they occur automatic- 
ally in response to adequate stimuli in the 
environment ; that like the reflexes they are 
expressions of motor activity, which, al- 
though intangible and unseen, in turn in- 
cites to activity the units of the motor 
mechanism of the body; and finally, that 
any ‘‘psychic’’ condition results in a defi- 
nite depletion of the potential energy in 
the brain cells which is proportionate to. 


AuGusT 29, 1913] 


the muscular exertion of which it is the 
representative. 

That this nerve mechanism may effect- 
ively carry out its twofold function, first, 
of self-adaptation to meet adequately the 
inereasingly complicated stimuli of en- 
vironment; and second, of in turn adapt- 
ing the motor mechanism to respond ade- 
quately to its demands, there have been 
implanted in the body numerous nerve 
ceptors—some for the transmission of stim- 
uli harmful to the mechanism—nocicep- 
tors; some of a beneficial character—hene- 
ceptors; and still others more highly spe- 
cialized, which partake of the nature of 
both bene- and nociceptors—the distance 
ceptors, or special senses. 

A conyineing proof that environment 
has been the creator of man is seen in the 
absolute adaptation of the nociceptors as 
manifested in their specific response to 
adequate stimuli, and in their presence in 
those parts of the body only which through- 
out the history of the race have been most 
exposed to harmful contacts. We find they 
are most numerous in the face, the neck, 
the abdomen, the hands and the feet; while 
in the back they are few in number, and 
within the bony cavities they are lacking. 

Instances of the specific responses made 
by the nociceptors might be multiplied in- 
definitely. Sneezing, for example, is a 
specific response made by the motor mech- 
anism to stimulation of the nociceptors in 
the nose, while stimulation of the larynx 
does not produce a sneeze, but a cough; 
stimulation of the nociceptors of the stom- 
ach does not produce cough, but vomiting; 
stimulation of the nociceptors of the intes- 
tine does not produce vomiting, but in- 
creased peristaltic action. There are no 
nociceptors misplaced; none wasted; none 
that do not make an adequate response to 
adequate stimulation. 

Another most significant proof that the 


SCIENCE 


285 


environment of the past has been the cre- 
ator of the man of to-day is seen in the 
fact that man has added to his environ- 
ment certain factors to which adaptation 
has not as yet been made. For example, 
heat is a stimulus which has existed since 
the days of prehistoric man, while the X- 
ray is a discovery of to-day; to heat the 
nociceptors produce an adequate response; 
to the X-ray there is no response. There 
was no weapon in the prehistoric ages 
which could move at the speed of a bullet 
from the modern rifle; therefore, while 
slow penetration of the tissues produces 
ereat pain and muscular response, there is 
no response to the swiftly moving bullet. 

The response to contact stimuli then de- 
pends always on the presence of nocicep- 
tors in the affected part of the body and to 
the type of the contact. Powerful response 
is made to crushing injury by environ- 
mental forces; to such injuring contacts as 
resemble the impacts of fighting; to such 
tearing injuries as resemble those made by 
teeth and claws. On the other hand, the 
sharp division of tissue by cutting produces 
no adaptive response; indeed, one might 
imagine that the body could be cut to 
pieces by a superlatively sharp knife ap- 
plied at tremendous speed without ma- 
terial adaptive response. 

These examples indicate how the history 
of the phylogenetic experiences of the hu- 
man race may be learned by a study of the 
position and the action of the nociceptors 
just as truly as the study of the arrange- 
ment and variations in the strata of the 
earth’s crust discloses to us geologic his- 
tory. 

These adaptive responses to stimuli are 
the result of the action of the brain cells 
which are thus continually played upon by 
the stimuli of environment. The energy 
stored in the brain cells in turn activates 
the various organs and parts of the body. 


286 


If the environmental impacts are repeated 
with such frequency that the brain cells 
have no time for restoration between them, 
the energy of the cells becomes exhausted 
and a condition of shock results. Every 
action of the body may thus be analyzed 
into a stimulation of ceptors, a consequent 
discharge of brain cell energy, and a final 
adaptive activation of the appropriate 
part. Walking, running and their modi- 
fications constitute an adaptation of won- 
derful perfection, for, as Sherrington has 
shown, the adaptation of locomotion con- 
sists of a series of reflexes—ceptors in the 
joints, in the limb and in the foot being 
stimulated by variations in pressure. 

As we have shown, the bene- and noci- 
ceptors orientate man to all forms of phys- 
ical contact—the former guide him to the 
acquisition of food and to sexual contact; 
the latter direct him from contacts of a 
harmful nature. The distance ceptors, on 
the other hand, adapt man to his distant 
environment by means of communication 
through unseen forees—ethereal vibrations 
produce sight; air waves produce sound; 
microscopical particles of matter produce 
smell. The advantage of the distance cep- 
tors is that they allow time for orientation, 
and because of this great advantage the 
majority of man’s actions are responses to 
their adequate stimul. As Sherrington 
has stated, the greater part of the brain 
has been developed by means of stimuli 
received through the special senses, espe- 
cially through the light ceptors, the optic 
nerves. 

We have just stated that by means of 
the distance ceptors animals and man ori- 
entate themselves to their distant environ- 
ment. As a result of the stimulation of 
the special senses chase and escape are 
effected, fight is conducted, food is secured, 
and mates are found. It is obvious, there- 
fore, that the distance ceptors are the pri- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


mary cause of continuous and exhausting 
expenditures of energy. On the other 
hand, stimuli applied to contact ceptors 
lead to short, quick discharges of nervous 
energy. The child puts his hand in the 
fire and there is an immediate and com- 
plete response to the injuring contact; he 
sees a pot of jam on the pantry shelf and 
a long train of continued activities are set 
in motion, leading to the acquisition of the 
desired object. 

The contact ceptors do not at all pro- 
mote the expenditure of energy in the 
chase or in fight, in the search for food or 
for mates. Since the distance ceptors con- 
trol these activities, one would expect to 
find that they control also those organs 
whose function is the production of ener- 
gizing internal secretions. Over these 
organs—the thyroid, the adrenals, the 
hypophysis—the contact ceptors have no 
control. Prolonged laboratory experimen- 
tation seems to prove this postulate. Ac- 
cording to our observations, no amount of 
physical trauma inflicted upon animals will 
cause hyperthyroidism or increased epine- 
phrin in the blood, while fear and rage do 
produce hyperthyroidism and increased 
epinephrin. This is a statement of far- 
reaching importance and is the key to an 
explanation of many chronic diseases—dis- 
eases which are associated with the intense 
stimulation of the distance ceptors in hu- 
man relations. 

Stimuli of the contact ceptors differ 
from stimuli of the distance ceptors in still 
another important particular. The ade- 
quacy of stimuli of the contact ceptors de- 
pends upon their number and intensity, 
while the adequacy of the stimuli of the 
distance ceptors depends upon the experi- 
ence of the species and of the individual. 
That is, according to phylogeny and on- 
togeny this or that sound, this or that 
smell, this or that sight, through associa- 


Aveust 29, 1913] 


tion recapitulates the experience of the 
species and of the individual—awakens the 
phylogenetic and ontogenetic memory. In 
other words, sights, sounds and odors are 
symbols which awaken phylogenetic asso- 
ciation. If a species has become adapted 
to make a specific response to a certain 
object, then that response will occur auto- 
matically in an individual of that species 
when he hears, sees or smells that object. 
Suppose for example, that the shadow of a 
hawk falls simultaneously on the eyes of a 
bird, a rabbit, a cow and a boy. That 
shadow would at once activate the rabbit 
and the bird to an endeavor to escape, each 
in a specific manner according to its phylo- 
genetic adaptation; the cow would be in- 
different and neutral; while the boy, ac- 
cording to his personal experience or on- 
togeny, might remain neutral, might watch 
the flight of the hawk with interest or 
might try to shoot it. 

Each phylogenetic and each ontogenetic 
experience develops its own mechanism of 
adaptation in the brain; and the brain 
threshold is raised or lowered to stimuli by 
the strength and frequency of repetition 
of the experience. Thus through the in- 
numerable symbols supplied by environ- 
ment the distance ceptors drive this or that 
animal according to the type of brain pat- 
tern and the particular state of threshold 
which has been developed in that animal 
by its phylogenetic and ontogenetic experi- 
ences. The brain pattern depends upon 
his phylogeny, the state of threshold upon 
his ontogeny. Each brain pattern is cre- 
ated by some particular element in the 
environment to which an adaptation has 
been made for the good of the species. 
The state of threshold depends upon the 
effect made upon the individual by his 
personal contacts with that particular ele- 
ment in his environment. The presence of 
that element produces in the individual an 


SCIENCE 


287 


associative recall of the adaptation of his 
species—that is, the brain pattern devel- 
oped by his phylogeny becomes energized 
to make a specific response. The intensity 
of the response depends upon the state of 
threshold—that is, upon the associative 
recall of the individual’s own experience— 
his ontogeny. 

If the full history of the species and of 
the individual could be known in every 
detail, then every detail of that individ- 
ual’s conduct in health and disease could 
be predicted. Reaction to environment is 
the basis of conduct, of moral standards, of 
manners and conventions, of work and 
play, of love and hate, of protection and 
murder, of governing and being governed, 
in fact, of all the reactions between human 
beings—of the entire web of life. To quote 
Sherrington once more: ‘‘Hnvironment 
drives the brain, the brain drives the vari- 
ous organs of the body.’’ 

By what means are these adaptations 


-made; what is the mechanism through 


which adequate responses are made to the 
stimuli received by the ceptors? We pos- 
tulate that in the brain there are innumer- 
able patterns each the mechanism for the 
performance of a single kind of action, and 
that the brain cells supply the energy— 
electric or otherwise—by which the act is 
performed; that the energy stored in the 
brain cells is in some unknown manner re- 
leased by the force which activates the 
brain pattern; and that through an un- 
known property of these brain patterns 
each stimulus causes such a change that 
the next stimulus of the same kind passes 
with greater facility. 

Each separate motor action presumably 
has its own mechanism—brain pattern— 
which is activated by but one ceptor and 
by that ceptor only when physical force of 
a certain intensity and rate of motion is 
apphed. This is true both of the visible 


288 


contacts affecting the nociceptors and of 
the invisible contacts by those intangible 
forces which affect the distance ceptors. 
For example, each variation in speed of the 
light-producing waves of ether causes a 
specific reaction in the brain. For one 
speed of ether waves the reaction is the 
perception of the color blue; for another, 
yellow; for another, violet. Changes in the 
speed of air waves meet with specifie re- 
sponse in the brain patterns tuned to re- 
ceive impressions through the aural nerves, 
and so we distinguish differences in sound 
pitch. If we can realize the infinite deli- 
cacy of the mechanisms adapted to these 
infinitesimal variations in the speed and 
intensity of invisible and intangible stim- 
uli, it will not be difficult to conceive the 
variations of brain patterns which render 
possible the specific responses to the coarser 
contacts of visible environment. 

Each brain pattern is adapted for but 
one type of motion, and so the specific 
stimuli of the innumerable ceptors play 
each upon their own brain patterns only. 
In addition, each brain pattern can react 
to stimuli applied only within certain lim- 
its. Too bright a light blinds; too loud a 
sound deafens. No mechanism is adapted 
for waves of light above or below a certain 
rate of speed, although this range varies in 
different individuals and in different spe- 
cies according to the training of the indi- 
vidual and the need of the species. 

We have already referred to the fact 
that there is no receptive mechanism 
adapted to the stimuli from the X-ray, 
from the high-speed bullet, from elec- 
tricity. So, too, there are innumerable 
forces in nature which can excite in man 
no adaptive response, since there exist in 
man no brain patterns tuned to their 
waves, as in the case of certain ethereal 
and radioactive forces. 

On this mechanistic basis the emotions 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 974 


may be explained as activations of the en- 
tire motor mechanism for fighting, for 
escaping, for copulating. The sight of an 
enemy stimulates in the brain those pat- 
terns formed by the previous experiences 
of the individual with that enemy, and also 
the experiences of the race whenever an 
enemy had to be met and overcome. These 
many brain patterns in turn activate each 
that part of the body through which lies 
the path of its own adaptive response— 
those parts including the special energizing 
or activating organs. Laboratory experi- 
ments show that in an animal driven 
strongly by emotion the following changes 
may be seen: (1) a mobilization of the 
energy-giving compound in the brain cells, 
evidenced by a primary increase of the 
Nissl substance and a later disappearance 
of this substance and the deterioration of 
the cells; (2) increased output of epine- 
phrin, of thyroid secretion, of glycogen 
and an increase of the power of oxidation 
in the muscles; (3) accelerated circulation 
and respiration with increased body tem- 
perature; (4) altered metabolism. All of 
these are adaptations to increase the motor 
efficiency of the mechanism. In addition 
we find an inhibition of the functions of 
every organ and tissue that consumes en- 
ergy, but does not contribute directly to 
motor efficiency. The mouth becomes dry; 
the gastric and pancreatic secretions are 
lessened or are completely inhibited; peri- 
staltie action stops. The obvious purpose 
of all these activations and inhibitions is to 
mass every atom of energy upon the mus- 
eles that are conducting the defense or 
attack. 

So strong is the influence of phylogen- 
etie experience that though an enemy to- 
day may not be met by actual physical 
attack, yet the decks are cleared for action, 
as it were, and the weapons made ready, 
the body as a result being shaken and ex- 


AUGUST 29, 1913] 


hausted. The type of emotion is plainly 
declared by the activation of the muscles 
which would be used if the appropriate 
physical action were consummated. In 
anger the teeth are set, the fists are 
clenched, the posture is rigid; in fear the 
muscles collapse, the joints tremble and 
the running mechanism is activated for 
flight; in sexual excitement the mimicry is 
as obvious. The emotions, then, are the 
preparations for phylogenetic activities. 
If the activities are consummated, the fuel 
—glyecogen—and the activating secretions 
from the thyroid, the adrenals, the hy- 
pophysis are consumed. In the activation 
without action, these products must be 
eliminated as waste products and so a 
heavy strain is put upon the organs of 
elimination. It is obvious that the body 
under emotion might be clarified by active 
muscular exercise, but the subject of the 
emotion is so strongly integrated thereby 
that it is difficult for him to engage in 
diverting, clarifying exertion. The person 
in anger does not want to be saved from 
the ill-effects of his own emotion; he wants 
only to fight; the person in fear wants only 
to escape; the person under sexual excite- 
ment wants only possession. 

All the lesser emotions—worry, jealousy, 
envy, grief, disappointment, expectation— 
all these influence the body in this manner, 
the consequences depending upon the in- 
tensity of the emotion and its protraction. 
Chronic emotional stimulation, therefore, 
may fatigue or exhaust the brain and may 
cause cardiovascular disease, indigestion, 
Graves’s disease, diabetes, and insanity 
even. 

The effect of the emotions upon the body 
mechanism may be compared to that pro- 
duced upon the mechanism of an auto- 
mobile if its engines are kept running at 
full speed while the machine is stationary. 
The whole machine will be shaken and 


SCIENCE 


289 


weakened, the batteries and weakest parts 
being the first to become impaired and de- 
stroyed, the leneth of usefulness of the 
automobile being correspondingly limited. 

We have shown that the effects upon the 
bodily mechanism of the action of the vari- 
ous ceptors is in relation to the response 
made by the brain to the stimuli received. 
What is this power of response on the part 
of the brain but consciousness? If this is 
so, then consciousness itself is a reaction tc 
environment, and its intensity must vary 
with the state of the brain and with the en- 
vironmental stimuli. If the brain cells are 
in the state of highest efficiency, if their 
energy has not been drawn upon, then con- 
sciousness is at its height; if the brain is 
fatigued, that is, if the energy stored in the 
cells has been exhausted to any degree, then 
the intensity of consciousness is diminished. 
So degrees of consciousness vary from the 
height maintained by cells in full vigor 
through the stages of fatigue to sleep, to the 


deeper unconsciousness secured by the ad- 


ministration of inhalation anesthetics, to 
that complete unconsciousness of the en- 
vironment which is secured by blocking the 
advent to the brain of all impressions from 
both distance and contact ceptors, by the 
use of both local and inhalation anesthetics 
—the state of anoci-association. 

Animals and man may be so exhausted as 
to be only semi-conscious. While a brain 
perfectly refreshed by a long sleep can not 
immediately sleep again, the exhausted 
brain and the refreshed brain when sub- 
jected to equal stimuli will rise to unequal 
heights of consciousness. The nature of 
the physical basis of consciousness has been 
sought in experiments on rabbits which 
were kept awake from 100 to 109 hours. 
At the end of this time they were in a state 
of extreme exhaustion and seemed semi- 
conscious. If the wakefulness had been 
further prolonged, this state of semi-con- 


290 


sciousness would have steadily changed 
until it culminated in the permanent un- 
consciousness of death. An examination of 
the brain cells of these animals showed 
physical changes identical with those pro- 
duced by exhaustion from other causes, 
such as prolonged physical exertion or 
emotional strain. After 100 hours of wake- 
fulness the rabbits were allowed a long 
period of sleep. All the brain cells were 
restored except those that had been in a 
state of complete exhaustion. A single 
seance of sleep served to restore some of the 
cells, but those which had undergone ex- 
treme changes required very prolonged 
rest. These experiments give us a definite 
physical basis for explaining the cost to 
the body mechanism of maintaining the 
conscious state. We have stated that the 
brain cell changes produced by prolonged 
consciousness are identical with those pro- 
duced by physical exertion and by emo- 
tional strain. Rest, then, and especially 
sleep, is needed to restore the physical state 
of the brain cells which have been im- 
paired, and as the brain cells constitute the 
central battery of the body mechanism, 
their restoration is essential for the main- 
tenance of normal vitality. 

In ordinary parlance, by consciousness 
we mean the activity of that part of the 
brain in which associative memory resides, 
but while associative memory is suspended 
the activities of the brain as a whole are 
by no means suspended; the respiratory 
and circulatory centers are active, as are 
those centers which maintain muscular 
tone. This is shown by the muscular re- 
sponse to external stimuli made by the nor- 
mal person in sleep; by the occasional acti- 
vation of motor patterns which may break 
through into consciousness causing dreams; 
and finally by the responses of the motor 
mechanism made to the injuring stimuli 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


of an operation on a patient under inhala- 
tion anesthesia only. 

Direct proof of the mechanistic action of 
many of life’s phenomena is lacking, but 
the proof is definite and final of the part 
that the brain cells play in maintaining 
consciousness; of the fact that the degree 
of consciousness and mental efficiency de- 
pends upon the physical state of the brain 
cells; and finally that efficiency may be 
restored by sleep, provided that exhaus- 
tion of the cells has not progressed too far. 
In this greatest phenomenon of life, then, 
the mechanistic theory is in harmony with 
the facts. 

Perhaps no more convincing proof of 
our thesis that the body is a mechanism de- 
veloped and adapted to its purposes by 
environment can be secured than by a 
study of that most constant manifestation 
of consciousness—pain. 

Like the other phenomena of life, pain 
was undoubtedly evolved for a particular 
purpose—surely for the good of the indi- 
vidual. Like fear and worry, it frequently 
is injurious. What then may be its pur- 
pose ? 

We postulate that pain is a result of con- 
tact ceptor stimulation for the purpose of 
securing protective muscular activity. 
This postulate applies to all kinds of pain, 
whatever their cause—whether physical in- 
jury, pyogenic infection, the obstruction 
of hollow viscera, childbirth, ete. 

All forms of pain are associated with 
muscular action, and as in every other 
stimulation of the ceptors, each kind of 
pain is specific to the causative stimuli. 
The child puts his hand in the fire; physi- 
cal injury pain results and the appropriate 
muscular response is elicited. If pressure 
is prolonged on some parts of the body, 
anemia of the parts may result, with a cor- 
responding discomfort or pain, requiring 
muscular action for relief. When the rays 


AueusT 29, 1913] 


of the sun strike directly upon the retina, 
light pain causes an immediate protective 
action; so too in the evacuation of the in- 
testine and the urinary bladder as normal 
acts, and in overcoming obstruction of 
these tracts, discomfort or pain compel the 
required muscular actions. This view of 
pain as a stimulation to motor action ex- 
plains why only certain types of infection 
are associated with pain; namely, those 
types in which the infection may be spread 
by muscular action or those in which the 
fixation of parts by continued muscular 
rigidity is an advantage. As a further re- 
markable proof of the marvelous adapta- 
tion of the body mechanism to meet vary- 
ing environmental conditions, we find that 
just as nociceptors have been implanted in 
those parts of the body only which have 
been subject to nocuous contacts, so a type 
of infection which causes muscular action 
in one part of the body may cause none 
when it attacks another. 

This postulate gives us the key to the 
pain-muscular phenomena of peritonitis, 
pleurisy, cystitis, cholecystitis, ete., as well 
as to the pain-muscular phenomena in 
obstructions of the hollow viscera. If pain 
is a part of a muscular response and occurs 
only as a result of contact ceptor stimula- 
tion by physical injury, infection, anemia, 
or obstruction, we may well inquire which 
part of the nerve mechanism is the site of 
the phenomenon of pain. Is it the nerve 
ending, the nerve trunk, or the brain? 
That is, is pain associated with the physical 
contact with the nerve ending, or with the 
physical act of transmission along the nerve 
trunk, or with the change of brain cell sub- 
stance by means of which the motor-pro- 
ducing energy is released ? 

We postulate that the pain is associated 
with the discharge of energy from the 
_ brain cells. If this is true, then if every 
nociceptor in the body were equally stimu- 


SCIENCE 


291 


lated in such a manner that all the stimuli 
should reach the brain cells simultaneously, 
then the cells would find themselves in 
equilibrium and no motor act would be 
performed. But if all the pain nerve 
ceptors but one were equally stimulated, 
and this one more strongly stimulated 
than the rest, then this one would gain pos- 
session of the final common path—would 
cause a muscular action and the sensation 
of pain. 

It is well known that when a greater 
pain or stimulus is thrown into competition 
with a lesser one, the lesser is submerged. 
Of this fact the schoolboy makes use when 
he initiates the novice into the mystery of 
the painless pulling of hair. The simulta- 
neous but severe application of the boot to 
the blindfolded victim takes complete but 
exclusive possession of the final common 
path and the hair is painlessly plucked 
as a result of the triumph of the boot 
stimulus over the pull on the hair in the 
struggle for the final common path. 

Persons who have survived a sudden, 
complete exposure to superheated steam, 
or whose bodies have been enwrapped in 
flame, testify that they have felt no pain. 
As this absence of pain may be due to the 
fact that the emotion of fear gained the 
final common path, to the exclusion of all 
other stimuli, we are trying by experimen- 
tation to discover the effects of simultane- 
ous painful stimulation of all parts of the 
body. The data already in hand, and the 
experiments now in progress, in which 
anesthetized animals are subjected to 
powerful stimuli applied to certain parts 
of the body only, or simultaneously to all 
parts of the body, lead us to believe that in 
the former case the brain cells become 
stimulated or hyperchromatic, while in the 
latter case no brain cell changes occur. 
We believe that our experiments will prove 
that an equal and simultaneous stimula- 


292 


tion of all parts of the body leaves the 
brain cells in a state of equilibrium. Our 
theory of pain will then be well sustained, 
not only by common observation, but by 
experimental proof, and so the mechanistic 
view will be found in complete harmony 
with another important reaction. 

We have stated that when a number of 
contact stimuli act simultaneously, the 
strongest stimulus will gain possession of 
the final common path—the path of action. 
When, however, stimuli of the distance cep- 
tors compete with stimuli of the contact 
ceptors, the contact-ceptor stimuli often 
secure the common path, not because they 
are stronger or more important, but be- 
cause they are immediate and urgent. In 
many instances, however, the distance-cep- 
tor stimuli are strong, have the advantage 
of a lowered threshold, and therefore com- 
pete successfully with the immediate and 
present stimuli of the contact ceptors. In 
such cases we have the interesting phenom- 
enon of physical injury without result- 
ant pain or muscular response. The dis- 
tance ceptor stimuli which may thus tri- 
umph over even powerful contact-ceptor 
stimuli are those causing strong emotions 
—as great anger in fighting; great fear in 
a battle; intense sexual excitement. Dr. 
Livinestone has testified to his complete un- 
consciousness to pain during his struggle 
with a lion; although he was torn by 
teeth and claws, his fear overcame all 
other impressions. By frequently repeated 
stimulation the Dervish secures a low 
threshold to the emotions caused by the 
thought of God or the devil and his emo- 
tional excitement is increased by the pres- 
ence of others under the same stimulation ; 
emotion, therefore, secures the final common 
path and he is unconscious of pain when he 
lashes, cuts and bruises his body. The 
phenomena of hysteria may be explained 
on this basis, as may the unconsciousness 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 974 


of passing events in a person in the midst 
of a great and overwhelming grief. By 
constant practise the student may secure 
the final common path for such impressions 
as are derived from the stimuli offered by 
the subject of his study, and so he will be 
oblivious of his surroundings. Concentra- 
tion is but another name for a final com- 
mon path secured by the repetition and 
summation of certain stimuli. 

If our premises are sustained then we 
can recognize in man no will, no ego, no 
possibility for spontaneous action, for 
every action must be a response to the 
stimuli of contact or distance ceptors, or 
to their recall through associative memory. 
Memory is awakened by symbols which 
represent any of the objects or forces asso- 
ciated with the act recalled. Spoken and 
written words, pictures, sounds, may 
stimulate the brain patterns formed by 
previous stimulation of the distance cep- 
tors; while touch, pain, temperature, pres- 
sure, may recall previous contact-ceptor 
stimuli. Memory depends in part upon 
the adequacy of the symbol, and in part 
upon the state of the threshold. If one has 
ever been attacked by a snake, the thresh- 
old to any symbol which could recall that 
attack would be low; the later recall of 
anything associated with the bite or its re- 
sults would produce in memory a recapitu- 
lation of the whole scene, while even harm- 
less snakes would thereafter be greeted 
with a shudder. On the other hand, in a 
child the threshold is low to the desire for 
the possession of any new and strange ob- 
ject; in a child, therefore, to whom a snake 
is merely an unusual and fascinating ob- 
ject, there is aroused only curiosity and the 
desire for the possession of a new play- 
thing. 

If we are to attribute to man the posses- 
sion of a governing attribute, not possessed 
by other parts of the animal creation, 


AvuGusT 29, 1913] 


where are we to draw the boundary line, 
and say ‘‘ here the ego—the will—the rea- 
son—emerges ’’? What attribute, after all, 
has man which in its ultimate analysis is 
not possessed by the lowest animals or by 
the vegetable creation, even? From the 
ameeba, on through all the stages of ani- 
mal existence, every action is but a re- 
sponse to adequate stimulus; and as a re- 
sult of adequate stimuli each step has been 
taken toward the higher and more intricate 
mechanisms which play the higher and 
more intricate parts in the great scheme of 
nature. 

The Venus fly trap responds to as deli- 
cate a stimulus as do any of the contact 
ceptors of animals, and the motor activity 
resulting from the stimulus is as complex. 
To an insect-like touch the plant responds ; 
to a rough contact there is no response; 
that is, the motor mechanism of the plant 
has become attuned to only such stimuli as 
simulate the contact of those insects which 
form its diet. It catches flies, eats and di- 
gests them, and ejects the refuse. The 
ameba does no less. The frog does no 
more, excepting that in its place in creation 
a few more reactions are required for its 
sustenance and for the propagation of its 
species. Man does no more, excepting that 
in man’s manifold relations there are in- 
numerable stimuli, for meeting which ade- 
quately, innumerable mechanisms have 
been evolved. The motor mechanism of the 
fly trap is perfectly adapted to its pur- 
pose. The motor mechanism of man is 
adapted to its manifold uses, and as new 
environmental influences surround him, we 
must believe that new adaptations of the 
mechanism will be evolved to meet the new 
conditions. 

Is not this conception of man’s activities 
infinitely more wonderful, and infinitely 
more comprehensible than is the conception 
that his activities may be accounted for by 


SCIENCE 


293 


the existence of an unknown, unimagina- 
ble, and intangible force called ‘‘ mind ’’ 
or ‘‘ soul ’’? 

We have already shown how the nerve 
mechanism is so well adapted to the in- 
numerable stimuli of environment that it 
ean accurately transmit and distinguish 
between the infinite variations of speed in 
the ether waves producing light, and the 
air waves producing sound. Each rate of 
vibration energizes only the mechanism 
which has been attuned to it. With mar- 
velous accuracy the ight and sound waves 
gain access to the nerve tissue and are 
finally interpreted in terms of motor re- 
sponses, each by the brain pattern attuned 
to that particular speed and intensity. So 
stimuli and resultant actions multiplied by 
the total number of the motor patterns in 
the brain of man give us the sum total of 
his life’s activities—they constitute his life. 

As in evolutionary history the perman- 
ence of an adaptation of the body mechan- 
ism depends upon its value in the preser- 
vation of the life of the individual and 
upon its power to increase the value of the 
individual to the race, so the importance 
and truth of these postulates and theories 
may well be judged on the same basis. 

The fundamental instincts of all living 
matter are self-preservation, and the prop- 
agation of the species. The instinct for 
self-preservation causes a plant to turn 
away from cold and damaging winds 
toward the life-giving sun; the inert mus- 
sel to withdraw within its shell; the insect 
to take flight; the animal to fight or to 
flee; and man to procure food that he may 
oppose starvation, to shelter himself and to 
provide clothes that he may avoid the dan- 
gers of excessive cold and heat, to. combat 
death from disease by seeking medical aid, 
to avoid destruction by man or brute by 
fight or by flight. The instinet to propa- 
gate the species leads brute man by crude 


294 


methods, and cultured man by methods 
more refined, to put out of his way sex 
rivals so that his own life may be con- 
tinued through offspring. The life of the 
species is further assured by the protective 
action exercised over the young by the 
adults of the species. As soon as the 
youngest offspring is able successfully to 
earry on his own struggle with environ- 
ment there is no longer need for the 
parent, and the parent enters therefore 
the stage of disintegration. The average 
length of life in any species is the sum of 
the years of immaturity, plus the years of 
female fertility, plus the adolescent years 
of the offspring. 

The stimuli resulting from these two 
dominant instincts are now so overpower- 
ing as compared with all other environmen- 
tal stimuli that the mere possession of ade- 
quate knowledge of the damaging effects of 
certain actions as compared with the sav- 
ing effects of others will (other things being 
equal) lead the individual to choose the 
right,—the self- and species-preservative 
course of action, instead of the wrong,— 
the self- and species-destructive course of 
action. 

The dissemination of the knowledge of 
the far-reaching deleterious effects of pro- 
tracted emotional strain, of overwork, and 
of worry will automatically raise man’s 
threshold to the damaging activating 
stimuli causing the strong emotions, and 
will cause him to avoid dangerous strains 
of every kind. The individual thus pro- 
tected will therefore rise to a plane of poise 
and efficiency far above that of his uncon- 
trolled fellows, and by so much will his 
efficiency, health and happiness be aug- 
mented. 

A full acceptance of this theory can not 
fail to produce in those in whose charge 
rests the welfare of the young, an over- 
whelming desire to surround children with 
those environmental stimuli only which 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


will tend to their highest ultimate welfare. 

Such is the stimulating force of tradi- 
tion that many who have been educated 
under the tenets of traditional beliefs will 
oppose these hypotheses—even violently, it 
may be. So they have opposed them; so 
they opposed Darwin; so they have opposed 
all new and apparently revolutionary doc- 
trines. Yet these persons themselves are 
by their very actions proving the efficiency 
of the vital principles which we have enun- 
ciated. What is the whole social welfare 
movement but a recognition on the part of 
municipalities, educational boards, and re- 
ligious organizations of the fact that the 
future welfare of the race depends upon 
the administration to the young of forceful 
uplifting environmental stimuli. 

There are now, as there were in Dar- 
win’s day, many who feel that man is de- 
graded from his high estate by the concep- 
tion that he is not a reasoning, willing be- 
ing, the result of a special creation. But 
one may wonder indeed what conception of 
the origin of man can be more wonderful or 
more inspiring than the belief that he has 
been slowly evolved through the ages, and 
that all creatures have had a part in his 
development; that each form of life has 
contributed and is contributing still to his 
present welfare and to his future advance- 
ment. 

RECAPITULATION 

Psychology—the science of the human _ 
soul and its relations—under the mechanis- 
tic theory of life, must receive a new defini- 
tion. It becomes a science of man’s activi- 
ties as determined by the environmental 
stimuli of his phylogeny and of his 
ontogeny. 

On this basis we postulate that through- 
out the history of the race nothing has been 
lost, but that every experience of the race 
and of the individual has been retained for 
the guidance of the individual and of the 
race; that for the accomplishment of this 


AveusT 29, 1913] 


end, there has been evolved through the 
ages a nerve mechanism of such infinite 
delicacy and precision that in some un- 
known manner it can register permanently 
within itself every impression received in 
the phylogenetic and ontogenetic experi- 
ence of the individual; that each of these 
nerve mechanisms or brain patterns has its 
own connection with the external world, 
and that each is attuned to receive impres- 
sions of but one kind, as in the apparatus 
of wireless telegraphy each instrument can 
receive and interpret waves of a certain 
rate of intensity only; that thought, will, 
ego, personality, perception, imagination, 
reason, emotion, choice, memory, are to be 
interpreted in terms of these brain pat- 
terns; that these so-called phenomena of 
human life depend upon the stimuli which 
can secure the final common path, this in 
turn having been determined by the fre- 
quency and the strength of the environ- 
mental stimuli of the past and of the 
present. 

Finally, as for life’s origin and life’s 
ultimate end, we are content to say that 
they are unknown, perhaps unknowable. 
We know only that living matter, like life- 
less matter, has its own place in the cosmic 
processes; that the gigantic forces which 
operated to produce a world upon which 
life could exist, as a logical sequence, when 
the time was ripe, evolved life; and finally 
that these cosmic forces are still active, 
though none ean tell what worlds and what 
races may be the result of their coming 


activities. G. W. CRILE 
WESTERN RESERVE MEDICAL ScHOOL, 
CLEVELAND, OHIO 


THE CHESTNUT-BLIGHT PARASITE (EN- 
DOTHIA PARASITICA) FROM CHINA 
In common with Dr. Metcalf* and some 

other pathologists the writers have believed in 
1 Bur. Plant Ind. U. 8. Dept. Agr., Bull. 121, 

pt. 6, 1908; also Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc., 1912, 

pt, 1, pp. 69-95. 


SCIENCE 


295 


the foreign origin of the chestnut-blight and 
its causal organism. 

Having first proved by thorough investiga- 
tion* that the species of Endothia (E. radicalis 
(Schw.) De Not.) common on the chestnut in 
southern Europe is not an active parasite and 
is morphologically distinct from H. parasitica 
our attention was again turned to the orient. 
Previous efforts to get Hndothia by corre- 
spondence from China and Japan have been 
fruitless. 

Knowing Mr. Meyer’s keenness of observa- 
tion and facilities for examining chestnuts in 
China, it occurred to us to try to enlist his 
services in the search for the fungus. We 
took up the matter with Mr. Fairchild early in 
February, 1913. He heartily approved of the 
proposition and data were prepared and sent 
to Mr. Meyer. On June 28, as Mr. Fairchild 
has related, a letter was received from Mr. 
Meyer enclosing a small specimen of diseased 
chestnut bark collected June 3, 1913, near 
San tun ying, Chili Province, China. This 
specimen showed the characteristic mycelial 
“fans” in the bark and a few pyenidia which 
agreed exactly in macroscopic and micro- 
scopic characters with Hndothia parasitica. 
Meyer’s description of the disease on these 
Chinese chestnut trees (whose specific deter- 
mination is still under investigation) also 
agreed with the behavior of the disease on 
some oriental chestnut trees in this country. 

Cultures on cornmeal were made June 30 
from the mycelium and from pycnospores 
from Meyer’s specimen. The cultures from 
mycelium did not grow, but three of the four 
cultures made from pyenospores developed 
normally and appeared pure. Cultures of 
Endothia parasitica from American material 
were also made at the same time on the same 
medium for comparison. The development of 
the Chinese fungus was in all cases indistin- 
guishable from that of American origin. The 
amount of growth, the color and character of 
the mycelium, time of appearance, abundance 
and distribution of pycnidia were so similar 
that it was impossible to tell the cultures 


?C. L. Shear, ‘‘Hndothia radicalis (Schw.),’’ 
Phytopathology, 3: 61, February, 1913. 


296 


apart. Twelve subcultures made from the 
original flasks also behaved exactly like #. 
parasitica. Fifteen pycnospore streak cul- 
tures on potato agar from the Chinese ma- 
terial and the same number from American 
material were made July 10. The develop- 
ment in all these cultures was the same, giving 
the characteristic growth and colors of the 
parasite as recently described by the writers.’ 
The only difference noted was that the dis- 
tinctive orange color of the mycelium at the 
base of the cornmeal agar slants began to 
show one day earlier in some of the Chinese 
than in the American cultures. Cultures of 
the parasite of both Chinese and American 
origin were also made on sterile chestnut 
twigs and on upright tubes of cornmeal agar 
and oatmeal in flasks. In all cases the or- 
ganism behaved in exactly the same manner 
and gave a typical growth of the chestnut- 
blight fungus. 

July 7 fourteen inoculations of several 
sprouts of Castanea dentata, eight to ten cen- 
timeters in diameter, were made in the vicin- 
ity of Washington with mycelium from one 
of the original cultures from the Chinese 
specimen. Within one week all inoculations 
showed evidence of disease. At the end of 
nine days the sunken areas of bark about the 
points of inoculation extended in some cases 
1to1.5 em. Microscopic examination showed 
well-marked typical mycelial “fans” in the 
bark. At the end of two weeks all of the 
14 inoculations were rapidly developing and 
showed diseased areas of sunken bark often 
extending 2 to 3 cm. from the line of inocula- 
tion. Many pyenidia were present, but no 
spore threads or horns had appeared. The 
characteristic mycelial “fans” were conspicu- 
ous in the bark. None of the five checks 
showed any signs of disease. At the last ex- 
amination of the inoculations made August 11 
all were developing rapidly. The largest 
canker was 6 cm. wide and 14 em. long. 
Pyenidia of Endothia parasitica with extrud- 
ing spore masses were abundant. Pyenospores 
from these cankers appear identical in shape 

*«¢Cultural Characters of the Chestnut-Blight 
Fungus and its near Relatives,’’ Cire. No. 131, 
B. P. L., Dept. Agr., July 5, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 974 


and general appearance with those from the 
original Chinese specimen and also with those 
from American specimens. The measure- 
ments of the pyenospores are as follows: 


From an American specimen: 
Maximum length 
Minimum length ............ 3.42 microns. 
Average length /-))....0.. 4.06 4.69 microns. 
Miaxamumijawid thi saints ae 2.3 microns. 
Minimum width 1,84 microns. 
Average) width) 2): 0 occa. 2.09 microns. 


. 6.15 microns. 


From Meyer’s Chinese specimen: 


Maximum length ............ 5.84 microns. 
Minimum length 3.3 microns. 
Average: lengthy ey... (alse) 4.75 microns. 
Maximum width ............. 2.38 microns. 
Minimum width 


Average width 


1.84 microns. 
Rr EAR SRE Al eco 2.05 microns. 


the Chinese 


Specimens from inoculations with 
fungus: 


microns. 

seeeeyeee.s. 3.46 microns. 
BO Tt ees eee oe 4.67 microns. 
microns. 
1.76 microns. 
Bret ree crane cr rit 2.04 microns. 


Maximum length 
Minimum length 
Average length 
Maximum width 
Minimum width 
Average width 


Meyer’s first specimen showed no perithecia. 
On July 23 more Chinese specimens were re- 
ceived from the same locality. These in- 
eluded a large typical canker on a chestnut 
branch about 6 em. in diameter which agreed 
in every respect with cankers produced on 
varieties of Japanese chestnuts in _ this 
country. Other specimens in this collection 
showed well-developed perithecia and asco- 
spores. Measurements of 100 ascospores from 
the Chinese specimen gave a 


Maximum length of ......... 11.1 microns. 
Minimum length of ......... 6.9 microns. 
Average length of .......... 8.4 microns. 
Maximum width of ......... 5.38 microns. 
Minimum width of ......... 3.5 microns. 


Average width of 4.39 microns. 


The same number of measurements from a 
typical American specimen gave a 


Maximum length of ........ 10.8 microns. 


Minimum length of ......... 6.9 microns. 
Average length of .......... 8.49 microns. 
Maximum width of ......... 5.1 microns. 
Minimum width of ......... 3.6 microns. 


Average width of 4.32 microns. 


Aveust 29, 1913] 


The uniformity and constancy of both the 
physiological and morphological characters of 
this fungus are quite remarkable and striking. 

The Chinese organism has thus been shown 
to be practically identical with the American 
in all its morphological and physiological 
characters and in the production of the typical 
chestnut-blight and the pyenidial fructifica- 
tions of the fungus. There is apparently but 
one other requirement that could be made 
according to the strictest pathological canons 
to perfect the proof in this case, and that is 
the production of typical ascospores of H. 
parasitica on the lesions produced by the in- 
oculations. These could scarcely be expected 
to appear for some weeks yet. The evidence, 
however, appears to us sufficiently complete to 
allow no escape from the conclusion that 
Endothia parasitica occurs in China and in 
such a locality and under such conditions as 
would indicate that it is indigenous there. 

Just as this note was finished, Mr. Fairchild 
received a package of photographs of blighted 
chestnut trees from Mr. Meyer, taken in the 
same locality from which the specimens were 
obtained. These will be published later. 
Suffice it to add here that the illustrations 
show clearly by the evident age of the trees 
and of the infections that this Chinese 
chestnut is much more resistant to the disease 
than the American and that there is much 
hope for the successful selection and breeding 
of resistant plants. 

C. L. SHEAR 
Nem E. Stevens 
BuREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 
August 16, 1913 


THE DISCOVERY OF THE CHESTNUT BARK 
DISEASE IN CHINA 


Mr. Frank N. Meyer, agricultural explorer 
of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 
duction of the Department of Agriculture, 
during his first exploring trip in northern 
China, 1905-1908, visited the Pang shan region 
east of Peking. He reported upon the exist- 
ence of considerable quantities of wild chest- 
nuts there, where they “grow.wild on the 


SCIENCE 


297 


slopes of rocky mountains. ... It is mostly 
found in groves, growing among rocks and 
bowlders, and even in its wild state it varies 
considerably in the size and flavor of its nuts - 
and the spininess of the burrs. The Chinese 
name for the wild form is San li tze,’” other- 
wise spelled Shan-li-tze. At the time of Mr. 
Meyer’s exploration in the Pang shan region, 
there was comparatively little interest in this 
country in the chestnut bark disease, and not 
being a plant pathologist, he did not look for 
the disease among the chestnut trees from 
which he gathered chestnuts for introduction 
into this country. 

When it was announced that Mr. Meyer 
would make a second expedition to north 
China, the question was raised by Drs. Metcalf 
and Shear, of the Office of Forest Pathology, as 
to whether or not Meyer might be requested 
to search for the disease among these Chinese 
chestnuts. On February 26, 1913, therefore, 
at Dr. Shear’s request, Mr. Meyer was asked 
to make a search for the disease, 4nd in order 
to inform him specifically as to what to look 
for, specimens of the diseased bark were sent 
him. 

On June 18, 1913, the American legation 
cabled the state department as follows: “‘ Meyer 
requests the legation to report that he has dis- 
covered chestnut bark fungus. Seems identical 
with American form.” 

On June 28 a letter was received from Mr. 
Meyer, written June 4 from a Chinese inn in 
an old dilapidated town to the northeast of 
Peking, between Tsun hua tcho and Yehol. 
In it Mr. Meyer announces the sending of a 
small fragment of diseased chestnut bark. 


*Meyer, Frank N., ‘‘Agricultural Explorations 
in the Fruit and Nut Orchards of China,’’ Bulle- 
tin No. 204, Bureau of Plant Industry, p. 52, 
March 25, 1911. 

* SAN TUN YING, CHILI Prov., CHINA, 
Mr. DAvip FAIRCHILD, June 4, 1913. 

Agricultural Explorer in Charge, 

U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C., U. S. A. 

Dear Mr. Fairchild: Here I am sitting in a 
Chinese inn in an old dilapidated town to the 
northeast of Peking, between Tsun hua tcho and 


298 


A subsequent shipment of the diseased mate- 
rial, consisting of bark and diseased branches 
of the tree, a few mature burrs, and nuts, was 
received July 23, 1913, and on August 11 a 
number of convincing photographs of the dis- 
eased chestnut tree. Full botanical material 


Yehol and have been busy for several days col- 
lecting specimens of this bad chestnut bark dis- 
ease and taking photos of same. It seems that 
this Chinese fungus is apparently the same as the 
one that kills off the chestnut trees in northeast 
America. I hope to send a cablegram through 
the American legation at Peking about this dis- 
covery to the Secretary of Agriculture. I am 
also enclosing a small piece of bark with this 
fungus on it. More material I hope to send off 
from Tientsin and Peking. Here are my main 
observations: 

This blight does not by far do as much damage 
-to Chinese chestnut trees as to the American ones. 

Not a single tree could be found which had been 
killed entirely by this disease, although there 
might have been such trees which had been re- 
moved by the ever active and economic Chinese 
farmers. 

Dead limbs, however, were often seen and many 
a saw wound showed where limbs had been re- 
moved. 

Young trees and trees on level, poor soil were 
much more severely attacked than old trees or 
trees growing on richer, sloping soil at the base 
of rocks and hills. .. . The wounds on the bigger 
majority of the trees were in the process of heal- 
ing over. 

The Chinese farmers ascribe this disease to the 
working of caterpillars, grubs and ants, which are 
very freely found beneath the bark on these dis- 
eased spots on the main trunks and branches. 

To combat the disease they scrape the bark clean 
every winter or early spring. The strips of bark 
are all collected, tied up in bundles and sold as 
fuel. 

This Chinese chestnut does not grow to such 
sizes as the American one. Trees over 40 feet are 
rare. They are of low-branching habits with open 
heads, more or less in the way of the European 
chestnut (Castanea vesca). 

The lumber is hard, but even a good-sized tree 
produces relatively little good lumber. 

Old wounds are to be observed here and there 
on ancient trees. 

The maximum age of this Chinese chestnut as 
seen in its native habitat seems to be between 250 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 974 


for identification of this particular species 
which Mr. Meyer has been asked to get has not 
yet arrived, and the burrs do not agree with 
the description of Castanea mollissima Blume. 
This species according to the identification of 
the Arnold Arboretum authorities was collected 
by Mr. Meyer in the Pang shan region in 1907, 
and is now growing in this country under 
our S. P. I. number 21875. The region 
where Mr. Meyer discovered the disease is 
very close to the locality in the Pang shan 
region where he collected the nuts of Castanea 
mollissima in 1907, but it is impossible at this 
writing to determine with certainty the iden- 
tity of this partially resistant Chinese species 
from San tun ying. This whole question will 
be discussed in a subsequent paper. 

Those better qualified, Messrs. Shear and 
Stevens, are describing in this same number of 
Science the various steps taken by them in 
corroborating Meyer’s discovery of the pres- 
ence of the disease in China. It is interesting 


and 300 years, but when that old they are already 
in decay. 

The tree is not a fast grower and does not begin 
to bear until 12 to 15 years old. 

The soil best suited to these chestnuts is a warm, 
well decomposed granite, with perfect drainage, 
while as locality they love the lower slopes of hills 
and mountains, where they are well sheltered. 

The valleys and ravines in the lower altitudes of 
the Rocky Mountain regions would probably sup- 
ply congenial localities for these chestnuts. 

This northern Chinese chestnut is not a lumber 
tree, but attempts might be made to cross it with 
the American species, trying to give the last one 
more hardiness and resistancy against disease. 

The nuts of this Chinese chestnut are not as 
large as those from the European and Japanese 
forms, but they are very sweet and are in great 
demand in China. 

The great chestnut district of north China lies 
in the mountain valleys between the town of San 
tun ying and the Great Chinese Wall, 4 to 5 days’ 
journey by carts from Peking to the northeast 
or 14 to 2 days’ journey by carts from the rail- 
road station Tang shan on the railroad from 
Tientsin to Shan hai kwan. Most of. the trees 
seen seem to be original growth, but also planta- 
tions have been made at the foot of the mountains 
and hills. ... ; Ne 


AvausT 29, 1913] 


to note, however, that only forty-two days 
elapsed from the time Meyer cabled, June 18, 
until every link in the chain of evidence of the 
identity of the Chinese with the American 
disease was complete. This included the dis- 
covery of the characteristic “ mycelial fans,” 
the making of cultures which appeared iden- 
tical, the producing of the disease in American 
chestnut trees by inoculation from the cul- 
tures, and the discovery on July 24 of the 
ascospores of the fungus, EHndothia parasitica 
(Murr.), on material later sent in. When we 
consider that the little town in the Chili proy- 
ince of China is a day and a half cart journey 
from a railroad, it is interesting to note the 
promptness with which exact laboratory re- 
search methods in Washington can be brought 
to bear on a field problem half way round the 


globe. Davin FarrcHitp 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THE committee of the permanent commis- 
sion for the International Congress of Medi- 
eine to be held in Munich in 1917 has been 
elected as follows: President, Professor Dr. 
Friedrich von Miiller, of Munich (president- 
elect for the eighteenth congress) ; vice-presi- 
dents, M. Calman Miiller, of Budapest (presi- 
dent of the sixteenth congress), and Sir 
Thomas Barlow, of London (president of the 
seventeenth congress); secretary-general, M. 
H. Burger, of Amsterdam; assistant secretary, 
D. Ph. van der Haer, of The Hague; member, 
M. L. Dejace, of Liége (president of the In- 
ternational Association of the Medical Press). 


Dr. Roux, director of the Pasteur Institute, 
has been appointed a grand officer of the 
Legion of Honor. 


Mr. Rosert Bripvces, newly appointed poet 
laureate in Great Britain, holds a degree in 
medicine from Oxford and for some years was 
a practising physician. 

Tuer Paris Academy of Sciences has awarded 
its Walz prize to Professor A. Fowler, F.R.S., 


for his investigations on the spectrum of hy- 
drogen and other contributions to astrophysics. 


SCIENCE 


299 


Drs. A. Bacmetster and L. Kiipferle, of 
Freiburg, have received $1,000 from the Rob- 
ert Koch foundation for their studies on 
Rontgen therapy in tuberculosis. 


Dr. C. F. Hopeer, professor of biology at 
Clark University, will have leave of absence 
next year and will conduct work in Oregon 
under the extension department of the univer- 
sity and the Oregon state game commission. 


Dr. Henry Farrrintp Osporn, president of 
the American Museum of Natural History, 
has been visiting the expeditions conducting 
paleontological explorations for the museum 
in the west. 


Dr. F. Roserr Heimer, the distinguished 
Berlin geodesist, celebrated his seventieth 
birthday on July 21. 


Proressor ARCHIBALD Barr is about to re- 
tire from the regius chair of civil engineering 
and mechanics at the University of Glasgow. 


Tur Michigan State Board of Health has 
offered the position of state sanitary engineer 
to Professor E. D. Rich, of the University of 
Michigan. 

Mr. James A. Barr, who for the past year 
has been manager of the Bureau of Conven- 
tions and Societies of the Panama-Pacifie In- 
ternational Exposition, has been appointed 
chief of the department of education. He 
will have general charge of the congresses and 
conventions as well as of the educational ex- 
hibits. Dr. Irwin Shepard, for twenty years 
secretary of the National Education Associa- 
tion, has been appointed national secretary of 
the Bureau of Conventions, in San Francisco. 
Up to this time 151 congresses and conven- 
tions have been scheduled for San Francisco 
or near-by cities in 1915. At the meeting of 
the National Education Association held in 
Salt Lake City in July, the directors recom- 
mended that the 1915 meeting be held in Oak- 
land, just across the Bay from San Francisco 
and within an hour of the Exposition grounds. 
The directors also recommended that an In- 
ternational Congress on Education be held in 
Oakland in 1915, under the general direction 
of a commission of thirty-four educators, with 


300 


Commissioner P. P. Claxton as ex-officio chair- 
man and Mr. D. W. Springer as ex-officio 
secretary. 

Tue fourteenth course of Lane Medical Lec- 
tures will be delivered in Lane Hall, San 
Francisco, on the evenings of September 3, 4, 
5, 8 and 9, by Professor Sir Edward Schifer, 
professor of physiology, University of Edin- 
burgh. The subjects are as follows: 

September 3—On internal secretion in general. 

September 4—On the thyro-parathyroid glands. 

September 5—On the adrenal glandular appa- 
ratus. 

September 8—On the pituitary body. 

September 9—The influence of internal on other 
secretions. 

Methods of Resuscitation. 
Stanford University.) 


(To be delivered at 


Amonc the lectures at the University of 
Chicago were those by Professor Carl Schroter, 
of the University of Zurich, who gave on 
August 6 and 7 two illustrated lectures on 
“The Lake Dwellings and Lake Dwellers of 
Ancient Switzerland” and “ The Alpine Flora 
of Switzerland.” On August 20 Professor 
Stephen A. Forbes, of the University of Ili- 
nois, gave an illustrated lecture in Kent The- 
ater on “Fish and Their Ecological Rela- 
tions,” and Professor William Morton Wheeler, 
of Harvard University, discussed in two lec- 
tures this week “ The Habits of Ants.” 


Proressor Met T. Coox, of the New Jersey 
Agricultural Station, while a visitor at the 
Biological Laboratory, recently gave a lecture 
on insect galls. 


Tue town of Sanseverino in Italy will hold 
a celebration in September in honor of the 
quadricentenary of Bartolomeo Eustachio, the 
anatomist. A marble tablet will be unveiled 
and there will be a medical congress. 

Mr. OC. Lesuie Reynoups, superintendent of 
the National Botanical Gardens in Washing- 
ton, with which he had been connected for 
forty years, has died at the age of fifty-five 
years. 

Mr. Frepverick G. PLumMer, geographer of 
the United States Forest Service, died on 
August 18, aged sixty-nine years. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


Tue death is announced of Mr. T. H. Rus- 
sell, of Birmingham, the author of a work on 
mosses and liverworts. 


Dr. Hermann Crepner, professor of geology 
at Leipzig and director of the Saxony Geolog- 
ical Survey, has died at the age of seventy-two 
years. 


Dr. von Vocet, who had performed an 
important service in the organization of the 
Bavarian military health service, has died at 
the age of seventy-nine years. 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for entomological 
assistant in the Bureau of Entomology, De- 
partment of Agriculture, for service in the 
field, at $2,250. The duties of this position 
will be to conduct a special investigation of 
the means of control of malaria-transmitting 
mosquitoes. It is desired to secure the ser- 
vices of a person who is familiar with the 
methods of control and eradication of mos- 
quitoes in tropical and subtropical countries. 
Familiarity with the appearance and details 
of chronic malaria will also be of value. 
Other civil service examinations are: for as- 
sistant in botanical laboratory work in the 


Bureau: of Plant Industry, at a salary of 


$1,500; for electrometallurgist in the Bureau 
of Mines at a salary ranging from $1,800 to 
$3,000; and for publicity expert in the Office 
of Public Roads, at a salary of $8 per day 
when employed. 


Tue International Geological Congress will 
hold its next meeting in Brussels in 1917. 


Tue International Solar Union, at its meet- 
ing at Bonn on August 5, passed the following 
resolution : 

That, in collecting material for a report, the 

chairman of a committee may employ the method 
proposed in SCIENCE, Vol. 37, page 795. 
It will be remembered that Dr. E. C. 
Pickering, director of the Harvard College 
Observatory, there suggested a standard form 
of committee meetings by correspondence. 

For the first time in the history of the 
British Association psychology will be rep- 
resented as an independent subject at the 


AvueusT 29, 1913] 


forthcoming Birmingham meeting. It ap- 
pears as a subsection to Section I (Physiol- 
ogy), and among those who have agreed to 
present papers are: Professor R. M. Ogden on 
“ Experimental Data on the Localization of 
Visual Images”; Mr. OC. Fox, “The Condi- 
tions which arouse Mental Imagery in 
Thought ”; Professor Dawes Hicks, “Is there 
a Process of Psychical Fusion”; Dr. W. G. 
Smith, “Contrast as a Factor in Psycholog- 
ical Explanation”; Dr. C. S. Myers, “ Ex- 
periments on Sound Localization”; Professor 
C. Read, “ The Conditions of Belief in Primi- 
tive Minds”; Mr. W. McDougall, “ A Theory 
of Laughter”; Dr. Wildon Carr, “The Ab- 
surdity of Psycho-physical Parallelism”; Miss 
May Smith, “Two Forms of Memory and 
their Relation”; Miss E. M. Smith, “ Note of 
Habit Formation in Guinea-pigs”; Dr. F. C. 
Shrubsall, “The Relative Fertility and Mor- 
bidity of Normal and Defective Stock”; Mr. 
J. H. Wimms, “ A Comparative Investigation 
of Fatigue Tests”; Miss May Smith, “ Some 
Experiments on Recovery from Fatigue”; Dr. 
G. Thomson, “Variations in the Spatial 
Threshold”; Mr. Shepherd Dawson, “ A Sim- 
ple Method of Demonstrating Weber’s Law”; 
Miss S. S. Fairhurst, “Suggestion and Disci- 
pline in Spelling”; Dr. C. W. Valentine, 
“Color Perception and Preference of an In- 
fant”; Dr. McIntyre, “ Practise Improvement 
in Immediate Memory in School Children”; 
Dr. E. O. Lewis, “ Analytic and Synthetic 
Processes in Learning”; Dr. McIntyre and 
Miss A. L. Rogers, “ Application of the Binet 
Seale to Normal Children in Scotland”; Mr. 
R. C. Moore, “ Tests of Reasoning and their 
Relation to Mental Ability”; Mr. W. H. 
Winch, “Some Additional Tests of Reason- 
ing”; Mr. T. H. Pear, “ Modern Experiments 
on Testimony”; Mr. S. Wyatt, “The Testi- 
mony of Normal and Defective Children”; 
Dr. W. Brown, “ Psycho-analysis”; Mr. T. H. 
Pear, “The Analysis of Some Personal 
Dreams with Special Reference to Theories 
of Dream Interpretation”, and Mr. C. Burt, 
“Mental Differences between the Sexes.” 
Joint meetings have also been arranged with 
the Physiological and Educational sections. 


SCIENCE 


301 


Tue forest entomologist of the New York 
State College of Forestry at Syracuse is mak- 
ing a thorough study of the forest insects of 
New York. He has found that many kinds of 
insects injurious to trees are more numerous 
and are doing greater damage this year than 
usual. This is especially true of such insects 
as the tent caterpillars, aphids or plant lice 
and scale insects. This serious damage by in- 
sects to both fruit and forest trees during the 
past summer is due largely to the very mild 
weather of last winter, which allowed a large 
number of insects to pass the cold season suc- 
cessfully and the long rainless periods of 
spring and early summer, which enabled the 
young insects to get a good start in their life 
work of destroying vegetation. A number of 
reports have come in at Syracuse of the dying 
of the native hickory in different parts of the 
state. In most cases this is due to the hickory 
bark beetle, which is a very small boring insect, 
living between the inner bark and the sap 
wood of the hickory. This beetle makes a 
burrow in which it lays its eggs and from this 
burrow, smaller burrows are made:in all direc- 
tions by the young larve. The hickory tree, 
from a commercial standpoint, is doomed in 
New York state, unless very active work is 
done to prevent the spread of the insect. This 
ean be done only by cutting the infested tree 
down and disposing of it in such a way as to 
kill all of the insects under the bark. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Hampton Institute receives $20,000 by the 
will of the late Robert C. Ogden. 


Tue thirteenth legislative assembly of Mon- 
tana passed an act which provides that after 
the first day of July, 1913, the State Univer- 
sity at Missoula, the College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts at Bozeman, the School of 
Mines at Butte and the Normal School at 
Dillon, shall constitute the University of Mon- 
tana, the control and supervision of which 
shall be vested in the State Board of Eduea- 
tion. The State Board of Education has 
power, on the recommendation of the execu- 
tive board of any of the institutions, to grant 
diplomas and to confer degrees on the gradu- 


302 SCIENCE 


ates of all departments of the university. All 
of the engineering courses maintained by the 
state, with the exception of the course in 
mining engineering in the School of Mines at 
Butte, will be concentrated in the college at 
Bozeman. Dean A. W. Richter was trans- 
ferred to Bozeman and becomes dean of engi- 
neering. Assistant Professors Wm. R. Plew 
and Philip S. Biegler were also transferred 
and added to the faculties of civil and elec- 
trical engineering, respectively. 

Dr. AnprEw Howarp Ryan, for three years 
past instructor in physiology and pharmacol- 
ogy in the University of Pittsburgh, has ac- 
cepted the chair of physiology in the medical 
department of the University of Alabama. He 
succeeds Dr. John Van de Erve, who recently 
resigned to take the chair of physiology in 
Marquette University, Milwaukee. Other ap- 
pointments in the University of Alabama are: 
Dr. Howard H. Bell, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, full time assistant in the de- 
partment of pathology; Dr. Jesse P. Chap- 
man, instructor in orthopedic surgery; Dr. 
Percy J. Howard, associate professor of sur- 
gery; Dr. E. S. Sledge, instructor in radiog- 
raphy, and Dr. Julius G. Henry, instructor in 
medicine. 

Dr. Wave H. Brown, professor of pathology 
in the University of North Carolina, Chapel 
Hill, has resigned, to accept service with the 
Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research, 
New York City, and has been succeeded by 
Dr. James A. Bullitt, late of the University 
of Mississippi. 

Dr. ALBERT EINSTEIN, docent for mathemat- 
ical physics at the Zurich Technological Insti- 
tute, known for his contributions to the theory 
of relativity, has been called to Berlin to suc- 
ceed the late Professor J. H. van’t Hoff. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
COLOR CORRELATION IN COWPEAS 


Some facts developed in my genetic investi- 
gations with cowpeas (Vigna species) are of 
interest in connection with the remarks of 
Professor J. K. Shaw, on page 126, concerning 
color correlation in garden beans. There are 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


some interesting similarities and also inter- 
esting differences in these correlations as I 
have found them in the cowpea and as Pro- 
fessor Shaw finds them in the bean. TI have, 
in most of the cases considered below, deter- 
mined the particular Mendelian factor con- 
cerned in the correlation. 

All varieties of cowpeas having coffee-col- 
ored seeds and all varieties having white or 
cream-colored seeds have white flowers and are 
devoid of anthocyan in stems and leaves. The 
flower color, which is due to an anthocyan, 
and the anthocyan in stems and leaves are 
dependent on two Mendelian color factors, one 
of which, apparently an enzyme, is the general 
factor for color in the seed coat of the cowpea. 
The other is the special factor for black 
which, when added to a variety having coffee- 
colored seeds, converts the seed color to black. 

I have found three independent Mendelian 
factors for “eye” in the cowpea which, singly 
and together, give five distinct types of “ eye.” 
One of these factors, which gives the type of 
“eye” which I have designated the narrow 
“eye,” also has the effect of inhibiting the 
development of anthocyan in the flowers, 
though it permits its development in stems 
and leaves. That is, the variety having the 
narrow “eye” has white flowers but has the 
pinkish-red or purplish color in certain por- 
tions of the stems and leaves. We apparently 
have here certain Mendelian factors which act 
differently in different parts of the plant, and 
this seems to be responsible for the correlation 
of the characters here discussed. 

Cowpeas having any part of the seed coat 
black have anthocyan in the stems and leaves, 
and unless the factor for narrow “eye” is 
present there is also anthocyan in the flowers. 
Cowpea varieties having coffee-colored seeds 
have no anthocyan in stems, leaves or flowers. 
Cowpeas having buff or red seed coats may or 
may not have anthocyan in the stems and 
leaves and in the flowers according as the 
special factor for black or the factor for nar- 


row “eye” is present or absent. 


W. J. SpmiLLMaNn 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


| 
| 
| 
/ 
/ 


Aveust 29, 1913] 


VARIATIONS IN THE EARTH’S MAGNETIO FIELD 

OBSERVATIONS made in a tent on the lake 
shore in Mackinac County, Mich., during the 
last month have fully verified the results and 
conclusions published in my paper entitled 
“Local Magnetic Storms.” 

Cloud shadows diminish the permeability of 
the space within them in precisely the same 
way that the earth’s shadow does at night. 
The molecules of air are ionized by solar 
radiation. They are then little magnets, which 
tend to set along the lines of force of the 
earth’s field, in such a way as to add their 
magnetic effect to that of the earth’s field. 
When solar radiation is cut off, the air mole- 
cules begin to return to their normal condi- 
tion. Wind gusts and falling rain drops assist 
in this operation. They decrease the permea- 
bility. 

When an iron bar is placed within a coil of 
wire carrying a current, its molecules are not 
quite so free to set in positions such that their 
magnetic effect is added to that of the coil. 
A blow from a wooden mallet then assists 
them. Its effect is directly the opposite of that 
produced by a gust of wind in air. 

These results appear to furnish a rational 
explanation of the conditions which bring 
about local, daily and annual variations in the 
earth’s magnetic field. Local variations are 
due to local variations in the weather. Clouds 
and sunshine, wind storms and rain, are the 
agents which bring about a continual swaying 
of the lines of force. 

They also indicate an explanation of what 
eauses the difference in permeability of solid 
matter. 

In this work the needle was enclosed in an 
airtight case, and mounted on a silk fiber about 
40 em. in length. Its motion was damped. It 
was deflected at right angles to the magnetic 
meridian by magnets whose axes were at an 
angle of 45° with the meridian. The resultant 
field was partly compensated by bar magnets 
120 em. in length. All magnets were sealed 
within heavy rubber tubing, mounted in 
U-shaped supports, and enclosed in ice. The 
supporting table was a frame made of 24 
inch timber, bolted together with brass bolts, 
and the legs of the structure were set two feet 


SCIENCE 


3803 


into solid clay and gravel soil. The frame 
was securely braced. Francis E. NipHer 
HESSEL, MICH., 
July 26, 1913 


EXCUSING CLASS ABSENCES IN COLLEGE 

THERE is no general uniformity in the 
matter of handling class absences in college. 
In some institutions the individual teachers 
still excuse for all absences in the course for 
which the teacher is responsible. In an in- 
creasing number of institutions the excusing 
power is centralized in some one office and 
in a large number of cases some form of the 
cut system is used. In some cases the student 
is allowed as many absences a semester from 
a course as the course recites times per week, 
that is, three absences from a three-hour 
course, four from a four-hour course, ete. In 
general the number of class cuts allowed seems 
to run as a minimum about 15 a semester— 
the number of absences allowed a semester in 
all courses approximating the number of reci- 
tation periods per week. 

In cases where this minimum 7s allowed it 
means that 54 per cent, approximately, of the 
class-room periods may be omitted by any or 
all students without any account being given 
for the absences. 

A system such as this seems almost an in- 
vitation to a student to avail himself of the 
number of cuts allowed and in a large number 
of cases is so regarded. 

In Oberlin College all class absences are 
reported to the dean of men and the dean of 
women, respectively. Each student must give 
an account to the proper officer of all absences. 

The results during the semester ending in 
February, 1918, were as follows in the case of 
the college men: the. average number of ab- 
sences for each freshman was 6.1, for each 
sophomore 7.9, for each junior 7.5, for each 
senior 7.8. This includes absences for all 
reasons, sickness, absence on athletic teams, 
glee clubs, etc., and counts absences from all 
classes, including physical training. The 
record of no student is included who left col- 
lege for any reason before the end of the 
semester. 

The total number of men and absences were 
as follows during the semester just closed: 


SCIENCE 


304 
Total Average Ab- 
Men Absences __|sences per Man 
Freshmen..... 115 702 6.1 
Sophomore.... 81 662 7.9 
Suaioneee ye gs 623 7.5 
Senionneeerc | 79 580 73 
eae Sea A ae 


Of this total number of absences 431 were 
due to athletics. This includes not alone the 
absences of the members of teams, but also of 
students absent to attend games. This num- 
ber amounts to 17 per cent. of all the absences, 
but is less than one half of one per cent. of 
the total number of class periods involved. 

795 of the absences were due to sickness, or 
were so reported. These figures do not at- 
tempt to go back of the reasons given for 
failure to attend class. At least 795 absences 
were so accounted for. It is quite possible 
that the number should be larger and that the 
reason was not in every case noted in the 
record book. This number is 31 per cent. of 
the whole number of absences, and added to 
the 17 per cent. caused by athletics accounts 
for 48 per cent. of the whole number. Of the 
absences, 52 per cent., or an average of 3.7 per 
man, were accounted for by various other 
excuses. 

In the practical handling of the excuses, 
upper-class men are excused without much 
question as to the quality of the excuse if the 
number of absences for the semester has not 
exceeded six to eight. If the number of hours 
per week for each man is estimated at 15, a 
normal amount, the total number of absences 
would amount to 2.6 per cent. of the class 
periods involved. Or, looking at it in another 
way, the average attendance of the men for 
the semester is 97.4 per cent. 

The «figures from which these percentages 
are derived are as follows: 


Men Classes per week 
358 15 
x Week pe oe = 96:660 
Total number of absences ea 2,567 


Percentage of absences, 2.6 per cent. 
If 15 cuts a semester is somewhere near the 
number usually allowed the following figures 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 974 


are of interest: of the 115 freshmen 103, or 
90 per cent., had less than 15 absences; of the 
81 sophomores 66, or 81 per cent., had less 
than 15 absences; of the 83 juniors 74, or 89 
per cent., had less than 15 absences; of the 79 
seniors 68, or 86 per cent., had less than 15 
absences. 

The writer submits these figures that they 
may be compared with the results in other 
institutions, especially those where some form 
of the cut system is in use. It is the feeling 
of the writer that the fact that each absence 
has to be accounted for acts as a deterrent 
in a large number of cases, when the student 
would easily absent himself under the cut 
system. 

Each instructor is furnished with blanks 
and is asked to report the absences for each 
day. These blanks are deposited in boxes 
adjacent to the classroom and are collected 
and entered in the record by a clerk. The 
scheme to be effective must enlist the support 
and cooperation of all instructors. The in- 
structors must, of course, attempt to see that 
all absences are reported. The figures given 
are for absences actually reported. It is 
recognized that, owing to human frailty, a 
certain number are not reported. That same 
lack exists in any system that has yet been’ 
devised. The percentage of absences not re- 
ported is, I believe, small. May we have 
figures from other institutions? The figures 
I have given here would seem to indicate that 
a smaller number of cuts might prove feasible 
in those institutions that use the cut system. 

I doubt if we have any scientific basis for 
estimating the number of excuses that a man 
is normally entitled to receive during a se- 
mester. Perhaps some figures of this kind 
will give us a start toward such a basis. | 

E. A. Minter 


OBERLIN COLLEGE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The Infancy of Animals. By W. P. Pycrart. 
With 64 Plates on art paper and numerous 
Illustrations in the text. New York, Henry 
Holt and Company. 1913. Pp. xiv + 272. 
~ It would be difficult to find a more fasci- 


AueusT 29, 1913] 


nating theme in the whole realm of zoology 
than “The Infancy of Animals,” and we think 
that the author of the work under this head 
has succeeded admirably in a difficult task— 
that of presenting a generous measure of sig- 
nificant fact, with due regard to scientific 
accuracy, and in readable English, Students 
of the invertebrates might feel that he was 
hardly justified in saying that the “ child- 
hood” of animals was a subject which has 
been strangely neglected. Yet this criticism 
would apply to most of the higher animals, 
with which he is mainly concerned. Take 
from the shelf any standard work upon mam- 
mals or birds, and you will look in vain for 
any adequate accounts of the young in most 
of the species described. If one were to con- 
sult a large museum instead, with but few 
notable exceptions, this neglect of the juvenile 
period of life would be even more apparent. 

The infantile, juvenile, or adolescent phases 
of animal life, whatever be the names by which 
we attempt to classify the post-embryonic 
phases of development, which lead to the adult 
state, are not only difficult to correlate with 
reference to the “accident” of birth, but they 
are often exceedingly difficult to study. In 

‘many cases, our meager information is due 
to want of opportunity, rather than to lack of 
effort. Students who have worked for months 
at the seashore in the vain endeavor to trace a 
dificult life history, or who have tramped un- 
numbered miles in search of a particular bird 
or beast, in order to study its young, certainly 
need no admonition on this score. 

The early post-embryonic life of animals 
embraces a very large section of zoology and 
psychology, and is of equal importance for 
comparative anatomy and evolution. The 
reader will find anatomical and evolutionary 
problems freely discussed, but the psychology 
of behavior does not come within the aims of 
the present work. Of the fourteen chapters of 
text, all but two of which deal with vertebrates, 
the most noteworthy are the three devoted to 
birds (Young Birds in the Nursery, Colora- 
tion, and Young Birds and the Records of the 
Past, Chaps. V.VII.), a field in which the 
author is well known by his excellent “ History 


SCIENCE 


305 


of Birds,” and numerous special contributions. 
These, as well as the remaining sections, are 
filled with pertinent and interesting facts, 
drawn from a wide field, and are imbued with 
the spirit which, after learning how, is not 
satisfied until it knows why. 

Of the many perplexing problems which the 
coloration of animals presents, the retention of 
stripes in the livery of the young and adult, or 
in that of the young alone, is of special inter- 
est to students of evolution. The author main- 
tains the Darwinian thesis that this character 
of the young is reminiscent of an ancestral 
condition. The primitive striped pattern has 
often been allowed to persist in the early stages 
of life, because it was either a direct source of 
protection, or at least because it was not 
harmful. Jn other words the mantle of the 
forefather has been thrust upon the juvenile 
descendant to protect him, in the absence of its 
parents, and has often been left there when of 
no further use. This longitudinal striping, 
which is found in representatives of all the 
vertebrates, is not only more characteristic of 
the young than of the adult, but is more com- 
mon in species which have retained the great- 
est number of primitive characters. In the 
course of growth the stripes tend to break up 
into spots, which may be retained, or dis- 
appear, when the animal becomes uniformly 
colored. The nestlings of the emu and casso- 
wary, the most primitive of living birds, as the 
author shows, are more or less completely 
marked over the entire body with a series of 
light stripes, on a dark ground, but these 
marks disintegrate, giving way to an adult 
plumage of uniform tint. The same condi- 
tions are repeated in the unrelated grebes, and 
in other groups of birds where striped nest- 
lings occur, these markings tend to break up 
into spots that may be retained or disappear. 
Similar phenomena occur in mammals. The 
leopard may be unable to change his spots, or 
the tiger his stripes, but the lion can, or has, 
for his cubs still bear the birth mark of an 
ancestral spotted state. 

Admitting the power of selection, through 
variation and heredity, to effect such changes 
for the better protection of young and adult, 


306 SCIENCE 


our difficulties of interpretation are not at an 
end. How, upon the same principles, shall we 
account for the rather startling exceptions 
which confront us at every turn—the zebra, 
for instance, “the noblest Roman of them 
all,” so far as this kind of livery is concerned, 
in which not only the young, but both sexes, 
are striped all over. For untold ages, so far 
as we can judge, zebras have haunted the open, 
sun-scorched veldt of South and Southeast 
Africa, where their conspicuous coats, seen 
from afar, are the boldest advertisement pos- 
sible to their numerous enemies; yet they 
managed to thrive, at least until the white 
man appeared upon the scene with a rifle, and 
no satisfactory solution of the meaning of 
their stripes has yet been offered. How then 
are we to account for an assumed striped an- 
cestral livery in so many animals, whether 
young or adult? As Darwin remarked, since 
in the horse family both sexes are colored alike, 
there is no evidence of sexual selection here, 
and if stripes and spots originated as orna- 
ments, how does it happen that so many ani- 
mals in their present adult state have lost 
them ? 

The parental care and affection afforded to 
offspring, so strongly evinced in the mammal 
and bird, can be followed in all its various 
degrees of manifestation to invertebrates of 
very lowly estate. The author has recorded 
a number of remarkable instances in birds, 
wherein interpretation is difficult, and perhaps 
impossible without a much fuller knowledge 
of behavior in every direction than is now 
possessed. 

Bats have been seen to capture prey, when 
loaded with their young, and many birds in 
times of stress are equally independent, not 
only ‘transporting their young from place to 
place, but even transferring their eggs, though, 
excepting the gray cuckoo, well authenticated 
‘cases of ezg-transport are extremely rare. The 
great northern diver or loon is an adept in 
thus dealing with its young, as is also the 
lesser grebe or dabchick, mentioned by the 
author. More remarkable still is the way 
in which woodcock will sometimes carry their 
nestlings to and fro, from nest to feeding 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


grounds, holding them, as we are told, appa- 
rently between their legs, and possibly with the 
further aid of their long bill placed under- 
neath for support. 

The author raises a more vexed question in 
his descriptions of the diving and fishing 
habits of certain birds, and their methods of 
dealing with their prey, as to whether the 
young really receive direct and deliberate les- 
sons from their parents in all these things. 
If we were to ask the preliminary question, 
whether animals that are directed so com- 
pletely by instinct need a teacher of this sort, 
we should be obliged to answer plainly in the 
negative. In this respect, so far as we can see, 
the different species of birds stand very nearly 
at a level, and in every case instinct, perfected 
by practise, or corrected by individual experi- 
ence, and often aided by imitation, seems 
amply sufficient to guide the majority aright 
in every important vital activity. “ What 
flight is to the eagle,” says the author, “ diving 
is to the nestlings of the auk tribe, grebes, 
and divers. ...In acquiring the art there 
can be no doubt but that the young are in- 
structed by their parents. The adult razor-bill 
has been seen to take her nestling by the neck 
and dive with it, many times in succession; 
and as these excursions seem to be anything 
but pleasant at first, the young one often dives 
for a moment to dodge its zealous parent, thus 
effecting the end to be attained. Young 
grebes are certainly given lessons in diving, 
and also in catching fish” (p. 68). A descrip- 
tion follows of what the author regards as a 


_diving and fishing lesson given to a young 


grebe by its parent. Later he says: “ Young 
birds of prey receive instruction first in the 
art of breaking up their food, and later in its 
capture,” and Macpherson’s interesting story 
of the golden. eagle is quoted in confirmation 
of these ideas. 

We are quite ready to believe that the re- 
markable behaviors of the species referred to 
in the preceding statements have been accu- 
rately reported, but we doubt if the interpre- 
tation, though apparently so obvious and 
natural, is really correct. Such interpreta- 
tions do not fit, when we closely study be- 


Aveust 29, 1913] 


havior in other directions, and in other species 
of birds. They do not comport with the work- 
ings of instinct in the great avian class. 
Flight, diving, the capture of food and its 
treatment, all seem to be as certainly provided 
for in the inherited stock-in-trade, as either 
nest-building or song. Young gulls, up to the 
time they take to the water, beyond which I 
have never been able to watch them closely, 
certainly get no direct instruction in regard to 
their food, but plenty which is indirect, and 
from the time they desert the family preserve 
they feed abundantly on insects. The parent 
is not only alma mater, but the great quickener 
and director of inherited impulses in the 
young, while at the same time she is the most 
fascinating model for them to copy. Aside 
from bodily protection and other minor serv- 
ices, the lack of this parental factor is hardly 
appreciable in the incubator-reared chick, but 
is much more apparent in a hand-reared 
American robin or nestling of any other 
altricious species, where the transition between 
simply taking what drops from heaven, and 
going about to search for it, are more difficult 
to compass. The impulses are in any case 
natural, though they can not be forced. That 
there is a “school of the woods” we do not 
deny, but we regard it as an easy “school,” in 
which the “teacher” has a natural gift to im- 
part and the “ pupil” an inherited tendency to 
receive. 

Tt is gull-nature to dally with the food in the 
presence of the young, laying it on the ground 
and picking it up again, and even putting it 
back in the “pocket,” if it is not quickly 
mastered, and it is gull chick-nature to follow 
every movement of the parent, putting head to 
the ground to get the food, when this is 
dropped. In such ways, perhaps, a useful les- 
son, in looking to the ground as an early source 
of food, is gradually instilled. But this is 
probably of small consequence, for most inex- 
perienced birds peck instinctively at attrac- 
‘ tive objects, and all the more readily if these 
are in motion. 

Young hawks, which we have taken from the 
~ nest before they were able to stand, and reared 
in cages, when first introduced to live prey, 


SCIENCE 


307 


such as frogs, rats and pigeons, dealt with it 
in every case in the most uniform and precise 
manner, and this way was characteristic of 
their race. Before getting such food they will 
even seize chips and grass, and practise what 
we may call “ play at catching frogs and mice.” 
They will approach the chip cautiously, crouch, 
squeal, strike, seize, and spread over it as if it 
were really alive, inflicting blows upon it with 
the tearing, ripping-up motion, with which 
they would treat an actual frog or a piece of 
meat. 

What then was such a bird as the grebe, 
referred to above, about, when unceremoni- 
ously ducking its youngsters? It might be 
that it was imparting a genuine lesson in 
diving, of the direct sort, that is, given with a 
motive, in recognition of its progeny’s needs, 
but we have gone to this length to point out 
that this supposition does not exhaust all the 
possibilities. It might be that the parental 
instincts were on the wane, or that their 
sequence was disturbed, for many birds, of 
which the moor hen has been noted by 
Howard, instinctively drive off their young, as 
soon as they are able to shift for themselves, 
teasing, pecking, and harrying them unmerci- 
fully. It would be important to ascertain if 
the grebes ever display the same instinct. A 
wider knowledge of grebe-play, cleaning, and 
other instinctive procedure, might afford fur- 
ther suggestions. 

We could refer to parallel and even more 
striking cases in illustration of the difficulties 
of interpretation. During courtship most 
birds perform antics of some sort, in the course 
of which they spread and move their wings 
and tail and erect their feathers, Since many, 
like the gay and lordly peacock, are richly 
decorated, what more obvious interpretation 
than that this spreading is a form of display, a 
showing off of all their finery, in order to 
charm the female. This, as is well known, was 
Darwin’s interpretation, and formed the basis 
of his theory of sexual selection, or as it is now 
often called, preferential mating. But more 
recent and more exact studies upon the whole 
course of sexual behavior, of which I would 
cite particularly the illuminating work of 


308 


Howard on the British warblers, have shown 
that these spreading movements are typically 
reflex, and that they are common to many 
periods of excitement, so it is probable that 
they really have nothing to do with “ 
ing” the female, in the sense in which this 
word is commonly understood. Even the dull 
eat-bird can be seen to spread before a pros- 
pective mate, and as Howard has shown, the 
presence of the female is not always necessary 
to excite such behavior during the mating 
period. Essentially the same movements are 
executed at the instance of sudden sounds, or 
of fear, not to speak of the spontaneous antics 
of the turkey gobbler, or even of the gaudy 
peacock, which, as Darwin acknowledged, will 
spread in the presence of poultry and swine. 
In a chapter on Reptiles and their Prog- 
eny, the author refers to the ancient story of 
the viper “ swallowing” her young in times of 
danger, with the remark that since this reptile 
is viviparous, many persons who had supposed 
that they had taken its young from the ali- 
mentary tract had really assisted at their 
birth. Whether there is any germ of truth at 
the root of this hoary belief, or whether it 
rightfully belongs among the vulgar errors to 
which Thomas Browne consigned it in the 
seventeenth century, we do not pretend to say, 
but the author’s suggestion does not remove all 
the difficulties. Many American naturalists of 
repute have supported the contention that cer- 
tain snakes do occasionally refuge their young 
in the throat or esophagus, and numerous 
American species, both venomous and non- 
venomous, are included in the list. It is a 
matter of some historical interest that the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, which met at Portland, Maine, in 
1873, held in one of its sections a sort of con- 
vention on snakes. G. Browne Goode, who 
afterwards became the head of the United 
States National Museum, led the discussion, 
and F. W. Putnam, secretary of the Associa- 
Theodore Gill, and other prominent 
naturalists took part in it. Goode’s paper, 
which was suggested by a still earlier one by 
Putnam, in the American Naturalist for 1869, 
and was published in full in the Annual Re- 


charm- 


tion, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIIT. No. 974 


ports of the society, was an attempt to show 
that many snakes give temporary refuge to 
their young, much as certain fishes are known 
to carry about and protect their eggs in their 
mouths. He received the support of all these 
men, in addition to that of one hundred other 
witnesses whom he considered reliable, includ- 
ing Sidney J. Smith, noted for his accuracy 
as a marine zoologist, and Edward Palmer, of 
the Smithsonian Institution. So strongly was 
this “viperine” story supported that Dr. Gill, 
in summing up the evidence, declared it was 
“sufficient to set the matter for ever at rest.” 
This will illustrate in still another direction — 
the difficulties of interpretation in animal be- 
havior, whether actual or visionary. If such 
competent witnesses and judges were deceived, 
it must be due to some other cause than that 
which the author of “The Infancy of Ani- 
mals” has adduced. It may be that the young 
of many snakes—and this is an idea which 
we owe to a somewhat old but excellent work 
by Miss Hopley—respond instinctively to the 
calls of their parent by running towards her 
head and afterwards concealing themselves 
under her body. If young snakes were thought 
to be seen running into the mouth, it would 
require but little imagination to see them pop 
out again, the mind having already, perhaps, 
pictured such a scene in advance. Otherwise, 
so far as we can see, if we discredit all these 
accounts, we must continue to regard the 


‘snake as the fruitful cause of all moral 


obliquity. 

The author’s illustrations, particularly’ the 
photographs, are excellent, and add distinc- 
tively to the attraction of a valuable and 
interesting work. 

Francis H. Herrick 

LAUSANNE, 

June 20, 1913 


Explosives. A Synoptic and Critical Treat- 
ment of the Subject as gathered from Vari- 
ous Sources. By Dr. H. Brunswic. Trans- 
lated and annotated by CuarLes E. Munroe, 
Ph.D., LL.D, and Atron L. Kisuer, M.S., 
1210) B); 

The excuse for producing a new book in the 


AUGUST 29, 1913] 


field of explosives is well given in the preface: 
to bring together more closely the science and 
practise of the subject; to establish a closer 
cooperation between the scientist and the tech- 
nologist. In this the author has succeeded 
most remarkably well. The important modern 
explosives are carefully reviewed and arranged 
according to chemical and physical views now 
held. Theoretical and mathematical discus- 
sions have been omitted, which makes the book 
valuable to the technologist who as a rule has 
troubles enough without trying to keep in prac- 
tise on advanced mathematics. 

In chapter one there is given a clear out- 
line of the elementary principles relating to 
the general behavior of explosives. Chapters 
two, three and four treat of velocity, tempera- 
ture and pressure produced by explosives on 
combustion. An excellent discussion of the 
products of explosive reactions as influenced 
by temperature and pressure is given in chap- 
ter five. Chapter six treats of intensity and 
velocity of the explosive impulse. Chapter 
seven is of special importance to miners and 
ordnance officers since it treats of the flame of 
Igniters, fuses, detonators and 
fulminates are described in chapter eight. In 
chapter nine there is a brief but excellent dis- 
cussion of black and smokeless powders. Blast- 
ing explosives in chapter ten are fully dis- 
cussed, including hints for handling, use and 
destruction of explosives generally. 

A valuable feature of the book is the splendid 
list of references to literature on explosives 
and related subjects. The work, which on the 
whole is excellent, has lost nothing by trans- 
lation. Works of this character are frequently 
ruined by translators, either on account of lack 


an explosion. 


of knowledge of the foreign language or un- 
familiarity of the subject. In this case the 
translators show a thorough knowledge of 
German, and surely Dr. is more 
familiar with explosives than any one else in 
this country. It is gratifying to note that 
attention is called to the fact that the term 
“nitroglycerine” is not in accordance with 
present-day chemical nomenclature. Why not 
discard also the name “nitrocellulose”? The 


Munroe 


SCIENCE 


309 


latter is a nitrate just as much as the former. 
On page 161 in equation one there should be 
shown six carbon dioxids instead of two, and 
on page 162 where the decomposition of picric 
acid is shown six molecules, not two, of hydro- 
gen are formed. Nothing further remains to 
be said except that no explosives library is up 
to date without this work. 


AC PS Sy; 


NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 


THE SOLAR CONSTANT OF RADIATION 


Votume III. of the Annals of the Astro- 
physical Observatory of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution has just appeared (a great quarto 
volume of 241 pages). As a result of recent 
investigations of the intensity of solar radia- 
tion, these noteworthy results have been ob- 
tained: (1) That the mean value of the solar 
constant of radiation for the epoch 1905-1912 
is 1.929 calories per square centimeter per 
minute; (2) an increase in the solar constant 
by 0.07 calories per square centimeter per 
minute is accompanied by an increase of 100 
in sun-spot numbers; (3) numerous, almost 
simultaneous measurements of the solar con- 
stant at Mount Wilson, California, and at 
Bassour, Algeria, would indicate that the in- 
tensity of solar radiation experiences an irreg- 
ular change which frequently exceeds 0.07 
calories per square centimeter per minute 
and which follows a ten-day period; (4) 
indications of two entirely independent phe- 
nomena makes it reasonable to believe that 
the variations in the solar constant are caused 
by the sun itself and probably not by meteoric 
dust or other phenomena between the sun and 
earth.* 

WEST INDIA HURRICANES 

In a recent Weather Bureau bulletin entitled 
“Hurricanes of the West Indies,’ Professor 
Oliver L. Fassig gives the results of a thorough 

1C. G. Abbot, F. E. Fowle and L. B. Aldrich, 
‘“Die Solarkonstante und ihre Schwankungen,’’ 
Meteorologische Zeitschrift, pp. 257-261, June, 
1913. 

? Bulletin X., U. S. Weather Bureau, March 29, 
1918, quarto, 28 pp., 25 plates. 


. 


310 


investigation of 134 West India hurricanes 
occurring in the 36 years 1876-1911. The area 
visited by these storms includes the Gulf of 
Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the tropical 
ocean for afew hundred miles east of the West 
Indies and Florida,—thus the routes leading to 
and from the Panama Canal on the Atlantic 
side will lie for a great distance in the heart 
of the hurricane zone. There are two main 
hurricane paths, one following the inside Gulf 
Stream route and the other the line of the 
northward Atlantic drift off the north and 
east coasts of the Greater Antilles and Florida. 
The former is most frequented by the cyclones 
in June and July and the latter in August, 
September and October. In these last three 
months 88 per cent. of the 184 cyclones oc- 
curred. Their tracks are normally parabolic, 
open to the east. The average rate of move- 
ment on the first branch (northwestward) and 
during the “ recurve” (northward), is 11 miles 
per hour. On the second branch (moving 
northeast) the mean velocity increases to 16 
miles per hour. The mean duration was 5.8 
days (maximum 19, minimum 1 day). The 
number of West India hurricanes in the 20 
years 1880-1899 was 86, as against 418 ty- 
phoons in the west Pacific and 184 cyclones in 
the Bay of Bengal during the same period. 
Professor Fassig considers West India hurri- 
canes as mainly the result of general atmos- 
pheric movements and not of local differences 
in temperature. When in summer the equa- 
torial belt of calms has moved some distance 
north of the equator, the deflective action of 
the earth’s rotation is sufficient to produce a 
cyclone when an adequate initial impulse 
comes from the somewhat conflicting trade 
winds north and south of the doldrums. 


HUMIDITY AND FROST DAMAGE 


Proressor A. G. McAnpie in the Monthly 
Weather Review for April, 1918, in an article 
entitled “Frost Studies—Determining Prob- 
able Minimum Temperatures,” points out that 
in frost damage to plants the relative humidity 
of the air is a very important factor. For in- 
stance, in the frost of January 4-7, 1918, in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 974 


southern California the dryness of the air 
favored rapid radiation and evaporation, caus- 
ing damage to plants not only on account of 
the low temperature but also through serious 
interference with proper plant functions, espe- 
cially in connection with transpiration, which 
became injuriously rapid. 

On another page of this number, Mr. E. § 
Nichols, local forecaster at Grand Junction, 
Colo., in connection with a damaging frost on 
April 28 also calls attention to the fact that 
on dry frosty nights greater injury is done 
than on moist ones with equal air temper- 
atures. He has accordingly warned fruit- 
growers in his district to begin smudging on 
dry frosty nights at higher temperatures than 
on damp ones. 

CLOUDINESS AND SUNSHINE OF NORTH AMERICA 

AN important contribution to the climatology 
of North America entitled “ Bewolkungsver- 
haltnisse und Sonnenscheindauer von Norda- 
merika,” by Arthur Glaser, has recently ap- 
peared.’ The area covered is limited on the 
north on account of lack of observations to 
include only southern Canada. There are 
three general regions where the mean annual 
cloudiness is in excess of 60 per cent.—around 
Puget Sound, the Great Lakes and the Cana- 
dian Maritime Provinces. A minimum of less 
than 20 per cent. occurs in the region about 
the lower Colorado River in southwestern Ari- 
zona and southeastern California. This rela- 
tive distribution in general remains the same 
throughout the year. Maximum cloudiness for 
southern and eastern United States and the 
Pacific coast including the Great Basin comes 
in winter; for the Great Plains, in spring; for 
New Mexico, Arizona, most of Mexico and 
Florida, in summer; and for the country 
roughly north of latitude 48 degrees and east 
of the one hundredth meridian, in November. 
Minimum cloudiness comes in winter over cen- 
tral Canada; in spring over most of Mexico 


®See also E. A. Beals, ‘‘ Forecasting Frost in 
the North Pacific States,’’ Weather Bureau Bull. 
No. 41, 1912. 

*Aus dem Archiv der Deutschen Seewarte, 
XXXV., 1912, Nr. 1, quarto, 63 pp., 22 figs., 7 
charts. 


AvueusT 29, 1913] 


and Florida; in summer throughout northern 
United States and the Great Basin; and in 
fall over the California coast, central Rockies, 
southern and eastern United States. The 
duration of sunshine is about the reverse of 
the cloudiness indicated, for the cloudiness 
records are practically only from observations 
in the daytime. 

Previous cloudiness charts for the United 
States were published (1) in 1890 by General 
A. W. Greely, of the Signal Service; (2) in 
1898 by the Weather Bureau;° (8) in 1911 by 
K. McR. Clark.® 


AUSTRALIAN METEOROLOGY 


Tue Australian Weather Service has re- 
cently published new monthly and annual tem- 
perature and rainfall charts of Australia and 
Tasmania based on observation series from 
twenty to forty years in length. These charts 
correspond closely with earlier ones except 
that the annual isotherms sweep north in the 
center of Australia instead of south and the 
isohyts show the rainfall in greater detail. An 
annual rainfall of less than 5 inches is indi- 
cated in South Australia and as high as 140 
inches on the Queensland coast. Common- 
wealth Meteorologist H. A. Hunt has invented 
a novel rotary diagram called a “rainfall 
elock,” which indicates in a striking manner 
the progressive monthly changes of Australian 
rainfall. 

The remarkable constancy and regularity of 
Australian weather has led Mr. Hunt to sug- 
gest the foundation of international meteoro- 
logical observatories there for purposes of 
research in the fundamental problems of 
dynamic meteorology.’ 


NOTES 


Horrat Proressor Dr. Junius von Hann 
writes that a third edition of his great “ Lehr- 
buch der Meteorologie” will soon begin to ap- 


" ®Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau, 
1896-97. 

° Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological 
Society, April, 1911, pp. 169-175. 

™See Nature, London, Vol. 91, pp. 355, 435-436, 
489. 


SCIENCE 


311 


pear. It is coming out in sections to make its 
purchase easier. He expects the work to be 
complete in the fall of 1914. The first edition 
appeared in 1901 and the second in 1906. From 
1908-1911 Dr. von Hann published the third 
edition of his great “ Handbuch der Klimatol- 
ogie” in three volumes. These two magnifi- 
cent works are second to none in the realm of 
meteorology and climatology. 

THE Royal Academy of Holland has con- 
ferred the Buys-Ballot Medal on Dr. H. Herge- 
sell in recognition of his service in the in- 
vestigations of the upper air in the subtropics 
and arctic, and as head of the International 
Commission for Scientific Aeronautics. In 
1903 this medal was conferred on Professors 
Assmann and Berson, and in 1893 on Dr. von 
Hann. 

Dmector M. A. RyKatcuew, of the Nicholas 
Central Physical Observatory, at St. Peters- 
burg, retired on May 7, after having served 46 
years, of which the last 17 were as director. 

In the report of the Chief of the Weather 
Bureau for 1911-12, recently issued, mention 
is made of preparations for proposed anemom- 
eter tests by Professor C. F. Marvin, now 
Chief. A whirling machine with an arm 
thirty feet long and capable of producing wind 
velocities up to 70 or 80 miles per hour will be 
used. There will be tests carried on also in 
a “wind tunnel” through which with blowers 
a current of air exceeding 100 miles per hour 
can be forced. These tests are for the purpose 
of correcting the standard Weather Bureau 
anemometers to record true wind velocities 
instead of some 18 per cent. too high as in the 
past and at present. 


Cuartes F. Brooks 
BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE REDISCOVERY OF PERIDERMIUM PYRIFORME 
PECK 


Tur name Peridermium pyriforme was pro- 
posed by Peck in 1875 for a blister rust grow- 
ing “on pine limbs in the spring, Newfield, 
New Jersey.” In his original description Peck 
laid emphasis on the form of the spores which 
he described as “ obovate, pyriform, or oblong- 


312 SCIENCE 


pyriform, acuminate below, .0015—.0025 inch 
long.” So far as published reports show, no 
specimen of Peridermium has been recorded 
since that time having spores of this sort. 
Among mycologists it generally has been as- 
sumed that there must have been some error 
about Peck’s description, and the name has 
been made to apply to a species having the 
ordinary small ellipsoid spores. The species to 
which the name has been thus applied is the 
one which has been culturally connected with 
Cronartium Comptonie. 

After giving some attention to the matter 
several years ago the writers came to the con- 
clusion that in Peck’s original examination he 
possibly mistook some of the smaller peridial 
cells for spores.’ In studying fresh specimens 
recently communicated to us from British 
Columbia, by W. P. Fraser, and from Colo- 
rado, by E. Bethel, we have found large pyri- 
form cells which agree exactly in shape and 
size with the spores of the original descrip- 
tion of Peridermium pyriforme. It is very 
evident that in these specimens they can 
not be peridial cells, for the peridial tissue 
is present and is composed of very differ- 
ent cells. There seems to be little doubt that 
we are dealing here with a striking species, 
very aptly named Peridermium pyriforme so 
many years ago, but which has been unrecog- 
nized ever since, while the name has been mis- 
applied. Examination of our herbarium shows 
that there are a number of other specimens 
belonging here which had been erroneously, 
and carelessly, placed under other species. In 
addition to the three above-mentioned localities 
we have specimens from Wisconsin, South 
Dakota, Washington and Alberta. The range 
for the species is thus seen to be northern 
United States and southern Canada from 
ocean to ocean. 

Having established the existence of a char- 
acteristic hetercecious form of wide geograph- 
ical range, the question of the alternate phase 
becomes of immediate interest. Judging from 
analogy and distribution, together with some 
field observations, we suggest with much confi- 


1See Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 33: 420, 1906. 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 974 


dence that Peridermium pyriforme may be con- 
nected with Cronartium comandre. 
J. C. ARTHUR 
Frank D. Kern 
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 
LAFAYETTE, IND., 
July 15, 1913 


A WINE-RED SUNFLOWER 

In Popular Science Monthly, April, 1912, I 
described the finding and subsequent develop- 
ment of the red sunflower. The darker form 
predicted for 1912 duly appeared, but most of 
the intensely red types were bicolored, with 
the ends of the rays yellow. This is ascribed 
to the fact that the wild plant (var. lenticula- 
ris) carries a factor for marking, which is not 
clearly apparent until joined by the factor for 
red. In the orange or yellow rayed plants 
nothing more is apparent to the eye than a 
deepening of the color on the basal part, not 
distinctly defined or very readily noticeable. 
In photographs, however, the marking comes 
out, as is well shown in Dreer’s “ Garden 


Book,” 1912, p. 221, for the perennial species.. 


One would imagine from Dreer’s figures of 
“Wolley Dod” and “multiflorus maximus ” 
that the rays were bicolored. A much more 
striking illustration is given by Mr. G. N. 
Collins, where Bidens heterophylla appears to 
have strongly bicolored rays when photo- 
graphed in the ordinary way, but when photo- 
graphed on an orthochromatic plate with a 
color screen does not appear bicolored at all. 
To the eye “the difference in color between 
the base and tip of the rays is barely percep- 
tible.” 

We obtained from Sutton, of Reading, Eng- 
land, a variety of Helianthus annwus with very 
dark dise and pale primrose yellow rays. It 
is a tall, upright form, with the ends of the 
involueral bracts longer than usual. The seeds 
are black, or nearly. This plant, which comes 
quite true from seed, is called by Sutton, 
“Primrose Perfection”; we will call it var. 
primulinus. 

In our red sunflowers so far obtained, the 
red, however bright, was always chestnut, as 
the result of the orange background. We saw 

1 Plant World, November, 1900, plate VIT. 


AuGUST 29, 1913] 


at once that if we could get the red (antho- 
cyan) on the primrose background, we should 
have a quite new and more rosy color. In the 
summer of 1912 we accordingly crossed the 
reds with primulinus, and obtained a quantity 
of seed. The primulinus was used as the seed 
plant. As orange was sure to be dominant 
over primrose (or absence of orange), we could 
not expect to see our new variety until the F, 
generation. In order to hasten matters, we 
raised the F, generation indoors during the 
winter, and got enough seed to produce quite a 
series of plants. The F, plants did not differ 
in any respect from the reds to which we were 
accustomed, all having a rich orange-yellow 
background. Some, especially in the larger 
series now growing in the garden, show ex- 
tremely rich and deep red colors, so that we 
should take them for homozygous reds if we 
did not know otherwise. On July 16 the first 
of the F, plants came into flower, and we were 
pleased to see that the rays had an entirely 
new shade of color, wine red on a primrose 
background. The first one, probably hetero- 
zygous for red, was rather dilutely colored, 
but we now have plants showing rays of a very 
rich deep wine red, with variable primrose 
tips. This new variety may be named vinosus. 
It is certainly interesting to obtain in this 
way an entirely new color, which nevertheless 
is due entirely to the redistribution of previ- 
ously known factors, and which could thus be 
predicted in advance. Up to the time of writ- 
ing, 21 F, plants have bloomed, of which 12 
are red (of the chestnut type, of several minor 
varieties, as suffused and bicolored), 8 are 
vinosus, and one is pure primrose like the 
grandmaternal ancestor. This exactly agrees 
with the theoretical expectation as regards the 
reds and the primrose, but we have so far twice 
as Many vinosus as expected, and no plain 
orange-yellows, of which there should be three 
or four. Probably when all the plants are in 
bloom the result will agree more exactly with 
the expectation. 


* Postscript. A census taken August 9 gives 71 
red (chestnut), 19 yellow, 25 vinous and 8 prim- 
rose. The theoretical expectation for this number 
is 69 red, 23 yellow, 23 vinous and 8 primrose. 


SCIENCE 


313 


We have obtained a number of other varie- 
ties, which will be fully described at some 
other time. One curious one, which I call 
tortuosus, has the apical half of the rays 
twisted, as though in curl-papers. We have 
this both in the plain orange yellow and rich 
chestnut red with yellow tips, in each case the 
disc being dark. Similar forms have been 
obtained at other times by horticulturists. 

A collection of seeds shows extraordinary 
variability in form and color; it would hardly 
be too much to say that the seeds are less alike 
than the resulting plants. Thus the tall prim- 
rose (primulinus) has black or nearly black 
seeds, Sutton’s double primrose has gray seeds 
streaked with white, while there is a strain of 
dwarf primrose with perfectly white seeds. 
Seeds from any one plant are practically uni- 
form, and we do not find any evidence that 
the pollen used affects the appearance of the 
resulting seed. T. D. A. CockErRELL 

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, 

BOULDER, COL., 
July 22, 1913 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


THE 512th meeting of the Biological Society of 
Washington was held in the assembly hall of the 
Cosmos Club, April 19, 1913, with Vice-president 
Hay in the chair and about 30 persons present. 

Under the heading ‘‘Brief Notes and Exhibi- 
tion of Specimens,’’ Henry Talbott exhibited an 
unusually large tooth of the fossil shark, Car- 
charodon megelodon from South Carolina and by 
way of comparison the much smaller teeth of 
Odontaspes from Chesapeake Beach, Md., and 
made remarks on these sharks. 

Wells W. Cooke made remarks on the spring 
migration, noting that the yellowthroat, redstart, 
wood thrush and catbird had arrived three days 
ahead of schedule time. 

The regular program consisted of a communica- 
tion by C. D. Marsh, entitled ‘‘Stock Poisoning 
by Larkspur.’’ He stated that ranchmen of the 
west had long claimed losses of stock due to lark- 
spur, and on scientific inquiry had found their 
observations correct, and that the monetary loss 
was considerable. Although larkspur occurs in 
other parts of the world, it apparently only causes 
trouble in the western United States. The average 


314 


mortality in affected areas of the west is from 
3 to 5 per cent., but as many as 20 head out of a 
herd of 200 have been fatally poisoned fin twenty- 
four hours. The low larkspur appears to be 
always dangerous, but the tall only becomes poi- 
sonous in August after the fruit matures. The 
poison is a cumulative one and requires from 3 
to 10 per cent. of the animal’s body weight of 
larkspur plant to cause death or alarming symp- 
toms. The symptoms consist of general discom- 
fort, nausea, constipation, a characteristic arching 
of the back and sudden collapse, followed by par- 
tial recovery and a repetition of similar attacks, 
and if the case is a fatal one, to end in respira- 
tory paralysis and death by asphyxia. Animals 
do not become immune to the poison. Horses may 
be experimentally poisoned, but when feeding on 
the range do not eat into a patch of larkspur 
enough to consume a toxic quantity. Sheep are 
naturally immune to the poison and may be fed 
a continuous diet of little else than larkspur with- 
out showing any symptoms. The cowboy’s treat- 
ment of the disease is bleeding, but the propor- 
tion of recoveries by this method is not greater 
than in natural recovery. Rational treatment con- 
sists in placing the poisoned animal on sloping 
ground with the head upward so that the abdom- 
inal viscera fall back from the thoracic organs. 
Drug treatment consists of eserine, pilocarpine 
and strychnine administered hypodermically. 
Under this method 96 per cent. of poisoned ani- 
mals recover. Alcohol is also effective, but less 
practical. The paper was profusely ilustrated by 
excellent lantern slides, showing the larkspur in 
detail and on ranges, and numerous animals in 
various stages of poisoning. The paper was dis- 
cussed by Messrs. Bailey, Weed, Hitchcock, Gill, 
Lyon and others. 


THE 513th regular meeting of the Biological 
Society of Washington was held in the assembly 
hall of the Cosmos Club May 38, 1913, at 8 P.M., 
with President Nelson in the chair and 56 persons 
present. 

Under the heading ‘‘Brief Notes and Exhibi- 
tion of Specimens,’’ Dr. H. M. Smith called atten- 
tion to a large whale shark captured during the 
past year in Florida waters. It originally meas- 
ured 38 feet in length, but as now mounted, 45 
feet; it is being exhibited as a curiosity. Pictures 
of this shark were exhibited and extracts from a 
letter by the captor read. Dr. Smith’s remarks 
were discussed by the chair and by Dr. Gill. 


SCIENCE - 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 974 


The regular program consisted of two commu- 
nications by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and one by 
Edmund Heller. si 

I. ‘¢Thé Remarkable Extinct Fauna of Southe 
California revealed in the Asphalt Deposits near 
Los Angeles.’? Dr. Merriam remarked that as-— 
phalt had been known in this region to the Indians 
for thousands of years and was mentioned by the 
early Spanish padres. Although remains of ani- 
mals in the asphalt deposits had been known since 
about the middle of the last century they have only 
lately been extensively studied by Dr. J. C. Mer- 
riam, of the University of California. The viscous 
asphalt appears to have acted as a natural trap, 
first entangling certain birds and mammals, and 
then these captured animals acting as bait to 
larger predatory forms. The remains may be 
roughly divided into three groups: (1) birds, some 
still existing, but mostly extinct, among them, 
hawks, 8 genera of eagles, vultures, including both 
North and South American condors, a condor-like 
bird, Teratornis of huge size, owls, ravens, herons, 
a peacock; (2) small mammals, as spermophiles, 
kangaroo rats, etc., and small carnivorous forms 
as weasels, skunks, badgers, bobcats, gray foxes; 
(3) large mammals, as deer, antelopes, buffaloes, 
elephants, mastodons, glyptodons, and large preda- 
tory forms, as wolves, mountain lions, giant lions, 
saber-toothed tigers and bears. Often several in- 
dividuals of carnivorous forms, as giant wolves, 
saber-toothed tigers are associated with a single 
large ruminant. Discussed by Messrs. Gill, Hay 
and others. 

II. ‘‘Notes on the Big Bears of North Amer- 
ica.’? The speaker commented on the lack of 
adequate material for a systematic study of these 
bears. The black bear and allied forms he re- 
garded as constituting a distinct genus from the 
brown and grizzly bears belonging to the genus 
Ursus, about 40 forms of which could be recog- 
nized as inhabiting the North American continent 
and adjacent islands. 

III. ‘‘Distribution of Game Animals in Af- 
rica.’’ Mr. Heller spoke of the life zones and 
areas of Hast Africa, illustrating the subject with 
maps, views of topography and characteristic 
mammals. The following areas, based mainly 
upon watersheds, were recognized: West Nile, Hast 
Nile, Uganda, East African, Abyssinian; and these 
life zones: Congo Forest, Tropical, Nyika, High- 
land Veldt, Highland Forest. 


M. W. Lyon, JR., 
Recording Secretary pro tem. 


Sh 


NEw SERIES 


VoL. XXXVIII. No. 975 


Re OED 


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W. B. 


CR 


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SCIENCE 


FRmAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1913 


CONTENTS 
The Orbits of Freely Falling Bodies: PRESI- 
DENT R. S. WOODWARD ..........-...---+ 315 
Functions and Limitations of the Governing 
Board: PRESIDENT EDWIN BOooNE CRalIc- 
DAND' Googdoodop0bobuoDOgGODOGODONNONDD 319 
Indian Remains in Maine ................. 326 
Bonaparte Research Fund Grants .......... 327 
Scientific Notes and News .............++. 328 
University and Educational News .......... 330 
Discussion and Correspondence :-— 
Agricultural Extension: A. N. Hume. A 
New Attachment for the Harvard Kymo- 
graphion: T. L. PATTERSON. Accuracy in 
Stating the Occurrence of Species: Mars- 
DEN MANSON. ‘‘Quite a Few’’: T. G. 
IDAERINT! Sdogodoa: sedddooo0ccocuduooUduol 331 
Scientific Books :— 
Henderson on the Fitness of the Environ- 
ment: PROFESSOR RaupH 8. Linz. Freud 
on the Interpretation of Dreams: C. Mac- 
Fim CAMPBELL. Numerical Constants: Pro- 
. FESSOR HENRY S, CARHART .............- 337 
Special Articles :— 
The Influence of Substratum Heterogeneity 
upon Experimental Results: Dr. J. ARTHUR 
BUNA! Beoodeceoapanooddevlodspoudedaan 345 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
‘review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


———————————— SSE 


THE ORBITS OF FREELY FALLING BODIES 


THE path described by a body falling 
freely from a considerable height above the 
surface of the earth presents a problem of 
interest alike to the mathematical and to 
the experimental physicist. The former 
sees in it a capital application of the prin- 
ciples of ‘‘relative motion’? and the latter 
sees in it a promising way of demonstra- 
ting the rotation of the earth. It has at- 
tracted perennial attention for more than 
a century and has been frequently referred 
to in this journal during the past decade. 

The mechanical aspects of this problem 
were first carefully considered by Gauss 
and Laplace one hundred and ten years 
ago. Gauss’s equations of motion for a 
falling body were furnished in a letter to 
Benzenberg, who was interested especially 
in the proper interpretation of experi- 
mental results. Gauss’s solution of the 
problem is now accessible in the fifth vol- 
ume of his collected works. He concluded 
that in addition to the obvious easterly 
deviation there should be a small meridi- 
onal deviation towards the equator from 
the plumb line defined by a bob suspended 
from the initial position of the body and 
normal to some plane of reference below. 
It seems probable that this latter conclu- 
sion prompted Laplace to reinvestigate the 
subject, for he published a very remarkable 
paper in May, 1803, in the Bulletin de la 


1This means only that account must be taken 
of the variations in position of some of the axes 
or planes of reference with the lapse of time. 
Why such motion should have been called ‘‘rela- 
tive’’ and the less complex motion called ‘‘abso- 
lute’’ is a question worthy of investigation in the 
history of mechanics. 


316 


Société Philomatique, in which he invites 
special attention to his conclusion that 
there is no meridional deviation towards 
the equator. In view of this discrepancy 
between these preeminent authors it is a 
surprising circumstance that nearly all 
subsequent writers on the subject should 
have followed Gauss; and it is still more 
surprising that the more comprehensive 
and more suggestive, though more difficult, 
treatment of the problem by Laplace 
should have been little noticed and less 
followed by recent authors. Since the ap- 
pearance of the papers just referred to by 
Gauss and Laplace only one author, until 
quite recently, appears to have considered 
the subject worthy of an independent in- 
vestigation. This author is Poisson, who 
published in 1838 an important memoir on 
the theory of gunnery (in the Journal de 
l’Ecole Polytechnique, Tome XVI.) of 
which a freely falling body presents a 
special case. As regards the meridional 
deviation in question Poisson goes one step 
further than Gauss and Laplace and leads 
us to infer (correctly) that his investiga- 
tion shows no deviation either towards or 
away from the equator. 

My attention was called to this subject 
about ten years ago, chiefly through the 
communications concerning it published in 
this journal by Professor Cajori and Pro- 
fessor E. H. Hall. <A casual reading of 
the papers of Gauss, Laplace and Poisson 
indicated that they ought all to agree es- 
sentially, since they all limit themselves to 
terms of the first order of approximation 
of the small quantities involved, especially 
the angular velocity of the earth, which is 
obviously a fundamental factor in any 
solution of the problem. In the meantime, 
other occupations have led me to neglect 
this branch of geophysics until my atten- 
tion was reattracted to it by the suggestive 
papers of Professor William H. Roever 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


published recently in the Transactions of 
the American Mathematical Society? A 
preliminary survey of the subject indi- 
eated that the obscurities and the discrep- 
ancies presented by it could be removed 
only by an independent investigation 
founded on present-day knowledge of 
geodesy. Such an investigation has been 
made and is now available to the mathe- 
matical physicist in Nos. 651-652 of the 
Astronomical Journal (August 4, 1913) 
under the title ‘‘The Orbits of Freely 
Falling Bodies.’’ The object of this com- 
munication is to explain briefly for the 
information of the general reader the 
salient features of the subject, the sources 
of its obsecurities, the requirements of a 
precise and correct determination of the 
orbits in question, the new results reached, 
and the reasons why they differ in certain 
important respects from those hitherto 
considered valid. 

The motion of a falling body depends on 
three elements, namely: (1) the rotation of 
the earth; (2) the attraction of the earth; 
and (3) the difference between geocentric 
and geographic latitude. The effect of ro- 
tation is expressed in the equations of 
motion of a falling body by terms involv- 
ing both the first and the second powers 
of the earth’s angular velocity. In gen- 
eral, following Gauss, Laplace and Poisson, 
terms in the second power of this velocity 
have been neglected. It turns out that the 
meridional deviation is a term of the sec- 
ond order in this velocity and other quan- 
tities of the same order. Hence it failed 
to appear in the investigations of the above- 
named authors, or appeared only as a 
mathematical fiction and with the wrong 

2<¢The Southerly Deviation of Falling Bodies,’?’ 
Vol. XII., No. 3, July, 1911; and ‘‘The Southerly 
and Easterly Deviations of Falling Bodies in an 


Unsymmetrical Gravitational Field,’’ Vol. XIIT., 
No. 4, October, 1912. 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


sign in the case of Gauss. The effect of 
the attraction of the earth presents diffi- 
eulty, for the earth is not centrobaric, 
though many authors have assumed it to be 
such. Gauss and Laplace undoubtedly 
understood the nature of this difficulty: 
Laplace’s paper (referred to above), is, 
indeed, entirely satisfactory even now so 
far as its generalities are concerned. But 
the necessary observational knowledge, 
since accumulated, was not available to 
these pioneers. Each of them was justi- 
fied, perhaps, in assuming that the effect 
of the square of the angular velocity would 
be negligible and that the attraction would 
be sensibly what has been generally, but 
now quite vaguely and inappropriately, 
called ‘‘gravity’’ or ‘‘acceleration of grav- 
ity,’’ and expressed by the letter g. But 
this attraction varies certainly with the 
latitude of the position of the falling body 
and possibly also with its longitude, and it 
’ is not identical with the resultant accelera- 
tion due to the attraction and to the rota- 
tion of the earth. In respect to both of 
these points the details of the papers of 
Gauss, Laplace and Poisson along with the 
papers of their followers, are all, so far as 
I am aware, not only obscure, but inade- 
quate. Closely related to the question of 
the earth’s attraction of a falling body is 
the distinction between its varying geocen- 
trie latitude and the constant geographical 
latitude of the plumb line to which the 
orbit of the body is referred. This dis- 
tinction is essential to a correct determina- 
tion of the meridional deviation, but its 
fundamental importance does not appear 
to have been recognized hitherto. 

Failure on the part of the earlier au- 
thors to perceive the essential réles of these 
elements and a tendency to avoid the com- 
plications they entail in dealing with the 
differential equations of motion, account 
completely for the obscurities and the con- 


SCIENCE 317 


fusion which initially beset the modern 
reader who attempts to understand the 
present extensive literature of this subject. 
The admirably conceived investigation of 
Laplace, since published as Chapitre V., 
Tome IV., of his Mécanique Céléste, pre- 
sents additional difficulties by reason of 
his autocratic and unnecessary neglect of 
terms, without assigning their relative mag- 
nitudes, and by reason of his ready sup- 
pression, after the fashion of his day, of 
the identity of any quantity by calling it 
unity. Following Gauss, many recent au- 
thors also after neglecting terms of the 
second order in their equations of motion, 
have proceeded to get such terms by a 
purely mathematical process which has no 
warrant in the physical circumstances of 
the case. It has been necessary, therefore, 
in order to remove the prevailing uncer- 
tainties of the subject, to reinvestigate it, 
avoiding precedent and visualizing the con- 
ditions of the problem in the light of the 
more recent developments of physical 
geodesy rather than in the light of the 
foundations of this science laid so largely 
and so effectively by Gauss, Laplace and 
Poisson a century ago. 

Accordingly, the equations of motion of 
the falling body are established without 
neglect of any terms which belong to them, 
and no terms in the integration of these 
equations are neglected without precise 
specification of their relative magnitudes. 
The energy method of Lagrange is followed 
in establishing the equations of motion, 
partly because it is specially adapted to the 
case and partly because it does not appear 
to have been used for this purpose hitherto. 
The position of the body is defined by ref- 
erence to four sets of axes, and the equa- 
tions of motion for each of three of these 
sets are derived and integrated so as to 
include all terms of the second order. 
These latter depend not only on the square 


318 


of the angular velocity of the earth, but on 
its attraction and on the difference between 
the geocentric and the geographic latitudes 
of the point in which a line drawn through 
the initial position of the body and normal 
to some plane of reference below pierces 
this plane. The three sets of equations of 
motion just referred to are expressed in 
terms (1) of the polar coordinates of the 
body (r, ¥, A), r denoting radius vector 
from the center of the earth, ~ geocentric 
latitude and A longitude from a principal 
equatorial axis of inertia of the earth; 
{2) of the rectangular coordinates (€, 7, 
€), with origin at the point of intersection 
of that plumb line through the initial posi- 
tion of the body which is perpendicular to 
the horizontal plane of reference below, 
with distance € measured in this horizontal 
plane and parallel to the meridian plane 
through the initial position of the body, 
positively towards the equator, with dis- 
tance 7 positive towards the east and nor- 
mal to the initial meridian plane, and with 
distance € positive upwards and parallel to 
the normal at the origin; (3) of the ortho- 
gonal coordinates (7, p, «), giving the dis- 
tance 7 of the body east of the initial 
meridian plane, the distance p of » from 
the earth’s axis of figure and the distance 
o of the body from the plane of the earth’s 
equator. It is thus practicable not only to 
approach the problem by different routes 
and to check all steps in the processes of 
solution, but also to see at once wherein the 
results reached differ from the conflicting 
results hitherto published. 

Of the three sets of equations of motion, 
that for the last, or that for the coordinates 
y, p, ¢, 18 the simplest. The integrals of 
this set (new to the subject, so far as I am 
aware) give the distance o to a high order 
of approximation as a simple harmonic 
function whose amplitude is the initial 
value of o; while the distances 7 and p are 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


given with equal precision by sums re- 
spectively of two simple harmonic func- 
tions of two different angles. It is re- 
markable also that the diminution of the 
radius vector 7 and the easterly deviation 
mn are each expressed with precision by a 
single hyperbolic term. In general, the 
system of coordinates r, y, X is most con- 
venient for the purposes of computation. 
But the equations for interconversion of 
all of the sets of coordinates are given in 
detail in the mathematical paper referred 
to. 

It is shown that the meridional deviation 
specified by the ordinate € is always nega- 
tive, or that this deviation is always to- 
wards the adjacent pole in either hemi- 
sphere instead of towards the equator as 
hitherto supposed. For a fall of 10 seconds, 
or 490.24 meters (in vacuo), in latitude 
45° the meridional deviation would be 3.03 
centimeters, and the easterly deviation 16.85 
centimeters. These two deviations are pro- 
portional approximately to the square and 
to the cube, respectively, of the time of fall. 

My investigation is subject to two volun- 
tary restrictions and to one limitation de- 
pendent on our present lack of observa- 
tional information in geodesy. The first 
restriction lies in the neglect of the effect of 
atmospheric resistance on the orbit of the 
falling body. This effect is known from 
the work of Laplace, Poisson and others 
to be very small, since the path of the body 
throughout its fall is everywhere very 
nearly normal to the stratification of the 
air. For such falls as may be practicable 
for observation this effect is negligible, espe- 
cially in comparison with the effects of cur- 
rents of air and of lateral displacement due 
to the rolling of the smoothest spheres.® 
The other restriction lies in solving the 

'I consider it quite impracticable to make any 


conclusive experiments on the deviation of spheres 
falling in air. 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


problem of fall for the case in which the 
orbit is wholly external to the earth. The 
more complex case of a body falling down 
a bore-hole, or mine shaft, or the case in 
which the orbit lies partly without and 
partly within the earth’s crust, is not con- 
sidered. In view of the difficulties in the 
way of experimental applications it has not 
seemed to me worth while to extend the 
paper so as to include the additions and the 
modifications essential to these more com- 
plex cases. 

The limitation referred to arises from 
insufficient knowledge as to the distribution 
of the earth’s mass in respect to the plane 
of the equator. For nearly a century it 
has been generally assumed that this dis- 
tribution is such as to make the two prin- 
cipal equatorial moments of inertia of the 
earth equal. In the absence of adequate 
information on this point I have followed 
the current assumption, the effect of which 
in the case of a falling body is to make its 
orbit independent of longitude. But I do 
not believe this assumption is justified, and 
I would take this occasion to urge upon 
astronomers and geodesists the great need 
for the settlement of this and other ques- 
tions in geophysics of a systematic gravi- 
metric survey of the earth. Any inequality 
in these moments of inertia produces also 
a necessary prolongation of the Eulerian 
eyele which figures so prominently in the 
theory of latitude variations, and it ap- 
pears to me highly probable that this pro- 
longation is due quite as much to that in- 
equality as to an elastic yielding of the 
mass of the earth. R. 8. Woopwarp 


FUNCTIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE 
GOVERNING BOARD? 
THE development of higher education in 
America during the past quarter of a cen- 
1 Speech delivered (July 9) before the National 
Educational Association, at Salt Lake City, by 
Edwin Boone Craighead, LL.D., D.C.L., president 
of the University of Montana. 


SCIENCE 


319 


tury has no parallel in history. In no 
other country have private citizens lav- 
ished upon universities so many millions 
for equipment and endowment. In no 
other country have universities received 
from state or national governments so 
many millions for maintenance. The an- 
nual income of Columbia University is 
greater than the combined incomes of Ox- 
ford with her score of colleges—Oxford 
with a thousand years behind her, the great 
national university of England. The Uni- 
versity of Illinois, which twenty-five years 
ago was scarcely the equal in income or 
equipment of a first class agricultural high 
school of the present day, has an annual 
income far greater than that of the great 
national university of Germany, at Berlin, 
an income greater than that of the Sor- 
bonne—in short, an income far greater 
than is claimed for any of the ancient and 
famous universities of the Old World. 
More money—one may venture to assert, 
the figures are not at hand—has been spent 
upon buildings and equipment for the Uni- 
versity of Chicago during the past fifteen 
years than has been spent upon the build- 
ings and equipment for the University of 
Bologne throughout its thousand years of 
history. 

But after all, vast endowments and 
stately halls of granite or marble do not 
make a university. A real university is 
the creation of great men. Only in an in- 
spiring environment which lures to it real 
scholars and thinkers may a great univer- 
sity be created or maintained. The finer 
spirits of the republic of letters will shun 
and hate the stifling atmosphere of a uni- 
versity, no matter how vast its endowment 
or how splendid its buildings, that does not 
give its professors a feeling of security and 
of freedom. 

Does the American university offer to its 
teachers such an environment? Some 
doubtless do, the vast majority unquestion- 


320 


ably do not. For reasons not hard to dis- 
cern, many of our ablest scholars and 
bravest spirits have come to hate the very 
atmosphere of the university and are long- 
ing to escape from it and to turn their steps 
toward the big wide world of struggle and 
strife, where men are at least free to carve 
out their own destinies in their own way 
and by their own efforts. In no other civil- 
ized country have the great scholars and 
teachers so little influence in university 
administration. For many centuries Ox- 
ford has in the main been governed and 
administered by the thinkers and scholars 
and teachers within her own walls. “‘ Else- 
where throughout the world,’’ says an edi- 
torial in Popular Science Monthly, ‘‘ the 
university is a republic of scholars admin- 
istered by them—here it is a business cor- 
poration.’? In America the university is 
governed and unfortunately sometimes 
actually administered by men whose “‘ life 
activities lie outside the realm they rule.’’ 
“The very idea of a university as the 
home of independent scholars,’’ says Pro- 
fessor Creighton, of Cornell, ‘‘ has been 
obscured by the present system.’’ ‘‘ The 
disastrous effect of the system,’’ says Pro- 
fessor Jastrow, of the University of Wis- 
consin, ‘‘is blighting the university 
career.’’? ‘‘ It is one of the most productive 
of the several causes,’’ says Professor 
Ladd, of Yale, ‘‘ which are working to- 
gether to bring about the degradation of 
the professorial office.’’ ‘‘ If the proper 
status of the faculties is to be restored, if 
the proper standard of educational effi- 
ciency is to be regained, there must be,”’ 
declares Professor Stevenson, ‘‘a radical 
change in the relation of the teaching and 
corporate boards.’’ Says Mr. Munroe, 
of The Massachusetts Institute: ‘‘Unless 
American college teachers can be assured 
that they are no longer to be looked upon 
as mere employees paid to do the bidding 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


of men who, however courteous or however 
eminent, have not the faculty’s profes- 
sional knowledge of the complicated prob- 
lems of education, our universities will 
suffer increasingly from a dearth of strong 
men, and teaching will remain outside the 
pale of the really learned professions. The 
problem is not one of wages; for no uni- 
versity can become rich enough to buy the 
independence of any man who is really 
worth purchasing. Young men of power 
and ambition scorn what should be reck- 
oned the noblest profession, not because 
that profession condemns them to poverty, 
but because it dooms them to a sort of 
servitude.’’ ‘‘ Whatever organizations 
may be necessary in a modern university,’’ 
declared President Schurman, of Cornell, 
“the institution will not permanently suc- 
ceed unless the faculty as a group of inde- 
pendent personalities practically control 
its operations.’’ 

These protests are made not merely by 
sore-headed, dyspeptic men whose princi- 
pal business in life it is to growl and snarl, 
but by sober-minded, patriotic men, some 
of them the great scholars and thinkers of 
the nation. My own experience as a col- 
lege executive confirms the opinion that the 
university career is becoming more and 
more repulsive to men of real ability. 
More and more also, our brightest students 
are turning from the teaching profession to 
enter the more independent and the more 
lucrative professions of law, of engineering, 
of medicine, of farming and of business. 
More and more students of mediocre ability, 
the wooden fellows without initiative or 
courage, are they who, subsisting upon 
scholarships and fellowships, turn towards 
the university career and work for the high- 
er degrees. To become a Ph.D. appears to be 
the sole ambition of large numbers of them 
who, when the degree is won, seem satisfied 
to rest upon their laurels throughout the 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


remaining years of their lives. Of course 
rare and splendid exceptions there are, but 
more and more are able young men scorn- 
ing the teaching profession as fit only for 
women and effeminate men. It has been 
humorously said that in the schools of the 
future, yea even in the universities, real 
men teachers will not be found except here 
and there a stuffed specimen in the uni- 
versity museum. 

“‘ Professor A,’’ said the president of 
one of the best southern universities, ‘‘ is a 
weak man.”’ 

“* Of course he is,’’ replied a well-known 
professor, himself a teacher of thirty years 

experience. “‘The very fact that he is a 
university professor is proof positive that 
he’s a weak man. Nobody but a weak man 
or a blank fool would be a university pro- 
fessor.’’ 
_ In all earnestness, I may assert that dur- 
ing the past ten years I have talked frankly: 
and sometimes confidentially with scores of 
able professors concerning the university 
career, and among them all I have found 
few men of real ability who have not felt 
more or less dissatisfied with the profession 
of teaching. ‘‘I love teaching and the 
work of the investigator,’ said a distin- 
guished university professor only a few 
days ago, ‘‘ but I feel so helpless and so 
dependent and so much like an hireling in 
the position I now hold, that I sometimes 
long to get out of the whole business.’’ 

There is something wrong somewhere if 
conditions such as are depicted even ap- 
proximately exist. To change these condi- 
tions, to make the university an attractive 
place for great scholars and brave thinkers 
and lofty souls, and not, as it sometimes is, 
a stronghold for the politician, the time- 
server, the coward, the sycophant—that is 
a work worthy of heroes and statesmen and 
educators. Big endowments for universi- 
ties are desirable if not indeed necessary, 


SCIENCE 


321 


but big brave men in universities are 
equally desirable and far more necessary. 
Only the greatest men of the nation are 
great enough to teach and inspire the 
young men of the nation. That nation is 
greatest which has in proportion to its 
population the greatest number of real uni- 
versities, and that university is greatest 
which gathers to it the largest number of 
great men. Your really big professor 
would rather exist on a pittance in a uni- 
versity where he feels free and independent, 
master of his own soul, than to live luxuri- 
ously in a splendidly endowed school, de- 
pendent upon the good will or the caprices 
of politicians and ward bosses, or shivering 
in fear of offending some multi-millionaire 
upon whose bounty his university exists. 
What, then, is the matter with the uni- 
versity? Scores of able men, whom I 
much admire, would lay foul hands upon 
the university president as though he were 
the cause of our academic slavery. They 
denounce him as an autocrat and a tyrant 
who, having seized every prerogative that 
he did not find nailed down, ‘‘ holds a Da- 
mascus blade over other men’s lives, 
careers, reputations.’’ They would see the 
“* presidential office shorn of its unwise 
and unsafe authority,’’ of its ‘“‘limelight 
conspicuousness,’”’ of the ‘‘foolish and in- 
creasing pomp and circumstance ’’ which 
usually and increasingly attend presiden- 
tial installations and, in vulgar eyes, trans- 
form wire pullers and gumshoe educators 
into great men and commanding figures 
upon the educational horizon. They would 
reduce his salary to that of an ordinary 
professor, have him live in a house not 
bigger nor better than the houses of his 
colleagues. Indeed there are in our uni- 
versities able men and otherwise lovely 
souls to whom the very sight of a univer- 
sity president seems to be, if one may judge 
them by their words, like the waving of a 


322 


red flag to an enraged beast. To them the 
university president is ‘‘ the black beast 
in the academic jungle.’’ They cut him to 
pieces with their ridicule, they lash him 
with their wit, they make him ridiculous 
with a humor that seems inexhaustible. 

“<I once incited,’’ says the distinguished 
editor of Popular Science Monthly and of 
Science, Professor Cattell, of Columbia 
University,—‘‘ I once incited one of my 
children to call her doll Mr. President, on 
the esoteric ground that he would lie in 
any position in which he was placed.’’ 
The time of the university president, he 
tells us, is ‘‘ largely occupied with trying 
to correct or to explain the mistakes he 
has made, and the time of the professor is 
too much taken up with trying to dissuade 
the president from doing unwise things or 
in making the best of them after they have 
been done.’’ 

Now, to be perfectly fair to Professor 
Cattell, it must be admitted that his hatred 
of university presidents is not against 
them as men, who, he admits, may be as 
truthful, honest and kind as the rest of the 
faculty, but against them as the products 
of a system that is caleulated to produce 
sycophants, and bosses, and liars. It is 
doubtless true that some men, possibly 
many, have become college presidents not 
because of their merit, but because they 
are skillful politicians or successful wire- 
pullers, and it is also true _ that 
such men, when once they get into 
office, usually employ the methods of poli- 
ticians and bosses. Such men build up a 
machiné, gather around them a body of 
time-servers loyal to the administration, 
who also help to create for the real scholars 
of the university a chilling and forbidding 
atmosphere. Such presidents soon drive 
from their universities all the independent 
and high-spirited professors who can find 
places in other institutions and make 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


miserable the lives of such professors as 
are too old to get away or are too ill-starred 
to find elsewhere an opening suited to their 
talents and attainments. Professor Cattell 
is doing a real service in pouring upon 
such men the contempt and ridicule they 
deserve. Such executives, whether they 
are found as principals of normal schools, 
superintendents of city systems, college 
heads or university presidents, deserve to 
be hung for high treason against the great 
republic of letters and the commonwealth 
of science. But let us not forget that they 
are the creatures, not the creators of a sys- 
tem that threatens, unless reformed, to 
turn over the temples of learning to educa- 
tional gamblers and money changers, to 
bosses and politicians, to all the foul and 
loathsome creatures who, while ‘‘ cowering 
to those above them always trample on 
those beneath them ’’—I mean the system 
that places in the hands of an external, ir- 
responsible board the power to govern and 
to control in minutest details a great seat 
of learning. 

Before I proceed further let me declare 
as emphatically as may be that the vast 
majority of trustees whom I have known 
I esteem as generous and upright men. It 
is the system, not the individuals that I am 
attacking. I wish that Professor Cattell 
could be induced to turn his vast learning 
to the consideration of this more funda- 
mental question, and to let his illuminat- 
ing wit play upon it—the question of the 
governing board of a university. May we 
not hope that President Pritchett of the 
Carnegie Foundation may get one of the 
really reat educators of the world, or 
perhaps a committee of such educators, to 
write an authoritative bulletin on the func- 
tions and the limitations of the governing 
board, and place it in the hands of every 
school trustee in the land. This and other 
good literature bearing on the same subject 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


should be read by every university regent 
—indeed before taking oath of office he 
should perhaps be required to pass, before 
a committee of the faculty, an examination 
on the functions and limitations of a gov- 
erning board. Such a bulletin, if widely 
read and studied by the great mass of 
thouzhtful people, would do more for the 
cause of university education than the gift 
of millions to endowments. Indeed it may 
be confidently affirmed that the greatest 
single problem that concerns the American 
university is the problem of securing com- 
petent administrators. 

The chief function of a university board 
is to resign if they find themselves incom- 
petent or unable to do the work entrusted 
to them. If, however, they consider them- 
selves competent, they should see to it, 
when vacancies occur, that they be filled by 
men intelligent enowzh and high-minded 
enough and patriotic enough to govern 
wisely a higher educational institution. 
Without a board composed of such men, 
the best endowed private university or the 
best supported state university is sooner or 
later likely to become, not a nursery of 
scholars and scientists and noble spirits, 
but a stronghold and a retreat of scheming, 
wire-pulling, snarling, backbiting, cring- 
ing, crawling, fawning pinheads and 
“mediocrities and sycophants, bent on cut- 
ting the throats and destroying the reputa- 
tion, of all who stand in their way—men 
who bear without whining the sting of the 
lash of their superior officers while admin- 
istering still more heroic treatment to their 
own underlings. 

The first essential qualification, both of 
a president and of a professor, is that he 
be a man, a brave, generous, high-minded 
man, and the first article in the creed of 
every real man is that, on the one hand, no 
matter how great the prizes to be won, he 
shall not cower to those above him, and, on 


SCIENCE 


323 


the other, no matter what power may be 
placed in his hands, he shall not trample 
on those beneath him. Are our holy tem- 
ples of learning to become a nursery of 
such men or are they to be transformed 
into what DeQuincey unjustly called the 
German universities, kennels of curs? It 
depends upon the governing board and 
upon the governing board alone. 

It is true that back of the governing 
boards in state universities are the people 
who create the boards, or, as has happened 
in more than one state of the union, the 
people who create the bosses who create 
the governors who create the boards. In 
the strictest sense the people in a democracy 
are the sources of power and upon the peo- 
ple, in the last analysis, must fall whatever 
of glory or of shame is connected with their 
university administration. But since it is 
not possible to hold a whole people respon- 
sible we must turn to the men they intrust 
with authority, the trustees. 

What limitation shall be placed upon the 
governing board? Almost none whatever 
if it be a good board. As in good colleges 
no rules whatever governing conduct are 
imposed upon students except the single in- 
junction that they be gentlemen, so in the 
ideal university the question of the limita- 
tions of the faculty, the president, the 
board, may scarcely arise because all work 
for common good. A good board is not 
necessarily composed of great scholars, of 
millionaires, of merchant princes, of bril- 
liant statesmen, of mighty potentates in 
church or state. A board composed of such 
men would not necessarily be a good board 
—it might be. A good board like a good 
tree will brinz forth good fruit, and a bad 
board bad fruit. A good board will not 
abuse its power. Since, however, under 
existing conditions bad boards may creep 
into control, it may be advisable to put 
limitations upon them. As in monarchies 


324 


where bad kings once had unlimited power 
to inflict injustice and to disturb the lives 
of men, the people for protection have so 
hedged him about as to make him almost a 
figure-head, so it may become necessary in 
our great universities to put such limita- 
tions upon the governing boards that it 
will not be possible at least for them to do 
much harm, if indeed they are not wise 
enough or intelligent enough to do much 
good. 

What, then, is a good board? A good 
board is composed of a body of men, 
whether large or small, who have at least 
two qualifications: (1) plain, old-fashioned 
honesty and horse sense; (2) technical 
knowledge, whether acquired in or out of 
the university, sufficient to call to their 
service competent experts, and to sift the 
advice of these experts and, when this is 
done and only then, to inaugurate right 
movements and wise policies, and to reach 
conclusions in the solution of the delicate 
and difficult problems that continually face 
such a board. The besetting sin of the uni- 
versity board is that they either do not 
know how, or, knowing how, are too cow- 
ardly, to call to their service the best edu- 
cational experts. Hopeless beyond any 
possibility of redemption, the board that 
does not know that while they may govern, 
they ean not administer, the university. 
That belongs to the faculty and to the 
faculty alone. How many American col- 
leges and universities have been injured, if 
not indeed absolutely ruined, by meddle- 
some interference on the part of trustees 
with the work of the faculties, by the tak- 
ing upon themselves tasks for which they 
are wholly unfitted, tasks that belong to 
the faculty. Sad indeed the state of that 
university whose board removes able pro- 
fessors who have rendered long service, to 
make places for men not fitted for pro- 
fessorial chairs or, worse still, for political 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


henchmen without either the character or 
the training that fits them to become in- 
structors of youth. 

Many illustrations are at hand. Just 
before leaving home J had a letter from a 
well-trained teacher, which, as nearly as I 
can remember, reads as follows: ‘‘ I am 
seeking a position in another school for the 
same reason that induces forty of our pro- 
fessors and three heads of our state institu- 
tions to look for positions elsewhere.’’ In 
that state politicians on the board and off 
the board have so long tinkered with the 
state institutions and so long harassed the 
professors in them, that good men can en- 
dure it no longer except under the compul- 
sion of stern necessity. 

Take another illustration. Only a few 
weeks ago an old friend wrote me as fol- 
lows: ‘* For God’s sake help me if you ean. 
For years I have been harassed to distrac- 
tion by this ignorant, conceited, crooked 
board. I am not merely on the brink, I am 
in the very middle, of hell itself.’’ That 
man is an educator, an M.A. and a Ph.D. 
of a great American university. 

Take another. Not long ago the presi- 
dent of a well-known state university said 
to me that he had decided to resign his posi- 
tion, giving as his reason the constant in- 
terference of the board in matters that 
seemed to him to belong to the faculty. He 
pointed out many instances of this inter- 
ference. One member of the board, a law- 
yer and a college graduate, one day tossed 
before him a big bundle of papers with the 
remark: ‘‘The faculty has been giving a 
good deal of time to courses of study. I 
have taken up the matter myself. The 
other day I went down to my office, took 
off my coat and worked for four hours pre- 
paring a curriculum for each department 
of the university. Here it is and I expect 
you to put it through.”’ 

‘* Our colleges,’’ says J. J. Chapman, an 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


unusually brilliant writer, ‘‘ have been 
handled by men whose ideals were as re- 
mote from scholarship as the ideals of the 
New York theater managers are remote 
from poetry. In the meantime the scholars 
have been dumb and reticent.’’ 

One more illustration. ‘‘It falls just 
beyond my experience,’’ says Professor 
Jastrow, of the University of Wisconsin, 
“< to have members of the faculty addressed 
by a member of the board as ‘ you men 
whom we hire.’ It is within my experience 
to have professors summoned inquisito- 
rially before a committee of the board to 
give an account of themselves, the inter- 
view conducted by the chairman with his 
feet on the table, and displaying a salivary 
agility that needs no further description.’’ 
Such reminiscences, however, as Professor 
Jastrow well says, carry no sting. They 
are merely amusing. Such men are apt to 
be good fellows, or at any rate, open- 
minded. 

It is really amazing how dependent our 
universities seem to be upon the legal fra- 
ternity. I am making no brief against 
lawyers—the best board member I have 
ever known was a lawyer, but he was a big 
one, a great jurist, a profound scholar— 
but lawyers as a class are usually the 
worst men on boards because they love to 
split hairs, whereas big business men are 
the best because they are accustomed to do 
big things. 

But to return. What state university 
president has not encountered some young 
lawyer, perhaps an alumnus, who has felt 
it his duty to inaugurate university reform 
and to match his ignorance of university 
matters against the combined wisdom of a 
score of learned professors who have given 
the best years of their lives to educational 
problems? It would be a humorous, if in- 
deed it were not so often a tragic, spectacle. 
As well might we call the mediocre lawyer 


SCIENCE 


325 


of a country village to revise the decisions 
of the Supreme Court and to tell the mem- 
bers of that august body how to transact 
the nation’s business. 

What president of long experience has 
not encountered the nouveau riche, the 
parvenu who, regarding the impecunious 
college professors as mere hirelings, as 
mere dirt and rubbish, undertakes to estab- 
lish policies to prevent rise of salaries and 
thereby to place the institution upon a 
sound financial basis. Sometimes, though 
rarely, one encounters the business man 
who, feeling how successfully he had con- 
ducted his department store or factory, 
begins at once to apply factory methods to 
the delicate and intricate, the hizh and 
holy work of a great educational institu- 
tion. He also regards the teachers as hire- 
lings. Is it any wonder that when uni- 
versity professors find themselves placed 
in humiliating subjection to men of this 
stamp they become unhappy, dissatisfied, 
disgusted even with the university career? 

Then there is the small demagogue con- 
tent with any old job that pays his travel- 
ing expenses and gives him an allowance 
of five dollars a day. He is not necessarily 
vicious, but only needy. Presidents have 
had worse men to deal with. A box of 
cigars, a good dinner, a bag of peanuts, or 
even a generous slap on the shoulder, may 
hold in check for a whole day his mighty, 
all-consuming passion for reform. 

But there is another type of men some- 
times found on university boards which I 
can not adequately describe because of the 
limitations of the English tongue and the 
refinement and culture of my audience. 
He is the pinhead. While great men be- 
come modest when vested with vast power 


or supreme authority, the pinhead, 
although he may be honest, although 
he will neither lie nor steal, is apt 


to become the very oracle of wisdom as 


326 


soon as he finds himself settled for life on 
a self-perpetuating board. Low-browed, 
thick-headed, sometimes the holder of a 
college degree, now strutting like a pea- 
cock, now looking wise as the owl, an in- 
domitable fighter, he baffles the genius and 
the ingenuity of the ablest executive. The 
intelligent ward boss or the politician of 
big dimensions, no matter how crooked, is 
not quite so bad a man on a university 
board as the miserable little pinhead who 
is to me what the president is to Professor 
Cattell, ‘‘ the veritable black beast in the 
academic jungle.’’ No logic, no array of 
facts, no appeal to educational experts can 
make the slightest impression upon his 
small, thick skull. He is firm as adamant, 
vindictive as the viper, and in constant 
communion with the Almizhty God. When 
thrown into conflict with such a man there 
is nothing for the president to do but to 
hold up his hands and to pray without 
ceasing that the Giver of all good things 
may bountifully bestow upon him the sav- 
ing sense of humor, without which even 
the ablest university president must find 
the academic world a cold and cheerless 
place. 

The road that leads out of these deplor- 
able conditions is perhaps a long and rocky 
road, but we must find it and make our 
way out to a freer air, a happier environ- 
ment, or else the very life of the university 
as an acropolis of culture, as the strong- 
hold of the ‘‘ great and lonely thinker,’’ 
as the nursery of noble and heroie souls, is 
absolutely doomed. University boards can 
not longer afford to ignore the faculties. 
In all large questions of university admin- 
istration, the faculty should have a hearing 
and a voice. To give to the faculties the 
control that belongs to them, to create both 
for students and professors a happier en- 
vironment, is, after all, the high duty of ad- 
ministrators. I have an abiding faith in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


the outcome. To all brave souls who are 
erowing weary and faint-hearted, let me 
commend the words of Carlyle: ‘‘ It is our 
duty to do the work that God Almighty has 
entrusted to us, to stand up and fight for 
it to the last breath of our lives.”’ 

The work of establishing and administer- 
ing a university calls for the united efforts 
of faculty and board and alumni, who 
should work together in mutual trust and 
esteem for the uprearing of a real univer- 
sity, the most potent instrument that man 
has yet devised for his own advancement, 
for the enrichment of his life, for the de- 
velopment and diffusion of knowledge, and 
for ‘‘ the enlargement of the boundaries 
of the human empire to the attainment of 
all things possible.’’ 


Epwin BooNE CRAIGHEAD 


INDIAN REMAINS IN MAINE 


Earty this year, the archeology department 
of Phillips Academy at Andover sent an expe- 
dition to the state of Maine to carry on an 
exploration of various sites. By the end of 
August the party had located and mapped 
some hundred or more shell-heaps and village 
sites. Forty-eight shell-heaps were found 
within ten miles of Bar Harbor, and if the 
circle be extended to fifteen miles, there must 
be at least 75. Several of these were examined 
and some hundreds of bone and stone imple- 
ments taken therefrom. 

The coast from below Blue Hill to Bar 
Harbor (excepting the Castine region) was 
carefully investigated in the hopes that a “ Red 
Paint People” cemetery might be discovered. 
But in spite of much searching, no undis- 
turbed site could be located, although dis- 
turbed cemeteries were found at Blue Hill and 
Sullivan Falls and about one hundred stone 
objects removed therefrom. 

The largest shell-heap lay upon Boynton’s 
Point in the town of La Moine. This deposit 
is more than 200 meters long and 20 to 30 
meters in width. It is roughly estimated that 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


some 17,000,000 clam-shells are in the heap. 
About 300 articles in bone and stone were 
taken out of the trenches. 

The harpoons collected by the expedition 
number some 40 or more and are interesting 
in that they present several types of hafting 
and barbing. Sections of the shells (in situ) 
were removed and shipped to Andover in order 
that a cross section may be exhibited. This 
will give visitors and students a better idea of 
the shell-heaps than the usual exhibits of 
articles removed from such places. 

The expedition will end its labors about 
September 15. Dr. Charles Peabody directed 
the work, with W. K. Moorehead as curator in 
charge through the season. Francis Manning, 
of Harvard, was assistant and Ernest Sugden 
surveyor. The party numbered twelve or four- 
teen persons and the work done was extensive. 


BONAPARTE RESEARCH FUND GRANTS? 


THE committee of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences appointed to consider the distribu- 
tion of the Bonaparte research fund has made 
the following recommendations for the year 
1913: H. Caillol, 3,000 frances, for the comple- 
tion of his work entitled “ Catalogue des colé- 
optéres de Provence”; A. Colson, 2,000 francs, 
to enable him to continue his experimental 
work in physicel chemistry; E. Coquidé, 2,000 
franes, to assist him in carrying out his study 
of the turf lands of the north of France from 
the agricultural point of view; C. Schlegel, 
2,000 frances, to enable him to continue his 
researches on Crustacean development; Jules 
Welsch, 2,000 frances to assist him in his geo- 
logical exploration of the coast lines of France 
and Great Britain, and to extend them to 
Belgium and Scandinavia; MM. Pitard and 
Pallary, 6,000 frances, equally divided, for their 
scientific expedition in Morocco, organized by 
the Société de Géographie; Louis Roule, 2,000 
francs, for the continuation and extension of 
his researches on the morphology and biology 
of the salmon in France; M. Pougnet, 2,000 
francs, to enable him to continue his re- 
searches on the chemical and biological effects 


1From Nature. 


SCIENCE 


327 


of the ultra-violet rays, and for the construc- 
tion of a quartz apparatus to be used for 
studying the action of ultra-violet light upon 
gaseous bodies; M. Dauzére, 2,000 frances, for 
his work on the cellular vortices of Bénard; 
M. Gard, 2,000 frances, for the publication of 
a work and atlas dealing with the material 
left by the late M. Bornet; M. Chevalier, 
4,000 francs, to meet the expenses necessitated 
by the classification of the botanical material 
collected in the course of his travels in west- 
ern and equatorial Africa, and the publication 
of memoirs on the flora of these regions; Paul 
Becquerel, 2,000 frances, for the continuation 
of his physiological researches relating to the 
influence of radioactive substances on the 
nutrition, reproduction and variation of some 
plant species; Le Morvan, 4,000 francs, for the 
completion of his photographie atlas of the 
moon; M. Pellegrin, 2,000 francs, to aid him 
in the pursuit of his researches and to pub- 
lish his work on African fishes, more particu- 
larly those of the French colonies; M. Ren- 
gade, 3,000 francs, for his proposed systematic 
examination of mineral waters for the pres- 
ence and distribution of the rare alkaline 
metals; M. Alluaud, 3,000 franes, for facili- 
tating the study and publication of documents 
collected by M. Jeannel and himself on the 
alpine flora and fauna of the high mountain- 
ous regions of eastern Africa; M. Lormand, 
2,000 franes, for the purchase of a sufficient 
quantity of radium bromide to undertake 
methodical researches on the action of radio- 
activity on the development of plants; A. 
Labbé, 2,000 franes, for the study of the modi- 
fications presented by various animals passing 
from fresh to salt water or the reverse; de 
Gironcourt, 3,000 francs, for the publication 
of the results of his scientific expeditions in 
Morocco and western Africa; M. Legendre, 
3,000 francs, to assist him in the publication 
of the maps and documents dealing with his 
travels in China; H. Abraham, 2,000 francs, 
for the determination, with Commandant Fer- 
rie and M. A. Dufour, of the velocity of propa- 
gation of the Hertzian waves between Paris 
and Toulon. 


328 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


In honor of Professor John Milne and to 
continue his work in seismology, it is pro- 
posed to collect a fund for endowment. His 
seismological observatory will probably be 
moved from the Isle of Wight to Oxford. 


Tue Hanbury medal of the Pharmaceutical 
Society will be presented to Dr. F. B. Power, 
director of the Wellcome Research Labora- 
tories, London, on the occasion of the opening 
of the School of Pharmacy in October, when 
Dr. Power will give the inaugural address. 


Dr. Ricuarp P. Srrone, professor of trop- 
ical diseases in the Harvard Medical School; 
Dr. Ernest E. Tyzzer, assistant professor of 
pathology and director of cancer research at 
Harvard, and Dr. C. T. Brues, of the Bussey 
Institution, have returned from the expedition, 
on which they started on April 30, to study 
tropical diseases in Peru and Ecuador. 


Proressor von Noorpen has resigned his 
chair in the University of Vienna and will 
return to Frankfort. 


Tue council of the University of Leeds has 
accepted with regret the resignation of Mr. 
Roberts Beaumont, professor of textile indus- 
tries, and has placed on record its appreciation 
of his services lasting over a period of thirty- 
four years. 


Dr. J. L. Prevost has retired from the chair 
of physiology at Geneva on reaching the limit 
of age. 


Dr. Lovtse Prarce, of the staff of the 
Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been appointed 
assistant to Dr. Simon Flexner, of the Rocke- 
feller Institute for Medical Research. Dr. 
Franz Knoop, associate professor of physio- 
logical, chemistry at Freiburg, has declined a 
call to the institute. 


Tur Glasgow City Corporation has arranged 
to send on a tour to this country Mr. W. W. 
Lachie, the engineer of the electricity depart- 
ment, together with the convener of the elec- 
tricity committee, for the purpose of collecting 
information regarding the cost and operation 
of the largest electrical installations of this 
country. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 975 


Dr. Marto Piacenza, the Italian Alpinist, 
has succeeded in reaching the summit of 
Mount Numzkum, a peak 22,000 feet high in 
the Himalayas. 


Tue death is announced, in his fifty-first 
year, of Professor Edwin Goldmann, honorary 
professor of surgery at Freiburg. 


Dr. C. M. Ficuetra, long professor of clin- 
ical medicine of Lisbon, and one of the few 
scientific men of Portugal, has died at the age 
of eighty-four years. 


Dr. Cart Bascu, of Prague, known for his 
work in physiology, has died at the age of 
fifty-four years. 


Tue forty-first annual meeting of the Amer- 
ican Public Health Association will be held in 
Colorado Springs, Colo., from September 9 to 
13, under the presidency of Dr. Rudolph Her- 
ing, of New York. The work of the associa- 
tion has been divided into the following sec- 
tions: Laboratory Section, Professor F. P. 
Gorham, of Providence, R. I., chairman, and 
Dr. D. L. Harris, of St. Louis, secretary; Sec- 
tion in Vital Statistics, Dr. W. S. Rankin, of 
Raleigh, N. C., chairman, and Mr. David S. 
South, of Trenton, N. J., secretary; Section of 
Public Health Officials, Dr. P. M. Hall, of 
Minneapolis, chairman, and Dr. E. C. Levy, of 
Richmond, Va., secretary; Section in Sanitary 
Engineering, Colonel J. L. Ludlow, of Win- 
ston-Salem, chairman, and Dr. H. D. Pease, 
of New York, secretary; Sociological Section, 
Mr. Homer Folks, of New York, chairman, 
and Mr. S. Poulterer Morris, of Denver, sec- 
retary. 


THE international committee, which met in 
Paris recently to decide upon the place and 
time of the next meeting of the International 
Eugenics Congress, has decided to accept the 
invitation to hold the next congress in New 
York in 1915, on or about September 20. The 
American delegates to the recent congress were 
Dr. Frederick Adams Woods and Dr. David 
Starr Jordan. The arrangements for organiz- 
ing the next congress rest with the American 


delegates and the Eugenics Record office at 
Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


Tue exhibition of specimens illustrating the 
modification of the structure of animals in 
relation to flight which has been in prepara- 
tion for many months at the Natural History 
Museum has, as we learn from Nature, been 
opened to the public. It occupies the fourth 
bay on the right of the central hall, and com- 
prises 166 mounted objects and twelve micro- 
scopic specimens for the purpose of elucidating 
the subject in a popular manner. The adapta- 
tion of each kind of flying animal for aerial 
locomotion is explained, and the changes that 
must have taken place in the struture of the 
body before the animal could really fly are indi- 
eated, and attention is directed to the remark- 
able fact that the power of flight has been 
evolved independently in different groups of 
animals—e. g., bats, birds, Pterodactyles and 
insects. 


Dr. Henry Gopparp LEACH, secretary of the 
American-Scandinavian Foundation, has re- 
turned from an official tour of Sweden, Nor- 
way and Denmark. The foundation was en- 
dowed by the late Niels Poulson, president of 
the Brooklyn Iron Company, with $600,000 to 
maintain an interchange of students, teachers 
and lecturers, and to promote in other ways 
intellectual relations between this country and 
Scandinavia. Fellowships have been awarded 
to two representatives from each of the three 
countries, and they will enter universities in 
this country this fall. Plans also have been 
discussed for an exchange of professors be- 
tween the University of Copenhagen, the Uni- 
versity of Christiania, the University of Up- 
sala and several American institutions. Dr. 
Leach left New York in May to confer with 
the advisory committees of the three Scandi- 
navian countries concerning the choice of fel- 
lows, who will pursue their studies here. One 
of those chosen is Ellen Gleditsch, from Nor- 
way, who has studied for five years with Mme. 
Curie in Paris, and will take up her work here 
in Johns Hopkins University. Her country- 
man, Arnt Jacobsen, is a student of bridge 
construction. Denmark is represented by C. 
M. Pederson, a student of technology, who 
will enter the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, and Vilhelm Slomann, a student 


SCIENCE 


329 


of library methods, who will go to the State 
Library in Albany. Sweden will send Erik 
Koersner, a civil engineer, and Einar Corvin, 
an investigator in experimental psychology. 

Accorpine to a cablegram from New Zea- 
land to the daily papers, relief arrived just in 
time to save Dr. Douglas Mawson, the Aus- 
tralian Antarctic explorer, and his five com- 
panions who were left last March on Mac- 
quarie Island in the Antarctic Ocean when 
the remaining twenty-four members of Dr. 
Mawson’s expedition returned to Tasmania 
from their South Polar trip. The six men 
were believed to have ample provisions to last 
them until the Antarctic spring, but the com- 
mander of the government steamer recently 
sent to their relief reports that the explorers 
had exhausted all their supplies. Two mem- 
bers of the Mawson expedition—Lieutenant 
Ninnis, an English army officer, and Dr. 
Xavier Mertz, a Swiss scientific man, lost 
their lives in accidents on the ice. The orig- 
inal expedition left Hobart, Tasmania, on 
December 2, 1911, its principal object being 
the exploration and survey of the Antarctic 
coast line. When the Aurora went to fetch 
the explorers back, early this year, the vessel 
was forced to leave before taking on Dr. Maw- 
son and five of his companions forming one of 
the parties, as the ship was in danger of being 
crushed by the ice. 

A CONFERENCE on the Binet-Simon tests was 
arranged by Professor Lewis M. Terman, 
of Stanford University, to be held at Buffalo 
on August 29 in connection with the Fourth 
International Congress of School Hygiene. 
The special purpose of the conference is to 
consider matters relating to needed revisions 
of the scale and to its proper use. The follow- 
ing papers were in the program: 

Dr. Henry H. Goddard: ‘‘The Reliability of the 
Binet-Simon Scale.’’ 

Dr. Otto Bobertag, of the University of Breslau: 
“Some Theses regarding the Scientific Manage- 
ment of the Binet Scale.’ 

Dr, F. Kuhlmann: ‘‘The Degree of Mental De- 
ficiency in Children as expressed by the Relation 
of Age to Mental Age.’’ 

Professor Josiah Morse: ‘‘The Use of the Binet 
Tests in the Investigation of Racial Heredity.’’ 


330 


Professor W. H. Pyle: ‘‘The Value to be De- 
rived from giving Intelligence Tests to all School 
Children. ’’ 

Dr. Charles Scott Berry: ‘‘Some Limitations of 
the Binet Tests of Intelligence.’’ 

Dr. Carrie R. Squire: ‘‘Some Requirements of 
Graded Mental Tests.’’ 

Dr. Grace M. Fernald: ‘‘Impressions gained by 
the Use of the Binet-Simon Tests with Delinquent 
Children. ’’ 

Dr. E. A. Doll: ‘‘Suggestions on the Extension 
of the Binet Scale.’’ 

Professor J. E. W. Wallin: ‘‘Current Miscon- 
ceptions in Regard to the Functions of Binet Test- 
ing and of Amateur Psychological Testers. ’’ 

Professor Lewis M. Terman: ‘‘ Revisions of the 
Binet Seale. ’’ 

Professor G. M. Whipple: Title of paper to be 
announced. 

Tue 67th report of the British Commission- 
ers in Lunacy, as abstracted in the London 
Times, states that the number of notified in- 
sane persons under care in England and Wales 
on January 1, 1913, was 138,377, an increase 
during the year of 2,716, which is 275 above 
that of the annual average of the last ten 
years and 257 above that for the last five years. 
The private patients under care on January 1, 
1913, numbered 11,353 (males, 4,852; females, 
6,501). The pauper patients were 125,841 
(males, 58,508; females, 67,333), or 90.9 per 
cent. of all the reported insane. The criminal 
patients numbered 1,183 (males, 903; females, 
280). Since 1898 numerical record has been 
kept of the first admissions. In that year they 
were at the rate of 4.92 per 10,000 of the pop- 
ulation, and in 1912 the figure was 5.12, a 
higher figure than obtained in either of the 
three preceding years, but below the average 
rate (5.2) during the last decade. The pro- 
portion which such cases bore to the total ad- 
missions: in the last year was 83.5 per cent., 
which implies that, for every 100 admitted, 
between 16 and 17 had been previously under 
care—a proportion which is rather below the 
average. On January 1, 1912, there were 
under detention 108,973 persons, and 22,432 
were admitted during the year, making a total 
of 131,405. Of these 7,345 were discharged as 
“recovered,” 2,182 were discharged as “not 
recovered,” 10,353 died and 111,525 remained. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 975 


On the subject of treatment the commissioners 
say it would seem to be needful to turn from 
the therapeutic side to the preventive, if in- 
sanity is to be effectively controlled; or rather 
that, whilst retaining and improving the for- 
mer class of measures, more ample considera- 
tion should be given to the latter. The condi- 
tion precedent for this is a fuller knowledge 
of causation to be gained by the prosecution 
of scientific research. 

THE exhibited collection of Mesozoic croco- 
diles in the geological department of the Brit- 
ish Museum (Natural History) has been rear- 
ranged, as we learn from Nature, to incor- 
porate some important recent acquisitions. A 
new specimen of Mystriosawrus from the 
Upper Lias of Wiirtemberg, prepared by Mr. 
B. Hauff, is one of the finest known examples, 
with almost complete limbs. The stomach 
contents are seen, mingled with swallowed 
pebbles. A specimen of Geosaurus, from the 
Lithographic Stone of Bavaria, shows for the 
first time the triangular tail-fin by which this 
essentially marine crocodile propelled itself. 
The unique example of the Wealden river 
crocodile Goniopholis, discovered a few years 
ago by Mr. R. W. Hooley in the cliff near 
Atherfield, Isle of Wight, and described by 
him in the Geological Society’s Journal, has 
also been mounted and exhibited. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THE sum of $71,000, being all but $5,000 of 
the estate of the late Dean Mary Coes of Rad- 
cliffe College, is left to the college. 

AutHouGcH the buildings which comprise the 
complete group of the new Manitoba Agricul- 
tural College, that will cost $5,000,000, will 
not be completed for two or three years, suffi- 
cient progress has been made to allow the 
college to commence moving equipment into 
the buildings already completed. The site on 
the bend of the Red River, a few miles south 
of Winnipeg, contains 1,100 acres. 

THE Mobile City Hospital is being enlarged 
by a new building containing four wards, at 
a cost of $50,000. It will give accommodation 
to eighty additional patients, as well as pro- 
vide suitable quarters for the out-patient de- 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


partment, new X-ray laboratory, pathological 
rooms, etc. Medical control of the hospital 
is entirely in the hands of the faculty of the 
School of Medicine of the University of Ala- 
bama. 


AT a recent meeting of the New Mexico 
Board of Medical Examiners a rule was 
adopted that hereafter diplomas granted by 
colleges listed in class C by the Council on 
Medical Education of the American Medical 
Association will not be recognized by that 
board. 

Unper the law of Missouri, the State Uni- 
versity receives an inheritance tax of five 
per cent. on all legacies, except those to direct 
heirs. The university has brought suit to 
recover this percentage on the part of Joseph 
Pullitzer’s estate represented by the St. Louis 
Despatch and bequeathed to Columbia Uni- 
versity and other institutions. 


Eimer A. Horprook, professor of mining 
engineering in the Nova Scotia Technical Col- 
lege, Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been appointed 
assistant professor of mining engineering at 
the University of Illinois, to have charge of 
the recently equipped coal-washing and ore- 
dressing laboratory and the course in mine 
design. 

Proressor Lewis E. Younc, who for the 
past six years has been director of the Mis- 
souri School of Mines, will in September take 
up graduate work in the department of eco- 
nomics at the University of Illinois, and will 
also give part of his time to teaching in the 
department of mining engineering. 

Dr. W. C. McC. Lewis, having been ap- 
pointed to the chair of physical chemistry in 
the University of Liverpool, has resigned his 
office in connection with the department of 
chemistry at University College, London. 

Dr. Orto WILCKENS, associate professor of 
geology at Jena, has been called to Strassburg, 
to succeed Professor Holzapfel. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 


In the June, 1912, number of the Haperi- 
ment Station Record (Vol. XXVI., No. 8) is 


SCIENCE 


331 


an editorial dealing with several methods for 
disseminating agricultural information. An 
exceedingly interesting part of this editorial is 
the review of a paper on “ Organization and 
Administration of Extension Teaching in 
Agriculture” by the director of the federal 
Office of Experiment Stations. 

The writer need hardly assume to write any 
critical review of statements made by Director 
True. In view, however, of conditions which 
exist in various places throughout the coun- 
try, it may be proper to say that certain state- 
ments made by Director True ought not only 
to be read, but also reread, because they are 
fundamental. Properly adopted and made 
part of our educational systems, they will 
make for progress and avoid not only con- 
fusion, but ofttimes unnecessary strife. These 
fundamental principles for agricultural exten- 
sion in the several states which seem to be 
stated in the editorial referred to, are as 
follows: 


1. Considered as an essential feature of the 
American system of agricultural education, it was 
held to be primarily the business of the state to 
create and maintain the institutions through which 
extension teaching in agriculture shall be con- 
ducted. Since it is an educational enterprise, it 
will naturally be carried on by educational institu- 
tions rather than by administrative departments. 
The nation and state departments of agriculture 
may both properly aid in this work, but the chief 
burden of responsibility for it in the several states 
will naturally fall on the agricultural colleges. 

2. Since it is highly important that the informa- 
tion on any subject given to the students and 
public should represent the views of the institu- 
tion as a whole, all the experimenters, teachers and 
extension workers should be grouped by depart- 
ments representing the specialties in which they 
are working. Thus the department of agronomy 
should embrace all the agronomists employed by 
the college, whether they are engaged in experi- 
menting, teaching or extension work. 


These two basic principles, namely, that 7 
is a function of the state to educate the people 
of the state and that given lines of work in 
any organization must be administered as a 
unit, ought to be clear enough. However, a 
somewhat limited observation would lead one 


332 


to believe that one or both of them are for- 
gotten in some instances and that the forget- 
ting of them leads to little short of disaster. 

The writer is interested in the problem of 
agricultural extension, not in an executive, 
but in a departmental way. It is this interest 
which every department, and every member of 
every department, must take in the ultimate 
success of the projects which the department 
represents, that may serve as an excuse, if any 
be needed, for the present article. 

The writer knows, or thinks he knows, from 
observation, that the practical administration 
of the agricultural extension idea may be, on 
the one hand, exceedingly helpful, or, on the 
other, quite disastrous to any department. In 
order that harmony of administration shall 
prevail, “the department of agronomy should 
embrace all the agronomists employed by the 
college, whether they are engaged in experi- 
menting, teaching or extension work.” The 
quotation may of course be extended to in- 
clude all departments of any agricultural col- 
lege. Every department of every agricultural 
college should have a head or chief, and he 
should be responsible for all the work and all 
the time of all people in the college-experi- 
ment-station-extension department who are 
engaged in the line of work which he repre- 
sents. 

Such a statement may sound dictatorial. 
It is not. It is only good administration. 

So great a movement upon the part of the 
collective agricultural colleges as the one 
necessitated by the present demand for public- 
service or “ extension ” is bound to carry them 
back, or perhaps forward, to fundamentals. 
What is the logic of college “ departments”? 
Answer, college departments logically grow 
out of natural lines of cleavage between the 
several portions of work before the college 
organization. Such lines of cleavage do not 
naturally intersect, and if they are permitted 
or forced to do so, the result is confusion. 
The lines of distinction between the natural 
departments of agricultural work are clear 
enough. Animal husbandry, agronomy, hor- 
ticulture and so on ean hardly trespass upon 
the work of one another, because each division 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


of work grows out of fundamental differences. 
If the natural divisions of labor, as a result of 
which departments are created, are kept very 
clearly in mind by organizations, in “ extend- 
ing” their work, the problem appears not very 
complex. 

Such a statement naturally leads to the 
inference that the several departments of the 
college are sovereign within themselves, except 
for the general executive authority which 
emanates from the office of the dean or presi- 
dent, and as a corollary it would be expected 
that all representatives of a given line of work 
should at all times report directly to the chief 
of the department and not, for instance, di- 
rectly to the director of extension. That is 
also exactly so. “No man can serve two 
masters: for either he will hate the one, and 
love the other, or else he will hold to the one 
and despise the other.” 

In what relation, then, is agricultural exten- 
sion in the several agricultural colleges to be 
administered? In attempting to answer the 
question, the writer makes bold, very bold, 
perhaps, to insert the followmg plan of an 
ideal administrative arrangement of the de- 
partments of an agricultural-college-experi- 
ment-station organization. 

It may be apparent from this ideal arrange- 
ment that the office of the dean and director 
is the central administrative authority of the 
entire college. In case of the smaller colleges 
where the dean assumes the title of president, 
there is no essential difference. The dean and 
director not only administers the institution, 
but he reflects the spirit of the institution. 
He represents the state in which his college is 
located in the specialty which his college rep- 
resents. He is big enough and broad enough 
and sympathetic enough and democratic 
enough to provide ways through which all the 
departments of his organization may inde- 
pendently each attain its highest efficiency. 
The efficiency of the executive office is not 
only measured by the efficiency of the several 
departments which report to it, but also by the 
ability of the dean and director to transform 
such efficiency and make it available to the 
state. 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


Obviously the departments of any agricul- 
tural-college-experiment-station organization 
are divided according to the work to be spe- 
cialized in by each department. Obviously 
also the number of departments will vary ac- 
cording to the financial resources of the insti- 
tution and the degree of specialization. The 
number of departments will usually increase 
as the institution grows older and stronger. 

The work of each department shall be di- 
rected by the head of that department and he 
shall accomplish, through the aid of assistants 
of various ranks, all the work within the field 
of the department. Assistants in any depart- 
ment may be of any desired rank, and it may 
well be understood that they are subordinate 
to the head of the department only as a matter 
of administrative convenience. 

Up to recent times, two distinct lines of 
work have been recognized as coming within 
the function of agricultural colleges, namely, 
research and teaching. Moreover, up to 
recent times, the teaching in the agricultural 
colleges has been confined mainly to ordinary 
instruction in college classes. Of late years it 
is becoming more and more evident that this 
is not sufficient. It is not necessary here to 
review the various means by which the teach- 
ing work of the colleges is being and must be 
carried beyond the classrooms proper. 

It is necessary to emphasize that wherever 
this extension teaching is carried, it must still 
‘be teaching, and that it differs only somewhat 
in place and method from any other teaching. 
Whether it is classroom teaching or extension 
teaching is absolutely the same so far as ad- 
ministration is concerned. The same depart- 
ments which do one kind of teaching must 
finish their duty. The same departments 
which do research work and carry the results 
into the classroom by the process of teaching, 
must finish their duty and carry the results 
along with other accumulated data directly to 
the state at large. Whether a department 
shall disseminate information by having stu- 
dents come to its classrooms or whether it 
shall extend itself by going to the four corners 
of the state, does not change the department, 


SCIENCE 


3338 


except perhaps in number of assistants and 
specialists who will be necessary to accomplish 
the increased work. 

If all this be true, what is the logical rela- 
tion of the extension department and what is 
the need therefor ? 

The later-day call for extension “ depart- 
ments ” in agricultural colleges has grown out 
of the insistent demand that the agricultural 
colleges shall actually serve the state. Exten- 
sion departments are, therefore, evidences of 
our growing democracy, crude and ungainly 
as that may often seem. 

Logically, the extension department of any 
college includes all movements, inaugurated 
by the dean and director, to extend the work 
of his organization into the state. The dean 
and director may be his own extension man, 
that is, he may personally direct the work of 
disseminating information from his institu- 
tion. If due to lack of time or inclination, 
he extends the work of his institution through 
the medium of a superintendent of extension, 
the case is not altered. The superintendent 
or secretary of extension, if there be one, must 
logically function as an assistant to the dean 
and director. 

The authority of the superintendent of ex- 
tension is whatever authority is given him by 
the dean of the college, whose assistant he is. 
He should have no power to usurp the author- 
ity of any of the heads of departments, nor 
does he have control over any of the work or 
any of the time of assistants in any of the 
departments, for if he has such authority, he 
will be a general nuisance around all depart- 
ments, which means around the entire insti- 
tution and the entire state. If he is strong 
enough in personality, he will disrupt the 
entire organization. 

The logical work of the superintendent of 
extension is to assist the dean in collecting 
and disseminating agricultural information. 
His usefulness in the institution will be meas- 
ured by his ability to do this to the fullest 
extent harmoniously. In detail, his work 
would naturally include such matters as the 
arrangement of meetings throughout his state, 
and to secure speakers from the college to 


334 


attend these meetings. In order to arrange 
for these speakers, he must of necessity confer 
with the heads of the several departments and 
have them delegate one or more of their as- 
sistants to do such work at specified times. 
It will be expected that the heads of depart- 
ments will delegate such speakers unless it is 
absolutely impossible to do so on account of 
lack of help. If any given department is con- 
stantly unable to furnish teachers for exten- 
sion work, either a lack of ability or a lack of 
desire upon the part of the department is indi- 
cated and the department should either have 
more assistance to strengthen it or it should 
be otherwise helped by executive action. Thus 
the superintendent of extension shall have a 
very strong moral influence delegated to him 
by the dean and director in persuading depart- 
ments to do every reasonable amount of exten- 
sion work, but he should not have any absolute 
authority to go into a department and disor- 
ganize it. 

By this same token, the superintendent of 
extension should be an arm of the executive 
office and not a department head. 

There should be no department of college 
extension in the same sense as there are other 
departments based upon natural division of 
labor. The function of extension is to extend 
the work of collective departments and not in 
itself to be a department. If it is allowed to 
be a department, it can only do so by either 
duplicating a part of the essential work of 
other departments or by usurping the same, 
and again it becomes a private and public 
nuisance. 

There are colleges of agriculture in the 
United States, which if named would at once 
be recognized as in many respects the strong- 
est in all the country in which the superin- 
tendent of college extension is virtually an 
assistant to the dean and not head of a coor- 
dinate department. Two of these greatest 
agricultural colleges which the writer has in 
mind have offices of college extension that are 
seldom talked about, but the colleges them- 
selves are talked about and the work they do 
in their respective states is also talked about. 
The writer can think of other colleges where 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


there are separate departments of college ex- 
tension. The college-extension departments 
are very much talked about. The colleges they 
are supposed to represent are not so much 
talked about. 

As time goes on the personnel of depart- 
ments and their assistants and executives and 
all understand that they are servants of de- 
mocracy. When that time, which is rapidly 
approaching, is completely here, no college or 
experiment station will rest content without 
putting its useful and usable information as 
rapidly as possible into the hands and hearts 
and heads of the people where it belongs. 
This latter work may be accomplished in the 
doing by an office of agricultural extension, 
but said office will not function like an ex- 
traneous department pasted on over other de- 
partments like a porous plaster. 

A. N. Hume 


SouTH DakoTa STATE COLLEGE, 
BRooKINGs, 8. Dak. 


A NEW ATTACHMENT FOR THE HARVARD 
KYMOGRAPHION 


CrrTaIn methods have been used for study- 
ing the effect of fatigue on the muscle curve. 
Among these there is the old method of 
recording a make or break contraction; this 
method consists of removing the writing point 
from the drum and stimulating the muscle a 
certain number of times, say nine. The drum 
is revolved a few millimeters with the hand, 
then the writing point is replaced against the 
drum. This is repeated regularly at every 
tenth contraction until the muscle ceases to 
respond. This gives a series of straight lines 
on the drum formed by every tenth contrac- 
tion of the muscle. The height of these lines 
gradually decreases as fatigue comes on until 
the zero point is reached; but it does not tell 
of the important changes occurring in the 
latent period and the period of relaxation. 

This has been overcome on those particular 
types of European and American kymo- 
graphions which have the supporting frame 
for the drum external. On these types of 
machines an insulated copper wire may be led 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


direct from the dry cell and wound around the 
rod or arm supporting the top of the drum, 
bent so that the short, bare, free end is 
directed downward. Now a second copper 
wire may be led from the opposite pole of the 
cell to the simple key and connections made 
from it with other wires via the inductorium 
to some basilar portion of the instrument. 
Next, a clean copper wire may be twisted or 
clamped to some part of the top of the revolv- 
ing drum and properly adjusted in such a way 
that, if contact is just barely made with the 
first wire the circuit will be completed for an 
instant and the desired stimulus to the muscle 
will be given at certain definite intervals, 
always at exactly the same time on a uni- 
form moving drum. In other words, the cir- 
cuit is through the instrument and its action 
becomes automatic. In the case of the Har- 
vard kymographion such an arrangement can 
not be used, for inasmuch as the drum is held 
by a spring to the sleeve which in turn fits 
over a tall vertical rod with its base resting on 
the friction plate there is no external support 
of the drum for attaching the wires. 
Accordingly, in order to produce such auto- 
matic action on this particular type of ma- 
chine, it is evident that some other device 
must be used. The one which has been worked 
out by the writer has been very successfully 
used at the laboratory of the University of 
Maryland during the past year. It consists of 
a thin metal disk of about 18 mm. diameter 
with a central opening large enough to admit 
the screw of the spin-screw and is held in place 
by means of the spin-nut against the head of 
the sleeve of the kymographion. To the outer 
under edge of this disk are soldered four 
copper wires of two thirds mm. diameter and 
about four cm. in length, which radiate out 
horizontally from the flat under surface of the 
disk and revolve with the drum. The circuit 
is then made complete by leading wires of 
two thirds mm. diameter; one series from the 
cell, first to the simple key and inductorium, 
then to the milled head, or some other basilar 
portion of the instrument; and the other to a 
tall iron-stand where the insulated wire may 
be wound around the upper portion of the up- 


SCIENCE 


335 


Tight rod, in order to hold it in place with 
about 6 or 7 em. of the free end projecting 
laterally from it and vertical to the rod. Just 
enough of the insulation is removed from the 
far end of the wire to make a small eye about 
3 mm. in length and 2 mm. in width, and bent 
so that the loop is directed downward. Into 
this is placed a wire pendulum made from the 
same kind of wire (uninsulated) having a 
similar sized eye at one end and being 5 to 6 
mm. in length. When properly adjusted this 
wire arm projects out over the top of the drum 
of the kymographion, so that the wire pen- 
dulum just barely touches the outer extremi- 
ties of the radiating arms as they come from 
the disk and revolve with the drum, thus 
making the electrical contact for just an in- 
stant, and therehy stimulating the muscle 
automatically. 

It is of the utmost importance that the eye 
in the end of the wire and also the pendulum 
and ends of the radiating wires from the disk 
be kept clean and bright by means of emory 
paper, so that the electrical contact may 
always be at its highest point of efficiency. 
I might also mention the fact, that, if the 
pendulum is allowed to drag itself over the 
radiating arms by being too long, it will 
usually have a bouncing movement making 
several contacts and giving as many stimuli 
to the muscle. 

Tt is also of advantage, although not abso- 
lutely necessary, to use a second simple key 
between the wire containing the pendulum and 
fhe cell, so that the circuit may be broken 
without stopping the instrument, or moving 
it away. However, one simple key in the 
circuit is usually sufficient. 


T. L. Patterson 
LABORATORY OF PHYSIOLOGY, 
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND 


ACCURACY IN STATING THE OCCURRENCE OF SPECIES 

To tHE Epiror oF Science: The difficulties 
of exact scientific expression pointed out by 
Mr. J. D. Kusen’* relate to the loose use of 
certain words in attempting to describe the 


1SciENCE, Vol. XXXV., June 14, 1912, pp. 930, 
931. 


336 


comparative abundance or rarity of certain 
species of birds in a given locality, at a given 
time. There are two methods of meeting this 
difficulty, neither of which will probably meet 
the approval of every one. The former of 
these, which will be outlined later, has grown 
into general use and with a reasonable exer- 
cise of common sense in judging the relative 
occurrences of the species, with due regard to 
season, meets most requirements. 

The latter method will dispense with the 
sometimes indiscriminate and loose use of 
adjectives and adverbs such as “very rare,” 
“yather common,” ete., and the substitution of 
a system suggested, I believe some decades 
ago, by the late Joshua Billings. This system 
under proper use and a full study of any given 
locality will express, with mathematical accu- 
racy, all gradations of the occurrence of any 
species, not only of birds but of the entire 
range of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 

In this system, the absolute zero ‘and maxi- 
mum occurrence of any species would be repre- 
sented by exact expressions indicating accu- 
rately the abundance or rarity of a given 
species. The scales of abundance and rarity 
would cross or intersect at the gradation now 


vaguely expressed by the word “common,” — 


and their use would entirely dispense with 
any doubt as to its meaning, and also with 
such expressions as “very common,” “not 
uncommon,” “rather rare” and the like. Mr. 
Billings’s system would express the superla- 
tive of abundance, like blackbirds in a tree in 
spring or the hairs on a dog’s back, by 
abundance 100; grading down numerically to 
abundance 0, which would cover the case of 
no blackbirds at all or the degree of hairiness 
presented by a billiard ball. Rarity 0 would 
express the entire absence of a given species, 
while rarity 100 would express an approach to 
abundance which need not necessarily be 
noted in the terms of the rarity scale at all. 

It will be noted at once that abundance 
50— rarity 50, and that any degree of accu- 
racy can be secured by the decimal system 
thus: 

Myiarchus Crinetus, abundance 67.3; or 
Virco Philadelphicus, rarity 2.7. An obvious 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


advantage of this system is that it will eulti- 
vate close and systematic study coupled with 
accuracy in the expression of results, but they 
are both subject to serious interruptions by 
the habits of migration and breeding which 
vary the occurrence of all species to such an 
extent as to necessitate commencing the work 
over again before it could be satisfactorily 
completed. This, however, is not without its 
advantages, particularly if those who under- 
take to alter or direct the use and develop- 
ment of our language by juggling with its 
synonymous terms could be set at putting 
the system in use. But for the great mass of 
English-speaking scientists in search of the 
clearest mode of describing the things they 
see and of setting forth the thoughts they 
have, good Anglo-Saxon well understood and’ 
properly used is a strong and flexible medium.. 


Marspen Manson 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 


“ QUITE A FEW ” 


To THE Eprror oF Science: I have just read’ 
with much interest the illuminating paper by 
Professor H. L. Bolley, of the North Dakota 
Agricultural College, in Scrence of July 11,. 
with the caption “The Complexity of the 
Microorganie Population of the Soil.” 

The writer is however somewhat puzzled to 
know just what is meant by an expression used’ 
by Professor Bolley, in its relation to the com- 
monly accepted standard of what is called 
“sood English.” The expression referred to 
is “quite a few,” introduced in the following 
sentence: “So now, there seems to be quite a 
few who think they can tell a productive soil,” 
ete. 

The puzzle is, to apprehend just what Pro- 
fessor Bolley means by “quite a few.” We 
can well understand that the expression “a 
few” means a very small number of units; 
and in the formula “ quite a few ” there would 
seem to be an emphasis placed on the “few” 
by the qualifying adverb “ quite.” So that in 
an analysis of the formula the conclusion must 
be that “ quite a few” means a less number of 
units than “a few.” 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


Is that the idea that Professor Bolley in- 
tended to convey, that the number of persons 
referred to by him in this connection is less 
than “a few” ? Or does he mean more than 
“9 few”; or exactly as many as “a few”? 

This array of logical discussion is of course 
mere quibbling, and is designed to bring out 
the writer’s surprise, that a learned teacher, 
in a scientific disquisition in a scientific jour- 
nal, should have introduced this slangy and 
meaningless expression, that has appeared of 
late years as a malevolent fungus growth on 
our “mother tongue,” and become a sort of 
fad much affected by the “light weights” of 
our present social and literary world. 

With apologies to all concerned. 

T. G. Dasnry 


CLARKSDALE, MIss., 
July 17, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Fitness of the Environment. An Inquiry 
into the Biological Significance of the Prop- 
erties of Matter. By Lawrence J. HENDER- 
son, Assistant Professor of Biological Chem- 
istry in Harvard University. 
The Macmillan Company. 1913. 

This book is essentially a discussion of the 
nature and implications of organic adaptation, 
2. @., of the relations between the living organ- 
ism and the environment, but is written from 
an unusual point of view. 

Darwinian fitness is compounded of a mutual 
relationship between the organism and the en- 
vironment. Of this, fitness of environment is quite 
as essential a component as the fitness which arises 
in the process of organic evolution; and in funda- 
mental characteristics the actual environment is 
’ the fittest possible abode of life. Such is the 
thesis which the present volume seeks to establish. 

This quotation from the preface defines 
clearly the author’s general purpose and indi- 
cates broadly the general nature of his treat- 
ment. In his discussion he inverts the order 
of procedure customary with biologists. 
Adaptation, he points out, is a reciprocal re- 
lation, depending quite as much on the exist- 
ence of special conditions in the environment 
as in the organism. This environment—na- 
ture, or the physical cosmos—exhibits in its 


SCIENCE 


New York, 


337 


ultimate constitution certain characteristics 


-which are of such a kind as to favor the pro- 


duction and continued or stable existence of 
living systems or organisms. The world, in 
other words, is, and was from the beginning, 
fitted for the abode of life. This was the 
contention of Paley and the other natural 
theologians. It implies a biocentric concep- 
tion of nature—a conception once familiar 
and, indeed, historically the first to be formed, 
but which has fallen into disrepute since the 
rise of the theory of evolution. Dr. Hender- 
son aims at rehabilitating this view and sup- 
porting it by an appeal to the results of 
modern physical science. His conception of 
nature has thus some of the characteristics of 
Paleyism in a modernized form, but is essen- 
tially uncolored by theological and philosoph- 
ical prepossessions. The greater part of the 
book is devoted to an account of the chief 
physico-chemical peculiarities of the environ- 
ment. This is largely a description of the 
general properties of matter, with especial 
regard to their biological fitness. Attention is 
called to many conditions favorable to the 
production and continued existence of living 
beings. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the 
most abundant and widely distributed of the 
elements, and their chief compounds, particu- 
larly water and carbon dioxide, possess a 
variety of properties and modes of behavior 
which render them ideally adapted to the 
formation of systems having the characteris- 
tics that we call vital. What is insisted on as 
remarkable is not merely the existence—in 
such a substance as water—of single properties 
that are biologically favorable; it is the pos- 
session of a unique combination of character- 
istics shown by no other substance, and which 
so far as we can see could not possibly be pos- 
sessed by any other substance, that gives water 
its unique fitness as a component of living 
matter. Similarly, with carbon dioxide and 
the other chief compounds of carbon with 
hydrogen and oxygen: they are uniquely favor- 
able as constituents of protoplasm and no sub- 
stitutes are conceivable. 

In support of these contentions, the au- 
thor proceeds as follows: He first reviews 


338 


the distinguishing characteristics of the 
living organism. All organisms are primar- 
ily complex, i. e., the number of dis- 
tinguishable structural and functional com- 
ponents is large; they are the seat of con- 
tinued chemical change involving constant 
interchange of matter and energy with the en- 
yironment—in a word, of metabolism; and 
they exhibit durability or stability in an en- 
vironment more or less subject to change; in 
other words, the possession of an automatic 
power of adjustment to changing conditions, 
or of regulation, is typically highly developed. 
Complexity, regulation and an energy-yield- 
ing metabolism are thus essential to organ- 
isms. The question is then asked: “To what 
extent do the characteristics of matter and 
energy and the cosmic processes favor the ex- 
istence of mechanisms which must be complex, 
highly regulated, and provided with suitable 
matter and energy as food?” 

By a process of elimination the author de- 
fines water and carbon dioxide as those con- 
stituents of the environment which are most 
essential to life. The physico-chemical pecu- 
liarities of these two substances are then con- 
sidered at length. The remarkable solvent, 
thermal and dielectric properties of water are 
shown to be indispensable to the complexity 
and stability of living protoplasm; the im- 
portance of its chemical properties, especially 
its ionizing and hydrolyzing action, is also 
dwelt upon. Similarly, the many remarkable 
properties of carbon dioxide are pointed out, 
in particular, its high solubility—a necessary 
condition for enabling organisms to utilize it 
in such large quantity—and its dissociation- 
constant, which has just the value that is most 
favorable to the preservation of an approxi- 
mate neutrality in aqueous solutions contain- 
ing its salts: protoplasm is thus protected 
against wide variation in its hydrogen-ion con- 
centration; the constancy of reaction thus 
secured is a highly important factor in secur- 
ing constancy of chemical conditions in cells, 
and hence in furnishing the conditions for a 
stable chemical organization. Other important 
constituents of the environment are salts: the 
abundance and variety of these in sea-water 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


are pointed out, and their importance in vital 
processes—depending largely on their charac- 
teristic relations to the colloids—is empha- 
sized. Water, carbon dioxide and salts are 
thus the essential constituents of the environ- 
ment of living organisms, and it is ultimately 
from these substances that the living matter 
is synthesized. In correspondence with the 
importance assigned to these substances, spe- 
cial chapters are devoted to water, carbon 
dioxide and the ocean. The properties of sub- 
stances in a state of solution are also discussed 
(osmotic pressure, diffusion, ionization). The 
following chapter reviews the chief features 
in the chemical behavior of the three chief 
elements and their compounds. The author 
insists that carbon alone, of all the elements, 
has the properties which render possible the 
formation of compounds sufficient in number, 
kind and complexity for vital processes. He 
also calls especial attention to the mobility of 
carbon—due to the gaseous nature and high 
solubility of its oxide—and to the importance 
of the high heat combustion of carbon and 
hydrogen and their compounds in the ener- 
getics of vital processes. By simple reduction, 
followed by polymerization, carbonic acid 
passes over into the sugars; and thus the first 
step from the simple gaseous oxide to complex 
organic substances, which at the same time are 
reservoirs of energy, is remarkably simple and 
direct. The close chemical affiliations of the 
sugars to many other compounds important to 
the organism are also briefly discussed. This 
part of the book is itself a concise summary 
and hence can not be satisfactorily summar- 
ized. The author’s essential conclusion is that 
the foregoing characteristics of carbon, hydro- 
gen and oxygen, which make possible the pro- 
duction of living protoplasm, constitute a 
series of maxima—are unique when compared 
with the corresponding properties of other ele- 
ments. Hence they show the greatest possible 
fitness for life. ‘ 

In Chapter 7 the argument is restated in 
more concise form, and in the final chapter, 
“Life and the Cosmos,” the possible signifi- 
cance of living beings in the whole scheme of 
nature is considered. How comes it that the 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


unique properties of carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen should be so favorable to the organic 
mechanism? should fit the universe for life? 
Are cosmic and biological evolution one? Is 
there a teleology inherent in nature? There 
follows a brief discussion of vitalism. The 
views of Driesch and Bergson, which postulate 
a physical indeterminism in the organism—1.e., 
maintain that guiding or activating factors 
other than physico-chemical intervene in life 
—are rejected. There is no evidence of gaps 
in the organic nexus. Yet the possibility of 
a vitalistic point of view, which is neverthe- 
less consistent with a belief in the entire ade- 
quacy of physico-chemical analysis, is not thus 
excluded, and the author insists that this pos- 
sibility must be recognized. Cosmic and bio- 
logical evolution may be one. There remains 
as consistent and possible a teleological view, 
not of life alone, but of the whole cosmos and 
thus of life considered as a part or product of 
the cosmic process. The universe may after 
all be biocentric. It is not to be expected that 
scientific research will ever find any instances 
of complete discontinuity or indeterminism in 
nature, as the eloquent paragraph quoted from 
Royce rightly insists; all single events are 
rigidly determined; but the existence and 
characteristics of the natural process as a to- 
tality, including life as one outcome of this 
process, are not to be accounted for by purely 
scientific methods of explanation. A teleolog- 
ical and, by implication, a vitalistic interpre- 
tation of nature thus becomes possible. The 
philosophical questions thus raised are not, 
however, discussed in detail. 

Such is an outline of this interesting, clearly 
written and thoughtful book. The author’s 
style shows precision and definiteness through- 
out, and his treatment is clear and consecu- 
tive. The account of physico-chemical factors 
and processes is modern and accurate.’ In so 
condensed a book it is easy to point out omis- 
sions. More space might well have been de- 


1On page 177 osmotic pressure is said to be pro- 
portional to the total number of particles (mole- 
ecules plus ions) which are present in solution, 
instead of in unit volume of solution, but such in- 
advertencies are rare. 


SCIENCE 


339 


voted to a consideration of the réle of nitrogen 
in organisms; this element is fully as impor- 
tant as carbon, hydrogen or oxygen. The 
chapter on organic chemistry is probably too 
concise to be popularly intelligible. The sec- 
tion on sugars is perhaps over-technical and 
its concluding paragraphs are not very clearly 
expressed. Little space is given to proteins. 
The difficulties of popular presentation become 
almost insuperable here, and the author seems 
to hurry over this part of the task. 

It remains to consider critically the general 
argument of the book. The author transfers 
the conception of fitness from the organism to 
the inorganic environment in order to empha- 
size the reciprocal character of biological 
adaptation. He then devotes almost his en- 
tire space to showing that the environment 
possesses characteristics favorable to life as 
we find it. Having shown this, he omits con- 
sidering in corresponding detail the charac- 
teristics of the organism itself, and the gen- 
eral nature of the inter-relations between or- 
ganisms and environment—in other words, 
what adaptation itself is, as a general condi- 
tion or process; and this method of treatment 
gives a certain impression of incompleteness. 
Now it is quite clear that the universe must 
show itself, on examination, to be a fit en- 
vironment for living beings, since they con- 
tinue to exist in it; further, this fitness must 
show itself maximal in the case of organisms 
showing maximal adaptation to their sur- 
roundings; and thus the general outcome of 
the author’s argument might have been fore- 
seen. Granted that systems having the prop- 
erties of living beings could not have arisen 
had the properties of carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen, and of their combinations, been other 
than they are, what does this prove? Most 
biologists will probably consider the author’s 
central thesis as either self-evident or in- 
herently unprovable,’ and will prefer to regard 
this book as essentially a scientific essay on the 
biological importance of the more general and 

2That is, this world may be the best possible 
environment for the organisms that have come to 
exist in it, but it might not be so for the living 
beings of another and quite different cosmos! 


340 


elementary properties of the elements and com- 
pounds entering into the formation of proto- 
plasm. Considered in this light alone, the 
book is remarkable for the breadth and in- 
genuity of its treatment and for calling atten- 
tion to many facts and principles the impor- 
tance of which is often overlooked. To many 
readers this will constitute its chief interest. 

This, however, is not exactly the reviewer’s 
opinion. The question of the final signifi- 
cance of biological adaptations is raised in a 
novel and interesting form, and some further 
discussion of this question seems called for 
here. What, after all, is meant by this con- 
ception of adaptation? Considered from the 
most general point of view, it seems best to 
regard adaptation as essentially an instance of 
equilibrium, though of a complex kind’ 
Equilibrium is a conception of physical sci- 
ence, and as such susceptible of exact defini- 
tion; to regard adaptation in this light implies 
that the problems which it presents are essen- 
tially physiological in their nature, and hence 
relegates the teleological point of view to the 
background. This is always advantageous for 
physical science, however it may be for prac- 
tical life or philosophy. To many, the state- 
ment that adaptation is an equilibrium may 
seem either metaphorical or a truism; to the 
physiologist it embodies a definite conception 
of the organism as a physico-chemical system 
which maintains its existence by a continued 
succession of automatic compensations. What 
we observe is that the adult organism pre- 
serves its characteristics intact, for a greater 
or less period of time, in spite of continual 
loss of material and energy to the environ- 
ment. Now, the processes by which this loss 
is balanced by a corresponding intake, thus 
enabling the life-processes to continue, are 
just those which we characterize as “adaptive.” 
The structural and functional adjustments 
necessary to maintain this balance are often 
delicate and complex in the higher organisms; 
they involve the existence of special mechan- 


3 Adaptation is treated from this point of view 
in Paul Jensen’s ‘‘Organische Zweckmissigkeit, 
Entwicklung und Vererbung vom Standpunkte der 
Physiologie,’’ Jena, 1907. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


isms—such as the hand, the eye and many 
others; but these always correspond to certain 
constant features of the environment, and 
play a part which in the last analysis is essen- 
tially compensatory in the above sense. To 
put the matter in somewhat different and more 
general terms: if the characteristics of a sys- 
tem undergoing perpetual change of composi- 
tion and loss of energy are to be maintained 
constant, it is indispensable that a set of proc- 
esses antagonistic to and therefore compensa- 
tory to these changes should be maintained. 
The adaptive and regulatory, and most of the 
“purposive” activities of an organism form 
the conditions necessary to the existence of 
these compensatory processes. Evidently, this 
point of view implies a fitness in the environ- 
ment as well as in the organism. The two 
must correspond as lock to key—or as the 
oppositely directed and mutually equilibrating 
components of any system in equilibrium—if 
any such interaction is to be possible. Hence 
the continued existence of any organism im- 
plies environmental fitness, z. e., the existence 
of conditions and processes in the environ- 
ment which correspond to or balance those in 
the organism. It is thus inevitable, if we 
consider the special peculiarities of any com- 
plex and stable system, and correlate them 
with those of the environment, that the latter 
should be found to exhibit a “ point for point ” 
and reciprocal correspondence with the for- 
mer. The case of the organism has seemed 
exceptional simply because biological students 
have been so long accustomed to regard the 
organism as a system possessing unique 
“vital” properties and existing in an environ- 
ment having totally distinct characteristics. 
To the human mind there is no more profound 
contrast than that between living and lifeless. 
Dr. Henderson’s study shows that even in its 
ultimate constitution the environment pos- 
sesses characters corresponding to those of the 
living organism, and the discovery of this 
truth will no doubt surprise many others, just 
as it surprised him. But what if this were 
not the case? Obviously, such systems as 
organisms could never have come into exist- 
ence. The surviving organic forms are simply 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


those which can maintain an equilibrium with 
their environment. Of course conditions may 
arise which disturb this equilibrium. If, then, 
the organism possesses insufficient power of 
compensating these new conditions, it sooner 
or later ceases to exist. Natural selection is 
‘simply the process by which such imperfectly 
‘compensated living systems are eliminated. 
The conception of a selective agency as opera- 
tive in this process of adapting organisms to 
‘environment is frankly anthropomorphic, and 
hence from the standpoint of physical science 
insufficiently exact. It is better to replace it 
by a conception in which the organism is 
regarded as a material system maintaining a 
dynamic equilibrium* with the environment. 
That the environment should have the char- 
acter of fitness—that its processes should 
equilibrate those of the organism—is not sur- 
prising, is indeed self-evident. One chief aim 
of biological science, in fact, is to show how 
the characteristics of the organism are related 
to, and ultimately proceed from, those of the 
environment. 

The task of biological science is thus left 
where we found it. To account for the char- 
acteristics of organisms on the basis of the 
physico-chemical characteristics of their com- 
‘ponent elements and compounds involves show- 
ing how the characters of living beings are 
derived from those of the environment. To 
do this in detail would involve retracing the 
‘eourse of evolution. Obviously, this can be 
done only in outline; but a necessary presup- 
‘position of any such undertaking is that the 
‘chemical elements which form the inorganic 
cosmos possessed from the beginning of or- 
ganic evolution such a constitution and such 
modes of interaction as to render possible the 
production of living beings. By some think- 
ers this statement may be understood to imply 
that life was implicit or potential in the uni- 
verse from the very first. But to the scientific 
investigator such a statement can have little 
meaning, since it is remote from the possi- 
bility of verification. He might even regard 

‘Equilibrium of processes, and not simply of 


statie conditions, é. g., a whirlpool, candle-flame, 
ete. 


SCIENCE 


341 


it as one more of the many useless and dis- 
tracting freaks of verbalism. In point of fact, 
the course of scientific inquiry is little affected 
by such considerations. 

From another point of view, however, such 
a statement ceases to be a truism, and acquires 
significance as one form of the philosophical 
insistence on the essentially unitary nature of 
the cosmos. The problem of vitalism is then 
seen in a clearer light. On the interpretation 
of natural science the evolutionary process can 
have followed only one course. Just why evo- 
lution has followed the course leading to the 
present outcome is a problem for philosophy 
rather than for science. Most scientific men 
agree that natural science aims at describing 
phenomena and tracing their interconnections, 
and does not try to account for the existence 
of nature itself. Now the problem of the 
place of living beings in nature has both its 
scientific and its philosophical aspects. The 
biological vitalists have tried to account for 
the physico-chemically unanalyzed peculari- 
ties of organisms by assuming the existence of 
special extra-physical vital agencies (entelech- 
ies and the like). Dr. Henderson’s discussion 
of this problem regards all such solutions as 
inadmissible. Since we can not separate living 
beings from their environment, it is clear that 
organisms must, from the scientific point of 
view, be considered and investigated in the 
same manner as the environment, 7. e., as the 
rest of nature. The vitalism of Driesch and 
Bergson is thus discountenanced, and insist- 
ence is made on the adequacy of the physico- 
chemical methods of investigating life-phe- 
nomena. The author believes that the only 
possible form of vitalism is one which re- 
gards the entire cosmic process as in its 
essence and from its inception biocentric in 
character. This is obviously a philosophical 
rather than a scientific point of view, but it 
has the advantage of interfering in no way 
with a scientific consideration of life or of 
any other natural process; and in the review- 
er’s opinion also it is the only tenable form 
which vitalism can assume. It is difficult to 
see how scientifie exception can be taken to 
such a doctrine. It has, in fact, been held 


342 


by various philosophers, though hitherto by 
relatively few scientific men. 

It is evident on closer consideration that 
the existence and peculiarities of organisms 
must become completely unintelligible except 
on the assumption of a rigid and unvarying 
uniformity in the essential character of the 
processes taking place in living matter. The 
existence of material systems of such extreme 
complexity, which nevertheless maintain a 
stable existence and act in a manner which is 
uniform and within limits predictable—so that 
each human individual has a definite personal 
character—is in fact the most convincing 
proof that could be asked of the uniformity 
and invariability, as regards both their nature 
and their interconnections, of the innumerable 
substances, conditions and processes underly- 
ing the vital manifestations. Not only is the 
assumption of an extra-physical entelechy un- 
necessary, but it renders more difficult instead 
of easier the task of biological analysis, since 
it introduces a factor whose operation is ex 
hypothesit inconstant and unpredictable, and 
hence incompatible with the stability that 
vital conditions require. The assertion of 
Bergson that the living organism is character- 
ized by a maximum of indeterminism’ makes 
the organic mechanism completely unintelli- 
gible, and to a physiologist seems almost the 
precise inverse of the truth. It is evident that 
in any physiological process any even momen- 
tary variation or deviation from a constant 
physico-chemical mode of action—say any in- 
constancy in the law of mass-action—would 
derange the whole interdependent system of 
processes, and render continued life impos- 
sible. The organism constitutes in fact the 
most impressive illustration that nature offers 
of the unfailing constancy of natural proc- 
esses. The course of embryonic development 
is as essentially constant a process as the 
revolution of the moon about the earth, besides 
being far more complex; and this stability of 
the organic processes is fully as necessary to 
the continued existence of the species as is 
that of the inorganic processes. The usual 
forms of vitalism are hence inherently unin- 

5<¢Qreative Evolution,’’ Chapter 2. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 975 


telligible and self-contradictory. It is certain 
that the advance of physical science, and espe- 
cially of biological science, offers no escape 
from the deterministic dilemma. Experience 
shows everywhere not only interconnection be- 
tween phenomena, but an invariability in the 
modes of interconnection. Constant repeti- 
tion always exhibits itself as the order of na- 
ture, when the elementary constituents and 
processes are observed. The question inevi- 
tably arises: how then is it possible to recon- 
cile teleology and the existence of will and 
purpose in nature with the existence of a 
physico-chemical determinism which appears 
the more rigid the further scientific analysis 
proceeds? Such problems are usually left on 
one side by scientific men, and this is not the 
place for their fuller discussion. Obviously, 
however, they require biological knowledge for 
their solution—if, indeed, they are ever to be 
solved; and one chief merit of the book under 
review is that it directs the attention of biol- 
ogists once more to the importance and 
urgency of these questions. 
Ratpy §. Linu 


The Interpretation of Dreams. By SigcMunp 
Frevup. Authorized translation of third 
edition by A. A. Britu. New York, The 
Maemillan Co. 1913. Pp. xii-+ 510. Price 
$4. 

The “Interpretation of Dreams” is one 
chapter in Freud’s theory of the neuroses, and 
was arrived at by the same methods which 
proved so useful in the study of the latter. — 
This study revealed principles of even wider 
application than the sphere from which they 
were derived, and led to the author’s illumi- 
nating psychopathology of every-day life. 
Similarly the dreams of normal people have 
become much more intelligible in the light of 
the analysis of psycho-neurotic symptoms and 
of the dreams of psycho-neurotic patients. 
Those who are familiar at first hand with the 
mechanisms of the neuroses and who are at 
home in the literature of the subject will find 
the “ Interpretation of Dreams” an extremely 
stimulating monographic treatment of one 
aspect of a very large subject. To those who 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


are not at home in the realm of the neuroses, 
and who take up this book in the atmosphere 
of the study or the experimental. laboratory 
and would try to correlate it with the psycho- 
logieal data with which they usually work, the 
book is apt to be startling, unconvincing, re- 
pellent. The latter would have no difficulty 
in finding easy openings for criticism, both as 
regards method and form of presentation. The 
criticisms which have been brought forward 
against Freud’s whole theory of the neuroses 
will no doubt be brought up in relation to this 
book, to the effect that it is largely a question 
of assumptions, ingenious but far-fetched 
hypotheses, and unconvineing arguments lack- 
ing proof. As to what proof actually consists 
in hostile critics are apt to be discreetly 
silent. It must be remembered that the type of 
demonstration appropriate to one topic may be 
quite out of place in relation to another; the 
satisfactory proof of a paleontological thesis 
is something very different from a mathemati- 
eal demonstration. The proof that a certain 
piece of flint is really an arrow-head and not 
a mere casual product of nature consists in 
showing its place in a large series, and the 
extent of that series, which the individual re- 
quires in order to be convinced, will largely 
depend upon the attitude of the individual. 
So the extent of the series of data required to 
convince a reader of the truth of certain prin- 
ciples as to the neuroses and dream interpre- 
tation will depend very largely on certain per- 
sonal factors. The presentation of material 
must necessarily be comparatively limited and 
much depends on what the reader can himself 
supply to supplement the data of the book; if 
he should have no relevant data at his com- 
mand then the whole theory of dream interpre- 
tation may seem highly artificial. Any one 
with wide experience must admit the essential 
truth of certain general principles, while re- 
serving judgment on the conclusiveness of 
certain detailed interpretations. 

The method employed by the author in the 
interpretation of the dream is that of free 
association, a method which he found useful 
in his psycho-analytic work. After the first 
chapter, which deals with the literature on 


SCIENCE 


343 


dreams, Freud presents us an example of his 
method of interpretation of a dream, and in 
the succeeding chapters he defends his thesis 
that the dream is essentially the fulfilment of 
a wish: “The dream is the (disguised) fulfil- 
ment of a (suppressed, repressed) wish.” The 
term wish must not be taken in too crude a 
manner, but is used to represent a variety of 
vague strivings and longings which are 
dynamic factors that frequently escape the 
notice of clear consciousness. The author 
demonstrates conclusively that dreams fre- 
quently represent wishes in an undisguised 
form, and that they often represent wishes in 
a more or less distorted manner. But he goes 
further; he maintains that the dream always 
represents the fulfilment of a wish. In two 
examples which the author quotes, the fact 
that the dream represents the opposite of the 
fulfilment of a wish is interpreted as showing 
that the patients desired to prove that Freud 
was wrong in his theory of the nature of 
dreams. This is one example of the subtlety of 
the author’s argument which never leaves him 
at a loss, but which, on the other hand, is more 
ingenious than convincing. The argument, 
too, would be more satisfactory if the patient 
who wished to refute Freud dreamed that she 
was dreaming. The fifth chapter (pp. 188 to 
259) is devoted to an analysis of the actual 
stuff of which our dreams are made, and the 
sources from which the material comes. The 
important thing is that behind the trivial and 
absurd manifest dream content, thoughts of 
serious personal significance are always found 
at work. Memories of childhood experiences 
here play an enormously important role: In 
this connection Freud takes up the analysis 
of certain typical dreams and gives many ex- 
amples of the symbolism which occurs in 
dreams. His statements are frequently dog- 
matic, e. g., with regard to the meaning of 
dreams about landscapes and localities of fa- 
miliar appearance (p. 242). On the other hand, 
Freud himself draws the line at some of the 
interpretations advanced by Stekel. His criti- 
cism of his pupil is not altogether inapplicable 
to his own product: “ These interpretations 


344 


seem neither sufficiently verified nor of general 
validity, although the interpretation in indi- 
vidual cases can generally be recognized as 
probable.” In the sixth chapter the author 
discusses the manner in which the stuff of our 
dreams is woven into the final tissue, and he 
describes in detail the four main processes, 
viz., condensation, displacement, dramatiza- 
tion, secondary elaboration. In the final chap- 
ter, the obscurity of which is somewhat in- 
creased in the translation, the psychology of 
the dream activities is discussed in a general 
way. For this purpose Freud constructs a 
scheme of psychological activity which is ex- 
tremely interesting and suggestive, but which 
on the other hand is peculiarly artificial. 

Since its publication in the first German 
edition this book has met with a very mixed 
reception. The bible of the author’s disciples, 
it has been derided by his opponents. Any per- 
son who has had to deal seriously with the 
problems of the psycho-neuroses and of the 
disordered mind in general, and who has been 
impressed with the value of the psychopatho- 
logical principles derived from Freud’s contri- 
butions for the general development of psycho- 
logical and allied studies, will look upon this 
book as a serious contribution to a most im- 
portant field. The more knowledge he has of 
the actual facts the slower will he be in dog- 
matically rejecting even those statements of the 
author which are unconvincing and appar- 
ently rather extreme. He probably is already 
firmly convinced of the truth of many doc- 
trines which at an earlier stage of his own 
work he looked upon as equally far-fetched and 
perhaps even more absurd. 

C. Macrirz CaMPBELL 


Tables Annuelles de Constants et Données 
Numériques de Chemie, de Physique et de 
Technologie. Published under the patron- 
age of the International Association of 
Academies by the international committee 
named by the Seventh Congress of Applied 
Chemistry (London, June 2, 1909). Vol. I. 
for 1910. Gauthier-Villars, Paris, Univer- 
sity of Chicago Press. 1911. Quarto. Pp. 
xxxix + 727. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 975 


This first volume of the annual tables and 
numerical constants, published under the 
auspices of an international committee repre- 
senting twenty-one countries, shows the pro- 
digious undertaking assumed by the com- 
mittee. The list of collaborators comprises no 
less than thirty-one distinguished scientific 
authorities, and the number of abstractors of 
scientific journals about three times as many. 
The book is divided into forty-six chapters, 
and the table of contents covers eighteen 
pages in French, German, English and 
Italian. 

The material is admirably arranged, and to 
every table are appended the name of the in- 
vestigator and a reference to the original me- 
moir. Thus, every item may be verified by 
consulting the original publication. Every 
scientific worker in the fields covered by this 
volume has in condensed form the results of 
allied investigations and information relative 
to the original sources. Moreover, the general 
secretary offers to assist in obtaining fuller 
information concerning memoirs in journals 
not accessible to the reader. 

It is difficult to conceive of any compilation 
of scientific data better adapted to furnish in- 
formation to the investigator in physics, 
chemistry and technology. A close inspection 
of the contents of this volume reveals a wealth 
of data and a variety of subjects that com- 
mand not only respect but admiration. The 
investigator has in this book an invaluable 
adjunct to his reference library of scientific 
books and periodicals. It will broaden his 
view of the particular field of research in 
which he happens to be engaged, and will 
give him collateral information relative to 
many other allied subjects. The fulness of 
this information is indicated by the data 
relating to conductivity of electrolytes and 
electromotive forces, which cover forty-six 
large quarto pages. Under the first come 
specific conductivities, molecular conductivi- 
ties, constants of electrolytic dissociation, 
transport numbers, coefficient of pressure of 
electrolytic conductivity, conductivity of elec- 
trolytes in solvents other than water, conduc- 


SEPTEMBER 5, 1913] 


tivity of electrolytes in a mixture of solvents, 
and conductivity of a mixture of electrolytes 
in pure solvents. The tables of electromotive 
forces include those of normal cells, of transi- 
tion cells, of concentration cells, the potential 
of simple electrodes, and divers unclassified 
electromotive force effects. 

In addition to the above there are forty- 
seven pages devoted to data in general elec- 
tricity and magnetism. Immediately follow- 
ing these are eight pages on radioactivity and 
ionization. The writer finds nothing on the 
Peltier effect or on the important subject of 
electrolytic thermo-electromotive force. 

A bibliography is appended to every main 
division of the book. An alphabetical index 
would add much to the convenience of refer- 
ence. The second volume for 1911 contains 
both a general and a special alphabetical list 
of all substances mentioned in both volumes. 


Henry S. CarnHart 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF 
SUBSTRATUM HETEROGENEITY UPON 
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 


In experimental breeding so much stress 
has been laid upon controlled fertilization that 
some other factors of importance for the ob- 
taining of trustworthy results have been left 
too much out of account. The importance of 
heterogeneity in the substratum upon which 
the plants are grown as a possible source of 
error has been pointed out time and again. 
De Vries, for example, attaches great weight 
to this factor. 

The purpose of this note is to give point to 
these warnings (too greatly neglected now) by 
showing how extrinsic influences may com- 
pletely screen intrinsic tendencies. 

In very extensive series of materials a posi- 
tive correlation has been demonstrated between 
the weight of the seed planted and the number 
of pods on the plant into which it develops— 
that is, yield is higher in the plants from the 
heavier seeds. This is true without exception 
for twenty series, involving 13,099 plants, 
already published.* Further constants based 


SCIENCE 


345 


on 4,856 plants, are given below. Here the 
coefficient of correlation, 7), shows the rela- 
tionship between the weight of the seed 
planted (in the conventional units of .025 
gram range) and number of pods per plant, 
while the second term of the regression 
straight line equation,’ 


ails Tp — op 
Da (B= ren 2 ) + Top = Ws 
Ow ow 


shows the absolute change in number of pods 
per plant for each unit change in seed weight. 


4 Number) Coefficient of | Regression Straight 
fees | ates Seatnnees | Eine eunon 
GGHee 583 -208 + .027|p—= 1.931+.539w 
GGD....... 514 159 + .029 | p—=—3.504+4-.361w 
GGDD..... 342 -137 + .036 | p=—1.967-+ .279w 
GGHH.. 396 -194 + .033 | p=—2.321+.513w 
GG@D)j...... 449 -215 + .030 | p——4.861--.436w 
GGH. 499 -176 + .029 | p=—1.037+-.485w 
GG... 750 | — .368 + .021| p= 17.418—.403w 
TG Geis 182 -066 + .050|}p— 2.351+-.134w 
LL.. 1141 |—.009+ .020|p= 7.245—--.012w 


The constants are in excellent agreement 
with those already published—fairly large and 
positive throughout—with the exception of 
the Golden Wax, the LD series, and the GG 
culture of Burpee’s Stringless. Those for the 
Golden Wax series, LG and LL, are sensibly 
zero; one is the smallest positive coefficient yet 
found while the other is negative in sign, 
though only a fraction of its probable error. 

The coefficient for the GG series is in strik- 
ing contrast to the others; not only is it 
numerically the largest value recorded, but it 
is negative in sign and unquestionably signif- 


1 Harris, J. Arthur, ‘‘The Relationship between 
the Weight of the Seed Planted and the Char- 
acteristics of the Plant Produced—lI.,’’ Biomet- 
rika, Vol. 9, pp. 11-21. See also Amer. Breed. 
Mag., Vol. 3, pp. 293-295. 

*p=pods per plant, w—weight of seed planted. 
The bars indicate the means and the sigmas denote 
the standard deviations of the characters in ques- 
tion. Through a slip in the copying of the manu- 
seript which I overlooked in the proofs, the second 
term of the regression formula is given the nega- 
tive sign on p. 14, Biometrika, Vol. 9. The 
values in the calculated equations are of course 
correct. 


346 


icant, being nearly eighteen times its probable 
error. 

The comparison of the GG series with the 
other Burpee’s Stringless cultures is forcibly 
brought out by the diagram. This shows the 
linear graduations (from the equations given 
in the table) of the number of pods per plant 
for various seed weight classes. Only the GG 
series, for which the empirical means are also 


MEAN PODS PER PLANT 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 975 


were planted in numerical order across the 
field, just as is usually done. In the GG 
series the weight groups were planted in order 
across a garden plot which was selected for its 
apparent uniformity of soil. This was again 
in accordance with ordinary experimental 
practise. 

But many unknowable factors are involved 
in the productive capacity of the soil and it 


(GG02. |SERIES 


GGDD SERIES 


Welore a 
shown,’ indicates a decrease in the number of 
pods associated with an increase in the weight 
of the seeds planted.* 

The explanation of this result is simple. In 
each of these 29 experiments with the excep- 
tion of the LL, LG and GG series, the seeds 
were individually labelled, thoroughly shuffled 
and planted at random over the field to 
counteract the possible heterogeneity of the 
soil.” In the case of the LL and LG series I 
suspected that the soil conditions were not 
strictly uniform, but the various “ pure lines ” 


3’ The inclusion of all the empirical means would 
have rendered the graph too confusing. Graphic 
tests made for each case affords no evidence that 
a eurve of a higher order would be better than a 
straight line. 

4For the GGD, GGD, and GGDD series the 
slope of the line is very slight. This is due simply 
to the fact that these cultures were grown under 
much more adverse conditions than the others, and 
such wide variation in number of pods per plant 
is not possible. 

5The importance of this procedure has been 
emphasized in Amer. Nat., Vol. 45, pp. 697-698, 
1911; Vol. 46, p. 325, 1912. 


20 22 
SEED PLANTED 


24 


appears that the particular parcel of ground 
selected, although only large enough to grow 
750 plants, changed in productiveness from 
one side to the other. By chance the seeds 
were so planted that the smaller ones were 
given the best conditions. So great was the 
‘heterogeneity that it not only neutralized the 
influence of seed weight which is always 
demonstrated when experiments are made with 
proper refinements, but actually brought about 
a negative correlation between weight of seed 
planted and number of pods produced which 
is numerically the highest found in twenty- 
nine cultures! Had the order of planting been 
reversed, both soil fertility and seed weight 
would have been active in the same direction, 
and an abnormally high positive correlation 
would almost certainly have been the result. 
J. ARTHUR Harris 
Cotp Sprina Harsor, L. L., 
June 10, 1913 

®The seeds used in the GG series were the an- 
cestors of those employed in all the other experi- 
ments with Burpee’s Stringless. Thus there can 
be no criticism because of ‘‘differences between 
the pure lines used.’’ 


PoCLeE NCE 


NEw SERIES SINGLE Copixs, 15 Crs. 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 976 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


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of substances described are really of practical importance. In this volume the author has descended 
to details only with some of the principal industries, and especially with those best adapted to give 
a general idea of the different applications of chemical processes and of chemical technics. To this 
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SCIENCE 


Fripay, SEPTEMBER 12, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The British Association for the Advancement 
of Science :— 


The Place of Pure Mathematics: Dr. H. 


10> IBATGWD Sac bona b oiao 0 Seeanerh ote eae 347 
Work going on at Kilauea Volcano: Gao. 

CARROUIE CURTISMsenmrcer Mam cierrtitces 355 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 358 
University and Educational News .......... 361 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

A Peculiar Dermal Element in Chimeeroid 

Fishes: T. D. A. CocKERELL. Labeling 

Microscopic Slides: ErNest SHAaw Rey- 
_Notps. Upon the Distribution of Rho- 

dochytrium: JOHN G. HALL ............. 363 
Scientific Books :— 

Mann on the Teaching of Physics: Pro- 

FessoR F. E. Kester. Baker on Thick 

Lens Optics; Thorington on Prisms: Dr. 

HEA Cr PUN ITUIUDIIN Gutters 8 ye ate eeeeey es ke yee Reh 2 365 
Special Articles :— 

A Parasite of the Chinch-bug Egg: Jamzs 

W. McCotiocH. Some Observations on the 

Sexuality of Spirogyra: Dr. Hartan H. 

AVON On chleniceale ab widow Un tole aR ee 367 
The Society of American Bacteriologists :— 

Systematic and Physiologic Bacteriology; 

Dairy Bacteriology: Dr. A. Parker 

ELD GELENIS ish ee eecaraeare bees seals ee ic peg as ata rey 369 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


SSS SaaS 


THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

THE PLACE OF PURE MATHEMATICS* 

Ir is not a very usual thing for the open- 
ing address of this section to be entrusted 
to one whose main energies have been de- 
voted to what is called pure mathematics; 
but I value the opportunity in order to try 
to explain what, as I conceive it, the justifi- 
cation of the pure mathematician is. You 
will understand that in saying this I am 
putting myself in a position which belongs 
to me as little by voeation as by achieve- 
ment, since it was my duty through many 
years to give instruction in all the subjects 
usually regarded as mathematical physics, 
and it is still my duty to be concerned with 
students in these subjects. But my experi- 
ence is that the pure mathematician is apt 
to be regarded by his friends as a trifler 
and a visionary, and the consciousness of 
this becomes in time a paralyzing dead- 
weight. I think that view is founded on 
want of knowledge. 

Of course, it must be admitted that the 
mathematician, as such, has no part in those 
public endeavors that arise from the posi- 
tion of our empire in the world, nor in the 
efforts that must constantly be made for 
social adjustment at home. I wish to make 
this obvious remark. For surely the scien- 
tific man must give his time and his work 
in the faith of at least an intellectual har- 
mony in things; and he must wish to know 
what to think of all that seems out of gear 
in the working of human relations. His 


* Address of the president to the Mathematical 
and Physical Science Section of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, Birming- 
ham, 1913. 


348 


own cup of contemplation is often golden; 
he marks that around him there is fierce 
fighting for cups that are earthen, and 
largely broken; and many there are that go 
thirsting. And, again, the mathematician 
is as sensitive as others to the marvel of 
each recurring springtime, when, year by 
year, our common mother seems to call us 
so loudly to consider how wonderful she 
is, and how dependent we are, and he is as 
curious as to the mysteries of the develop- 
ment of living things. He can draw in- 
spiration for his own work, as he views the 
spectacle of a starry night, and sees 

How the floor of heaven 

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold. 

Each orb, the smallest, in his motion, sings, 
but the song, once so full of dread, how 
much it owes to the highest refinements of 
his craft, from at least the time of the Greek 
devotion to the theory of conic sections; 
how much, that is, to the harmony that is 
in the human soul. Yet the mathematician 
bears to the natural observer something of 
the relation which the laboratory botanist 
has come to bear to the field naturalist. 
Moreover, he is shut off from inquiries 
which stir the public imagination; when he 
looks back the ages over the history of his 
own subject the confidence of his friends 
who study heredity and teach eugenics 
arouses odd feelings in his mind; if he 
feels the fascination which comes of the im- 
portance of such inquiries, he is also pre- 
pared to hear that the subtlety of nature 
grows with our knowledge of her. Doubt- 
less, too, he wishes he had some participa- 
tion in the discovery of the laws of wireless 
telegraphy, or had something to say in re- 
gard to the improvement of internal-com- 
bustion engines or the stability of aero- 
planes; it is little compensation to remem- 
ber, though the mathematical physicist is 
his most tormenting critic, what those of 
his friends who have the physical instinct 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


used to say on the probable development of 
these things, however well he may recall it. 

But it is not logical to believe that they 
who are called visionary because of their 
devotion to creatures of the imagination 
can be unmoved by these things. Nor is it 
at all just to assume that they are less con- 
scious than others of the practical impor- 
tance of them, or less anxious that they 
should be vigorously prosecuted. 

Why is it, then, that their systematic 
study is given to other things, and not of 
necessity, and in the first instance, to the 
theory of any of these conerete phenom- 
ena? This is the question I try to answer. 
I can only give my own impression, and 
doubtless the validity of an answer varies 
as the accumulation of data, made by ex- 
perimenters and observers, which remains 
unutilized at any time. 

The reason, then, is very much the same 
as that which may lead a man to abstain 
from piecemeal, indiscriminate charity in 
order to devote his attention and money to 
some well-thought-out scheme of reform 
which seems to have promise of real amelio- 
ration. One turns away from details and 
examples, because one thinks that there is 
promise of fundamental improvement of 
methods and principles. This is the argu- 
mentum ad hominem. But there is more 
than that. The improvement of general 
principles is arduous, and if undertaken 
only with a view to results may be ill-timed 
and disappointing. But as soon as we con- 
sciously give ourselves to the study of uni- 
versal methods for their own sake another 
phenomenon appears. The mind responds, 
mastery of the relations of things, hitherto 
unsuspected, begin to appear on the men- 
tal horizon. I am well enough aware of the 
retort to which such a statement is open. 
But, I say, interpret the fact as you will, 
our intellectual pleasure in life cometh not 
by might nor by power—arises, that is, 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


most commonly, not of set purpose—but 
lies at the mercy of the response which the 
mind may make to the opportunities of its 
experience. When the response proves to 
be of permanent interest—and for how 
many centuries have mathematical ques- 
tions been a fascination ?—we do well to re- 
gard it. Let us compare another case which 
is, I think, essentially the same. It may be 
that early forms of what now is specifically 
called art arose with a view to applications: 
I do not know. But no one will deny that 
art, when once it has been conceived by us, 
is a worthy object of pursuit; we know by 
a long trial that we do wisely to yield our- 
selves to a love of beautiful things, and to 
the joy of making them. Well, pure mathe- 
matics, as such, 7s an art, a creative art. If 
its past triumphs of achievement fill us 
with wonder, its future scope for invention 
is exhaustless and open to all. It is also a 
science. For the mind of man is one: to 
scale the peaks it spreads before the ex- 
plorer is to open ever new prospects of 
possibility for the formulation of laws of 
nature. Its resources have been tested by 
the experience of generations; to-day it 
lives and thrives and expands and wins the 
life-service of more workers than ever be- 
fore. 

This, at least, is what I wanted to say, 
and I have said it with the greatest brevity 
I could command. But may I dare attempt 
to carry you further? If this seems fanci- 
ful, what will you say to the setting in 
which I would wish to place this point of 
view? And yet I feel bound to try to indi- 
cate something more, which may be of 
wider appeal. I said a word at starting as 
to the relations of science to those many to 
whom the message of our advanced civili- 
zation is the necessity, above all things, of 
getting bread. Leaving this aside, I would 
make another reference. In our time old 
outlooks have very greatly changed; old 


SCIENCE 


349 


hopes, disregarded perhaps because un- 
doubted, have very largely lost their sanc- 
tion, and given place to earnest question- 
ings. Can any one who watches doubt that 
the courage to live is in some danger of 
being swallowed up in the anxiety to ac- 
quire? May it not be, then, that it is good 
for us to realize, and to confess, that the 
pursuit of things that are beautiful, and 
the achievement of intellectual things that 
bring the joy of overcoming, is at least as 
demonstrably justifiable as the many other 
things that fill the lives of men? May it 
not be that a wider recognition of this 
would be of some general advantage at 
present? Is it not even possible that to 
bear witness to this is one of the uses of the 
scientific spirit? Moreover, though the 
pursuit of truth be a noble aim, is it so new 
a profession; are we so sure that the ardor 
to set down all the facts without extenua- 
tion is, unassisted, so continuing a purpose? 
May science itself not be wise to confess to 
what is its own sustaining force? 

Such, ladies and gentlemen, in crude, 
imperfect phrase, is the apologia. If it 
does not differ much from that which work- 
ers in other ways would make, it does, at 
least, try to represent truly one point of 
view, and it seems to me specially appli- 
cable to the case of pure mathematics. But 
you may ask: What, then, is this subject? 
What can it be about if it is not primarily 
directed to the discussion of the laws of 
natural phenomena? What kind of things 
are they that can occupy alone the thoughts 
of a lifetime? I propose now to attempt 
to answer this, most inadequately, by a bare 
recital of some of the broader issues of pres- 
ent interest—though this has difficulties, 
because the nineteenth century was of un- 
exampled fertility in results and sugges- 
tions, and I must be as little technical as 
possible. 


350 


PRECISION OF DEFINITIONS 

First, in regard to two matters which il- 
lustrate how we are forced by physical 
problems into abstract inquiries. It is a 
constantly recurring need of science to re- 
consider the exact implication of the terms 
employed; and as numbers and functions 
are inevitable in all measurement, the pre- 
cise meaning of number, of continuity, of 
infinity, of limit, and so on, are funda- 
mental questions; those who will receive 
the evidence can easily convince them- 
selves that these notions have many pit- 
falls. Such an imperishable monument as 
Euclid’s theory of ratio is a familiar sign 
that this has always been felt. The last 
century has witnessed a vigorous inquiry 
into these matters, and many of the results 
brought forward appear to be new; nor is 
the interest of the matter by any means ex- 
hausted. I may cite, as intelligible to all. 
such a fact as the construction of a func- 
tion which is continuous at all points of a 
range, yet possesses no definite differential 
coefficient at any point. Are we sure that 
human nature is the only continuous vari- 
able in the concrete world, assuming it be 
continuous, which can possess such a vacil- 
lating character? Or I may refer to the 
more elementary fact that all the rational 
fractions, infinite in number, which lie in 
any given range, can be enclosed in inter- 
vals whose aggregate length is arbitrarily 
small. Thus we could take out of our life 
all the moments at which we can say that 
our age is a certain number of years, and 
days, and fractions of a day, and still have 
appreciably as long to live; this would be 
true, however often, to whatever exactness, 
we named our age, provided we were quick 
enough in naming it. Though the recur- 
rence of these inquiries is part of a wider 
consideration of functions of complex vari- 
ables, it has been associated also with the 
theory of those series which Fourier used so 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 976 


boldly, and so wickedly, for the conduction 
of heat. Like all discoverers, he took much 
for granted. Precisely how much is the 
problem. This problem has led to the pre- 
cision of what is meant by a function of 
real variables, to the question of the uni- 
form convergence of an infinite series, as 
you may see in early papers of Stokes, to 
new formulation of the conditions of inte- 
gration and of the properties of multiplu 
integrals, and so on. And it remains still 
incompletely solved. 


CALCULUS OF VARIATIONS 


Another case in which the suggestions of 
physics have caused grave disquiet to the 
mathematicians is the problem of the varia- 
tion of a definite integral. No one is likely 
to underrate the grandeur of the aim of 
those who would deduce the whole physical 
history of the world from the single prin- 
ciple of least action. Every one must be in- 
terested in the theorem that a potential 
function, with a given value at the boun- 
dary of a volume, is such as to render a cer- 
tain integral, representing, say, the energy, 
a minimum. But in that proportion one 
desires to be sure that the logical processes 
employed are free from objection. And, 
alas! to deal only with one of the earliest 
problems of the subject, though the finally 
sufficient conditions for a minimum of a 
simple integral seemed settled long ago, 
and could be applied, for example, to New- 
ton’s celebrated problem of the solid of 
least resistance, it has since been shown to 
be a general fact that such a problem can 
not have any definite solution at all. And, 
although the principle of Thomson and 
Dirichlet, which relates to the potential 
problem referred to, was expounded by 
Gauss, and accepted by Riemann, and re- 
mains to-day in our standard treatise on 
National Philosophy, there can be no doubt 
that, in the form in which it was originally 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


stated, it proves just nothing. Thus a new 
investigation has been necessary into the 
foundations of the principle. There is 
another problem, closely connected with 
this subject, to which I would allude: the 
stability of the solar system. For those who 
can make pronouncements in regard to this 
I have a feeling of envy; for their methods, 
as-yet, I have a quite other feeling. The 
interest of this problem alone is sufficient 
to justify the craving of the pure mathema- 
tician for powerful methods and unexcep- 
tionable rigor. 


NON-EUCLIDIAN GEOMETRY 


But I turn to another matter. It is an 
old view, I suppose, that geometry deals 
with facts about which there can be no two 
opinions. You are familiar with the axiom 
that, given a straight line and a point, one 
and only one straight line can be drawn 
through the point parallel to the given 
straight line. According to the old view 
the natural man would say that this is 
either true or false. And, indeed, many 
and lone were the attempts made to justify 
it. At length there came a step which to 
many probably will still seem unintelligible. 
A system of geometry was built up in which 
it is assumed that, given a straight line and 
a point, an infinite number of straight 
lines can be drawn through the point, in 
the plane of the given line, no one of which 
meets the given line. Can there then, one 
asks at first, be two systems of geometry, 
both of which are true, though they differ 
in such an important particular? Almost 
as soon believe that there can be two sys- 
tems of laws of nature, essentially differ- 
ing in character, both reducing the phe- 
nomena we observe ‘to order and system— 
a monstrous heresy, of course! I will only 
say that, after a century of discussion we 
are quite sure that many systems of geom- 
etry are possible, and true; though not all 


SCIENCE 


351 


may be expedient. And if you reply that 
a geometry is useful for life only in pro- 
portion as it fits the properties of concrete 
things, I will answer, first, are the heavens 
not then conerete? And have we as yet 
any geometry that enables us to form a 
consistent logical idea of furthermost 
space? And, second, that the justification 
of such speculations is the interest they 
evoke, and that the investigations already 
undertaken have yielded results of the most 
surprising interest. 


THE THEORY OF GROUPS 

To-day we characterize a geometry by 
the help of another general notion, also, for 
the most part, elaborated in the last hun- 
dred years, by means of its group. A 
eroup is a set of operations which is closed, 
in the same sense that the performance of 
any two of these operations in succession is 
equivalent to another operation of the set, 
just as the result of two successive move- 
ments of a rigid body can be achieved by a 
single movement. One of the earliest con- 
scious applications of the notion was in the 
problem of solving algebraic equations by 
means of equations of lower order. An 
equation of the fourth order ean be solved 
by means of a cubie equation, because there 
exists a rational function of the four roots 
which takes only three values when the 
roots are exchanged in all possible ways. 
Following out this suggestion for an equa- 
tion of any order, we are led to consider, 
taking any particular rational function of 
its roots, what is the group of interchanges 
among them which leaves this function un- 
altered in value. This group characterizes 
the function, all other rational functions 
unaltered by the same group of inter- 
changes being expressible rationally in 
terms of this function. On these lines a 
complete theory of equations which are 
soluble algebraically can be given. Any 


352 


one who wishes to form some idea of the 
richness of the landscape offered by pure 
mathematics might do worse than make 
himself acquainted with this comparatively 
small district of it. But the theory of 
groups has other applications. It may be 
interesting to refer to the circumstance 
that the group of interchanges among four 
quantities which leave unaltered the prod- 
uct of their six differences is exactly sim- 
ilar to the group of rotations of a regular 
tetrahedron whose center is fixed, when its 
corners are interchanged among them- 
selves. Then I mention the historical fact 
that the problem of ascertaining when that 
well-known linear differential equation 
called the hypergeometric equation has all 
its solutions expressible in finite terms as 
algebraic functions, was first solved in con- 
nection with a group of similar kind. For 
any linear differential equation it is of pri- 
mary importance to consider the group of 
interchanges of its solutions when the inde- 
pendent variable, starting from an arbi- 
trary point, makes all possible excursions, 
returning to its initial value. And it is in 
connection with this consideration that one 
justification arises for the view that the 
equation can be solved by expressing both 
the independent and dependent variables 
as single-valued functions of another vari- 
able. There is, however, a theory of 
groups different from those so far referred 
to, in which the variables can change con- 
tinuously; this alone is most extensive, as 
may be judged from one of its lesser appli- 
cations,:the familiar theory of the invari- 
ants of quantics. Moreover, perhaps the 
most masterly of the analytical discussions 
of the theory of geometry has been carried 
through as a particular application of the 
theory of such groups. 


THE THEORY OF ALGEBRAIC FUNCTIONS 
If the theory of groups illustrates how a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


unifying plan works in mathematics be- 
néath bewildering detail, the next matter 
I refer to well shows what a wealth, what 
a grandeur, of thought may spring from 
what seem slight beginnings. Our ordi- 
nary integral calculus is well-nigh power- 
less when the result of integration is not 
expressible by algebraic or logarithmic 
functions. The attempt to extend the pos- 
sibilities of integration to the case when the 
function to be integrated involves the 
square root of a polynomial of the fourth 
order, led first, after many efforts, among 
which Legendre’s devotion of forty years 
was part, to the theory of doubly-periodic 
functions. To-day this is much simpler 
than ordinary trigonometry, and, even 
apart from its applications, it is quite in- 
credible that it should ever again pass from 
being among the treasures of civilized man. 
Then, at first in uncouth form, but now 
clothed with delicate beauty, came the the- 
ory of general algebraical integrals, of 
which the influence is spread far and wide; 
and with it all that is systematic in the 
theory of plane curves, and all that is asso- 
ciated with the conception of a Riemann 
surface. After this came the theory of 
multiply-periodic functions of any number 
of variables, which, though still very far 
indeed from being complete, has, I have 
always felt, a majesty of conception which 
is unique. Quite recently the ideas evolved 
in the previous history have prompted a 
vast general theory of the classification of 
algebraical surfaces according to their es- 
sential properties, which is opening endless 
new vistas of thought. 


THEORY OF FUNCTIONS OF COMPLEX VARI- 
ABLES: DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS 


But the theory has also been prolific in 
general principles for functions of complex 
variables. Of greater theories, the prob- 
lem of automorphic functions alone is a 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


vast continent still largely undeveloped, 
and there is the incidental problem of the 
possibilities of geometry of position in any 
number of dimensions, so important in so 
many ways. But, in fact, a large propor- 
tion of the more familiar general prin- 
ciples, taught to-day as theory of functions, 
have been elaborated under the stimulus of 
the foregoing theory. Besides this, how- 
ever, all that precision of logical statement 
of which I spoke at the beginning is of par- 
amount necessity here. What exactly is 
meant by a curve of integration, what char- 
acter can the limiting points of a region of 
existence of a function possess, how even 
best to define a function of a complex vari- 
able, these are but some obvious cases of 
difficulties which are very real and press- 
ing to-day. And then there are the prob- 
lems of the theory of differential equations. 
About these I am at a loss what to say. 
We give a name to the subject, as if it were 
one subject, and I deal with it in the fewest 
words. But our whole physical outlook is 
based on the belief that the problems of 
nature are expressible by differential equa- 
tions; and our knowledge of even the possi- 
bilities of the solutions of differential equa- 
tions consists largely, save for some special 
types, of that kind of ignorance which, in 
the nature of the case, can form no idea of 
its own extent. There are subjects whose 
whole content is an excuse for a desired 
solution of a differential equation; there 
are infinitely laborious methods of arith- 
metical computation held in high repute of 
which the same must be said. And yet I 
stand here to-day to plead with you for 
tolerance of those who feel that the prose- 
cution of the theoretic studies, which alone 
can alter this, is a justifiable aim in life! 
Our hope and belief is that over this vast 
domain of differential equations the theory 
of functions shall one day rule, as already 


SCIENCE 


353 


it largely does, for example, over linear 
differential equations. 


THEORY OF NUMBERS 


In concluding this table of contents, I 
would also refer, with becoming brevity, to 
the modern developments of theory of 
numbers. Wonderful is the fascination 
and the difficulty of these familiar objects 
of thought—ordinary numbers. We know 
how the great Gauss, whose lynx eye was 
laboriously turned upon all the physical 
science of his time, has left it on record 
that in order to settle the law of a plus or 
minus sign in one of the formule of his 
theory of numbers he took up the pen 
every week for four years. In these islands 
perhaps our imperial necessities forbid the 
hope of much development of such a the- 
oretical subject. But in the land of Kum- 
mer and Gauss and Dirichlet the subject 
to-day claims the allegiance of many eager 
minds. And we ean reflect that one of the 
latest triumphs has been with a problem 
known by the name of our English senior 
wrangler, Waring—the problem of the 
representation of a number by sums of 
powers. 


Ladies and gentlemen, I have touched 
only a few of the matters with which pure 
mathematics is concerned. Each of those 
I have named is large enough for one 
man’s thought; but they are interwoven 
and interlaced in indissoluble fashion and 
form one mighty whole, so that to be ig- 
norant of one is to be weaker in all. I am 
not concerned to depreciate other pursuits, 
which seem at first sight more practical; I 
wish only, indeed, as we all do, it were pos- 
sible for one man to cover the whole field 
of scientific research; and I vigorously re- 
sent the suggestion that those who follow 
these studies are less careful than others of 
the urgent needs of our national life. But 


394 


pure mathematics is not the rival, even less 
is it the handmaid, of other branches of 
science. Properly pursued, it is the es- 
sence and soul of them all. It is not for 
them; they are for it; and its results are 
for all time. No man who has felt its 
fascination can be content to be ignorant 
of any manifestation of regularity and law, 
or can fail to be stirred by all the need of 
adjustment of our actual world. 

And if life is short, if the greatest magi- 
cian, joining with the practical man, re- 
minds us that, like this vision, 

The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 


Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve 
And... leave not a rack behind, 


we must still believe that it is best for us 
to try to reach the brightest ight. And 
all here must believe it; for else—no fact 
is more firmly established—we shall not 
study science to any purpose. 

But that is not all I want to say, or at 
least to indicate. I have dealt so far only 
with proximate motives; to me it seems 
demonstrable that a physical science that 
is conscientious requires the cultivation of 
pure mathematics; and the most mundane 
of reasons seem to me to prompt the recog- 
nition of the esthetic outlook as a practical 
necessity, not merely a luxury, im a suc- 
cessful society. Nor do I want to take a 
transcendental ground. Every schoolboy, 
I suppose, knows the story of the child 
born so small, if I remember aright, that 
he could be put into a quart pot, in a farm- 
house on the borders of Lincolnshire—it 
was the merest everyday chance. By the 
most incalculable of luck his brain-stuff 
was so arranged, his parts so proportion- 
ately tempered, that he became Newton, 
and taught us the laws of the planets. It 
was the blindest concurrence of physical 
circumstances; and so is all our life. Mat- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


ter in certain relations to itself, working 
by laws we can examine in the chemical 
laboratory, produces all these effects, pro- 
duees even that state of brain which ac- 
companies the desire to speak of the won- 
der of it all. And the same laws will in- 
evitably hurl all into confusion and dark- 
ness again; and where will all our joys and 
fears, and all our scientific satisfaction, be 
then ? 

As students of science, we have no right 
to shrink from this point of view; we are 
pledged to set aside prepossession and 
dogma, and examine what seems possible, 
wherever it may lead. Even life itself may 
be mechanical, even the greatest of all 
things, even personality, may some day be 
resoluble into the properties of dead mat- 
ter, whatever that is. We can all see that 
its coherence rises and falls with illness 
and health, with age and physical condi- 
tions. Nor, as it seems to me, can any- 
thing but confusion of thought arise from 
attempts to people our material world with 
those who have ceased to be material. 

An argument could perhaps be based on 
the divergence, as the mathematician would 
say, of our comprehension of the proper- 
ties of matter. For though we seem able 
to summarize our past experiences with 
ever-increasing approximation by means of 
fixed laws, our consciousness of ignorance 
of the future is only increased thereby. 
Do we feel more, or less, competent to 
erasp the future possibilities of things, 
when we can send a wireless message 4,000 
miles, from Hanover to New Jersey ? 

Our life is begirt with wonder, and with 
terror. Reduce it by all means to ruthless 
mechanism, if you can; it will be a great 
achievement. But it can make no sort of 
difference to the fact that the things for 
which we live are spiritual. The rose is no 
less sweet because its sweetness is condi- 
tioned by the food we supply to its roots. 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


It is an obvious fact, and I ought to apolo- 
eize for remarking it, were it not that so 
much of our popular science is understood 
by the haste to imply an opposite conclu- 
sion. If a chemical analysis of the con- 
stituents of sea-water could take away from 
the glory of a mighty wave breaking in the 
sunlight, it would still be true that it was 
the mind of the chemist which delighted in 
finding the analysis. Whatever be its his- 
tory, whatever its physical correlations, it 
is an undeniable fact that the mind of man 
has been evolved; I believe that is the sci- 
entific word. You may speak of a contin- 
uous upholding of our material framework 
from without; you may ascribe fixed quali- 
ties to something you call matter: or you 
may refuse to be drawn into any statement. 
But anyway, the fact remains that the 
precious things of life are those we call the 
treasures of the mind. Dogmas and phi- 
losophies, it would seem, rise and fall. But 
eradually accumulating throughout the 
ages, from the earliest dawn of history, 
there is a body of doctrine, a reasoned 
insight into the relations of exact ideas, 
painfully won and often tested. And this 
remains the main heritage of man; his little 
beacon of light amidst the solitudes and 
darknesses of infinite space; or, if you pre- 
fer, like the shout of children at play to- 
gether in the cultivated valleys, which con- 
tinues from generation to generation. 

Yes, and continues for ever! A universe 
which has the potentiality of becoming thus 
conscious of itself is not without something 
of which that which we call memory is but 
an image. Somewhere, somehow, in ways 
we dream not of, when you and I have 
merged again into the illimitable whole, 
when all that is material has ceased, the 
faculty in which we now have some share 
shall surely endure; the conceptions we 
now dimly struggle to grasp, the joy we 
have in the effort, these are but part of a 


SCIENCE 


305 


greater whole. Some may fear, and some 
may hope, that they and theirs shall not 
endure for ever. But he must have studied 
nature in vain who does not see that our 
spiritual activities are inherent in the 
mighty process of which we are part; who 
can doubt of their persistence. 

And, on the intellectual side, of all that 
is best ascertained, and surest, and most 
definite, of these; of all that is oldest and 
most universal; of all that is most funda- 
mental and far-reaching, of these activities, 
pure mathematics is the symbol and the 
sum. 


H. F. Baker 


WORK GOING ON AT KILAUEA VOLCANO 


For the past three months the “fires of 
Pelé” have been comparatively low, the condi- 
tions in the active pit of Halemaumau being 
that of unusual quiescence. The level of the 
bottom has also remained lower than at any 
other time since last fall, when it had a depth 
of about 700 feet. The last plane-table 
measurement obtained gave a depth of 550 feet 
and the subsequent change has been small. 

Since its late maximum height of about 350 
feet below the rim, in January of this year. 
the liquid lava lake has in its general move- 
ment been dropping, though a rise in June and 
July, 1912, presented an activity ereater than 
any other recorded during the past thirty 
years. There was a molten lake 650 feet long 
by 450 feet wide. As many as six hundred 
fountains of liquid magma played simultane- 
ously and threw the molten spray to heights of 
twenty to thirty feet, accompanied by a sound 
like the roar of heavy ocean surf. In Decem- 
ber. after intermittent declines, the level of the 
lake again rose, though to a lesser altitude 
and accompanied with decreased activity; this 
condition continuing until the middle of Feb- 
ruary of this year. Since then the resultant 
effects have been a lowering of the surface of 
the lava column until, on May 1, it disappeared 
from all view either by day or through incan- 
descence at night. 


356 


The lowering of the lava column was natu- 
rally accompanied by landslides due to the 
non-support of lower portions of the crater 
walls. Some of the avalanches were of con- 
siderable magnitude and duration; they gradu- 
ally grew less in sound frequency and volume 
until, during the latter part of the month 
(June), they nearly ceased. Fumes and vapor- 
ous emanations have largely obscured the in- 
ner pit during the past months, and until 
lately the best views gained at brief intervals 
have shown the bottom to be largely free from 
molten lava. Some dozen steaming outlets 
surrounded with sulphurous deposits have at 
times revealed themselves in the bottom of 
the sunken well, in whose very lowest point a 
funnel-shaped depression descending into un- 
known depths has been momentarily disclosed. 
On the ninth of May an unusual detonation 
was heard toward the central portion of the pit 
and this has been succeeded by steam explo- 
sions resembling blasts from a locomotive’s 
funnel. In accordance with the working 
hypothesis at the Hawaiian Volcano Observa- 
tory, the molten magma is due to rise’ on the 
approach of the summer solstice. 


WORK AT THE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY 


Since January, 1912, regular routine work 
has been going on in the Observatory of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on 
the very edge of the precipitous-sided’ caldera 
of Kilauea. In the Whitney Laboratory of 
Seismology built in the observatory cellar 
above steam cracks and heated from their ema- 
nations, four large seismographs are installed, 
including two heavy 100-kilogram Bosch- 
Omori trinometers, and one ordinary Omori 
seismograph for the registration of strong 
local earthquakes; and also one heavy Omori 
trinometer. 

On May 19, Greenwich time, the heaviest 
shock of immediate origin yet recorded by the 
instruments was observed. It was felt by us 
at the Voleano House very distinctly, and even 
more at Hilo, thirty miles distant. 

Ordinary microseismic motion has been con- 
stantly recorded by the instruments on the rim 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


of the volcano’s crater, and there are more 
rapid movements which have, in view of their 
obvious origin, been designated as “ volcanic 
vibrations.” 

On the very edge of the active Halemaumau, 
in the rough building of the Technology Vol- 
cano Station, a two-component Omori horizon- 
tal pendulum trinometer is installed on the 
concrete pier placed by the U. S. Geological 
Survey as a bench mark during the survey 
last year for the special map of the “ proposed 
Kilauea Voleano National Park.” 

The instruments at the observatory will 
probably be connected with telephone at the 
brink of the lava lake, so that one standing on 
its very edge may correlate his observations 
with those being recorded two and one half 
miles away on the high surrounding edge of 
the Kilauea Sink; it will thus be possible to 
note the seismic effects of changes in molten 
magma, explosions, landslides, etc., which oc- 
cur within a voleano’s crater. Had such in- 
struments been installed near the craters of 
Pelé and La Soufriére during the memorable 
1902 eruptions they would not only have been 
of service to science, but in informing the dis- 
tracted remnant of the populations in regard 
to the nature of the subsequent seismic dis- 
turbances. 

Among the work being carried on under 
Director Jaggar are: photographic record of 
phases of volcanic activity, measurements of 
the surface of the magma column, experi- 
mental work with microphones, cinemato- 
graphic registration of the activity of the 
molten lava, spectroscopic study of volcanic 
flames, optical pyrometry applied to the molten 
magma in the field, studies in the temperature 
of fumaroles and solfataras, as well as other 
investigations relating to the geology, min- 
eralogy, petrography and natural history of 
Kilauea. 


STUDIES FROM KITE PHOTOGRAPHY 


In connection with the somewhat novel 
work now being conducted at Kilauea under 


1H. O. Wood, Bull. Seismo. Soc. of Am., Vol. 
IIL, No. 1. 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


the auspices of the geological department of 
Harvard University, of reproducing the vol- 
cano in naturalistic relief, it is proposed to 
make a series of aerial photographs from kites 
flown at heights of from one to several miles 
above the crater and adjacent region. Not 
only will the data obtained be applied to sup- 
plement the photographic survey just com- 
pleted after three months of field work, itself 
probably the most comprehensive of its kind 
yet made for the reproduction of a land-form 
type, but it is hoped there may be secured an 
opportunity of novel comparison with lunar 
eraters, which are more nearly approached by 
the Hawaiian type than by any others known 
to lie on the earth’s surface. The kite pho- 
tography will be conducted by expert F. W. 
Haworth, of Pittsburgh, who has developed 
this subject and pertaining apparatus to un- 
equaled perfection. 


ATTEMPT AT ACCURATE LAND RELIEF BY 
AMERICAN GEOLOGISTS 


Primarily the purpose of the aerial photog- 
raphy is to furnish checks for and to supple- 
ment the data of the terrestrial, linear and 
photographic surveys, so that complete record 
of the surface forms of Kilauea will be ob- 
tained. 

The aid of aerial photography in obtaining 
data for reproducing land in relief was em- 
ployed in 1902, when the city of Washington 
was modeled for the U. S. Senate—views 
from a captive balloon—but this will probably 
be the first instance where kite photography 
has been called in to supplement the data 
requisite to construct a naturalistic model. 

One of the oldest means employed for earth 
representation has naturally been actual relief, 
since it is the most truthful and indeed the 
only complete medium in which the solid 
world can be expressed, but strange as it may 
seem comparatively little attention has been 
given to its rational or scientific side, its 
aspect as a study in natural phenomena em- 
bodying for adequate treatment the observa- 
tion, research and understanding which nat- 
ural science demands. Thousands of dia- 


SCIENCE 


307 


grams in relief exist which place the arbi- 
trarily taken points on some map into three 
dimensions, with little regard to the existing 
form and appearance of the part of the globe 
represented (or rather misrepresented), but 
they have neither been like, nor looked like, any- 
thing natural on earth. Those who under- 
stand the meaning of an ordinary map can see 
that the placing of its conventional data in a 
form of relief can never result in a true repro- 
duction of the natural forms of earth surface, 
which for competent exposition must call for 
field observation and collection of the neces- 
sary field facts. 

In the biological sciences similar procedure 
is well established, so that there are in our 
museums to-day specimens, especially of ani- 
mal and plant life, which give forceful ex- 
pression of the truth and vitality of the living 
outdoor world. Even more is there need of 
comparable naturalistic specimens in the 
earth sciences, for while most of the forms of 
botany and zoology are of size to be readily 
viewed, those of the earth’s surface are so 
extensive and often complex that they can 
rarely be well comprehended in the field where 
frequently but a small portion of a unit is to 
be seen at once. Too long have geology and 
geography been without this unrivaled means 
for illustrating and forcibly interpreting the 
forms with which they deal, too long have the 
earth sciences been lacking adequate represen- 
tation in the most comprehensive of all the 
natural arts, the one which rightly belongs to 
and can so richly enhance these sciences. 
There are signs, however, of an awakening. 
Men whose views have permitted seeing out- 
side the customary methods of procedure have 
begun to recognize some of the need and value 
of the new work, and the Kilauea Crater prob- 
lem now being undertaken is a result. 

Kilauea Crater is situated on the island of 
Hawaii, American territory, within the “ Pro- 
posed National Volcano Park.” So new is 
the work of naturalistic land relief in this 
country that it may be said that scarcely a 
single American land form has been so repro- 
duced (excellent work has already been done 


358 


in Europe and some representation of foreign 

types has been effected in the United States), 

hence the naturalistic reproduction in relief 

of Kilauea should mark two significant steps; 

first, representation in the new way of an 

American land-form type, and second, the 

entry of American geologists into this field, 

so useful in the promotion of their science. 
Gro, CarroLL Curtis 

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY, 
KIXILAUEA CRATER, 
July, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


A TABLET, recording the place of birth of 
Sir William Turner, the distinguished anato- 
mist, principal of the University of Edin- 
burgh, has been unveiled in his native town of 
Lancaster. 

Av the meeting of the section of tropical 
medicine and hygiene of the recent Interna- 
tional Medical Congress, Sir Patrick Manson 
was presented with a gold plaque. It bears 
his portrait and on the other side an allegor- 
ical group representing science triumphing 
over disease in a tropical landscape. 

Cot. Winittam C. Gorcaas has applied for 
four months’ leave of absence in order to ac- 
cept the invitation to advise on the sanitary 
conditions in Johannesburg, South Africa. 


Dr. Apotr Hurwitz, professor of mathe- 
matics at the Zurich Polytechnic School, has 
been elected a member of the Accademia dei 
Lincei, Rome. 

Dr. Turopor Neruptrcrr, of Frankfort, 
known for his contributions to hygiene and 
anthropology, has celebrated the sixtieth anni- 
versary of his doctorate. 

CoLorapo CoLLEcE at its last commence- 
ment cenferred the honorary degree of Se.D. 
on Professor Theodore D. A. Oockerell, who 
holds the chair of zoology in the University of 
Colorado. 

Sir JAMES GRANT, of Ottawa, was made an 
honorary life member of the Canadian Medi- 
cal Association at its recent meeting. 

Dr. W. L. Tower, associate professor of em- 
bryology in the University of Chicago, has 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 976 


gone to South America to gather material for 
the new bionomic laboratory just completed 
at the university. Professor Tower has been 
made curator of the laboratory, which will be 
equipped for the study of genetics and the 
problems of experimental evolution. 


Dr. Grorcr H. Suutn, of the Station for 
Experimental Evolution of the Carnegie In- 
stitution, has been granted a year’s leave of 
absence, and will spend the greater part of the 
year in Berlin, in study and writing. He 
sailed on September 12 and will participate in 
the Generalversammlung der Deutschen Bo- 
tanisehen Gesellschaft which meets in Berlin 
on October 5. His paper will be on “ Chloro- 
phyllfaktoren und Buntblatterigkeit bei 
Lychnis dioica.” = 


Dr. Freprrick A. Saunpers, professor of 
physics at Syracuse University, is spending 
abroad a year’s leave of absence. He will visit 
foreign laboratories and. carry forward spec- 
troscopic research in Professor Kayser’s new 
laboratory at Bonn. 


SauL Epsrern, professor of engineering 
mathematics at the University of Colorado, 
has resigned to accept the position of insur- 
anee commissioner of Colorado. 


THe Permanent International Eugenics 
Committee, which met in Paris on August 4, 
decided to hold the next International Con- 
gress in New York during September, 1915. 
Major Leonard Darwin presided, Mrs. Gotto 
acted as secretary, and the following countries 
were represented: England (Dr. Edgar Schus- 
ter), America (Dr. F. A. Woods), France 
(M. Lucien March), Germany (Professor A. 
Ploetz), Italy (Professor C. Gini), Denmark 
(Dr. S. Hansen), Norway (Dr. J. A. Mjéen). 


Dr. M. P. Ravenet, head of the State Hy- 
gienic Laboratory, Wisconsin, presided over a 
session of the Fourth International Congress 
on School Hygiene devoted to university 
health. He also made an address on bovine 
tuberculosis at the fiftieth anniversary meet- 
ing of the American Veterinarians’ Associa- 
tion in session in New York City, September 
1-5. 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


Dr. Tempest ANDERSON, an ophthalmic sur- 
geon of York, known for his publications on 
earthquakes and volcanoes, died on August 20, 
aged sixty-nine years, while returning from 
the Philippine Islands. 


Mr. J. R. Suetpon, formerly professor of 
agriculture at the Royal Agricultural College, 
Cirencester, has died, aged seventy-three years. 


Rosert Rieper PasHa, formerly professor of 
surgery at Bonn and afterwards inspector- 
general of medical schools in Turkey, has died 
at the age of fifty-one years. 


Tue death is announced, as the result of an 
accident, of Professor C. Bourlet, professor of 
mechanics at the Conservatoire des Arts et 
Métiers in Paris. 

We learn from Nature that by the will of 
Professor Emil Chr. Hansen and his wife a 
fund bearing his name has been established. 
At intervals of two or three years, beginning 
in 1914, a gold medal bearing his effigy and 
accompanied by a sum of at least 2,000 kroner 
is to be awarded on May 8 to the author of a 
meritorious publication on some microbiolog- 
ical subject, and recently published in Den- 
In 1914 the medal will be 
awarded to a worker in the field of medical 
The president of the board of 
trustees is Professor S. P. L. Sorensen, the 


mark or elsewhere. 
microbiology. 


chemical department of Carlsberg Laboratory, 
Copenhagen, from whom all information may 
be obtained. 


Proviston has been made for the establish- 
ment of a national museum by the Dominican 
government in the city of Santo Domingo for 
the purpose of retaining and preserving in the 
country objects and relics of historical char- 
acter connected with the discovery and develop- 
ment of the country. 
established in the old palace known as the 
house of Don Diego Colon. The sum of $20,- 
000 has been appropriated by the National 
Congress for repairing the building. 


The museum is to be 


Tur Field Museum of Natural History has 
arranged its thirty-ninth free lecture course 


SCIENCE 


359 


on science and travel for Saturday afternoons, 
at three o’clock, as follows: 


October 4—‘‘Korea,’’ Mr. Homer B. Hulbert, 
Springfield, Mass. 

October 11—‘‘The Scenery and Resources of 
Alaska,’’ Professor Lawrence Martin, University 
of Wisconsin. 

October 18—‘‘The Physical Basis and Deter- 
mination of Sex,’’ Dr. Horatio H. Newman, the 
University of Chicago. 

October 25—‘‘Our Forests,’’? Mr. 
Smith, assistant curator of dendrology. 

November 1—‘‘ Zoological Collecting in South 
America,’’ Mr. Wilfred H. Osgood, assistant cura- 
tor of mammalogy and ornithology. 

November 8—‘‘The Inhabitants of Fresh 
Water,’’ Dr. Victor E. Shelford, the University 
of Chicago. 

November 15—‘‘Migration of Plants,’’ Pro- 
fessor L. H. Pammel, Iowa State College. 

November 22—‘‘The Joseph N. Field South 
Pacific Expedition,’? Dr. A. B. Lewis, assistant 
curator of African and Melanesian ethnology. 

November 29—‘‘New Zealand,’’ Dr. Carlos E. 
Cummings, Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 


Huron H. 


Tue Macbride Lakeside Laboratory, located 
on West Lake Okoboji, Iowa, has just closed 
its most successful session, under the direction 
of Professor Thomas H. Macbride. Courses 
were offered in botany, zoology and geology, 
special emphasis being placed on field work. 
The laboratory was established in 1909 by the 
alumni of the State University of Iowa, and 
named in honor of its director. It is 
affliated with the colleges of the state through 
the state university, and is devoted to research 
by special students and teachers of the natural 
The work was in charge of the fol- 
lowing staff: Professor Thomas H. Macbride, 
University of Iowa, and Mr. A. F. Ewers, 
McKinley High School, St. Louis, botany; 
Dr. T. C. Stephens, Morningside College, gen- 
eral zoology and ornithology; Professor J. C. 
Carman, University of Cincinnati, geology; 
Professor C. E. Bartholomew, Ames, entomol- 
ogy. 


was 


sciences. 


Special series of lectures were given by 
Dr. Lynds Jones, of Oberlin, on ornithology, 
and by Professor L. H. Pammel, of Ames, on 
plant diseases. 


360 


It is stated in Nature that the Institut In- 
ternational de Physique Solvay has a sum of 
20,000 francs available for the encouragement 
of experimental work in physics and physical 
chemistry, particularly for investigations on 
radiation phenomena and for studies of the 
theory of energy quanta and of molecular the- 
ories. Grants from the fund will be awarded, 
without distinction of nationality, by the ad- 
ministrative commission of the institute on 
the recommendation of the international sci- 
entific committee. The administrative com- 
mission is composed of Professors P. Heger, 
E. Tassel and J. E. Verschaffelt, Brussels, and 
the scientific committee of M. H. A. Lorentz, 
president, Haarlem; Mme. M. Curie, Paris; 
M. Brillouin, Paris; R. B. Goldschmidt, Brus- 
sels; H. Kamerlingh-Onnes, Leyden; W. 
Nernst, Berlin; E. Rutherford, Manchester; 
¥%. Warburg, Berlin, and M. Knudsen, secre- 
tary, Copenhagen. Applications for grants 
‘should be made before September 15 to Pro- 
‘fessor H. A. Lorentz, Zijlweg 76, Haarlem, 
‘Holland. 


Six million acres of withdrawn public lands 
were restored to entry during the months of 
May and June upon approval by the Secretary 
of the Interior of the recommendations of the 
U. S. Geological Survey. This action was 
the result of examination and classification of 
the lands by the survey, those restored either 
having been found not to be valuable for 
power sites, reservoirs, coal, phosphate or 
potash deposits, or having been definitely val- 
ued as coal lands, and rendered available for 
purchase under the coal-land law. Of these 
lands relieved from coal withdrawal nearly 
two and a half million acres were in the state 
of Colorado. Five and a half thousand acres 
were also withdrawn in Colorado as water- 
power sites. In Idaho 1,100,000 acres of coal 
and phosphate withdrawals were classified and 
restored, and for water-power sites approxi- 
mately 10,000 acres were withdrawn and about 
the same acreage restored. In Montana 250,- 
000 acres were restored as being noncoal-bear- 
ing and about 1,000 acres as not valuable for 
water-power sites, while about 150 acres were 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


withdrawn for that purpose. In North Da- 
kota nearly 1,400,000 acres in coal withdrawal 
were classified and restored. In Oregon ap- 
proximately 75,000 acres were restored as non- 
oil-bearing lands and about 12,000 acres were 
withdrawn for water-power or reservoir sites. 
In South Dakota over 330,000 acres were re- 
lieved from the coal withdrawal. In Utah 
about 1,500 acres were withdrawn for water- 
power sites. In Wyoming over 47,000 acres 
of coal withdrawals were reopened to entry 
and purchase; approximately 87,000 acres were 
withdrawn for classification as to whether they 
are oil-bearing lands, and about 304,000 acres 
were restored as nonphosphate lands. For all 
states the total withdrawals during the months 
of May and June were over 116,000 acres, and 
the total restorations were over 6,000,000 acres. 
The total outstanding withdrawals on July 1 
in all the public-land states amounted to 
68,609,289 acres, of which more than fifty- 
eight million acres are in coal-land with- 
drawals. These lands are held pending classi- 
fication by the Geological Survey, and as rap- 
idly as they are found to be mineral bearing 
they are either valued and placed on sale (as 
in the case of coal lands), definitely reserved 
pending appropriate legislation by congress to 
provide for their disposition (as in the case 
of potash or phosphate lands), or held subject 
to development under departmental regula- 
tions (as in the case of water power or reser- 
voir reservations) ; or if they are found to be 
nonmineral in character they are restored to 
public entry. This work of classification and 
valuation is being prosecuted by the Geolog- 
ical Survey as rapidly as the appropriations 
provided by congress will permit. 


TueE report of the Royal Commission on In- 
dustrial Training and Technical Education in 
Canada, instituted three years ago, has now 
been made public. According to foreign jour- 
nals the report suggests that a fund of £600,- 
000 be provided annually by the Dominion for 
a period of ten years, and be divided among 
the provinces on the basis of population for 
the promotion of higher technical education 
and industrial training, while for elementary 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


schools teaching manual training and domestic 
science a grant of £70,000 a year for ten years 
is recommended. The report also proposes the 
establishment in each province of a board 
qualified to carry on industrial training. It 
advocates the provision of suitable and ade- 
quate apparatus and equipment for teaching 
purposes, the foundation of scholarships for 
students, the engagement of experts with ex- 
perience in industrial training, and the crea- 
tion of central institutions to supplement the 
work carried on by the provincial and local 
authorities. Workers in factories whose main 
task is to attend or to operate machines should, 
it is suggested, receive instruction which would 
develop all-round skill and increase their in- 
terest beyond the routine of automatic opera- 
tions. Such training should be provided as 
will conserve and develop occupations in which 
skilled handicraft is required. The interests 
of the rural population should be preserved so 
far as possible by industrial training and tech- 
nical education suitable to the needs of its 
workers. The needs of girls and women for 
organized instruction and training in house- 
keeping and home-making under modern in- 
dustrial conditions should be recognized. The 
report also recommends that schools for fisher- 
men should be established, and that provision 
be made for instruction in packing and curing. 
The distinguishing characteristic of the re- 
port is the attention which it gives to the 
problems of the rural communities. 


Tue U. S. Geological Survey has just is- 
sued, as an advance chapter from “ Mineral 
Resources of the United States,” a report by 
Alfred H. Brooks on the mine production of 
precious and semi-precious metals in Alaska 
in 1912. Metalliferous mining in Alaska, says 
Mr. Brooks, made important advances last 
year. Although the output of gold placers 
was less than in 1911, the installation of large 
plants, notably of dredges, in many districts 
is encouraging for the future of this industry. 
More important was the progress made in lode 
gold mining, the output of which was greater 
than in previous years. Copper mining also 
advanced, partly because several large plants 


SCIENCE 


361 


increased their output, partly because a num- 
ber of small mines were developed on account 
of the high price of copper. The development 
of the coal fields still awaits the establishment 
of a definite policy in regard to the disposi- 
tion of the public coal lands. The delay in 
securing cheap fuel for the territory has now 
for many years caused a stagnation in many 
industries. Railway construction and, to a 
certain extent, railway operation have stopped 
and many mining enterprises have been ham- 
pered if not entirely abandoned on account of 
the uncertainty as to the fuel problem. Very 
few Alaskans have any direct interest in coal 
claims or in mining, but the entire population 
of the territory is desirous of seeing the coal 
fields developed, because it is believed that 
this will bring about advancement in many 
other industries. Above all, it will encourage 
the operation and the construction of rail- 
ways, which are all important to the territory. 
The total mine production of gold, silver and 
copper in Alaska in 1912 was valued at $22,- 
285,821, against $20,505,664 in 1911, an in- 
erease of $1,780,158. The value of the gold 
production of Alaska last year is estimated at 
$17,145,951, that of silver at $316,839. The 
copper output of Alaska for 1912 was 29,280,- 
491 pounds, valued at $4,823,031, an increase 
from 1911 of 1,962,613 pounds. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tue Florida legislature has made the fol- 
lowing appropriations for the support and 
maintenance of the state institutions for 
higher education for the coming biennium: 
For the University of Florida at Gainesville, 
$173,500, which includes $30,000 for new law 
building, $23,000 for farmers’ institutes and 
publishing bulletins, $15,000 for laboratory 
equipment and farm buildings for college of 
agriculture, $10,000 for equipment and ma- 
chinery for college of engineering, $7,000 for 
heating plant to supply five new buildings; 
$5,000 for sewerage and disposal system. For 
the Florida State College for Women at Talla- 
hassee, $148,000, of which $30,000 is for din- 
ing hall and equipment, $5,000 for domestic 


362 SCIENCE 


science and women’s institutes. For the 
Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, at St. 
Augustine, $85,000. For the Florida Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College for Negroes, at 
Tallahassee, $24,000. For expenses of board 
of control, $5,500. Total, $486,000. 


It is reported from Melbourne that a pioneer 
colonist, Mr. W. Robbie, has bequeathed £30,- 
000 to Aberdeen University to establish schol- 
arships. 


A PUBLIC bequest amounting to £750,000 
has been made by the will of Sir William 
Dunn. They include £2,000 to the institute 
of medical science of the University of Lon- 
don, and £2,000 to the London School of Eco- 
nomics. 


THE registration for the year of students in 
regular courses at the University of Cali- 
fornia will exceed 5,300. If the summer ses- 
sion students be counted in, then the year’s 
registration will exceed 8,000. Of American 
universities, only Columbia is larger. The 
enrollment at Berkeley up to the second day 
of registration was 4,645, or 660 more than on 
the corresponding date of last year. Of the 
4,645 there were 1,500 new undergraduates, 
and, of these 1,500 new undergraduates, 1,300 
were freshmen. The graduate students num- 
bered 531, or eighteen per cent. more than on 
a corresponding date last year. 


Onto Starr Universiry has introduced an 
apprentice course in animal husbandry that 
includes two years study at the university and 
two years of practical work on a stock farm. 
The student in this course spends the first 
year at the university; the second on a stock 
farm; the third year at the university again. 
and the fourth year on another stock farm. 
The students are paid for their work while on 
the farm. The plan has interested a number 
-of the leading stock men of Ohio and other 
states, and they are cooperating with the uni- 
versity in carrying it out. 

In the reorganized faculty of medicine of 
the University of Illinois appointments have 
been made as follows: Dr. Albert C. Eycle- 
shymer, St. Louis, professor of anatomy and 
head of the department of anatomy of the 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 976 


medical school; Dr. Richard Rupert, Chicago, 
instructor of anatomy; Dr. George P. Dreyer, 
Chicago, professor of physiology and head of 
the department of physiology, school of medi- 
cine; Dr. Bernard Fantus, Chicago, professor 
of pharmacology; Dr. Edgar Grim Miller, Co- 
lumbia, Pa.; Dr. J. Craig Small, Chambers- 
burg, Pa., and Dr. H. N. Walker, Harrisburg, 
Pa., assistant professors of physiologic chem- 
istry; Dr. Edgar D. Coolidge, Chicago. pro- 
fessor of materia medica and therapeutics. 
Proressor Crark W. CHAMBERLAIN has re- 
signed the professorship of physics at Vassar 
College to accept the presidency of Denison 


University. 


Proressor A. L. Menanper, head of the de- 
partment of entomology and zoology at the 
Washington State College, Pullman, and ento- 
mologist of the State Experiment Station, has 
been granted a year’s leave of absence for re- 
search work at Harvard University. Pro- 
fessor W. T. Shaw, zoologist and curator of 
the museum, will be acting head during the 
coming year. Mr. M. A. Yothers, assistant 
entomologist, will have charge of entomolog- 
ical investigations. Mr. E. O. Ellis, of the 
Towa Agricultural College, has been elected to 
the position of instructor in entomology in the 
college and assistant in entomology in the 
Experiment Station. 

Dr. J. E. Wonsrpater, of the zoological de- 
partment of the University of Wisconsin, has 
been appointed professor of zoology and head 
of the department of zoology and entomology 
at the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, 
succeeding Dr. J. M. Aldrich. 

Mr. Wm. S. Atpricu, of the Reclamation 
Service, has been appointed acting professor 
of electrical and mechanical engineering at 
the University of Arizona, during the sab- 
batical leave of absence of Professor W. W. 
Henley. 

Dr. Curistian A. Ruckmick, of Cornell 
University, has been appointed instructor in 
psychology in the University of Illinois. 

Proressor W. H. Younc, SeD., F.R.S., 
professor of mathematics in Liverpool Univer- 
sity, has been appointed Hardinge professor of 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


mathematics in the University of Caleutta, 
for the purpose of organizing there a new 
school of higher mathematics. As the duties 
of the post require his residence in India only 
from November to March, it has been ar- 
ranged that he shall retain his professorship 
in Liverpool University. 

Mr. Harorp Pranic, Liverpool, has been 
appointed lecturer in physics in the South 
African College, Cape Town. 

Dr. ALEXANDER Tornquist, of Konigsberg, 
has been invited to the chair of geology and 
paleontology at Leipzig. 

Prorrssor His, of Berlin, who was asked to 
accept the appointment of director of the med- 
ical clinic, at Vienna, as successor of Pro- 
fessor von Noorden, has declined. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A PECULIAR DERMAL ELEMENT IN CHIMEROID 
FISHES 

WHEN recently in Washington, I was kindly 
allowed by Dr. Hugh M. Smith to examine the 
type of Chimera deani Smith and Radcliffe 
(Philippine Islands), to see if I could discover 
any scale-like dermal structures hitherto un- 
reported. Gently scraping the side of the ani- 
mal, I readily procured a number of small 
seale-like objects, which when mounted and 
examined with a microscope were seen to be 
strongly curved rods, taking very nearly the 
form of a horseshoe, or of oval rings with the 
lower end cut off. They measured about 640 
microns in one direction and 500 across, with 
the free ends somewhat tapering. Frequently 
several were attached together in a series, the 
top of each about 130 microns above the top 
of the one following. Being much interested 
in these peculiar structures, I asked Dr. Smith 
to send me material of other chimeroids, and 
this he very kindly did. In a young Hydro- 
lagus colliec (Bennett), 5 inches long, I found 
the structures in situ. A mucus canal about 
2,180 microns below the dorsal denticles 
was lined with these horseshoe-like structures, 
placed obliquely a short distance apart, so that 
each one partly overlapped two others, as seen 
from above. The free ends project along the 


SCIENCE 


363 


margins of the canal, which is widely open 
above, and the structures obviously serve to 
keep the canal in shape and open. 

In the works of Garman, Dean, Bridge, 
Jordan, ete., I find no mention of these struc- 
tures; but they may have been recorded in 
some work not accessible to me in Colorado. 


T. D. A. CooxErett. 
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


LABELING MICROSCOPIC SLIDES 

To rue Eprror or Scmyce: IT was interested 
in the note published in Screven, by Zea 
Northrup, in the July 25 issue, on “A New 
Method for Labeling Microscopic Slides,” for 
I have been following that method for the 
last five years. I have found it a very suc- 
cessful way in which to obtain a permanent, 
clear designation for the slides. It is espe- 
cially valuable in labeling serial sections, for, 
as soon as the ribbon has been firmly attached 
to the slides, the glass near the end of the 
ribbon is easily cleaned and the label then 
passes through the remaining parts of the 
process, until finally it is covered with the 
balsam and cover glass. This gives complete 
permanency to the writing and only the de- 
struction of the slide will result in the loss of 
the label. In this connection it may be inter- 
esting to some to speak of two features of 
numbering slides which, though probably not 
used exclusively by the writer, he has never 
seen adopted by other workers. In numbering 
a long series of slides which contain consecu- 
tive sections from one imbedded object it is 
convenient to assign a decimal number to the 
individual slides. The practise of the writer 
has been to assign a whole number to the en- 
tire embedding of a certain object preceded by 
the last two figures of the year number; thus 
if a certain flower bud is the second piece of 
imbedding which I have done this year the 
number of that flower bud is 132. Then the 
first slide cut from that imbedding is 132.1, 
or the fifteenth slide is 132.15. It may also 
occur that more than one piece of an object is 
included under the serial number 132, in 
which case the slide number for the fifteenth 


364 SCIENCE 


slide would be 182.1.15 if it is made from the 
first cutting. This method at a glance tells in 
what year the imbedding is done and whether 
or not all of the slides on a given subject are 
from one piece of material or from several, 
so that no doubt can exist as to the history 
of any particular slide. Of course the figure 
or figures following the first two and preceding 
the first decimal point identify completely the 
subject which that slide is connected with. 
Incidentally this method of numbering saves 
the instructor’s time, in case the slides are for 
classroom use, and enables him to assign one 
or more of the slides to definite students with 
assurance that the correct slides will be re- 
turned. 
Ernest SHAw ReyNOLDS 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, N. D. 


UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RHODOCHYTRIUM 


DurinG the last three or four years there 
has been a considerable amount of discussion 
as to the distribution of Rhodochytrium 
spilanthidis Lagerh. and some remarks have 
been made suggesting that it was rather 
curious that it should occur in three widely 
separated regions and upon three different 
hosts. The three regions are Ecuador, Kan- 
sas and North Carolina. In the North Caro- 
lina region upon one of its hosts, Ambrosia 
artemisiefolia L., it was found covering a con- 
siderable area, in fact it extended pretty well 
from one end of the state to the other. It has 
since been found to cover a portion of South 
Carolina extending almost from the moun- 
tains to the coast. 

The occurrence of the parasite at all points 
in South Carolina wherever I have made ecare- 
ful search for it has led me to believe that the 
distribution might be extended to cover most 
of the southeastern and gulf states and so up 
the Mississippi Valley and west to Kansas, 
thus connecting two of these widely separated 
regions. With this view in mind I wrote to 
a number of botanists and plant pathologists 
in the agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations of the various states covering this 
territory to ascertain if the parasite occurred 
in their respective localities. With one ex- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 976 


ception I received the reply, that so far as 
they were able to find, it did not occur in any 
of these localities. 

Dr. F. A. Wolf, of Auburn, Ala., sent me 
specimens collected at Auburn and wrote that 
he had also found it at Cullman, Ala. The 
occurrence of the parasite in these two locali- 
ties makes it very probable that it will be 
found in the intervening state of Georgia. 

Through the kindness of Mr. A. B. Massey 
I received specimens from Oriole, Md., which 
is the most northern station for this disease, 
so far reported, east of the Blue Ridge and 
Allegheny Mountains. I believe that it may 
be found still further north if careful search 
be made for it. It seems to me that there can 
be no doubt of its being found in Virginia, 
thus connecting the Maryland and the North 
Carolina regions. 

It is a universal fact that in looking for the 
parasite I have always found it upon the 
smooth form of Ambrosia, for in both North 
Carolina and South Carolina there is a smooth 
and a pubescent form of the host. It also oe- 
curs more abundantly where the soil is rather 
poor and sandy and has not been cultivated 
for at least one season previous to the occur- 
rence of the parasite. 

I also believe that a more continued search 
for the Rhodochytrium will lead to its being 
found so as to connect at least two of the re- 
gions reported, and it is quite possible that it 
may connect all three of them. 

I give with this, localities additional to 
those already published by Dr. Geo. F. Atkin- 
son* where the parasite has been found. The 
first three are credited to the proper persons 
reporting them and the rest are those in which 
I have collected the plant. Oriole, Maryland, 
Mr. A. B. Massey; Auburn, Alabama, Dr. F. 
A. Wolf; Cullman, Alabama, Dr. F. A. Wolf; 
Clemson College, S. C.; Greenville, S. C.; 
Ridgeland, S. C.; St. George, S. C.; Olar, 
S. C.; Springfield, S. C.; St. Matthews, S. C.; 
Yemassee, S. C.; Ninety-six, S. C.; Pendleton, 
S. C.; Newberry, S. C.; Central, S. C. 


Joun G. Hatt 
WASHINGTON STATE COLLEGE 


1 SCIENCE, 28, pp. 691-692, November 13, 1908. 


ee 


‘SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The Teaching of Physics. By 

Manx. New York, Macmillan, 1912. 

xxy +304. $1.25. 

Professor Mann’s well-known views on the 
methods of teaching high-school physics find, 
in his book on this subject, well-developed and 
orderly expression, much more thoroughly 
worked out and carefully arranged than was 
possible in his numerous earlier papers and 
addresses. It is only natural that a decided 
improvement should be the result of such 
change in form of presentation, and yet it 
would be difficult to find another development, 
from fragmentary form into treatise, in which 
the material has gained so much in value as 
has the subject matter in review. The volume 
on “The Teaching of Physics” carries a con- 
structive tone almost from the beginning. 

The main lines followed are: The develop- 
ment of the high school itself, from an insti- 
tution used mainly as a training school for 
college and university, to one at present so 
generally appropriated by the people who sup- 
port it that only a small fraction of all its 
graduates later enter the university; the influ- 
ence exercised by college and university upon 
the curriculum of the high school and upon 
the form of the separate courses therein; the 
effect of such influence upon the content and 
methods of the physics course. This effect 
seems to the author to be traceable in the 
change from the natural philosophy of the 
middle of the past century, with a decided 
leaning toward discussions of the concrete 
physical problems of the arts and of every-day 
life, to the more abstract and disciplinary 
methods of the later school science. The doc- 
trine of formal discipline receives a share of 
the blame for the change so traced—a doctrine 
which has thrown its baneful influence even 
over the study of the classics of our literature. 
After citing authorities in the field of educa- 
tional psychology to prove that the hope of 
transfer of discipline, gained in one field to 
another field of mental endeavor, is a mere 
will-o’-the-wisp, Professor Mann urges the 
teachers of high-school physics to bring the 
science home to their pupils, to a state of use- 
fulness such that application may be made 


C. Rreore 
Pp. 


SCIENCE 365 


naturally and immediately to the needs of 
every-day life—a thing necessary indeed if a 
vast majority of the pupils are to receive any 
appreciable benefit from the subject. He con- 
tends that such a change will be accomplished 
only when the content of the course concerns 
itself less with highly abstract ideas, less with 
highly developed systems of units, and more 
with broad general principles applicable to the 
real and concrete problems which the pupil, 
and later the man and the woman, meet in 
their work and recreation. A discussion of 
present-day text-books follows—mainly adverse 
criticism—and some proposed remedies are 
suggested in the form of new methods of ap- 
proach to the more fundamental principles. 
To these criticisms and suggestions is added 
the further suggestion that only by a process 
of experimental development will there be 
evolved a satisfactory high-school course in 
physics, with equally satisfactory text-books. 
The need is for cooperative effort and study of 
the problem on the part of large numbers of 
physics teachers. 

The details by means of which Professor 
Mann has followed these lines of development 
have been handled by him generally in excel- 
lent and convincing manner, though at times 
some of them have been thrown into promi- 
nence not altogether warranted by their im- 
portance. One easily appreciates the criticism 
of the somewhat dogmatic form in which 
statements of facts and theories are too fre- 
quently made by authors of text-books—such 
statements are surely enough benumbing to 
the pupil. The suggestion is good, also, that, 
so far as possible, the laboratory be used to 
settle points of uncertainty or of controversy 
raised in the class room, rather than merely 
to verify, by measurements, physical laws 
which are already known by the student far 
more accurately than his measurements can 
be made. The author shows, further, that it 
has been just this attitude, of desire to bridge 
a gap in knowledge, which has been effective in 
advancing the science in the past; a student 
trained to use the laboratory to settle prob- 
lems, real to him, would be much more likely 
to find physics of value to him in later years— 
himself to be of more value to the science. 


366 


The use of concrete ideas is treated at some 
length in one of the chapters; the discussion 
is given in excellent manner. Careful distine- 
tion is made between concepts which are 
merely specific and such as are concrete. The 
use of concrete elements in leading up to the 
formulation of general laws and principles is 
fully discussed. 

Many other points of interest and of real 
importance to the teacher are considered. For 
instance, the last chapter of the book is de- 
voted to a valuable discussion of various 
methods of examination by which the efficiency 
of the work in the different features of the 
course may be tested. 

There are, however, other points which are 
not so convincing. The author gives (Chap- 
ter V. and subsequent pages—cf. 109-112, 
117, 123, 187) a somewhat elaborate develop- 
ment of the ideas that science is the result of 
demands made by industrial and commercial 
growth, and that the habits of “ cooperative 
and democratic industry of the Germanic 
races ” (as contrasted with the “ innate, immu- 
table ideas” of the “aristocratic Greeks”) 
have been all-powerful in building up our 
modern physics. Similarly the statement is 
made and frequently repeated (page 166) that 
“the man of commerce may think that the 
world’s accounts are settled by money; but the 
student of real physics. . . knows that energy 
is the final basis of industrial values.” We 
may agree with these statements, or we may 
not, as the case may be, but when the author 
uses them as partial justification for the con- 
tention that the energy principle should form 
the unifying basis of the course in physics to 
the exclusion of theories and hypotheses, his 
main arguments for such procedure, valid 
enough in themselves, lose something of their 
due force. 

Again, in the chapter on the discipline of 
physies Professor Mann would be more con- 
vineing if the statements concerning the 
transfer of discipline were held within the 
limits set by the authorities quoted. On page 
191 is the statement “ since a scientific habit of 
mind, when developed in physics, is not trans- 
ferable, while a conscious ideal is transferable 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


”; as a matter of fact the chosen author- 
ities would justify nothing more conclusive in 
statement than that such habit is “ probably 
not” transferable. The most vigorous oppo- 
nents, among educational psychologists, of the 
old dogma of formal discipline would probably 
hold the question as yet open; this much would 
be indicated by their recognition of some 
transfer of discipline, some of them explaining 
the residual on the theory of common elements, 
others on the theory of transfer of method. 

Occasional references to the principle of 
relativity and to the principle of least action, 
induced apparently by the frequent use of 
Poincaré as authority, are likely to be mis- 
leading when found in a discussion of the 
teaching of high-school physics. These prin- 
ciples are very much in the air in these days, to 
be sure, but one is hardly justified therefore 
in stating (page 233) that “this idea of max- 
imum efficiency is valuable as giving a first 
inkling of the meaning of the principle of 
least action.” 

Even though one may feel inclined, on 
reading the volume, to differ from some state- 
ments and may not feel justified in following 
Professor Mann in constructing a high-school 
course according to the favorite plan of the 
author—excluding, as far as possible, con- 
sideration of theories and hypotheses—yet 
there remain reasons in plenty to justify the 
judgment that this is a notably helpful and 
searching treatment of a much-harrowed field. 
Differing or not, as the case may be, on specific 
suggestions and arguments, the reader finishes 
the book with admiration for its spirit of help- 
fulness. The book is more valuable, indeed, 
because it is ground for some wholesome dif- 
ference of opinion. 

For his basic contention that physics should 
be made real to the students and. evidently 
applicable to their every-day life, and that the 
students should be trained in this application, 
Professor Mann should have the praise and 
support of every serious teacher. The high- 
school teacher should not be left long in doubt. 
by college and university officers, as to the 
acceptability of such physics for college en- 
trance for the relatively few high-school pupils 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


who later find their way to college or univer- 
sity. No better groundwork could be found 
for college or technical school physics than 
the ability, on the part of the student, to apply 
the science to his every-day problems. 

The volume is one of the series which ap- 
pears under the title “The Teachers Profes- 
sional Library,” edited by Nicholas Murray 
Butler. The Macmillan Company is to be 
commended for the attractive and substantial 
form which the bock has been given. 


FE. E. Kuster 


Thick Lens Optics. An elementary treatise 
for the student and the amateur. By 
ArtHuR LatHam Baker, Ph.D., Manual 
Training High School, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
D. Van Nostrand Co. 1912. Pp. ix-+ 131. 
$1.50 net. 

University texts on optics, as a rule, treat 
first order lens theory but incompletely and 
the aberrations of the third and higher order 
scarcely at all. The average university in- 
structor in physics regards geometrical optics 
as an alien subject properly disposed of in 
high school. Reference texts of lens theory, 
on the other hand, deal largely with the third 
order theory and fail to give an elementary 
comprehensive treatment of first order theory. 

Baker’s little lens primer well fills this gap 
between the university text and the special 
treatise and will be heartily welcomed by 
oculists and by manufacturers and users of 
spectacles and other low-power lenses. It is 
confined strictly to first order theory, giving 
a simple and able treatment of image forma- 
tion and focal power of combinations of thin 
and thick lenses. Diagrams are plentiful and 
good. A great many numerical examples are 
given and one chapter is devoted to the ex- 
perimental determination of the optical con- 
stants of lens combinations with simple appa- 
ratus. When the book is revised it would be 
well to adopt a less formal style and perhaps 
either add a chapter on the special problems 
of spectacle lenses or mould the whole into 
an introduction to advanced lens theory. 


Pp. G. Nurrineg 


SCLENCE 


367 


Prisms. Their Use and Equivalents. By 
James THorteton; A.M., M.D., Ophthalmic 
Surgeon, Professor of Diseases of the Eye 
in the Philadelphia Polyclinic. P. Blakis- 
ton’s Son & Co. 1918. Pp. 144. 

This little book is based on its author’s 
course of lectures on this subject delivered 
each winter at the Philadelphia Polyclinic. 
Tt deals with the use of prismatic spectacle 
glasses in correcting muscular defects of the 
eye. Methods of evaluating prisms combined 
with spherical and cylindrical lenses are de- 
scribed and a number of useful tables given. 
The diagnosis and measurement of imperfect 
muscular balance (heterophoria) and of devia- 
tion from parallelism (heterotropia) of the 
eyes are discussed at some length. The book 
is well written and well illustrated and bears 
evidence on every page of the author’s grasp 
and first-hand knowledge of the subject. 


P. G. Nurrine 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
A PARASITE OF THE CHINCH BUG EGG 


In the experiments conducted this year to 
determine the time of the first appearance of 
young chinech bugs and the mortality of the 
eges, a large number of eggs were collected in 
the field for examination. The eggs which 
were collected at different intervals and in 
different localities daily. 
While thus examining the eggs it was noticed 
that some of them became dark in color instead 
of assuming the usual red coloring. These 


were examined 


eges were isolated and on May 19 there 
emerged from them three parasites. With 
these three parasites as a basis, the life history 


was carried through four generations, running 
up to July 5. Since this was the time between 
the two broods of the chinch bugs, it became 
impossible to obtain additional chinch bug 
eges with which to continue the work. From 
July 5 to July 23 only an occasional para- 
sitized ege was found in the field, but 
beginning with the latter date, parasitized 
eggs were found in large numbers in the 
corn fields and the second generation was ob- 
tained by August 10. Up to the present date 


368 


this year over 325 individual parasites have 
been bred out. The length of the life cycle has 
-been found to vary from ten to eighteen days, 
depending on the climatic conditions. 

The parasite has been found in every wheat 
and corn field examined around Manhattan. 
Of 3,101 eggs collected between April 28 and 
June 10, the average per cent. of parasitism 
was 20.8, and of 116 eggs collected at Crawford 
(central Kansas) the per cent. of parasitism 
was 16.3. The insect has also been taken at 
Dodge City (southwestern Kansas). 

The work is still under way and a full 
description of the parasite together with notes 
on its life history and efficiency will be pub- 
lished later. 

Mr. A. B. Gahan, entomological assistant of 
the Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of 
Agric., to whom specimens of the parasite were 
sent for determination, says: 

I have made a partial examination of these 
parasites and find them to belong to the family 
Proctotrypide, and they probably fall close to the 
genus Telenomus. It will require further study 
for me to determine definitely regarding them. 
It seems probable that they represent not only a 
new species, but possibly a new genus. 

In a more recent letter Mr. Gahan writes: 

After exhausting every effort to determine the 
parasites of the chinch bug which you sent me 
and failing to find any such species described, I 
turned the specimens oyer to Mr. J. C. Crawford, 
of the United States National Museum, to see what 
he could do with them. He informed me yester- 
day that he had arrived at the same conclusion as 
myself, namely, that the species would require a 
new genus. 


James W. McCo.tiocH 
KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
AND EXPERIMENT STATION 


SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SEXUALITY OF 
SPIROGYRA 


Tue gametes of Spirogyra are described in 
the text-books of botany as being morpholog- 
ically alike. A few workers have claimed that 
the female gametes in certain species are 
larger than the male. Aside from these observa- 
tions the writer knows of no published accounts 
of attempts to point out other differences be- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


tween the male and female gametes of Spiro- 
gyra. A large number of measurements of 
the conjugating cells have been made by the 
writer, but no constant difference in their size- 
has been found. Several examples were ob-- 
served where the transverse diameter of the 
filaments producing male gametes was slightly 
less than that of those in which the females 
were formed. The male cells may be longer: 
or shorter than or equal the length of the 
females. The cells of any one filament vary in 
length. It is, therefore, quite evident that 
the gametes of some Spirogyras can not be dis- 
tinguished as male and female on the basis of 
their relative size. 

The writer observed a few years ago that the- 
chloroplasts of the female gametes of Spzro- 
gyra crassa, just after the formation of the- 
conjugating tubes, contained a much larger- 
amount of starch and more pyrenoids than 
those of the male. The pyrenoids of the male 
gametes were larger and the amount of starch 
surrounding each pyrenoid was considerably 
less than in the females. Practically the 
same kind of differences seen in the gametes of 
Spirogyra crassa were observed in three other 
undetermined species of Spirogyra. By care- 
ful fixation of material of these unidentified’ 
species, taken just before or immediately after’ 
conjugation had begun and staining in iron- 
hemotoxylin and erythrosin, the cytoplasm of 
the majority of the female gametes stained a 
little more darkly than that of the males. The 
density of the staining of the female gametes: 
was so marked in some filaments that they 
could easily be distinguished from the male 
even when the two were not in close proximity: 
No examples of conjugating cells were found’ 
where the male gamete stained more darkly 
or in which there were more starch and pyre- 
noids than in the female. Every year during 
the past seven years, the writer has examined’ 
several hundred filaments of Spirogyra in 
which conjugation was occurring or had just 
taken place, and in every example, the gamete 
with less starch and pyrenoids was passing 
over to or had just united with the gamete pos- 
sessing a greater amount of starch and pyre- 
noids. The protoplasts of any one filament 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


are to all appearances vegetatively alike. They 
differ apparently only in size. Zygotes were 
never found in both filaments, but only in 
the one containing the larger amount of food. 

The difference in the number and size of the 
pyrenoids and the amount of starch present 
in the chloroplasts and in the staining reac- 
tion of the cytoplasm of the gametes, clearly 
indicate at least that in certain species of 
Spirogyra the male and female gametes are 
distinctly morphologically as well as physiolog- 
ically different. Since starch is formed more 
abundantly in the female gametes than in the 
male, the female plants evidently possess a 
greater vegetative activity than the male 
plants. Blakeslee’ in his recent studies of 
Mucors concludes that the female plants 
(+ strains) in dicecious forms are more vege- 
tatively luxuriant than the male plants (— 
strains). 

A more detailed account than is presented 
here will appear later. 

Haritan H. Yorr 
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, 
BrRowN UNIVERSITY 


THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 
BACTERIOLOGISTS 

SYSTEMATIC AND PHYSIOLOGIC BACTERIOLOGY 

THE annual meeting of the society was held in 
New York City, December 31, 1912, and January 
1 and 2, 1913, under the presidency of Dr. William 
H. Park. The sessions were held at the American 
Museum of Natural History, the University and 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College and the Rocke- 
feller Institute. The society expressed its indebt- 
edness to these institutions for their courtesy. 
The annual dinner was held on Wednesday eve- 
ning, January 1, 1913, at which the president’s 
address was delivered. Dr. Park spoke upon ‘‘ The 
Applications of Bacteriology in the Activities of a 
City.’ 

With this as his text Dr. Park traced the history 
of the Research Laboratories of the Board of 
Health of New York City, an institution which 
easily takes rank with the Pasteur Institute of 
Paris and other institutions of the kind in Europe. 

1 Blakeslee, A. F., ‘‘A Possible Means of Iden- 
tifying the Sex of (+) and (—) Races in the 
Mucors,’’ Science, N. 8., 37: 880-881, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


369 


In the original work which has been done under 
Dr. Park’s direction no other American laboratory 
engaged in public health work can point to so 
many achievements which have resulted in ad- 
vancing our knowledge of infectious diseases and 
methods for controlling them. 

The following officers were elected for a term 
of one year: 

President—C.-E. A. Winslow. 

Vice-president—Charles E. Marshall. 

Secretary-treasurer—A. Parker Hitchens. 

Council—W. J. MacNeal, L. F. Rettger, D. H. 
Bergey, H. A. Harding. 

Delegate to Council of A. A. A. S—S. E. Pres- 
cott. 

The following papers were read: 


The Value of Glycerinated Potato as a Culture 
Medium: M. R. Smirnow, M.D., New Haven, 
Conn., instructor in bacteriology and pathology, 
Yale Medical School. 

The glycerinated potato culture medium belongs 
to the class of the so-called media, which as the 
term implies, are media of various compositions 
and are used only for special purposes. They may 
be employed as follows: (1) for the purpose of 
isolating. microorganisms; (2) to furnish a sufli- 
ciently favorable medium for the growth of cer- 
tain organisms; (3) for specific or differentiating 
tests; (4) to bring out special features of growth. 
Aside from blood media, the most frequently used 
of the special media are the glycerinated potato 
and agar, but even these are practically limited 
to the cultivation and the study of acid fasts. 
It has long been the opinion of the writer that if 
some of our so-called special media were put to a 
more general use, hitherto unknown biological 
features in the study of microorganisms would 
come to light. This was emphasized by the finding 
of a marked contrastimg~culture on glycerinated 
potato of a glanders bacillus, which was being 
isolated at our laboratories during the last year. 
This organism was isolated from a human case of 
glanders. When first obtained it gave but a faint 
yellow growth on plain potato, by no means the 
so-called honey-like growth. It was then planted 
on glycerine potato with more success. On this 
medium it gave a luxuriant growth of a bright 
yellow color and typically honey-like in character. 
It was this peculiar and striking difference in the 
growth of the glanders bacillus that led up to the 
work here outlined. The cultural characters of 
twenty-five microorganisms were studied on gly- 
cerine potato, plain potato and broth potato, the 


370 SCIENCE 


two latter media being used as controls. The 
media were freshly made as needed. A number of 
potatoes were cut into cylinders, washed in run- 
ning water for about an hour and then allowed to 
remain in a basin of water over night. One third 
of the lot was placed into 6 per cent. glycerine 
broth, and one third into plain broth for about 
two hours, and the remainder was left in the 
water. The three batches of potatoes were then 
tubed and glycerine broth and plain broth were 
poured into the tubes up to the level of the gly- 
cerinated and broth potato, respectively. The 
plain potato had no fluid added to it. The media 
were then sterilized in the autoclave at 18 Ibs. 
pressure for 15 minutes, and then stored until 
used in cold place to prevent drying. The plants 
were all made of the same stock cultures, at the 
same time incubated both at 22° and 37.5° C. 
Each test was carried out a number of times, to 
assure constant results. The results obtained will 
for convenience be divided into three groups. The 
first comprising bacteria that show a striking con- 
trast in their cultures on the different potato 
media; the second showing a slight difference, 
and the third those showing no difference. The 
first group includes the following microorganisms: 

Two different strains of B. mallei of human 
source. 

One strain of B. mallei received from New York. 

Two strains of Actinomyces received from Wash- 
ington. 

B. pyocyaneus, old stock culture. 

B. subtilis, old stock culture. 

An unidentified spore-forming bacillus, isolated 
from the intestinal tract of a rabbit and 
designated as ‘‘B. rabbit spore.’’ 

To sum up this group: The three strains of the 
glanders bacillus give lighter colored, moister and 
more typical honey-like growths on glycerine po- 
tato. Their growth on plain potato is more 
brownish yellow in color and the potato is usually 
discolored. A metallic luster was noted on broth 
potato on several occasions with each strain. The 
Actinomycetes give a dry culture made up of iso- 
lated colonies, raised and of decided brown color 
on plain potato, whereas on glycerinated potato 
they give rise to a luxuriant growth of more con- 
glomerated colonies of a honeycomb-like arrange- 
ment and of a light-yellow color. The B. pyocy- 
aneus gives a brighter and deeper green pigment 
on the glycerine medium and a brown or green- 
brown slimy growth on ordinary potato. The B. 
prodigiosus gives a bright cherry-colored growth 
on glycerine potato and agar, at 22° C., a slight 
ved or orange on broth potato and a faint pink 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


on ordinary potato. It gives hardly any color at 
37.5° C., on any of the media. The B. subtilis 
apparently grows better on ordinary potato, pro- 
ducing a heavy furred culture of brown color. 
On the glycerine potato it gives a rather delicate 
lightly furred growth of a light-yellow color. In 
the second group are included: 

B. coli, stock eulture. 

B. mucosus, stock culture. 

Sp. cholera, stock culture. 

An unidentified organism isolated from rabbit 

feces, here designated as ‘‘B. rabbit feces.’’ 
An unidentified pleomorphic bacillus isolated 


from a contaminated plate. 
A mould. 


In general it may be stated that these organisms 
do not show striking differences in their growths 
upon the three varieties of potato. Glycerinated 
potato permits as a rule a much lighter colored 
growth, less raised, and often more homogeneous 
in character. In the third group are included the 
diphtheria, typhoid, dysentery and grass bacillus, 
the Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus 
(two strains), Sarcina aurantia and a yeast. 
There are no visible differences in the cultural 
characters of each of these organisms on the 
potato media under consideration. The chromo- 
genie organisms (Sarcina aureus, yeast) seemed 
to give brighter and more intense pigment produc- 
tion and at times somewhat more luxuriant 
growths on the glycerinated potato. In conclusion 
the writer desires to bring to your attention that 
with the particular strains used glycerinated po- 
tato affords a more favorable medium for most of 
the twenty-five microorganisms tested. It allows 
more moist, more homogeneous, less raised growth 
characteristics, of lighter or brighter color. With 
the B. prodigiosus the color was greatly intensi- 
fied. Glycerine potato is seldom discolored, 
whereas both broth and plain potato are frequently 
discolored, particularly the latter. From the above 
we may conclude that a more general use of gly- 
cerinated potato suggests itself. 


The Preservation of Stock Cultures: A, PARKER 

HitcHens, Glenolden, Pa. 

For the preparation of stock bacterial vaccines 
it is necessary to have constantly on hand a large 
number of cultures of the various pathogenic bac- 
teria. For the preparation of vaccines for the 
treatment of the various regional mixed infections, 
it is deemed necessary to collect the various spe- 
cies and types in each region. To keep fresh stock 
of any culture frequent transplantation is neces- 
sary. As the intervals between transplants vary 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


considerably with the different cultures, a card- 
catalogue system has been devised. Under this 
system each culture is represented by a card, upon 
which are recorded all the dates of transplantation 
as the fresh cultures are made. The cards are 
kept in a file, with each card placed under the date 
at which the next transplant of its culture is 
necessary. The work upon the cultures each day 
is carried out in accordance with the cards filed 
under that date. During the intervals between 
transplants, all cultures except the B. influenze, 
gonococcus and meningococcus are kept cold. Five 
dates of each culture are kept and the tube of 
most recent date is unopened. In order to keep a 
large number of cultures constantly on ice, we 
have had a refrigerator constructed especially for 
this purpose. The refrigerator, well insulated, is 
about seven feet long, six feet high and two feet 
in depth. It is divided into six large compart- 
ments, three above and three below. The middle 
compartment of the upper row contains the ice, 
and it is always filled to its capacity, 500 pounds. 
This quantity of ice maintains a temperature of 
10° to 15° C. throughout the entire refrigerator. 
The refrigerator is well drained and the open 
framework of the interior allows free circulation 
of air. Five compartments are devoted to the 
cultures. These compartments are provided with 
drawers, which slide in grooves and are easily 
removed. Hach drawer is of such dimensions that 
two crates of cultures fit end to end within it. 
The total number of drawers is 63 and the total 
capacity 1,600 cultures. The front of each drawer 
is provided with a groove into which a card is 
fitted designating the contents of the drawer. 
With this refrigerator and our system of trans- 
planting we are able to keep ready for immediate 
use a fresh supply of all the cultures necessary for 
the preparation of bacterial vaccines. 


A Refinement of the Technic of Quantitative Bac- 
teriological Analyses: W. D. Frost, Boston, 
Mass. 

It is generally recognized that the measured 
quantities of water, used for dilution, lose in 
volume during sterilization and upon standing. 
The exact amount of this loss or the means of 
preventing it are apparently not generally under- 
stood. Im an extended series of experiments it is 
found that the loss varies from 1 to 8.8 per cent. 
and that the average is 5.07 per cent. Various 
types of autoclaves are tested and it is found that 
there is considerable variation in the different 
types. The loss is evidently due to the ebullition 


SCIENCE 


371 


and escape of steam, especially during cooling. 
This loss can be prevented by closing up the auto- 
clave cold, as is frequently done in sterilizing 
blood serum. When closed in this way the auto- 
clave is not always efficient in the time or at the 
pressure ordinarily used. In order to insure 
sterilization it will be necessary to extend the 
time, increase the pressure or sterilize on two 
consecutive days. The evaporation due to stand- 
ing a few weeks is equal to the loss in the auto- 
clave. This is not prevented by a thin paper cap. 
Paraffined paper is recommended, also cork stop- 
pers covered by a thin layer of cotton instead of 
an ordinary cotton plug. In using the bottles 
after making the dilution it is suggested that the 
sterile side of this cap be forced into the mouth 
of the bottle with the cork. This permits efficient 
shaking. 


The Significance of the Time at which Gas is pro- 
duced in Lactose Peptone Bile: WILLIAM W. 
BROWNE, Ph.D., College of the City of New 
York. 

During the summer of 1912 routine bacteriolog- 
ical examinations of oysters of Narragansett Bay 
were made under the direction of Professor F. P. 
Gorham, of Brown University, with the hope of 
determining the extent of the pollution of the 
oyster beds of Rhode Island by the sewage of the 
neighboring cities and towns. The examinations 
were made according to the methods proposed by 
the American Health Association. Lactose pep- 
tone bile was used as a presumptive test to indi- 
cate the presence of members of the Bacillus coli 
group and other lactose fermenters of intestinal 
origin. (1) Lactose peptone bile tubes inoculated 
with the shell liquor of oysters taken from 119 
different beds produce the greater part of their 
gas by the end of the forty-eighth hour. (2) 
Lactose peptone bile tubes inoculated with the 
shell liquor of oysters taken from polluted areas 
produce almost all their gas by the end of the 
forty-eighth hour. (3) Lactose peptone bile tubes 
inoculated with the shell liquor of oysters taken 
from districts comparatively free from pollution 
produce the greater part of their gas by the end 
of the seventy-second hour. (4) Consideration of 
this temporal factor in the production of gas in 
lactose peptone bile might aid in the determina- 
tion of whether the pollution was recent or remote. 


A Comparative Study of the Smith Fermentation 
Tube and the Inverted Vial for the Determina- 
tion of Sugar Fermentation: WiLuiam W. 
Browne, Ph.D. 


372 SCIENCE 


During the sanitary survey of Narragansett 
Bay conducted under the direction of Professor F. 
P, Gorham, of Brown University, a comparison 
was made of the efficiency of the Smith fermenta- 
tion tube and the inverted vial as used in the 
presumptive test with lactose peptone bile to indi- 
eate the presence of members of the Bacillus coli 
group and other lactose fermenters of intestinal 
origin. Fermentation tubes and inverted vials 
containing lactose peptone bile were inoculated 
with the shell liquor of oysters taken from pol- 
luted areas and the following results were ob- 
tained: 

Percentage of Efficiency 


Cubie Centimeter 
24 hrs. 48 hrs. 


Fermentation tube ......... 84.6% 94.34 
imvertedisvialoweseeieicicien ere 92.34 96.1% 
One Tenth 


Cubie Centimeter 
24 hrs. 48 hrs. 


Fermentation tube ......... 86.54 90.3% 
nvertedwvialy crys ceteris) eteley 59.5% 84.6% 


One Hundredth 
Cubic Centimeter 
24 hrs. 48 hrs. 


Fermentation tube ......... 32.6% 55.7% 
Tmvertedwivaalieyeriieraier-dreysierts 23.0% 42.3% 
Resistance of Microorganisms Suspended in Gly- 
cerine or Oil to the Sterilizing Action of Heat: 

C. J. BARTLETT and F. B. KINNE. 

Dreyer and Walker have recently reported the 
results of heating spores suspended in glycerine 
and oil. They show that spores in glycerine were 
not killed with certainty after heating two hours 
at 14 atmospheres, 2 hours at 14 atmospheres or 
one half hour at 2 atmospheres. In our experi- 
ments we have worked with the Staphylococcus 
aureus, with the Bacillus anthracis and with the 
Bacillus subtilis, and with a bacillus with very 
resistant spores, apparently the Bacillus vitalis. 
These have been heated in glycerine, water, olive 
oil, cottonseed oil and paraffin for different periods 
at the temperature of boiling water and in the 
autoclave at 74 lbs. pressure and at 15 Ibs. pres- 
sure. "The Staphylococcus aureus is quickly killed 
in all of these, even at the temperature of boiling 
water. The spores of the anthrax bacillus and of 
B. subtilis are quickly killed in boiling water, 
usually in three minutes or less. In glycerine they 
have been found alive after one and one fourth 
hour at this temperature and in oil after fifty 
minutes, and in the autoclave after heating in oil 
fifteen minutes and in glycerine in ten minutes at 
7% lbs. In water they do not live after five min- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


utes at this pressure. The spores of the B. vitalis 
are killed in about one half of these tests by heat- 
ing in boiling water for two hours, while in oil 
and glycerine they resisted this temperature for 
two hours in every instance. After heating in the 
autoclave they were found alive in oil at 15 Ibs. 
for two hours and in glycerine after one and a half 
hour, but not longer. In water they were never 
found after twenty minutes at 74 lbs. and after 
ten minutes at 15 Ibs. It is evident that spores 
are more resistant to the action of hot oil and 
glycerine than to that of hot water. 


The Comparative Viability of Pnewmococct on 
Solid and on Fluid Culture Media: L. J. Gi- 
LESPIE, Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research. 

The following facts have been observed: (1) 
Broth which is perfectly suited for the growth of 
copious cultures of the pneumococcus often re- 
quires many more organisms (frequently a million 
times as many) to initiate growth than does agar. 
(2) Cultures which when fresh from the animal 
body show a marked effect become on cultivation 
upon artificial media indifferent in their require- 
ments. (3) Certain cultures (of any strain) show 
no effect even when fresh from the body. (4) 
Differences in chemical composition of broth and 
of agar play little or no part because an imitation 
‘“solid’’ medium, prepared from filter paper and 
broth, serves nearly as well as agar. (5) The 
possibility that insufficient aeration in the case of 
broth plays any role is ruled out by comparing 
agar plates with agar shake cultures. These phe- 
nomena may be explained if we suppose that the 
pheumococcus sometimes requires for its multipli- 
cation that substances from the animal body be 
present in the immediate environment of the cocci, 
the concentration of which can be too far reduced 
in the case of broth by diffusion aided by convec- 
tion. If we suppose rather that the necessary sub- 
stances are produced by the pneumococci them- 
selves we may assume that such substances are 
always necessary, and that during acclimatization 
to artificial media the capacity for such metab- 
olism is increased. 

Studies of the Subtilis Group: Karu F, KELLER- 


MAN and Epna H. Fawcerr, Bureau of Plant. 


Industry, Washington, D. C. 

The Subtilis group includes the spore-forming 
aerobie and facultative anaerobic bacteria which 
liquefy gelatine. Numerous cultures of members 
of this group have been obtained from various 
sources. Biometrical study of their acid produc- 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


tion, ammonia production, and the reduction of 
nitrates, together with careful comparison of their 
morphology, has shown the necessity for allowing 
greater range in the description of Bacillus sub- 
tilis, B. cereus, B. mycoides and B. megatherium. 
No decision has as yet been reached regarding the 
validity of B. asterosporus or B. ruminatus. For 
the first four species named the following syn- 
onymy is submitted: 


B. subtilis 


B. subtilis Cohn (Emend) 1876, (Flugge) 1886, 
(Zopf) 1883. 
mesentericus vulgatus Flugge, 1886. 
mesentericus fuscus Flugge, 1886. 
liodermus Flugge, 1886. 
aerophilus Flugge, 1886. 
levis Frankland, 1887. 
mesentericus fuscus Trevisan, 1889. 
mucosus Zimmermann, 1894. 
destructans Wright, 1895. 
mesentericus ruber Globig (Flugge), 1896. 
leptosporus Klein, 1900. 
sessilis Klein, 1900. 
pumilis Gottheil, 1901. 
simplex Gottheil, 1901. 
mesentericus Chester, 1903. 
malarve Klebs. (Original not consulted.) 


B. cereus 


.B. cereus Frankland, 1887. 
ulna Cohn, 1875. (Incomplete description.) 
ramosus liquefaciens Flugge, 1886. 
subtilis Frankland, 1887. 
subtilis Sternberg, 1890. 
subtilis Eisenberg, 1891. 
petroselina Burchard, 1892. 
cursor Burchard, 1892. 
loxzosus Burchard, 1892. 
gomosporus Burchard, 1892. 
turgescens Burchard, 1892. 
Umosus Russel, 1894. 
capillaceus Wright, 1895. 
crinitum Wright, 1895. 
subtilis Wright, 1895. 
subtilis Lehman and Neumann, 1896. 
ellenbachensis Stutzer and Hartleb, 1898. 
fusiformis Gottheil, 1901. 
stoloniferus Pohl, 1903. 
lutulentus Kern. (Original not consulted.) 


B. mycoides 


B. mycoides Flugge, 1886. 
figurans Crookshank, 1886. 
bassice Pommer, 1886. 
bacterium casei Adametz, 1889. 
ramosus Frankland, 1889. 
radicosus Hisenberg, 1891. 
implexus Zimmermann, 1890. 
intricatus Russel, 1892. 


B. megatheriwm 


‘B. megatherium De Bary, 1884. 
tumescens Zopf, 1885. 


SCIENCE 373 


lacteus Lembke, 1897. 
petasites Gottheil, 1901. 
graveolens Gottheil, 1901. 
granulosus Russel, 1892. 
Parasites found on Rats in Providence: GEoRGE 

H. Rosryson, Brown University. 

The examination of the rats of Providence for 
evidence of plague and for the occurrence of para- 
sites has extended over a period of six months, 
from July to December. During this time 342 rats 
from different parts of the city were inspected. 
No evidence of plague was found. The specimens 
were evenly divided as to sex. As to species there 
were 333 specimens of Mus norvegicus, 2 of Mus 
alexandrinus, 1 of Mus rattus, 4 which showed 
evidences of being a cross between Mus norvegicus 
and Mus alexandrinus, 1 apparently a cross be- 
tween Mus norvegicus and Mus rattus, and 1 Mus 
musculus. Of these 342 rats, 57 per cent. were 
infected with fleas, 21 per cent. with mites (Le- 
laps echidninus) and 24 per cent. with lice (Poly- 
plaz spinulosus). 2,053 fleas were found, consist- 
ing of 75 per cent. Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild, 
22 per cent. Ceratophyllus fasciatus Bose, 2.5 per 
cent. Ctenopsylla musculi Duges and 0.5 per cent. 
Ctenocephalus canis Curtis. No evidence of a 
regional distribution of the fleas was observed. 
A marked seasonal variation was noted, the av- 
erage flea per rat for July-September being 10.2, 
while that for October-December was 3.7. The 
largest number of fleas taken from a single speci- 
men was 300. No relation was found between a 
filthy habitat and the number of fleas, for the 
average flea per rat was higher, in general, for 
the rats from dwelling houses and restaurants than 
for those from stables and docks. 12 per cent. of 
the specimens were affected with sores. Parasites, 
the encysted form of the cat tapeworm, Tenia 
crassicollis, and the ova of some undetermined form 
were found in the liver of 7 per cent. of the rats. 
This condition occurred most frequently in the 
rats obtained from markets. 


Comparison of Two Methods for Bacterial An- 
alysis of Air: G. L. RUEHLE and H. A. Harpine. 
Report of progress in the comparison of the 

Rettger method with the official sand filtration 

method. An exact comparison was found to be 

difficult to obtain and the relative value hard to 
estimate. Study to be continued. 


A Biometric Study of the Streptococci from Milk 
and from the Human Throat: E. C. STowELu, 
C. M. Hituarp, M. J. ScHLESINGER. 

Two hundred and forty pure strains of strepto- 


374 


cocci isolated from milk and from the human 
throat have been compared as to their morphology, 
Gram stain and gentian violet reaction by the 
plate method, and their quantitative acid produc- 
tion in seven carbohydrates and related organic 
media. Hemolysis was studied with 92 strains. 
We have been able to make no correlation between 
the length of chain and the relation to violet stain 
with any other character. Seventeen out of 92 
cultures gave hemolysis when streaked on blood 
agar plates. Five of these cultures came from 
normal milk, five—the most vigorous hemolizers— 
were from milk where udder trouble was indicated 
in the cow, and seven were normal throat forms. 
The seven substances tested showed a definite order 
of availability for the acid production. This order 
(‘‘metabolie gradient’’) and the per cent. of cul- 
ture yielding 1.2 per cent. or more of acid when 
grown at 37° C. for three days is shown in the 
following table: 


Per Cent. 
Glucose (monosaccharide) ...........- 98.0 
Lactose (disaccharide) ............... 76.0 
Saccharose (disaccharide) ............ 65.5 
Sallicinan(elmcoside) rmewacireter eateries 42. 
Raffinose (trisaccharide) ............. 37.5 
onlin ga (Staxch)) imearercicrlcree ocr Te 9.0 
Mannite (hexahydria alcohol) ......... 1.5 


It will be noted that the degree of availability is 
closely associated with the size and complexity of 
the substance. According to the positive reaction 
over 1.2 per cent. acid—in the test substances 
88 per cent. of the cultures may be placed in eight 
groups. The following features separate milk 
throat streptococci: (1) milk organisms 
yield over 2.5 per cent. acid in lactose and sac- 
charose at 37° C.; (2) they seldom ferment sub- 
stances higher in the metabolic series than sac- 
charose; (3) they readily ferment dextrose, lac- 
tose and saccharose at 20° C. On the other hand, 
throat streptococci (1) seldom yield over 2.5 per 
cent. acid in any substance; (2) over 40 per cent. 
of the cultures yield over 1.2 per cent. acid in 
either salicin or raffinose; (3) at 20° C. they 
almost never attack any of the seven test sub- 
stances. 


from 


A Systematic Study of the Coccace in the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History Collection: 
I. J. Kureuer, Department of Public Health, 
American Museum of Natural History. 

A biometric study of 54 strains of cocci in the 
museum collection was made in order to test the 
classification proposed by the Winslows in their 
book on the ‘‘Systematic Relationship of the Coc- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 976 


cace.’’ Twelve morphological and physiological 
tests were applied and the results recorded quan- 
titatively whenever possible. The results corrobo- 
rate the work done by the Winslows. The cocci— 
other than streptococci—group themselves into five 
distinct classes according to the pigment produced 
as follows: (a) White pigment—Albococcus; (b) 
orange pigment—Aurococcus; (c) yellow pigment 
—WMicrococcus; (d) yellow pigment and packets— 
Sarcina; (e) red pigment—Rhodococcus. The 
other properties correlate remarkably with that of 
pigment production and prove that this generic 
division is a fundamental one. The definition of 
species is also based on real differences. The 
species recognized by Winslow were found to be 
valid, but the number was incomplete. Three new 
species were recognized (Alb. urea, M. melitensis 
and S. aurantiaca) and the possible existence of 
a few others suggested. Further study is neces- 
sary. The application of the principles of biom- 
etry to the systematic study of the Coccace has 
yielded very successful results. It is hoped that 
new workers will apply this principle to the sys- 
tematic study of this and other groups of bacteria. 


Bacteriological Collection and Bureau for the Dis- 
tribution of Bacterial Cultures at the American 
Museum of Natural History, New York: C.-E. 
A. WINSLOW. 

In January, 1911, a prospectus, from which the 
following sentences are quoted, was sent out from 
the American Museum to the leading laboratories 
of the country. ‘‘The Department of Public 
Health at the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory has equipped a laboratory to serve as a cen- 
tral bureau for the preservation and distribution 
of bacterial cultures of both pathogenic and non- 
pathogenic organisms, and particularly of types of 
new forms and varieties. It is hoped that the 
laboratories of medical schools, colleges, boards of 
health, agricultural experiment stations, etc., and 
those engaged in biochemical work of all sorts, 
will furnish the museum with cultures at present 
in their possession, and the laboratory is now 
ready to receive and care for any such cultures. 
Types of new species and varieties are particularly 
desired at the present time and as they may he 
isolated in the future. The laboratory, of course, 
can not undertake to keep on hand bacteria difii- 
cult of cultivation, such as can be maintained only 
for a few weeks after isolation from the body; 
neither can it at present supply virulent cultures 
whieh rapidly lose their virulence under laboratory 
conditions. It should, however, be able to furnish 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


cultures of organisms of all the ordinary types 
which can be maintained under cultivation. 
Pathogenic forms will be sent only to properly 
qualified persons.’’ The value of the proposed 
collection was quickly appreciated. Cultures from 
all over the United States and Canada have 
been contributed freely. In all, 45 different labo- 
ratories have sent in cultures, and arrangements 
have been made for exchange with Professor 
Kraus, of Vienna, who now has charge of the 
famous Kral collection. On December 1, 1912, the 
collection included 578 strains representing 374 
different named types, and in the list, which has 
been printed and may be obtained on application, 
are most of the important pathogenic and non- 
pathogenic species which have been definitely de- 
scribed. 

During the period of somewhat less than two 
years, from January 1, 1911, to December 1, 1912, 
the laboratory distributed to 122 different colleges 
and research laboratories of the United States and 
Canada 1,700 different cultures, in every case 
without charge. It is the policy of the depart- 
ment to send cultures free to all teaching labora- 
tories of college and university grade, and to all 
research laboratories, whether cultures are sent to 
us in return or not. Many cultures have been 
called for by teaching laboratories for use in their 
class work. The most important service the labo- 
ratory has been able to render, however, has been 
in furnishing authentic cultures to investigators 
who have been making a study of certain special 
groups, and the published papers which have re- 
sulted, in which various detailed characters of the 
museum types are described, of course greatly in- 
crease the value of the collection. 


DAIRY BACTERIOLOGY 


Transportation of Milk: M. C. ScuroEDER, M.D., 
assistant director, Research Laboratory, Depart- 
ment of Health, City of New York. 

The problem of the transportation of milk is 
influenced chiefly by the necessity of subjecting 
it to the long or the short haul. Most of the 
smaller cities and towns receive milk from a dis- 
tance of ten miles, so that milk is transported in 
wagons only and is delivered to the customer quite 
fresh. Here, icing during the warm, and protec- 
tion during the cold, together with frequent inspec- 
tion of the delivery wagons, and the taking of 
samples for bacterial tests solve the problem fairly 
well. New York receives about 30,000 quarts a 
day from about 145 such outlying farms. The 


SCIENCE 


375 


greater bulk of the milk, about 1,800,000 quarts, 
is brought from distances of 50 to 300 miles. This 
milk is first drawn to the receiving station, mixed 
in tanks, simply aerated, or pasteurized and cooled, 
bottled and canned, and shipped in refrigerator 
ears holding 272 to 375 40-quart cans, or from 450 
to 700 boxes of 12 quarts each. The most impor- 
tant question in the long haul is the refrigeration. 
Two methods of icing have been utilized. Direct 
(crushed ice being placed upon cans and bottles), 
second ‘‘indirect’’ (the ice being placed in boxes 
called bunkers at the end of the car). The bunk- 
ers are found to be too small for the ice necessary 
to keep the milk cold if the weather is hot or the 
journey long. Milk comes over 15 railroads and 
enters New York through eight terminals. Trains 
start in the country from 7 A.M. on, and arrive at 
the terminal from 9 P.M. to 2 a.M. if not delayed. 
At the terminal it is loaded in large trucks and is 
drawn one or more miles to pasteurizing or dis- 
tributing centers. Here it is handled and sorted 
and finally loaded into smaller wagons for delivery. 
The milk supply of New York is safeguarded from 
bacterial contamination as follows: by annual 
sanitary inspection of the farms on which the 
milk is produced, and the more frequent reports of 
the farmers delivering the milk as to the condi- 
tions existing of production and care, by inspect- 
ing the icing of the milk and the conditions of 
the cans and bottles being shipped back to the 
creamery; by inspecting the conditions under 
which it is sold; it also seeks to detect the condi- 
tion of production, transportation and sale by 
taking bacteriological samples of milk from eream- 
eries, at the railroad terminals, from wagons, pas- 
teurizing plants, hospitals, stores, ete. Thus last 
year the number of samples taken and analyzed 
was 61,142. For the control of the milk supply, 
the Department of Health has only 24 inspectors 
for about 44,000 farms, 30 inspectors for the five 
boroughs and 4 inspectors taking bacteriological 
samples for both city and country. 


Problems in Sanitary Milk Classification, with 
special reference to the Experience in New 
York City: Ernst J. LEpERLE, Ph.D., Commis- 
sioner of Health, City of New York. 

In contradistinetion to most other large munici- 
palities, New York City undertakes practically the 
entire supervision of its milk supply from the cow 
to the consumer, notwithstanding that nearly all 
the 45,000 farms on which this milk supply is 
produced are located outside the city, and more 
than 6,000 of them outside the state. The milk 


376 


supply may become a source of danger to the 
public health by being infected with the germ of 
bovine tuberculosis, the germs of typhoid fever, 
scarlet fever, diphtheria and tonsillitis, by having 
in general an excessive bacterial growth and by 
not having a proper nutritive value. In view of 
these sources of danger, the means to be employed 
to make public milk supplies safe are as follows: 
(1) the prevention of adulteration; (2) the pro- 
duction of a clean milk of low bacterial count. 
This involves cleanliness of the cows and milkers, 
clean barns, clean vessels, the exclusion of dust, 
immediate reduction of temperature after milking, 
icing during transportation, the sale in sanitary 
stores; (3) the production of milk free from 
pathogenic organisms, involving the prevention of 
the introduction of infectious disease through hu- 
man agencies, flies and dust. The general milk 
supply of every large city is unfit for use in infant 
feeding, and as the attempt to bring the general 
market milk to the degree of purity required for 
infant feeding can never be successful, the only 
way in which sanitary authorities can meet exist- 
ing conditions is by requiring the pasteurization 
of all milk which is not of special grades. The 
official classification of milk in New York City is 
as follows: 
Grade A: 
1. Certified. 
Guaranteed. 
2. Inspected milk (raw). 
38. Selected milk (pasteurized). 
Grade B: 
1. Selected milk (raw). 
2. Pasteurized milk. 


Grade C: 
For cooking. 


The following changes are under consideration: 
(1) the elimination of Grade B (raw) entirely, 
and requiring it to be pasteurized; (2) the elim- 
ination entirely of Grade C from the retail trade; 
(3) an inerease in the requirements for milk 
intended for pasteurization. 


Problems in Sanitary Dairy Inspection: H. A. 

HARDING. 

Milk resembles the human race in that its value 
is determined by two forces, its inheritance and 
its environment. Inheritance fixes the amount of 
solids which is normal to the milk. The other 
elements of its food value are determined by the 
environment under which it is produced and 
handled. The problem in sanitary dairy inspec- 
tion is to provide an inspection which affects the 
selling price of the milk. This can probably be 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 976 


best accomplished by establishing market grades 
of milk and by defining these grades in terms of 
the conditions surrounding the production and 
transportation of the milk. The value of this 
financial element in sanitary milk inspection is 
well illustrated by the Geneva milk supply. In 
October, 1907, all of the milk coming to this city 
was graded on the basis of the conditions under 
which it was produced. It was found that the 
conditions of the production of 37.5 per cent. were 
poor, 57.5 per cent. were medium and 5 per cent. 
were good. The conditions then changed so that 
the producers were paid on a sliding scale, making 
it more profitable to produce the better grades of 
milk. In March, 1911, the milk supply of the city 
graded on the same basis as above was 87.5 per 
cent. good and 12.8 per cent. excellent. Condi- 
tions again changed so that there was no longer 
this direct connection between the conditions sur- 
rounding production and the price received, and 
in October, 1912, the city supply on the same 
basis as the above was 81.5 per cent. medium, 15.7 
per cent. good and 2.6 per cent. excellent. Farmers 
have a better financial sense than is generally sup- 
posed and sanitary milk will not be produced on a 
large scale until its production becomes financially 
more profitable than that of the dirtier grades. 
Details are given in Bulletin of New York Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station. 


Notes on Yeast-like Organisms in Whey: S. F. 
EDWARDS, Bacteriological Laboratory, Ontario 
Agricultural College. 

During the summer of 1909 some work was 
begun on the problem of so-called fruity flavor or 
sweet flavor in cheese in western Ontario. The 
trouble was supposedly due to yeasts or yeast-like 
organisms. Samples of whey were secured from 
twenty-five factories where this flavor was preva- 
lent, and from these samples twelve varieties of 
yeast-like organisms were isolated. Some of the 
yeasts (so-called) were found in the whey from 
more than one factory, and some factories had 
several varieties in the whey. Three lots of ex- 
perimental cheese were made up, using a starter 
of these organisms, and the flavors typical of dif- 
ferent factories were produced, whereas no off- 
flavor was present in normal control cheese. These 
organisms have been retained in the laboratory 
and further study has been made as the time per- 
mitted. The term yeast is a misnomer, for with 
but one exception we have been unable to demon- 
strate spore production. Very little attention has 
been given to morphology, sole dependence for dif- 


SEPTEMBER 12, 1913] 


ferentiating the varieties having been placed on 
cultural and biological characters. A summary of 
these characters is given in the subjoined table. 


SCIENCE 


377 


more uniform cheese during the summer months 
and will make it possible to produce good Swiss 
cheese during the entire year. 


The Cultural Chavacters of Whey Yeasts 


+ indicates positive results. 


Blanks indicate no action. 


For convenience the organisms are designated by letters. 


Ferments! Produces Acid in Reducing Sugars from = qd bo |. a 
aol 2IE |4 |B8/4,/8 
g2/S\5 |3 (88/88/35 
2 3 2 Sie Se ee |e lise | 
az 5 o o 2 2 o o a & & a Be Sy) S oP] a4 Faas 
f)2/3|2|2/818)2\2\2| 2/2/32 /82| 2 |sls4lse| alee 
Eee) ee) Bee g g |68| & | eo |sa|se| 28 | 2s 
8 Le LS Pe Ua Shot Ee Ee eee See Se ee 
A2 + + +/+ + 
AB | + + +) + +} + 
B2 | +/+ +) + + +) 4 L | +) + 
Ba | +] + + | + +) +)4]4+ +f+}+}4+)+ 
Di + +}+)4+]+4 
JI 4 +] +) + a +)+}4+]+ 
J2 | + + + + +/+}+]4+}4]4+ 
Ka | | 1 + + |b + +} + +| + 
KB [+] + +) + ]+ +) 4+ 4 + 
ar | + + + ~ +} + + 4. 
Pl | +/+ {+ b) +) + + +] + + 
at ae |) ce + 
Control 


All of the organisms made scanty growth in Cohn. 
Yeasts D1, J2, Pl, X2 made scanty growth in 
Uschinsky; the others none. Organisms A2, J1, 
P1 produced a marked pineapple flavor in wort 
agar plates, and A5 and J2, marked strawberry 
flavor in the same medium. Further work with 
these organisms is planned. 


The Action of Bacillus Bulgaricus in Suppressing 
Gassy Fermentations in Cheese-making: C. F. 
Doane, Dairy Division, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 

It was found that pure cultures of bulgaricus 
could be used with perfect results in suppressing 
the undesirable fermentations, principally gas, 
which have worried Swiss cheesemakers in the 
past. There seems to be a difference in the efti- 
ciency of different strains of bulgaricus for this 
purpose without respect to their activity in form- 
ing acid. One per cent. of a whey starter made 
from one culture was sufficient, while it requires 
three per cent. of another. The bulgaricus start- 
ers could not be seen to have any effect on the 
formation of the eyes or interfere with the flavor 
or texture. It is believed that the proper use of 
bulgaricus starters will go far towards making a 

1Does not ferment raffinose, glycerine, mannite, 
inulin, starch. 

2 Liquefaction was slow, in some cases occurring 
only after a number of months. 


The Preparation of Dried Cultures: L. A. Rogzrs, 
Dairy Division, U. 8. Department of Agricul- 
ture. 

The method of Shackell, consisting essentially 
in holding the frozen material over sulphuric acid 
in a high vacuum, is adapted for drying cultures 
of the lactic acid bacteria, B. bulgaricus and other 
organisms. A chamber was devised in which con- 
siderable quantities of powder could be made. 
The best results are obtained by drying cultures 
grown on milk concentrated to one half its orig- 
inal volume. Fresh lactic cultures dried by this 
method curdle milk in twenty hours at 30° when 
one part of powder is added to 1,000,000 parts of 
milk. Dried cultures of B. bulgaricus curdle milk 
in twenty hours at 37° when added to the milk in 
the ratio of 1: 100,000. The activity of a dried 
culture diminishes more or less rapidly, depending 
on the conditions under which it is held. The 
deterioration is less rapid if the moisture content 
is very low; it is less rapid as the temperature of 
storage is diminished and is much more rapid in 
air or oxygen than in an inert gas or in a vacuum. 
The Normal Bacteria of Swiss Cheese: HE. E. 

ELDRIDGE and L. A. Rogers, Dairy Division, 

U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

Special media were devised which gave high 


378 


counts comparing in a general way with those 
obtained by dilution in milk. Numerous examina- 
tions were made of various cheeses and three 
domestie cheeses of the Emmenthal type were fol- 
lowed through a nearly complete ripening period. 
About 1,000 cultures isolated from these cheeses 
were studied in detail, particularly in relation to 
their fermentative abilities. It was observed that 
many of these cultures gave considerable quanti- 
ties of gas in a sugar-free concentrated whey. 
It was not possible, however, to separate these 
cultures beyond three morphological groups, one 
of which was a long rod, one a short rod and the 
third a coceus. At the beginning of the ripening 
the bacterial flora consisted almost entirely of the 
short rods. The long rods appeared in the early 
stages of the ripening and increased steadily. 
The short rods decreased and in each of the three 
cheeses made up about 50 per cent. of the bacteria 
at seven or eight weeks, a period corresponding in 
a general way with the end of the eye formation. 
Glycerine fermenting cocci appeared in small num- 
bers in each of the cheeses at an age of five or six 
weeks. At the end of twenty weeks the bacterial 
flora was composed almost exclusively of the long 
rods. The essential bacteria of Emmenthal cheese 
are evidently not ubiquitous. In two widely sepa- 
rated localities cheeses made without inoculation 
haye invariably failed to give the normal fer- 
mentation. Cheese made from milk inoculated 
with a mixture of a large number of pure cultures, 
or from special culture media inoculated with good 
cheese, have given uniformly a normal ripening. 


Action of a Few Common Butter Organisms wpon 
Casein: CHARLES W. Brown, Michigan Agricul- 
tural College, East Lansing, Mich. 

The action of microorganisms upon proteins is 
looked upon as an aid in identification. If there 
is an action visible to the sense of sight, liquefac- 
tion by that organism is said to be positive, other- 
wise it is negative. For example, if an organism 
etowing in milk at room temperature for fifteen 
to thirty days shows no visible digestion, that 
organisni is said to have no action upon casein. 
This is a mere supposition and in many cases is 
ineorrect. For milk in which such an organism 
has been growing for several days, if treated with 
precipitants to remove the unchanged casein, will 
be found to contain degradation products such as 
caseoses and peptones. Especially is this true in 
old milk cultures where the cells of the organisms 
have died and undergone autolysis, thus liberating 
an endo-proteolytic enzyme. The power to liquefy 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 976 


casein by liquefiers is either stimulated or retarded 
to a greater or less degree by four important fae- 
tors met with in storage butter—addition of salt, 
diminished supply of free oxygen, low temperature 
and association with Bact. lactis acidi. Now, if 
we center our observation upon a number of bac- 
teria, found frequently in samples of storage but- 
ter, which have no visible -action—other than a 
slight change—upon milk in tubes, within thirty 
days and make litmus milk agar plates thickly 
seeded with the organism under observation, we 
will observe several different pictures presenting 
themselves. (1) Some of the organisms produce a 
gradual clearing, noticeable after seven to fifteen 
days, due to a slow digestion of the casein. (2) 
If after incubating twenty-four hours at 20° C. 
the plates are inoculated with Bact. lactis acidi 
by making a stroke on the surface, we see in the 
case of some of the organisms a rather abundant 
erowth of the lactic with acid production, curdling 
of the milk in immediate vicinity of the lactic, 
surrounded by a clear zone and, surrounding the 
clear zone, a more copious growth of the organ- 
ism. (3) The same picture with the exception 
that the growth of the organism is not stimulated. 
(4) Growth of the lactic about normal, no acidity, 
the milk in the immediate vicinity of the lactic 
completely dissolved and surrounded by a more 
copious growth of the organism. (5) The same 
except no stimulated growth of the organism. 
(6) Growth of lactic normal, no acidity, no clear- 
ing, but a stimulated growth of the organism. 
(7) The same except the growth of the organism 
is not stimulated. (8) Retarded or prevented 
growth of lactic, no acidity, no digestion and no 
stimulated growth. A different picture may pre- 
sent itself, if the litmus milk agar plate of the 
organism is incubated for three to five days before 
stroking the surface with the lactic, in that the 
growth of the lactic may be inhibited and that no 
digestion may occur. Again, if the supply of free 
oxygen is diminished both before and after stro- 
king the surface with lactic, or if salt is added, 
or if a lower temperature is used for incubation, 
different results will be obtained. These organ- 
isms, generally spoken of as non-liquefiers, influ- 
enced in their action upon casein by different 
factors can not be overlooked as agents in the 
degradation of casein in both storage butter and 
ripening cheese. 
A. PARKER HITCHENS, 
Secretary 
(To be continued) 


SCLENCE 


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VoL. XXXVIII. No. 977 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


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SCIENCE 


Fray, SEPTEMBER 19, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The Address of the President of the British 
Association for the Advancement of 
Science :— 


Continuity: Str OLtvER LODGE ,.......... 379 


A Summary of the Work of the U. 8. Fish- 
eries Marine Biological Station at Beau- 
fort, N. C., during 1912: Lewis RADCLIFFE 395 


Scientific Notes and News .......... g dagen . 400 


Unwersity and Educational News 401 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Data of Inter-varietal and Inter-spe- 
cific Competition in their Relation to the 
Problem of Natural Selection: Dr. J. AR- 
THUR Harris. Prepotency in Airedale Ter- 
mers: WILLIAMS HaAyNES. Mitosis in the 
Adult Nerve Cells of the Colorado Beetle: 
Dr. W. M. SMALLWoopD, CHARLES G. Rogers 402 


Scientific Books :— 


Sigma Xi Quarter Century Record and His- 
tory: Dr. Marcus BENJAMIN. Haas and 
Hill’s Introduction to the Chemistry of 


Plant Products: Dr. Ross AIKEN GorTNER 405 


Special Articles: 


The Organization of the Cell with respect 
to Permeability: Proressor W. J. V. 
OSTERE OU MEY Ma 4 eas apa SUN HE GR he 


The Society of American Bacteriologists. II.: 


Sanitary Bacteriology; Soil Bacteriology: 
Dr. A. PARKER HITCHENS ............-..- 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


CONTINUITY * 


Natura non vincitur nisi parendo. 


First let me lament the catastrophe 
which has led to my occupying the chair 
here in this city. Sir William White was 
a personal friend of many here present, 
and I would that the citizens of Birming- 
ham could have become acquainted with 
his attractive personality, and heard at 
first hand of the strenuous work which he 
accomplished in carrying out the behests 
of the empire in the construction of its 
first line of defence. 

Although a British Association address 
is hardly an annual stocktaking, it would 
be improper to begin this year of office 
without referring to three more of our 
losses:—One that cultured gentleman, 
amateur of science in the best sense, who 
was chosen to preside over our jubilee meet- 
ing at York thirty-two years ago. Sir 
John Lubbock, first Baron Avebury, culti- 
vated science in a spirit of pure enjoyment, 
treating it almost as one of the arts; and 
he devoted social and political energy to 
the welfare of the multitude of his fellows 
less fortunately situated than himself. 

Through the untimely death of Sir 
George Darwin the world has lost a mathe- 
matical astronomer whose work on the 
tides and allied phenomena is a monument 
of power and achievement. So recently as 
our visit to South Africa he occupied the 
presidential chair. 

By the third of our major losses, I mean 
the death of that brilliant mathematician 
of a neighboring nation who took so com- 


+ Address of the president of the British Asso- 
ciation. Read at Birmingham, September 10, 1913. 


380 


prehensive and philosophic a grasp of the 
intricacies of physics, and whose eloquent 
though sceptical exposition of our laws 
and processes, and of the modifications en- 
tailed in them by recent advances, will be 
sure to attract still more widespread atten- 
tion among all to whom the rather abstruse 
subject-matter is sufficiently familiar. I 
can not say that I find myself in agreement 
with all that Henri Poinearé wrote or spoke 
in the domain of physics, but no physicist 
can help being interested in his mode of 
presentation, and I may have occasion to 
refer, in passing, to some of the topics with 
which he dealt. 

And now, eliminating from our purview, 
as is always necessary, a great mass of hu- 
man activity, and limiting ourselves to a 
scrutiny on the side of pure science alone, 
let us ask what, in the main, is the charac- 
teristic of the promising though perturbing 
period in which we live. Different per- 
sons would give different answers, but the 
answer I venture to give is—rapid prog- 
ress, combined with fundamental scepti- 
cism. 

Rapid progress was not characteristic of 
the latter half of the nineteenth century— 
at least not in physics. Fine solid dynam- 
ical foundations were laid, and the edifice 
of knowledge was consolidated; but wholly 
fresh ground was not being opened up, and 
totally new buildings were not expected. 


In many cases the student was led to believe 
that the main facts of nature were all known, that 
the chances of any great discovery being made by 
experiment were vanishingly small, and that there- 
fore the experimentalist’s work consisted in de- 
ciding between rival theories, or in finding some 
small residual effect, which might add a more or 
less important detail to the theory.—Schuster. 


With the realization of predicted ether 
waves in 1888, the discovery of X-rays in 
1895, spontaneous radioactivity in 1896, 
and the isolation of the electron in 1898, 
expectation of further achievement became 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


vivid; and novelties, experimental, theo- 
retical and speculative, have been showered 
upon us ever since this century began. 
That is why I speak of rapid progress. 

Of the progress I shall say little—there 
must always be some uncertainty as to 
which particular achievement permanently 
contributes to it; but I will speak about the 
fundamental scepticism, 

Let me hasten to explain that I do not 
mean the well-worn and almost antique 
theme of theological scepticism: that con- 
troversy is practically in abeyance just 
now. At any rate the major conflict is 
suspended; the forts behind which the 
enemy has retreated do not invite attack; 
the territory now occupied by him is little 
more than his legitimate province. It is 
the scientific allies, now, who are waging 
a more or less invigorating conflict among 
themselves, with philosophers joining in. 
Meanwhile the ancient foe is biding his 
time and hoping that from the struggle 
something will emerge of benefit to him- 
self. Some positions, he feels, were too 
hastily abandoned and may perhaps be re- 
trieved; or, to put it without metaphor, it 
seems possible that a few of the things pre- 
maturely denied, because asserted on in- 
conclusive evidence, may after all, in some 
form or other, have really happened. 
Thus the old theological bitterness is miti- 
gated, and a temporizing policy is either 
advocated or instinctively adopted. 

To illustrate the nature of the funda- 
mental scientific or philosophic controver- 
sies to which I do refer, would require 
almost as many addresses as there are sec- 
tions of the British Association, or at any 
rate as many as there are chief cities in 
Australia; and perhaps my successor in 
the chair will continue the theme; but, to 
exhibit my meaning very briefly, 1 may 
cite the kind of dominating controversies 
now extant, employing as far as possible 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


only a single word in each case so as to 
emphasize the necessary brevity and in- 
sufficiency of the reference. 

In physiology the conflict ranges round 
vitalism. (My immediate predecessor 
dealt with the subject at Dundee.) 

In chemistry the debate concerns atomic 
structure. (My penultimate prede- 
cessor is well aware of pugnacity in 
that region. ) 

In biology the dispute is on the laws of 
inheritance. (My successor is sure to 
deal with this subject; probably in a 
way not deficient in liveliness.) 

And besides these major controversies, 

debate is active in other sections: 

In education, curricula generally are 
being overhauled or fundamentally 
criticized, and revolutionary ideas are 
promulgated concerning the advan- 
tages of freedom for infants. 

In economic and political science, or 
sociology, what is there that is not 
under discussion? Not property 
alone, nor land alone, but everything, 
—hback to the garden of Eden and the 
interrelations of men and women. 

Lastly, in the vast group of mathemat- 
ical and physical sciences, ‘‘slurred 
over rather than summed up as Sec- 
tion A,’’ present-day scepticism con- 
cerns what, if I had to express it in 
one word, I should call continuity. 
The full meaning of this term will 
hardly be intelligible without expla- 
nation, and I shall discuss it presently. 

Still more fundamental and deep-rooted 

than any of these sectional debates, how- 
ever, a critical examination of scientific 
foundations generally is going on; and a 
kind of philosophic scepticism is in the as- 
cendant, resulting in a mistrust of purely 
intellectual processes and in a recognition 
of the limited scope of science. : 
For science is undoubtedly an affair of 


SCIENCE 


381 


the intellect, it examines everything in the 
cold light of reason; and that is its 
strength. It is a commonplace to say that 
science must have no likes or dislikes, 
must aim only at truth; or as Bertrand 
Russell well puts it: 

The kernel of the scientific outlook is the refusal 
to regard our own desires, tastes and interests as 
affording a key to the understanding of the world. 

This exclusive single-eyed attitude of 
science is its strength; but, if pressed be- 
yond the positive region of usefulness into 
a field of dogmatic negation and philoso- 
phizing, it becomes also its weakness. For 
the nature of man is a large thing, and in- 
tellect is only a part of it: a recent part 
too, which therefore necessarily, though not 
consciously, suffers from some of the de- 
fects of newness and crudity, and should 
refrain from imagining itself the whole— 
perhaps it is not even the best part—of 
human nature. 

The fact is that some of the best things 
are, by abstraction, excluded from science, 
though not from literature and poetry; 
hence perhaps an ancient mistrust or dis- 
like of science, typified by the Promethean 
legend. Science is systematized and met- 
rical knowledge, and in regions where 
measurement can not be applied it has 
small scope; or, as Mr. Balfour said the 
other day at the opening of a new wing of 
the National Physical Laboratory: 

Science depends on measurement, and things not 
measurable are therefore excluded, or tend to be 


excluded, from its attention. But life and beauty 
and happiness are not measurable. 


And then characteristically he adds: 


If there could be a unit of happiness, politics 
might begin to be scientific. 


Emotion and intuition and instinct are 
immensely older than science, and in a 
comprehensive survey of existence they 
can not be ignored. Scientific men may 


382 


rightly neglect them, in order to do their 
proper work, but philosophers can not. 

So philosophers have begun to question 
some of the larger generalizations of sci- 
ence, and to ask whether in the effort to be 
universal and comprehensive we have not 
extended our laboratory inductions too far. 
The conservation of energy, for instance— 
is it always and everywhere valid; or may 
it under some conditions be disobeyed? 
It would seem as if the second law of 
thermodynamics must be somewhere dis- 
obeyed—at least 1f the age of the universe 
is both ways infinite—else the final con- 
summation would have already arrived. 

Not by philosophers only, but by scien- 
tific men also, ancient postulates are being 
pulled up by the roots. Physicists and 
mathematicians are beginning to consider 
whether the long known and _ well-estab- 
lished laws of mechanics hold true every- 
where and always, or whether the New- 
tonian scheme must be replaced by some- 
thing more modern, something to which 
Newton’s laws of motion are but an ap- 
proximation. 

Indeed a whole system of non-Newtonian 
mechanics has been devised, having as its 
foundation the recently discovered changes 
which must occur in bodies moving at 
speeds nearly comparable with that of 
light. It turns out in fact that both shape 
and mass are functions of velocity. As the 
speed increases the mass increases and the 
shape is distorted, though under ordinary 
conditions only to an infinitesimal extent. 

So far I agree; I agree with the state- 
ment of fact; but I do not consider it so 
revolutionary as to overturn Newtonian 
mechanics. After all, a variation of mass 
is familiar enough, and it would be a great 
mistake to say that Newton’s second law 
breaks down merely because mass is not 
constant. A raindrop is an example of 
variable mass; or the earth may be, by rea- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


son of meteoric dust; or the sun, by reason 
of radio-activity ; or a locomotive, by rea- 
son of the emission of steam. In fact, 
variable masses are the commonest, for 
friction may abrade any moving body to a 
microscopic extent. 

That mass is constant is only an approx- 
imation. That mass is equal to ratio of 
force and acceleration is a definition, and 
can be absolutely accurate. It holds per- 
fectly even for an electron with a speed 
near that of light; and it is by means of 
Newton’s second law that the variation of 
mass with velocity has been experimentally 
observed and compared with theory. 

I urge that we remain with, or go back 
to, Newton. I see no reason against re- 
taining all Newton’s laws, discarding noth- 
ing, but supplementing them in the light 
of further knowledge. 

Even the laws of geometry have been 
overhauled, and Euclidean geometry is 
seen to be but a special case of more funda- 
mental generalizations. How far they 
apply to existing space, and how far time 
is a reality or an illusion, and whether it 
can in any sense depend on the motion or 
the position of an observer: all these things 
in some form or other are discussed. 

The conservation of matter also, that 
main-mast of nineteenth century chemis- 
try, and the existence of the ether of space, 
that sheet-anchor of nineteenth century 
physics—do they not sometimes seem to be 
going by the board? 

Professor Schuster, in his American lec- 
tures, commented on the modern receptive 
attitude as follows: 

The state of plasticity and flux—a healthy state, 
in my opinion—in which scientific thought of the 
present day adapts itself to almost any novelty, 
is illustrated by the complacency with which the 
most cherished tenets of our fathers are being 
abandoned. Though it was never an article of 
orthodox faith that chemical elements were im- 
mutable and would not some day be resolved into 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


simpler constituents, yet the conservation of mass 
seemed to lie at the very foundation of creation. 
But nowadays the student finds little to disturb 
him, perhaps too little, in the idea that mass 
changes with velocity; and he does not always 
realize the full meaning of the consequences which 
are involved. 

This readiness to accept and incorporate 
new facts into the scheme of physics may 
have led to perhaps an undue amount of 
scientific scepticism, in order to right the 
balance. 

But a still deeper variety of comprehen- 
sive scepticism exists, and it is argued that 
all our laws of nature, so laboriously ascer- 
tained and carefully formulated, are but 
conventions after all, not truths: that we 
have no faculty for ascertaining real truth, 
that our intelligence was not evolved for 
any such academic purpose; that all we can 
do is to express things in a form convenient 
for present purposes and employ that mode 
of expression as a tentative and pragmat- 
ically useful explanation. 

‘Even explanation, however, has been dis- 
carded as too ambitious by some men of 
science, who claim only the power to de- 
seribe. They not only emphasize the how 
rather than the why—as is in some sort in- 
evitable, since explanations are never ulti- 
mate—but are satisfied with very abstract 
propositions, and regard mathematical 
equations as preferable to, because safer 
than, mechanical analogies or models. 


To use an acute and familiar expression of 
Gustav Kirchhoff, it is the object of science to 
describe natural phenomena, not to explain them. 
When we have expressed by an equation the cor- 
tect relationship between different natural phe- 
nomena we have gone as far as we safely can, and 
if we go beyond we are entering on purely specu- 
lative ground. 


But the modes of statement preferred 
by those who distrust our power of going 
correctly into detail are far from satisfac- 
tory. Professor Schuster describes and 
comments on them thus: 


SCIENCE 


383 


Vagueness, which used to be recognized as our 
great enemy, is now being enshrined as an idol to 
be worshipped. We may never know what con- 
stitutes atoms, or what is the real structure of the 
ether; why trouble, therefore, it is said, to find 
out more about them. Is it not safer, on the con- 
trary, to confine ourselves to a general talk on 
entropy, luminiferous vectors and undefined sym- 
bols expressing vaguely certain physical relation- 
ships? What really lies at the bottom of the great 
fascination which these new doctrines exert on the 
present generation is sheer cowardice; the fear of 
having its errors brought home to it.... 

I believe this doctrine to be fatal to a healthy 
development of science. Granting the impossi- 
bility of penetrating beyond the most superficial 
layers of observed phenomena, I would put the 
distinction between the two attitudes of mind in 
this way: One glorifies our ignorance, while the 
other accepts it as a regrettable necessity. 


In further illustration of the modern 
sceptical attitude, I quote from Poincaré: 


Principles are conventions and definitions in 
disguise. They are, however, deduced from experi- 
mental laws, and these laws have, so to speak, been 
erected into principles to which our mind attrib- 
utes an absolute value... ., 

The fundamental propositions of geometry, for 
instance Euclid’s postulate, are only conventions; 
and it is quite as unreasonable to ask if they are 
true or false as to ask if the metric system is 
true or false. Only, these conventions are con- 
venient. .. . 

Whether the ether exists or not matters little— 
let us leave that to the metaphysicians; what is 
essential for us is that everything happens as if 
it existed, and that this hypothesis is found to be 
suitable for the explanation of phenomena. After 
all, have we any other reason for believing in the 
existence of material objects? That, too, is only 
a convenient hypothesis. 


As an antidote against over-pressing 
these utterances I quote from Sir J. Lar- 
mor’s preface: 


There has been of late a growing trend of 
opinion, prompted in part by general philosophical 
views, in the direction that the theoretical con- 
structions of physical science are largely facti- 
tious, that instead of presenting a valid image of 
the relations of things on which further progress 
can be based, they are still little better than a 
mirage... . 


384 


The best method of abating this scepticism is 
to become acquainted with the real scope and 
modes of application of conceptions which, in the 
popular language of superficial exposition—and 
even in the unguarded and playful paradox of 
their authors, intended only for the instructed eye 
—often look bizarre enough. 


One thing is very notable, that it is 
closer and more exact knowledge that has 
led to the kind of scientific scepticism now 
referred to; and that the simple laws on 
which we used to be working were thus 
simple and discoverable because the full 
complexity of existence was tempered to 
our ken by the roughness of our means of 
observation. 

Kepler’s laws are not accurately true, 
and if he had had before him all the data 
now available he could hardly have discov- 
ered them. <A planet does not really move 
in an ellipse but in a kind of hypocycloid, 
and not accurately in that either. 

So it is also with Boyle’s law, and the 
other simple laws in physical chemistry. 
Even Van der Waals’s generalization of 
Boyle’s law is only a further approxima- 
tion. 

In most parts of physics simplicity has 
sooner or later to give place to complexity: 
though certainly I urge that the simple 
laws were true, and are still true, as far as 
they go, their inaccuracy being only de- 
tected by further real discovery. The rea- 
son they are departed from becomes known 
to us; the law is not really disobeyed, but 
is modified through the action of a known 
additional cause. Hence it is all in the 
direction of progress. 

It is only fair to quote Poincaré again, 
now that I am able in the main to agree 
with him: 

Take for instance the laws of reflection. Fres- 
nel established them by a simple and attractive 
theory which experiment seemed to confirm. Sub- 


sequently, more accurate researches have shown 
that this verification was but approximate; traces 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


of elliptic polarization were detected everywhere. 
But it is owing to the first approximation that the 
cause of these anomalies was found, in the exist- 
ence of a transition layer; and all the essentials 
of Fresnel’s theory have remained. We can not 
help reflecting that all these relations would never 
have been noted if there had been doubt in the 
first place as to the complexity of the objects they 
connect. Long ago it was said: If Tycho had had 
instruments ten times as precise, we would never 
have had a Kepler, or a Newton, or astronomy. 
It is a misfortune for a science to be born too 
late, when the means of observation have become 
too perfect. That is what is happening at this 
moment with respect to physical chemistry; the 
founders are hampered in their general grasp by 
third and fourth decimal places; happily they are 
men of robust faith As we get to know the 
properties of matter better we see that continuity 
reigns. . . . It would be difficult to justify [the 
belief in continuity] by apodeictie reasoning, but 
without [it] all science would be impossible. 


Here he touches on my own theme, con- 
tinuity; for, if we had to summarize the 
main trend of physical controversy at pres- 
ent, I feel inclined to urge that it largely 
turns on the question as to which way ulti- 
mate victory lies in the fight between con- 
tinuity and discontinuity. 

On the surface of nature at first we see 
discontinuity; objects detached and count- 
able. Then we realize the air and other 
media, and so emphasize continuity and 
flowing quantities. Then we detect atoms 
and numerical properties, and discontinu- 
ity once more makes its appearance. Then 
we invent the ether and are impressed 
with continuity again. But this is not 
likely to be the end; and what the ultimate 
end will be, or whether there is an ultimate 
end, is a question difficult to answer. 

The modern tendency is to emphasize the 
discontinuous or atomic character of every- 
thing. Matter has long been atomic, in the 
same sense as anthropology is atomic; the 
unit of matter is the atom, as the unit of 
humanity is the individual. Whether men 
or women or children—they can be counted 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


as so many ‘‘souls.’’ And atoms of matter 
can be counted too. 

Certainly however there is an illusion of 
continuity. We recognize it in the case of 
water. It appears to be a continuous 
medium, and yet it is certainly molecular. 
Tt is made continuous again, in a sense, by 
the ether postulated in its pores; for the 
ether is essentially continuous. Though 
Osborne Reynolds, it is true, invented a 
discontinuous or granular ether, on the 
analogy of the seashore. The sands of the 
sea, the hairs of the head, the descendants 
of a patriarch, are typical instances of 
numerable, or rather of innumerable, 
things. The difficulty of enumerating 
them is not that there is nothing to count, 
but merely that the things to be counted 
are very numerous. So are the atoms in a 
drop of water—they outnumber the drops 
in an Atlantic Ocean—and, during the 
briefest time of stating their number, fifty 
millions or so may have evaporated; but 
they are as easy to count as the grains of 
sand on a shore. 

The process of counting is evidently a 
process applicable to discontinuities, 7. e., 
to things with natural units; you can count 
apples and coins, and days and years, and 
people and atoms. To apply number to a 
continuum you must first cut it up into 
artificial units; and you are always left 
with incommensurable fractions. Thus 
only is it that you can deal numerically 
with such continuous phenomena as the 
warmth of a room, the speed of a bird, the 
pull of a rope or the strength of a current. 

But how, it may be asked, does discon- 
tinuity apply to number? The natural 
numbers, 1, 2, 3, etce., are discontinuous 
enough, but there are fractions to fill up 
the interstices; how do we know that they 
are not really connected by these fractions, 
and so made continuous again? 

(By number I always mean commensur- 


SCIENCE 


385 


able number; incommensurables are not 
numbers: they are just what can not be ex- 
pressed in numbers. The square root of 2 
is not a number, though it can be readily 
indicated by a length. Incommensurables 
are usual in physics and are frequent in 
geometry; the conceptions of geometry are 
essentially continuous. It is clear, as Poin- 
caré says, that “‘if the points whose coordi- 
nates are commensurable were alone re- 
garded as real, the in-circle of a square and 
the diagonal of the square would not inter- 
sect, since the coordinates of the points of 
intersection are incommensurable.’’) 

I want to explain how commensurable 
fractions do not connect up numbers, nor 
remove their discontinuity in the least. 
The divisions on a foot rule, divided as 
closely as you please, represent commen- 
surable fractions, but they represent none 
of the length. No matter how numerous 
they are, all the length lies between them; 
the divisions are mere partitions and have 
consumed none of it; nor do they connect 
up with each other, they are essentially dis- 
continuous. The interspaces are infinitely 
more extensive than the barriers which par- 
tition them off from one another; they are 
like a row of compartments with infinitely 
thin walls. All the incommensurables lie 
in the interspaces; the compartments are 
full of them, and they are thus infinitely 
more numerous than the numerically ex- 
pressible magnitudes. Take any point of 
the scale at random, that point will cer- 
tainly lie in an interspace: it will not lie 
on a division, for the chances are infinity 
to 1 against it. 

Accordingly incommensurable quantities 
are the rule in physics. Decimals do not 
in practise terminate or circulate, in other 
words vulgar fractions do not accidentally 
occur in any measurements, for this would 
mean infinite accuracy. We proceed to as 


386 


many places of decimals as correspond to 
the order of accuracy aimed at. 

Whenever, then, a commensurable nwm- 
ber is really associated with any natural 
phenomenon, there is necessarily a note- 
worthy circumstance involved in the fact, 
and it means something quite definite and 
ultimately ascertainable. Every discon- 
tinuity that can be detected and counted is 
an addition to knowledge. It not only 
means the discovery of natural units in- 
stead of being dependent on artificial ones, 
but it throws light also on the nature of 
phenomena themselves. 

For instance: 

The ratio between the velocity of light 
and the inverted square root of the product 
of the electric and magnetic constants was 
discovered by Clerk Maxwell to be 1; and a 
new volume of physics was by that discov- 
ery opened. 

Dalton found that chemical combination 
occurred between quantities of different 
fractional numbers; and the atomic theory 
of matter sprang into substantial though 
at first infantile existence. 

The hypothesis of Prout, which in some 
modified form seems likely to be substanti- 
ated, is that all atomic weights are com- 
mensurable numbers; in which case there 
must be a natural fundamental unit under- 
lying, and in definite groups composing, 
the atoms of every form of matter. 

The small number of degrees of freedom 
of a molecule, and the subdivision of its 
total energy into equal parts correspond- 
ing thereto, is a theme not indeed without 
difficulty but full of importance. It is re- 
sponsible for the suggestion that energy too 
may be atomic! 

Mendelejeft’s series again, or the detec- 
tion of a natural grouping of atomic 
weights in families of seven, is another ex- 
ample of the significance of number. 

Electricity was found by Faraday to be 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


numerically connected with quantity of 
matter; and the atom of electricity began 
its hesitating but now brilliant career. 

Electricity itself—z. e., electrie charge— 
strangely enough has proved itself to be 
atomic. There is a natural unit of electrie 
charge, as suspected by Faraday and Max- 
well and named by Johnstone Stoney. 
Some of the electron’s visible effects were 
studied by Crookes in a vacuum; and its 
weighing and measuring by J. J. Thomson 
were announced to the British Association 
meeting at Dover in 1899, a fitting prelude 
to the twentieth century. 

An electron is the natural unit of nega- 
tive electricity, and it may not be long be- 
fore the natural unit of positive electricity 
is found too. But concerning the nature of 
the positive unit there is at present some 
division into opposite camps. One school 
prefers to regard the unit of positive elec- 
tricity as a homogeneous sphere, the size 
of an atom, in which electrons revolve in 
simple harmonic orbits and _ constitute 
nearly the whole effective mass. Another 
school, while appreciative of the simplicity 
and ingenuity and beauty of the details of 
this conception, and the skill with which it 
has been worked out, yet thinks the evi- 
dence more in favor of a minute central 
positive nucleus, or nucleus-group, of 
practically atomic mass; with electrons, 
larger—1. e., less concentrated—and_there- 
fore less massive than itself, revolving 
round it in astronomical orbits. While 
from yet another point of view it is insisted 
that positive and negative electrons can 
only differ skew-symmetrically, one being 
like the image of the other in a mirror, and 
that the mode in which they are grouped 
to form an atom remains for future discoy- 
ery. But no one doubts that electricity is 
ultimately atomic. 

Even magnetism has been suspected of 
being atomic, and its hypothetical unit has 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


been named in advance the magneton: but 
I confess that here I have not been shaken 
out of the conservative view. 

We may express all this as an invasion 
of number into unsuspected regions. 

Biology may be said to be becoming 
atomic. It has long had natural units in 
the shape of cells and nuclei, and some dis- 
continuity represented by body-boundaries 
and cell-walls; but now, in its laws of he- 
redity as studied by Mendel, number and 
discontinuity are strikingly apparent 
among the reproductive cells, and the va- 
rieties of offspring admit of numerical 
specification and prediction to a surprising 
extent: while modification by continuous 
variation, which seemed to be of the essence 
of Darwinism, gives place to, or at least is 
accompanied by, mutation, with finite and 
considerable and in appearance discontinu- 
ous change. 

So far from nature not making jumps, it 
becomes doubtful if she does anything else. 
Her hitherto placid course, more closely 
examined, seems to look like a kind of 
steeplechase. 

Yet undoubtedly continuity is the back- 
bone of evolution, as taught by all biolo- 
gists—no artificial boundaries or demarea- 
tions between species—a continuous chain 
of heredity from far below the ameba up to 
man. Actual continuity of undying germ- 
plasm, running through all generations, is 
taught likewise; though a strange discon- 
tinuity between this persistent element and 
its successive accessory body-plasms—a dis- 
continuity which would convert individual 
organisms into mere temporary accretions 
or excretions, with no power of influencing 
or conveying experience to their generating 
cells—is advocated by one school. 

Discontinuity does not fail to exercise 
fascination even in pure mathematics. 
Curves are invented which have no tangent 
or differential coefficient, curves which con- 


SCIENCE 


387 


sist of a succession of dots or of twists; and 
the theory of commensurable numbers 
seems to be exerting a dominance over 
philosophic mathematical thought as well as 
over physical problems. 

And not only these fairly accepted re- 
sults are prominent, but some more difficult 
and unexpected theses in the same direc- 
tion are being propounded, and the atomic 
character of energy is advocated. We had 
hoped to be honored by the presence of 
Professor Planck, whose theory of the 
quantum, or indivisible unit or atom of 
energy, excites the greatest interest, and by 
some is thought to hold the field. 

Then again radiation is showing signs of 
becoming atomic or discontinuous. The 
corpuscular theory of radiation is by no 
means so dead as in my youth we thought 
it was. Some radiation is certainly cor- 
puscular, and even the etherial kind shows 
indications, which may be misleading, that 
it is spotty, or locally concentrated into 
points, as if the wave-front consisted of de- 
tached specks or patches; or, as J. J. 
Thomson says, ‘‘the wave-front must be 
more analogous to bright specks on a dark 
ground than to a uniformly illuminated 
surface,’’ thus suggesting that the ether 
may be fibrous in structure, and that a 
wave runs along lines of electric force, as 
the genius of Faraday surmised might be 
possible, in his ‘‘Thoughts on Ray Vibra- 
tions.’’ Indeed Newton guessed something 
of the same kind, I faney, when he super- 
posed ether-pulses on his corpuscles. 

Whatever be the truth in this matter, a 
discussion on radiation, of extreme weight 
and interest, though likewise of great pro- 
fundity and technicality, is expected on 
Friday in Section A. We welcome Pro- 
fessor Lorentz, Dr. Arrhenius, Professor 
Langevin, Professor Pringsheim and 
others, some of whom have been specially 
invited to England because of the impor- 


388 


tant contributions which they have made 
to the subject-matter of this discussion. 

Why is so much importance attached to 
radiation? Because it is the best-known 
and longest-studied link between matter 
and ether, and the only property we are ac- 
quainted with that affects the unmodified 
great mass of ether alone. Electricity and 
magnetism are associated with the modifi- 
cations or singularities called electrons: 
most phenomena are connected still more 
directly with matter. Radiation, however, 
though excited by an accelerated electron, 
is subsequently let loose in the ether of 
space, and travels as a definite thing at a 
measurable and constant pace—a pace in- 
dependent of everything so long as the 
ether is free, unmodified and unloaded by 
matter. Hence radiation has much to 
teach us, and we have much to learn con- 
cerning its nature. 

How far ean the analogy of granular, 
corpuscular, countable, atomic or discon- 
tinuous things be pressed? There are 
those who think it can be pressed very far. 
But to avoid misunderstanding let me 
state, for what it may be worth, that I 
myself am an upholder of ultimate con- 
tinuity, and a fervent believer in the ether 
of space. 

We have already learned something 
about the ether; and although there may 
be almost as many varieties of opinion as 
there are people qualified to form one, in 
my view we have learned as follows: 

The ether is the universal connecting 
medium which binds the universe together, 
and makes it a coherent whole instead of a 
chaotic collection of independent isolated 
fragments. It is the vehicle of transmis- 
sion of all manner of force, from gravita- 
tion down to cohesion and chemical affin- 
ity; it is therefore the storehouse of poten- 
tial energy. 

Matter moves, but ether is strained. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


What we call elasticity of matter is only 
the result of an alteration of configuration 
due to movement and readjustment of par- 
ticles, but all the strain and stress are in 
the ether. The ether itself does not move, 
that is to say it does not move in the sense 
of locomotion, though it is probably in a 
violent state of rotational or turbulent mo- 
tion in its smallest parts; and to that mo- 
tion its exceeding rigidity is due. 

As to its density, it must be far greater 
than that of any form of matter, millions 
of times denser than lead or platinum. 
Yet matter moves through it with perfect 
freedom, without any friction or viscosity. 
There is nothing paradoxical in this: vis- 
cosity is not a function of density; the two 
are not necessarily connected. When a 
solid moves through an alien fiuid it is true 
that it acquires a spurious or apparent 
extra inertia from the fluid it displaces; 
but in the case of matter and ether, not 
only is even the densest matter excessively 
porous and discontinuous, with vast inter- 
spaces in and among the atoms, but the 
constitution of matter is such that there 
appears to be no displacement in the ordi- 
nary sense at all; the ether is itself so 
modified as to constitute the matter in some 
way. Of course that portion moves, its 
inertia is what we observe, and its amount 
depends on the potential energy in its as- 
sociated electric field, but the motion is not 
like that of a foreign body, it is that of 
some inherent and merely individualized 
portion of the stuff itself. Certain it is 
that the ether exhibits no trace of viscosity.? 

Matter in motion, ether under strain, 
constitute the fundamental concrete things 
we have to do with in physics. The first 


2Bor details of my experiment on this subject 
see Phil Trans. Roy. Soc. for 1893 and 1897; or a 
very abbreviated reference to it, and to the other 
matters above mentioned, in my small book, ‘‘The 
Ether of Space.’’ 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


pair represent kinetic energy, the second 
potential energy; and all the activities of 
the material universe are represented by 
alternations from one of these forms to the 
other. 

Whenever this transference and trans- 
formation of energy occur, work is done, 
and some effect is produced, but the energy 
is never diminished in quantity: it is 
merely passed on from one body to another, 
always from ether to matter or vice versa 
—except in the case of radiation, which 
simulates matter—and from one form to 
another. 

The forms of energy can be classified as 
either a translation, a rotation or a vibra- 
tion of pieces of matter of different sizes, 
from stars and planets down to atoms and 
electrons; or else an etherial strain which 
in various different ways is manifested by 
the behavior of such masses of matter as 
appeal to our senses.* 

Some of the facts responsible for the 
suggestion that energy is atomic seem to 
me to depend on the discontinuous nature 
of the structure of a material atom, and on 
the high velocity of its constituent par- 
ticles. The apparently discontinuous emis- 
sion of radiation is, I believe, due to fea- 
tures in the real discontinuity of matter. 
Disturbances inside an atom appear to be 
essentially catastrophic; a portion is lable 
to be ejected with violence. There appears 
to be a critical velocity below which ejec- 
tion does not take place; and, when it does, 
there also occurs a sudden rearrangement 
of parts which is presumably responsible 
for some perceptible etherial radiation. 
Hence it is, I suppose, that radiation 
comes off in gushes or bursts; and hence it 
appears to consist of indivisible units. 
The occasional phenomenon of new stars, 

®See, in the Philosophical Magazine for 1879, 


my article on ‘‘A Classification of the Forms of 
Energy.’’ 


SCIENCE 


389 


as compared with the steady orbital mo- 
tion of the millions of recognized bodies, 
may be suggested as an astronomical 
analogue. 

The hypothesis of quanta was devised to 
reconcile the law that the energy of a 
eroup of colliding molecules must in the 
long run be equally shared among all their 
degrees of freedom, with the observed fact 
that the energy is really shared into only a 
small number of equal parts. For if vi- 
bration-possibilities have to be taken into 
account, the number of degrees of molecu- 
lar freedom must be very large, and energy 
shared among them ought soon to be all 
frittered away; whereas it is not. Hence 
the idea is suggested that minor degrees of 
freedom are initially excluded from sharing 
the energy, because they can not be sup- 
plied with less than one atom of it. 

I should prefer to express the fact by 
saying that the ordinary encounters of 
molecules. are not of a kind able to excite 
atomic vibrations, or in any way to disturb 
the ether. Spectroscopic or luminous vi- 
brations of an atom are excited only by an 
exceptionally violent kind of collision, 
which may be spoken of as chemical clash; 
the ordinary molecular orbital encounters, 
always going on at the rate of millions a 
second, are ineffective in that respect, ex- 
cept in the case of phosphorescent or 
luminescent substances. That common 
molecular deflexions are ineffective is cer- 
tain, else all the energy would be dissi- 
pated or transferred from matter into the 
ether; and the reasonableness of their 
radiative inefficiency is not far to seek, 
when we consider the comparatively 
leisurely character of molecular move- 
ments, at speeds comparable with the ve- 
locity of sound. Admittedly, however, the 
effective rigidity of molecules must be com- 
plete, otherwise the sharing of energy must 
ultimately occur. They do not seem able 


390 


to be set vibrating by anything less than a 
certain minimum stimulus; and that is the 
basis for the theory of quanta. 

Quantitative applications of Planck’s 
theory, to elucidate the otherwise shaky 
stability of the astronomically constituted 
atom, have been made; and the agreement 
between results so caleulated and those ob- 
served, including a determination of series 
of spectrum lines, is very remarkable. One 
of the latest contributions to this subject is 
a paper by Dr. Bohr in the Philosophical 
Magazine for July this year. 

To show that I am not exaggerating the 
modern tendency towards discontinuity, I 
quote, from M. Poinearé’s ‘‘Derniéres 
Pensées,’’ a proposition which he an- 
nounees in italics as representing a form 
of Professor Planck’s view of which he ap- 
parently approves: 

A physical system is susceptible of a finite 
number only of distinct conditions; it jumps from 
one of these conditions to another without passing 
through a continuous series of intermediate con- 
ditions. 

Also this from Sir Joseph Larmor’s pref- 
ace to Poinearé’s ‘‘Science and Hypoth- 
esis’’: 

Still more recently it has been found that the 
good Bishop Berkeley’s logical jibes against the 
Newtonian ideas of fluxions and limiting ratios 
can not be adequately appeased in the rigorous 
mathematical conscience, until our apparent con- 
tinuities are resolved mentally into discrete aggre- 
gates which we only partially apprehend. The 
irresistible impulse to atomize everything thus 
proves to be not merely a disease of the physicist: 
a deeper origin, in the nature of knowledge itself, 
is suggested. 


One very valid excuse for this prevalent 
attitude is the astonishing progress that has 
been made in actually seeing or almost see- 
ing the molecules, and studying their ar- 
rangement and distribution. 

The laws of gases have been found to 
apply to emulsions and to fine powders in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


suspension, of which the Brownian move- 
ment has long been known. This move- 
ment is caused by the orthodox molecular 
bombardment, and its average amplitude 
exactly represents the theoretical mean free 
path caleulated from the ‘‘molecular 
weight’’ of the relatively gigantic par- 
ticles. The behavior of these microscop- 
ically visible masses corresponds closely 
and quantitatively with what could be pre- 
dicted for them as fearfully heavy atoms, 
on the kinetic theory of gases; they may 
indeed be said to constitute a gas with a 
gram-molecule as high as 200,000 tons; 
and, what is rather important as well as 
interesting, they tend visibly to verify the 
law of equipartition of energy even in so 
extreme a case, when that law is properly 
stated and applied. 

Still more remarkable, the application 
of X-rays to display the arrangement of 
molecules in crystals, and ultimately the 
arrangement of atoms in molecules, as ini- 
tiated by Professor Laue with Drs. Fried- 
rich and Knipping, and continued by Pro- 
fessor Bragg and his son and by Dr. Tut- 
ton, constitute a series of researches of high 
interest and promise. By this means many 
of the theoretical anticipations of our coun- 
tryman, Mr. William Barlow, and—work- 
ing with him—Professor Pope, as well as 
of those distinguished crystallographers 
von Groth and von Fedorow, have been 
confirmed in a striking way. These bril- 
liant researches, which seem likely to con- 
stitute a branch of physics in themselves, 
and which are being continued by Messrs. 
Moseley and C. G. Darwin, and by Mr. 
Keene and others, may be called an apothe- 
osis of the atomic theory of matter. 

One other controversial topic I shall 
touch upon in the domain of physics, 
though I shall touch upon it lightly, for it 
is not a matter for easy reference as yet. 
If the principle of relativity in an extreme 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


sense establishes itself, it seems as if even 
time would become discontinuous and be 
supplied in atoms, as money is doled out in 
pence or centimes instead of continuously 
—in which ease our customary existence 
will turn out to be no more really continu- 
ous than the events on a kinematograph 
screen—while that great agent of continu- 
ity, the ether of space, will be relegated to 
the museum of historical curiosities. 

In that case differential equations will 
cease to represent the facts of nature, they 
will have to be replaced by finite differ- 
ences, and the most fundamental revolution 
since Newton will be inaugurated. 

Now in all the debatable matters of 
which I have indicated possibilities I want 
to urge a conservative attitude. I accept 
the new experimental results on which 
some of these theories—such as the prin- 
ciple of relativity—are based, and am pro- 
foundly interested in them, but I do not 
feel that they are so revolutionary as their 
propounders think. I see a way to retain 
the old and yet embrace the new, and I 
urge moderation in the uprooting and re- 
moval of landmarks. 

And of these the chief is continuity. I 
can not imagine the exertion of mechanical 
force across empty space, no matter how 
minute; a continuous medium seems to me 
essential. JI can not admit discontinuity 
in either space or time, nor can I imagine 
any sort of experiment which would justify 
such a hypothesis. For surely we must 
realize that we know nothing experimental 
of either space or time, we can not modify 
them in any way. We make experiments 
on bodies, and only on bodies, using 
“‘body’’ as an exceedingly general term. 

We have no reason to postulate any- 
thing but continuity for space and time. 
We cut them up into conventional units for 
convenience’ sake, and those units we can 
count; but there is really nothing atomic 


SCIENCE 


391 


or countable about the things themselves. 
We can count the rotations of the earth, 
or the revolutions of an electron, or the 
vibrations of a pendulum, or the waves of 
light. All these are concrete and tractable 
physical entities; but space and time are 
ultimate data, abstractions based on ex- 
perience. We know them through motion, 
and through motion only, and motion is 
essentially continuous. We ought clearly 
to discriminate between things themselves 
and our mode of measuring them. Our 
measures and perceptions may be affected 
by all manner of incidental and trivial 
causes, and we may get confused or ham- 
pered by our own movement; but there 
need be no such complication in things 
themselves, any more than a landscape is 
distorted by looking at it through an irreg- 
ular window-pane or from a traveling 
coach. It is an ancient and discarded 
fable that complications introduced by the 
motion of an observer are real complica- 
tions belonging to the outer universe. 

Very well, then, what about the ether, is 
that in the same predicament? Is that an 
abstraction, or a mere convention, or is it a 
concrete physical entity on which we can 
experiment? 

Now it has to be freely admitted that it 
is exceedingly difficult to make experiments 
on the ether. It does not appeal to sense, 
and we know no means of getting hold of 
it. The one thing we know metrical about 
it is the velocity with which it can trans- 
mit transverse waves. That is clear and 
definite, and thereby to my judgment it 
proves itself a physical agent; not indeed 
tangible or sensible, but yet concretely real. 

But it does elude our laboratory grasp. 
If we rapidly move matter through it, 
hoping to grip it and move it too, we fail: 
there is no mechanical connection. And 
even if we experiment on light we fail too. 
So long as transparent matter is moving 


392 


relatively to us, light can be affected inside 
that matter; but when matter is relatively 
stationary to matter nothing observable 
takes place, however fast things may be 
moving, so long as they move together. 

Hence arises the idea that motion with 
respect to ether is meaningless: and the 
fact that only relative motion of pieces of 
matter with respect to each other has so 
far been observed is the foundation of the 
principle of relativity. It sounds simple 
enough as thus stated, but in its develop- 
ments it is an ingenious and complicated 
doctrine embodying surprising consequen- 
ces which have been worked out by Pro- 
fessor Hinstein and his disciples with con- 
summate ingenuity. 

What have I to urge against it? Well, 
in the first place, it is only in accordance 
with common sense that no effect of the 
first order can be observed without rela- 
tive motion of matter. An ether-stream 
through our laboratories is optically and 
electrically undetectable, at least as re- 
gards first-order observation; this is clearly 
explained for general readers in my book, 
“The Ether of Space,’’ chapter IV. But 
the principle of relativity says more than 
that, it says that no effect of any order of 
magnitude can ever be observed without 
the relative motion of matter. 

The truth underlying this doctrine is 
that absolute motion without reference to 
anything is unmeaning. But the narrow- 
ing down of ‘‘anything’’ to mean any 
piece of matter is illegitimate. The near- 
est approach to absolute motion that we 
can physically imagine is motion through 
or with respect to the ether of space. It is 
natural to assume that the ether is on the 
whole stationary and to use it as a stand- 
ard of rest; in that sense motion with ref- 
erence to it may be called absolute, but in 
no other sense. 

The principle of relativity claims that 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


We can never ascertain such motion: in 
other words, it practically or pragmatically 
denies the existence of the ether. Every 
one of our scientifically observed motions, 
it says, are of the same nature as our pop- 
ularly observed ones, viz., motion of pieces 
of matter relatively to each other; and that 
is all that we can ever know. Everything 
goes on—says the principle of relativity— 
as if the ether did not exist. 

Now the facts are that no motion with 
reference to the ether alone has ever yet 
been observed: there are always curious 
compensating effects which just cancel out 
the movement-terms and destroy or effect- 
ively mask any phenomenon that might 
otherwise be expected. When matter 
moves past matter observation can be 
made; but, even so, no consequent locomo- 
tion of ether, outside the actually moving 
particles, can be detected. 

(It is sometimes urged that rotation is a 
kind of absolute motion that can be de- 
tected, even in isolation. It can so be de- 
tected, as Newton pointed out; but in cases 
of rotation matter on one side the axis is 
moving in the opposite direction to matter 
on the other side of the axis; hence rota- 
tion involves relative material motion, and 
therefore can be observed.) 

To detect motion through ether we must 
use an etherial process. We may use radi- 
ation, and try to compare the speeds of 
light along or across the motion; or we 
might try to measure the speed, first with 
the motion and then against it. But how 
are we to make the comparison? If the 
time of emission from a distant source is 
given by a distant clock, that clock must 
be observed through a telescope, that is, by 
a beam of light; which is plainly a com- 
pensating process. Or the light from a 
neighboring source can be sent back to us 
by a distant mirror; when again there will 
be compensation. Or the starting of light 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


from a distant terrestrial source may be 
telegraphed to us, either with a wire or 
without; but it is the ether that conveys the 
message in either case, so again there will 
be compensation. Hlectricity, magnetism 
and light are all effects of the ether. 

Use cohesion, then; have a rod stretching 
from one place to another, and measure 
that. But cohesion is transmitted by the 
ether too, if, as believed, it is the universal 
binding medium. Compensation is likely; 
compensation can, on the electrical theory 
of matter, be predicted. 

Use some action not dependent on ether, 
then. Very well, where shall we find it? 

To illustrate the difficulty I will quote a 
sentence from Sir Joseph Larmor’s paper 
before the International Congress of Math- 
ematicians at Cambridge last year: 

If it is correct to say with Maxwell that all 
radiation is an electrodynamic phenomenon, it is 
equally correct to say with him that all electro- 
dynamic relations between material bodies are 
established by the operation, on the molecules of 
those bodies, of fields of force which are propa- 
gated in free space as radiation and in accordance 
with the laws of radiation, from one body to the 
other. 


The fact is we are living in an epoch of 
some very comprehensive generalizations. 
The physical discovery of the twentieth 
century, so far, is the electrical theory of 
matter. This is the great new theory of 
our time; it was referred to, in its philo- 
sophical aspect, by Mr. Balfour in his 
presidential address at Cambridge in 1904. 
We are too near it to be able to contem- 
plate it properly; it has still to establish 
itself and to develop in detail, but I antici- 
pate that in some form or other it will 
prove true.* 

Here is a briefest possible summary of 

“For a general introductory account of the elec- 


trical theory of matter my Romanes lecture for 
‘1903 (Clarendon Press), may be referred to. 


SCIENCE 


393 


the first chapter (so to speak) of the elec- 
trical theory of matter. 

1. Atoms of matter are composed of elec- 
trons—of positive and negative electric 
charges. 

2. Atoms are bound together into mole- 
cules by chemical affinity, which is intense 
electrical attraction at ultra-minute dis- 
tances. 

3. Molecules are held together by cohe- 
sion, which I for one regard as residual or 
differential chemical affinity over molecular 
distances. 

4, Magnetism is due to the locomotion of 
electrons. There is no magnetism without 
an electric current, atomic or otherwise. 
There is no electric current without a 
moving electron. 

5. Radiation is generated by every accel- 
erated electron, in amount proportional to 
the square of its acceleration; and there is 
no other kind of radiation, except indeed a 
corpuscular kind; but this depends on the 
velocity of electrons and therefore again 
can only be generated by their acceleration. 

The theory is bound to have curious con- 
sequences; and already it has contributed 
to some of the uprooting and uncertainty 
that I speak of. For, if it be true, every 
material interaction will be electrical, 7. e¢., 
etherial; and hence arises our difficulty. 
Every kind of force is transmitted by the 
ether, and hence, so long as all our appa- 
ratus is traveling together at one and the 
same pace, we have no chance of detecting 
the motion. That is the strength of the 
principle of relativity. The changes are 
not zero, but they cancel each other out of 
observation. 

Many forms of statement of the famous 
Michelson-Morley experiment are mislead- 
ing. It is said to prove that the time taken 
by light to go with the ether stream is the 
same as that taken to go against or across 
it. It does not show that. What it shows 


394 


is that the time taken by light to travel to 
and fro on a measured interval fixed on a 
rigid block of matter is independent of the 
aspect of that block with respect to any 
motion of the earth through space. A defi- 
nite and most interesting result: but it may 
be, and often is, interpreted loosely and too 
widely. 

It is interpreted too widely, as I think, 
when Professor Einstein goes on to assume 
that no non-relative motion of matter can 
be ever observed even when light is brought 
into consideration. The relation of light 
to matter is very curious. The wave front 
of a progressive wave simulates many of 
the properties of matter. It has energy, 
it has momentum, it exerts force, it sus- 
tains reaction. It has been described as a 
portion of the mass of a radiating body— 
which gives it a curiously and unexpect- 
edly corpuscular ‘‘feel.’’? But it has a 
definite velocity. Its velocity in space 
relative to the ether is an absolute constant 
independent of the motion of the source. 
This would not be true for corpuscular 
light. 

Hence I hold that here is something with 
which our own motion may theoretically be 
compared; and I predict that our motion 
through the ether will some day be de- 
tected by help of this very fact—by com- 
paring our speed with that of light: 
though the old astronomical aberration, 
which seemed to make the comparison easy, 
failed to do so quite simply, because it is 
complicated by the necessity of observing 
the position of a distant source, in relation 
to which the earth is moving. If the source 
and observer are moving together there is 
no possibility of observing aberration. 
Nevertheless I maintain that when matter 
is moving near a beam of light we may be 
able to detect the motion. For the velocity 
of light in space is no function of the 
velocity of the source, nor of matter near 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


it; it is quite unaffected by source or re- 
ceiver. Once launched it travels in its own 
way. If we are traveling to meet it, it will 
be arriving at us more quickly; if we travel 
away from it, it will reach us with some 
lag. And observation of the acceleration 
or retardation is made by aid of Jupiter’s 
satellites. We have there the dial of a 
clock, to or from which we advance or re- 
cede periodically. It gains while we ap- 
proach it, it loses while we recede from it, 
it keeps right time when we are stationary 
or only moving across the line of sight. 

But then of course it does not matter 
whether Jupiter is standing still and we 
are moving, or vice versa: it is a case of 
relative motion of matter again. So it is 
if we observe a Doppler effect from the 
right- and left-hand limbs of the rotating 
sun. True, and if we are to permit no 
relative motion of matter we must use a 
terrestrial source, clamped to the earth as 
our receiver is. And now we shall observe 
nothing. 

But not because there is nothing to ob- 
serve. Lag must really occur if we are 
running away from the light, even though 
the source is running after us at the same 
pace, unless we make the assumption—true 
only for corpuscular light—that the ve- 
locity of light is not an absolute thing, but 
is dependent on the speed of the source. 
With corpuscular light there is nothing to 
observe; with wave light there is some- 
thing, but we can not observe it. 

But if the whole solar system is moving 
through the ether I see no reason why the 
relative ether drift should not be observed 
by a differential residual effect in connec- 
tion with Jupiter’s satellites or the right 
and left limbs of the sun. The effect must 
be too small to observe without extreme 
precision, but theoretically it ought to be 
there. Inasmuch, however, as relative mo- 
tion of matter with respect to the observer 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


is involved in these effects, it may be held 
that the detection of a uniform drift of the 
solar system in this way is not contrary to 
the principle of relativity. It is contrary 
to some statements of that principle; and 
the cogency of those statements breaks 
down, I think, whenever they include the 
velocity of light; because there we really 
have something absolute (in the only sense 
in which the term can have a physical 
meaning) with which we can compare our 
own motions, when we have learned how. 
But in ordinary astronomical translation 
—translation as of the earth in its orbit— 
all our instruments, all our standards, the 
whole contents of our laboratory, are 
moving at the same rate in the same direc- 
tion; under those conditions we can not ex- 
pect to observe anything. Clerk Maxwell 
went so far as to say that if every particle 
of matter simultaneously received a gradu- 
ated blow so as to produce a given constant 
acceleration all in the same direction, we 
should be unaware of the fact. He did not 
then know all that we know about radia- 
tion. But apart from that, and limiting 
ourselves to comparatively slow changes of 
velocity, our standards will inevitably 
share whatever change occurs. So far as 
observation goes, everything will be prac- 
tically as if no change had occurred at all 
—though that may not be the truth. All 
that experiment establishes is that there 
have so far always been compensations; so 
that the attempt to observe motion through 
the ether is being given up as hopeless. 
Surely, however, the minute and curious 
compensations can not be accidental, they 
must be necessary? Yes, they are neces- 
sary; and I want to say why. Suppose the 
case were one of measuring thermal expan- 
sion; and suppose everything had the same 
temperature and the same expansibility ; 
our standards would contract or expand 
with everything else, and we could observe 


SCIENCE 


395 


nothing; but expansion would occur never- 
theless. That is obvious, but the following 
assertion is not so obvious. If everything 
in the universe had the same temperature, 
no matter what that temperature was, 
nothing would be visible at all; the ex- 
ternal world so far as vision went, would 
not appear to exist. Visibility depends on 
radiation, on differential radiation. We 
must have differences to appeal to our 
senses, they are not constructed for uni- 
formity. 

It is the extreme omnipresence and uni- 
formity and universal agency of the ether 
of space that makes it so difficult to ob- 
serve. To observe anything you must have 
differences. If all actions at a distance are 
conducted at the same rate through the 
ether, the travel of none of them can be 
observed. Find something not conveyed 
by the ether and there is a chance. But 
then every physical action is transmitted 
by the ether, and in every case by means of 
its transverse or radiation-like activity. 

Except perhaps gravitation. That may 
give us a clue some day, but at present we 
have not been able to detect its speed of 
transmission at all. No plan has been de- 
vised for measuring it. Nothing short of 
the creation or destruction of matter seems 
likely to serve; creation or destruction of 
the gravitational unit, whether it be an 
atom or an electron or whatever it is. Most 
likely the unit of weight is an electron, 
just as the unit of mass is. 


OLIVER LopeE 
(To be concluded) 


A SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF THE U. S. 
FISHERIES MARINE BIOLOGICAL 
STATION AT BEAUFORT, N. C., 
DURING 1912 
THE laboratory of the Bureau of Fisheries 
at Beaufort, North Carolina, was open as 
usual during the summer of 1912, and opened 
about the middle of June, 1913, to investiga- 


396 


tors engaged in the scientific and economic 
problems of the Bureau and to independent 
workers. Following is a brief summary of the 
work of the station and some of the results 
attained during the year 1912. 

The laboratory continued its cooperation 
with the U. S. Weather Bureau, keeping a 
daily record of the maximum and minimum 
temperatures, precipitation (rain and melted 
snow), ete. These data were forwarded 
monthly to the Raleigh office. 

Greatly needed improvements to grounds 
and buildings were begun during the year. 
The library was removed from the crowded 
laboratory to new quarters on the museum 
floor, and its contents are being arranged and 
catalogued according to the system used in the 
Washington office. A large number of state 
and other reports were received during the 
year, scientific works adapted to the needs of 
the station have been ordered, and an attempt 
is being made to assemble all publications re- 
lating to the fauna and flora of the region. 
All investigators who have or are publishing 
such papers are urged to forward separates to 
the library. 

The cultural experiments with the diamond- 
back terrapin were continued with marked suc- 
cess, and the feasibility of terrapin culture on 
a commercial basis is practically assured. The 
1912 brood numbered over 1,220, more than 
three times as many as in 1911, and indica- 
tions are that for the stock of adults on hand 
the maximum has not been reached. This 
brood, with those of 1911, 1910 and 1909, 
makes a total of over 1,900 young terrapin 
hatched in the enclosures at the laboratory. 
In the fall of 1911 and spring of 1912, 66 
adult terrapin from Texas were purchased, 
and from the eggs laid by these a sufficient 
number of young were obtained to begin the 
experimental work with this form. Professor 
W. P. Hay had general supervision of much of 
this work. 

It is the purpose of the laboratory to collect 
all possible data bearing on the fishes of the 
South Atlantic region, to conduct fish-cultural 
experiments to show the feasibility of increas- 
ing the annual yield by artificial propagation, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


and to add to knowledge of the life-histories of 
as many forms as possible. As a basis for this 
work, the compilation of all existing informa- 
tion on the local fishes has been undertaken. 
A card catalogue of species and a systematic 
list with synonymy of published references for 
the region are practically completed, about 235 
species being represented. 

In an examination of old collections in the 
laboratory several examples of a mad-tom, 
Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill), from Lake 
Mattamuskeet, N. C., were found. This is be- 
lieved to be the first record south of the Poto- 
mac River at Washington, D. C. Two addi- 
tional species not previously reported from 
North Carolina were taken during the summer. 
The first, a galeid-shark, Hypoprion breviros- 
tris Poey, represented by two examples, had 
been reported as far north as Charleston, S. C.; 
one specimen was 73 feet long, the largest re- 
corded. A southern sting-ray, Dasyatis sabina 
(Le Sueur), was also taken. This species ap- 
pears to be quite abundant and has probably 
been confused heretofore with small examples 
of some of the other species. An example of 
Carcharhinus acronotus (PRoey), the second 
record for the coast, was also obtained. A fine 
example of the interesting ray Mobula olferst 
(Muller & Henle) was presented to the labo- 
ratory by Mr. Russell J. Coles. 

On July 26, 1912, a beaked whale (Meso- 
plodon) 16 feet long was stranded on Bird 
Island Shoal in the harbor. The head, tail 
and one of the pectoral fins were sent to the 
U.S. National Museum, where Dr. F. W. True 
found it to be an undescribed species and has 
since given to it the name M. mirum. 

The investigators and independent workers 
have furnished the data on which the follow- 
ing brief summary of their work is based: 

Professor W. P, Hay who, during July, 
August and September, continued his work on 
the propagation of the diamond-back terrapin, 
also spent considerable time on the study of 
the crustacean fauna of the Beaufort region, 
and began a series of experiments on the arti- 
ficial propagation of the loggerhead turtle. 

1 Smithsonian Mise. Coll., Vol. 60, No. 25, March 
14, 1913. 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


Early in July a nest of the loggerhead turtle, 
containing 135 eggs, was found on the ocean 
beach of Bogue Bank. The eggs were removed 
to the laboratory and placed in hatching boxes, 
and 75 young turtles were hatched and re- 
tained until winter. The economic value of 
the loggerhead turtle is at present very small, 
but the data secured from the experiments at 
the laboratory will doubtless be useful if an 
effort is ever made to cultivate more valuable 
species of sea turtles. 

The decapod crustaceans of the Beaufort 
region were studied some years ago by Dr. H. 
A. Shore, but pressure of other matters made it 
impossible for him to complete his report. It 
is this unfinished work that has been taken 
up by Professor Hay and is being put in shape 
for publication. 

Dr. H. S. Davis, of the University of 
Florida, devoted his time largely to studying 
the life-history of a dimorphic species of 
Myzxosporidia occurring in the urinary bladder 
and ureters of the squeteague, Cynoscion re- 
galis. This species occurs in two very differ- 
ent forms (one disporous, the other polyspor- 
ous) and possesses many characters of great 
interest, notably a method of reproduction 
by internal budding hitherto unknown in the 
Myzxosporidia. The development of the spores 
was worked out in detail and has been found 
to differ in many respects from the published 
accounts of spore formation in other species. 
The account of this work will shortly be ready 
for publication. Observations were made on 
a number of species of Myxosporidia occurring 
in the gall bladders of sharks and others inhab- 
iting other marine fishes, and a considerable 
amount of material was preserved for future 
study. 

Dr. J. F. Abbott, of Washington University, 
St. Louis, Mo., conducted various experiments 
on the fiddler crab (Uca), which abounds in 
the neighborhood of Beaufort Harbor. 

(a) The question of the relative permeabil- 
ity of tissues and particularly of gill mem- 
branes to pure distilled water is still an open 
one. Fundulus heteroclitus appears to be im- 
permeable to and unaffected by immersion in 
pure distilled water. From the apparent im- 


SCIENCE 


397 


munity of the fiddler crab to fresh and distilled 
water it appears at first that it, like Fundulus, 
offers a similar exception to the rule that 
animal membranes are freely permeable. It 
was discovered after prolonged experiment that 
the crab stores up very small quantities of sea 
water in its gill chamber, with which it mod- 
ifies the pure water sufficiently to preserve its 
life. If the gill chamber be cut away and the 
cavity washed out, this immunity disappears 
and the crab succumbs to the effect of the 
water with an increase of weight (indicating 
the penetration of water) and a loss of salts 
(discoverable by titrating the immersing 
medium for chlorides). If the amount of 
water be small the crab is able by emitting 
minute quantities of electrolytes to alter the 
medium sufliciently to nullify the destructive 
solvent action of the pure water on the gill- 
membranes. An account of this portion of the 
work has been published in the Biological Bul- 
letin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at 
Woods Hole, Mass. (Vol. 24, p. 169, 1912). 

(b) Other lines of experiment on the nulli- 
fying action of one poisonous component of 
the sea water by another were carried out, 
leading to results which in general substan- 
tiate J. Loeb’s hypothesis of balanced solutions 
as worked out on marine vertebrates. 

(c) In connection with the storage of water 
in the gill-chamber mentioned above, the 
morphology of the apparatus by means of 
which the crab is enabled to leave the water 
for long intervals of time was worked out. 
An opening is to be found between the third 
and fourth pereipods, which is fringed with 
hairs and leads up through a narrow channel 
to a space above the gills. It is provided with 
a valvular stop and with a structure which ap- 
pears to function as a sense organ. It was as- 
certained that the crab does not “ breathe air” 
as frequently stated, but aerates the water thus 
retained in its gill chambers. 

(d) During the summer of 1912 a large 
number of fiddler crabs were captured and 
preserved for the purpose of determining the 
variation constants and the establishment of 
“lace modes.” It is planned to continue the 
work for a number of seasons in order to de- 


398 


termine if possible what effect climatic and en- 
vironmental factors may have on the variabil- 
ity of the species. The now completed labori- 
ous task of measuring (involving over 10,000 
measurements under a magnifying glass) has 
been carried out in the laboratory of the de- 
partment of zoology of Washington Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. Abbott also made studies of the blood of 
Thallasema, an echiurid worm that inhabits 
the dead tests of the “sand dollar.” This 
fluid is interesting from the standpoint of its 
corpuscles, which, like those of vertebrates, are 
of two kinds—ameboid forms and hemoglobin- 
bearing, respiratory cells. The individual 
eyele of these cells and their probable func- 
tions were worked out during the latter part 
of the summer, and the results are in press in 
the Washington University Quarterly. In 
about twenty-five per cent. of the worms 
studied the hemoglobin-bearing corpuscles 
formed were found to be parasitized by an un- 
described species of Hamogregarina—the first 
record of a hemosporidian parasite in an in- 
vertebrate host. Portions of the life cycle of 
the form were worked out, and it is hoped to 
complete this at some future time. 

Mr. L. F. Shackell, instructor in pharmacol- 
ogy, St. Louis, University School of Medicine, 
was engaged in a study of methods for protect- 
ing wood against the attacks of marine borers. 
Nearly seventy pieces of wood were coated with 
mixtures containing a variety of poisons, and 
are being allowed to remain in the water of 
Beaufort Harbor for nine months, the last 
three of which will coincide with the breeding 
season of Teredo and Limnoria. 

Professor H. V. Wilson, of the University 
of North Carolina, spent a part of the summer 
in an investigation bearing upon the question 
of the reciprocal interaction of cells of differ- 
ent species, his observations dealing especially 
with the behavior of the amcebocytes in the 
lymph of the sea urchins Arbacia and Toxop- 
neustes. 

Dr. James J. Wolfe, professor of biology in 
Trinity College, Durham, N. C., spent seven 
weeks at the laboratory completing his inves- 
tigation of Padina, begun here in the summer 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


of 1910, so far as the work which had to be 
done at the seaside is concerned. Forty-eight 
cultures of eggs and tetraspores were started 
in aquaria in the laboratory and later trans- 
ferred to various localities in the harbor. 
These were collected on a special trip made to 
Beaufort, September 25. A subsequent exam- 
ination, not yet quite complete, shows fairly 
conclusively an alternation of a sexual with an 
asexual generation. From July 18 to Septem- 
ber 1 general records were kept covering rate 
of growth, formation of hairs, and periodicity 
in the production of sex organs. The forego- 
ing, together with a cytological examination 
at critical stages, is now being incorporated 
in a paper on “The Life History of Padina.” 

Dr. A. J. Goldfarb, of the College of the 
City of New York, visited the laboratory from 
August 6-17 in order to continue certain ex- 
periments begun earlier in the season at the 
Marine Biological Laboratory of the Carnegie 
Institution, on the grafting of eggs together 
and on certain changes produced by chemical 
means. Extensive dredging operations about 
the harbor and close to the laboratory appear 
to have polluted the harbor waters, and it 
was found necessary to bring in sea water 
from outside the harbor to secure normal de- 
velopment of the fertilized eggs of Toxop- 
neustes variegatus into perfect plutei larve. 
With this water the eggs when subjected to 
the action of a 3 M NaCl solution tended to 
fuse together in large numbers, and to con- 
tinue their fusion into various types of single 
and double organisms. These fusions were 
produced in the same manner and gave rise to 
the same types of fusions as those obtained at 
the Tortugas earlier in the season, and estab- 
lished beyond all question that this new 
method for the production of fused eggs and 
larve is superior, in simplicity, in absence 
of disturbing physical factors, and in the num- 
ber of fusions, to the methods formerly used 
by the writer, by Driesch and by Herbst. 

Dr. Albert Kunz, of the University of Iowa, 
studied the habits, the morphology of the re- 
productive organs and the embryology of the 
viviparous fish, Gambusia affinis, and the early 


¢ 
SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


developmental stages of two species of teleosts 
whose eges were found in the plankton. 

Gambusia, affinis is exceedingly abundant in 
the vicinity of Beaufort in all the freshwater 
streams entering the harbor and in the shallow 
brackish waters. This species is of economic 
importance as a destroyer of insects and in- 
sect larve. Wherever it inhabits waters in 
which mosquitoes breed, the mosquito larve 
constitute its principal food. The introduc- 
tion of these fishes into the natural waters 
as well as into artificial ponds, aquatic gar- 
dens, etc., in mosquito-infested regions, may 
play an important role in the extermination 
of these pests. 

One of the most interesting points studied 
by Dr. Kunz was the structure of the appa- 
ratus controlling the modified anal fin in the 
male Gambusia. This fin functions as an in- 
tromittent organ and is controlled by a power- 
ful muscle which has its origin on a bony 
process projecting ventrally from the fourth 
to the last abdominal vertebre and the modified 
anal spines of the first three caudal vertebree 
and is inserted on the proximal end of the 
anal fin rays. The third, fourth and fifth rays 
of the fin are enlarged, greatly elongated and 
variously curved, bearing short spines on their 
distal portions. The interhemal which artic- 
ulates with the third ray is enlarged and suffi- 
ciently elongated to articulate with the two 
anterior processes, on which the muscle con- 
trolling the anal fin has its origin. The fifth 
ray may be drawn forward at one side of the 
fourth and brought into proximity with the 
third. In this manner a groove or tube is 
formed through which the milt is transferred 
from the male to the female. The results of 
this work are to be published in the near 
future. 

On August 3, 1912, pelagic eggs of the two 
species of teleosts were taken in the tow-net. 
Both are spherical in form and comparatively 
stnall, having a diameter of .6 to.7 mm. One 
kind, probably those of T'richiurus lepturus, 
are almost perfectly transparent and contain 
no oil-globule. The other, perhaps those of an 
engraulid, contain an oil-globule and numer- 
ous minute pigment snots. Eggs taken at the 


SCIENCE 


399 


same hour on successive days were found to be 
in approximately the same stage of develop- 
ment. Spawning obviously occurs in the 
evening, probably between five and eight 
o’clock. Before six o’clock in the morning the 
embryo is well differentiated, and at 36 hours 
after spawning the little fishes are already 
hatched. Observations on the development of 
these two species are still incomplete. It is 
expected that these studies will be extended 
and the species positively identified. 

Following the work of Thompson, Johnson, 
Tims and Dahl on the scales of the salmon 
and English brook trout, with special refer- 
ence to age determinations and life-history in- 
dications, Mr. H. F. Taylor, of Trinity Col- 
lege, Durham, N. C., undertook to verify and 
amplify their conclusions by investigating the 
scales of an important American food fish, 
Cynoscion regalis being chosen. 

Age may be determined with more or less 
accuracy by enumerating the annuli or sup- 
posed zones of growth. Various methods of 
bringing out these annuli clearly by stains, 
polarized light, ete., were employed. The re- 
sults will be explained in a paper to be pub- 
lished shortly. 

The evidences found by Mr. Taylor do not 
warrant the assumption that annuli are due 
to retarded growth, as was hitherto supposed, 
but they must be due to other causes which are 
at present somewhat doubtful. At all events 
it is fairly certain that if these fishes grow 
more slowly in winter than in summer there 
is no evidence of this on the scales. Dis- 
tances between the annuli are found to repre- 
sent, proportionately, the length of the fish at 
the times of the formation of the several 
annuli. 

The nature of the radii was also studied. 
They were found not to be constant, but to 
vary with the activity of the fish and with the 
part of the body from which the scale was 
taken. The evidence indicates that they are 
hinges through the superior calcified layer to 
permit the scale to bend in adaptation to the 
motion of the body of the fish. On the head, 
ete., where there is no flexibility, there are no 
radii on the scales; and their number on scales 


400 


from other parts agrees with the shape, size 
and thickness of the scale and the motion of 
the part. If this conclusion stands it will 
seriously modify systems of classification em- 
ploying radii as characters. 

Messrs. William J. Crozier and Selig Hecht, 
of the College of the City of New York, who 
were assigned to the director for duty, accom- 
panied the various collection trips, made ex- 
tensive collections of fishes and kept a com- 
plete record of all observations, devoting spe- 
cial attention to those relating to the food, 
habits, rate of growth, relative abundance and 
distribution of the fishes taken. They also 
studied correlations among weight, length and 
other body measurements of the squeteague 
(Cynoscion regalis). The coefficient of corre- 
lation of weight and length and the constant, 
which if multiplied by the cube of the length 
gives the weight of the fish, were determined. 
Stomach contents of a large number of ex- 
amples of this species were examined. The 
results indicate that the relative proportions 
of the forms of life commonly eaten depend 
upon the size of the fish and that the food 
varies with the locality. 

Lewis Rapciirre, 
Director 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Proressor WILLIAM Bateson, director of 
the John Innes Horticultural Institution, has 
been elected president of the British Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science for the 
meeting which will be held next year in Au- 
stralia. 


On the occasion of the meeting of the In- 
ternational Geological Congress at Toronto, 
the University of Toronto conferred the de- 
gree of: doctor of laws on the following geol- 
ogists: T. C. Chamberlin, U. S. A.; W. G. 
Miller, Canada; P. M. Termier, France; R. 
Beck, Germany; J. J. Sederholm, Finland; 
T. Tschermyschey, Russia, and A. Strahan, 
England. 


Proressor Lintmen J. Martin, professor of 
psychology at Stanford University, has had 
the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy 
conferred upon her by the University of Bonn. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 977 


Proressor Brier and Professor Korte, of 
Berlin, have been named as honorary mem- 
bers of the Royal College of Surgeons in 
London. 


Accorpine to a note in The Observatory 
the American astronomers present at the 
meeting of the Solar Union at Bonn were: 
Campbell, St. John and Burns, from Cali- 
fornia; Stebbins, from Illinois; Parkhurst, 
Slocum and Gingrich, from Yerkes; Schles- 
inger, from Allegheny; Russell and Shapley, 
from Princeton; Ames, from Baltimore; Doo- 
little, from Philadelphia; Nichols, from Cor- 
nell; Pickering, Bailey, Miss Cannon and 
Mrs. Hastings, from Harvard; Miss Whiting 
and Miss Allen, from Wellesley, and Plaskett, 
from Ottawa. 

Dr. Cart Correns, professor of botany at 
Munster, has been appointed director of the 
Research Institute for Biology of the Kaiser 
Wilhelm Society. Dr. Spemann, professor of 
zoology at Rostock, has been appointed assist- 
ant director. 

Prince Gatirzin has become director of the 
Observatoire Physique Central Nicolas, St. 
Petersburg. 

Mr. Axset S. Steen has been appointed di- 
rector of the Meteorological Institute of Nor- 
way, in succession to Dr. H. Mohn, who has 
retired. 

Mr. C. A. McLennon, for the past five 
years botanist and plant-pathologist to the 
Georgia Experiment Station, in charge of 
plant-breeding investigations, has tendered 
his resignation to take effect October the first, 
after which date he expects to be engaged in 
private business. 

L. F. Hawzey, Ph.D. (Cornell), formerly in 
charge of the section of wood distillation and 
chemistry of the U. S. Forest Service, is now 
the director of a forest products department 
recently established by Arthur D. Little, In- 
corporated, Boston, Mass. 

Dr. Catvert M. DeForest has been ap- 
pointed deputy health officer of the Port of 
New York. Dr. DeForest has recently re- 
turned from Libau, Russia, where he has been 
in the Public Health Service for the last five 
years. 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


Freperick G. Ciapp, of the Associated Geo- 
logical Engineers, has returned from the gas 
fields of Hungary, and has gone to New 
Brunswick in company with Mr. Myron L. 
Fuller and Mr. Lloyd B. Smith of the same 
bureau. 


Mr. D. A. Bannerman has returned from a 
zoological mission to the eastern islands of 
the Canary group, undertaken with the object 
of procuring birds for the Natural History 
Museum, London. 


Sik Winuam Oster will distribute the 
prizes and deliver an address at St. George’s 
Hospital on October 1. 


Tue lectures at the Harvey Society in the 
Academy of Medicine, New York City, will 
be inaugurated on October 4 by a demonstra- 
tive lecture by Dr. A. D. Waller, of London, 
entitled “ A Short Account of the Origin and 
Scope of Electrocardiography.” Subsequent 
lecturers are Professor Adolph Schmidt, 
Halle; Dr. Charles V. Chapin, Providence, 
R. I.; Dr. Rufus Cole, Rockefeller Institute; 
Professor G. H. Parker, Harvard; Dr. Victor 
©. Vaughan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Professor 
Sven Hedin, Upsala, Sweden, and Professor 


J. J. R. Macleod, Western Reserve Univer- 


sity. 

A LECTURE will be delivered on October 7 at 
the University of Birmingham by Professor 
Arthur Keith, F.R.S., on “The Present 
Problems Relating to the Antiquity of Man.” 


A TABLET has been unveiled at Primiero, 
Southern Tyrol, on the house in which Alois 
Negrelli was born, to commemorate his work 
as surveyor of the Suez Canal. 


Mr. Epwarp Lyman Morris, since 1907 
curator of natural science in the Museum of 
the Brooklyn Institute and since 1898 special 
plant expert of the U. S. National Museum 
and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
died on September 14, aged forty-three years. 

Proressor Mosrs Oraic, formerly professor 
of botany at the Oregon Agricultural College 
and botanist of the station, later in charge of 
the herbarium of the Shaw Botanical Garden, 
St. Louis, died on August 31. He was grad- 
uated from the Ohio State University in 


SCIENCE 


401 


1889 and received a master’s degree from 
Cornell University in 1890. 


WE learn from the London Times that the 
future of the educational museums, founded 
and equipped by the late Sir Jonathan Hutch- 
inson, at Haslemere, Selby (Yorks), and 22, 
Chenies-Street, London, is causing some con- 
cern. In his will Sir Jonathan leaves the 
museums to his trustees to dispose of as they 
may think best. In his lifetime he spent on 
the museums and their equipment at least 
£30,000. At Haslemere there is a strong feel- 
ing that everything should be done to retain 
the museum for the town, and it is understood 
that the family are willing to hand it over to 
a responsible committee or body of trustees so 
that the museum may be placed on a perma- 
nent and public basis. The annual cost of 
maintenance on present lines is about £400, 
and an appeal will shortly be issued with the 
hope of securing this sum for five years at 
least, it being thought that by that time those 
who are interested in the matter will have had 
an opportunity of deciding what are the best 
steps to be taken for the permanent control 
and maintenance of the museum. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


By the will of Miss Katherine Allen, of 
Worcester, the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 


tute received a bequest amounting to about 
$100,000. 


Mrs. Russert Sacre has given $34,000 to 
Syracuse University, of which $30,000 is for 
the Joseph Slocum Agricultural College. 


Mrs. Exta Strona Denison, widow of the 
late Dr. Charles Denison, proposes to give a 
medical building to the University of Colo- 
rado. The wings will be used for laboratories, 
and the central tower will have a lecture 
room and a library. The west wing is now 
being built. It will be called the Henry S. 
Denison Laboratory in memory of Mrs. Deni- 
son’s son, who was a member of the Univer- 
sity of Colorado faculty. 


From the list of doctorates conferred by 
American universities, published in ScIENCE 


402 


for September, there were omitted four de- 
grees given by the University of California: 
The recipients were: Harold Childs Bryant, 
in zoology; Wilson Gee, in zoology; Harry 
Noble Wright, in mathematics, and Fried- 
rich Alexander Wyneken, in German. 


Dr. A. G. Pontman, of Indiana University, 
has accepted the professorship of anatomy in 
the school of medicine in St. Louis Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. C. L. Anprews, of the Johns Hopkins 
University, has been appointed professor of 
anatomy in the University of Mississippi 
Medical College. 


Dr. Leonarp W. Ety, of Denver, Colorado, 
was appointed associate professor of ortho- 
pedie surgery, and Dr. Ralph W. Majors, in- 
structor in pathology, at a recent meeting of 
the board of trustees of Stanford University. 
On October first there will be opened a clinic 
in orthopedic surgery in quarters which are 
being fitted up for the purpose in the medical 
school buildings in San Francisco. 


Rate W. Curtis, B.S.A., who was for 
four years assistant superintendent of the 
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 
has been appointed assistant professor of 
landscape art in the college of agriculture of 
Cornell University. 


JostsH Mary, of the State Normal School, 
Hays, Kansas, has been appointed professor 
of agriculture for schools in the State Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical College, at Still- 
water, Oklahoma. 

Paut S. Wetcu, Ph.D. (Illinois), has been 
appointed instructor in entomology in the 
Kansas State Agricultural College, and as- 
sistant entomologist of the experiment sta- 
tion to fill the place made vacant by the 
resignation of Dr. M. C. Tanquarry, who is ac- 
companying the Crocker Land Arctic Expedi- 
tion. Dr. John W. Scott, assistant professor 
of zoology and assistant station zoologist in 
charge of investigations in parasitology in 
the Kansas State Agricultural College, has 
resigned to become professor and head of the 
department of zoology and parasitology in 
the University of Wyoming. J. E. Ackert, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


Ph.D. (Illinois), has been appointed to the 
position in Kansas made vacant by Dr. 
Scott’s resignation. 


Tue following appointments to the faculty 
of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and 
Experiment Station have just been made: 
Professor Ernest Walker, graduate of Cor- 
nell, formerly the head of the department of 
horticulture in the University of Arkansas, to 
be head of the department of horticulture; G. 
S. Templeton, B.S. (Missouri, 711), who has 
been for the past two years instructor in ani- 
mal industry in the Texas College, to be head 
of the department of animal industry; L. S. 
Blake, a graduate of the University of Michi- 
gan, becomes acting head of the department 
of pharmacy as substitute for Professor EK. R. 
Miller, who becomes acting assistant professor 
of plant chemistry in the University of Wis- 
consin. Lucius W. Summers, who has been 
assistant professor of animal industry for the 
past two years, has resigned to accept the 
position of professor of animal industry in 
the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

Dr. J. Austin Bancrorr has been appointed 
by the governors of McGill University Daw- 
son professor of geology. 


Dr. A. D. IMs has been appointed to the 
newly created post of reader in agricultural 
entomology at the University of Manchester. 
Dr. Imms was formerly professor of biology 
in the University of Allahabad, and after- 
wards forest entomologist to the government 
of India at the Imperial Research Institute, 
Dehra Dun. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE DATA OF INTER-VARIETAL AND INTER-SPECIFIC 
COMPETITION IN THEIR RELATION TO THE 
PROBLEM OF NATURAL SELECTION 


To THE Epitor oF Science: Biometricians 
have clearly demonstrated’ that of the varia- 
tions which occur within the limits of the 
species some have far less chance of survival 
than others. In short, the intra-specific death 


1See several papers in Biometrika and two gen- 
eral reviews in the Popular Science Monthly for 
1911 and 1913. 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


rate is selective. The difficulties, however, of 
the problem of natural selection, the least in- 
vestigated of all of the primary factors of 
organic evolution, demand the collection of 
evidences from every possible source. 

The purpose of this letter is to call attention 
to inter-varietal and inter-specific competition 
as a source of information on natural selection, 
to illustrate the point by one or two recently 
published observations, and to urge the accu- 
mulation of more (and more precise) data of 
this kind by those field naturalists and experi- 
mentalists who have the opportunity for this 
sort of work. 

The kind of studies to which I refer are 
illustrated by Brimley’s interesting account’ of 
the capture of Raleigh, N. C., by the wharf rat, 
Mus norvegicus. Up to 1909, the roof rat, M. 
alexandrinus, was the only species seen during 
a residence of twenty-five years. Since then it 
has been nearly or entirely replaced by the 
wharf rat. 

For a second illustration turn to botanical 
material. 

Varieties of plants are generally believed to 
differ in their susceptibility to disease. An in- 
teresting demonstration of this is furnished by 
researches on the potato fungus, Phytophthora 
infestans. Jones, Giddings and Lutman have 
shown* that there is a correlation between the 
percentage growth of the fungus on various 
varieties in the test-tube and the percentage of 
rot observed in field trials on clay and sandy 
soil by Stuart. They find for laboratory 
growth and loss on clay a correlation of 
7 = .584 = .059 and for laboratory and sandy 
soil a correlation of r—= 594 .055.° For con- 

* Brimley, C. S., ‘‘Capture of Raleigh by the 
Wharf Rat,’’? Journ. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc., 
28: 91-94, 1912. 

* Dr. Hatai tells me that when he placed white 
rats on an island inhabited by the brown rat, UM. 
norvegicus, the two forms at once established dif- 
ferent centers and began fighting each other. See 
also Year Book Carn. Inst. Wash., 10: 83-84, 1912. 

‘Jones, L. R., N. J. Giddings and B. F. Lutman, 
Bull. Vt. Agr. Hap. Sta., 168: 74-81, 1912. 

5 These are calculated on grouped data. I have 
recalculated without classing and find results 
agreeing within less than half the probable error. 


SCIENCE 


403 


venient comparison I have also worked out the 
correlation between the percentage rot of the 
same varieties on clay and sandy soil, using 
Stuart’s data as quoted by Jones and his asso- 
ciates. For the ungrouped material r= .707 = 
045. 

Clearly enough there is a pronounced indi- 
viduality in the varieties with respect to their 
capacity for resisting disease. The interest of 
such a result from the standpoint of natural 
selection is clear, for in free competition more 
susceptible strains would be rapidly weeded 
out, and the morphological or physiological 
characteristics to which their inferiority is 
due would be lost. 

Now of course in neither of these cases do 
we know why (2 e., because of what peculiar 
characteristics) one variety or species was less 
capable than another of survival. Nor can we 
know until the questions are more intensively 
studied. But one can not doubt that these 
problems will yield to proper and persistent 
observation. 

My point is merely that this sort of work 
may (if carried out extensively and inten- 
sively enough) have a most important bearing 
upon the two fundamental questions of natu- 
ral selection. First, is the death rate random 
or selective? Second, if selective, what weight 
has each individual character in determining 
the chances of survival of the individual? In 
seeking the answer to the second question it 
may be desirable to deal with characteristics as 
strongly contrasted as possible—with varietal 
or specific differences instead of with intra- 
varietal variations—in order that the proxi- 
mate causes of the differential mortality may 
be more easily recognized. 

The value of such work for the problem of 
natural selection will be quite supplementary 
to that for which it was primarily carried out. 
May we not, therefore, have more observa- 
tions of this kind, carried out in such detail 
that they may be of value to the evolutionist 
seeking to ascertain the selective value of 
individual characters? 

J. ArtHur Harris 

STATION FOR EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION, 

August 20, 1913 


404 


PREPOTENCY IN AIREDALE TERRIERS 


I HAVE recently had occasion to make a care- 
ful analysis of the ancestry and get of Aire- 
dale terriers. In view of the fact that this 
variety of dogs was manufactured only some 
fifty years ago out of known materials’ and now 
breeds true to type the results are interesting, 
especially when compared with Davenport’s 
studies in trotting-horse pedigrees. 

The records of the English and American 
Kennel Clubs’ Stud Books show that to 
January, 1913, 80 dogs and 69 bitches have 
won their championship in both countries. 
Since to become a champion, a dog must re- 
ceive a certain number of awards under at 
least three different judges, it is safe to assume 
that winners of the title are above the average 
of the variety. Certainly to breed a champion 
is the object of dog fanciers’ breeding experi- 
ments. 

Of the 80 dog champions, 39 were sired by 
champions. Of the 80 champions 38 had one 
grand-sire a champion, and 23 champions 
had both grand-sires champions. Just one less 
than half of all dog champions were sired by 
a champion, and about three fourths had either 
one or both grand-sires champions. 

Of the 80 dog champions, however, 53 never 
sired a champion of either sex. Only 27 of the 
dog champions produced championship win- 
ners. Of these 27 sires of champions, but 13 
produced more than one champion. However, 
these 13 exceptional sires produced 49 of the 
149 Airedale champions; almost a third of all 
the champions of both sexes. 

In the second generation, sons of champions 
sired 47 dog and 88 bitch champions, and 
daughters of champions were the dams of 43 
dog and 22 bitch champions. It should be 
noted that champions both of whose grand- 
sires were champions get into these figures 
twice, as both the get of a champion’s son and 
also of a champion’s daughter. Of the 80 dog 
champions, 17 are bred this way. 

Of the 80 dog champions, however, only 24 

1Buckley, ‘‘The Airedale Terrier,’’ 1907; 
Haynes, ‘‘The Airedale,’’ 1911; Palmer, ‘‘All 
about Airedales,’’ 1912. 

2¢<Principles of Breeding,’’ pp. 551-567. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


actually appear as grand-sires of champions, 
and but 10 are the grand-sire of 4 or more 
champions. Even more striking evidence of 
the prepotency of certain dogs as producers of 
champions is that those dogs who sired 2 or 
more champions almost invariably appear 
among those whose sons and daughters have 
produced more than 4 champions. The excep- 
tional sires are also the exceptional grand- 
sires. The following table shows the cham- 
pions in the ancestry and get of these excep- 
tional breeding individuals. 


Champion Ancestry Champion Get 
Sire of oieie Dam’s 
Sire Si 
No.| Sire | Dam erand. Grand ee 
fl) Sei © | ee) © 
5 1 1 2/;2/1 1 
9 Py it 
17 1 1 513|8/]4)]6)6 
21 2 BIE Ne) |) Ik |) 
22 1 1 24 || al 1 
28 i 2 | al 
44 1 4/112 |10| 7 | 2 
45 2 1 Wy BS 3 
Aten eael 1 1 PA dL | Bl) IL 
53 1 1 1 2/1 
56) 1 1 PY | it tal 
58 al || ab A Bp wk 
59 1 1 4 
65) 1 2 2 3] 1 
66 | 1 2 
eX || ab 22 |eoul On| ele 
16; 9 1 8/3 1 |/80 |20 |45 |35 |27 118 


These 16 champions have sired 50 cham-- 
pions, or, in other words, a third of all the- 
Airedale champions have been sired by some- 
thing less than a third of the dog champions. 

Moreover, a glance at the pedigrees of these- 
16 phenomenal producers show them all to be 
more or less closely related. All trace back to 
Cholmondeley Briar (No. 9 in the above table)... 
The three greatest producers of the lot are 
Master Briar (44), Clonmel Monarch (17), 
and Crompton Oorang (21). Master Briar is 
a grand-son of Cholmondeley Briar and the- 
sire of Clonmel Monarch. Crompton Oorang 
is by a son of Master Briar out of a daughter 
of Clonmel Monarch. Without tracing out 
all the relationships in the dogs of the table, it. 
may be said that the two living dogs (21 and’ 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


59) are Crompton Oorang and his son, Rock- 
ley Oorang. 

Practically all show dogs are placed at public 
stud, and any champion, thanks to the adver- 
tising his winnings give him, will be popular. 
The 53 champions who never sired a champion 
ean not therefore be excused on the plea of 
lack of opportunity. They would certainly 
receive more bitches than a non-champion, un- 
less this dog had made a great reputation as a 
sire. 

The full table, showing the ancestry and get 
of all Airedale champions, and a similar one 
for Scottish terriers will be published in my 
forthcoming book on dog breeding. 

WinuiaMs Haynes 


MITOSIS IN THE ADULT NERVE CELLS OF THE 
COLORADO BEETLE 


In a recent study of the development of the 
nerve cells through larval, pupal and adult 
stages in the honey bee, we had ample oppor- 
tunity to note the method of division and 
growth. After the very early larval stages 
there is formed a regular mitotic figure in 
each multiplying nerve cell. These division 
figures are not equally abundant in all our 
material, which may account for the assump- 
tion that there is a rhythm in the normal 
growth of nerve cells. Mitosis does not stop 
at the end of the larval period, but continues 
for a time in the pupal stage. We have ob- 
served perfect mitotic fizures in bees in the 
early pupal stages of metamorphosis. These 
figures are exactly like those occurring in the 
larval stages. 

The larval life of the honey bee is relatively 
inactive, which affords an interesting contrast 
with the active existence of the common potato 
beetle. The results of this comparison will 
appear in a separate paper. While making 
the comparative study of the larval as well as 
pupal and adult stages in the growth of the 
nerve cells we noted in some of the adult 
material unmistakable evidence of nerve tell 
division. Close examination showed that 
there were many nerve cells in one animal 
dividing in the normal mitotic manner. Cen- 
trosomes, spindle fibers and astral rays were 


SCIENCE 


405 


all complete. The chromosomes were too 
compactly massed to be counted. In one field 
of the 2 mm. oil immersion objective we found 
six cells undergoing division. Others ap- 
peared in other parts of the ganglionic mass. 

Our study upon the growth of the nerve 
cells in the honey bee and the potato beetle 
indicate that we may expect to find nerve cells 
regularly dividing by mitosis through the 
pupal and into adult life. 

W. M. Smatiwoop, 


Cuartes G. Rogers 
THE ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Sigma Xi Quarter Century Record and His- 
tory 1886-1911. Compiled by Henry Batp- 
win Warp, Secretary of the Society of the 
Sigma Xi, with the assistance of the Chap- 
ter secretaries. University of Illinois. Ur- 
bana-Champaign. Pp. xii-+ 542. 

A brief statement of the society whose 
achievements for a quarter of a century are 
given in the octavo volume which has just 
been published under the above title will per- 
haps best describe its importance. 

In the early spring of 1886 the feeling that 
students of science who were not eligible to 
election in the well-known honor college fra- 
ternity, Phi Beta Kappa, should organize a 
similar honor society to which those worthy 
followers of Agassiz, Darwin and Haeckel 
should be admitted was clearly recognized at 
more than one college, and especially at those 
universities where science was made an im- 
portant feature of the curriculum.’ 

Accordingly, at Cornell University in No- 
vember, 1886, the society of the Sigma Xi was 


1 Organized in 1776 at William and Mary Col- 
lege in Virginia. 

? Let me call attention at this point to the fact 
that very early in the history of the School of 
Mines of Columbia University in New York those 
students who were able to enter the senior class 
without conditions were given the privilege of 
wearing the badge of crossed hammers in the 
course of mining engineering, and of the Liebig’s 
potash bulbs in the chemical course. 


406 SCIENCE 


organized. It takes its name from the initial 
letters of two Greek words signifying “Com- 
panions in Zealous Research.” The object of 
the organization, as given in its constitution, is 
to encourage original investigation in science, 
pure and applied, by meeting for the discussion 
of scientific subjects; by the publication of such 
scientific matter as may be desirable; by estab- 
lishing fraternal relations among investigators in 
the scientific centers; and by granting the priv- 
ilege of membership to such students as during 
their college course have given special promise of 
future achievement. 

Membership in this society is of three kinds: 
active, alumni and honorary. Naturally the 
first class is the most important and includes, 
as a rule, professors, instructors, graduates 
and such undergraduates as may be found 
worthy. The undergraduates are usually 
chosen in the senior year, following in this re- 
spect the custom of Phi Beta Kappa, although 
in some institutions, as, for instance, the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, it has been the policy to 
admit only graduate students to membership. 
The alumni members are chosen from gradu- 
ates of at least five years’ standing, who have 
demonstrated their right of membership by 
investigation, while honorary members may be 
selected from those who have achieved emi- 
nence as scientific workers, although as yet 
none such have been elected. 

From the beginning it was evident that the 
society would succeed. Chapters were organ- 
ized at Rensselaer and Union in 1887, at 
Kansas in 1890, and at Yale in 1895. In addi- 
tion to the foregoing there are now chapters 
at Minnesota (1896), Nebraska (1897), Ohio 
(1898), Pennsylvania (1899), Brown (1900), 
Towa (1900), Stanford (1901), California 
(1902),, Columbia (1902), Chicago (1908), 
Michigan (1903), Illinois (1903), Case (1904), 
Indiana (1904), Missouri (1905), Colorado 
(1905), Northwestern (1906), Syracuse (1906), 
Wisconsin (1907), Washington (1907), 
Worcester (1908), Purdue (1909) and Wash- 
ington, St. Louis (1910). 

The membership in 1886 was but 14, but it 
has grown steadily and persistently ever since; 
for in 1891 it was 267, in 1901, 1,559, and in 
1911, 7,498, which number is annually in- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITI. No. 977 


creased by between 600 and 700 (659 in 1911) 
new members, of which in 1911 324 were 
undergraduates. 

Annual conventions are held on the Tuesday 
evening of the week of the meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, at which time the policy of the so- 
ciety comes up for discussion and such other 
public business as may be desired. Delegates 
from the chapters, together with the general 
officers, are members of the Council. 

It is not easy to review the achievements of 
Sigma Xi during its existence of a little more 
than a quarter of a century. This difficulty 
lies in knowing just what to say. There is no 
danger of saying too much, but there is de- 
cided danger in saying too little. Its mission 
is to encourage science and to foster original 
investigation. 

Science has been distinctly advanced by the 
popular public lectures and addresses made 
before many of the chapters by such eminent 
authorities as Charles F. Chandler, R. H. 
Chittenden, George W. Goethals, G. E. Hale, 
L. O. Howard, David Starr Jordan, A. A. 
Michelson, C. S. Minot, E. W. Morley, E. L. 
Nichols, C. R. Van Hise, Arthur G. Webster, 
Harvey W. Wiley and many others. 

In the celebrations of the centenary of Dar- 
win’s birth, it took an active part, and impor- 
tant commemorative meetings with appropri- 
ate addresses were held when the bicentenary 
of Franklin’s birth occurred. 

Of far-reaching importance was the investi- 
gation by the California chapter of the con- 
dition actually existing in the region about 
San Francisco concerning the bubonic plague 
and the results of the report were most potent 
at a time when the existence of that frightful 
disease on the Pacific coast was disputed. 

Not the least of its valuable contributions 
is the fact that it has brought about an in- 
creased interest in Phi Beta Kappa. It affili- 
ates agreeably with its older rival at Co- 
lumbia, Kansas, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, 
alternating addresses at commencement at 
certain of these universities, and holding 
joint meetings at others. The existence of 
Tau Beta Pi, the honor fraternity in institu- 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


tions of applied science, is, I am sure, very 
largely due to the success of Sigma Xi. 

Sigma Xi stands “for intellectual energy 
rather than sordid ambition,” and the volume 
so ably compiled by Professor Ward richly 
demonstrates the fact that it “has become a 
prominent factor in most of our universities.” 
In the words of one of its founders in conse- 
quence of its influence: 


Men have come to know that knowledge of the 
present is far more important than tradition— 
that individual discernment, power of initiative, 
and honesty, surpass all authority in the equip- 
ment of a scholar of the new sort. 


Marcus BenJAMIN 


An Introduction to the Chemistry of Plant 
Products. By Paun Haas and T. G. Hint. 
Published by Longmans, Green and Oo., 
London, New York, Bombay and Calcutta. 
1913. Pp. xii 401. 

The progress of chemistry, perhaps more 
than of any other science, may be divided into 
great epochs, in each of which one branch of 
the science is found to be far more productive 
of permanent results than are the other di- 
visions. 

The centuries-long period of alchemy grad- 
ually merged into the period when chemical 
researches were conducted with the view of 
enlarging the number of compounds which 
could be utilized in medicine. 

Following the discovery of the nature of 
combustion, we begin to find the first organized 
chemical research, devoted in the main to in- 
organic chemistry, which rewarded us with a 
gradually increasing number of elements, with 
the atomic hypothesis, and the gas laws. 

Thus until 1828 nearly all of the chemical 
investigations were confined to inorganic 
chemistry, for the compounds of carbon were 
supposed to be formed only by the action of 
life. When, however, Wéhler made his fa- 
mous synthesis of urea, a new field was opened 
and the immense number of organic com- 
pounds listed in “ Beilstein” are in a large 
measure the result of the studies of the period 
of organic chemistry. 

For a time organic chemistry overshadowed 


SCIENCE 6 


407 


inorganic chemistry until, under the leader- 
ship of men like Arrhenius, Ostwald, Nernst 
and Van’t Hoff, a new chemistry was created 
which we know as physical chemistry. And 
even in our own time we have seen the science 
of radioactivity follow the discovery of radium 
by Mme. Curie. 

During all of these advances the chemistry 
of the life processes has been more or less neg- 
lected. To be sure, a great many of our uni- 
versities list courses in “ physiological chem- 
istry,” but until very recently these have been 
devoted almost entirely to the study of nutri- 
tion and the chemistry of pathology, and even 
to-day the study of the chemistry of the life 
processes is only at a beginning. This is per- 
haps necessary, for it would be a useless task 
to undertake to determine and measure the 
life processes without the exact knowledge 
furnished by the organic and physical chem- 
ists. 

We are thus, probably, near the beginning 
of a period of biological chemistry, not only 
the chemistry of animal life, but the chemis- 
try of plant processes as well, not only from 
the standpoint of the physician and utili- 
tarian, but from the broader standpoint of the 
study of life itself, its chemical products and 
the laws by which it is governed. 

We have many admirable text-books deal- 
ing with physiological chemistry, but text- 
books which are suitable for a course in plant 
chemistry are rare. This may perhaps in part 
explain the absence of such courses from the 
curricula of our universities. It is, there- 
fore, a pleasure to find such a book as “ An 
Introduction to the Chemistry of Plant Prod- 
ucts.” 

Modeled somewhat after Hoppe-Seiler’s 
“ Handbuch der physiologisch- und patholog- 
isch-chemischen Analyse,” but dealing only 
with plant products, there is a wealth of in- 
formation in the 400 pages. Each group of 
plant constituents is discussed, first under the 
general group, then under the group subdi- 
visions, and lastly each compound is given, its 
structural formula (when known), its proper- 
ties, its chemical reactions, its micro-chemical 
reactions in many cases, the qualitative tests 


408 t 


for its presence, and the methods for its 
quantitative estimation. The quantitative es- 
timation is illustrated in a majority of the 
cases by an example, so that the student can 
not go astray. Perhaps in some of these 
eases the calculations could have been 
omitted, for many are so simple that any one 
who could understand the directions should 
be able to calculate percentage, etc., but it is 
better to err in being too explicit rather than 
be too obtuse. 

The literature has been well reviewed, but, 
unfortunately, the book contains no author in- 
dex, so that the numerous author citations 
lose a very considerable part of their value. 
It is to be hoped that this feature will be 
remedied in a second edition. 

The book is well printed on good paper, and 
is remarkably free from typographical errors. 
It should prove a useful volume to the aver- 
age chemist, and invaluable to the plant 
physiologist or the teacher of plant chemistry, 
both as a reference book and as a text-book. 
Needless to add it should be in every chemical 
library. Ross AIKEN GORTNER 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CELL WITH RESPECT 
TO PERMEABILITY 


In studies on permeability it is assumed 
that we need consider but one surface, namely, 
the outer “plasma membrane.” It seems de- 
sirable to emphasize that the problem really 
involves a variety of surfaces’ the permeabil- 
ity of which may be decidedly different. 

Good illustrations of this may be found in 
many kinds of plant cells. A very favorable 
object for investigation is afforded by the 
marine alga Griffithsia. Within the cell wall 
is a thin layer of protoplasm which surrounds 
a large central vacuole. The protoplasm 
therefore forms a sack which is filled with 
liquid. It is capable of expanding or con- 
tracting as water is taken up or withdrawn 
by osmotic exchange. 


1The term surface is preferred, since a semi- 
permeable surface may exist where there is no 
definite membrane. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


If these cells be placed in hypertonic sea 
water water is withdrawn from the cells and 
the protoplasmic sack contracts: on replacing 
the cells in sea water the sack expands to its 
original size. If in place of hypertonic sea 
water we use hypertonic NH,Cl the sack like- 
wise contracts, but the inner wall of the sack 
contracts a great deal more than its outer 
wall. The space between the two surfaces 
which is normally very small may increase 
until in places it equals one third of the 
length of the cell. 

There are, therefore, two surfaces, the outer 
surface of the protoplasm (“plasma mem- 
brane”) and the inner surface (vacuole wall) 
which do not act alike with respect to per- 
meability. The interpretation of their be- 
havior may be twofold. In the first place, the 
outer surface may be regarded as more per- 
meable to NH,Cl than the inner. The salt 
would therefore cause the outer surface to 
contract less than the inner since it is well 
known that the more freely a substance pene- 
trates the less is its plasmolyzing power. 

On the other hand, we may have to do with 
an alteration of permeability produced by the 
NH,Cl. If the NH,Cl produces an increase 
of permeability it may cause a contraction 
by what has been called false plasmolysis. 
If the false plasmolysis of the inner surface 
is greater than that of the outer the effect 
which we have witnessed may result. 

It is of course quite possible that both of 
these interpretations are correct and that we 
have both true and false plasmolysis con- 
tributing to the result. The writer is inclined 
to think that this is the case. 

By lowering the concentration of the NH,Cl 
we can produce a marked contraction of the 
inner surface while the outer still retains its 
full turgidity and shows no sign of contrac- 
tion. This is most strikingly shown where a 
living cell adjoins a dead one. ‘The turgidity 
of the living cell causes its end wall to bulge 
into the dead cell. As soon as the living cell 
loses its turgidity the end wall ceases to bulge 
and becomes nearly flat. It is therefore easy 
to determine whether the cell is turgid or not. 

2Of, Bot. Gazette, 46: 53, 1908; 55: 446, 1913. 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


Further experiments show clearly that false 
plasmolysis plays a part in this process, for 
hypotonic solutions or even tap water or dis- 
tilled water may produce a contraction of the 
inner surface while the turgidity of the outer 
surface is maintained. 

The chromatophores are numerous and lie 
embedded between the inner and outer sur- 
faces of the protoplasmic sack. They contain 
chlorophyll and likewise a red pigment which 
is soluble in water. The red pigment is 
unable to escape from the chromatophore into 
the protoplasm under normal conditions be- 
cause the surface of the chromatophore is 
impermeable to it. When the separation of 
the inner and outer surfaces of the protoplasm 
reaches a certain point the surface of the 
chromatophores usually becomes permeable to 
the red pigment so that it diffuses out. The 
cells then present a very striking appearance. 
The contracted vacuole remains colorless while 
all the space between the inner and outer sur- 
faces of the protoplasm becomes deep red. 
The red pigment can not escape through the 
outer surface, nor can it pass through the 
inner surface into the vacuole. The cell may 
remain in this condition for an hour or two. 
Finally the red color begins quite suddenly to 
diffuse through both the protoplasmic sur- 
faces. 

The nuclei behave as though their surfaces 
‘were impermeable to the red pigment at the 
start, but they appear to become permeable to 
it soon after it begins to diffuse out from the 
-chromatophores. 

The cell wall which encloses the protoplasm 
is freely permeable to the red pigment and to 
salts at all times, but is quite impermeable to 
many other substances. 

Similar effects have been observed in a 
variety of other cells. 

Whether these effects are due to true or to 
false plasmolysis or to a combination of both, 
it is evident that the various kinds of surfaces 
(2. e., the inner and outer protoplasmic sur- 
faces, and those of the chromatophores, of the 
nuclei and the cell walls) can be proven to 
differ greatly in their behavior with respect 
to permeability. 


SCIENCE 


409 


The term differential permeability may be 
suggested as an appropriate designation of 
these phenomena. 

The conception of differential permeability 
may perhaps be extended to surfaces other 
than those described here. Since the proto- 
plasm is composed of a variety of structures 
(down to those which are ultramicroscopic) 
and each of these has a surface it is quite 
possible that many kinds of semi-permeable 
surfaces exist within the cell. 


W. J. V. OsterHoutT 


Harvagp UNIVERSITY, 
LABORATORY OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 


THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 
BACTERIOLOGISTS. II 


SANITARY BACTERIOLOGY 


Observations upon the Bacteriology of the Balti- 
more City Water in Relation to the Typhoid 
Fever Present, and the Effect of the Hypochlo- 
rite Treatment: WILLIAM W. Forp and ERNEST 
M. Watson. 

Since October, 1910, up to the present time 
(December, 1912), a period of a little over two 
years, it has been possible for us to follow the 
bacteriological condition of the Baltimore city 
water by systematic examinations (weekly)—ex- 
cepting for a brief period in the summer of 1911. 
These examinations have been of the nature of the 
bacterial count, the determination of the number 
of fermenting organisms present by means of the 
Smith tube, the isolation and determination of the 
various species present. The purpose of this work 
was (1) to determine the relation, if any, between 
the extent of the pollution and the amount of 
typhoid fever in the city, (2) to determine the 
seasonal variations in the bacterial content of the 
water and (3) to ascertain the effect of alum and 
hypochlorite of lime upon the city drinking water, 
as regards the bacterial content and later the 
effect of the purity or pollution of the water under 
these conditions upon the amount of typhoid fever 
in the city. It was found that in 1910 and 1911 
there was a striking relation between the period 
of summer and fall pollution of the water and the 
summer rise in the amount of typhoid fever. The 
number of organisms in the water at this time 
ranged from 1,000 to 5,000 per cubic centimeter, 
and fermentation took place in 1/10 to 1/100 c.e. 


410 


and on one occasion in 1/1000 c.c. The entire 
significance of this relation will be fully deter- 
mined only by further study. It further was 
found that the bacterial content of the city water 
during periods of pollution was different from 
that during periods of relative purity. Bacillus 
coli comprised 55 per cent. of all organisms iso- 
lated during the period of relative purity, while 
during the period of pollution it comprised only 
25 per cent. of organisms present. At this latter 
time, however, several new forms made their ap- 
pearance, such as lactis aerogenes, intermediate 
group, attenuated forms and ‘‘liquefying fer- 
menters.’’? During little more than a year now it 
has been possible to observe the effect of hypo- 
chlorite of lime and later of alum on the bacterial 
flora of the city water. In the main the bacterial 
count has been greatly reduced under the chemical 
treatment, the counts practically always being less 
than 500 organisms per cubie centimeter. Not- 
withstanding this, however, the degree of fer- 
mentation has remained practically the same, 7. ¢., 
1/10 and 1/100 cc. of the water giving positive 
tests in the Smith tube. The typhoid fever during 
this period of chemical treatment has been slightly 
reduced. However, the reduction was not at all 
striking, which makes us believe that perhaps the 
greater part of our typhoid fever may not be 
water-borne or, on the other hand, if water-borne, 
the specific organisms of pollution have not been 
removed from the water by the chemical treatment 
in the usual strengths of available chlorine. 


Some Results of the Hypochlorite Disinfection of 
the Baltimore City Water Supply: J. BosLey 
Tomas and Epcar A. SANDMAN, Baltimore City 
Water Department. 

Stokes and Hachtel’' have reported the result 
obtained by the hypochlorite disinfection of the 
Baltimore city water supply during a period ex- 
tending from the institution of the treatment on 
June 15, 1911, to October 30, 1911. They exam- 
ined samples taken from the untreated water in 
the impounding reservoir and from the treated 
water after it had passed through each of two 
storage reservoirs. The result of their examina- 
tion showed bacterial reduction varying between 
94.5 and 99 per cent. They also showed average 
reduction in the colon bacillus from 57.5 per cent. 
positive tests with 0.1 ¢.c. of untreated water to 
12 per cent. positive tests with 0.1 cc. of treated 
water, and from 89 to 40 per cent. with 1 ce. 
The greatest reductions were obtained with one 

1Am. Jour. Pub. Health, April, 1912. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 977 


part per million of available chlorin, when there 
were shown reductions from 86 per cent. positive 
tests with 0.1 ¢.c. of treated water, and from 100 
per cent. to 37 per cent. with 1 ¢.c. The period 
covered by the following report extends from 
January to December, 1912. In addition to the 
places sampled by Stokes and Hachtel we obtained 
samples at the influent of the first storage reser- 
voir, after the water had passed through seven 
miles of tunnel subsequent to treatment. The 
time required for the water to pass through this 
tunnel varies between 4.9 and 12.2 hours. While 
allowing sufficient time for effective disinfection, 
the taking of samples just before the water enters 
the first storage reservoir permits of counts being 
obtained before any after-growths are likely to 
have occurred. The amount of available chlorin 
applied during the period covered by the report 
of Stokes and Hachtel was raised from 0.4 parts 
per million applied at the start on June 15, to 
0.6 on June 23 and to 1 on October 15. On July 
15, 1912, the amount was again raised, by order 
of the Commissioner of Health, to 1.5 parts per 
million, and this amount has been maintained until 
the present time. From January 11 to November 
12 aluminum sulfate, in amounts varying between 
0.610 and 1.05 grains per gallon, was applied to 
the water as it entered the first storage reservoir. 
Shortly after the period covered by the report of 
Stokes and Hachtel after-growths in the storage 
reservoir caused excessive bacterial counts. These 
conditions maintained during the first five months 
of the year, but about the middle of May the 
counts showed a marked diminution, and no fur- 
ther after-growths were observed, excepting during 
the few days in September. The monthly averages 
of the results in bacterial counts and B. coli tests, 
shown in the accompanying table, are taken from 
daily analyses. The counts during the first six 
months were obtained on standard agar at 20°, 
and during the remainder of the year at 37°. The 
B. coli averages were obtained from tests made 
on portions of water varying by a multiple of ten 
from 0.001 e.c. to 100 c.ec., sufficient number of 
tubes being used in each case to secure at least 
one negative and one positive test, excepting when 
no fermentation was obtained with 100 e.c. The 
average number of B. coli per cubic centimeter for 
each month was estimated by considering the 
number of positive and negative tests in each 
dilution and following the method described by 
Phelps before the American Public Health Asso- 
ciation in 1907. Lactose bile was used as an 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


initial medium, and Endo’s agar was used for 
isolating the members of the B. coli group in pure 
culture, nearly 100 per cent. successful isolations 
having been obtained by the use of this medium, 
whereas the frequent encountering of spreaders on 
litmus agar and the fact that many of the acid- 
forming colonies proved not to be members of the 
colon group seriously impaired the efficiency of 
this latter medium. No attempt was made until 
in the last two or three months to differentiate the 
four members of the colon group; but this is now 
being done with the use of dulcit, in addition to 
the usual sugars, and morphological examinations, 
and the results seem to show a greater vulnera- 
bility of the two B. coli organisms than of B. 
aerogenes and B. acidi lactici. The results ob- 
tained by the use of the 20° temperature show 
much greater reduction in the bacterial count than 
those obtained with the 37° temperature, and we 
believe that counts should be made at the higher 
temperature in addition to those made at 20°. The 
effects of the treatment of this water supply have 
been a very good reduction in the bacterial count 
of the water as it enters the first storage reser- 
voir, and almost entire elimination of the members 
of the B. coli group, the treated water during 
three months showing none of these organisms at 
any time in 100 ¢e. The reduction in the number 
of cases of typhoid fever occurring in Baltimore 
during 1912 is 31 per cent., compared with an 
average of the number of cases occurring during 
the years from 1906 to 1910, and 24 per cent., 
compared with the number of cases occurring dur- 
ing 1911, in the last six months of which the 
water supply was treated. We wish to acknowl- 
edge indebtedness to Mr. Ezra B. Whitman, water 
engineer, and to Mr. Emory Sudler, engineer in 
charge of the improvement of the water supply, 
for an interest unusual with the engineers not 
directly acquainted with the details of the labora- 
tory work. 


Experimental Disinfection of Water with Calcium 
Hypochlorite (preliminary note): F. W. Hacu- 
TEL, M.D., and RAYMonD FrzEas, A.B., Bac- 
teriological Laboratory of the State and City 
Boards of Health, Baltimore, Md. 

The following brief report is made upon cer- 
tain experiments that were begun in the midsum- 
mer of 1911 and which have for their object the 
determination of the amount of available chlorine 
necessary to eliminate the B. coli from 10 c.c. of 
water under varying conditions of turbidity. They 
were instituted because, although the quantity of 


SCIENCE 


411 


available chlorine added to the Baltimore drinking 
water had gradually been increased from 0.4 to 
0.75 parts to the million gallons, the colon bacillus 
still persisted with too great frequency in 1 and 
10 c.c. of water collected at the storage reservoirs 
and as drawn from the taps. The first series of 
experiments had to be done in a hurry, as heavy 
rains on the watershed were markedly increasing 
the turbidity. At this time, therefore, only pre- 
sumptive tests in lactose bile were done. This, 
however, is not a guide to the sanitary condition 
of water treated with hypochlorite of calcium as 
shown by some work carried on in the laboratory 
on samples collected from the taps and storage 
reservoirs after treatment. As a result of these 
we found that although they would not infre- 
quently produce gas in lactose bile, we were un- 
able to obtain the colon bacillus in pure culture 
even after repeated platings in lactose-litmus-agar. 
A number of these were then plated out anaerobic- 
ally and in a considerable percentage of cases we 
obtained B. welchii or the B. sporogenes or both. 
This, therefore, led us to repeat our work, and the 
results may be summarized as follows: With a 
turbidity of 32 we have found that 0.75 and 1 
part of available chlorine to the million gallons 
caused a bacterial reduction of about 80 and 90 
per cent., respectively, in six hours. During the 
same period the bacterial content of the untreated 
water was doubled. At the end of twenty-four 
hours, although the untreated water showed a 
count of 300 times as great as when the experi- 
ment was started, the two treated waters gave 
counts of only 0.3 per cent., as great as that of 
the raw water at the beginning. Again, the water 
before treatment contained the colon bacillus in 
1 ce. but not in 0.1 ¢e¢.; at the end of one hour 
after the addition of calcium hypochlorite in the 
aforementioned quantities 1 cc. of the treated 
water failed to ferment. In addition, although 
there was gas formation in all the lactose-bile 
tubes inoculated with 10 ¢.c. for the first six 
hours after treatment, nevertheless the colon ba- 
cillus was not isolated from any of these, though 
they were plated out on three consecutive days. 
On the other hand, we were able to obtain B. 
welchii or B. sporogenes from almost all of them. 
Four, five, six and twenty-four hours after the 
addition of hypochlorite 50 ¢.c. of each of the 
treated waters were inoculated into large tubes of 
lactose-bile and although fermentation occurred in 
all save one, B. coli was not obtained from any 
of these in spite of repeated attempts. In every 


412 


instance but one B. welchii was present. It should 
be stated that the water was kept in the dark and 
at the out-of-door temperature. The calcium hypo- 
chlorite used had 34.1 per cent. of available chlo- 
rine. It is worth noting that in one experiment 
with water of a turbidity of 12 in which we used 
0.75 part of chlorine per million the colon bacillus 
was present in 1 ¢.c. at the end of two hours and 
in 10 ec. at the end of three hours. In addition 
to this, 10 ¢.c. of the treated water still caused 
fermentation at the end of six hours, but not after 
twenty-four hours. The colon bacillus, however, 
was not isolated from any of these. In this in- 
stance the bacterial content of the water was about 
one seventh as great as in the previously described 
ease. This result is to be ascribed to the very low 
available chlorine content of the hypochlorite used 
—this being only 1.546 per cent. We have been 
unable to repeat the experiments with water of 
very high turbidity, owing to the lack of heavy 
rains on either of the two watersheds, but we 
purpose to do so at the first opportunity. Besides 
this we propose to determine if there is any rela- 
tion between the temperature of the water treated 
and the amount of chlorine necessary to destroy 
B. coli. So far we can but state that, with water 
of a turbidity of about 30, a bacterial content of 
15,000 and the colon bacillus present in 1 ¢.c. and 
not present in 0.1 e.¢., 0.75 part of chlorine to 
the million gallons eliminates B. coli from 10 c.c. 
in one hour and from 50 e.e. certainly in four 
hours and possibly in less time; of course this pre- 
supposes the use of hypochlorite of high available 
chlorine content. 


The Distribution of B. coli in Polluted Oysters: 
JOHN W. M. BuNKER, Ph.D., instructor in san- 
itary analysis, Harvard University. 

To establish whether the distribution of B. colt 
in polluted oysters is or is not uniform throughout 
the regions of the oyster body, examination was 
made of the following regions of 145 oysters taken 
from regions subject to varying conditions of 
pollution in Narragansett Bay: shell liquor from 
the branchial chamber, material from the mouth, 
material ftom the stomach, material from the 
intestine at the point where it bends sharply upon 
itself, material from the extremity of the intestine, 
shell liquor from the cloacal chamber, decanted 
mixed shell liquor. As a result of these examina- 
tions it is evident that (1) the distribution of the 
colon bacillus is not uniform throughout the vari- 
ous regions of a polluted oyster; (2) of the body 
regions, the stomach, in general, contains the colon 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


bacillus most frequently; (3) at all seasons of the 
year the colon bacillus is found more frequently 
in the shell liquor than in any portion of the 
body; (4) when the temperature of the water on 
the oyster beds is below from 6°to 8° C., the best 
index of pollution as afforded by the B. coli test 
can be obtained from the liquor in the cloacal 
chamber; (5) at temperatures of above 8° C. the 
liquor in the branchial chamber is the most re- 
liable source of information regarding pollution; 
(6) at no season of the year does the practise of 
decanting the shell liquor afford the most reliable 
index of pollution that could be obtained. 


The Bacteriology of the Hen’s Egg: Lxo F. 
RetTcerR, Sheffield Scientific School, Yale Uni- 
versity. 

In our investigations of bacillary white diarrhea 
in chicks we have made bacteriological examina- 
tions of at least ten thousand eggs. While our 
chief object was the detection of B. pullorum, the 
specific cause of the disease, a general bacteriolog- 
ical study was made of the eggs, and particularly 
those which were fresh and apparently normal. 
Until the spring of 1912 the yolks only were 
examined, as a rule. During the past year special 
tests were made with the whites. In the examina- 
tion of the yolks of fresh and unincubated eggs 
the entire yolks were employed. They were re- 
moved aseptically and mixed in special test tubes 
of large diameter with 25 cubic centimeters of 
plain bouillon. The tubes were kept three to four 
days at 37° C., and for an additional period of 
twenty-four hours at 20°. Streaks were made with 
platinum loops on slant agar. Incubated eggs 
were tested directly, that is a small amount of the 
yolk was streaked over the surface of slant agar. 
In the testing of whites 5 cubic centimeters of the 
egg-white were mixed with 100 c.c. of sterile tap 
water. These tests were made in duplicate. One 
flask of the diluted white was kept for five to six 
days at 20° and the other at 37°. Slant agar 
streaks were then made. From the results of the 
numerous tests we were led to conclude that the 
yolks and whites of fresh eggs were, as a rule, 
sterile. Among the organisms found (aside from 
B. pullorum) the most conspicuous was a large 
spore-bearing bacillus, resembling in many ways 
B. mesentericus. In addition to this the follow- 
ing were observed: Proteus vulgaris, B. pyocy- 
aneus, B. fluorescens, B. coli, cocci and moulds. 
It is quite probable that many of the organisms 
obtained in the tests were contamination forms. 
Eggs which were incubated artificially for from 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


one to three weeks seldom gave us any indications 
of containing bacteria. The only organism which 
could be regarded without doubt as coming from 
the interior of the egg was B. pullorum, and this 
was always found, when present, in the yolks of 
both fresh and incubated eggs. The results have 
been quite different, however, with eggs that were 
kept in warm, damp places for any length of 
time, and those which were left for several days 
under sitting hens. Such eggs, especially the in- 
fertile, frequently contained bacteria. 


On Antiseptic and Bactericidal Properties of Egg 

White: Jorn A. Sperry, 2d, M.S. 

The white of the eggs was aseptically trans- 
ferred to sterile test tubes in 5 cubic centimeter 
quantities and then inoculated with various organ- 
isms. Small amounts of the egg white were intro- 
duced into dilution flasks and agar plates were 
made with 0.5 ¢.c. of the dilution. The egg white 
showed strong bactericidal properties toward Sub- 
tilts cereus and megatherium while towards coli, 
typhi, anthrax, Proteus vulgarus, Staphylococcus 
pyogenes aureus and other organisms the anti- 
septic action only was noticeable. This was true 
for the white of fresh eggs and cold-storage eggs 
not more than nine months old. The action of egg 
white on putrificus, malignant edema and symp- 
tomatic anthrax seemed to be purely antiseptic. 
The white of eggs which are eleven months old or 
more showed a tendency to lose these properties. 


SOIL BACTERIOLOGY 


A New Method for the Bacteriological Examina- 
tion of Soils: P. E. Brown, Iowa State College, 
Ames, Iowa. 

A brief statement of the situation regarding the 
bacteriological examination of the soils brings out 
as salient points that the mere quantitative ex- 
amination of soils is of little value from the fer- 
tility standpoint; that the logical means by which 
conelusions can be reached concerning the influ- 
ence of varying bacterial content on crop produc- 
tion consists of certain groups of organisms as 
measured by the chemical products of their growth 
and actual crop production; and that a necessity 
therefore for progress in the work is the formula- 
tion of satisfactory methods for measuring the 
activities of certain important groups of soil 
organisms. A discussion of the methods previ- 
ously employed while recognizing certain value 
attached to the results obtained thereby, points 
out the objections to the solution method 
and to the use of sterilized or air-dry soil as 


SCIENCE 


413 


media and the conclusion is reached that fresh 
soil is the logical medium to be employed. Plots 
differentiated through special treatment were em- 
ployed in experiments and satisfactory results 
were secured using fresh soil with ammonium sul- 
fate for nitrification and fresh soil with mannite 
for azofication. For ammonification more diffi- 
culty was experienced in selecting a suitable ni- 
trogenous material to permit of an accumulation 
of ammonia in sufficient amounts to be measured. 
Comparisons of the results obtained using air-dry 
soil and infusions of fresh soil and dried blood, 
albumen and casein with those secured using fresh 
soil and the same nitrogenous materials showed 
that casein added in solution to fresh soil brought 
out the greatest differences in the ammonifying 
power of the soils and possessed also certain other 
advantages incident to manipulation. The method 
recommended consists then in testing of fresh soil 
obtained as described in previous work by the 
writer, adding a solution of casein for ammonifi- 
cation, ammonium sulfate for nitrification and 
mannite for nitrogen fixation. 


A Cultural and Morphological Study of some Azo- 
tobacter: DAN H. JONES, Ontario Agricultural 
College, Canada. 

From various samples of soil taken from the 
garden of the Ontario Agricultural College, six- 
teen colonies of Azotobacter were isolated. A 
study of these cultures extending over two years 
shows them to comprise four distinct varieties or 
species. These have been tentatively named A1, 
A2, A3 and A4. Al and A2 bear a resemblance 
to Azotobacter chroococcum and A3 and A4 bear 
a resemblance to Azotobacter agilis, as described 
by Beyerinck. All cultures in Ashby’s solution fix 
atmospheric nitrogen in the form of nitrates. In 
young cultures (one to two days old) of each 
variety, the organism is a short, thick rod with 
rounded ends, frequently occurring in diplo form 
and motile by means of peritrichie flagella. At 
this stage, the internal protoplasm is homogeneous, 
though occasionally what may be a nucleus in the 
form of a spherical granule is present, this under- 
going a fission when the cell divides. When cul- 
tures are four to five days old, the cells become 
irregularly spherical, coarsely granular and non- 
motile. The granules enclosed are spherical, vary 
in size and number and are often of two kinds. 
The one kind of granule gives the glycogen reac- 
tion when treated with iodine-potassium-iodide 
solution, but is negative to certain anilin dyes, 
whereas the other kind is negative to the glycogen 


414 


stain but positive to the anilin dyes. This second 
kind of granules appear to arise from the afore- 
mentioned nuclear body, and the first mentioned 
kind appear to be a product of the cell activities, 
possibly a reserve food supply. In active cultures 
from five to ten days old, many of the cells dis- 
integrate, their enclosed granules being scattered. 
The granules of the second type appear to give 
rise to new organisms, acting in this particular as 
gonidia, while those of the first type slowly dis- 
appear as though they were dissolved. At this 
stage, Al and A2 produce large capsules, but 43 
and 44 do not. Fission frequently takes place 
within these capsules, thus producing an irregular 
group of from two to six or more organisms within 
a capsule. When cultures are about three weeks 
old, the majority of the organisms appear as 
spheres, Al and A2 in irregular clusters, 43 and 
A4 in fairly regular packet and sarcine forms. 
This condition occurs only when the cultures are 
near their full development and appears to be a 
resting stage. Chains of from four to thirty cells 
are common in old liquid cultures as Ashby’s solu- 
tion. Involution forms of a great variety in size 
and shape appear in old cultures, but the most 
striking changes in morphology occur in cultures 
incubated at 37° C., especially in case of Al, in 
which many of the cells elongate into tubes 40 or 
50 long. Colonies and streak cultures on Ashby’s 
agar are first hyaline, then white and when they 
are fully developed a brown pigment is produced, 
which in case of 42, 43 and 44 in time frequently 
becomes black. Mass cultures of Al are very 
moist and have a tendency to flow; those of A2, 
while being moist, do not flow, but become con- 
toured in topography; those of A3 are pasty; 
those of A4 somewhat coriaceous and verrucose. 
Ashby’s media give the best growth, beef extract 
media allowing but a restricted development. 
Good growth on Loeffler’s blood serum. 


The Origin of Certain Organic Soil Constituents: 

M. X. SULLIVAN. 

Examination was made of the dried mold, Peni- 
cillium glaucum, grown on Raulin’s solution and 
of the filteted solution after mold growth for 
organic constituents. In the alcoholic soda extract 
of the mold were found oleic and palmitic acids 
and a fatty acid melting at 54° C., hypoxanthine, 
guanine, and adenine, histidine, thymine, choline, 
probably lysine and a small amount of hydroxy- 
fatty acids. In the direct alcohol extract was 
found mannite, cholesterol bodies, hypoxanthine 
and cerebroside. In the culture solution were 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


found fatty acids, guanine, adenine and hypoxan- 
thine, a small quantity of histidine, pentose sugar, 
unidentified aldehydes and a small amount of 
hydroxy-fatty acids. Most of these compounds 
have been found in soil and the conclusion is made 
that in the formation of the various organie soil 
constitutents, microorganisms, such as yeasts, bac- 
teria and molds, play an important part. 


Soil Inoculation under Soil Conditions of Lime 

Deficiency: T. D, BECKWITH. 

The Cascades divide the state of Oregon roughly 
into two sections differing greatly as to rainfall 
and consequent seepage of soluble soil constituents. 
Much of the land in the Willamette Valley and 
western section of the state has a lime deficiency 
of from one to five tons per acre-foot. With the 
idea of learning whether or not artificial inocula- 
tion of legume seed with pure cultures of B. radict- 
cola might be expected to yield results, reports of 
success or failure of soil inoculation cultures fur- 
nished by the department of bacteriology have 
been sent to Oregon Agricultural College, accom- 
panied by root specimens. During the past sum- 
mer 110 tests have been carried out, at least 60 
of which have been with alfalfa. A compilation 
of the results obtained shows that the method was 
beneficial in 69 per cent. of the experiments. On 
the contrary, of 50 tests carried out in the eastern 
part of the state in soils well furnished with lime, 
success was obtained in 45 instances, or 90 per 
cent. It is thus evident that B. radicicola may 
retain virulence to the roots of legume plants, 
under conditions of a small amount of soil acidity. 
Results were unfavorable when lime deficiency was 
over five tons per acre-foot. 


Bacterial Activity in Soil as a Function on the 
Various Physical Soil Properties: OTTO RAHN, 
University of Illinois. 

To study the influences of physical soil proper- 
ties upon bacterial activity in soil, pure cultures 
of B. mycoides in quartz-sand peptone water mix- 
tures were studied. In one series, cellulose was 
added to the sand. The amount of ammonia 
formed under these conditions was taken as the 
indicator of bacterial activity. Further, Bact. 
lactis acidi was grown in milk sand mixtures, 
acidity and number of cells serving as measure of 
development. The conclusions are greatly influ- 
enced by the basis of comparison. If the data are 
computed per 100 g. of dry soil, as is customary 
among soil bacteriologists, it would seem that the 
bacteria thrive best in a fairly moist sand (20- 
25 per cent.). If, however, the actual culture 


SEPTEMBER 19, 1913] 


medium, i. e., the peptone solution, is used as 
basis, ammonification is most rapid in the driest 
soil (10 per cent. water). If the data are com- 
puted per 100 c.c. of soil solution, the concentra- 
tion of the solution is again of greatest impor- 
tance. The results vary greatly if one time the 
peptone is given in proportion to the amount of 
soil and another time in proportion to the amount 
of soil moisture. The farmer is primarily inter- 
ested in the amount of plant food per weight of 
soil; the efficiency of bacteria can be determined 
only by comparing equal amounts of culture me- 
dium and of food. In test tube or flask cultures 
of B. mycoides, oxygen is always in the minimum. 
In sand cultures, the oxygen exchange is greatly 
increased and the rate of development is corre- 
spondingly higher. The oxygen exchange between 
gas and liquid depends upon the oxygen content 
of the soil air and upon the surface exposed to 
this air. The surface per unit of liquid is in- 
versely proportional to the diameter of the soil 
particles and to the moisture content of the soil. 
The oxygen content of the soil air depends upon 
the ventilation which is nearly proportional to the 
square of the grain diameter. A thinner film of 
moisture gives therefore a faster decomposition, 
but there is a limit to the thinness of this film, 
extremely thin films causing a retarded decomposi- 
tion. The optimum thickness of moisture film in 
the case of B. mycoides was between 20 and 40 
microns. This film was obtained in sand of 1 mm. 
diameter at a moisture content of about 10 per 
cent. In arable soils, with a grain size not more 
than 0.1 mm., it would require more than 50 per 
cent.. of moisture to produce the optimum film 
thickness. In other words, strictly aerobie bac- 
teria will never find optimum conditions of exist- 
ence in soils. The ultimate endpoint of decom- 
position, if the food concentration was constant, 
was the same in the case of B. mycoides, since only 
the rate of decomposition was influenced by the 
efficiency of the oxygen supply. With some other 
bacteria, the endpoint varied greatly. The be- 
havior of anaerobic bacteria, represented by Bact. 
lactis acidi, was in accordance with the above- 
mentioned principles, the main factor for their 
development being a very thick moisture film. 
The physical effects of undecomposed organic mat- 
ter were imitated by the addition of finely ground 
filter paper to sand. In fairly dry soils, cellulose 
caused a decrease of ammonia formation by 
making some of the soil moisture unavailable for 
bacteria. In the moisture sands, cellulose in- 


SCIENCE 


415 


creased the ammonification probably by holding 
the sand particles farther apart and thus in- 
creasing aeration. 


Characteristics of Cellulose-destroying Bacteria: 
I. G. McBetu, F. M. Scares and N. R. SmirH. 
Seventeen species of cellulose-destroying bac- 

teria have been isolated and studied; 7 of these 
belong to the genus Bacillus, 4 to the genus Bac- 
terium and 6 to the genus Pseudomonas. All are 
morphologically and physiologically different from 
Omelianski’s hydrogen and methane ferments. 
None of the species studied have shown any tend- 
eney to form gaseous products, and in relation to 
oxygen all are facultative aerobes. By means of 
cellulose agar colonies the species may be sepa- 
rated into two distinct groups: those forming 
opaque colonies which clear a well-defined zone 
beyond the colony and those which form trans- 
parent colonies with little or no indication of an 
enzymic zone. All of the organisms grow more or 
less rapidly on beef gelatin, but only 10 of the 
17 species studied have shown any power to liquefy 
gelatin. On beef agar 11 species grow rapidly and 
luxuriantly, 4 species grow poorly and 2 have 
failed to give any growth at all. When introduced 
into Dunham’s solution 9 species have shown the 
power to form ammonia. The action on litmus 
milk is also quite variable; 10 species give an 
acid reaction, 5 an alkaline reaction and 2 make 
no growth. The digestion of the milk occurred 
with only 4 species. Eleven species have shown a 
growth on potato cylinders while 6 have shown no 
growth or only a slight bleaching action along the 
track of the inoculum. The action of the cellulose- 
destroying bacteria studied shows marked differ- 
ences in their activity toward the other carbohy- 
drates such as dextrose, lactose, maltose, sac- 
charose, glycerine, mannite and starch in peptone 
solutions. In their relation to these solutions the 
cellulose-destroying organisms may be divided into 
the following groups: (1) those which give an 
acid reaction from all of seven peptone carbohy- 
drate solutions used; (2) those which give an 
alkaline reaction from all of the peptone carbo- 
hydrate solutions; (3) those which give an acid 
reaction from only a part of the peptone carbo- 
hydrate solutions; (4) those which produce no 
change in the reaction of any of the peptone 
carbohydrate solutions. 


A Plan for Revivifying Bacteria by Groups: H. 
J. CONN. 
Our present standard method of revivification, 
in non-saccharine broth at 37°, is not applicable 


416 


to most soil organisms nor to many other bacteria. 

A possible standard method is here suggested for 

revivifying the bacteria that do not grow under 

such conditions. The bacteria are to be divided 

into five groups: 

1. Growing well in plain broth at 37° C. 

2. Excluded from group 1, but growing well in 
plain broth at 20° C. 

3. Excluded from groups 1 and 2, but growing 
well in dextrose broth at 37° C. 

4, Excluded from groups 1. 2 and 3, but growing 
well in dextrose broth at 20° C. 

5. Excluded from all four groups, but growing 
well on surface of agar. 


Each of these groups is to have its own method 
of revivification, as follows: 1, in plain broth at 
37° (as at present); 2, in plain broth at 20°; 
3, in dextrose broth at 37°; 4, in dextrose broth 
at 20°; 5, on agar slants. This classification in- 
cludes most soil bacteria and many others; but 
further groups may be added as they prove neces- 
sary. These groups are somewhat similar to the 
groups of the bases recognized by chemists in 
qualitative analysis. Like the chemical groups, 
they are to be disregarded after the unknown has 
been determined. 


The Ammonifying Efficiency and Algal Content 
of Certain Colorado Soils: WALTER G. SACKETT. 
The power to transform organic nitrogen into 

ammonia is a property common to many cultivated 

Colorado soils. Soils in the incipient stage of 

the niter trouble appear to surpass our normal 

soils in ammonifying efficiency. Compared with 
soils from other localities, our niter soils excel 
in ammonifying efficiency to a very marked de- 
gree. Nineteen of the thirty-one soils examined 
have ammonified cottonseed meal more readily 
than the other nitrogenous materials employed; the 
remaining twelve have broken down in the dried 
blood most easily; twenty-six have formed am- 
monia from alfalfa meal more readily than from 
flaxseed meal, and with five the reverse has been 
true. The maximum per cent. of ammonia pro- 
duced in seven days by any soil from 100 mg. of 
nitrogen‘ as cottonseed meal was 51.98 per cent.; 
as dried blood 52.64 per cent.; as alfalfa meal 

34.85 per cent.; as flaxseed meal 12.15 per cent. 

Alge occur abundantly in many cultivated soils 

of Colorado. Twenty-one different species of algw 

were found in the soils examined. With but two 
exceptions, all the species found belong to the 
blue-green algee (Cyanophycex.) The family Nos- 
tocacee is best represented. There is a predom- 
inance of forms possessing thick, gelatinous 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 977 


sheaths, This paper is published in full as Bulle- 
tin 184 of the Colorado Experiment Station, Fort 
Collins, Colorado. 

Nitrogen Fiaation by Organisms from Utah Soils: 

E. G. PETERSON and HE. Mour. 

This paper is a preliminary note in a proposed 
extensive investigation regarding the fixation of 
nitrogen in Utah soils and the réle played by 
microorganisms in this action, together with the 
various agencies influencing bacterial action. 
Samples of soil from which the organisms de- 
seribed were isolated were taken weekly from 
January 9 to November 4, 1912, from Greenville 
Experiment Farm, Utah Experiment Station. 
100 ¢.c. portions of mannite solution were inocu- 
lated with 10 grams of soil and incubated at 20° C. 
After ten days’ incubation subcultures were made 
in mannite solution and incubated for ten days at 
20° C. Isolations were made from plates which 
were made from these subcultures. Several types 
of colonies were formed, but only three appeared 
that grew readily and for a long period on man- 
nite agar. The paper describes these three forms. 
One of the three forms was undoubtedly Azoto- 
bacter chroococcum, the other two heretofore un- 
described in western soils. Type No. 1 fixed 5.335 
mg. of nitrogen in twenty days in mannite solu- 
tion, average of 15 tests; type 2 (Azotobacter 
chroococcum) fixed 5.616 mg. of nitrogen in 
twenty days, average of 10 tests; type No. 3 fixed 
5.588 mg. of nitrogen in twenty days, average of 
12 tests. Analyses were made from January 9 to 
October 28 to determine if possible any marked 
seasonal variations in nitrogen fixation. The tech- 
nique involved the addition of definite quantities 
of soil, taken under standard conditions, to man- 
nite solution, the amount of nitrogen in the soil 
being subtracted from the amount of nitrogen 
present at the end of twenty days in order to 
determine the amount fixed. The variation was 
found to be very marked from week to week with- 
out apparent regularity, a marked increase in fixa- 
tion power being noted from the middle of May 
to the end of June. Isolations were made from 
these impure cultures to determine the presence of 
the three colony types described in the paper. 
Types No. 1 and 3 were present in the majority 
of samples, type No. 1 predominating in all cases. 
Type No. 2 was present once in April, twice in 
June and once in September. Further work is 
being done on the three forms isolated. 

A. PARKER HITCHENS, 
Secretary 
(To be concluded) 


fF OCIENCE 


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CONTENTS 
The British Association for the Advancement 
of Science :— 

Continuity. II.: Sir Oniver LODGE ...... 417 
The Teaching of College Biology: Dr. A. 

Vo. COHDINA RGdaddooebonteucaacoooamba 430 
Mexican Archeology and Ethnology ......... 436 
The American Fisheries Society ........... 437 
Chemistry at the Atlanta Meeting of the 

American Association ..................- 438 
Scientific Notes and News ........+....-.+. 438 
Umwersity and Educational News .......... 441 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

A Bit of History: Dr. Marcus BENJAMIN. 

The Law of Priority: THos. L. Caszy ... 441 
Scientifie Books :— 

Percwal’s Geometrical Optics: PROFESSOR 

W. Le Conte STEVENS. Ramaley and 

Griffin on the Prevention and Control of 

IDigaTgee Ii, 1D) Iy ORI Aas sbeboedoausae 443 
Special Articles :— 

On Inducing Development in the Sea- 

Urchin, with Considerations on the Initia- 

tory Effect of Fertilization: Dr. Orto 

GIEASER DU tana yey vaneine ied arate a ase i ee ae 446 
The Society of American Bacteriologists. 

III. :— 
Pathologic Bacteriology; Immunity Bac- 
tertology: Dr. A. PARKER HITCHENS ..... 451 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


CONTINUITY. II 


THE so-called non-Newtonian mechanics, 
with mass and shape a function of velocity, 
is an immediate consequence of the elec- 
trical theory of matter. The dependence of 
inertia and shape on speed is a genuine dis- 
covery and, I believe, a physical fact. The 
principle of relativity would reduce it to a 
conventional fiction. It would seek to re- 
place this real change in matter by imag- 
inary changes in time. But surely we must 
admit that space and time are essentially 
unchangeable: they are not at the disposal 
even of mathematiciaus; though it is true 
that Pope Gregory, or a daylight-saving 
bill, can play with our units, can turn the 
third of October in any one year into the 
fourteenth, or can make the sun south 
sometimes at eleven o’clock, sometimes at 
twelve.” 

But the changes of dimension and mass 
due to velocity are not conventions, but 
realities; so I urge, on the basis of the elec- 
trical theory of matter. The Fitzgerald- 
Lorentz hypothesis I have an affection for. 
I was present at its birth. Indeed I as- 
sisted at its birth; for it was in my study 
at 21 Waverley Road, Liverpool, with Fitz- 
gerald in an arm chair, and while I was 
enlarging on the difficulty of reconciling 


+ Address of the president of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, Birming- 
ham, 1913. 

*In the historical case of governmental inter- 
ference with the calendar, no wonder the populace 
rebelled. Surely some one might have explained to 
the authorities that dropping leap year for the 
greater part of a century would do all that was 
wanted, and that the horrible inconvenience of 
upsetting all engagements and shortening a single 
year by eleven days could be avoided. 


418 


the then new Michelson experiment with the 
theory of astronomical aberration and with 
other known facts, that he made his bril- 
liant surmise: ‘‘Perhaps the stone slab was 
affected by the motion.’’ I rejoined that 
it was a 45° shear that was needed. To 
which he replied, ‘‘ Well, that’s all right— 
a simple distortion.’’ And very soon he 
said, ‘‘And I believe it occurs, and that 
the Michelson experiment demonstrates 
it.’’ A shortening long-ways, or a length- 
ening cross-ways would do what was 
wanted. 

And is such a hypothesis gratuitous? 
Not at all: in the light of the electrical 
theory of matter such an effect ought to 
occur. The amount required by the ex- 
periment, and given by the theory, is 
equivalent to a shrinkage of the earth’s 
diameter by rather less than three inches, 
in the line of its orbital motion through the 
ether of space. An oblate spheroid with 
the proper excentricity has all the simple 
geometrical properties of a _ stationary 
sphere; the excentricity depends in a defi- 
nite way on speed, and becomes consider- 
able as the velocity of light is approached. 

All this Professors Lorentz and Larmor 
very soon after, and quite independently, 
perceived; though this is only one of the 
minor achievements in the electrical theory 
of matter which we owe to our distin- 
cuished visitor, Professor H. A. Lorentz. 

The key of the position, to my mind, is 
the nature of cohesion. I regard cohesion 
as residual chemical affinity, a balance of 
electrical attraction over repulsion between 
groups of alternately charged molecules. 
Lateral electrical attraction is diminished 
by motion; so is lateral electric repulsion. 
In cohesion both are active, and they nearly 
balance. At anything but molecular dis- 
tance they quite balance, but at molecular 
distance attraction predominates. It is 
the diminution of the predominant partner 


SCIENCE 


that will be felt. Hence while longitudinal 
cohesion, or cohesion in the direction of 
motion, remains unchanged, lateral cohe- 
sion is less; so there will be distortion, 
and a unit cube zyz moving along x with 
velocity wu becomes a parallelopiped with 
sides 1/k?, k, k; where 1/k?=1—vw?/v?$ 

The electrical theory of matter is a posi- 
tive achievement, and has positive results. 
By its aid we make experiments which 
throw light upon the relation between mat- 
ter and the ether of space. The principle 
of relativity, which seeks to replace it, is 
a principle of negation, a negative proposi- 
tion, a statement that observation of cer- 
tain facts can never be made, a denial of 
any relation between matter and ether, a 
virtual denial that the ether exists. 
Whereas if we admit the real changes that 
go on by reason of rapid motion, a whole 
field is open for discovery; it is even pos- 
sible to investigate the changes in shape of 
an electron—appallingly minute though it 
is—as it approaches the speed of light; and 
properties belonging to the ether of space, 
evasive though it be, can not lag far behind. 

Speaking as a physicist I must claim the 
ether as peculiarly our own domain. The 
study of molecules we share with the chem- 
ist, and matter in its various forms is in- 
vestigated by all men of science, but a 
study of the ether of space belongs to phys- 
ics only. I am not alone in feeling the 
fascination of this portentous entity. Its 
curiously elusive and intangible character, 
combined with its universal and unifying 


? Different modes of estimating the change give 
slightly different results; some involve a compres- 
sion as well as a distortion—in fact the strain 
associated with the name of Thomas Young; the 
details are rather complicated and this is not the 
place to discuss them. A pure shear, of magnitude 
specified in the text, is simplest, it is in accord 
with all the experimental facts—including some 
careful measurements by Bucherer—and I rather 
expect it to survive. 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 978 « 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


permeance, its apparently infinite extent, 
its definite and perfect properties, make 
the ether the most interesting as it is by 
far the largest and most fundamental in- 
gredient in the material cosmos. 

As Sir J. J. Thomson said at Winnipeg: 

The ether is not a fantastic creation of the 
speculative philosopher; it is as essential to us as 
the air we breathe. . . . The study of this all- 
pervading substance is perhaps the most fasci- 
nating and important duty of the physicist. 

Matter it is not, but material it is; it 
belongs to the material universe and is to 
be investigated by ordinary methods. But 
to say this is by no means to deny that it 
may have mental and spiritual functions 
to subserve in some other order of exist- 
ence, as matter has in this. 

The ether of space is at least the great 
engine of continuity. It may be much 
more, for without it there could hardly be 
a material universe at all. Certainly, how- 
ever, it is essential to continuity; it is the 
one all-permeating substance that binds the 
whole of the particles of matter together. 
It is the uniting and binding medium with- 
out which, if matter could exist at all, it 
could exist only as chaotic and isolated 
fragments: and it is the universal medium 
of communication between worlds and par- 
ticles. And yet it is possible for people to 
deny its existence, because it is unrelated 
to any of our senses, except sight—and to 
that only in an indirect and not easily 
recognized fashion. 

To illustrate the thorough way in which 
we may be unable to detect what is around 
us unless it has some link or bond which 
enables it to make appeal, let me make 
another quotation from Sir J. J. Thomson’s 
address at Winnipeg in 1909. He is lead- 
ing up to the fact that even single atoms, 
provided they are fully electrified with the 
proper atomic charge, can be detected by 
certain delicate instruments—their field of 


SCIENCE 


419 


force bringing them within our ken— 
whereas a whole crowd of unelectrified ones 
would escape observation. 

The smallest quantity of unelectrified matter 
ever detected is probably that of neon, one of the 
inert gases of the atmosphere. Professor Strutt 
has shown that the amount of neon in 1/20 of a 
cubic centimeter of the air at ordinary pressures 
can be detected by the spectroscope; Sir William 
Ramsay estimates that the neon in the air only 
amounts to one part of neon in 100,000 parts of 
air, so that the neon in 1/20 of a cubic centimeter 
of air would only occupy at atmospheric pressure 
a volume of half a millionth of a cubic centimeter. 
When stated in this form the quantity seems ex- 
ceedingly small, but in this small volume there are 
about ten million million molecules. Now the pop- 
ulation of the earth is estimated at about fifteen 
hundred millions, so that the smallest number of 
molecules of neon we can identify is about 7,000 
times the population of the earth. In other words, 
if we had no better test for the existence of a man 
than we have for that of an unelectrified molecule 
we should come to the conclusion that the earth is 
uninhabited. 


The parable is a striking one, for on 
these lines it might legitimately be con- 
tended that we have no right to say posi- 
tively that even space is uninhabited. All 
we can safely say is that we have no means 
of detecting the existence of non-planetary 
immaterial dwellers, and that unless they 
have some link or bond with the material 
they must always be physically beyond our 
ken. We may, therefore, for practical 
purposes legitimately treat them as non- 
existent until such link is discovered, but 
we should not dogmatize about them. 
True agnosticism is legitimate, but not the 
dogmatic and positive and gnostic variety. 

For I hold that science is incompetent to 
make comprehensive denials, even about 
the ether, and that it goes wrong when it 
makes the attempt. Science should not 
deal in negations: it is strong in affirma- 
tions, but nothing based on abstraction 
ought to presume to deny outside its own 
region. It often happens that things ab- 


420 SCIENCE 


stracted from and ignored by one branch 
of science may be taken into consideration 
by another: Thus, chemists ignore the 
ether; mathematicians may ignore experi- 
mental difficulties; physicists ignore and 
exclude live things; biologists exclude mind 
and design; psychologists may ignore hu- 
man origin and human destiny; folk-lore 
students and comparative mythologists 
need not trouble about what modicum of 
truth there may be in the legends which 
they are collecting and systematizing, and 
microscopists may ignore the stars. Yet 
none of these ignored things should be 
denied. 

Denial is no more infallible than asser- 
tion. There are cheap and easy kinds of 
scepticism, just as there are cheap and easy 
kinds of dogmatism; in fact, scepticism can 
become viciously dogmatic, and science has 
to be as much on its guard against per- 
sonal predilection in the negative as in the 
positive direction. An attitude of univer- 
sal denial may be very superficial. 

To doubt everything or to believe everything 
are two equally convenient solutions; both dis- 
pense with the necessity of reflection. 

All intellectual processes are based on 
abstraction. For instance, history must 
ignore a great multitude of facts in order 
to treat any intelligently: it selects. So 
does art; and that is why a drawing is 
clearer than reality. Science makes a dia- 
gram of reality, displaying the works, like 
a skeleton clock. Anatomists dissect out 
the nervous system, the blood vessels and 
the muscles, and depict them separately— 
there must be discrimination for intellec- 
tual grasp—but in life they are all merged 
and cooperating together; they do not 
really work separately, though they may 
be studied separately. A scalpel discrimi- 
nates: a dagger or a bullet crashes through 
everything. That is life—or rather death. 
The laws of nature are a diagrammatic 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


framework, analyzed or abstracted out of 
the full comprehensiveness of reality. 

Hence it is that science has no authority 
in denials. To deny effectively needs much 
more comprehensive knowledge than to 
assert. And abstraction is essentially not 
comprehensive: one can not have it both 
ways. Science employs the methods of 
abstraction and thereby makes its dis- 
coveries. 

The reason why some physiologists insist 
so strenuously on the validity and self- 
sufficiency of the laws of physics and chem- 
istry, and resist the temptation to appeal 
to unknown causes—even though the guid- 
ing influence and spontaneity of living 
things are occasionally conspicuous as well 
as inexplicable—is that they are keen to do 
their proper work; and their proper work 
is to pursue the laws of ordinary physical 
energy into the intricacies of ‘‘colloidal 
electrolytic structures of great chemical 
complexity’? and to study its behavior 
there. 

What we have clearly to grasp, on their 
testimony, is that for all the terrestrial 
manifestations of life the ordinary physical 
and chemical processes have to serve. 
There are not new laws for living matter, 
and old laws for non-living, the laws are 
the same; or if ever they differ, the burden 
of proof rests on him who sustains the dif- 
ference. The conservation of energy, the 
laws of chemical combination, the laws of 
electric currents, of radiation, ete.—all the 
laws of chemistry and physics—may be 
applied without hesitation in the organic 
domain. Whether they are sufficient is 
open to question, but as far as they go they 
are necessary ; and it is the business of the 
physiologist to seek out and demonstrate 
the action of those laws in every vital 
action. 

This is clearly recognized by the leaders, 
and in the definition of physiology by 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


Burdon Sanderson he definitely limited it 
to the study of ‘‘ascertainable characters 
of a chemical and physical type.’’ In his 
address to the Subsection of Anatomy and 
Physiology at York in 1881 he spoke as 
follows: 


It would give you a true idea of the nature of 
the great advance which took place about the 
middle of this century if I were to define it as the 
epoch of the death of ‘‘vitalism.’’ Before that 
time, even the greatest biologists—e. g., J. Miiller 
—recognized that the knowledge biologists pos- 
sessed both of vital and physical phenomena was 
insufficient to refer both to a common measure. 
The method, therefore, was to study the processes 
of life in relation to each other only. Since that 
time it has become fundamental in our science not 
to regard any vital process as understood at all 
unless it can be brought into relation with physical 
standards, and the methods of physiology have 
been based exclusively on this principle. The most 
efficient cause [conducing to the change] was the 
progress which had been made in physics and 
chemistry, and particularly those investigations 
which led to the establishment of the doctrine of 
the conservation of energy.... 

Investigators who are now working with such 
earnestness in all parts of the world for the ad- 
vance of physiology have before them a definite 
and well-understood purpose, that purpose being 
to acquire an exact knowledge of the chemical and 
physical processes of animal life and of the self- 
acting machinery by which they are regulated for 
the general good of the organism. The more 
singly and straightforwardly we direct our efforts 
to these ends, the sooner we shall attain to the 


still higher purpose—the effectual application of - 


our knowledge for the increase of human happi- 
ness. 


Professor Gotch, whose recent loss we 
have to deplore, puts it more strongly. 
He says: 

It is essentially unscientific to say that any 
physiological phenomenon is caused by vital force. 

I obsenve that by some eritics I have 
been called a vitalist, and in a sense I am; 
but I am not a vitalist if vitalism means 
an appeal to an undefined ‘‘vital force’’ 
(an objectionable term I have never 


SCIENCE 


421 


thought of using) as against the laws of 
chemistry and physics. Those laws must 
be supplemented, but need by no means 
be superseded. The business of science is 
to trace out their mode of action every- 
where, as far and as fully as possible; and 
it is a true instinct which resents the 
medieval practise of freely introducing 
spiritual and unknown causes into working 
science. In science an appeal to occult 
qualities must be illegitimate, and be a 
barrier to experiment and research gen- 
erally; as, when anything is called an act 
of God—and when no more is said. The 
occurrence is left unexplained. As an 
ultimate statement such a phrase may be 
not only true, but universal in its applica- 
tion. But there are always proximate ex- 
planations which may be looked for and 
discovered with patience. So, lightning, 
earthquakes and other portents are reduced 
to natural causes. No ultimate explana- 
tion is ever attained by science: proximate 
explanations only. They are what it exists 
for; and it is the business of scientific men 
to seek them. 

To attribute the rise of sap to vital force 
would be absurd, it would be giving up the 
problem and stating nothing at all. The 
way in which osmosis acts to produce the 
remarkable and surprising effect is discov- 
erable and has been discovered. 

So it is always in science, and its prog- 
ress began when unknown causes were 
eliminated and treated as non-existent. 
Those causes, so far as they exist, must 
establish their footing by direct investiga- 
tion and research; carried on in the first 
instance apart from the long-recognized 
branches of science, until the time when 
they too have become sufficiently definite to 
be entitled to be called scientific. Out- 
landish territories may in time be incor- 
porated as states, but they must make their 
claim good and become civilized first. 


422 


It is well for people to understand this 
definite limitation of scope quite clearly, 
else they wrest the splendid work of biol- 
ogists to their own confusion—helped, it 
is true, by a few of the more robust or less 
responsible theorizers, among those who 
should be better informed and more care- 
fully critical in their philosophizing ut- 
terances. 

But, as is well known, there are more 
than a few biologists who, when taking a 
broad survey of their subject, clearly per- 
ceive and teach that before all the actions 
of live things are fully explained, some 
hitherto excluded causes must be postu- 
lated. Ever since the time of J. R. Mayer 
it has been becoming more and more cer- 
tain that, as regards performance of work, 
a living thing obeys the laws of physics, 
like everything else; but undoubtedly it 
initiates processes and produces results 
that without it could not have occurred— 
from a bird’s nest to a honeycomb, from a 
deal box to a warship. The behavior of a 
ship firing shot and shell is explicable in 
terms of energy, but the discrimination 
which it exercises between friend and foe 
is not so explicable. There is plenty of 
physies and chemistry and mechanics about 
every vital action, but for a complete un- 
derstanding of it something beyond physics 
and chemistry is needed. 

And life introduces an incalculable ele- 
ment. The vagaries of a fire or a cyclone 
could all be predicted by Laplace’s eal- 
culator, given the initial positions, veloci- 
ties and the law of acceleration of the mole- 
cules;:but no mathematician could calceu- 
late the orbit of a common house-fly. A 
physicist into whose galvanometer a spider 
had crept would be liable to get phenomena 
of a kind quite inexplicable, until he dis- 
covered the supernatural, 7. e¢., literally 
superphysical, cause. I will risk the asser- 
tion that life introduces something ineal- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


culable and purposeful amid the laws of 
physies; it thus distinctly supplements 
those laws, though it leaves them otherwise 
precisely as they were and obeys them all. 

We see only its effect, we do not see life 
itself. Conversion of inorganic into or- 
ganic is effected always by living organ- 
isms. The conversion under those condi- 
tions certainly occurs, and the process may 
be studied. Life appears necessary to the 
conversion, which clearly takes place under 
the guidance of life, though in itself it is 
a physical and chemical process. Many 
laboratory conversions take place under the 
guidance of life, and, but for the experi- 
menter, would not have occurred. 

Again, putrefaction, and fermentation, 
and purification of rivers, and disease, are 
not purely and solely chemical processes. 
Chemical processes they are, but they are 
initiated and conducted by living organ- 
isms. Just when medicine is becoming 
biological, and when the hope of making 
the tropical belt of the earth healthily 
habitable by energetic races is attracting 
the attention of people of power, philoso- 
phizing biologists should not attempt to 
give their science away to chemistry and 
physics. Sections D and H and I and K 
are not really subservient to A and B. 
Biology is an independent science, and it is 
served, not dominated, by chemistry and 
physics. 

Scientific men are hostile to superstition, 
and rightly so, for a great many popular 
superstitions are both annoying and con- 
temptible; yet occasionally the term may 
be wrongly applied to practises of which 
the theory is unknown. To a superficial 
observer some of the practises of biologists 
themselves must appear grossly supersti- 
tious. To combat malaria Sir Ronald Ross 
does not indeed erect an altar; no, he oils a 
pond—making libation to its presiding 
genii. What can be more ludicrous than 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


the curious and evidently savage ritual, in- 
sisted on by the United States officers, at 
that hygienically splendid achievement, the 
Panama Canal—the ritual of punching a 
hole in every discarded tin, with the object 
of keeping off disease! What more absurd, 
again—in superficial appearance—than the 
practise of burning or poisoning a soil to 
make it extra fertile! 

Biologists in their proper field are splen- 
did, and their work arouses keen interest 
and enthusiasm in all whom they guide 
into their domain. Most of them do their 
work by intense concentration, by narrow- 


ing down their scope, not by taking a wide 


survey or a comprehensive grasp. Sugges- 
tions of broader views and outlying fields 
of knowledge seem foreign to the intense 
worker, and he resents them. For his own 
purpose he wishes to ignore them, and 
practically he may be quite right. The 
folly of negation is not his, but belongs to 
those who misinterpret or misapply his 
utterances, and take him as a guide in a 
region where, for the time at least, he is a 
stranger. Not by such aid is the universe 
in its broader aspects to be apprehended. 
If people in general were better acquainted 
with science they would not make these 
mistakes. They would realize both the 
learning and the limitations, make use of 
the one and allow for the other, and not 
take the recipe of a practical worker for a 
formula wherewith to interpret the uni- 
verse. 

What appears to be quite certain is that 
there can be no terrestrial manifestation 
of life without matter. Hence naturally 
they say, or they approve such sayings as, 
“*T discern in matter the promise and po- 
teney of all forms of life.’’? Of all terres- 
trial manifestations of life, certainly. How 
else could it manifest itself save through 
matter? ‘‘I detect nothing in the organ- 
ism but the laws of chemistry and phys- 


SCIENCE 


423 
ies,’’? it is said. Very well; naturally 
enough. That is what they are after; 
they are studying the physical and 
chemical aspects or manifestations of life. 
But life itself—life and mind and con- 
sclousness—they are not studying, and 
they exclude them from their purview. 
Matter is what appeals to our senses here 
and now; materialism is appropriate to the 
material world; not as a philosophy, but 
as a working creed, as a proximate and 
immediate formula for guiding research. 
Everything beyond that belongs to another 
region, and must be reached by other 
methods. To explain the psychical in 
terms of physics and chemistry is simply 
impossible; hence there is a tendency to 
deny its existence, save as an epiphenom- 
enon. But all such philosophizing is un- 
justified, and is really bad metaphysics. 

So if ever in their enthusiasm scientific 
workers go too far and say that the things 
they exclude from study have no existence 
in the universe, we must appeal against 
them to direct experience. We ourselves 
are alive, we possess life and mind and 
consciousness, we have first-hand experi- 
ence of these things quite apart from labo- 
ratory experiments. They belong to the 
common knowledge of the race. Births, 
deaths and marriages are not affairs of the 
biologist, but of humanity; they went on 
before a single one of them was under- 
stood, before a vestige of science existed. 
We ourselves are the laboratory in which 
men of science, psychologists and others, 
make experiments. They can formulate 
our processes of digestion, and the material 
concomitants of willing, of sensation, of 
thinking; but the hidden guiding entities 
they do not touch. 

So also if any philosopher tells you that 
you do not exist, or that the external 
world does not exist, or that you are an 
automaton without free will, that all your 


424 SCIENCE 


actions are determined by outside causes 
and that you are not responsible—or that 
a body can not move out of its place, or 
that Achilles can not catch a tortoise— 
then in all those cases appeal must be made 
to twelve average men, unsophisticated by 
special studies. There is always a danger 
of error in interpreting experience, or in 
drawing inferences from it; but in a mat- 
ter of bare fact, based on our own first- 
hand experience, we are able to give a 
verdict. We may be mistaken as to the 
nature of what we see. Stars may look to 
us like bright specks in a dome, but the 
fact that we see them admits of no doubt. 
So also consciousness and will are realities 
of which we are directly aware, just as 
directly as we are of motion and force, just 
as clearly as we apprehend the philoso- 
phizing utterances of an agnostic. The 
process of seeing, the plain man does not 
understand; he does not recognize that it 
is a method of ethereal telegraphy; he 
knows nothing of the ether and its ripples, 
nor of the retina and its rods and cones, 
nor of nerve and brain processes; but he 
sees and he hears and he touches, and he 
wills and he thinks and is conscious. This 
is not an appeal to the mob as against the 
philosopher, it is appeal to the experience 
of untold ages as against the studies of a 
generation. 

How consciousness became associated 
with matter, how life exerts guidance over 
chemical and physical forces, how mechan- 
ical motions are translated into sensations 
—all these things are puzzling and demand 
long study. But the fact that these things 
are so admits of no doubt; and difficulty of 
explanation is no argument against them. 
The blind man restored to sight had no 
opinion as to how he was healed, nor could 
he vouch for the moral character of the 
Healer, but he plainly knew that whereas 
he was blind now he saw. About that fact 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


he was the best possible judge. So it is 
also with ‘‘this main miracle that thou art 
thou, with power on thine own act and on 
the world.’’ 

But although life and mind may be ex- 
cluded from physiology, they are not ex- 
cluded from science. Of course not. It is 
not reasonable to say that things neces- 
sarily elude investigation merely because 
we do not knock against them. Yet the 
mistake is sometimes made. The ether 
makes no appeal to sense, therefore some 
are beginning to say that it does not exist. 
Mind is occasionally put into the same pre- 
dicament. Life is not detected in the labo- 
ratory, save in its physical and chemical 
manifestations; but we may have to admit 
that it guides processes, nevertheless. It 
may be called a catalytic agent. 

To understand the action of life itself, 
the simplest plan is not to think of a micro- 
scopic organism, or any unfamiliar animal, 
but to make use of our own experience as 
living beings. Any positive instance serves 
to stem a comprehensive denial; and if the 
reality of mind and guidance and plan is 
denied because they make no appeal to 
sense, then think how the world would ap- 
pear to an observer to whom the existence 
ef men was unknown and undiscoverable, 
while yet all the laws and activities of na- 
ture went on as they do now. 

Suppose, then, that man made no appeal 
to the senses of an observer of this planet. 
Suppose an outside observer could see all 
the events occurring in the world, save 
only that he could not see animals or men. 
He would describe what he saw much as 
we have to describe the activities initiated 
by life. 

If he looked at the Firth of Forth, for 
instance, he would see piers arising in the 
water, beginning to sprout, reaching across 
in strange manner till they actually join 
or are joined by pieces attracted up from 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


below to complete the circuit (a solid cir- 
cuit round the current). He would see a 
sort of bridge or filament thus constructed, 
from one shore to the other, and across this 
bridge insect-like things crawling and re- 
turning for no very obvious reason. 

Or let him look at the Nile, and recog- 
nize the meritorious character of that river 
in promoting the growth of vegetation in 
the desert. Then let him see a kind of 
untoward erystallization growing across 
and beginning to dam the _ beneficent 
stream. Blocks fly to their places by some 
kind of polar forces; ‘‘we can not doubt’’ 
that it is by helio- or other tropism. There 
is no need to go outside the laws of me- 
chanics and physics, there is no difficulty 
about supply of energy—none whatever— 
materials in tin cans are consumed which 
amply account for all the energy; and all 
the laws of physics are obeyed. The ab- 
sence of any design, too, is manifest; for 
the effect of the structure is to flood an 
area up-stream which might have been use- 
ful, and to submerge a structure of some 
beauty; while down-stream its effect is 
likely to be worse, for it would block the 
course of the river and waste it on the 
desert, were it not that fortunately some 
leaks develop and a sufficient supply still 
goes down—goes down, in fact, more 
equably than before: so that the ultimate 
result is beneficial to vegetation, and sim- 
ulates intention. 

If told concerning either of these struc- 
tures that an engineer, a designer in Lon- 
don, called Benjamin Baker, had anything 
to do with it, the idea would be prepos- 
terous. One conclusive argument is final 
against such a superstitious hypothesis— 
he is not there, and a thing plainly can not 
act where it is not. But although we, with 
our greater advantages, perceive that the 
right solution for such an observer would 
be the recognition of some unknown agency 


SCIENCE 


425 


or agent, it must be admitted that an ex- 
planation in terms of a vague entity called 
vital foree would be useless, and might be 
so worded as to be misleading; whereas a 
statement in terms of mechanics and phy- 
sics could be clear and definite and true as 
far as it went, though it must necessarily 
be incomplete. 

And note that what we observe, in such 
understood cases, is an interaction of mind 
and matter; not parallelism nor epiphe- 
nomenalism nor anything strained or diffi- 
eult, but a straightforward utilization of 
the properties of matter and energy for 
purposes conceived in the mind, and exe- 
cuted by muscles guided by acts of will. 

But, it will be said, this is unfair, for 
we know that there is design in the Forth 
Bridge or the Nile Dam, we have seen the 
plans and understand the agencies at 
work; we know that it was conceived and 
euided by life and mind; it is unfair to 
quote this as though it could simulate an 
automatie process. 

Not at all, say the extreme school of 
biologists whom I am criticizing, or ought 
to say if they were consistent, there is 
nothing but chemistry and physics at work 
anywhere; and the mental activity appar- 
ently demonstrated by those structures is 
only an illusion, an epiphenomenon; the 
laws of chemistry and physics are supreme, 
and they are sufficient to account for every- 
thing! 

Well, they account for things up to a 
point; they account in part for the color 
of a sunset, for the majesty of a mountain 
peak, for the glory of animate existence. 
But do they account for everything com- 
pletely? Do they account for our own 
feeling of joy and exaltation, for our sense 
of beauty, for the manifest beauty existing 
throughout nature? Do not these things 
suggest something higher and nobler and 
more joyous, something for the sake of 


426 


which all the struggle for existence goes 
on? 

Surely there must be a deeper meaning 
involved in natural objects. Orthodox ex- 
planations are only partial, though true as 
far as they go. When we examine each 
particolored pinnule in a peacock’s tail, or 
hair in a zebra’s hide, and realize that the 
varying shades on each are so placed as to 
contribute to the general design and pat- 
tern, it becomes exceedingly difficult to ex- 
plain how this organized cooperation of 
parts, this harmonious distribution of pig- 
ment cells, has come about on merely me- 
chanical principles. It would be as easy to 
explain the sprouting of the cantilevers of 
the Forth Bridge from its piers, or the 
flocking of the stones of the Nile Dam by 
chemiotaxis. Flowers attract insects for 
fertilization; and fruit tempts animals to 


eat it in order to carry seeds. But these 
explanations can not be final. We have 
still to explain the insects. So much 


beauty can not be necessary merely to 
attract their attention. We have further 
to explain this competitive striving towards 
life. Why do things struggle to exist? 
Surely the effort must have some signifi- 
cance, the development some aim. We thus 
reach the problem of existence itself, and 
the meaning of evolution. 

The mechanism whereby existence en- 
trenches itself is manifest, or at least has 
been to a large extent discovered. Natural 
selection is a vera causa, so far as it goes; 
but if so much beauty is necessary for in- 
sects, what about the beauty of a landscape 
or of clouds? What utilitarian object do 
those subserve? Beauty in general is not 
taken into account by science. Very well, 
that may be all right, but it exists, never- 
theless. It is not my function to discuss it. 
No; but it is my function to remind you 
and myself that our studies do not exhaust 
the universe, and that if we dogmatize in a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


negative direction, and say that we can 
reduce everything to physics and chem- 
istry, we gibbet ourselves as ludicrously 
narrow pedants, and are falling far short 
of the richness and fullness of our human 
birthright. How far preferable is the rev- 
erent attitude of the eastern poet: 

The world with eyes bent upon thy feet stands 
in awe with all its silent stars. 

Superficially and physically we are very 
limited. Our sense organs are adapted to 
the observation of matter; and nothing 
else directly appeals to us. Our nerve- 
muscle system is adapted to the production 
of motion in matter, in desired ways; and 
nothing else in the material world can we 
accomplish. Our brain and nerve systems 
connect us with the rest of the physical 
world. Our senses give us information 
about the movements and arrangements of 
matter. Our muscles enable us to produce 
changes in those distributions. That is our 
equipment for human life; and human his- 
tory is a record of what we have done with 
these parsimonious privileges. 

Our brain, which by some means yet to 
be discovered connects us with the rest of 
the material world, has been thought par- 
tially to disconnect us from the mental and 
spiritual realm, to which we really belong, 
but from which for a time and for prac- 
tical purposes we are isolated. Our com- 
mon or social association with matter gives 
us certain opportunities and facilities, com- 
bined with obstacles and difficulties which 
are themselves opportunities for struggle 
and effort. 

Through matter we become aware of 
each other, and can communicate with 
those of our fellows who have ideas suffi- 
ciently like our own for them to be stimu- 
lated into activity by a merely physical 
process set in action by ourselves. By a 
timed succession of vibratory movements 
(as in speech and music), or by a static 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


distribution of materials (as in writing, 
painting and sculpture), we can carry on 
intelligent intercourse with our fellows; 
and we get so used to these ingenious and 
roundabout methods, that we are apt to 
think of them and their like as not only 
the natural, but as the only possible modes 
of communication, and that anything more 
direct would disarrange the whole fabric 
of science. 

It is clearly true that our bodies consti- 
tute the normal means of manifesting our- 
selves to each other while on the planet; 
and that if the physiological mechanism 
whereby we accomplish material acts is in- 
jured, the conveyance of our meaning and 
the display of our personality inevitably 
and correspondingly suffer. 

So conspicuously is this the case that it 
has been possible to suppose that the com- 
municating mechanism, formed and worked 
by us, is the whole of our existence: and 
that we are essentially nothing but the 
machinery by which we are known. We 
find the machinery utilizing nothing but 
well-known forms of energy, and subject to 
all the laws of chemistry and physics—it 
would be strange if it were not so—and 
from that fact we try to draw valid deduc- 
tions as to our nature, and as to the impos- 
sibility of our existing apart from and 
independent of these temporary modes of 
material activity and manifestation. We 
so uniformly employ them, in our present 
circumstances, that we should be on our 
guard against deception due to this very 
uniformity. Material bodies are all that 
we have any control over, are all that we 
are experimentally aware of ; anything that 
we can do with these is open to us; any 
conclusions we can draw about them may 
be legitimate and true. But to step out- 
side their province and to deny the exist- 
ence of any other region because we have 
no sense organ for its appreciation, or be- 


SCIENCE 


427 


cause (like the ether) it is too uniformly 
omnipresent for our ken, is to wrest our 
advantages and privileges from their 
proper use and apply them to our own 
misdirection. 

But if we have learned from science that 
evolution is real, we have learned a great 
deal. I must not venture to philosophize, 
but certainly from the point of view of 
science evolution is a great reality. Surely 
evolution is not an illusion; surely the uni- 
verse progresses in time. Time and space 
and matter are abstractions, but are none 
the less real; they are data given by experi- 
ence; and time is the keystone of evolution. 

Thy centuries follow each other, perfecting a 
small wild flower. 

We abstract from living moving reality 
a certain static aspect, and we call it mat- 
ter; we abstract the element of progressive- 
ness, and we eall it time. When these two 
abstractions combine, cooperate, interact, 
we get reality again. It is like Poynting’s 
theorem. 

The only way to refute or confuse the 
theory of evolution is to introduce the sub- 
jectivity of time. That theory involves 
the reality of time, and it is in this sense 
that Professor Bergson uses the great 
phrase, ‘‘creative evolution.’’ 

I see the whole of material existence as 
a steady passage from past to future, only 
the single instant which we call the present 
being actual. The past is not non-existent, 
however; it is stored in our memories, 
there is a record of it in matter, and the 
present is based upon it; the future is the 
outcome of the present, and is the product 
of evolution. 

Existence is like the output from a loom. 
The pattern, the design for the weaving, is 
in some sort ‘‘there’’ already; but whereas 
our looms are mere machines, once the 
guiding cards have been fed into them, the 
loom of time is complicated by a multitude 


428 


of free agents who can modify the web, 
making the product more beautiful or more 
ugly according as they are in harmony or 
disharmony with the general scheme. I 
venture to maintain that manifest imper- 
fections are thus accounted for, and that 
freedom could be given on no other terms, 
nor at any less cost. 

The ability thus to work for weal or woe 
is no illusion, it is a reality, a responsible 
power which conscious agents possess; 
wherefore the resulting fabric is not some- 
thing preordained and inexorable, though 
by wide knowledge of character it may be 
inferred. Nothing is inexorable except the 
uniform progress of time; the cloth must 
be woven, but the pattern is not wholly 
fixed and mechanically calculable. 

Where inorganic matter alone is con- 
cerned, there everything is determined. 
Wherever full consciousness has entered, 
new powers arise, and the faculties and de- 
sires of the conscious parts of the scheme 
have an effect upon the whole. It is not 
guided from outside, but from within; and 
the guiding power is immanent at every 
instant. Of this guiding power we are a 
small but not wholly insignificant portion. 

That evolutionary progress is real is a 
doctrine of profound significance, and our 
efforts at social betterment are justified be- 
cause we are a part of the scheme, a part 
that has become conscious, a part that real- 
izes, dimly at any rate, what it is doing and 
what it is aiming at. Planning and aiming 
are therefore not absent from the whole, 
for we,are a part of the whole, and are 
conscious of them in ourselves. 

Either we are immortal beings or we are 
not. We may not know our destiny, but 
we must have a destiny of some sort. 
Those who make denials are just as likely 
to be wrong as those who make assertions: 
in fact, denials are assertions thrown into 
negative form. Scientific men are looked 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


up to as authorities, and should be careful 
not to mislead. Science may not be able to 
reveal human destiny, but it certainly 
should not obscure it. Things are as they 
are, whether we find them out or not; and 
if we make rash and false statements, pos- 
terity will detect us—if posterity ever 
troubles its head about us. I am one of 
those who think that the methods of science 
are not so limited in their scope as has been 
thought: that they can be applied much 
more widely, and that the psychic region 
ean be studied and brought under law too. 
Allow us anyhow to make the attempt. 
Give us a fair field. Let those who prefer 
the materialistic hypothesis by all means 
develop their thesis as far as they can; but 
let us try what we can do in the psychical 
region, and see which wins. Our methods 
are really: the same as theirs—the subject- 
matter differs. Neither should abuse the 
other for making the attempt. 

Whether such things as intuition and 
revelation ever occur is an open question. 
There are some who have reason to say that 
they do. They are, at any rate, not to be 
denied off-hand. In fact, it is always ex- 
tremely difficult to deny anything of a gen- 
eral character, since evidence in its favor 
may be only hidden and not forthcoming, 
especially not forthcoming at any particu- 
lar age of the world’s history, or at any 
particular stage of individual mental de- 
velopment. Mysticism must have its place, 
though its relation to science has so far not 
been found. They have appeared disparate 
and disconnected, but there need be no hos- 
tility between them. Every kind of reality 
must be ascertained and dealt with by 
proper methods. If the voices of Socrates 
and of Joan of Are represent real psychical 
experiences, they must belong to the intelli- 
gible universe. 

Although I am speaking ex cathedra, as 
one of the representatives of orthodox sci- 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


ence, I will not shrink from a personal 
note summarizing the result on my own 
mind of thirty years’ experience of psy- 
chical research, begun without predilection 
—indeed with the usual hostile prejudice. 
This is not the place to enter into details 
or to discuss facts scorned by orthodox 
science, but I can not help remembering 
that an utterance from this chair is no 
ephemeral production, for it remains to be 
eriticized by generations yet unborn, whose 
knowledge must inevitably be fuller and 
wider than our own. Your president 
therefore should not be completely bound 
by the shackles of present-day orthodoxy, 
nor limited to beliefs fashionable at the 
time. In justice to myself and my co- 
workers I must risk annoying my present 
hearers, not only by leaving on record our 
conviction that occurrences now regarded 
as occult can be examined and reduced to 
order by the methods of science carefully 
and persistently applied, but by going 
further and saying, with the utmost brev- 
ity, that already. the facts so examined 
have convinced me that memory and af- 
fection are not limited to that association 
with matter by which alone they can 
manifest themselves here and now, and 
that personality persists beyond bodily 
death. The evidence to my mind goes to 
prove that discarnate intelligence, under 
certain conditions, may interact with us 
on the material side, thus indirectly com- 
ing within our scientific ken; and that 
gradually we may hope to attain some 
understanding of the nature of a larger, 
perhaps ethereal, existence, and of the 
conditions regulating intercourse across 
the chasm. A: body of responsible investi- 
gators has even now landed on the treach- 
erous but promising shores of a new con- 
tinent. 

Yes, and there is more to say than that. 
The methods of science are not the only 


SCIENCE 


429 


way, though they are our way, of arriving 
at truth. 

Uno itinere non potest perveniri ad tam grande 
secretum. 

Many, scientific men still feel in pugna- 
cious mood towards theology, because of 
the exaggerated dogmatism which our 
predecessors encountered and overcame in 
the past. They had tostrugele for freedom 
to find truth in their own way; but the 
struggle was a miserable necessity, and has 
left some evil effects. And one of them is 
this lack of sympathy, this occasional hos- 
tility, to other more spiritual forms of truth. 
We can not really and seriously suppose 
that truth began to arrive on this planet a 
few centuriesago. The pre-scientific insight 
of genius—of poets and prophets and 
saints—was of supreme value, and the ac- 
cess of those inspired seers to the heart of 
the universe was profound. But the camp- 
followers, the scribes and pharisees, by 
whatever name they may be called, had no 
such insight, only a vicious or a foolish 
obstinacy; and the prophets of a new era 
were stoned. 

Now at last we of the new era have been 
victorious; we inherit the fruits of the age- 
long conflict, and the stones are in our 
hands. Let us not fall into the old mis- 
take of thinking that ours is the only way 
of exploring the multifarious depths of 
the universe, and that all others are worth- 
less and mistaken. The universe is a 
larger thing than we have any conception 
of, and no one method of search will ex- 
haust its treasures. 

Men and brethren, we are trustees of 
the truth of the physical universe as scien- 
tifically explored: let us be faithful to our 
trust. 

Genuine religion has its roots deep down 
in the heart of humanity and in the real- 
ity of things. It is not surprising that by 
our methods we fail to grasp it: the actions 


430 SCIENCE 


of the Deity make no appeal to any special 
sense, only a universal appeal; and our 
methods are, as we know, incompetent to 
detect complete uniformity. There is a 
principle of relativity here, and unless we 
encounter flaw or jar or change, nothing 
in us responds; we are deaf and blind, 
therefore, to the immanent grandeur 
around us, unless we have insight enough 
to appreciate the whole, and to recognize 
in the woven fabric of existence, flowing 
steadily from the loom in an infinite prog- 
ress towards perfection, the ever-growing 
garment of a transcendent God. 


SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT 


A marked feature of the present scien- 
tific era is the discovery of, and interest 
in, various kinds of atomism; so that con- 
tinuity seems in danger of being lost 
sight of. 

Another tendency is toward compre- 
hensive negative generalizations from a 
limited point of view. 

Another is to take refuge in rather 
vague forms of statement, and to shrink 
from closer examination of the puzzling 
and the obscure. 

Another is to deny the existence of any- 
thing which makes no appeal to organs of 
sense, and no ready response to laboratory 
experiment. 

Against these tendencies the author con- 
tends. He urges a belief in ultimate con- 
tinuity as essential to science; he regards 
scientific concentration as an inadequate 
basis for philosophic generalization; he be- 
lieves that obscure phenomena may be ex- 
pressed simply if properly faced; and he 
points out that the non-appearance of 
anything perfectly uniform and omni- 
present is only what should be expected, 
and is no argument against its real sub- 
stantial existence. 

OuiverR Lopes 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


THE TEACHING OF COLLEGE BIOLOGY 


In schools below college grade it is con- 
sidered eminently desirable and necessary that 
the teacher shall have given some attention to 
the art of teaching. It is furthermore ex- 
pected that he keep himself informed through 
meetings, reports, journals and discussions of 
progress in the art as well as the science he is 
expected to teach. He is expected to keep in 
touch with new ideas, in the subject matter 
and in the best methods of presenting them to 
his classes. 

There appears to be a sharp distinction in 
this respect between these schools and colleges 
or universities. As a rule, college teachers 
are not expected to annoy themselves with 
principles of education or with methods of 
teaching. To do so is to ally oneself with 
prep. school ideas and associations. To be in 
open sympathy with any effort to arouse in- 
terest in the teaching side of one’s profession 
is to lose caste with one’s colleagues. Though 
primarily employed to teach, the consideration 
of one’s specialty from the teaching stand- 
point is considered a necessary evil to be tol- 
erated but not encouraged. Each new ap- 
pointee is expected to adopt the university 
methods of his teacher or to stumble upon a 
plan which so frequently is a compromise be- 
tween the limitations set by the institution 
and the bias of his training and experience, 
with little or no regard for the real needs of 
the student. 

Very slowly there has developed a growing 
consciousness that the plans and methods that 
served so admirably during the last genera- 
tion no longer met the needs of the college 
man or woman of the present day, particularly 
in the natural sciences. And the opinion has 
frequently been expressed that an exchange of 
ideas and experiences by men from different 
colleges or universities of the country would 
tend to clear the ground for an understanding 
of the nature and scope of the biology courses 
in schools of college grade. It was felt that 
the first effort should be directed toward a 
study of the introductory course in biology, 
the only one that the great majority of college 
students ever take. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


During the summer of 1911 a number of 
biologists’ met at Woods Hole, Mass., to dis- 
cuss the nature and scope of the first year’s 
or introductory course in the natural sciences 
in schools of college grade. It was agreed 
that very profound changes in the preparation 
of the student, in educational policies, in the 
attitude of the student and the public toward 
the science, and the great progress in the sci- 
ence itself, made it imperative that the college 
course be correspondingly modified in the light 
of these changes. It was also agreed that 
narrow standardization or uniformity was im- 
possible. 

The courses as outlined by each person pres- 
ent made it very evident that there was con- 
siderable agreement in certain fundamental 
principles and tendencies, namely: (1) a tend- 
ency away from the narrow study of compara- 
tive morphology; (2) a tendency to include 
fewer types, studied from a wider viewpoint ; 
(3) a tendency to emphasize the study of 
living organisms in relation to their environ- 
ment; (4) a tendency to emphasize physiolog- 
ical processes; (5) to include the considera- 
tion of the relation of living organisms to 
man; (6) to include the consideration of gen- 
eral and fundamental phenomena, and some 
of the big problems that biologists are en- 
deavoring to solve. 

Unfortunately time did not permit an ade- 
quate discussion of what appears to the writer 
to be a very important phase of the problem, 
namely, to what extent should the student be 
made to realize the methods used in the in- 
vestigation of biologic phenomena, and the 
nature of the value of biologic evidence. It 
would be extremely useful if Professors Con- 
klin, Calkins, Lefevre, McClung and others 
present at the meeting could be persuaded to 
make their plans and experiences public. 

1The men present were: Professors Calkins of 
Columbia, Conklin of Princeton, Goldfarb of the 
College of the City of New York, Kellicott of 
Goucher College, Knower of Cincinnati, Lefevre 
of Missouri, Lewis of Wisconsin, McClung of 
Pennsylvania, Montgomery (who recently died), 
Moore of Washington University (St. Louis), 
Parker of Harvard, Patterson of Texas, Pike of 
Columbia. 


SCIENCE 


431 


The results of the meeting suggested the 
desirability of obtaining certain data from a 
larger number of institutions, in the belief 
that they might serve as a basis for a more 
general and open discussion of a difficult and 
important problem. Fully conscious of the 
limitations of such tabulated data, they are 
nevertheless submitted, as obtained from over 
fifty colleges and universities. Over ten, not 
included in the tables to follow, were so in- 
complete as to make their inclusion of very 
questionable value. By request, the names of 
the contributors are not mentioned. I wish 
to express my thanks to all who so kindly co- 
operated in furnishing the data called for. 


OPTIONAL OR REQUIRED INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY 


The term biology is here used in a very loose 
sense to mean any introductory course in the 
natural sciences offered in colleges. 


Number of 
Colleges 


40 Biology is required at least of certain 
groups of students. 

4 Biology is not required, optional only. 

1 Biology is not offered at all, except one 
term of elementary physiology. 


Number of 
Colleges Length of Course 
5 one half year Required 
33 one year Required 
4 one year Optional 
1 two years Required 
1 three years Required 


PROPORTION OF THE STUDENT BODY WHO TAKE 
INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY 
A very small part of the student body take 
or have taken this introductory course, as 
shown by the following table: 


No. of Colleges Per Cent. Students 


2 100 
1 90 
3 50 
9 33 
2 20 
14 10 
2 23 
W/ * 


* Doubtful. 


432 


STUDENTS IN INTRODUCTORY COURSE GROUPED 
ACCORDING TO THEIR OFFICIAL CLASSES 

Per cent. of 

class who take 

the biology 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 


Number of Colleges 


Freshmen OB Be BB ies. BQ Alo 
Sophomores OW abe ca By Zh Bre ab aah eB 
Juniors YO) cab aby Rh al yal} IGS, ala 
Seniors 0) OF O20. OO AY 8 21h Pat 
Freshmen and 

Sophomores CoG A BO 2h Oa 8} 
Juniors and 

Seniors Py ab sab ak) Oy ale}: (EX) GiB 


It is perfectly clear that so far as these col- 
leges are concerned the great majority, 7. e., 
30 to 100 per cent., of the classes in intro- 
ductory biology are freshmen and sophomores, 
and that 0 to 30 per cent. are from the junior 
and senior classes. The presumption, of 
course, is that the course is adapted to the 
needs of the lower class men and not to ad- 
vanced or university students. 


DATA CONCERNING THE SUBJECT MATTER OF 
THE COURSE 


1. The nature of the introductory course in 
the different colleges is given in the following 
tables. 


Invertebrate zoology in 3 colleges. 

Vertebrate zoology in 0 college. 

Zoology (vertebrate and invertebrate) in 
23 colleges. 

Animal and plant (biology) in 16 colleges. 

Botany in 2 colleges. 


In a few colleges the student is permitted to 
choose between a year’s course either in zool- 
ogy or in botany. 

2. The character of the course is to some 
extent indicated by the kind and number of 
“types” used. The returns show that the 
one type course, somewhat like Huxley’s cray- 
fish, is not used in any college; the few type 
course, like the Sedgwick and Wilson biology, 
is used in 11 colleges; the many type course, 
like the Parker and Haswell zoology, is used 
in 28 colleges. A distinct modification of the 
last kind of course consists in greatly empha- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 978 


sizing one, usually a vertebrate organism, and 
studying other types in less detail, and fewer 
in number. Seven colleges adopted this kind 
of course. 

The following table gives an idea of the 
number of types used in different colleges. 


ZOOLOGY COURSE 


Number of Types Number of Colleges 


15 2 
14 1 
13 0 
12 5 
11 5 
10 9 
9 5 
8 5 
7 2 
6 4 
5 1 


Total 23 colleges 


PLANT AND ANIMAL COURSE 


Number of Number of Number of Total Number 
AnimalTypes Plant Types Colleges of Types 
10 4 1 14 
8 4 1) 
9 3 1 12 
7 5 i| 
7 4 2 11 
7 3 1 
Cine 4 at 10 
5 5 3 
8 1 1 
5 4 1 9 
3 6 1| 
3 4 1 tf 
2 4 il 6 


Total 16 colleges 


These tables clearly show the preponderance 
of the zoologist and of zoological types, even 
in so-called biology courses. They also indi- 
cate the significant departure from the study 
of a representative type from each phylum, in 
the direction of limiting the number except in 
courses mistakenly designed to prepare stu- 
dents for medicine. 

In the following table the zoologic types 
are grouped according to their frequency: 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


Colleges 
Protozoan type used in ............ 38 
Colenteratemmcnectsrascremicl salar ise 37 
INTEC aa o Ce a DO CeO Ub OOS 36 
Crustaceawersmrds sete Noes ones 33 
JNO MEN haign ata OHO HO SOR aoe o Micke 31 
MSE Chay sa Grietecouclesctavets tayo rstats euctons ya 25 
ON Toy DUET tis a aicea Ge AreRO ORO OIG SICA OA ro 22 
chin od enm\aeseeee ete reierel aerate 19 
IMENS WOE” Geos ene eooadsbos rodsans 16 
ADT Waco DOC DOO ES OM MOEN ret ea mine 13 
SIMO od ocecodbosoonnbeucdooasbuD 12 
IWilredanell co d.n edie biobled. Jia boo MOD aldcaoie 11 
MYA MOPMs co bogodonocoDbeoGaCoDNN 8 
JatoybeaGl ACHR po odwedanboneoudonoceo 4 
TEs eal gat aide ce a ech eI S AON HRS CRT Rea ee 3 
INGOME Sooo balsscocudsoooeeosn ooo 3 
MEM (a gd es ooh ee adc n COOOONOOO Ms. cne dl 


This table also shows that there is a distinct 
tendency not to include in the course a type 
from each phylum. It is far more significant 
as indicating the choice of types that are be- 
lieved to have the greatest teaching value, as 
judged by teachers in different colleges. The 
first half of the table includes the types that 
will probably be chosen more and more for the 
kind of course under discussion. 

When the botanical types are grouped ac- 
cording to their frequency in the sixteen col- 
leges, it is found that the 


Fern is used in 13 colleges, 

Yeast in 11 colleges, 

Alge in 11 colleges, 

Flowering plants in 9 colleges, 

Fungi in 8 colleges, 

One-celled plants other than the above in 3 colleges, 
Fern and lower plants only in 5 colleges. 


This table shows that plant phenomena are 
taught in most of the colleges from represen- 
tatives of all the main plant groups, namely, 
bacteria, alge, fungi, ferns and flowering 
plants, that economically important plants are 
This distribution 
of types stands in marked contrast to the 
zoologic courses in which invertebrate types 
predominate. 

It may be interesting to note that only 
seventeen colleges used the well-known ascend- 
ing or evolutionary order in the study of the 


given splendid recognition. 


SCIENCE 


433 


types, three colleges used the descending or 
so-called pedagogic order, 7. e., from organisms 
best known to the student to those least 
known, or those whose study involves the 
greatest technical difficulties. In fourteen 
colleges an introductory type is studied in- 
tensively to acquaint the student with biologic 
apparatus and methods, and to afford a basis 
for comparison with subsequent types. The 
ascending order in most colleges follows this 
introductory type. In four colleges only the 
type method of instruction is not used at all, 
as splendidly illustrated in Needham’s book. 


TIME IN HOURS DEVOTED TO THE COURSE 
There is an extremely wide range in time 
and in the distribution of the time to lecture, 


recitation, laboratory and field work. The fol- 
lowing tables give the detailed information. 


FOR ONE YEAR 


Hours per Week Number of Colleges 


Alb 1 
10 3 
9 1 
8 1 
7 4 
6 10 
5 vi 
4 6 


FOR ONE HALF YEAR 


ow Ot OO 
DHE H 


Far more significant than the mere fact 
that most colleges provide four to six hours 
per week for one year, which arrangement 
seems to be the one more and more in vogue, 
are the facts shown in the next table, which 
gives the time devoted to lecture, recitation 
and laboratory. 


Hours per week 0 * 3123456789 
To lecture 02 31319 4000000 
To recitations 9741820100000 
To laboratory 00 00181082403 1 


* Oceasional. 


It will be observed that in several colleges 
as much time is given to lecturing about 
things as to the study of the things them- 


434 SCIENCE 


selves. In eighteen colleges two hours a week 
are spent in lectures and two hours a week in 
the laboratory; in three colleges three hours 
are devoted to lectures and the same time to 
laboratory. This is a regrettable survival of 
the so-called German university system. 

In four colleges no recitation or quiz is 
given at all. In thirteen only an occasional 
recitation is held; in three colleges not more 
than a half hour, either each week or at vari- 
ous intervals, but not extending beyond this 
time. 

The following table supplements the above 
and brings out in sharp relief the over- 
emphasis of the lecture and the very inade- 
quate attention to the recitation. 


Number of Hours in Number of 
Lecture Recitation Laboratory Colleges 
1 al 2 2 
3 3 2 2 
1 1 3 2 
1 1 4 5 
if 1 5 ak 
1 1 6 2 
1 2 8 1 
2 0 24 5 
2 3 4 
2 1 2 2 
2 0 4 1 
2 1 4 2 
2-3 0-1 5-9 1 
2 0 6 1 
2 0 8 1 
2 1 8 1 
3 0 3 1 
3 4 3 2 
3 1 6 1 

3 2 2 
4 5 1 
few 4 3 1 


* Occasional. 


The‘ following table gives an idea of the 
frequency that certain topics are considered 
in the course, either in the laboratory lecture, 
essays or assigned readings. 


32 colleges, the theory of evolution. 

31 colleges, heredity. 

29 colleges, comparative anatomy of invertebrates. 
24 colleges, comparative anatomy of vertebrates. 
22 colleges, histology. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


21 colleges, bacteriology and sanitation. 
19 colleges, botany. 

15 colleges, experimental zoology. 

15 colleges, experimental embryology. 
13 colleges, paleontology. — 


There are twenty-five colleges that treat of 
the economic or applied biology, eighteen of 
which treat this phase of the course in lec- 
tures only, four in lectures and laboratory, 
three in lectures, laboratory and practical or 
field work. Four colleges do not include eco- 
nomic aspects of the science in the course. 

I had hoped to obtain information with 
reference to the manner and the extent to 
which this aspect of the problem was consid- 
ered. But the returns did not lend them- 
selves to tabulation. 


ARTICULATION WITH SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY 


In the College of the City of New York the 
students in the introductory course include 
those who have not had a high-school course 
in biology and those who have had such a 
course. It has been our experience that the 
one group is not appreciably better informed 
or better equipped to attack the subject, nor 
do they appear to do any better than the other 
group of students. It is not my purpose to 
make any reflection upon the excellent work 
done by exceedingly able and conscientous 
teachers in the high schools. JI merely wish 
to state that, so far as our experience goes, it 
is altogether probable that the college course 
may safely ignore any training or equipment 
based upon the high-school course in biology. 
Furthermore, since every tendency indicates a 
continued independence of the high-school 
eourses from the domination or educational 
policies of colleges and universities, it seems 
safe to conclude that any articulation with 
the high schools is inadvisable. 


BIOLOGY TEACHING IN COLLEGES 
It is now generally agreed that every col- 
lege man or woman should have had at least 
one year’s college biology. This plan is now 
adopted in nearly all colleges. It is also 
agreed that in order to reach the larger body 
of students and to make possible later special- 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


ization that the introductory course should be 
offered as early in the college curriculum as 
possible. 

Since an exceedingly small proportion of 
the students continue the study of biology, 
namely, those preparing for medicine or 
teaching, and since the great majority leave 
college without any further training or ac- 
quaintance with the subject, the opinion seems 
to prevail that the introductory course should 
be a rounded one, that it should give a first- 
hand acquaintance with living organisms, in 
relation to their environment, an adequate 
idea of the larger and fundamental problems 
of the biologist and, above all, an idea of the 
general methods used in biologic investiga- 
tions. : 

While there is considerable range of opinion 
with respect to the time required for the 
course, there is an undoubted tendency to 
limit the course to five or six hours a week for 
one academic year. 

Upon the broad lines just suggested there is 
a general agreement, beyond these there is a 
healthy divergence of opinion, particularly 
upon the nature and the content of the course. 
There has been an undoubted tendency away 
from the narrow study of comparative mor- 
phology, the standard course of a generation 
ago, toward an increasing emphasis upon an 
adequate understanding of fundamental bio- 
logic phenomena, as we understand the term 
to-day, of the unit of the organism, the cell, 
the organism, and the fundamental processes 
characteristic of living things in general. 
To give such a course it has been found in- 
creasingly expedient to study representatives 
of animal and plant kingdoms. There are 
very many eminent teachers who believe that, 
on account of practical difficulties, it were 
better to use animal organisms only and to de- 
velop the fundamental properties of living 
things from zoologic types only. But these 
teachers are in nearly every instance zoologists. 

The chief kinds of courses show consider- 
able variation. There are courses like the 
almost abandoned narrow comparative mor- 
phology, others in which attention is di- 
rected to the functioning of the mechanisms 


SCIENCE 


435 


studied and others in which the emphasis 
is placed upon the laws which living things 
obey, and only sufficient attention given to 
the structures involved as will make the 
understanding of these laws possible. Pro- 
fessor Kofoid’s course, as I understand it, 
is one such course. This idea carried to its 
extreme is illustrated in courses that follow 
more or less closely the Jordan and Kellogg 
evolution book. Where the endeavor is to 
offer an abbreviated course usually covering 
one semester and to give the student an idea 
of fundamental principles a course somewhat 
along the lines of Sedgwick and Wilson’s 
biology is followed. Professor Needham’s 
course in biology is too well known to need 
extended comment. It is another fine con- 
tribution and merits further trial. 

There can be no question but that the trend 
of thought is in the direction of giving the 
student a rounded and definite view of the 
world of living things, that the student who 
pursues the subject no further may carry 
with him an adequate knowledge of the world 
of living beings, and that the student who 
intends to make a more intensive study of 
the biologic sciences may have a sufficient 
background for the choice of his electives as 
his interest or needs may demand. 

With a changed viewpoint in the matter of 
the scope of the course has come an increasing 
appreciation of the value of the study of 
living things. They are no longer thought 
unworthy of serious study, to be left to teach- 
ers of kindergartens and elementary schools. 
It is no longer deemed necessary to depend 
exclusively upon foul-smelling, often distorted 
and discolored preserved specimens for an 
understanding of a living organism. At the 
last meeting of the representatives of the col- 
leges of the Middle States and Maryland there 
was a wholesome and surprising agreement on 
the important place that living organisms 
should hold in our biologie courses. 

With an appreciation of the desirability of 
studying living organisms the importance of 
local or well-known forms has become ap- 
parent. The choice of a type has unfortu- 
nately been too frequently determined by the 


436 SCLENCE 


author of the laboratory guide book, rather 
than the needs of the student. Where there 
is a choice between two forms that are equally 
good in developing the ideas of structure or 
physiological processes, the local or more gen- 
erally known form should always be preferred. 
Obvious as this may appear, there are a num- 
ber of instances where exotic or marine forms 
are used where fresh-water local specimens 
are available. 

The data submitted showed that there was 
a very wide range in the time given to the 
course, that there was nevertheless a tendency 
to limit the number of hours to five or six a 
week for one year. Whatever the number of 
hours may be, there is, in so many colleges, 
an undue importance placed upon the value 
of lectures as against the value of self-expres- 
sion either in the laboratory or in the recita- 
tion. If our message is to study nature, not 
books, even if it appears necessary to study 
nature through the artificial medium of the 
laboratory, as much time should be given to 
the study of organisms at first hand as cir- 
cumstances warrant. It is exceedingly diffi- 
cult to state what proportion of the time 
should be spent in the lecture, laboratory and 
recitation. It is easier to state what is wrong 
than what is right. It seems to the writer at 
least that two hours in the lecture room and 
two hours in the laboratory placed a dispro- 
portionate emphasis upon a knowledge about, 
rather than of, nature. Yet in twelve colleges 
this is the situation. 

Even more surprising is the lack of appre- 
ciation of the value of the recitation in such 
an introductory course. In nine colleges, for 
example, no opportunity is offered for self- 
expression on the part of the student, or for 
determining how far the student has grasped 
the ideas, or to what extent the course is 
adapted to the needs of the particular group 
of students, but more important even than 
these is the opportunity offered by the prop- 
erly conducted recitation to let the student 
appreciate the method of scientific thinking 
and the numberless unanswered problems that 
the biologist is wrestling with. In seven col- 
leges only occasional recitations are held; in 


[N.8. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


four colleges the recitations extend not more 
than a half hour a week. 

It is to be hoped that the reserve that has 
so long prompted many excellent teachers and 
biologists to withhold from their colleagues 
the results of their many years of experi- 
mentation and thought upon the teaching of 
introductory biology, may be set aside and 
that appropriate means be found for an ex- 
change of experiences. If arousing and de- 
veloping a wholesome interest in biology is an 
important part of our duties in the colleges or 
universities, should we not cooperate in aid- 
ing one another in this important work. At 
worst, we can agree to differ. 


A. J. GOLDFARB 
COLLEGE OF THE City oF NEW YORK 


MEXICAN ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY 


A GREATER impetus will be given to the In- 
ternational School of American Archeology 
and Ethnology in the city of Mexico in this, 
the fourth year of its existence. The mem- 
bers have been added to and the fund for its 
use will be increased so as to permit of larger 
activities and explorations. The school was 
founded in 1910 by the governments of Mex- 
ico and Prussia, Columbia University, Har- 
vard University, the University of Pennsyl- 
vania and the Hispano Society of America, 
under the initiative of Columbia. In the sec- 
ond year of the school the government of 
Russia, through the Imperial Academy of 
Sciences, and the government of Bavaria, 
joined the school, and in the third year the 
government of Austria and the city of Leip- 
sic, through its ethnological museum, joined it. 
During the first year the budget of the school, 
including salaries and fellowships, amounted 
to $6,000, in the second and third years to 
$10,000 each, and in the coming year it will 
be $12,000, of which amount Mexico contrib- 
utes $3,000 and two $500 fellowships. No ele- 
mentary or popular instruction is given in the 
school, but opportunity is offered to advanced 
students to familiarize themselves with the 
problems of Mexican archeology and ethnol- 
ogy, and to understand researches in these 
fields. The objects collected by the school are 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


placed at the disposal of the National Museum 
of Mexico, to make such selections as it thinks 
desirable and the remainder becomes the prop- 
erty of the patrons of the school. The first di- 
rector of the school was Professor Edward 
Seler, of Berlin, appointed by Prussia; the 
second was Professor Franz Boas, of New 
York, appointed by Columbia; the third was 
Professor Jorge Engerrand, of Mexico, ap- 
pointed by Mexico, and the fourth will be 
Professor A. M. Tozzer, appointed by Harvard. 

It has been the endeavor of the successive 
directors to organize the work of the school in 
such a way as to concentrate the energies of 
the school on a few carefully selected tasks. 
Professor Seler undertook an investigation of 
the ruins of Palenque and of some of the less- 
known ruins of Yucatan, and, after the com- 
pletion of this work, inaugurated investiga- 
tions on the archeological types of the valley 
of Mexico. In the same year Professor Boas 
devoted some time to linguistic studies on the 
dialects of the Nahua. In the second year the 
archeological studies in the valley of Mexico 
were continued, and a series of stratigraph- 
ical examinations of sites was undertaken. 
These led to the discovery of a regular se- 
quence of three cultural types, the presence of 
which was known before, although their rela- 
tive ages had not been determined, and 
pointed out the need of extended stratigraph- 
ical investigations in the valley of Mexico. 
Remains were found deep below the level of 
the lakes of the valley of Mexico, showing the 
great antiquity of the various types of culture. 
On the hills, sites were discovered in which 
the oldest type of culture appeared on the sur- 
face. The investigation of the dialects of 
Mexico was continued, particularly through 
studies on the southern dialects of the Nahua. 
Studies on Mexiean folklore were also taken 
up, which yielded the most abundant and in- 
teresting results, suggesting the most curious 
interrelations between the folklore of Spain, 
Africa and America, and suggesting a much 
more important influence of Spanish folklore 
upon American tradition than has generally 
been assumed to exist. In the third year, Pro- 
fessor Engerrand continued similar lines of 


SCIENCE 


437 


work. Under his direction the stratigraphical 
work was continued on a large scale in the 
valley of Mexico, and yielded most interesting 
results, clearing up still further the historical 
relation between the three cultural types. <A 
comparative study was also made in the state 
of Colima. One of the fellows of the school 
who worked under his direction made a large 
folkloristic collection in Oaxaca, and studied 
the Huave, one of the isolated languages of 
that area, which he proved to be related to the 
Mixe. Another fellow continued his studies 
on the language, religion and folklore of the 
Tepecanos, a Pima tribe in northern Jalisco. 
The importance of the stratigraphical work 
conducted by the school has proved so great 
that the Geological Institute of Mexico is now 
continuing this enterprise on a large scale by 
means of borings. During the coming year, 
under the direction of Professor Tozzer, the 
stratigraphical work in the valley of Mexico 
will be continued, and the study of folklore 
will receive particular attention. The studies 
on the Nahua dialects will also be continued. 


THE AMERICAN FISHERIES -SOCIETY 


Tue forty-third annual meeting of the 
American Fisheries Society was held in Bos- 
ton from September 8 to 11 under the presi- 
dency of Dr. C. H. Townsend, of the New 
York Aquarium. Dr. Henry B. Ward, of the 
University of Illinois, was vice-president, and 
the vice-presidents of divisions were as fol- 
lows: Fish Culture, James Nevin, Madison, 
Wis.; Aquatic Biology and Physics, L. L. 
Dyche, Pratt, Kan.; Commercial Fishing, W. 
J. Hunsaker, Saginaw, Mich.; Angling, H. 
Wheeler Perce, Chicago, Ill.; Protection and 
Legislation, Dr. T. S. Palmer, Washington, 
D.C. The program of scientific papers was as 
follows: 


William P. Seal: ‘‘Suggestions of possible In- 
terest to the American Fisheries Society and to 
Fish Commissions. ’’ 

Dr. C. H. Townsend, director, New York Aqua- 
rium: ‘‘The Private Fish Pond—a neglected re- 
source.’’ Recent Progress in Oceanography. 

F. F. Dimick, secretary, Boston Fish Bureau: 
“‘The Fish Trade Organizations. ’’ 


438 


Dr. H. M. Smith, commissioner, U. S. Bureau of 
Fisheries: ‘‘The Need for a National Institution 
for the Technical Instruction of Fisherfolk.’’ 

L. L. Dyche, state fish and game warden, Kan- 
sas: ‘One Year’s Work at the Kansas Fish 
Hatchery,’’ ‘‘The Possibilities of an Acre Fish 
Pond.’’ 

Jacob Reighard: ‘‘A Plea for the Preservation 
of Records concerning Fish,’’ ‘‘Improvement of 
Fishing through a Knowledge of the Breeding 
Habits of Fish.’’ 

Phil C. Zalsman: ‘‘ Experiments in Fish Culture 
while in the Employment of the Michigan and 
Wisconsin Fish Commissions. ’’ 

Charles H. Nerley: ‘‘Small Mouth Black Bass. ’’ 

J. P. Snyder: ‘‘ Notes on Striped Bass.’’ 

J. T. Nichols: ‘‘Concerning Young Bluefish.’’ 

Dr. George W. Field, chairman, Massachusetts 
Fish and Game Commission: ‘‘The Alewife Fish- 
ery of Massachusetts. ’’ 

Dr. T. H. Bean, state fish culturist, New York: 
“<The Rearing of Small-mouthed Black Bass.’’ 

N. R. Buller, commissioner, Pennsylvania Fish- 
eries Department: ‘‘The Work of the Pennsyl- 
yania Fisheries Department.’’ 

Charles G. Atkins, superintendent, U. S. Fish- 
eries Station, Craig Brook, Maine: ‘‘The Atlantic 
Salmon.’’ 

Dr. Irving H. Field, Clark University, Worcester, 
Massachusetts: ‘‘The Development of the Salt 
Water Mussel Industry. ’’ 

Professor Henry B. Ward, Urbana, Illinois: 
‘«Fish Refuges.’’ 

W. E. Meehan, director, Philadelphia Aquarium: 
‘‘The Establishment of an Aquarium in Phila- 
delphia. ’’ 

Professor E. E. Prince: ‘‘Some Animals and 
Conditions Inimical to Fish Eggs and Larve in 
the Sea,’’ ‘‘A Perfect Fish Pass; Some Sugges- 
tions as to Defects in Fish Passes and How to 
Overcome Them.’’ 

Henry C. Rowe, president, Oyster Growers and 
Dealers Association of North America: ‘‘The 
Oyster Industry.’’ 

David L. Belding, biologist, Massachusetts Fish 
and Game Commission: ‘‘Conditions Influencing 
the Growth of Clams (Myra arenaria).’’ 

Professor G. H. Parker, Harvard University: 
‘“The Senses of Fishes.’’ 


The next annual meeting will be held in 
New Orleans beginning on September 30, 
1914. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


CHEMISTRY AT THE ATLANTA MEETING 
OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

At the meeting of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science to be 
held in Atlanta, it is planned to hold sessions 
of Section C (Chemistry), of which no ses- 
sions were held at Cleveland in 1912. The 
general idea is to endeavor to have before Sec- 
tion C papers on chemical topics of wide and 
general interest, especially to workers in other 
branches of science and to laymen, leaving to 
the American Chemical Society the field 
which they already occupy, namely, the pre- 
sentation of chemical papers to and for chem- 
ists. In pursuance of this plan it is proposed 
to have some short addresses, each of which 
will either deal with some general topic or be 
of the nature of reports of recent progress in 
some of the large branches of the subject of 
chemistry. A second day may, if it prove de- 
sirable and practicable, be devoted to a joint 
meeting of Section C with the local sections 
of the American Chemical Society, in which 
case papers dealing with more special subjects 
would be read. The secretary of Section C is 
Dr. John Johnston, Geophysical Laboratory, 
Washington, D. C. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue University of Birmingham on Septem- 
ber 11 conferred its doctorate of laws on the 
following foreign representatives in attend- 
ance at the meeting of the British Associa- 
tion: Madame Curie (Sorbonne, Paris), Pro- 
fessor H. A. Lorentz (Leyden), Professor 
Keibel (Freiburg), Professor R. W. Wood 
(Johns Hopkins) and Professor Svante Ar- 
thenius (Stockholm). 


THE evening discourses at the Birmingham 
meeting of the British Association were given 
by Sir Henry Cunynghame, of the Home 
Office, on “Coal Dust Explosions and the 
Means of Preventing Them,” and by Dr. 
Smith Woodward, F.R.S., of the British Mu- 
seum, on “ Missing Links among Extinct 
Animals.” 

Dr. WILHELM OstTWaALp, the distinguished 
physical chemist and philosopher, celebrated 
his sixtieth birthday on September 2. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


Dr. G. S. FutLterton, professor of philos- 
ophy at Columbia University and exchange 
professor with Austria, will lecture at Vienna 
six weeks in the autumn and six weeks in the 
spring. He will lecture also at Graz and 
Innsbruck. 


THE Walker prizes in natural history of the 
Boston Society of Natural History have been 
awarded this year as follows: the first prize, 
amounting to $100, to Dr. Reynold A. Spaeth, 
for his essay on “An Experimental Study 
Concerning the Chromatophores of Fishes,” 
and the second prize of $50 to Professor O. D. 
Von Engeln, for his essay on the “ Effects 
of Continental Glaciation on Agriculture.” 
Prizes for 1914 and 1915 will be awarded for 
original and unpublished research work in any 
biological or geological subject. The memoirs 
must be in the hands of the secretary on or 
before April 1. 


THE University of Munich has awarded a 
prize of 3,000 Marks to Dr. Joseph Golling 
for his research entitled anthropological in- 
vestigations on the bones of the nose in man. 


Proressor Neuserc has been appointed a 
demonstrator in the chemistry division of the 
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Experimental 
Therapy in Dahlem, near Berlin. 


Dr. R. LowrenwHerz, docent for chemistry at 
K6nigsberg, has been appointed curator of the 
chemical museum of the Berlin Technological 
Institute. 


Proressor A. Kos, of the Technical Insti- 
tute of Darmstadt, has retired to engage in 
industrial chemical work in Berlin. 


Mr. H. L. Viereck, formerly with the Bu- 
reau of Entomology at Washington, is at 
present working with the Minnesota state 
entomologist, Professor F. L. Washburn. 


THe annual meeting of the Association 
of Military Surgeons of the United States was 
held in Denver, Colo., September 16-19, under 
the presidency of Surgeon W. C. Braisted, 
U.S.N. 


Ar the twenty-third annual meeting of the 
American Electrotherapeutic Association, held 
in New York on September 2, 3 and 4, the 


SCIENCE 


439 


following officers were elected: president, Dr. 
George E. Pfahler, of Philadelphia; vice- 
presidents, Dr. Albert C. Geyser, of New 
York, Dr. Frank B. Granger, of Boston, 
Dr. John D. Torbett, of Marlin, Texas, 
Dr. William L. Clark, of Philadelphia, and 
Dr. Frederick P. Tice, of Roanoke, Va. 


PRESIDENT SCHURMAN, who has been on leave 
of absence from Cornell University for the 
past year, representing the United States at 
Athens as minister to Greece, has returned to 
the university. 

Prorressor B. K. Emerson, owing to an 
injury to his knee, will be unable to conduct 
the New England Intercollegiate Geological 
Excursion which was planned for the vicinity 
of Dalton, Mass., and consequently the meet- 
ing will not be held this year. 


WE learn from Nature that a ship has been 
purchased for an Austrian expedition to the 
South Polar regions, and that funds are being 
collected in aid of the object. The expedition 
is to be under the leadership of Dr. F. Konig, 
of Graz, and the proposal is that it shall leave 
Trieste in May next. A large donation to the 
funds has been given by the Vienna Academy 
of Science, and the Austrian Geographical 
Society has promised an annual subsidy. 


Tue Philadelphia Alumni Society of the 
medical department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania has issued an appeal for funds to 
endow a scholarship which it is planned to es- 
tablish in memory of the late Dr. Roland G. 
Curtin. 


Kane Grorce received recently at Bucking- 
ham Palace the members of the Scott Expedi- 
tion and presented them with the antarctic 
medal and clasp. He also presented Lady 
Scott, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Bris- 
senden with the medal and clasps which had 
been awarded to their late husbands, and to 
Mrs. Bowers the medal and clasp awarded to 
her son, the late Lieut. H. R. Bowers. At the 
request of the late Captain Oates’s mother, the 
medal and clasp awarded to her son were re- 
ceived on her behalf by Commander Evans. 


A MEMORIAL to the lost Russian explorer, 
Baron E. von Toll, is to be set up on the west 


440 


coast of Kotelnyi Island, in the New Siberia 
group—the starting-point of the explorer and 
his companions on their last journey. 

Proressor JouHn Mitne has left his books, 
albums and scientific instruments relating to 
seismology to the British Association; and 
subject to his wife’s interest £1,000 to the 
chairman of the seismology committee of the 
association, for the study of earth physics. 

Dr. ALEXANDER MACFARLANE, formerly in- 
structor in physics in Edinburgh University 
and professor of physics in the University of 
Texas, recently residing in Chatham, Ontario, 
known for his contributions to vector analysis 
and quaternions, died on August 28, aged 
sixty-two years. 

Dr. HucH Marsuaty, F.R.S., professor of 
chemistry in University College, Dundee, 
died on September 6, aged forty-five years. 

Dr. Grorce FriepricH KInKELIN, the geolo- 
zist of the Frankfort Senckenberg Natural 
History Society, has died at the age of seventy- 
eight years. 

Dr. BerNHARD BaRDENHAUER, professor of 
surgery at Cologne, has died at the age of 
seventy-three years. 

Dr. WitHetmM MuruMann, professor of 
chemistry in the Technical School at Munich, 
known for his work on the rare earths, has 
died at the age of fifty-two years. 


Dr. FriepricH SEmer, professor of pharma- 
ceutical chemistry at Lausanne, has died at 
the age of fifty years. 


Dr. O. M. Reuter, emeritus professor of 
zoology in the University of Helsingfors, died 
on September 2, at the age of sixty-three years. 


Cotumsia UNIVERSITY opened its 160th aca- 
demic year on September 24, when Professor 
James F.\\Kemp, head of the department of 
geology, made the address, his subject being 
“The Appeal of the Natural Sciences.” 

Tue sum of 90,000 franes has been be- 
queathed to the Pasteur Institute at Paris for 
the founding of a prize for the best original 
work in the treatment of meningitis. 

Tue sixth annual meeting of the Associa- 
tion of Official Seed Analysts will be held in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 978 


Washington, D. C., November 14 and 15, at 
the time of the meetings of the Agricultural 
Group of Societies. 


Tue Prussian ministry of education, which 
a short time ago made grants of money to the 
university clinics at Berlin, Halle and Kiel, 
enabling them to procure radium or meso- 
thorium for the treatment of cancer, is now 
said to have placed $200,000 in the estimates 
of next year for further purchases. 


Ir is stated that the Maharaja Scindia of 
Gwalior is giving special attention to the 
archeological relics and treasures in his state, 
and is taking steps to create an archeological 
department in Gwalior. In furtherance of 
this object he has sought the advice and co- 
operation of the director-general of archeology 
in India. 


Lorp Murray, of Elibank, has concluded 
with the government of Ecuador a contract 
for the development of the oil resources of the 
republic. Under this contract Lord Murray 
undertakes to spend £100,000 within ten years 
in exploring for oil in Ecuador. Work is to 
begin within a year of the publication of the 
proposed law, and competent geologists and 
engineers are to be employed who are to sup- 
ply the government with detailed maps of the 
country they survey and to keep the govern- 
ment specially informed as to discoveries of 
artesian water. 


A FURTHER grant of £5,000, making £10,000 
in all, has been made by the federal govern- 
ment of the commonwealth of Australia 
towards completing the work of the Mawson 
Antarctic Expedition and bringing the explor- 
ers back. 


Tuer Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation says that the initiative of the med- 
ical profession of Philadelphia and Pennsyl- 
vania has brought into legal existence large 
new institutions that will bring the city and 
state well into the advance along social lines: 
Mentally defective women of childbearing age, 
of whom at least 15,000'are known to be within 
the state, will now be permanently segregated 
in a great farm colony in a remote mountain 
forest reserve, thus preventing further multi- 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


A home for aleohol and drug ha- 
long agitated, is provided for in 
another forest reserve as, elsewhere, is an in- 
dustrial home for women. 


Ir is stated in Nature that the Italian arch- 
eological mission to Orete, under the leader- 
ship of Professor Halbherr, announces the dis- 
covery at Cortina of a temple dedicated to 
Egyptian deities, bearing the dedication by 
Flavia Philyra, the foundress. In the inner 
cella were found images of Jupiter, Serapis, 
Tsis and Mercury, with fragments of a 
colossal statue, supposed to be that of the 
foundress. <A little flight of steps leads down 
to a subterranean chamber in which cere- 
monies of purification were performed. The 
excavation of the numerous prehistoric sites 
in the island of Malta is being actively prose- 
cuted under the direction of Professor T. 
Zammit. The most important discovery is 
that of a series of well tombs of the Punic 
type at the Kallilia plateau, northwest of 
Rabat. A large number of skeletons, with 
pottery, lamps, spindle-whorls and a circular 
bronze mirror, has been unearthed. A partial 
exploration of the Ghar Dalam cave, con- 
ducted by Professor Tagliaferro and Mr. C. 
Rizzo, produced bones of a hippopotamus and 
a deer, above which lay a quantity of prehis- 
toric sherds. The museum, by the bequest of 
the late Mr. Parnis, has received a large col- 
lection of books about Malta and numerous 
antique objects. 


plication. 
bitués, 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Iv is announced that the scheme for the 
establishment of a school of tropical medicine 
in Calcutta is now so far advanced towards 
fulfilment that there is every reason to hope 
that it will be opened in the autumn of next 
year. 

Proresson ALEXANDER T. Ormonp has re- 
signed the McCosh professorship of philos- 
ophy at Princeton University to accept the 
presidency of Grove City College. 

Proressor ALEXANDER SMITH, head of the 
department of chemistry in Columbia Univer- 
sity, who has been elected professor of chem- 


SCIENCE 


441 


istry at Princeton University, will not assume 
his new duties until the academic year 1914- 
1915. 

THE vacancy created at Vassar College by 
the resignation of Professor Clark Wells 
Chamberlain, in order to take the presidency 
of Denison University, has not been filled; 
Associate Professor Edna Carter will act as 
head of the department of physics for the 
present year. 

At Lehigh University the following promo- 
tions in the faculty are announced: George C. 
Beck, to be assistant professor of quantitative 
analysis; Sylvanus A. Becker, assistant pro- 
fessor of civil engineering; Joseph B. Rey- 
nolds, assistant professor of mathematics and 
astronomy; Rollin L. Charles, assistant pro- 
fessor of physics; Stanley J. Thomas, in- 
structor in biology. The following appoint- 
ments have been made: Ferdinand F. Hintze, 
assistant professor of geology; Siegfried 
Fischer, instructor in metallurgy; Wallace G. 
Matteson, instructor in geology; Edgar C. 
Weinsheimer, instructor in geology; M. S. 
Knebelman, instructor in mathematics; James 
B. Arthur, instructor in electrical engineering. 

At Rutgers College Stanley E. Brasefield, 
Ph.D. (Cornell), and William Beverly Stone, 
Ph.D. (Univ. of Va.), have been appointed 
assistant professors of mathematics. 

L. C. Priant, who has been at the head of 
the department of mathematics in the Univer- 
sity of Montana for the past six years, has 
resigned, to accept the position of head of the 
department of mathematics in the Michigan 
Agricultural College. He has been succeeded 
by Dr. N. J. Lennes, of the department of 
mathematics of Columbia University. 

Dr. Water Kruse, of Bonn, has been ap- 
pointed professor of hygiene at Leipzig. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
BIT OF HISTORY 
In the issue of Science for August 15, 1918, 
there is quoted from The Independent of fifty 


years ago the statement that “ Professor Wol- 
eott Gibbs ” had been chosen to the Rumford 


442 SCIENCE 


chair at Harvard College together with the 
well-worn comment of 

Columbia College a year or two since refused to 
appoint him to a chemical professorship. Because 
he did not understand chemistry? No; because 
he was a Unitarian! 


At the time of the death of Professor Gibbs 
this statement also appeared in several of the 
“ official” sketches that were published. As 
the story differed somewhat from the one that 
prevailed at Columbia when I was an under- 
graduate, I undertook to ascertain the facts 
for my own satisfaction and have arrived at 
the following conclusions: 

In 1854 Wolcott Gibbs (easily the most dis- 
tinguished of the many eminent scientists who 
have graduated from Columbia) was filling 
the chair of physics and chemistry in the Col- 
lege of the City of New York. He had only 
recently returned from Europe, where he had 
studied in Germany under Liebig and in 
France under Regnault, but had not as yet 
given any distinct evidence of his brilliant 
powers as an investigator, nor had he pub- 
lished papers that indicated his great genius. 

It was also in that year that a successor was 
sought at Columbia for the illustrious James 
Renwick, who since 1820 had added to the 
prestige of his alma mater by serving her as 
professor of chemistry. 

Various candidates were proposed and 
among them naturally enough the young 
alumnus of Columbia, who was then filling 
acceptably a teaching professorship in the 
Free Academy, as the City College was then 
commonly called. The trustees, however, in 
their wisdom chose Richard McCulloh, a man 
of more mature years than Gibbs and one who 
had already given promise of the future by 
his valuable work on the United States Coast 
Survey, then the foremost scientific bureau of 
the national government. That he filled the 
place satisfactorily is shown by the fact that 
three years later he was transferred to the 
chair of mechanics and physies, which he then 
held until October, 1863, when, as the General 
Catalogue has it, he “ abandoned his post and 
joined the rebels.” 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978: 


Admirers of Professor Gibbs, however, have 
ever since persistently contended that Gibbs 
was rejected because he was a Unitarian, and 
even an appeal was presented to the New 
York state legislature’ in which it was claimed 
that his rejection was made for sectarian 
reasons. 

That Columbia has always had leanings 
toward the Protestant Episcopal faith is per- 
haps most significantly shown by the facts 
that the Bishop of New York and the rector 
of Trinity Church are ex-officio members of 
the board of trustees. But it must be remem- 
bered so also is the senior minister of the 
Dutch Reformed Church; and also again it 
must be remembered, that no evidence has 
ever been presented as to the faith of Pro- 
fessor McCulloh. 

Much as I regret the decision of the trustees 
in depriving Columbia of the services of him, 
who, in the paths of science proved himself to: 
be her most eminent alumnus, and also who 
ever inspired those who were so fortunate as 
to study under him with a true love of sci- 
ence, nevertheless, in these modern days, when: 
church unity is the hope of so many, is it not 
time to cease the persistent criticism of Co- 
lumbia for her sectarianism and to accept the 
more reasonable conclusion, entirely con- 
sistent with the facts, that McCulloh was. 
chosen to the faculty because the trustees be- 
lieved him to be the better man and not be- 
cause Gibbs was a Unitarian. 


Marcus BENJAMIN 


THE LAW OF PRIORITY 
On general principles it can not be denied 


+ Professor J. H. Van Amringe, Columbia’s most 
beloved alumnus, in a recent letter, calls my atten- 
tion to the fact that in response to this appeal a 
committee of the New York Senate was appointed 
to ascertain whether the trustees had required any 
‘religious qualifications or test from any candi- 
date as a condition of any professorship in said 
college.’? As a result of the inquiries the com- 
mittee ‘‘arrived at the clear and decided convic- 
tion that there had been no such violation.’’ See 
‘©A History of Columbia University. 1754-1904,’” 
New York, 1904, page 129. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


that we must have uniform and consistent 
law, as has been stated by a recent contributor 
to the discussion, if we desire a stable system 
of nomenclature; in fact it goes without say- 
ing that this is quite essential. 

But sundry knotty problems arise. For 
example when we observe in a recent cata- 
logue that the word Sunius, for a well-known 
genus of beetles, which we have known hith- 
erto only by that name, which our fathers and 
grandfathers knew only by that name, which 
in fact is the only name by which the genus 
has been known in virtually the entire domain 
of literature, must be changed and replaced 
by Astenus, we pause to ask why. It may be 
admitted that some one connected with the 
catalogue has gone back and at least thought 
he understood that the original diagnosis— 
these old descriptions being almost meaning- 
less nine times out of ten—of Astenus, applied 
better to what we have known as Sunius than 
to anything else; but we are given no visible 
evidence whatever. Are we blindly to change 
the lifelong conception of several generations 
and reverse all published literature of the 
genus, on the authority of a guess and with- 
out presentation of any sort of proof? The 
language of the original description must 
alone afford this proof, for there is no way of 
knowing that the original type label may not 
have been shifted in some way, if the type 
chance to be in existence. 

The pity of the interminable tangle may be 
reduced to this: If these over-zealous advo- 
cates of strict priority had only refrained 
from such publication until some system could 
be formulated, it would have been possible to 
adopt a uniform and consistent law which 
need not be necessarily that of rigid priority. 
One that might, for example, be analogous to 
the legal rule of exemption after a certain 
time limit. That is: If a genus name has not 
been challenged or corrected during a con- 
tinuous period of say sixty or seventy years 
after its introduction in the commonly ac- 
cepted sense, then it is to be considered per- 
manent. This is absolute and consistent law 
and nothing else. 


SCIENCE 


443 


But the enthusiastic explorers of antiquity 
have spoiled this otherwise available recourse 
and I am free to confess that, as matters now 
stand, there seems to be no rational way out 
of the trouble but definitely to adopt the law 
of absolute ‘priority. I would, however, only 
accept the identifications made by a competent 
commission, which should be compelled to 
publish its results in the fullest and broadest 
possible manner and in such a convincing 
way, by adducing the necessary proofs, that 
there could be no just ground for dissent. I 
feel that the enthusiasts aforesaid have com- 
pelled this course, because if we now use the 
old genus name Jps, for example, without fur- 
ther qualification, one would not know whether 
we refer to a Nitidulid or a Rhynchophorid 
beetle (Tomicus Latr.), to give only one in- 
stance among many. 

So the very chaos which has come about 
through premature efforts to adhere to the 
law of strict priority now forces the adoption 
of that law, but only in the rigid way sug- 
gested above. In other words, incontrovert- 
ible evidence must be clearly and widely pub- 
lished, proving that the change is necessary. 
This opens up another vexing field of dispute. 
The subject is really serious and should be 
given the attention of the ablest natural his- 
torians now and without further delay, so that 
a secure foundation may be laid for future 
generations. Other work should be laid aside 
until this foundation is secure. 


Tuos. L. Casry 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Geometrical Optics. By ArcHIBALD STANLEY 
Prrcivat. London, Longmans, Green, and 
Company. 1913. Pp. vi-+ 132. 

This volume, issued recently, is intended 
for medical students as a text-book intro- 
ducing them to so much of optical theory as 
may be necessary for the ophthalmic surgeon. 
The mathematics of the subject is hence free 
from applications of calculus, but the algebra 
involved is enough to cause most American 


444 SCIENCE 


medical students to quail. The author as- 
sumes thorough knowledge of algebra, geom- 
etry and trigonometry, including particularly 
the vectorial significance of linear direction. 

Physical optics is avoided entirely, since 
“no thorough elementary knowledge of that 
intricate subject can be obtained in the short 
time allotted to the student for studying op- 
ties.” It is questionable whether this truth 
warrants the pedagogic loss involved in ig- 
noring the wave theory of light. Elementary 
knowledge may be correct so far as it goes, 
but without involving intricacies. Children 
are taught in the grammar-school some of the 
conclusions resulting from the Newtonian 
theory of gravitation, but without any refer- 
ence to the difficulties overcome in its estab- 
lishment. The wave theory of light is now 
about as well established as the theory of 
gravitation. To assume it at the outset of a 
course in elementary optics is common 
enough to-day. For the college student this 
assumption is probably accompanied quite 
generally with the promise that he who perse- 
veres will in time be provided with adequate 
foundation for the faith which is accepted 
without question at the outset. In deducing 
and applying the elementary formulas of op- 
tics the use of wave fronts is found to sim- 
plify demonstrations that are equally possible 
without them. Wave fronts and rays are quite 
inseparable instead of being mutually exclu- 
sive. The judicious teacher will be apt to 
guide himself by convenience and economy in 
reaching a decision as to a choice of methods 
of demonstration. 

In text-books on optics there is unfortu- 
nately no definite consensus thus far in re- 
gard to the conventional assumptions to be 
applied in the development of theory. From 
the standpoint of the teacher and the manu- 
facturer certain conventions may be useful 
which are unsatisfactory to the advanced stu- 
dent of theory. In every case they should be 
as simple as possible, so as to be really helpful. 
For the elementary student, and even the ad- 
vanced student, probably the most trouble- 
some snare is the minus sign. Mr. Percival 
says (p. 22): “ We have adopted the usual con- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


ventions that directions from left to right are 
considered positive, and those from right to 
left negative.” Similarly, upward is positive; 
downward, negative; counter-clockwise angu- 
lar rotation is positive, clockwise, negative. 
This seems like simplicity itself; but in its 
application the elementary student of optics 
finds himself soon confused. Jn many cases 
mere magnitude is all that needs considera- 
tion, and to introduce additionally the ele- 
ment of direction, especially rotational di- 
rection, merely increases the chances of mis- 
interpretation. For example, the deviation, 
D, which a prism of refracting angle A im- 
poses on a beam of homogeneous light sent 
through it is commonly expressed in terms of 
A and the angles of incidence, ¢, and emerg- 
ence y, by the formula, 


D=¢+y—A. 


Mr. Percival expresses this in words by say- 
ing (p. 43): “ The total deviation is equal to 
the difference between the angles of emerg- 
ence and incidence less the apical angle of the 
prism.” A glance at the diagram is enough 
to satisfy any student of geometry that the 
former expression is correct. The author re- 
quests the reader to note that @ is measured 
clockwise and y counter-clockwise; but the in- 
troduction of this convention is here wholly 
unnecessary and misleading. 

The formula for a thin lens in air is one of 
the most important in optics. Let us assume, 
as standard form, a bi-convex lens, with re- 
fractive index, n, radius of curvature r, on 
the side of incidence, and r, on that of emerg- 
ence. Let this lens receive light from a 
radiant at distance wu, and converge it to a 
conjugate focus at distance v. The relation 
existing is expressed by the equation, 

Lied if 1 
pe) oo 

The conventional assumptions involved are: 

1. Irrespective of direction, the radius of 
curvature is positive for a convex lens sur- 
face, and negative for a concave lens surface. 

2. Irrespective of direction, the curvature 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


is considered positive for a wave front propa- 
gated toward or from a real focus; and nega- 
tive if from a virtual focus. 

Another form commonly seen is, 


=== (n-1)(4-=). (2) 


The assumptions now involved are: 

1. The direction from lens toward radiant 
is positive; its opposite is negative. 

2. Curvature concave toward the radiant is 
positive; its opposite is negative. 

Tf it is assumed additionally that the radi- 
ant is at the right of the lens, Mr. Percival’s 
convention is expressed in Eq. (2). 

The conventions connected with Eq. (1) 
have long been in common use. A converging 
lens is commonly called positive; a diverging 
lens, negative. Of late years Eq. (2) has been 
increasingly coming into use, for analytical 
reasons. The teacher of optics is free to take 
his choice; and this is apt to be influenced, in 
part at least, by ease of application. In a 
text-book published about twenty-five years 
ago by a pair of highly respected American 
college teachers of physics the deduction and 
discussion of Eq. (2) is given; but at its close 
they add the remark: “The equation is more 
simple in application if, instead of making the 
algebraic signs of the quantities depend on 
the direction of measurement they are made 
to depend on the form of the surfaces and the 
character of the foci.” The conventions given 
in connection with Eq. (1) are then expressed. 
The present writer has tried both sets of con- 
ventions with his students; and with the re- 
sult that pedagogically Eq. (1) is found much 
preferable. On examining thirty text-books 
in his library he finds Eq. (1) used in sixteen 
of them; Eq. (2) in thirteen; and both in one 
of them. 

Mr. Percival seems to select the position of 
the radiant as origin, for in his diagrams he 
places this at the left, or negative, side of the 
lens or mirror; but this is not always done by 
him. He makes a distinction (p. 49) between 
the convention applied in finding a general 
formula and that applied in using a formula, 
saying, “ when using the formule it will gen- 


SCIENCE 


445 


erally be found convenient to regard the direc- 
tion of the incident light as the positive di- 
rection.” The ordinary student, expecting 
uniformity and consistency, will be apt to 
stumble here, especially if he consults Edser’s 
excellent book “Light for Students,’ and 
finds (p. 28), that “when the direction of 
measurement is opposite to that in which the 
incident light travels, the distance is positive.” 
Tn this connection it should be noted that both 
Edser and Percival use the same form, ex- 
pressed in Eq. (2). The positive direction for 
this equation may thus be either rightward, 
or leftward, or in the direction of propagation, 
or opposite to this direction, according to pref- 
erence. The student probably has no prefer- 
ence, but wants definite information. After 
reversing his minus sign, and then re-reversing 
it a sufficient number of times, his mental con- 
dition becomes undesirable, to say the least. 

Taking the equations as they are found in 
Mr. Percival’s volume, he illustrates them by 
the solution of numerical problems, and in a 
number of cases additionally by graphic 
methods. The discussion of Gauss’s cardinal 
points for a thick lens, or system of lenses, is 
perhaps scarcely full enough to enable the stu- 
dent to acquire very satisfactory working 
knowledge of the subject. Its application to 
the optics of the human eye is well illus- 
trated both numerically and graphically. 

An appendix is added in which a number of 
topics of practical importance are treated 
mathematically, without any attempt to avoid 
or disguise the notation of calculus. Medical 
students, for the most part, may naturally be 
disposed to accept the results without master- 
ing the details of demonstration. 

There are a few obvious typographical errors 
that will probably be corrected in a future 
edition. Despite the uncertainties about 
linear and angular direction, the book is 
clearly written, and by one who has evidently 
had good experience in dealing with students. 
It is worthy of commendation to those for 
whom it was intended. 


W. LeConte STEVENS 
LEXINGTON, VA., 
September 2, 1913 


446 


Prevention and Control of Disease. By 
Francis RaMatEy and Cuiay E. GRrirrin. 
Copyright by Francis Ramaley, Boulder, 
Colorado. 1913. 

In the preface to the book the authors state 
the purpose for which it has been written. 
The work of investigators, physicians and 
public health officers should be more widely 
known in order that an intelligent body pf 
citizens may cooperate in its extension. The 
book is intended for the general public and as 
a text for college classes. It is not written 
for medical students or biologists. After dis- 
cussion of death rate, types of disease and cer- 
tain hygienic considerations nine chapters, con- 
stituting almost half of the book, are given to 
a concise summary of the “ germ theory of dis- 
ease,’ the nature, life-history, metabolic ac- 
tivity and distribution of animal and vege- 
table parasites, the mode of infection and 
spread of infectious diseases, disinfection, 
susceptibility and resistance, immunity and 
specifics in the treatment of disease. One 
familiar with the complexity of any biological 
science may doubt the possibility of conveying 
to the general reader a conception of the 
nature of the objects or of the phenomena 
described or in the absence of a clear under- 
standing of the subject the possibility of 
maintaining his interest. For those who wish 
this information a satisfactory synopsis is 
furnished. It is even more doubtful if matter 
described in this part of the book can be used 
as the basis of a collegiate course. To appre- 
ciate the form and life-history of bacteria and 
protozoa and the chemical changes caused by 
them both preliminary biological training and 
objective demonstration of selected forms may 
be regarded as essential. Study of the phe- 
nomena of immunity including the intricacies 
of Ehrlich’s side-chain theory or of phagocy- 
tosis and opsoniec action must be relegated to 
the biological student who wishes to acquire 
technical training and superficial information 
may leave the impression of occult mystery in 
the mind of the general reader. The book 
contains a large amount of information which 
the layman should have and it is presented in 
interesting form. The statements concerning 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


medical practise are generally accurate, but 
occasionally an indefinite or erroneous im- 
pression is produced. Advice to eat moder- 
ately at the beginning of a “cold” may be 
worth heeding, but its value is not strength- 
ened by the suggestion that side-chain recep- 
tors become coupled to toxins when intoxica- 
tion takes place and the body is unable to 
assimilate food until new side chains are de- 
veloped. The cause, dissemination and pre- 
vention by personal and governmental pre- 
cautions of “cold,” diphtheria, contagious 
diseases of childhood, tuberculosis and other 
diseases are adequately discussed. The value 
of vaccination and of the serum treatment of 
diphtheria is emphasized with the purpose of 
overcoming lingering prejudice. As an illus- 
tration of desirable information which may 
aid the layman to judge his professional at- 
tendant may be cited the author’s discussion 
of the importance of surgical cleanliness on 
the part of dentists. Historical data defining 
the changes that have occurred in the preva- 
lence of certain diseases or describing the 
progress of medical discovery add interest and 
clearness to the book. E. L. Opie 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
ON INDUCING DEVELOPMENT IN THE SEA-URCHIN 
(ARBACIA PUNCTULATA), TOGETHER WITH 
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE INITIATORY 
EFFECT OF FERTILIZATION* 
I, THE INITIATION OF DEVELOPMENT WITH DILUTE 
SEA WATER 


In the course of work on the energetics of 
development, it became necessary to study in 
detail the question of water absorption at 
various stages of embryogeny. For certain 
phases of these studies the eggs of Arbacia 
punctulata proved extremely favorable. In 
various concentrations of sea water these eggs 
behave exactly as expected, but in 25 per cent. 
sea water (25 cc. sea water-+75 ec. HO 
dist.) fertilization membranes appear. The 
process takes place in from one to one and a 
half minutes at ordinary temperatures. In 
two minutes many eggs as well as their nuclei 


1 Preliminary communication. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


are cytolized, and in three minutes this is 
true of most of the eggs. 

The membrane in question is a true fer- 
tilization membrane, and if at the proper 
moment the eggs are brought back into nor- 
mal sea water, or better still, hypertonic sea 
water (50 cc. sea water + 8 c.c. 2.5 N NaCl), 
cleavage takes place. Since July 18 I have 
succeeded in rearing a considerable number 
of ciliated larvee. 


Tl. THE INITIATION OF DEVELOPMENT WITH EGG 
EXTRACT 


If fresh ovaries of Arbacia are ground up 
in a mortar with pulverized glass and a small 
quantity of sea water, the liquid, when fil- 
tered, has a color not unlike that of blood 
serum. This fluid, if allowed to act on ripe 
eges contained in an equal quantity of sea 
water, proves to be an excellent initiatory 
agent, for if the eggs after one to two hours 
are placed in normal sea water, many divide, 
although no fertilization membrane appears. 


§0. THE THEORY OF INITIATION, PARTHENOGEN- 
ETIC METHODS AND THE FERTILIZATION 
MEMBRANE 


It is well known that development can be 
induced in many kinds of eggs by very di- 
verse means—lipoid solvents, increased os- 
motic pressure of the surrounding medium, 
electricity, heat, cold, mechanical shock and 
even pricking the egg surface, have all proved 
effective in one case or another, but so far as 
I am aware the use of egg extract from the 
same species is new, as well as the production 
of genuine fertilization membranes in Arbacia 
punctulata by means of dilute sea water. In 
one of the California sea urchins, Loeb’ has 
reported the formation of membranes after 
the addition of distilled water, but from cer- 
tain details it seems that the fertilization 
membrane of at least one of the California 
urchins resembles that of Asterias forbesit, 
‘and this differs quite markedly from that of 
Arbacia punctulata. 

Loeb,’ on the basis of his own investigations 

* Loeb, Jacques, ‘‘Die chemische Entwicklungs- 
erregung, etc.,’’? Julius Springer, Berlin, 1909. 


SCIENCE 


447 


and those of others, has formulated a theory 
on the initiation’ of development which for 
normal fertilization and certain of the par- 
thenogenetic methods, postulates (a) an in- 
creased permeability of the ovum due to the 
action of lipoid solvents or hemolytic agents; 
(6b) the formation of a fertilization mem- 
brane in consequence of this superficial cy- 
tolysis. 

Of an increase in permeability synchronous 
with the initiation of development there is 
not the slightest doubt, although the great 
variety of parthenogenetic methods long ago 
indicated that permeability is increased, in 
other ways than by action on surface lipoids. 
With the employment of some parthenogenetic 
methods, fertilization membranes appear, with 
others, not, and even the employment of lipoid 
solvents themselves may or may not be fol- 
lowed by the appearance of a fertilization 
membrane. One and the same egg, as in the 
present case, may be induced to develop with 
or without the appearance of such a mem- 
brane. 


IV. EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE FERTILIZA- 
TION MEMBRANE 


According to Kite’s® dissection, the egg of 
Arbacia has a vitelline membrane tightly 
glued to its surface. Outside this is a thin 
jelly. The appearance of the fertilization 
membrane, according to this description, is 
due to the swelling of the vitelline membrane, 
and the formation of a phase boundary be- 
tween it and the thin outer jelly. 

This description I believe to be essentially 
correct for the following reasons: 

1. The fertilization membrane also has an 
inner visible boundary. In certain localities 
of the two- and four-cell stage this inner sur- 
face of the fertilization membrane is plainly 
visible, has indeed been often figured and I 
believe misinterpreted. In the stages in ques- 
tion a narrow perivitelline space can be seen 
around the egg, but the fertilization mem- 
brane adheres to the egg surface here and 
there by strands. As a consequence, when 

* Kite, G. L., ‘‘The Nature of the Fertilization 
Membrane, ete.,’’ SCIENCE, Vol. XXXVI. 


448 


the egg divides, some of these strands are 
drawn down between the cleavage cells, and 
as certain portions of the surface of these are 
further removed from the fertilization mem- 
_ brane than the original egg, the inner limit of 
this membrane, as well as the perivitelline 
space itself, becomes visible. The perivitelline 
space seems to be identical with the so-called 
“hyaline plasma-layer,” and homologous with 
the perivitelline space of the fertilized starfish 
egg. 

2. By means of hypertonic solutions as well 
as by extract of themselves, sea-urchin eggs 
can be induced to divide without the appear- 
ance of a fertilization membrane. Develop- 
ment, however, does not proceed normally be- 
eause the blastomeres fall apart. Since the 
vitelline membrane is tightly glued to the 
surface of this egg and a perivitelline space 
appears after the membrane has swollen, 
eggs dividing without the formation of this 
space have the membrane adhering to the 
resulting blastomeres. In consequence, these 
cells, instead of being in intimate contact 
with one another as they normally are, are 
each enclosed in a separate vitelline mem- 
brane. In other words, when the vitelline 
membrane is not lifted off the egg surface, it 
divides with the egg, which is what one would 
expect. If this idea is correct, cleavage cells 
which have originated by the division of an 
egg without a “fertilization” membrane 
should be able to “form” such membranes 
under suitable conditions, and this I have 
observed. Immersed in dilute sea water, iso- 
lated cleavage cells, derived from ova which 
have not formed “ fertilization” membranes, 
form them in from one to two minutes. 

3. Ege fragments can also be produced by 
shaking.’, No fertilization membranes appear 
in such eggs or their fragments as the result 
of the mechanical agitation, but when treated 
with dilute sea water or sperm, membranes 
appear in some of the fragments, but not in 
others. Both kinds of fragments have been 
fertilized with sperm and allowed to develop, 
some with and some without the membrane. 
This result can only be understood if we ac- 
cept Kite’s discovery that the fertilization 
membrane in Arbacia punctulata appears 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


when a preexisting jelly, closely adherent to 
the surface of the egg, swells and changes its 
optical properties. 

4. From the above experiments one may in- 
fer that a fertilization membrane may appear 
around part of an egg, instead of the whole. 
If Kite’s jelly is ruptured the egg flows par- 
tially through the hole in the membrane, and 
assumes a dumbbell shape. If it is now fertil- 
ized with sperm, or treated with dilute sea 
water, a fertilization membrane appears on 
one sphere of the dumbbell, but not on the 
other. Such eggs are capable of develop- 
ment. 

5. The appearance of a fertilization mem- 
brane in Arbacia punctulata is not a function 
of the living egg, for if the egg is crushed, or 
even dried completely in a desiccator for days, 
membranes still appear after proper treat- 
ment. 


y. WHAT MAKES THE FERTILIZATION MEMBRANE 
APPEAR NORMALLY ? 


Tf the interpretation given to the results 
outlined is correct for Arbacia punctulata, it 
is easy to see why the fertilization membrane 
should appear in dilute sea water, or in dis- 
tilled water. But why does it appear under 
normal conditions in sea water ? 

The exact mechanism of the process is not 
yet clear, but it seems to be a function of the 
number of sperm present. If one insem- 
inates eggs very carefully so that not more 
than four or five spermatozoa come into con- 
tact with each one, the fertilization membrane 
does not appear. I have repeated this experi- 
ment many times and have controlled it by 
the most careful observations with different 
powers on fresh material as well as stained. 
Such preparations show sperm plainly ad- 
hering to Kite’s jelly in every egg, but the 
“membrane” does not appear. Kggs treated 
in this manner do not develop, although some 
of the smaller ones may form asters. What it 
is in the sperm that brings about the swelling 
of the jelly has not yet been determined. ~ 
However, beautiful fertilization membranes 
may be caused to appear in two to three hours 
by treating the eggs with minute infusoria. 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


No membranes appear in the controls, nor do 
the eggs whose membranes have appeared de- 
velop when returned to sea water. Three 
possibilities suggest themselves—an acid etf- 
fect, a mechanical effect or a heat effect. No 
decisive experiment has as yet been devised. 

These experiments suggest that in Arbacia 
punctulata the membrane swells before the 
sperm enters the egg, and not after. Experi- 
ments also show that when the phase boundary 
between Kite’s jelly and the outer jelly is 
complete, sperm do not readily penetrate the 
fertilization membrane. From this it follows 
that the penetration occurs at the moment 
when the jelly is softened and begins to swell. 
Accordingly, eggs whose jelly has been par- 
tially softened by heat or infusoria should be 
capable of fertilization with small doses of 
sperm. This has actually been observed in a 
number of instances. The opposite experi- 
ment of hardening the jelly with Ca has been 
performed. Such eggs are extremely difficult 
and in many cases impossible to fertilize as 
the sperm do not stick. 


VI. THE RELATION BETWEEN FERTILIZATION AND 
THE FERTILIZATION MEMBRANE 


The relation between the initiation of devel- 
opment and the fertilization membrane in 
Arbacia punctulata is one of association 
rather than “ causal,” for the membrane may 
be made to appear without development, and 
development may be initiated without the 
appearance of the membrane. In Asterias 
forbesii the association is somewhat different, 
and so intimate that any method which causes 
the membrane to appear is at the same time a 
method of initiation provided the violence 
is not too great and the egg is in good condi- 
tion and in a suitable medium. The explana- 
tion is simple. In Asterzas the fertilization 
membrane does not depend on the swelling of 
a formed jelly, but instead, the egg peels itself 
away from the inner surface of a thin pre- 
existing membrane. This peeling away seems 
to depend, not upon changes in the fertiliza- 
tion membrane, but upon changes in the sur- 
face film of the egg. When this is rendered 
more permeable, material leaves the egg and 


SCIENCE 


449 


the egg shrinks away from its closely adherent 
covering which thus becomes visible. The 
perivitelline space in the starfish ege is homol- 
ogous with that of the sea urchin egg, but is 
much larger. 

The type of fertilization membrane found 
in Arbacia punctulata may be called hydro- 
philous, that of the starfish, Asterias forbesii, 
anhydrophilous. 


Vu. ON THE LOSS OF SUBSTANCES BY THE EGG 
AND THEIR NATURE 


The starfish egg upon peeling off from its 
anhydrophilous fertilization. membrane is 
markedly smaller in volume than before. The 
same thing is true of Arbacia. Exact meas- 
urements will be given when I publish exact 
details of these experiments. No doubt much 
of the material lost by the egg is water. F. R. 
Lillie* in a series of fundamental researches 
has shown that the fluid over-fertilized eggs 
may contain at the least two classes of sub- 
stances, (a) “iso-agglutinins” and (b) a sub- 
stance having a chemotactic influence on the 
sperm. From Elder’s’ investigations as well 
as certain observations of my own, it appears 
possible that the chemotactic substance is con- 
tained in the outer jelly of the Arbacia egg. 
I have been able to verify the “ iso-agglutinin ” 
and its effects as described by Lillie in the 
ease of Arbacia and Asterias. 

Ovarian extract of Arbacia, when present in 
sufficient quantities, retards the development 
of normally fertilized Arbacia eggs. If the 
extract is added to blastule which have de- 
veloped in normal sea water, these are instantly 
slowed down and absorb water. Arenicola 
larve also have their permeability increased 
by the Arbacza extract, as can be very prettily 
seen by their loss of pigment. They also slow 
down in their movements and are slightly and 
reversibly agglutinated. 


*Lillie, F. R., ‘‘Studies of Fertilization,’’ I. 
and II., Jour. of Morph., Vol. 22; III. and IV., 
Jour. of Exp. Zool., Vol. 12; V., Jour. of Exp. 
Zool., Vol. 14. 

5 Hider, J. C., ‘‘The Relation of the Zona Pel- 
lucida to the Formation of the Fertilization Mem- 
brane,’’ Arch. f. Entwicklungsmechanik, Vol. 36. 


450 SCIENCE 


These observations suggest that the ovarian 
extract, as well as the secretions of the egg on 
fertilization contain substances that not only 
influence permeability, but may reduce the 
oxidations in the cell. 


Vill. THE THEORY OF INITIATION 


The theory of initiation, as given by Loeb, 
postulates essentially that initiatory influences 
place the egg in a condition in which its oxi- 
dative processes can proceed, or proceed nor- 
mally. This is accomplished by increasing 
the permeability of the egg, and in the case of 
many parthenogenetic agents, as well as in 
normal fertilization by sperm, the permeabil- 
ity change may be brought about by lipoid 
solvents. The fertilization membrane may or 
may not appear after the use of lipoid sol- 
vents, and when, as in the ease of the starfish 
egg, it does appear, it may also be made to do 
so with any other method of increasing the 
permeability of the plasma film. These facts, 
many of which have been emphasized by Loeb,” 
R. S. Lillie’ and others, by no means prove 
that the theory of initiation is wrong. Indeed, 
they are all in harmony with this view if we 
remember that an hydrophilous fertilization 
membrane may or may not appear, depending 
on circumstances, whereas an anhydrophilous 
one like that of Asterias is certain to appear 
when, as the result of a permeability change, 
the egg shrinks away from its enclosing 
capsule. 

How can increased permeability initiate 
development ? 

The ovum demonstrably has the necessary 
mechanism to undergo development of itself. 
It is a cell with a long metabolic history and 
before development is initiated its plasma film 
is relatively impermeable. This may involve 
the accumulation of “ waste ” products, and 
these we may believe to automatically inhibit 
further metabolic processes. Loeb has shown 
that these processes are oxidations, and my 
experiments show that substances can be ex- 
tracted from the eggs which reduce the rate of 
development and have a marked effect in de- 

‘Lillie, R. S., ‘‘The Physiology of Cell Divi- 
sion,’’ Jour. of Morph., Vol. 22. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 978 


creasing the activity of Arbacia as well as 
Arenicola larve. It does not seem unreason- 
able to suppose therefore that these materials 
are active because they reduce oxidations. The 
mere fact that they also increase cell per- 
meability and are good initiatory agents is 
beside the point, for increased permeability 
in Arenicola larve is also associated with 
acceleration of movement. 

One may extend the theory of initiation 
and assume that all agencies that initiate de- 
velopment do so because through increased 
permeability of the plasma film the egg is 
enabled to loose substances antagonistic to 
oxidation. By freeing itself of these inhib- 
itors, a chemical equilibrium is disturbed, and 
oxidation, and with it development, is free te 
go on. 

In this way we can explain why a mature 
starfish egg, if unfertilized, may oxidize itself 
to death, for we may suppose that its per- 
meability has been sufticiently increased by 
maturation to accelerate oxidation, but not 
enough to initiate development proper. We 
ean also bring all parthenogenetic methods 
whatsoever, as well as normal fertilization, 
under a common point of view, for the in- 
creased permeability, no matter whether pro- 
duced by electricity, heat, cold, mechanical 
shock, specific chemical alteration of the mem- 
brane, lipoid solvents, or pricking, is all that 
is necessary to enable the egg to free itself 
from its accumulated inhibitors. Why the 
egg should develop after treatment with hyper- 
tonic solutions is also clear, for if in such 
media the plasma film is permeable to the 
inhibitors, loss of water by the egg would, 
directly or indirectly, accelerate the loss of 
antagonists. That these are lost in hyper- 
tonic sea water is shown by special experi- 
ments. ; 

In conclusion, I must thank my colleague, 
Dr. W. E. Garrey, who kindly allowed me to 
demonstrate to him various steps in the in- 
vestigation, and to whom I am indebted for a 
number of valuable suggestions and criticisms. 

Otto GLASER 

Woops Hou, MAss., 

August 4, 1913 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 
BACTERIOLOGISTS. III 
PATHOLOGIC BACTERIOLOGY 
Cultivation and Differentiation of Fusiform Ba- 

cil; CHARLES KRUMWIEDE, Jr., and JOSEPHINE 

Pratt, Research Laboratory, Department of 

Health, New York City. 

Isolation: Dilutions of the original material are 
made in a series of tubes of ascitic fluid or horse 
serum. To these is added fluid agar and they are 
then poured in the covers of petri dishes. While 
the agar is still fluid the lower part of the petri 
dish is laid on the agar, giving a layer of agar 
between the two parts of the dish. After forty- 
eight to seventy-two hours the upper glass is sepa- 
rated from the agar and the distinctive colonies 
fished. The colony is characterized by the thread- 
like outgrowths from one or both sides of the col- 
ony. Cultivation: A semi-solid medium employing 
stab inoculation is most convenient for preserva- 
tion of cultures. The puncture closes after inocu- 
lation and subinoculations are easily performed, 
due to the softness of the medium. Aerobie con- 
tamination is quickly noted. The medium is pre- 
pared as follows: 


AGAR ocodaoodoobouodouedooce 10 gms 
G@binin “Ssooteocuouocau0006 80 gms. |, site 
Veal broth, 2 per cent. peptone, 9 
TKO SAE “oo acaoaaocodoocc0G 3000 e.¢ 
Horse serum or ascitic fluid ............ 1 part 


Horse serum has given more uniform results than 
ascitic fluid. Although there is a difference in 
various strains in their ability to grow on simple 
media, serum containing media are necessary for 
surety of cultivation of all strains. 


Source and Number of Cultures being Studied 


NOME, ossoossoancccsosdos 2 strains 

Vincent’s angina .......... 5 strains 

Spongy bleeding gums ...... pleats 

PAV TT WOO ay Cateye) ssi stous ave ceveuslichelons strains 

Chronic otitie media foul dis- Hota 
GIGS ouoonondooqo008aK 3 strains 

Carious teeth .............. 1 strain 

Ulceration of tongue ....... 1 strain 


Morphology and Cultural Differentiation: The 
typical bacillus is more or less pointed. In eul- 
tures they are extremely pleomorphic, filaments 
and wavy forms simulating spirochetes being 
found. No morphological differentiation has been 
made. Sugar fermentations show some differ- 
ences, but these differences show no relation to 
the source of the culture. Pathogenicity: Ab- 
scesses can be produced under the thin skin cover- 
ing the cartilage of the ear of rabbits. Relation 
to Spirochetes: Spirochetal-like forms can be 
found especially in fluid media. The relation of 


SCIENCE 


451 


these to the spirochetes in the original material 
has not been sufficiently studied. 


The Morphology of Cultural Amebas: ANNA WES- 
SELS WILLIAMS, Research Laboratory, Health 
Department, City of New York. 

The paper was a report of the studies on cul- 
tural amebas grown under conditions as nearly as 
possible like those of the habitat from which the 
amebas were obtained. ‘‘Ameba 11,524,’’ ob- 
tained originally by Musgrave and Clegg from the 
stools of a case of human amebie dysentery, when 
grown on fresh brain tissue medium at high tem- 
perature (34° C. to 38° C.) for several days with 
the addition each day of fresh blood and, after 
two days, of small amounts of certain bacteria, 
continues a vigorous growth and shows from day 
to day a marked pleomorphism. The organisms 
lose their contractile vacuole and the nuclei assume 
many of the appearances described as character- 
istics of the ‘‘entameba’’ group in man. As 
many as eight nuclei have been found in a tro- 
phozoite, and six in a cyst, the usual number so 
far seen is four in each. In this particular as 
well as in size and in a ‘‘eyclic’’ change of the 
karyosome, this species most frequently resembles 
the pathogenic species described as Entameba 
tetragena. Conclusion: (1) Cultural amebas iso- 
lated from the stools of dysenterie patients, are 
much more complicated in morphology than we 
have been led to think, and grown under condi- 
tions approaching those found in the intestines 
they closely resemble species described as strict 
parasites. (2) The question of species and patho- 
genicity of amebas found in dysenteric stools will 
probably be settled finally and not until then, 
when a comparative study is made of amebas in 
their natural habitat with pure cultures isolated 
from the same cases and grown under conditions 
similar to those found in the habitat from which 
many were isolated. 


Observation on the Intestinal Bacteria in Pel- 
lagra: W. J. MAcNEAL. 

This report is based upon the work of the IIli- 
nois State Pellagra Commission’ and of the 
Thompson-MecFadden Pellagra Commission of the 
New York Postgraduate Medical School. A gen- 
eral survey of the fecal bacteria by the methods 
previously employed in studying the feces of 
healthy men’ showed considerable variation from 


* Archives of Internal Med., August, 1912, pp. 
123-168, and September, 1912, pp. 219-249. 

* Journ. of Infec. Diseases, Vol. 6, No. 2, April, 
1909, pp. 123-169, and Vol. 6, No. 5, November, 
1909, pp. 571-609. 


452 


the normal numerical relationships and the advent 
of new types of bacteria, not observed in healthy 
men. ‘The most evident change was the relative 
increase in certain normal types such as B. bifidus, 
B. welchii and the micrococci. The cocci were 
always increased during the acute attack. Other 
changes were not constant. About 800 bacterial 
strains were isolated by plate cultures of feces 
and of intestinal juice obtained through the Hin- 
horn duodenal tube, and these were subjected to 
agglutination tests with serum from pellagrins at 
Peoria, Kankakee and Chicago, Ill., and Spartan- 
burg, 8. C. One of the bacterial strains is com- 
pletely agglutinated by the serum of 81 of 109 
cases of pellagra (74.8 per cent.), and by 11 of 
45 control cases believed to be free from the dis- 


ease. Similar organisms have been found in the 
duodenal juice in a few others. The work is being 
continued. 


A Study of Diarrhea in Infants: A. W. STREET, 

Brown University. 

This work is a study of the rapid diagnosis of 
dysentery from the stools of infected infants. It 
consists of inoculation in special broth tubes from 
the swabs of the stools, and subsequent isolation 
of the organism believed to be the cause of diar- 
rhea. We used litmus-lactose-agar and Endo 
“plates and transferred the characteristic growth 
to other tubes to show cultural characters. In 
our work we found Russel’s medium particularly 
good for differentiation of the group, and litmus- 
milk good for differentiation of the two main types. 
We also used lactose-peptone bile, saccharose and 
dextrose broth, gelatine, peptone and mannite-lit- 
mus semi-solid medium. The incubations were all 
at 37° C. except gelatine, which was at 20° C., but 
for varying lengths of time. Generally the incu- 
bations were for eighteen hours. Not all the cases 
were sent to be diagnosed—only the most severe 
and those reported to the nurses by the physicians. 
The agglutination test, which is recognized as the 
most conclusive, was not regularly tried, because 
of the fact that no good serum was immediately 
procurable. Agglutination occurs, however, in 
dilutions of 1:200 and 1: 500. Of the cases sent 
in, which numbered 47, seven showed reactions of 
those of the dysentery group. They produced acid 
in litmus milk, and so are of the Flexner type. 
Many showed reactions in culture tubes very sim- 
ilar to the control tubes, but these failed to check 
up in one tube or another. So that we are able 
to conclude that the method of rapid isolation is 
practical, as is shown in seven of forty-seven cases, 
or 14.89 per cent. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 978 


Bacteriology and Control of Acute Infections in 
Laboratory Animals: N. §S. Furry, Detroit, 
Michigan. 

Diseases in Epidemic Form Studied: An infec- 
tion in rabbits, dogs, guinea-pigs and monkeys due 
to the B. bronchisepticus, the microorganism which 
has been found to be the cause of canine dis- 
temper and an infection among rabbits due to the 
bacillus of rabbit septicemia. Study of Organ- 
isms Resembling the B. bronchisepticus: During 
the course of the studies on the epidemie which 
raged among the several animals ten different 
organisms were encountered which resembled the 
B. bronchisepticus somewhat in their morphology, 
their early growth on agar and their behavior to- 
ward Gram’s stain. A careful study of these 
organisms showed them to be connected with the 
epidemie only in the capacity of secondary in- 
vaders. Primary Infection: The primary infec- 
tion was found to be due to the B. bronchisepticus. 
Agglutination tests showed the B. bronchisepticus 
to be absolutely distinct from any of these other 
organisms. Control of Epidemics: The epidemics 
were controlled by isolation, antisepsis and the 
use of prophylactic injection of vaccines made 
from the specific microorganisms. Epidemic due 
to the Bacillus of Rabbit Septicemia: After the 
epidemic due to the B. bronchisepticus was under 
control, an epidemic broke out among the rabbits, 
due to the bacillus of rabbit septicemia. This 
epidemic proved very fatal before it could be con- 
trolled. The same methods of control were carried 
out as before. Value of the Protective Inocula- 
tion: Although all animals can not be saved by 
means of the prophylactic injection, control ex- 
periments have proved that a large majority are 
protected. 

The Lesions produced by Intra-bronchial Insuffla- 
tion of B. prodigiosus: MarTHa WOLLSTEIN, 
M.D., and 8. J. MEurzer, M.D. 

We inoculated broth cultures of B. prodigiosus 
into the lungs by means of intra-bronchial insuffla- 
tion, which consists of the introduction of a tube 
through the mouth, larynx and trachea into a 
bronchus, and the injection of the fluid culture 
through the tube. Doses of 5 cc. to 15 ce. 
of a twenty-four-hour broth culture injected 
into the lungs of dogs were uniformly fatal in six 
hours to three days, the great majority of animals 
dying within twenty-four hours. It was not until 
the dose was reduced to one cubic centimeter that 
three out of five dogs survived until the fourth 
day. The entrance of B. prodigiosus into the 
blood stream followed intra-bronchial insufflation 


SEPTEMBER 26, 1913] 


of all doses of one cubic centimeter or more of 
this organism. The bacillus grew profusely from 
the heart’s blood of every case examined, from 
five and three fourths hours to four days after 
inoculation. After the fourth day no growth could 
be obtained from either heart or lungs. The pul- 
monary lesions produced by intra-bronchial insuf- 
fiation of B. prodigiosus in dogs differed very 
markedly from the experimental pneumonias which 
have hitherto been produced by other bacteria ad- 
ministered in this way. Thus large doses (5 to 
15 ¢.¢.) eaused pulmonary lesions which were 
chiefly hemorrhagic and necrotic in character, with 
a large production of fibrin. Bacteremia and 
death were the rule. The lung lesions were more 
severe and the death rate higher than was the 
case with other bacteria administered intra-bron- 
chially. Very small doses (0.5 ¢.c.) caused a 
fibrinous inflammation, lobular at first, later coal- 
esced and lobar in distribution, without evidence 
of necrosis. No bacteremia followed these small 
doses and recovery was possible. 


Frequency of Vincent’s Angina among Routine 
Throat Cultures: JOHN L. Ricz, Syracuse Med- 
ical School. 

From the examination of 1,352 routine throat 
swabs 10, or seven tenths of one per cent., were 
found to be both bacteriologically and clinically 
Vincent’s angina, both the fusiform bacillus and 
the spirochete being found. Four of the ten cases 
were clinical cases of diphtheria, showing that 40 
per cent. of the Vincent’s angina cases were also 
positive for diphtheria. In twelve other cases of 
the 1,352 the bacilli or the spirochetes were found 
alone. None of these twelve cases were clinically 
Vineent’s angina. Morphologically the bacilli in 
the clinical and non-clinical cases were alike. Ina 
microscopical examination of a smear from the 
swabs a diagnosis can be made by finding fusi- 
form bacilli and spirochetes in symbiosis, even 
though the number of spirochetes present may be 
small. 


Studies on the Etiology of Hog Cholera: WALTER 
HE. Kine and F. W. Barsuack, Research Labo- 
ratory, Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich. 

This report is presented for the purpose of re- 
cording certain observations, which have been 
made by the aid of the dark field on the blood of 
hogs suffering from hog cholera. During the last 
few months a spirochete has been found with uni- 
formity and constancy in the blood of every chol- 
era hog examined. Practically all of these positive 
findings have been controlled by one or more eare- 
ful dark field examinations of the blood before 


SCIENCE 


453 


inoculation. Additional checks are furnished in 
several cases by negative findings subsequent to 
positive results in blood of hogs recovered from 
the disease. In so far as the present results go, 
the practised observer can readily distinguish cer- 
tain characters in the blood of animals suffering 
from hog cholera when placed on the dark field, as 
differentiated from normal hog blood. Hog chol- 
era blood usually contains many granules, some 
very fine yet distinctly larger than blood dust, 
some larger still, and some very distinct, highly 
refractive bodies. It is possible that some or all 
of these granules represent disintegrated blood 
elements resulting from the disease. It is sug- 
gested, however, that some of these granules may 
Tepresent certain stages in the life cycle of the 
spirochete under observation. To date, positive 
findings of this spirochete are recorded in 10 
strains of virus from the blood of 33 hogs suffer- 
ing from the disease. Controls are furnished by 
negative findings in the blood of about 50 normal 
hogs and in the blood of six animals which became 
convalescent and finally recovered. Two experi- 
ments have been made relative to the horse serum 
virus phenomenon, which showed the presence of 
the spirochete in the horse serum virus. 


IMMUNITY BACTERIOLOGY 
The Relation of the Leucocytic Bacteriolysin to 

Body Fluids: W. H. Manwarine, Rockefeller 

Institute for Medical Research. 

A bactericidal substance can be extracted from 
horse leucocytes. This substance is strongly bac- 
teriolytic when dissolved in distilled water and 
possesses considerable bactericidal power when dis- 
solved in physiological saline. The substance, 
however, is without bactericidal properties when 
mixed with sera, with pathological transudates, 
with cerebro-spinal fluid, or with the products of 
tissue autolysis, including the products obtained 
by a prolonged autolysis of leucocytes themselves. 
The antibactericidal action of body fluids and tis- 
sue products depends upon three factors: (1) the 
antibactericidal power of the colloids they con- 
tain, (2) the antibactericidal power of their neu- 
tral salts and other neutral diffusible components 
and (3) the antibactericidal power of their dif- 
fusible alkalies. Diffusible acids are apparently 
without antibactericidal effect. An extract from 
horse leucocytes can have little or no antiseptic 
action, when injected into body cavities and tissue 
spaces. 


On Intraperitoneal Lysis of Tubercle Bacilli: W. 


H. Manwarine and J. BRONFENBRENNER, Rock- 
efeller Institute for Medical Research. 


454 SCIENCE 


If suspensions of tubercle bacilli are injected 
into the peritoneal cavities of tuberculous guinea- 
pigs, there takes place a rapid disappearance of 
the bacilli from the peritoneal fluids, as deter- 
mined by subsequent examinations by the Ziehl- 
Neelson method. Nine tenths of the bacilli may 
disappear within an hour, and all but an occasional 
bacillus within five hours. This disappearance is 
paralleled by the appearance of atypical, non- 
staining and granular forms. After the disap- 
pearance numerous granules can be demonstrated 
in the peritoneal fluids and peritoneal scrapings 
by the Much method. Before the conclusion can 
be drawn, however, that the disappearance of the 
tubercle bacilli is due wholly to their destruction 
by the peritoneal fluids, such factors as a possible 
removal of the bacilli by the rapid formation and 
absorption of peritoneal transudate must be ruled 
out, as well as the possibility of a spontaneous 
metamorphosis of the bacilli into non-staining and 
therefore invisible forms, as described by Much. 
A similar rapid disappearance is brought about in 
the peritoneal cavities of tuberculous rats, tuber- 
culous rabbits and tuberculous dogs. The mech- 
anism of the disappearance is now under investi- 
gation. 


The Chemistry of Anaphylactic Intoxication: 
BENJAMIN WHITE, Hoagland Laboratory, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. 

The study of the chemical problems involved in 
the anaphylactic phenomenon would seem to offer 
a promising field. If this reaction is to be con- 
sidered as a parenteral digestion of protein, then 
it may be possible to study the reaction in vitro. 
The work of Vaughan on the poisonous substance 
obtained from proteins by alkali hydrolysis, the 
work of Biedl and Kraus and others on the action 
of proteoses and peptones and the experiments of 
Rosenow on the products of Pneumococcus au- 
tolysis, appear to be closely related, and these in 
turn bear resemblances to the results of experi- 
ments on the anaphylatoxin produced in the test 
tube. Recent studies on the action of the amines, 
particularly that of B-amid-azolylethylamine, sug- 
gests a possible analogy between the action of this 
class of substances and the substances mentioned 
above. 


Peptotozin Production by the Bacillus of Con- 
tagious Abortion in Cattle: JOHN REICHEL, 
V.M.D., and Mancoum J. Harkins, V.M.D. 
The English commission appointed by the Board 

of Agriculture and Fisheries to inquire into epi- 


+The Mulford Laboratories, Glenolden, Pa. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII, No. 978 


zootic abortion of cattle, in their report include 
the statement ‘‘apparently, however, no free tox- 
ins are formed by the bacillus (abortus) in cul- 
ture.’’ The reaction in infected cattle, usually 
appreciable by a rise of temperature, ete., in from 
eight to eighteen hours after a subcutaneous in- 
jection of abortin, 7. e., an extract of the bacillus 
and its products prepared as in tuberculin with 
tubercle bacilli is generally attributed to toxins 
of which the English commission remarks, ‘‘the 
toxins, then, which cause the febrile symptoms 
after inoculation are endotoxins, that is to say, 
they are contained inside the bacilli.’?’ From this 
it may be taken that the opinion is held that the 
bacilli in culture form no other toxins than endo- 
toxins. From our experiments we have drawn the 
following conclusions: (1) The bacillus of con- 
tagious abortion of cattle (abortus bacilli) pro- 
duces a toxin on peptonized culture media, but not 
on peptone-free media. (2) Thorough washing 
will rid the bacilli grown on peptonized media of 
the toxin. (3) The toxin is included in the alco- 
holie precipitate of the supernatant liquid of the 
suspension of the bacilli grown on peptonized 
agar. (4) Sixty-five degrees centigrade for thirty 
minutes apparently had no effect on the peptotoxin. 
(5) Cattle must be sensitized to react to the pepto- 
toxin. (6) Bacillus typhosus, coli communis, te- 
tanus and pneumococcus cultures on peptonized 
agar reveal the presence of peptotoxin, when in- 
jected into animals sensitized to the abortus ba- 
cillus or its products. The peptotoxins of these 
organisms probably have much in common if they 
are not one and the same substance, because ani- 
mals can be sensitized with one for any of the 
others. (7) No reactions were observed fol- 
lowing the injections into the sensitized animals 
of peptonized agar cultures of the diphtheria ba- 
cillus, Staphylococcus aureus, nonhemolytic strep- 
tococeus and hemolytie streptococcus which may 
mean that these organisms did not produce pepto- 
toxin or only in very small amounts. (8) Rabbits 
developed agglutinins following the injection of 
thoroughly washed and unwashed abortus bacilli 
equally well. The peptotoxin injected with the 
unwashed bacilli is not essential in the production 
of antibodies. (9) In that the abortus bacillus 
produces a peptotoxin in a proteid medium—and it 
is a possibility that the peptotoxin is produced in 
milk with the bacilli from cattle in infected herds 
—the wholesomeness of such milk is more than 
questionable. 
A. PARKER HITCHENS, 
Secretary 


; 
: 


SCIENCE 


‘NEw SERIES SINGLE Copixs, 15 CTs. 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 979 FRIDAY, OcToBER 3, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSOBIPTION, $5.00 


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SCIENCE 


———————————— 


Fripay, Octoser 3, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The British Association for the Advancement 
of Science :— 


Old and New Aims and Methods of Morphol- 


ogy: PRoressor H. F. Gapow .......... 455 
The New Relatiwity in Physics: Dr. REINHARD 
QINYRAT De bobdadoaadooondboMean noe aos 466 
Grants by the British Association .......... 474 
Scientific Notes and News ..........-+.++.- 474 
University and Educational News .......... 477 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Bread Supply: PrRoresson Cyrin G. 
ETOP EIN Sica creep neteteteee asia cicveyeusickayekciens 479 
Scientific Books :— 
Ganong’s The Living Plant: PRoressor 
Burton E. Livineston. Nichols and Mer- 
ritt’s Studies in Lwminescence: PROFESSOR 
HIRE SERS ECR Aye ee ltenelievetatelel operatic lie ee 481 
Special Articles :— 
Non-electrolytes and the Colloid-chemical 
Theory of Water Absorption: PROFESSOR 
Martin H. FiscHer, ANNE SYKES. 
Changes during Quiescent Stages in the 
Metamorphosis of Termites: Tuomas E. 
SNVDERM Seer y yee tae Ea eka eceieltetee ake 486 
The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 
MASSON ISG, 1D, Soy AMOUEMM Gon sa Gogsbdugusaue 488 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


OLD AND NEW AIMS AND METHODS OF 
MORPHOLOGY + 

‘* ADDRESS your audience about what you 
yourself happen to be most interested in, 
speak from the fullness of your heart and 
make a clean breast of your troubles.”’ 
That seemed good advice, and J shall en- 
deavor to follow it, taking for my text old 
and new aims and methods of morphology, 
with special reference to resemblances in 
function and structure on the part of 
organs and their owners in the animal 
kingdom. First, however, allow me to tell 
you what has brought me to such a well- 
worn theme. Amongst the many impres- 
sions which it has been my good luck to 
gather during my travels in that enchant- 
ing country Mexico are the two following: 

First, the poisonous coral snakes, Elaps, 
in their beautiful black, red and yellow 
garb; it varies in detail in the various spe- 
cies of Hlaps, and this garb with most of 
the variations too, occurs also in an aston- 
ishing number of genera and families of 
semi-poisonous and quite harmless Mexican 
snakes, some of which inhabit the same dis- 
tricts. A somewhat exhaustive study of 
these beauties has shown incontestably that 
these often astoundingly close resemblances 
are not cases of mimicry, but due to some 
other cooperations, 

Secondly, in the wilds of the state of 
Michoacan, at two places, about 20 and 70 
miles from the Pacifie coast, I myself col- 
lected specimens of Typhlops which Dr. 

1 Address of the president to the Zoological Sec- 


tion of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, Birmingham, 1913. 


456 


Boulenger without hesitation has deter- 
mined as Typhlops braminus. Now, whilst 
this genus of wormlike, blind little snakes 
has a wide cirecumtropical distribution, T. 
braminus had hitherto been known only 
from the islands and countries of the In- 
dian Ocean basin, never from America, nor 
from any of the Pacific Islands which pos- 
sess other kinds of Typhlops. Accidental 
introduction is out of the question. Al- 
though the genus is, to judge from its 
characters, an especially old one, we can 
not possibly assume that the species bram- 
imus, if the little thing had made its way 
from Asia to Mexico by a natural mode of 
spreading, has remained unaltered even to 
the slightest detail since that geological 
epoch during which such a journey could 
have taken place. There remains the as- 
sumption that amongst the of course count- 
less generations of Typhlops in Mexico 
some have hit off exactly the same kind of 
permutation and combination of those 
characters which we have hitherto consid- 
ered as specific of braminus, just as a pack 
of cards may in a long series of deals be 
dealt out more than once in the same 
sequence. 

The two cases are impressive. They re- 
minded me vividly that many examples 
of very discontinuous distribution—which 
any one who has worked at zoogeography 
will call to mind—are exhibited by genera, 
families, and even orders, without our 
knowing whether the groups in which we 
class them are natural or artificial. The 
ultimate appeal lies with anatomy. 

Introduced to zoology when Haeckel and 
Gegenbaur were both at their zenith, I 
have been long enough a worker and 
teacher to feel elated by its progress and 
depressed by its shortcomings and failures. 
Perhaps we have gone too fast, carried 
along by methods which have yielded so 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


much and therefore have made us expect 
too much from them. 

Gegenbaur founded the modern com- 
parative anatomy by basing it upon the 
theory of descent. The leading idea in all 
his great works is to show that transforma- 
tion, ‘‘continuous adjustment’’ (Spencer), 
has taken place; he stated the problem of 
comparative anatomy as the reduction of 
the differences in the organization of the 
various animals to a common condition; 
and as homologous organs he defined those 
which are of such a common, single origin. 
His first work in this new line is his class- 
ical treatise on the carpus and tarsus 
(1864). 

It followed from this point of view that 
the degree of resemblance in structure be- 
tween homologous organs and the number 
of such kindred organs present is a meas- 
ure for the affinity of their owners. So 
was ushered in the era of pedigrees of 
organs, of functions, of the animals them- 
selves. The tracing of the divergence of 
homogenous parts became all-important, 
whilst those organs or features which re- 
vealed themselves as of different origin, 
and therefore as analogous only, were dis- 
carded as misleading in the all-important 
search for pedigrees. Functional corre- 
spondence was dismissed as ‘‘mere anal- 
ogy,’’ and even the systematist has learned 
to scorn these so-called physiological or 
adaptive characters as good enough only 
for artificial keys. A curious view of 
things; just as if it was not one and the 
same process which has produced and abol- 
ished both sets of characters, the so-called 
fundamental or ‘‘reliable’’ as well as the 
analogous. 

As A. Willey has put it happily, there 
was more rejoicing over the discovery of 
the homology of some unimportant little 
organ than over the finding of the most 


i 
y 


OcToBER 3, 1913] 


appalling unrelated resemblance. Morph- 
ology had become somewhat intolerant in 
the application of its canons, especially 
since it was aided by the phenomenal 
erowth of embryology. You must not com- 
pare ectodermal with endodermal products. 
You must not make a likeness out of an- 
other germinal layer or anything that ap- 
pertains to it, because if you do that would 
be a horror, a heresy, a homoplasy. 
Haeckel went so far as to distinguish 
between a true homology, or homophyly, 
which depends upon the same origin, and 
a false homology, which applies to all those 
organic resemblances which derive from an 
equivalent adaptation to similar develop- 
mental conditions. And he stated that the 
whole art of the morphologist consists in 
the successful distinction between these 
two categories. If we were able to draw 
this distinction in every case, possibly some 
day the grand tree of each great phylum, 
may be of the whole kingdom, might be 
reconstructed. That would indeed be a 
tree of knowledge, and, paradoxically 
enough, it would be the deathblow to classi- 
fication, since in this, the one and only 
true natural system, every degree of con- 
saneuinity and relationship throughout all 
animated nature, past and present, would 
be accounted for; and to that system no 
classification would be applicable, since 
each horizon would require its own group- 
ing. There could be definable neither 
classes, orders, families nor species, since 
each of these conceptions would be bound- 
less in an upward or downward direction. 
Never mind the ensuing chaos; we should 
at least have the pedigree of all our fellow 
creatures, and of ourselves among them. 
Not absolute proof, but the nearest possible 
demonstration that transformation has 
taken place. Empirically we know this 
already, since, wherever sufficient material 
has been studied, be it organs, species or 


- SCIENCE 


457 


larger groups, we find first that these units 
had ancestors and, secondly, that the an- 
cestors were at least a little different. 
Evolution is a fact of experience proved by 
circumstantial evidence. Nevertheless we 
are not satisfied with the conviction that 
life is subject to an unceasing change, not 
even with the knowledge of the particular 
adjustments. We now want to understand 
the motive cause. First What, then How 
and now Why? 

It is the active search for an answer to 
this question (Why?) which is character- 
istic of our time. More and more the or- 
ganisms and their organs are considered as 
living, functional things. The mainspring 
of our science, perhaps of all science, is not 
its utility, not the desire to do good, but, as 
an eminently matter-of-fact man, the father 
of Frederick the Great, told his Royal 
Academicians (who, of course, were asking 
for monetary help) in the following shock- 
ingly homely words: ‘‘Der Grund ist derer 
Leute ihre verfluchte Curieusiteit.’’ This 
blamed curiosity, the beginnings of which 
can be traced very far back in the lower 
animals, is most acutely centered in our 
desire to find out who we are, whence we 
have come, and whither we shall go. And 
even if zoology, considering the first and 
last of these three questions as settled, 
should some day solve the problem: 
Whence have we come? there would re- 
main outside zoology the greater Why? 

Generalizations, conclusions, can be ar- 
rived at only through comparison. Com- 
parison leads no further where the objects 
are alike. If, for instance, we restrict our- 
selves to the search for true homologies, 
dealing with homogenes only, all we find is 
that once upon a time some organism has 
produced, invented, a certain arrangement 
of Anlage out of which that organ arose, 
the various features of which we have com- 
pared in the descendants. Result: we 


458 


have arrived at an accomplished fact. 
These things, in spite of all their variety in 
structure and function, being homogenes, 
tell us nothing, because according to our 
mode of procedure we can not compare 
that monophyletic Anlage with anything 
else, since we have reduced all the homo- 
genous modifications to one. Logically it 
is true that there can have been only one, 
but in the living world of nature there are 
no such ironbound categories and absolute 
distinctions. For instance, if we compare 
the organs of one and the same individual, 
we at once observe repetition, e. g., that of 
serial homology, which implies many diffi- 
culties, with very different interpretations. 
Even in such an apparently simple case as 
the relation between shoulder girdle and 
pelvis we are at a loss, since the decision 
depends upon our view as to the origin of 
the paired limbs, whether both are modified 
visceral arches, and in this case serially re- 
peated homogenes, or whether they are the 
derivatives from one lateral fin, which is 
itself a serial compound, from which, how- 
ever, the proximal elements, the girdles, are 
supposed to have arisen independently. 
What is metamerism? Is it the outcome 
of a process of successive repetitions so 
that the units are homogenes, or did the 
division take place at one time all along 
the line, or is it due to a combination of 
the two procedures? 

The same vagueness finds its parallel 
when dealing with the corresponding or- 
gans of different animals, since these afford 
the absolute chance that organs of the same 
structure and function may not be re- 
ducible to one germ, but may be shown to 
have arisen independently in time as well as 
with reference to the space they occupy in 
their owners. As heterogenes they can be 
compared as to their causes. In the study 
of the evolution of homogenes the problem 
is to account for their divergencies, whilst 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 979 


the likeness, the agreements, so to speak 
their greatest common measure, is €0 ipso 
taken to be due to inheritance. When, on 
the contrary, dealing with heterogenes we 
are attracted by their resemblances, which 
since they can not be due to inheritance 
must have a common cause outside them- 
selves. Now, since a leading feature of the 
evolution of homogenes is divergence, 
whilst that of heterogenes implies converg- 
ence from different starting-points, it fol- 
lows that the more distant are these re- 
spective starting-points (either in time or 
in the material) the better is our chance of 
extracting the greatest common measure 
out of the unknown number of causes 
which combine in the production of even 
the apparently simplest organ. 

These resemblances are a very promising 
field and the balance of importance will 
more and more incline towards the investi- 
gation of function, a study which, however, 
does not mean mere physiology with its 
present-day aims in the now tacitly ac- 
cepted sense, but that broad study of life 
and death which is to yield the answer to 
the question Why ? 

Meantime, comparative anatomy will not 
be shelved; it will always retain the cast- 
ing-vote as to the degree of affinity among 
resemblances, but emphatically its whole 
work is not to be restricted to this occupa- 
tion. It will increasingly have to reckon 
with the functions, indeed never without 
them. The animal refuses to yield its 
secrets unless it be considered as a living” 
individual. It is true that Gegenbaur 
himself was most emphatic in asserting 
that an organ is the result of its function. 
Often he held up to scorn the embryog- 
rapher’s method of muddling cause and 
effect, or he mercilessly showed that in the 
reconstruction of the evolution of an organ 
certain features can not have been phases 
unless they imply physiological continuity. 


OcToBER 3, 1913] 


And yet how moderately is function dealt 
with in his monumental text-book and how 
little is there in others, even in text-books 
of zoology: 


Habt alle die Theile in der Hand, 
Fehlt leider nur das geistige Band—Life! 


We have become accustomed to the fact 
that like begets like with small differences, 
and from the accepted standpoint of evolu- 
tion versus creation we no longer wonder 
that descendants slowly change and dli- 
verge. But we are rightly impressed when 
unlike comes to produce like, since this 
phenomenon seems to indicate a tendency, 
a set purpose, a beaw idéal, which line of 
thought or rather imperfect way of expres- 
sion leads dangerously near to the crassest 
teleology. 

But, teleology apart, we can postulate a 
perfect agreement in function and struc- 
ture between creatures which have no com- 
munity of descent. The notion that such 
agreement must be due to blood-relation- 
ship involved, among other difficulties, the 
dangerous conclusion that the hypothetical 
ancestor of a given genuine group possessed 
in potentiality the Anlagen of all the char- 
acters exhibited by one or other of the 
component members of the said group. 

The same line of thought explained the 
majority of human abnormalities as ata- 
vistic, a procedure which would turn the 
revered ancestor of our species into a per- 
fect museum of antiquities, stocked with 
tools for every possible emergency. 

The more elaborate certain resemblances 
are the more they seem to bear the hall- 
mark of near affinity of their owners. 
When occurring in far-related groups they 
are taken at least as indications of the 
homology of the organs. There is, for in- 
stance, a remarkable resemblance between 
the bulla of the whale’s ear and that of the 
Pythonomorph plioplatycarpus. If you 


SCIENCE 459 


homologize the mammalian tympanic with 
the quadrate the resemblance loses much of 
its perplexity, and certain Chelonians make 
it easier to understand how the modifica- 
tion may have been brought about. But, 
although we can arrange the Chelonian, 
Pythonomorph and Cetacean conditions in 
a progressive line, this need not repre- 
sent the pedigree of this bulla. Nor is it 
necessarily referable to the same Anlage. 
Lastly if, as many anatomists believe, the 
reptilian quadrate appears in the mammals 
as the wcus, then all homology and homog- 
eny of these bulle is excluded. In either 
case we stand before the problem of the 
formation of a bulla as such. The signifi- 
cant point is this, that although we dismiss 
the bulla of whale and reptile as obvious 
homoplasy, such resemblances, if they oc- 
eur in two orders of reptiles, we take as 
indicative of relationship until positive evi- 
dence to the contrary is produced. That 
this is an unsound method is brought home 
to us by an ever-increasing number of 
cases which tend to throw suspicion on 
many of our reconstructions. Not a few 
zoologists look upon such eases as a nuis- 
ance and the underlying principle as a 
bugbear. So far from that being the case 
such study promises much beyond the pru- 
ning of our standard trees—by relieving 
them of what reveal themselves as grafts 
instead of genuine growth—namely, the 
revelation of one or other of the many 
agencies in their growth and structure. 

Since there are all sorts and conditions 
of resemblances we require technical terms. 
Of these there is abundance, and it is with 
reluctance that I propose adding to them. 
I do so because unfortunately some terms 
are undefined, perhaps not definable; 
others have not “‘caught on,’’ or they suffer 
from that mischievous law of priority in 
nomenclature. 

The terms concerning morphological 


460 


homologies date from Owen; Gegenbaur 
and Haeckel rearranged them slightly. 
Lankester, in 1870, introduced the terms 
homogenous, meaning alike born, and 
homoplastic or alike molded. Mivart 
rightly found fault with the detailed defi- 
nition and the subdivisions of homoplasy, 
and very logically invented dozens of new 
terms, few of which, if any, have survived. 
It is not necessary to survey the ensuing 
literature. For expressing the same phe- 
nomenon we have now the choice between 
homoplasy, homomorphy, isomorphy, het- 
erophyletic convergence, parallelism, ete. 
After various papers by Osborn, who has 
gone very fully into these questions, and 
Willey’s ‘‘Parallelism,’’ Abel, in his fas- 
cinating ‘‘Grundziige der Palzobiologie,’’ 
has striven to show by numerous examples 
that the resemblances or ‘‘adaptive forma- 
tions’’ are cases of parallelism if they de- 
pend upon the same function of homologous 
organs, and convergences if brought about 
by the same function of non-homologous 
organs. 

I suggest an elastic terminology for the 
various resemblances indicative of the de- 
eree of homology of the respective organs, 
the degree of affinity of their owners, and 
lastly the degree of the structural likeness 
attained. 

Homogeny.—The structural feature is 
invented once and is transmitted, without 
a break, to the descendants, in which it 
remains unaltered, or it changes by muta- 
tion or by divergence, neither of which 
changes ,can bring the ultimate results 
nearer to each other. Nor can their owners 
become more like each other since the re- 
spective character made its first appearance 
either in one individual, or, more probably, 
in many of one and the same homogeneous 
community. 

Homoplasy.—The feature or character is 
invented more than once, and indepen- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


dently. This phenomenon excludes abso- 
lute identity; it implies some unlikeness 
due to some difference in the material, and 
there is further the chance of the two or 
more inventions, and therefore also of their 
owners, becoming more like each other than 
they were before. 


CATEGORIES OF HOMOPLASY 


TIsotely—tlf£ the character, feature or 
organ has been evolved out of homologous 
parts or material, as is most likely the case 
in closely related groups, and if the sub- 
sequent modifications proceed by similar 
stages and means, there is a fair probability 
or chance of very close resemblance. Jso- 
tely: the same mark has been hit. 

Homeotely.—Although the feature has 
been evolved from homologous parts or 
material, the subsequent modifications may 
proceed by different stages and means, and 
the ultimate resemblance will be less close, 
and deficient in detail. Such cases are most 
likely to happen between groups of less 
close affinity, whether separated by dis- 
tance or by time. Hom«ao-tely: the same 
end has been fairly well attained. The 
target has been hit, but not the mark. 

Parately.—The feature has been evolved 
from parts and material so different that 
there is scarcely any or no relationship. 
The resulting resemblance will at best be 
more or less superficial; sometimes a sham, 
although appealing to our faney. Para- 
tely: the neighboring target has been hit. 


EXAMPLES 
Isotely: 

Bill of the Ardeide baleniceps (Africa) and 
Cancroma (tropical America). 

Zygodactyle foot of Cuckoos, Parrots, Wood- 
peckers (2.3/1.4). 

Patterns and coloration of Elaps and other 
snakes. 

Parachute of Petawrus (marsupial); Pteromys 
(rodent) and Galeopithecus. 

Perissodactylism of Litopterna and Hippoids. 


OctoBER 3, 1913] 


Bulla auris of Plioplatecarpus (Pythonomorphe) 
and certain whales; if tympanic = quadrate. 

Grasping instruments or nippers in Arthropods: 
pedipalps of Phryne; chele of squill; first 
pair of mantis’s legs. 

General appearance of moles and Notoryctes, if 
both considered as mammals; of gulls and 
petrels, if considered as birds. 

Homeotely: 

Heterodactyle foot of trogons (3-4/2-1). 

Jumping foot of Macropus, Dipus, Tarsws. 

Intertarsal and cruro-tarsal joint. 

Fusion and elongation of the three middle 
metatarsals of Dipus and Ithea. 

Paddles of ichthyosaurs. Turtles, whales, pen- 
guins. 

‘¢Wings’’ of pterosaurs and bats. 

Long flexible bill of Apteryx and snipes. 

Proteroglyph dentition of cobras and soleno- 
glyph dentition of vipers. 

Loss of the shell of Limax and Aplysia. 

Complex molar pattern of horse and cow. 

Parately: 

Bivalve shell of brachiopods and lamellibranchs. 

Stretcher-sesamoid bone of pterodactyls (radial 
carpal) ; of flying squirrels (on pisiform) ; of 
Anomalurus (on olecranon). 

Bulla auris of pythonomorph (quadrate) and 
whale (tympanic); is incus = quadrate. 

““Wings’’ of pterosaurs, or bats, and birds. 


The distinction between these three cate- 
gories must be vague because that between 
homology and analogy is also arbitrary, 
depending upon the standpoint of compari- 
son. As lateral outgrowths of vertebre all 
ribs are homogenes, but if there are at least 
hemal and pleural ribs then those organs 
are not homologous even within the class 
of fishes. If we trace a common origin far 
enough back we arrive near bedrock with 
the germinal layers. So there are specific, 
generic, ordinal, ete., homoplasies. The po- 
tentiality of resemblance increases with the 
kinship of the material. 

Bateson, in his study of homeosis, has 
rightly made the solemn quotation: ‘‘There 
is the flesh of fishes ... birds . . . beasts, 
ete.’’ Their flesh will not and can not react 


SCIENCE 461 


in exactly the same way under otherwise 
precisely the same conditions, since each 
kind of flesh is already biased, encumbered 
by inheritances. If a certain resemblance 
between a reptile and mammal dates from 
Permian times, it may be homogenous, like 
the pentadactyle limb which as such has 
persisted; but if that resemblance has first 
appeared in the Cretaceous period it is 
homoplastic, because it was brought about 
long after the class division. To cases 
within the same order we give the benefit 
of the doubt more readily than if the re- 
semblance concerned members of two or- 
ders, and between the phyla we rightly 
seek no connection. However, so strongly 
is our mode of thinking influenced by the 
principle of descent that, if the same fea- 
ture happen to crop up in more than two 
orders, we are biased against homoplasy. 
The readiness with which certain homo- 
plasies appear in related groups seems to 
be responsible for the confounding of the 
potentiality of convergent adaptation with 
a latent disposition, as if such cases of 
homoplasy were a kind of temporarily de- 
ferred repetition, 2. e., after all due to in- 
heritance. This view instances certain re- 
curring tooth patterns, which, developing 
in the embryonic teeth, are said not to be 
due to active adaptation or acquisition but 
to selection of accomplished variations, be- 
cause it is held inconceivable that use, food, 
ete., should act upon a finished tooth. It is 
not so very difficult to approach the solu- 
tion of this apparently contradictory prob- 
lem. Teeth, like feathers, can be influenced 
long before they are ready by the life ex- 
periences of their predecessors. A very 
potent factor in the evolution of homo- 
plasies is correlation, which is sympathy, 
just as inheritance is reminiscence. The 
introduction of a single new feature may 
affect the whole organism profoundly, and 
one serious ease of isotely may arouse un- 


462 


suspected correlations and thus bring ever 
so many more homoplasies in its wake. 

Function is always present in living 
matter; it is life. It is function which not 
only shapes, but creates the organ or sup- 
presses it, being indeed at bottom a kind of 
reaction upon some stimulus, which stimuli 
are ultimately all fundamental, elementary 
forces, therefore few in number. That is 
a reason why nature seems to have but few 
resources for meeting given ‘‘require- 
ments’’—to use an everyday expression, 
which really puts the cart before the horse. 
This paucity of resources shows itself in 
the repetition of the same organs in the 
most different phyla. The eye has been 
invented dozens of times. Light, a part of 
the environment, has been the first stim- 
ulus. The principle remains the same in 
the various eyes; where light found a suit- 
ably reacting material a particular evolu- 
tion was set going, often round about, or 
topsy-turvy, implying amendments; still, 
the result was an eye—in advanced cases 
a scientifically constructed dark chamber 
with lens, screen, shutters and other ad- 
justments. The detail may be unimpor- 
tant, since in the various eyes different 
contrivances are resorted to. 

Provided the material is suitable, plastic, 
amenable to prevailing environmental or 
constitutional forces, it makes no difference 
what part of an organism is utilized to 
supply the requirements of function. You 
can not make a silk purse out of a sow’s 
ear, but you can make a purse, and that is 
the important point. ‘The first and most 
obvious cause is function, which itself may 
arise as an incidental action due to the 
nature of the material. The oxidizing of 
the blood is such a ease, and respiratory 
organs have been made out of whatever 
parts invite osmotic contact of the blood 
with air or water. It does not matter 
whether respiration is carried on by ecto- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


or by endodermal epithelium. Thus are 
developed internal gills, or lungs, both of 
which may be considered as referable to 
pharyngeal pouches; but where the outer 
skin has become suitably osmotic, as in the 
naked Amphibia, it may evolve external 
gills. Nay, the whole surface of the body 
may become so osmotic that both lungs and 
gills are suppressed, and the creature 
breathes in a most pseudo-primitive fashion. 
This arrangement, more or less advanced, 
occurs in many Urodeles, both American 
and European, belonging to several sub- 
families, but not in every species of the 
various genera. It is therefore a case of 
apparently recent isotely. 

There is no prejudice in the making of 
a new organ except in so far that every 
organism is conservative, clinging to what 
it or its ancestors have learned or acquired, 
which it therefore seeks to recapitulate. 
Thus in the vertebrata the customary place 
for respiratory organs is the pharyngeal 
region. Every organism, of course, has an 
enormous back history; it may have had to 
use every part in every conceivable way, 
and it may thereby have been trained to 
such an extent as to yield almost at once, 
like a bridle-wise horse to some new stim- 
ulus, and thus initiate an organ straight to 
the point. 

Considering that organs put to the same 
use are so very often the result of analo- 
gous adaptation, homoplasts with or with- 
out affinity of descent, are we not justified 
in accusing morphology of having made 
rather too much of the organs as units, as 
if they were concrete instead of inducted 
abstract notions? An organ which changes 
its function may become a unit so different 
as to require a new definition. And two 
originally different organs may come to 
resemble each other so much in function 
and structure that they acquire the same 
definition as one new unit. To avoid this 


OcroBER 3, 1913] 


dilemma the morphologist has, of course, 
introduced the differential of descent, 
whether homologous or analogous, into his 
diagnoses of organs. 

The same principles must apply to the 
classification of the animals. To group the 
various representative owners of cases of 
isotely together under one name, simply 
because they have lost those characters 
which distinguished their ancestors, would 
be subversive of phyletic research. It is of 
the utmost significance that such ‘‘eon- 
vergences’’ (rather ‘‘mergers,’’ to use an 
administrative term) do take place, but 
that is another question. If it could be 
shown that elephants in a restricted sense 
have been evolved independently from two 
stems of family rank, the convergent ter- 
minals must not be named Elephantine, 
nor can the representatives of successive 
stages or horizons of a monophyletic family 
be designated and lumped together as sub- 
families. And yet something like this 
practise has been adopted from Cope by 
experienced zoologists with a complete dis- 
regard of history, which is an inalienable 
and important element in our science. 

This procedure is no sounder than would 
be the sorting of our Cartwrights, Smiths 
and Bakers of sorts into as many natural 
families. It would be subversive of classi- 
fication, the aim of which is the sorting of 
a chaos into order. We must not upset the 
well-defined relative meaning of the classifi- 
catory terms which have become well-estab- 
lished conceptions; but what such an as- 


sembly as the terminal elephants should be. 


called is a new question, the urgency of 
which will soon become acute. It applies 
at least to assemblies of specific, generic 
and family rank, for each of which grades 
a new term, implying the principle of con- 
vergence, will have to be invented. In 
some cases geographical terms may be an 
additional criterion. Such terms will be 


SCIENCE 463 


not only most convenient, but they will at 
once act as a warning not to use the com- 
ponent species for certain purposes. There 
is, for instance, the case of Typhlops 
braminus, mentioned at the beginning of 
this address. Another case is the dog spe- 
cies, called Canis familiaris, about which 
it is now the opinion of the best authori- 
ties that the American dogs of sorts are the 
descendants of the coyote, while some In- 
dian dogs are descendants of a jackal, and 
others again are traceable to some wolf. 
The “‘dog,’’ a definable conception, has 
been invented many times, and in differ- 
ent countries and out of different material. 
Tt is an association of converged hetergene- 
ous units. We have but a smile for those 
who class whales with fishes, or the blind- 
worm with the snakes; not to confound the 
amphibian Ceecilians with reptilian Am- 
plisbenas requires some training; but 
what are we to do with creatures who have 
lost or assimilated all those differential char- 
acters which we have got used to rely upon? 

In a homogeneous crowd of people we 
are attracted by their little differences, 
taking their really important agreements 
for granted; in a compound crowd we at 
once sort the people according to their 
really unimportant resemblances. That is 
human nature. 

The terms ‘‘convergence’’ and ‘‘paral- 
lelism’’ are convenient if taken with a 
generous pinch of salt. Some authors hold 
that these terms are but imperfect similes, 
because two originally different organs can 
never converge into one identical point, 
still less can their owners whose acquired 
resemblance depresses the balance of all 
their other characters. For instance, no 
lizard can become a snake, in spite of ever 
so many additional snake-like acquisitions, 
each of which finds a parallel, an analogy 
in the snakes. Some zoologists therefore 
prefer contrasting only parallelism and 


464 SCIENCE 


divergence. A few examples may illustrate 
the justification of the three terms. If out 
of ten very similar black-haired people only 
two become white by the usual process, whilst 
the others retain their color, then these 
two diverge from the rest; but they do not, 
by the acquisition of the same new feature, 
become more alike each other than they 
were before. Only with reference to the 
rest do they seem to liken as they pass from 
black through gray to white, our mental 
process being biased by the more and more 
emphasized difference from the majority. 


10 At Bx Cx DE F 
9 


wR OAN 


wy) 


2 Ax Ba 
14 BC DEF 


Supposing A and B both acquire the 
character X and this continues through 
the next ten generations, while in the de- 
scendants of C the same character is in- 
vented in the tenth generation, and whilst 
the descendants of D, #, F' still remain un- 
altered. Then we should be strongly in- 
clined, not only to key together C(x/10) 
with A (xv/10) and B(#/10), but take this 
ease for one of convergence, although it is 
really one of parallelism. If it did not 
sound so contradictory it might be called 
parallel divergence. The inventors diverge 
from the majority in the same direction: 
Isotely. 

Third'case: Ten people, contemporaries, 
are alike but for the black or red hair. 
Black A turns white and Red EF turns 
white, not through exactly identical stages, 
since # will pass through a reddish gray 
tinge. But the result is that A and E be- 
come actually more like each other than 
they were before. They converge, although 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


they have gone in for exactly the same di- 
vergence with reference to the majority. 

In all three cases the variations begin by 
divergence from the majority, but we can 
well imagine that all the members of a 
homogeneous lot change orthogenetically 
(this term has been translated into the far 
less expressive ‘‘rectigrade’’) in one di- 
rection, and if there be no lagging behind, 
they all reach precisely the same end. This 
would be a case of transmutation (true 
mutations in Waagen’s and Scott’s sense), 
producing new species without thereby in- 
creasing their number, whilst divergence 
always implies, at least potentially, increase 
of species, genera, families, ete. 

If for argument’s sake the mutations pass 
through the colors of the spectrum and if 
each color be deemed sufficient to designate 
a species, then, if all the tenth generations 
have changed from green to yellow and 
those of the twentieth generation from yel- 
low to red, the final number of species 
would be the same. And even if some 
lagged behind, or remained stationary, 
these epistatic species (Himer) are pro- 
duced by a process which is not the same as 
that of divergence or variation in the usual 
sense. 

The two primary factors of evolution are 
environment and heredity. Environment 
is absolutely inseparable from any existing 
organism, which therefore must react 
(adaptation) and at least some of these re- 
sults gain enough momentum to be carried 
into the next generation (heredity). 

The life of an organism, with all its ex- 
periments and doings, is its ontogeny, 
which may therefore be called the subject 
of evolution, but not a factor. Nor is se- 
lection a primary and necessary factor, 
since, being destructive, it invents nothing. 
It accounts, for instance, for the composi- 
tion of the present fauna, but has not made 
its components. A subtle scholastic insinu- 


OcTOBER 3, 1913] 


ation lurks in the plain statement that by 
ruthless elimination a black flock of pig- 
eons can be produced, even that thereby the 
individuals have been made black. (But of 
course the breeder has thereby not invented 
the black pigment.) 

There can be no evolution, progress, 
without response to stimulus, be this en- 
vironmental or constitutional, 7. e., depend- 
ing upon the composition and the corre- 
lated working of the various parts within 
the organism. Natural selection has but to 
favor this plasticity, by cutting out the 
non-yielding material, and through in- 
heritance the adaptive material will be 
brought to such a state of plasticity that it 
is ready to yield to the spur of the moment, 
and the foundation of the same new organs 
will thereby be laid, whenever the same 
necessity calls for them. Here is a di- 
lemma. On the one hand the organism 
benefits from the ancestral experience, on 
the other there applies to it de Rosa’s law 
of the reduction of variability, which nar- 
rows the chances of change into fewer di- 
rections. But in these few the changes will 
proceed all the quicker and farther. Thus 
progress is assured, even hypertely, which 
may be rendered by ‘“‘overdoing a good 
thing.”’ 

Progress really proceeds by mutations, 
spoken of before, orthogenesis, and it would 
take place without selection and without 
necessarily benefiting the organism. It 
would be mere presumption that the seven- 


gilled shark is worse off than its six- or. 


five-gilled relations; or to imagine that the 
newt with double trunk-veins suffers from 
this arrangement, which morphologically is 
undoubtedly inferior to the unpaired, 
azygous, etc., modifications. The fact that 
newts exist is proof that they are efficient 
in their way. Such orthogenetic changes 
are as predictable in their results as the 
river which tends to shorten its course to 


SCIENCE 


465 


the direct line from its head waters to the 
sea. That is, the river’s entelechy is no 
more due to purpose or design than is the 
series of improvements from the many gill- 
bearing partitions of a shark to the fewer, 
and more highly finished comb-shaped gills 
of a Teleostean fish. 

The success of adaptation, as measured 
by the morphological grade of perfection 
reached by an organ, seems to depend upon 
the phyletic age of the animal when it was 
first subjected to these ‘‘temptations.”’ 
The younger the group, the higher is hkely 
to be the perfection of an organic system, 
organ or detail. This is not a platitude. 
The perfection attained does not depend 
merely upon the length of time available 
for the evolution of an organ. A recent 
Teleostean has had an infinitely longer time 
as a fish than a reptile, and this had a 
longer time than a mammal, and yet the 
same problem is solved in a neater, we 
might say in a more scientifically correct 
way by a mammal than by a reptile, and 
the reptile in turn shows an advance in 
every detail in comparison with an am- 
phibian, and so forth. 

A few examples will suffice: 

The claws of reptiles and those of mam- 
mals; there are none in the amphibians, al- 
though some seem to want them badly, like 
the African frog Gampsosteonyx, but its 
eat-like claws, instead of being horny 
sheaths, are made out of the sharpened 
phalangeal bones which perforate the skin. 

The simple contrivance of the rhinocero- 
tic horn, introduced in Oligocene times, 
compared with the antlers of Miocene Cer- 
vicornia and these with the response made 
by the latest of Ruminants, the hollow- 
horned antelopes and cattle. The heel- 
joint; unless still generalized, it tends to 
become intertarsal (attempted in some liz- 
ards, pronounced in some dinosaurs and in 
the birds) by fusion of the bones of the 


466 


tarsus with those above and below, so that 
the tarsals act like epiphysial pads. Only 
im mammals epiphyses are universal. Tibia 
and fibula having their own, the pro- 
nounced joint is cruro-tarsal and all the 
tarsals could be used for a very compact, 
yet non-rigid arrangement. The advan- 
tage of a cap, not merely the introduction 
of a separate pad, is well recognized in 
engineering. 

Why is it that mammalian material can 
produce what is denied to the lower classes? 
In other words, why are there still lower 
and middle classes? Why have they not all 
by this time reached the same grade of per- 
fection? Why not indeed, unless because 
every new group is less hampered by tradi- 
tion, much of which must be discarded with 
the new departure; and some of its energy 
is set free to follow up this new course, 
straight, with ever-growing results, until in 
its turn this becomes an old rut out of 
which a new jolt leads once more into fresh 
fields. H. F. Gapow 


THE NEW RELATIVITY IN PHYSICS 


Ever since Newton’s corpuscular theory of 
light was supplanted, early in the nineteenth 
century, by the theory that light travels in 
waves through ether as sound through air, 
physicists have been endeavoring to obtain 
direct experimental evidence about this in- 
visible, imponderable ether. 

The earth sweeps through space with a 
velocity of about 2,000 miles a minute; if 
ether fills all space, it should be possible with 
the delicate instruments now in our posses- 
sion to detect an ether drift, an optical effect 
caused by the motion of the earth through the 
ether. 

Among others, Professors Michelson and 
Morley* tried to detect this ether drift experi- 
mentally, but obtained purely negative results. 
Although they failed to get evidence of an 
ether, they did obtain new physical facts of 


1 Silliman’s Journal, 34: 337, 1887. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


an even greater importance, which have caused 
us to readjust our concepts of space and time. 

Let us assume that the sun and earth are 
at rest in space; it then takes a beam of light 
about eight minutes to travel through space 
from the sun to the earth. 

If we assume that both sun and earth are 
in uniform translation through space, that is, 
that both are in motion along the same 
straight line, we would expect, since the 
velocity of light can not be increased or dim- 
inished by motion of its source, that a light 
beam would be longer on its way from sun to 
earth when it travels in the direction of the 
motion, and that the light beam would be a 
shorter time on its way when it travels counter 
to the motion; in traveling with the motion 
the light beam would overtake the earth; when 
the direction of the motion is reversed, earth 
and light flash would meet. 

These deductions, according to the principle 
of relativity, are not valid, for the facts pre- 
sented by Michelson’s experiments show us 
that the number of seconds that a light flash 
is on its way can neither be increased nor 
diminished when the interstellar space through 
which the light has to travel is arbitrarily in- 
creased or diminished by giving source and 
observer the same uniform translation. 

Newton based his mechanics upon absolute 
space and time,’ “not that which the vulgar 
associate with sensible objects.” Clerk Max- 
well? said: “All our knowledge, both of time 
and place, is essentially relative.” Yet he 
could not free himself from the Newtonian 
mechanics, and it was not until 1905 that 
Albert Einstein* repudiated the word absolute, 
and out of the “vulgar” ideas of space and 


‘time developed the modern theory of rela- 


tivity. Einstein was then an employee in the 
patent office at Bern, and it is but fitting that 
in Switzerland, which has furnished the world 
with so many timepieces, new thoughts with 


? Newton, ‘‘Principia,’’ 1: 8, 1822. 

3 Maxwell, ‘‘Matter and Motion,’? p. 30 (Van 
Nostrand ed., 1892). 

*Annalen der Physik, 17: 905, 1905; Jahrbuch 
der Radioaktivitaet und Electronik, 4: 411, 1907. 


OctoBER 3, 1913] 


respect to the measurement of time should 
crystallize, and a new time concept be found. 
Any regular process of nature may serve as 
a measure of time; for example, the fall of 
sand in the hour-glass, the swing of the pen- 
dulum, the sun dial, or to be more modern, 
an ideal watch which is regulated by a per- 
fect spring and balance wheel. Let us 
imagine we have two perfect watches, one in 
San Francisco, the other in New York. How 
can we synchronize or set them so that both 
will indicate the same instant of time? To 
synchronize them both at the factory, and 
send one to New York and the other to San 
Francisco, will not do, as we shall see later. 
Since experiment appears to justify the as- 
sumption that the velocity of light through 
interstellar space is always the same, let us 
use a light flash to synchronize the watch at 
San Francisco with the one at New York. 


SCIENCE 


467 


are then in synchronism for observers at these 
two stations. The simultaneity of an occur- 
rence at New York with one at San Francisco 
ean then be established by the two synchronized 
watches. The connotation of the word simul- 
taneity thus becomes very definite. 

In order to bring out nature’s facts with 
regard to time and space, which Hinstein has 
so clearly presented in mathematical form, we 
have built a model, constructed briefly, as 
follows: A triple lead-screw, eight feet long, 
gives motion to the upper or moving system 
when the crank at the right of the model is 
in motion. By throwing in the proper gear- 
ing at the crank shaft, a second lead-screw 
supplies motion (toward right or left) to a 
light particle (Z), in the model, a pocket elec- 
tric lamp resting upon a traveling nut. Two 
worm wheels meshing with the first lead-screw 
operate the hands of the lower or stationary 


RELATIVITY MODEL 
REINHARD A. WETZEL 
COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Fie. 1 


At twelve o’clock the observer in New York 
sends a light flash to San Francisco, where a 
mirror immediately reflects it back to him; he 
finds it took thirty thousandths of a second 
for the light signal to travel to San Francisco 
and back; he reasons, therefore, that it took 
fifteen thousandths of a second to travel one 
way; he then writes the observer in San Fran- 
cisco to set his watch at twelve o’clock plus 
fifteen thousandths of a second, as soon as the 
light flash again sent from New York at 
twelve o’clock reaches him; the two watches 


clocks, while a pair of spur gear acting as 
pinions upon a stationary rack move the clock 
hands of the system in translation when the 
latter is in motion. 

Following the method of Emil Cohn, of 
Strassburg,’ we shall speak of the stationary 
system as the sun; the two sun clocks are 
fixed to the sun and are sixty sun miles apart; 
at each clock station is an observer, sun-man 
A at the zero station, and sun-man B at the 
sixty-mile station. 


5<¢Himmel und Erde,’’ 23: 117, 1911. 


468 


Similarly the moving system may represent 
an earth always in uniform translation with 
respect to the sun. At two stations upon the 
earth sixty earth miles apart are fixed a clock 
and an observer. A sun-man can see only 
one earth clock and earth-man at one time, 


Fic. 


namely, at the instant earth-man passes sun- 
man, and vice versa. Also, only at the in- 
stant an earth-man passes a sun-man can 


Fie. 3 


either make an observation and a comparison 
of the length and time standards used upon 
sun and earth. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 979 


light particle in the ratio of two to three. We 
must, therefore, interpret our model as a mag- 
nifier of nature’s facts with respect to space 
and time. 

Suppose A and B upon the sun wish to syn- 
chronize their two clocks which are exactly 


2 


alike in every respect and perfect mechanisms. 
When A’s clock reads 12 (Fig. 2), he sends 
out the light signal which, reflected by the 
mirror at the 60-mile station, returns after 
the hand of A’s clock has moved through’ 
12-+4, or 16 hours. Assuming that it took 
the light signal eight hours to go one way, A 
writes B to be on the lookout; the light signal 
will again leave at 12 and should reach B at 
8 (Fig. 3). When the signal arrives, B sets 
the hand of his clock at 8, and the two clocks 
are now in synchronism, and may be used by 
both observers to establish simultaneous mo- 
ments of time. 

The course pursued by A and B upon the 
sun at rest is followed by A* and B* upon the 


Fie. 4 


As the naturalist’s picture of a microorgan- 
ism misrepresents nature as to size, so our 
model is, in this respect, also a “ nature-faker.” 
The orbital velocity of our earth is to the 
speed of light in interstellar space as one is to 
ten thousand; but the model arbitrarily repre- 
sents the earth’s velocity to the velocity of the 


earth in motion. With their own foot rule 
A* and B’ have placed their two clocks sixty 
miles apart, and they too (Fig. 4) find that six- 
teen hours is required for the passage of the 
light signal from A’ to B* and return, and that 
B’ must set the hand of his clock at 8 (Fig. 5) 
when the light signal sent by A* at 12 reaches 


OcrToBER 3, 1913] 


him, in order to set their clocks in synchron- 
ism. 


SCIENCE 


469 


earth moves on, the earth clock of A’* will 
reach a position opposite B (Fig. 7), who finds 


Fig. 5 


We are now in a position to measure the 
velocity of light in both systems, and find that 
in each case it is 60/8. We can readily believe 
that all of nature’s laws in general, and the 
velocity of light in particular, should be the 
same on sun, earth or planet in the Milky 
Way; but the fact that the earth-man finds 
the sun clocks slow, and the sun-man finds 
the earth clocks slow, in the same ratio is the 
startling contribution of the theory of rela- 
tivity: that two actions simultaneous upon one 
system should not be simultaneous when 
viewed from another system is surprising. 

Let us see what the two observers on the 
sun have to tell us about one of the clocks on 
the earth. 

A and B are sixty miles apart and can not 
both see the earth clock at the same time; 
but the earth is a moving system, hence A 
can compare his clock with the earth clock, 
and later B can make a similar comparison. 


Fig. 6 


When the earth clock is opposite A (Fig. 6), 
the latter finds the hand of his clock at 12, 
and the hand of the earth clock at 12; as the 


that the hand of his clock has again reached 
12, while the hand of the earth clock has 
reached only 9; hence A and B establish the 
fact that twelve hours on the sun are equal to 
nine hours on the earth; that is, the earth 
clock runs slow in the ratio of 3 to 4. 


Fic. 7 


When the earth-men agree to make observa- 
tions on one of the sun clocks, they reach a 
similar conclusion. A* and B* are sixty miles 


ae 
EARTH 
° 
60 
60 
= — 


Uva 


Fie. 8 


apart and can not both see the sun clock at 
the same time; when B* comes to a position 
opposite the sun clock (Fig. 8), the hand of 


470 


his clock is at 9, while the hand of the sun 
clock is at 3; when, as the earth moves on, A* 
comes opposite the sun clock (Fig. 9), he finds 
that twelve hours have elapsed, for the hand 
of his clock is again at 9, but the hand of the 
sun clock has only gone from 3 to 12; in other 


Fig. 9 


words, nine hours have elapsed on the sun; 
hence A* and B’ establish the fact that twelve 
hours on the earth are equal to nine hours on 
the sun; that is, the sun clock runs slow in 
the ratio of 3 to 4. 

Since the sun-men and the earth-men make 
exactly similar statements, each finding the 
other slow in the ratio of 3 to 4, we must 
logically conclude that the earth and sun 
clocks are in reality equivalent, and establish 
the same unit of time. 

The standard of length upon the sun seems, 
moreover, to be different from that used upon 
the earth (Fig. 10), but that too is true from 


Fie. 10 


one view-point (one coordinate system) only; 
the standards of length as well as of time are 
in reality equivalent, as we will now proceed 
to demonstrate. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


Let us remember that simultaneity is estab- 
lished only by the clocks. 

The sun-men wish to compare their length 
standard with the standard used upon the 
earth. The lengths they wish to compare are 
such that two observers are necessary, one at 
each end of the scale. A and B decide to 
compare their scale reading with the scale 
reading opposite them at the same moment of 
time. At 12 o’clock A (Fig. 10) finds zero of 
his scale opposite zero on the earth’s scale; 
B watching his clock finds, when the hand is 
at 12 (Fig. 11), that 60 on his scale is oppo- 


Fie. 11 


site 80 on the earth’s scale. Hence A and B 
conclude that 60 sun miles are equal to 80 
earth miles, or that the earth mile is shorter 
in the ratio of 3 to 4. 

The earth-men, by similar observations, 
compare their length standard with the stand- 
ard upon the sun. A’, watching his clock 


Fie. 12 


(Fig. 12), finds when the hand is at 12, that 
zero on his scale is opposite zero on the sun 
scale. B* finds, when the hand of his clock is 
at 12 (Fig. 13), that 60 on his earth scale is 
opposite 80 on the sun scale. Hence they rea- 
son that 60 earth miles are equal to 80 sun 


OcToBER 3, 1913] 


miles; or that the sun miles are shorter in the 
ratio of 3 to 4. 

This apparent paradox is due to the fact 
that we are not accustomed to establishing 
simultaneity by accurate instruments of time, 


Fie. 13 


but rather by a vague “now” which can be 
established neither by clear thought nor by 
experiment. We have been thinking absolute 
time which can not be measured, hence is 
meaningless; the only time that has meaning 
is the time we can measure with nature’s in- 
‘struments of time, her uniform processes. 

Let us study for a moment the clocks on the 
moving system; to an observer outside the 
moving system, the two clocks will be out of 
synchronism; viewed from the sun (Fig. 14), 


Fic. 14 


BY’s clock will be five and one third hours 
behind the clock of A*. If, however, A”s clock 
be moved to B”s station, it will no longer be 
five and one third hours ahead of B”s clock, 
‘but will record the time of that station in 
perfect agreement with BY’s. In the process of 
moving from its own station at zero to B’s 
station at 60, A”s clock must therefore have 
gradually slowed up. Vice versa, if B”’s clock 
.be moved to A”s station, it will on arrival no 


SCIENCE 471 


longer be five and one third hours behind A”s 
clock, but in agreement with it; in moving 
against the direction of the moving system it 
has gained five and one third hours in time. 

Since the clocks are all nature’s timepieces, 
all the clocks in one system (and we can 
imagine an infinite number of them) move in 
perfect uniformity. Each point or station on 
the system has its own particular local or 
place time (Higenzeit). If a clock be moved 
from one station to another, on reaching its 
new station it records the place-time of that 
station. It would seem therefore that the im- 
pulse which sets the clock in motion in the 
direction of the moving system acts upon the 
balance wheel,—or whatever may be the clock 
regulator, to retard it; and the impulse which 
sets the clock in motion counter to the moving 
system acts upon the balance wheel to accel- 
erate it. 

The logical deductions that follow from 
these facts are so startling to the lay mind 
that I prefer to translate from Einstein him- 
self :° 


Give the watch a very large velocity (approxi- 
mating the velocity of light) so that it travels 
with uniform speed; after it has gone a long dis- 
tance give it an impulse in the opposite direction 
so that it returns to its starting point. We then 
observe that the hand of this watch during its 
entire journey to and fro has remained practically 
at a standstill, while the hand of an exactly sim- 
ilar watch which did not move with respect to the 
coordinate system (the sun or earth) has changed 
its position considerably. 

We must add: what is true for our watch with 
respect to time must also be true of any other 
enclosed physical system, whatever its nature, be- 
cause in all our thinking the watch was introduced 
simply as a representative of all physical actions 
or occurrences. Thus, for example, we could sub- 
stitute for the watch a living organism enclosed 
in a box. Were it hurled through space like the 
watch, it would be possible for the organism, after 
a flight of whatever distance, to return to its 
starting point practically unchanged, while an 
exactly similar organism which remained motion- 


®Zurich, Vierteljahresschrift d. Natf. Gesell. 
56: 1-230, 1911. Reprinted in Berlin; Naturw. 
Rundshau, 28: 285, 1912. 


472 


less at the starting point might have given place 
to new generations. For the organism in motion 
time was but a moment, if its speed approached 
the velocity of light. This is a necessary conse- 
quence of our fundamental assumptions and one 
which experience imposes on us. 


Let us return to the experiment of Michel- 
son and Morley with which we started. Let us 
interpret it by means of our model. We have 
spoken of the sun and earth in uniform trans- 
lation through space; let us symbolize this by 
the moving system of our model, the clock at 
zero being the sun, and the clock at 60 repre- 
senting the earth; let us send a light flash in 
the direction of their common translation; it 
starts from the sun, A’, at 12 o’clock and 
reaches the earth, B’, at 8 o’clock (Fig. 5), 
thus 8 units of time have elapsed. If we send 
the light flash against the sun and earth trans- 
lation, then B* becomes the sun and A’ the 
earth; the light flash leaves the sun, B’, at 8 
o’clock and again reaches the earth, A’, at 4 
o’clock, 8 units of time having elapsed, exactly 
as is the case when sun and earth are at rest 
(Fig. 3). 

The assumptions of the principle of relativ- 
ity are: 

1. That among all fixed star systems not one 
is unique—that as far as physical phenomena 
are concerned it is immaterial upon what sys- 
tem of reference we base measurement. 

9. When a light-pulse or particle travels 
through empty space the ratio of distance tra- 
versed to the time taken to go that distance, 
both measured in any physical system whether 
considered at rest or in translation, is in- 
variant. 

These two assumptions are interpretations 
of experimental facts, and the conclusions de- 
duced from them as given in this paper can- 
not be invalidated unless these primary as- 
sumptions ate shown to be misinterpretations 
of experiment. 

To what conclusion in respect to an inter- 
stellar ether’ does the principle of relativity 


7H. A. Lorentz, Physikalische Zeitschrift, 11: 
1234, 1910; Max Planck, p. 110, ‘‘Acht Vorles- 
ungem’’ (Columbia Lectures, 1910); Geo. B. 
Pegram, Educational Review, 41: 290, 1911; 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


lead us? That there is no place for the 
ether hypothesis. If the latter were correct, 
the ether would possess uniqueness which the 
first assumption of relativity denies to all 
bodies occupying space. Primitive man en- 
dowed our earth with uniqueness, but the Co- 
pernican controversy, though long and bitter, 
was final. The ether hypothesis has been 
very helpful to the physicist, and like a crutch 
to a cripple, it may yet be retained for some 
time to come, though mathematical analysis 
has deprived it of even the shadow of an 
existence. 

The theory of relativity says that Michel- 
son’s experiment, far from being negative as 
Michelson thought, was exactly what was to be 
expected. How could an ether drift be estab- 
lished when the ether had no physical ex- 
istence ? 

Relativity theorists are reconsidering New- 
ton’s suggestion as to the corpuscular struc- 
ture of light and a new theory of radiation 
based upon the idea of quanta [discrete physi- 
eal energy elements] is now being worked out 
in Germany and Holland. Newton’s theory 
gave us an easy explanation of the aberra- 
tion of light, discovered by Bradley, the astron- 
omer royal of England, in 1727. He found 
that in order to see a star through a telescope, 
the latter must not be directed along the line 
from the eye to the star, but must be inclined 
in the direction of the earth’s motion, just 
as a sportsman aims ahead of his fleeing prey. 
On the ether hypothesis no satisfactory explan- 
ation for aberration can be found.® A tele- 
scope filled with water was directed toward a 
star: since the speed of light through water 
is three-fourths of the speed of light through 
air, a large variation in the angle of aberra- 
tion was expected; but the variation found was 
far from what theory had predicted. 


Albert P. Carmon, School Science and Mathe- 
matics, 13: 1, 1913; M. Laue, Physik. Zeitschrift, 
13: 118, 1912; Norman Campbell, Physik. Zeit- 
schrift, 13: 120, 1912. 

8H. A. Lorentz, ‘‘Hlectrische Erscheinungen,’’ 
1906, p. 1. 

® Airy, Proc, Roy. Soc. London, 20: 35, 1871; 
21: 121, 1873; Phil. Mag., 43: 310, 1872. 


OcroBER 3, 1913] 


Poincaré and Favé, Lord Rayleigh,” and 
Brace,” each hoped to find effects of the earth’s 
translation through the ether in the double 
refraction of light by crystals, but were unable 
to obtain such effects. The phenomena of in- 
terference upon which Young and Fresnel 
based their wave theory of light have not as 
yet been completely accounted for upon the 
principle of relativity. Spectroscopists seem 
to prefer the use of “frequency” to “ wave- 
length” in their descriptions of monochro- 
matic radiation.” When any action forcibly 
ejects from an atom a light particle or an 
electron spinning in its atomic orbit with the 
speed of light, it is not difficult to perceive 
that the ejected light-particle would have a 
circular motion superimposed upon its appar- 
ent translation through interstellar space. 
Thus the path of a light particle would be 
spiral or serew-shaped, wave-length would cor- 
respond to the pitch of the screw, and fre- 
quency to the number of revolutions which 
the light particle makes per second. Possibly 
a theory of interference may be worked out 
along this line. 

The new mechanics teaches that the velocity 
of light, 186,337 miles per second, is our limit 
of speed; no body in motion can exceed it, and 
can only with extreme difficulty approach it. 

The old mechanics taught that a constant 
force continually acting upon a body in in- 
terstellar space, would make it go faster and 
faster without limit. The principle of rela- 
tivity says that a constant force acting upon 
a body during successive intervals of time 
meets a greater and greater opposition to its 
increasing speed; and when it has attained the 
speed of light the power of this force to pro- 
duce acceleration is exhausted. There is noth- 
ing, of course, in empty interstellar space to 
prevent a body from continuing forever with 
the speed once acquired, except collision with 
another heavenly body, when perchance, the 
energy of motion changes the cold colliding 
matter into a radiant sun. 

* Rayleigh, Phil. Mag., 4: 683, 1902. 

“ Brace, Phil. Mag., 7: 328, 1904. 

“Runge, Zeitschrift f. Hlectrochemie, 18: 485, 
1912. 


SCIENCE 


473 


The old mechanics was quite sufficient until 
the discovery of cathode rays and radium gave 
us matter in motion outspeeding a thousand 
times our fastest planet, Mercury. The par- 
ticles in the stream of cathode rays travel 
with a velocity of 5,000 miles a second, while 
those from radium are hurled into space with 
a speed of 50,000 to 178,000 miles per second. 
and have become in many instances the mod- 
ern surgeon’s scalpel. The physicist, in his 
search for law with respect to matter, finds it 
necessary to readapt his mechanics to modern 
facts. 

The question naturally arises: why should 
the speed of light be set as a limit to the in- 
erease of velocity? The answer is that with 
unlimited speed the possibility arises of a 
reversal in the order of time. This possibility 
has been worked out in a curious way by Flam- 
marion.» He makes Lumen, an interstellar 
traveler, an observer of the battle of Waterloo, 
and then proceeds to show what would happen 
if, at the close of the battle, he were moving 
away from the scene with a velocity greater 
than the speed of light; he would overtake the 
light which left the battlefield at the beginning 
of the engagement, and would see the whole 
fray in a reversed order of time, like a moving 
picture film run off backward. 

Secondly, if Lumen were at rest and the 
earth were speeding away from him with a 
velocity greater than that of light, he would 
see the battle in its natural order, but all 
would proceed with stately slowness. 

Thirdly, if Lumen were at rest and the 
earth were speeding toward him with a velocity 
greater than the speed of light, he would again 
see the battle in the reverse order, as the last 
fire from the guns would come to Lumen from 
a point nearer to him than the light from the 
first volley. 

With any experiment thus repeated three 
times, Lumen would be able to determine 
whether he were at rest and the earth in mo- 
tion, or vice versa; in other words, he would 

* Rutherford, Physikalische Zeitschrift, 13: 
1178, 1912. 


“C. Flammarion, ‘‘ Stories of Infinity—Lumen,’’ 
p. 74, 1873. 


A474 SCIENCE 


be able to establish absolute motion, a con- 
tradiction of the first assumption of the prin- 
ciple of relativity. 

Hence in all physical problems where there 
is a possibility of two solutions, the one which 
leads to the establishment of an absolute veloc- 
ity must be rejected, and the alternative solu- 
tion accepted as valid. 

The principle of relativity, besides clearing 
our minds of the cobwebs of absolute time and 
space, gives us, through its explanation of 
physical experiments, a deeper consciousness 
of the manifoldness of space, in which time is, 
not the flow of duration suggested by the im- 
mortal Newton, but any one of the spacial 
manifolds so beautifully developed by Hein- 
rich Minkowski in his “ Raum und Zeit,” and 
by Wilson and Lewis in the Proceedings of the 
American Academy for 1912. 

Remuarp A, WETZEL 

THE COLLEGE OF THE City oF NEW YORK 


GRANTS BY THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 


At the Birmingham meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
grants in aid of scientific research amounting 
to about $6,000 were made as follows: 


Mathematical and Physical Science: Pro- 
fesor H. H. Turner, seismological observations, 
£60; Dr. W. N. Shaw, upper atmosphere, £25; 
Sir W. Ramsay, constants and numerical data, 
£40; Professor M. J. M. Hill, calculation of 
mathematical tables, £20; Lieut.-Col. A. Cunning- 
ham, copies of the ‘‘ Binary Canon’’ for presen- 
tation, £5. 

Chemistry: Dr. W. H. Perkin, study of hydro- 
aromatic substances, £15; Professor H. E. Arm- 
strong, dynamic isomerism, £25; Professor F. S. 
Kipping, transformation of aromatic nitroamines, 
£15; A. D. Hall, plant enzymes, £25; Professor 
W. J. Pope, correlation of crystalline form with 
molecular structure, £25; Professor H. E. Arm- 
strong, solubility phenomena, £15. 

Geology: R. H. Tiddeman, erratic blocks, £5; 
Professor P. F. Kendall, list of characteristic 
fossils, £5; Dr. A. Strahan, Ramsay Island, Pem- 
broke, £10; Professor Grenville Cole, old red 
sandstone of Kiltorcan, £10; G. Barrow, trias of 
western midlands, £10; Professor W. W. Watts, 
sections in Lower Paleozoic rocks, £15. 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 979 


Zoology: Dr, A. E. Shipley, Belmullet Whaling 
Station, £20; Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, nomenclator 
animalium, £50; S. F. Harmer, Antarctic whaling 
industry, £90. 

Geography: Professor J. L. Myres, maps for 
school and university use, £40; Professor H. N. 
Dickson, tidal currents in Moray and adjacent 
firths, £40. 

Engineering: Sir W. H. Preece, gaseous explo- 
sions, £50; Professor J. Perry, stress distribu- 
tions, £50. 

Anthropology: Dr. R. Munro, Glastonbury Lake 
Village, £20; Sir C. H. Read, age of stone circles, 
£20; Dr. R. Munro, artificial islands in Highland 
lochs, £5; Professor G. Elliot Smith, physical 
character of ancient Egyptians, £34; Professor J. 
L. Myres, anthropometric investigations in Cyprus, 
£50; Professor W. Ridgeway, Roman sites in 
Britain, £20; Dr. R. R. Marett, Paleolithic site in 
Jersey, £50. 

Physiology: Professor E. A. Schafer, the duct- 
less glands, £35; Professor A. D. Waller, anes- 
theties, £20; Professor J. S. Macdonald, calori- 
metric observations, £40; Professor C. S. Sher- 
rington, mammalian heart, £30. 

Botany: Professor F. J. Oliver, structure of fos- 
sil plants, £15; Professor A. C. Seward, Jurassic 
flora of Yorkshire, £5; Professor F. Keeble, flora of 
peat of Kennet Valley, £15; A. G. Tansley, vegeta- 
tion of Ditchan Park, £20; Professor F. F. Black- 
man, physiology of heredity, £30; Professor F. O. 
Bower, renting of Cinchona Botanic Station in 
Jamaica, £25; Professor W. Bateson, breeding ex- 
periments with Gnotheras, £20. 

Education: Professor J. J. Findlay, mental and 
physical factors, £30; Dr. G. A. Auden, influence 
of school books on eye-sight, £15; Sir H. Miers, 
number, ete., of scholarships, held by university 
students, £5; Dr. C. 8S. Myers, binocular combina- 
tion of kinematograph pictures, £10; Professor 
J. A. Green, character and maintenance of mu- 
seums, £10. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
Tue British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science has accepted an invitation to 
hold the meeting of 1915 at Manchester. It 
will be remembered that next year’s meeting 
will be held in Australia under the presidency 
of Dr. William Bateson. 


Tuere have been called to the Research 
Institute for Biology, established under the 


ee 


UUTOBER 3, 1913] 


Kaiser Wilhelm Society, Dr. Goldschmidt, of 
Munich, known for his experiments on Mende- 
lian heredity in animals; Dr. Hartmann, of the 
Berlin Institute for Infectious Diseases, known 
for his work on protozoa, and Dr. Warburg, 
son of the director of the Reichsanstalt, who 
will have charge of work on cell physiology. 
It was noted last week that Dr. Carl Correns 
will be director of the institute. 


Dr. Davin Hivsert and Dr. Felix Klein, 
professors of mathematics at Gottingen, have 
been elected corresponding members of the 
Berlin Academy of Sciences. 


Dr. Max Puanck, professor of mathematics, 
has been elected rector of the University of 
Berlin. 


Countress Proskow1a Uwarow, of Moscow, 
known for her work in archeology, has been 
given an honorary doctorate by the University 
of Koénigsberg. 


Dr. WinuetM ALEXANDER FREUND, the dis- 
tinguished German gynecologist, has celebrated 
his eightieth birthday. 


M. Emm Bovurroux, of Paris, and Professor 
Alois Riehl, of Berlin, both distinguished for 
their contributions to philosophy, will make 
addresses at the opening of the graduate school 
of Princeton University. 


Dr. W. F. G. Swann, demonstrator in phys- 
ics in the University of Sheffield, has been 
appointed physicist in the laboratory of the 
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. 


Proressor C. W. THompson, chief of the 
bureau of research in agricultural economics 
at the University of Minnesota, has taken 
charge of work in the rural organization serv- 
ice of the U. 8S. Department of Agriculture. 


Dr. Henry Carter ADAMS, professor of po- 
litical economy at the University of Michigan, 
has accepted the post of general fiscal ad- 
viser to the Republic of China. 


Masor B. K. Asurorp has been appointed 
president of a board for the study of tropical 
diseases in Porto Rico under the medical de- 
partment of the army. 


SCIENCE 


475 


Tae Annalen der Naturphilosophie will 
hereafter be named the Annalen der Natur- 
und Kulturphilosophie. Professor R. Gold- 
scheid will be associated with Professor Ost- 
wald in editing the periodical. 


Av Princeton University Professor Henry 
B. Fine has returned from a year’s leave of 
absence in Europe and resumed his duties as 
head of the department of mathematics and 
dean of the department of science. Professor 
George A. Hulett, who was last year acting as 
chief of the department of chemistry in the 
United States Bureau of Mines, has resumed 
his professorship of physical chemistry. The 
members of the faculty on leave of absence 
this year include: Professor Norman Kemp 
Smith, head of the department of philosophy 
(first term); Professor Augustus Trowbridge, 
of the department of physics, and Professor 
Oswald Veblen, of the department of mathe- 
matics. 

Proressor M. A, CARLETON, cerealist of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, has recently 
resumed his duties in that department, after 
a year and three months’ leave of absence as 
general manager of the Pennsylvania Chestnut 
Tree Blight Commission. 

Proressor A. E. Kennetty, of Harvard 
University, represented the U. S. Committee 
and the U. S. Bureau of Standards at the 
International Illumination Commission in 
Berlin, August 26-80, and at the Interna- 
tional Electrotechnical Commission, Berlin, 
September 1-5. 

Proressor Avucustus D. Water, M.D., 
F.R.S., of the University of London, will lec- 
ture before the Harvey Society at the New 
York Academy of Medicine, at 8.30 p.M., Oc- 
tober 4, 1918, on “A Short Account of the 
Origin and Scope of Electrocardiography.” 
Professor Waller brings from London his own 
apparatus especially for this lecture and will 
give a series of demonstrations. The lecture 
is open to the public. 

A course of three lectures dealing with the 
early history of medicine will be given before 
the Royal Society of Medicine, London. The 
first lecture will be on October 10, by Professor 


476 SCIENCE 


Morris Jastrow, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and will treat of Babylonian medi- 
cine; the subsequent lectures will be by Pro- 
fessor Elliot Smith, on Egyptian medicine, and 
by Professor R. Caton, on Greek medicine. 

Professor VON BaEwz, for thirty years pro- 
fessor of medicine in the University of Tokyo, 
the author of contributions to medicine and 
anthropology, has died at Stuttgart, aged sixty- 
four years. 

Prorressor Joun Rosi EastMAn, professor 
of mathematics in the navy from 1865 to 1898, 
when he was retired for age, died on September 
26, at the age of seventy-seven years. In 1906 
Professor Eastman was promoted to the rank 
of rear admiral in the navy. He had made dis- 
tinguished contributions to solar, stellar and 
meteoric and planetary astronomy. 

Dr. Joun Green Curtis, from 1876 to 1909 
professor of physiology in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer- 
sity, and since emeritus professor, died on 
September 20, aged sixty-nine years. 

Dr. CHartes Lester LEONARD, professor of 
roentgenology in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, died on September 23, aged fifty-two 
years, from X-ray dermatitis, contracted in 
the course of his work nine years ago. 

Dr. Arnotp Rosset, formerly professor of 
chemistry at Bern, has died at the age of sixty- 
eight years. 

Proressor Paut Apotr Nicks, director of 
the insane asylum at Colditz, known for his 
contributions to psychiatry, has died at the 
age of sixty-three years. 

Tur death is also announced of Dr. Georg 
Roth, emeritus professor of mathematics at 
“Strassburg. 

Tur Washington Biologists Field Club has 
passed the following resolution: 

In the death of Edward Lyman Morris, one of 
the founders of the Washington Biologists Field 
Club, on September 14, 1913, at Brooklyn, N. Y., 
this association has lost a member whose deep 
interest in its affairs never failed from the first 
days of organization to the last moments of his 
life. Although duty called him to another city, he 
never lost an opportunity to advance the interests 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


of the club, and on the week preceding his death 
he spent three days at his beloved island and re- 
corded on the register the flowering of a rare 
plant. i 

The members of this club mourn the loss of an 
ardent worker, a congenial companion, a re- 
spected associate and friend. 

Resolved, that the Washington Biologists Field 
Club extend to the family of our deceased mem- 
ber its sincerest sympathy and condolence. 

For the Club, 
E. A. Schwarz, 
A. K. FISHER, 
H. C. FULLER 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for associate physicist 
in theoretical and experimental optical re- 
search to fill a vacancy in this position in 
the bureau of standards, Department of Com- 
merce, Washington, D. C., at a salary of 
2,500 a year. 

ExaMINATions will also be held for quarry 
technologist to fill a vacancy in the Bureau of 
Mines at Washington, D. C., at a salary rang- 
ing from $2,500 to $3,000, and for junior 
physicist in the Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, 
Pa., and other places as they may occur, at a 
salary ranging from $1,020 to $1,200 a year. 


Tuer seventh annual convention of the Na- 
tional Society for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education and the organization meeting of the 
National Educational Guidance Association 
will be held at Grand Rapids, Mich., from 
October 19 to 25. 


Tue annual meeting of the American Insti- 
tute of Chemical Engineers will be held in 
New York from December 10 to 13. 


Unper the auspices of the school of mines at 
Berlin, there are offered prizes amounting to 
2,000 marks for promoting safety im mines. 


ARRANGEMENTS are being made for an expedi- 
tion to King Edward the Seventh’s Land, a 
tract stretching from the Great Ice Barrier, to 
start in August next year. It will be under 
the command of Mr. J. Foster Stackhouse, who 
was intimately associated with Captain Scott 
in organizing the voyage of the Terra Nova. 
Tt is proposed that the members of the expedi- 


OctoBER 3, 1913] 


tion sail from the Thames about the middle of 
August, 1914, in the steam yacht Polaris, a 
ship especially built in Norway for ice naviga- 
tion in accordance with designs approved by an 
international committee of explorers, including 
Charcot, de Gerlache and Nansen. The expe- 
dition will, it is expected, be away for 20 
months or more. 


Mr. Truman H. Atpricu, of Birmingham, 
Ala., has presented to the Museum of the Geo- 
logical Survey of Alabama his entire concho- 
logical collection, by estimate about 20,000 
species from all parts of the world. In addi- 
tion to his own extensive gatherings and ex- 
changes during more than 50 years, Mr. Ald- 
rich had purchased largely not only from 
dealers but from such special workers as Gar- 
rett and Doherty. He had bought outright 
several important private collections, notably 
the entire Mauritius gatherings of the late Col. 
Nicholas Pike, the Jones Bermuda and Nova 
Scotia Shells, and the Parker cabinet of about 
5,500 listed species. The Aldrich collection is 
particularly rich in Asiatic and Indian forms. 
The series of operculate land shells could 
hardly be matched in this country, and there 
are many types of species described by Mr. 
Aldrich and others. With the shells were 
given 1,300 or more volumes of conchological 
and other scientific works. Mr. Aldrich had 
already given all his duplicates, probably 
200,000 specimens, to the museum, and last 
year he donated a very large and fine series of 
Tertiary invertebrate fossils. The museum, 
it may be noted, moved into its new building, 
Smith Hall, less than four years ago. Though 
the outcome of the Geological Survey and 
bearing its name, it is by law an integral part 
of the University of Alabama. Dr. Eugene 
A. Smith, since 1873 at the head of the survey, 
is also director of the museum. 


Dr. W. A. Sawyer, director of the hygienic 
laboratory of the California State Board of 
Health, and W. B. Herms, assistant professor 
of parasitology in the University of Cali- 
fornia, have contributed to the Journal of the 
American Medical Association an article in 
(1) In a series of seven experiments in which 


SCIENCE 


477 


which they reach the following conclusions: 
the conditions were varied, we were unable to 
transmit poliomyelitis from monkey to monkey 
through the agency of the stable-fly. (2) Fur- 
ther experimentation may reveal conditions 
under which the stable-fly can readily transfer 
poliomyelitis, but the negative results of our 
work and of the second set of experiments of 
Anderson and Frost lead us to doubt that the 
fly is the usual agent in spreading the disease 
in nature. (3) On the basis of the evidence 
now at hand we should continue to isolate 
persons sick with poliomyelitis or convalescent, 
and we should attempt to limit the formation 
of human carriers and to detect and control 
them. Screening of sick-rooms against the 
stable-fly and other flying insects is a precau- 
tion which should be added to those directed 
against contact infection, but not substituted 
for them. (4) The measures used ‘in sup- 
pressing the house-fly are not applicable to the 
control of the stable-fly owing to its different 
breeding habits and food-supply. Methods 
should be devised for diminishing the num- 
bers of stable-flies, as they are a great annoy- 
ance to cattle and, in all probability, are ca- 
pable of transferring and inoculating a num- 
ber of the diseases of animals. 


Tue birth of ten calves in the buffalo herd 
maintained by the government on the Wichita 
national forest and game refuge, near Lawton, 
Oklahoma, has been reported by the game 
warden in charge. The herd now contains a 
total of 48 head of full-blooded buffalo, or, 
more properly, bison, of which 27 are males 
and 21 females. All of the animals are in 
good condition. In 1907 the American Bison 
Society donated to the federal government a 
nucleus herd of 15 animals which had been 
bred and reared in the New York Zoological 
Park. The animals were transported to the 
Wichita national forest, which is also a game 
refuge, and placed under the care of the For- 
est Service. They readily adapted themselves 
to their new habitat, but the area upon which 
they were placed was within the zone affected 
by the Texas fever tick and during the two 
or three years following their transfer only the 
constant care and watchfulness of the forest 


478 SCIENCE 


officers prevented the complete loss of the 
herd. The animals were examined almost 
daily to determine whether they had become 
infested with Texas fever ticks and were 
placed in specially designed cages and sprayed 
with crude oil at intervals of from fifteen to 
thirty days, but notwithstanding the extreme 
precautions which were adopted, three of the 
animals died. Gradually, however, the en- 
closures in which the buffalo were confined 
were freed from fever ticks and there is a 
possibility that as the buffalo adapted them- 
selves to their new environment they became 
more or less immune to the disease. No losses 
from Texas fever have occurred for several 
years, and the herd has almost quadrupled in 
number since it was established. The fact 
that the herd has not increased more rapidly is 
due largely to the preponderance of male 
calves. This characteristic of the buffalo is 
so pronounced in all of the herds now in cap- 
tivity that a cow is considered twice as val- 
uable as a bull. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Ernest Sotvay, the discoverer of a process 
for the manufacture of soda, celebrated the 
fiftieth anniversary of that discovery on Sep- 
tember 2 at Brussels by giving more than 
$1,000,000 to educational and charitable insti- 
tutions and the employees of his firm. The 
Universities of Paris and Nancy each received 
$100,000. 


Av the last session of the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania an appropriation of $40,000 was 
made to aid in the development of courses in 
education at the University of Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Frank P. Graves, of the Ohio State 
University, has been appointed professor of the 
history of| education, and Dr. Harlan Upde- 
graft, of the Iowa State University, as pro- 
fessor of educational administration. Pro- 
fessor A. Duncan Yocum, who now occupies the 
chair of pedagogy at the University of Penn- 
sylvania, will continue as professor of educa- 
tional research and practise. 


A GRADUATE school of education has been 
established at Bryn Mawr College. It is under 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


the charge of Professor Kate Gordon, associate 
professor of education, Dr. Matilde Castro, 
director of the Model School, and Professor 
James H. Leuba, professor of psychology, who 
will give a graduate course on the psychology 
of defective and unusual children. 


Tue University of California has announced 
the establishment of a new Division of Rural 
Institutions. This new department will study 
and aid the rural forces which have for their 
aim the making of life in the open country 
successful and satisfactory. Elwood Mead has 
been called to the headship of this new divi- 
sion. He was formerly chief of the United 
States Bureau of Irrigation Investigations. 
He is now in Australia, as chairman of the 
Rivers and Water Supply Commission of the 
State of Victoria and chief engineer. His 
work in the University of California will be 
to deal with questions of farm credits, irri- 
gation and drainage institutions, cooperation, 
and all the varied political, economic, educa- 
tional, social and religious institutions which 
affect rural life. 


Work has been begun at Smith College on 
the erection of a new biological laboratory 
which is to cost $150,000. 


Proressor Don Rosco Josmpu, of Bryn Mawr 
College, has accepted a call to the medical 
school in St. Louis. His work in physiology at 
Bryn Mawr College will be given by Professor 
Arthur Russell Moore, now assistant professor 
in the University of California. 


Dr. Paut S. McKipsen has left the depart- 
ment of anatomy of the University of Chicago 
to become professor of anatomy in the Western 
University of London, Ontario. 


Dr. G. E. Coeguitt, of Denison University, 
has been appointed associate professor of anat- 
omy at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. 

EpmMuND VINCENT Cowpry, associate in anat- 
omy of the University of Chicago, goes this 
fall to the Johns Hopkins Medical School. 

Dr. Ciara Moors, pathologist in the North 
Chicago Hospital, has been appointed in- 
structor in clinical medicine and diagnosis in 
the University of Wisconsin. 


OctToBER 3, 1913] 


Dr. Henry E. Rapascu, assistant professor 
of histology and embryology at Jefferson Medi- 
cal College, has been appointed instructor of 
anatomy in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine 
Arts to succeed the late Dr. George B. Mc- 
Clellan. 

Dr. C. C. Lipp, assistant professor of veter- 
inary science at the University of Minnesota, 
has been elected head of the department of 
veterinary science of the South Dakota Agri- 
cultural College. 

Av Norwich University Dr. S. F. Howard, 
formerly associate professor at Amherst Col- 
lege, is to be head of the chemistry department. 
J. E. Lear, B.S., formerly associate professor 
in the Texas College, Texas, has been appointed 
assistant professor of physics and mathematics. 

At the University of Pennsylvania Dr. 
Thomas D. Cope and Dr. E. A. Eckhardt have 
been promoted to assistant professorships in 
physics; Dr. Walter T. Taggart to the grade 
of professor of organic chemistry; Dr. Owen L. 
Shinn to be professor of applied chemistry, and 
Dr. Herman C. Berry to be professor of 
materials of construction. 

Harry Wautpo Norris, A.M., professor of 
zoology at Grinnell College, has been ap- 
pointed to give instruction in zoology in Har- 
vard University during the year 1913-14, in 
accordance with the agreement with western 
colleges. His term of service will fall in the 
second half-year. 

Dr. M. Barruzzt has been appointed to a 
newly established chair of medical history in 
the University of Siena. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE BREAD SUPPLY 


In Scrence of August 22, 1913, appear 
twenty columns of words from Professor H. L. 
Bolley, entitled “Cereal Cropping: Sanitation, 
a New Basis for Crop Rotation, Manuring, 
Tillage and Seed Selection.” Under this im- 
posing and comprehensive title we find that 
eighteen columns are devoted chiefly to be- 
littling the work of chemists, agronomists, 
bacteriologists, and also agricultural advisers 
who accept the findings of such scientists. 


SCIENCE 


479 


Occasionally Professor Bolley hedges with the 
assertion that he knows plant food to be essen- 
tial, and then renews the attack in such words 
as these: 

On account of all these conditions of low yield 
and invariable deficiency in quality, there has 
gone up a great ery of ‘‘depleted’’ soils, ‘‘ worn 
out’’ land, ‘‘bad agriculture,’’ ‘‘shiftless meth- 
ods,’’ ete. This ery follows the plowman regard- 
less of his improved tools and general farming 
improvements, regardless of better methods of 
tillage which we know now obtain on the farm, 
as against those which our forefathers were 
able to accomplish, and all regardless of hard 
work. It is all right for the banker and the 
lawyer, and even some professors, to berate the 
farmer for idleness and inefficiency in methods 
and lack of business, but I say let such men try 
to raise wheat of high grade under the present 
general understanding as laid down in books, or 
by our best agriculturists. In spite of all these 
directions, the wheat soon becomes soft and shows 
all of the peculiar characteristics which we find 
named in the literature of the chemical laboratory, 
or in the milling tests of wheat as previously indi- 
eated, ‘‘white-bellied,’’ ‘‘piebald,’’ or shrivelled, 
bleached and blistered, ‘‘black-pointed,’’ in fact 
all of the qualities of deteriorated grain; and the 
chemist from his laboratory outlook cries out 
““depleted soils,’’ ‘‘lost fertility,’’ ‘‘bad physical 
texture,’’ due to ‘‘ worn-out humus,’’ ‘‘lost nitro- 
gen,’’ ‘‘insufficient phosphates,’’ ‘‘lime,’’ ete., 
forgetting, as it were, that almost every field in 
these matters is a law unto itself and that every 
one of these fields in the next few years may con- 
tradict all these assertions by the growth of 
splendid crops for reasons no one seems to know. 
The expert agriculturist and agronomist, who take 
their cue largely from the chemists, ery out: 
‘“Give us intensified agriculture,’’? ‘‘ Apply phos- 
phates,’’ ‘‘Apply lime,’? ‘‘Apply potash,’’ 
“Grow clover,’’ ‘‘Raise corn,’’ ‘‘Rotate,’’ all in 
a confused jumble, and lately the bankers, afraid 
of their mortgages, have become very busy and 
tell how to farm and scold rather strongly about 
lack of business methods on the farm, berate the 
schools, ete. 

-These conditions of farm cropping, though not 
exclusively American, are especially in prominence 
at present because many of our most noted pub- 
licists are becoming, perhaps properly, alarmed. 
They say our farmers show no ability of main- 
taining the supply of wheat, the bread grain, a 


480 


permanent cropping element of old land agricul- 
ture, but rather, instead, are reaping lessened 
yields of poorer quality from larger acreages. 

In columns one and twenty the “ new basis ” 
is revealed: 


Deteriorated wheat, as seen in depressed yields 
and low quality, as now quite commonly produced 
in the great natural wheat-producing regions of 
this country, is not, primarily, a matter of lost 
fertility or of modified chemical content of the 
soil, but is specifically a problem of infectious 
disease which is superimposed upon the problems 
of soil and crop management. 

My experience with cereal crops with reference 
to the application of fertilizers, the trial of 
varieties, experiments in seed selection, seed breed- 
ing and seed treatment, and seed purification fur- 
nish data which will allow me to say that I have 
no fear that all will eventually agree that sanitary 
considerations with reference to the characteristics 
of parasitic diseases which are now quite com- 
monly resident in the seed and the soil will yet 
form the essential basis for the proper manage- 
ment of crops in rotation in series, and the same 
considerations will largely govern the type of till- 
age and the manner of handling waste materials 
on the farm, particularly farm manures. 


Professor Bolley heartily commends him- 
self for “having grown up on the farm, and 
never having allowed himself to get away 
from the real love of working in the dirt’; 
but he fears that “too many of our workers 
who are paid to investigate agricultural prob- 
lems may only investigate for their own en- 
joyment—may again deal in formulas, and 
theories, books and philosophies, and thus give 
out to the working public fine philosophies 
which may yet leave the worker helplessly in 
the dark as to what to do.” 

As an average of sixty years where wheat 
has been grown year after year on the same 
land at Rothamsted, the unfertilized land pro- 
duced 12.6 bushels per acre, while 35.4 and 
37.0 bushels were the respective yields where 
farm manure and commercial plant food were 
applied. 

As an average of twenty-four years the 
wheat yields at Pennsylvania State College 
varied from 10.1 bushels on unfertilized land 
to 24.1 with farm manure and 24.8 with com- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 979 


mercial plant food, when grown in a four-year 
rotation. 

As an average of nineteen years the wheat 
yields at the Ohio Experiment Station were 
10.2 bushels on unfertilized land, 21.7 bushels 
with farm manure, and 26.9 bushels where 
commercial plant food was applied, the wheat 
being grown in a five-year rotation with 
clover, timothy, corn and oats, on five different 
series of plots, so that every crop might be 
represented every year. 

As compared with Rothamsted, Pennsyl- 
vania and Ohio, the more extensive and very 
practical field experiments now being con- 
ducted by the University of Illinois in many 
different parts of the state are new and incon- 
clusive, but the results secured in 1913 from 
fields that have been in operation twelve years 
(see the accompanying tabular statement) not 
only represent much field work, but they also 
support the equally valuable analytical data 
from the chemical laboratory involving an- 
alyses of thousands of representative soil 
samples collected in connection with the detail 
soil survey of more than forty counties. 


1913 Wheat Yields: Bushels per Acre 
From University of Illinois Experiment Fields 


Soil Fertilization 
| _ |Organic 
Num- Organic| Ma- 
i ber of Organic) Ma- | nures, 
Location | years Organic; Ma- |; nures, ; Lime- 
of Experi- in Crop None | Ma- | nures,| Lime- | stone, 
ment Wield |p o44- nures | Lime- | stone, | Phos- 
tion stone | Phos- |phorus, 
phorus | Potas- 
slum 
Urbana....| Four | 11.1 | 13.6 | 19.7 | 34.6 | 31.7 
Odin........ Four | 17.3 | 20.4 | 29.8 | 36.0 | 37.0 
DuBois....., Four | 7.2 |no test} 18.1 | 33.4 | 29.9 
Cutler....... Three} 8.8 | 7.0 | 19.5 | 31.0 | 30.7 
Mascoutah} Four | 21.0 | 22.1 | 24.0 | 32.9 | 32.3 
General average...) 138.1] — | 22.2 | 33.6 | 32.3 
Average increase..|_ — _— 9.1 | 20.5 | 19.2 


The unfertilized surface soil of these fields 
contains in two million pounds (correspond- 
ing to an acre of land about 62 inches deep) 
from 700 to 1,200 pounds of total phosphorus 
and from 25,000 to 386,000 pounds of total 
potassium. Where organic manures are pro- 


OctoBER 3, 1913] 


vided for supplying nitrogen and liberating 
mineral plant food in rational systems of 
farming, the relationship between the chem- 
ical composition of the soil and crop produc- 
tion is normally very apparent. Irrational 
systems often give abnormal results, and their 
correct interpretation requires that no impor- 
tant factor of influence shall be ignored. 

It may be added that the wheat from our 
well-treated and high-yielding plots is not of 
poor quality, but of very high grade, and has 
been sold to the experienced grain buyer at a 
premium as high as 15 cents per bushel above 
that paid for wheat from unfertilized well- 
rotated land. 

In Illinois, as in all other states, most of the 
soil and crop investigators are men of large 
practical farm experience, but we also have 
deep respect for the science of analytical 
chemistry, as the only means of determining 
the total stock of plant food in the soil, and 
for the science of biochemistry, as the chief 
means of making plant food available. 

Chemists and agronomists must honor Jen- 
sen for the information and method which 
he gave to the world relating to the destruc- 
tion of fungous diseases sometimes carried in 
seed grain, and we honor Bolley for his val- 
uable contributions in this field of agricultural 
research; but we also recognize that the avoid- 
ance of fungous diseases as one among the 
many advantages and reasons for crop rota- 
tion and for the proper handling of crop 
residues is not a new idea, for it has been 
advanced, explained and emphasized by nu- 
merous investigators for many years. The 
persistent efforts to belittle the importance of 
positive soil enrichment and preservation in 
permanent rational systems of farming, 
whether by improvident landowners, by 
Whitney and Cameron, of the Bureau of 
Soils, or by Professor Bolley, are the greatest 
curse to American agriculture and the great- 
est danger to permanent prosperity in this 
country. 

The fact that the earth is round became 
generally accepted two or three centuries after 
its discovery; and it required a full century 
for Europe to half appreciate the great dis- 


SCIENCE 


481 


covery by De Saussure, so well expressed in 
the words of Liebig: 

It is not the land itself that constitutes the 
farmer’s wealth, but it is in the constituents of 
the soil, which serve for the nutrition of plants, 
that this wealth truly consists. 

The foundation principles for the restora- 
tion and preservation of the fertility and pro- 
ductive power of normal soils are simple and 
well-established, and no state in the union can 
afford to ignore or belittle these great funda- 
mental truths, nor to have the minds of its 
farmers and landowners befogged in relation 
thereto. Cyrit G. Hoprins 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Living Plant. By WituiamM F. Ganone. 
New York, Henry Holt and Co. 1913. 
1723 cm. Pages xii+478; 3 colored 
plates; 178 figures, many in text. Price, 
$3.50. 

This book aims to attract popular interest 
and at the same time to tell the truth about 
its subject. The work is avowedly not in- 
tended for scientists, but “it seeks to present 
to all who have interest to learn an accurate 
and vivid conception of the principal things 
in plant life” (preface). Thus the author 
has “been at more pains to be clear than to 
be brief,’ and the book “has wandered 
through a leisurely course to a length quite 
shockingly great” (preface). Nevertheless, 
the depth in natural science to which the 
reader is here carried is so great as to make 
it probable that the book will find its greatest 
use among those who already possess consider- 
able knowledge of plants and their processes. 

The style of the book combines clearness 
with personal frankness, the reader being 
taken into the author’s confidence from the 
very first; it is a conversational style of the 
highest type, becoming even chatty at points, 
and generally maintaining a logical clearness 
and definiteness that is rare in popular or even 
elementary treatises upon such complex sub- 
jects. The language possesses a characteris- 
tic quaintness, almost an archaic tang at 
some points. A few examples of quite col- 


482 SCIENCE 


loquial or even slang expressions may be 
noted. Regarding the numerous illustrations, 
they are exceedingly well chosen and well 
prepared, and they add markedly to the clear- 
ness of the exposition. : 

The author’s attitude is conservative and 
many questions are left just as they should be, 
in a quite undecided condition. At the same 
time, the reader is admitted to some of the 
pleasures of hypothesis-making and of proph- 
ecy, generally in a very safe and clearly 
guarded manner, for the author has not hesi- 
tated to enliven his story and perhaps acceler- 
ate the advance of his science, by indulging in 
suggestions of scientific possibilities and prob- 
abilities. 

“A table designed to display the plan of 
this book” is inserted after the table of con- 
tents, and exhibits a sort of synoptical out- 
line of the subjects considered in the eighteen 
chapters, together with their logical connec- 
tions. It is seldom that a book of this sort 
brings out as clearly as does the one before us 
the important relations of its various topics 
to each other and to human activities in gen- 
eral. Diagrams and tables are frequently re- 
sorted to. After a chapter on the ways in 
which plants appeal to human interest, seven 
chapters treat the material and energy trans- 
formations in the plant body. Then follows 
a chapter on irritability, one on “ protection,” 
two on reproduction, and two on growth. 
The four remaining chapters consider re- 
spectively, dissemination, evolution and adap- 
tation, plant breeding and classification. -This 
obviously very broad treatment comprises a 
sufficiency of new methods of presentation and 
novel placings of emphasis to make the book 
profitable reading for the research worker and 
the teacher as well as for the less advanced 
student. \, 

Turning now to fault-finding, a few ad- 
verse criticisms may be noted as to use of 
words. The word mani-colored occurs in sey- 
eral places (e. g., page 261); does not such a 
novelty suggest handpainted? Insectivorous 
plants are termed insectivora (page 104, for 
example); if the Latin form is employed we 
should prefer not to apply the neuter form to 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 979 


plants (plante). In these decadent days, as 
far as general interest in the ancient founda- 
tions of our language is concerned, it were 
perhaps better to cling to the perfectly safe 
but less euphonious English form, insectivores. 
The word plenty appears to be used through- 
out (e. g., pages 140, 266) as a predicate ad- 
jective, where ordinary usage requires plenti- 
ful, plenteous or a word with some other root. 
To most scientists, and perhaps to most read- 
ers, these points may seem of little import, 
but the very excellence of the diction which 
characterizes this book as a whole renders its 
few shortcomings of this sort all the more 
outstanding. 

As to the scientific matter itself, probably 
the only quite inadequate exposition occurs 
in connection with the discussion of capillar- 
ity (pages 180, 181), which, as it stands, 
seems to the reviewer logically quite hopeless. 
It is to be regretted that the author surren- 
dered here to the suasion from his ecritie and 
forbore “to explain this interesting process in 
detail to the reader” (page 179). 

All will agree with Professor Ganong, that 
any truthful chapter on protoplasm must 
“leave you with a very unsatisfied feeling” 
(page 164), but it does seem that the concep- 
tion of this material might be clarified by the 
omission of the idea of “protoplasm par ex- 
cellence”’ (page 148), letting the mixture of 
many substances stand for the present as the 
seat of the numerous, more or less peculiar 
processes which taken together make up life. 
Tf it pleases one’s fancy to think that vitality 
is possessed by some single substance in 
protoplasm and that all other contained sub- 
stances are to it merely environmental or 
conditional, no one can assert that such a 
view is illogical; this is purely a matter of 
feeling, over which we do not argue. But 
none can agree with the author, that “we are 
logically bound to believe that some such sub- 
stance [as protoplasm par excellence] must 
exist as the seat of the distinctive properties 
of life” (page 143). Some people may be 
bound to believe this, but they are assuredly 
not logically so bound; nothing is now known 
of protoplasm which forces such an issue. 


OCTOBER 3, 1913] 


Likewise, it is difficult to find grounds for 
agreeing with the author when he states (page 
199) that transpiration is a process “for 
which there is no equivalent in animals.” 
Excepting when the higher animal is covered 
with water there is always more or less cu- 
ticular transpiration from its skin, just as 
there is in plants, and the wet membranes of 
the lungs and air passages are always trans- 
piring large amounts of water into the inter- 
nal atmosphere, just as happens in plant 
foliage and the like. Transpiration is a phe- 
nomenon common to all living things which 
are exposed to air, though its indirect effects 
are of course different in different forms. 

A method of exposition to which many 
botanists will probably object, but which will 
no doubt receive the hearty approval of most 
physiologists, is the presentation of the en- 
tire subject of sexual reproduction without 
reference to the alternation of generations. 
From the dynamic point of view, it is surely 
desirable for an elementary treatise thus to 
omit the complicated story of sporophyte and 
gametophyte, megaspores and microspores. 
The reviewer looks upon this as a real stroke 
of genius, considering the dominance of these 
things in present-day botany. 

Last, but not by any means least, among 
the points selected for mention here, is what 
may be termed the philosophy of the book be- 
fore us. The whole presentation is frankly 
and insistently permeated with the peculiar 
confusion, so common in biological reasoning, 
of causes with effects; the account is written 
from the teleological standpoint. The author 
adds a new deity to the growing biological 
pantheon, thus developing “a perfectly nat- 
ural vitalism based on the superior interpre- 
tative power of a hypothesis assuming the ex- 
istence in nature of an X-entity, additional to 
matter and energy but of the same cosmic 
rank as they, and manifesting itself to our 
senses only through its power to keep a certain 
quantity of matter and energy in the con- 
tinuous orderly ferment we call life” (page 
viii). To the purposefulness of this unknown 
Something are attributed the determining con- 
ditions that bring about the more complex 


SCIENCE 


483 


phenomena of living things; wherever the 
physical antecedents or determining condi- 
tions of a phenomenon are not known (and 
they are mostly unknown in physiology), the 
hypothesis of the X-entity supplies a word 
with which to cloak our ignorance—as Pro- 
fessor Barnes used to say—and in this seems 
to lie the “superior interpretive power” of 
such hypotheses. 

But this is not the place to add to the al- 
ready great and bemuddled mass of academie 
argument concerning this present-day sur- 
vival of the doctrine of special creation. 
Space may be taken to note further only three 
interesting aspects of the general philosophical 
attitude of “The Living Plant.” First, non- 
teleologists will welcome the frankness and 
clearness with which the position of the au- 
thor has been stated. While many teleolo- 
gists explain the prevalent use of purposeful 
implications merely as verbal short-cuts, dis- 
avowing all belief in what the words actually 
state, and while such vague mental positions 
seem to give some weight to the accusation 
that it is but a “man of straw ” against which 
the scientific monist directs his javelin, our 
present author makes it perfectly and unmis- 
takably clear that he does hold to purpose as 
a logical cause of phenomena in matter and 
energy. Such clear statements must do much 
to clarify the atmosphere of this seemingly 
everlasting discussion. 

The second interesting philosophical fea- 
ture requiring some attention here is this, that 
along with the deus ex machina postulated to 
guide the threads through the active loom of 
time, and along with the common, every-day 
forces of the physical sciences, which seem to 
be conceived as keeping the loom in operation, 
there seems also to be (though the author does 
not definitely bring this out) a third force, or 
at least a third kind of factor, which takes 
part in conditioning phenomena, namely, 
accident or chance. One comes away from a 
careful reading of the entire presentation with 
a feeling that vital phenomena are brought 
about through the interaction of these three 
groups of directing conditions, the X-entity, 
nature and chance. No doubt the author will 


484 SCIENCE 


agree, however, that chance is nothing but the 
very thing which emerges to some of us in his 
X-entity, just some complex of conditioning 
factors not yet known. 

Finally, the book before us is pedagogically 
nearly ideal, and it may be that its teleological 
philosophy is one of its strong points in this 
regard. As the author will assuredly agree, 
scientific research is one thing and the teach- 
ing of science quite another; the elementary 
teacher does not try to tell the whole truth, 
but only those portions which may best lead 
on to such a state of mind in the student as 
will some time, perhaps, enable him to under- 
stand a large portion of the truth. Now, con- 
sidering that physical causation is far too 
complex a subject even to be thought about 
adequately, until the thinking person has ac- 
cumulated a vast store of accurate scientific 
experience, it may well follow that a perfectly 
monistie philosophy would not serve at all in 
an elementary treatise, and that a somewhat 
devitalized dualism is the only sort of in- 
clined plane by which the scientifically un- 
trained mind may be led toward the highest 
and clearest altitudes of scientific philosophy. 

In conclusion, the book we have been con- 
sidering is one of the American Nature 
Series, is bound in green cloth with a gilt-or- 
namental back, and is about 4 centimeters 
thick. It will always be read lying on the 
table. The paper stock is very heavy, clay- 
coated and highly surfaced, so that the nu- 
merous half-tone illustrations are exceedingly 
satisfactory. It is, however, also true that the 
position of the book and reader must be prop- 
erly chosen to avoid dazzling high lights where 
the midnight lamp is reflected in the mirror- 
like surface of the paper. As with all such 
coated papers, a distinct odor of glue is per- 
ceptible throughout the reading; spattered 
water will play havoe with the pages. 


B. E. Livineston 


Studies in Luminescence. By Epw. L. 
NicHots and Ernest Merrirr. Published 
by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
1912. Royal 8vo, vi-+ 225 pp. 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 979 


The memoir represents the results of inves- 
tigation extending over a period of nine years. 
In large part it gives the experimental obser- 
vations made by the authors; but in it are also 
observations on one or another phase of the 
general subject, made by other observers, 
mainly, however, under the guidance of the 
authors. The work has been aided by occa- 
sional grants of money from the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, and the memoir is 
published by the institution. The material has 
been published previously in separate articles, 
most of which have appeared in the Physical 
Review; but it has now been given such con- 
tinuity of form and (in the last two chapters 
of the memoir) such valuable theoretical dis- 
cussion as to make the present publication one 
of unusual interest and value. 

The authors, during these years, have evi- 
dently kept steadily before themselves the 
intention of using the spectrophotometer to 
the farthest possible extent. The success with 
which they have held to such intention, in in- 
vestigations of a dozen or so of luminescent 
substances, is nothing short of remarkable. 
Measurements of intensities have been carried 
out far toward the edges of fluorescent and 
phosphorescent bands. In the cases of nearly 
all substances investigated, measurements were 
made to determine the exact form and extent 
of absorption bands corresponding to given 
luminescence bands. The dependence of the 
intensities of luminescence upon the wave- 
length of exciting light, and the distribution 
of intensities for some substances when excited 
by Roéntgen rays and by cathode rays, have 
been studied. More remarkable still is the ex- 
tent to which the spectrophotometer has been 
used in following the decay of phosphorescence 
at various wave-lengths in chosen bands. 
When one considers how weak the illumina- 
tions in the comparison fields of this instru- 
ment are, at the limits of a band or after some 
time of decay, the range of application which 
the method finds is surprising. Numerous set- 
tings were made with intensities in the com- 
parison fields so small as to convey to the 


observer no sensation of color. The concord- 


OctToBER 3, 1913] 


ance of results, obtained under widely varying 
conditions, bespeaks the care and patience with 
which unavoidable errors in individual read- 
ings have been ironed out by the law of 
averages. 

In following the decay of phosphorescence 
there is obviously a stage beyond which the 
spectrophotometer, on account of its waste- 
fulness and dispersion of light, is no longer 
applicable. In working beyond such limits 
with apparatus adapted to these researches 
from the methods of ordinary or gross photom- 
etry, Professors Nichols and Merritt took every 
eare to excite only that band with which they 
were at the time concerned. Where in a few 
eases this precaution could not be observed, 
great care was exercised to insure the desirable 
uniqueness of significance for the results. 
Two very important laws, established from the 
spectrophotometric measurements, add much 
to the significance of such measurements as 
were of necessity made by gross photometry. 
The laws express the individuality of behavior 
of a given luminescence band as a whole, 
throughout a wide range of conditions of exci- 
tation, and, in the case of phosphorescence, 
during decay. A band maintains measurably 
the same relative distribution of intensities 
and the same wave-length of maximum inten- 
sity. As the authors express it “the band be- 
haves as a unit.” It is, now, not unreasonable 
to assume that, beyond the limits of avail- 
ability of spectrophotometric methods, a given 
luminescence band still behaves as a unit, and 
that the measurements made thereafter on the 
band as a whole should indicate with fair cer- 
tainty how the intensities at the individual 
wave-lengths decay. 

Stokes’s law of photo-fluorescence, namely 
that the fluorescent light is of greater wave- 
length than the exciting light, is verified in its 
gross sense. But since in a large number of 
instances, the corresponding luminescence and 
absorption bands overlap, and since the whole 
of a given band may be excited by light of any 
wave-length within the region of absorption, it 
follows that, considered in detail, the law fre- 
quently fails. 

To these three important laws, and another 


SCIENCE 


485 


concerning the absence of polarization in the 
luminescence spectrum even when it is excited 
by polarized light, the authors add, from their 
own results and from those of other observers, 
some general “facts connected with the decay 
of phosphorescence.” These are—the form of 
the curve of decay; the hysteresis effect or the 
dependence of the form of decay curve upon 
the previous excitation to which the substance 
has been subjected; the effect of red and infra- 
red rays (ingeniously used to restore a sub- 
stance to a standard condition after each 
excitation) ; and the effect of high tempera- 
tures. 

Much work was done in the study of elec- 
trical properties of fluorescent solutions. This 
and the efforts of other investigators in the 
same field has led generally to negative results 
in the search for change in electrical resistance 
of solutions during fluorescence. 

Important also is the work done to reduce 
the initial observations, made by spectropho- 
tometer with diffused light of the acetylene 
flame as a comparison standard, to the funda- 
mental basis of energy curves, and that which 
was done to determine the specific exciting 
power (intensity of fluorescence excited per 
unit of absorbed energy) of various wave- 
lengths of exciting light. 

The last two chapters of the memoir are de- 
voted to the consideration of theories by means 
of which the experimental data thus far 
gathered may be related and explained. The 
discussion is notably interesting and lucid 
throughout. Chapter XIV. gives an outline 
of the dissociation theory of Wiedemann and 
Schmidt, and shows that it has already been 
applied with considerable success to the ex- 
planation of fluorescence in gases. In Chapter 
XY. the authors add such other hypotheses as 
would seem necessary to make this theory spe- 
cifically applicable to the problem in hand, and 
deduce therefrom laws which follow experi- 
mental results with surprising success—re- 
markable, indeed, when one considers how 
complex must be the processes which occur in 
luminescent solutions, solid and liquid. 

One of the valuable things accomplished by 
a memoir such as the one in review, collecting 


486 SCIENCE 


in orderly form and discussing as it does a vast 
amount of material of observation, is the 
pointing out of gaps in available data. The 
pages of these “studies” raise numerous ques- 
tions which must be settled in order that the 
whole fabric of luminescence theory may be 
further extended. Undoubtedly many of the 
questions so raised will be worked out in the 
same laboratories from which the present re- 
searches have been issued. 

Even thus far the work represented in the 
present memoir constitutes a most noteworthy 
series of researches in the general field of 
luminescence. Not only the care and patience 
with which the observations have been made, 
but much more the experimental acumen with 
which the methods and materials have been 
chosen and the illuminating discussions of 
theoretical character, all contribute to give 
these researches a place beside those of the 
middle of the past century by which E. Bec- 
querel blazed the way into this wonderfully 
interesting region. Recent developments in 
physics attach much more of importance to the 
phenomena of luminescence than could possi- 
bly have been foreseen in those earlier years, 
and it seems certain that further develop- 
ments, in this and allied branches of physics, 
will greatly enhance the value of the region as 


a field for research. 
F. E. Kester 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


NON-ELECTROLYTES AND THE COLLOID-CHEMICAL 
THEORY OF WATER ABSORPTION 


THE colloid-chemical theory best explains 
at the present time the absorption of water by 
protoplasm under various physiological and 
pathological conditions. The laws governing 
the absorption of water by such simple protein 
colloids as fibrin and gelatine, are point for 
point identical with those which we have 
known to govern the absorption of water by 
cells, tissues, organs, or the organism as a 
whole. Thus fibrin and gelatine swell more 
in any acid solution than in distilled water, 
while protoplasm does the same. The addition 
of any salt to the acid solution reduces the 
amount of this swelling, and this the more the 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 979 


higher the concentration of the salt. The 
same holds for protoplasm. At the same con- 
centration different salts arrange themselves 
in a characteristic order in this regard. The 
same order is observed in protoplasm. 

In this way it has been possible to explain 
without contradiction not only all those phe- 
nomena which are ordinarily said to prove the 
tenability of the laws of osmotic pressure for 
the processes of absorption and secretion, as 
observed in protoplasm under various patho- 
logical and physiological circumstances, but 
also the notable exceptions in behavior, which 
no one believes explainable on the osmotic 
basis. 

In the study of fibrin and gelatine, it was 
found that various non-electrolytes, such as 
sugars and alcohols, are relatively ineffective 
in reducing their swelling in the presence of 
any acid. Adherents to the osmotic theory of 
water absorption have made this statement 
read, entirely ineffective; and, because certain 
non-electrolytes bring about shrinking effects 
in various cells and tissues, have seen in this 
a valid reason for rejecting the dominant im- 
portance of the colloids and their state in 
determining the amount of water held by 
protoplasm. 

During the past year a systematic study of 
the effect of various non-electrolytes on the 
swelling of gelatine and fibrin has been un- 
dertaken. The effect of non-electrolytes 
upon these is identical with their effect upon 
protoplasm. The various organic compounds 
thus far studied (saccharose, dextrose, levulose 
glycerine, ethyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, propyl 
alcohol, propylene glycol, ete.) all decrease 
the swelling of gelatine or fibrin in either 
neutral or acid solution, and this the more 
the higher the concentration of the added 
compound. When equally concentrated (equi- 
molecular) solutions are compared the sugars 
are found to be more effective than the alco- 
hols in this regard. The same is true of pro- 
toplasm. The sugars among themselves are 
unequally effective in dehydrating protein 
colloids, and in a similar way are they un- 
equally effective in dehydrating living tissues. 


Eee 


OcToBER 3, 1913] 


We have defined the excess of water held by 
tissues under various abnormal circumstances 
and known under the varying names of exces- 
sive turgor, plasmoptysis, edema, etc., as a 
state of excessive hydration of the tissue col- 
loids, more particularly of the proteins. As 
the causes of this we have assigned any sub- 
stance or condition which, under the circum- 
stances surrounding the living cell, is capable 
of increasing the hydration capacity of its 
colloids. As the most potent of these causes 
we have regarded, and still regard, an abnor- 
mal production or accumulation of acid in 
the involved cell. Of other substances con- 
ceivably active in certain tissues, which thus 
increase the hydration capacity of the tissue 
colloids, we have studied urea. The addition 
of urea increases in all concentrations the 
swelling of gelatine and fibrin, and this the 
more the higher the concentration of the urea. 
In the higher concentrations of urea both gela- 
tine and fibrin are hydrated so heavily that 
they go into solution. The urea hydration is 
not a simple alkali effect, for acid in no con- 
centration counteracts it. The hydrating 
effects of acid and of urea are additive. 
There is, however, an interesting difference 
between the increased hydration brought 
about by acids and that induced by urea. 
While salts reduce the former, they do not 
affect the increased hydration induced through 
urea. On the other hand, various non-elec- 
trolytes which affect the hydration brought 
about by acids but little, reduce that produced 
by urea almost entirely. 

These facts, taken in conjunction with our 
previous studies on the colloid-chemistry of 
absorption and secretion, help toward an in- 
terpretation of certain well-known biological 
and medical facts. They explain on a colloid- 
chemical basis the behavior of the sugars and 
certain other organic substances in reducing 
the absorption of water by tissues. They ex- 
plain the cathartic action of glycerine, the 
sugars, ete. They also explain the diuretic 
action of these substances, accounting for the 
polyuria of diabetes, the relative dryness of 
the diabetic’s tissues and his thirst. We get 
an insight into the mechanism of urea hem- 


SCIENCE 


487 


olysis. Also we learn another method of 
dehydrating edematous tissues, which owe 
their excessive hydration to other circum- 
stances than the presence of acid or the ab- 
sence of salts. In addition to using sugar in 
order to correct the “acidosis” of certain 
pathological states from a biochemical point 
of view, we have made practical use of the 
above facts by using sugar along with the 
alkali and hypertonic salt mixtures previously 
recommended in combating the edemas of the 
eye (glaucoma), brain (uremia), medulla 
(pernicious vomiting), kidney (nephritis), and 
other organs observed in various clinical con- 
ditions. The use of dextrose along with salts 
and alkali in these conditions has yielded even 
better results than have previously been re- 
ported. 

A series of papers submitted for publication 
in the Kolloid Zeitschrift will shortly bring 
the details of these various findings. 


Martin H. Fiscurer 


ANNE SYKES 
EIcHBERG LABORATORY OF PHYSIOLOGY, 
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 


CHANGES DURING QUIESCENT STAGES IN THE 
METAMORPHOSIS OF TERMITES 


THERE have been several theories as to when 
the larvee of termites become differentiated to 
the various castes in the social organization, 
the prevalent theory being that undifferen- 
tiated larve are developed to the castes by the 
character of the food that they receive. The 
results of Heath’s’ experiments, however, to 
determine the relation of various kinds of food 
to polymorphism were negative. In case of 
the ants, Wheeler’? with Emery believes “the 
adult characters to be represented in the germ 
as dynamical potencies or tensions rather than 
morphological or chemical determinants” and 
that “nourishment, temperature and other en- 
vironmental factors merely furnish the condi- 


Heath, H., ‘‘The Habits of California Ter- 
mites,’’ Biol. Bull., Woods Hole, Vol. IV., De- 
cember, 1902, pp. 47-63. 

* Wheeler, W. M., ‘‘The Polymorphism of 
Ants,’’ Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXIIL., 
January, 1907, pp. 1-93. 


488 SCIENCE 


tions for the attainment of characters prede- 
termined by heredity.” Bugnion,’ studying 
Eutermes lacustris and Termes Redemanni 
Wasm. and Horni Wasm. states that the dif- 
ferentiation takes place during the embryo 
stage for the three castes, rather than undiffer- 
entiated larvee being developed to the castes by 
the character of the food they receive. 
Observations by the writer of molting sol- 
dier larve of Leucotermes spp. and Termopsis 
angusticollis Walk. show that the differentia- 
tion takes place during a “quiescent” * stage 
rather late in the life cycle. At this point a 
brief outline of the life cycle is necessary. 
In the metamorphosis of the above species 
the eggs hatch into active, undifferentiated 
larvee which develop to the various mature 
forms or castes by a gradual growth through a 
series of molts and quiescent stages. During 
the quiescent stage both the larve and nymphs 
pass through an inactive period, of compara- 
tively short duration, isolated, lying on the 
side, head bent down to lie on the ventral side 
of the body along which the antenne and legs 
also lie extended in a backward direction. The 
writer first observed molting larve in a quies- 
cent stage on August 11, 1911, in a colony 
near Jerseyville, Illinois. During April, 1912, 
the development of nymphs of the first and 
second forms of Leucotermes flavipes Kol. and 
virginicus Banks was observed at Falls 
Church, Virginia, and it was noted that both 
these nymphs passed through a quiescent stage 
in the final molt to the reproductive forms; 
nymphs of Termopsis angusticollis Walk. also 
pass through this quiescent stage. From the 
first to the middle of August, 1913, freshly 
molted, pigmentless soldiers of flavipes in the 
stage preceding maturity were noticeable in 
colonies in Virginia. On August 17, 1913, 
molting soldier larvee were found in the quies- 
cent stage in a colony of virginicus at Chain 


*Bugnion, Pr. E., ‘‘La différenciation des castes 
chez les Termites,’’ Bull. de la Société entomolo- 
gique de France, No. 8, April, 1913, pp. 213-18. 

‘Strickland, E. H., ‘‘A Quiescent Stage in the 
Development of Termes flavipes Kol.,’’ Journ. 
N.Y. Ent. Soc., Vol. XTX., No. 4, December, 1911, 
pp. 256-59. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 979 


Bridge, Virginia. During the quiescent stage 
differentiation took place. Larve to all ex- 
ternal appearances undifferentiated or of the 
worker type (as shown by the head, the man- 
dibles—with marginal teeth—and the labrum 
of the still adhering larval skin), the indi- 
viduals (virginicus) being over 3 mm. in 
length in the quiescent condition, antenne 
with 14 segments, develop at this molt to pig- 
mentless nymphs of soldiers with more elon- 
gate, soldier-like head and saber-like mandi- 
bles, without marginal teeth. In this stage 
the head, mandibles, labrum and ‘“ menton ” 
(Bugnion) have not attained the shape or 
length of those of the mature soldier, there 
being at least one later molt to maturity. 

Therefore, it may be stated that in case of 
Leucotermes spp. and Termopsis angusticollis 
Walk., the differentiation of the soldier caste 
occurs during a molt and quiescent stage 
rather late in the life cycle of the insect, the 
larve being previously, to all external appear- 
ances, undifferentiated. 

Tuomas E. SNYDER 
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, 
BRANCH OF ForREST INSECTS, 
September 11, 1913 


THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 


THE twentieth summer meeting and seventh 
colloquium of the American Mathematical 
Society were held at the University of Wis- 
consin during the week September 8-13, 1918. 
The attendance, which exceeded that of any 
previous summer meeting of the society, in- 
cluded fifty-seven members. The four sessions 
of the summer meeting proper, for the presen- 
tation of papers, occupied the first two days of 
the week. The first session opened with an 
address of welcome by Professor C. 8. Slichter 
in behalf of the University of Wisconsin and 
the local members of the society. The presi- 
dent of the society, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, 
occupied the chair at this and at the final ses- 
sion. Professor Oskar Bolza presided at the 
second, and Professor W. F. Osgood at the 
third session. The council announced the 
election of the following persons to member- 
ship in the society: Mr. W. E. Anderson, 


OcTOBER 3, 1913] 


Princeton University; Professor W. O. Beal, 
Tlinois College; Dr. C. A. Fischer, Columbia 
University; Professor A. E. Landry, Catholic 
University of America; Lieutenant Salih 
Mourad, Ottoman navy; Miss E. A. Weeks, 
Mount Holyoke College. Thirteen new appli- 
cations for membership were received. 

It was decided to hold the summer meeting 
of 1915 at San Francisco in connection with 
the Panama Exposition. The secretary re- 
ported that a separate office for the society had 
been provided by Columbia University and 
that the services of a clerk had been engaged 
for carrying on the considerable routine work 
of the secretary, treasurer, librarian, commit- 
tee of publication and shipping office. It was 
decided to issue the Register of the society 
hereafter at intervals of two or three years; 
in the intervening years only a mere list of 
officers and members will be published. Pro- 
fessor L. E. Dickson was appointed editor-in- 
chief of the Transactions, the other members 
of the editorial committee being at present 
Professors H. S. White and D. R. Curtiss. 
The society has recently published the Prince- 
ton Colloquium Lectures delivered at the 
sixth colloquium in 1909 by Professor G. A. 
Bliss on “ Fundamental existence theorems ” 
and Professor Edward Kasner on “ Differen- 
tial-geometric aspects of dynamics.” 

The arrangements made by the local com- 
mittee for the comfort and entertainment of 
the members throughout the week were per- 
fect. No place in the middle west could be 
more ideal for such a series of meetings than 
Madison. The spacious lecture halls of the 
university, the beautiful campus occupying an 
elevated position overlooking the capitol build- 
ing and the adjacent lakes, Mendota and 
Monona, the commodious University Club 
used as headquarters, and the hospitality of 
President Van Vleck and other members of 
the faculty who opened their homes for the 
entertainment of the members—these and 
many other items contributed to the success 
of the farthest west summer meeting and only 
western colloquium. 

On Monday evening President Van Vleck 
entertained at dinner the members of the 


SCIENCE 


489 


council and the colloquium lecturers. On 
Wednesday afternoon the committee provided 
a two-hours’ special excursion on Lake Men- 
dota, ending at the Golf Club House in time 
for the dinner, at which fifty-five persons sat 
down. President Van Vleck acted as toast- 
master and informal speeches were made by 
Professors Osgood, Bolza, Moore, Blichfeldt, 
Dickson and Dr. Jackson. A telegram was 
sent to the secretary, expressing appreciation 
of his services to the society and great regret 
at his enforced absence. At the close of the 
dinner Professor Ziwet voiced the unanimous 
sentiment in expressing thanks to the univer- 
sity and the committee on arrangements for 
their generous hospitality.. The dinner was 
followed by a moonlight ride on the lake 
back to the University Club. On Thursday 
the members were conducted by Professor 
Skinner about the campus and buildings of the 
university; and on Friday an automobile ride 
was provided by the mathematical faculty and 
their friends, giving the members a fine oppor- 
tunity to see the immediate surroundings of 
Madison. This ended in a most enjoyable 
buffet dinner at the home of President Van 
Vleck. 

The following papers were read at the four 
sessions of the summer meeting: 


E. B. Lytle: ‘‘Note on iterable fields of in- 
tegration.’ 

W. H. Bussey: 
Steiner. ’’ 

Josephine E. Burns: ‘‘The abstract definitions 
of the groups of degree eight.’ 

William Marshall: ‘‘The functions of the para- 
bolic eylinder.’’ 

L. C. Karpinski: ‘‘The algorism of John Kill- 
ingworth.’’ 

R. D. Carmichael: ‘‘On series of iterated linear 
fractional functions. ’’ 

R. D. Carmichael: ‘‘Some theorems on the con- 
vergence of series.’’ 

T. E. Mason: ‘‘The character of the solutions 
of certain functional equations.’’ 

E. B. Van Vleck and F. T. H’Doubler: ‘‘On 
certain functional equations. ’’ 

Oskar Bolza: ‘‘On the so-called ‘abnormal’ case — 
of Lagrange’s problem in the calculus of varia- 
tions.’’ 


‘<The tactical problem of 


490 


E. R. Hedrick and W. D. A. Westfall: ‘‘An 
existence theorem for implicit functions.’’ 

R. G. D. Richardson: ‘‘A solution of the Ray- 
leigh minimum problem in the theory of sound.’’ 

G. C. Evans: ‘‘The Cauchy problem for integro- 
differential equations.’’ 

Dunham Jackson: ‘‘ A formula for trigonometric 
interpolation. ’’ 

J. W. Alexander, II.: ‘‘Proof of the invariance 
of certain constants in analysis situs.’’ 

J. E. Rowe: ‘‘On Fermat’s theorem and related 
theorems (first paper).’’ 

J. E. Rowe: ‘‘On Fermat’s theorem and related 
theorems (second paper).’’ 

Maxime Bocher: ‘‘The infinite regions of vari- 
ous geometries. ’’ 

W. F. Osgood: ‘‘On functions of several vari- 
ables which are meromorphic or analytic at in- 
finity.’’ 

W. F. Osgood: ‘‘Note on line integrals on an 
algebraic surface f(z, y, 2) —=0.’’ 

E. H. Moore: ‘‘On a class of continuous func- 
tional operations associated with the class of con- 
tinuous functions on a finite linear interval (pre- 
liminary communication).’’ 

A. R. Schweitzer: ‘‘On a general category of 
definitions of betweenness.’’ 

A. R. Schweitzer: ‘‘The theory of linear vectors 
in Grassmann’s extensive algebra.’’ 
A. R. Schweitzer: ‘‘ Remarks 

equations. ’? 

A. R. Schweitzer: ‘‘The general logical signifi- 
cance of uniformity of convergence of series.’’ 

Edward Kasner: ‘‘On the ratio of the are to 
the chord for analytic eurves.’’ 

EK. L. Dodd: ‘‘The arithmetic mean as approxi- 
mately the most probable value a posteriori under 
the Gaussian law.’’ 

E. J. Wilezynski: ‘‘On the surfaces whose di- 
rectrix curves are indeterminate.’’ 


on functional 


J. B. Shaw: ‘‘On the transverse of a linear vec- 
tor operator of m dimensions.’’ 

Florian Cajori: ‘‘Zeno’s arguments on motion.?? 

O. E. Glenn: ‘‘Note on a translation principle 
connecting the invariant theory of line congruences 
with that of plane n-lines.’’ 

F. R. Sharpe: ‘‘Conies through inflections of 
self-projective quartics.’’ 

F. R. Sharpe and C. F. Craig: ‘‘Plane curves 
with consecutive double points.’’ 

Mildred L. Sanderson: ‘‘A method of construct- 
ing binary modular covariants.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 979 


H. M. Sheffer: ‘‘Superpostulates: introduction 
to the science of deductive systems.’’ 

H. M. Sheffer: ‘‘A set of six independent pos- 
tulates for Boolean algebras.’’ 

R. M. Winger: ‘‘Self-projective rational sex- 
ties.’? 

R. M. Winger: ‘‘Self-projective rational sep- 
timies’’ (preliminary report). 

M. Fréchet: ‘‘Sur la notion de differentielle 
d’une fonction de ligne.’’ 

Kurt Laves: ‘‘A new theorem concerning the 
motion of two satellites of finite masses circu- 
lating in nearly commensurable motions of type 
3 about a central and homogeneous body of ellip- 
soidal shape.’’ 

-H. F. Blichfeldt: ‘‘On the order of linear 
homogeneous groups (fifth paper).’’ 

T. R. Running: ‘‘Graphical solutions of differ- 
ential equations between two variables.’’ 

R. P. Baker: ‘‘The genus of a group.’’ 

R. P. Baker: ‘‘The topological configurations 
occurring in finite geometries. ’’ 

R. D. Carmichael: ‘‘On Fermat’s theorem and 
related theorems.’’ 

H. W. March: ‘‘Integral and series representa- 
tions of an arbitrary function in terms of spher- 
ical harmonics.’’ 

The colloquium opened on Wednesday 
morning and occupied the rest of the week. 
Two courses of five lectures each were given 
by Professor L. E. Dickson on “Certain as- 
pects of a general theory of invariants, with 
special consideration of modular invariants 
and modular geometry,” and Professor W. F. 
Osgood on “ Topics in the theory of functions 
of several complex variables.” Printed syl- 
labi of the lectures had been distributed in 
advance of the meeting. Fifty-one persons 
attended the lectures, a larger number than at 
any previous colloquium. An abstract of the 
lectures will be published in the Bulletin of 
the society. 

The next meeting of the society will be 
held at Columbia University on Saturday, 
October 25. The San Francisco Section will 
meet on the same day at Stanford University. 
The annual meeting of the Southwestern Sec- 
tion will be held at the University of Missouri 
on Saturday, November 29. 

H. E. Staueut, 
Acting Secretary 


CIENCE 


NEW SERIES SINGLE CopiEs, 15 Crs. 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 980 Fripay, OcroBER 10, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.60 


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= 


CONTENTS 


Medical Education in the United States: Dr. 
GRAHAM LUSK 


491 


The Botanical Exploration of Ambowma by 
the Bureau of Science, Manila: Dr. ELMER 


ID SPMERR IT DME eriiet roietersievevcishatsiclei sista rate 499 


1913 502 


The Microorganism causing Epidemic Polio- 


myelitis 504 
506 


510 


Scientific Notes and News ........-.-....-. 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Pelycosaurian Mandible: Proressor S. 
W. Wituiston. The Distance House Flies, 
Blue Bottle and Stable Flies may travel 
Over Water: Proressor C. F. Hover. The 


Word ‘‘Fungus’’: PROFESSOR J.C. ARTHUR. 512 


Quotations :— 
The American University from Two Points 
of View 514 


Scientific Books :— 
Determination of Time, Longitude, Latitude 
and Azimuth: Davin RINES. Carpenter on 
the Climate and Weather of San Diego, Cali- 


fornia: WILLIAM G. REED 514 


Notes on Meteorology and Climatology :— 
International Meteorology; Evaporation 
from Lake Surfaces; Volcanoes and Cli- 


mate: CHARLES F. BROOKS .............. 519 


Degrees conferred by the University of Bir- 


mingham 621 


The New International Diamond Carat of 200 


Milligrams: Dr. GHorGE F, Kunz ........ 523, 


Special Articles :— 
The Mechanism of Fertilization: PROFESSOR 
FRANK R. LILLIE 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
Teview should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


oo 
MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED 
STATES1 
HISTORICAL 


Tue first medical school in the United 
States was organized in 1765 in connection 
with the University of Pennsylvania by Dr. 
W. Shippen, the anatomist, and Dr. John 
Morgan, both of whom had been favorite 
pupils of the Hunters in London and were 
graduates of Edinburgh. The Harvard 
Medical School was founded in 1783 by 
Dr. John Warren, who had been a military 
surgeon in the army from the battle of 
Bunker Hill until ill health forced his re- 
tirement. Anatomy was taught by dem- 
onstrations, but in 1809 a room was opened 
which offered to students opportunities 
for dissection similar to those given by the 
Hunters in London. It is stated that these 
facilities were superior to those obtainable 
on the continent of Europe. 

As time went on there was a great in- 
crease in the number of medical schools; 
the older schools either dropped their uni- 
versity affiliation or this became nominal. 
The ‘‘proprietory school’’ arose, in which a 
few practising physicians came together 
for the purpose of giving lecture courses 
and clinics to medical students during a 
period of five months each year. The stu- 
dents listened to the same courses during 
two successive terms and, after passing an 
examination, received the degree of M.D. 
eighteen months subsequent to the begin- 
ning of their medical studies. Attempts to 
raise the standard of medical education 
were always accompanied by a loss of fees, 


1A report prepared for the International Con- 
ference on Post-graduate Medical Education held 
at the time of the Seventeenth International Med- 
ical Congress, London, 1913. 


492 


the mass of the students invariably going to 
the medical school which offered the med- 
ical degree in the shortest and cheapest 
manner. In the later days of the proprie- 
tory school, some of the faculties divided 
their fees so that each professor who had 
taught four hours ‘a week, during five 
months in the year, received eight or ten 
thousand dollars for his services. 

The schools not being endowed could not 
exist with a high standard. At first they 
served an excellent purpose in the widely 
separated and rapidly growing communi- 
ties in which they were situated. It must 
be remembered how different the conditions 
were from those existent in the densely 
settled countries of Europe with their well- 
endowed institutions of learning. 

Prior to 1870, no laboratories existed ex- 
cept those of anatomy, so that the expense 
of maintenance of the proprietory medical 
school could always be kept at a minimum, 
and large sums could be distributed among 
its beneficiaries. This was the general con- 
dition of affairs as late as fifteen years ago. 
Professorial positions were often obtained 
by the ability to control a hospital service, 
family influence or personal friendship. 
These conditions persist, in part, to-day. 
Many able men were thus drafted, but also 
many mediocrities achieved thereby un- 
earned distinction in the community. The 
conditions existing in Harvard, one of the 
best schools, during the régime of the two- 
year course, showed that the student was 
compelled to listen to as many as five suc- 
cessive lectures on a single day between the 
hours of nine and two o’clock on such di- 
versified subjects as materia medica, chem- 
istry, medicine, obstetrics and anatomy. 
The last hour was assigned to anatomy, for 
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was the only 
one who could hold the exhausted student’s 
attention.” 

2¢¢Tife and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 980 


The old-time school, now little more than 
a memory, has been dwelt upon because of 
the powerful influence it has had in yield- 
ing a mass of mediocre physicians whose 
existence can not, in any other manner, be 
explained. Some American physicians 
kept abreast of the world’s knowledge, but 
conditions were such that the great mass of 
their pupils were started ill-educated on 
their careers on account of lack of oppor- 
tunity and lack of the inculeation of the 
right ideals. This faulty education could 
only be remedied in a few instances by per- 
sonal industry or by foreign study. Emi- 
nent professors assured their students that 
they were receiving the best education the 
world -afforded, and yet, in 1871, Germany 
had eighteen of its present twenty regu- 
larly established institutes of physiology, 
at the same time that Bowditch, fresh from 
Ludwig’s laboratory, modestly offered to 
senior medical students ‘‘opportunities for 
original investigations in the laboratory.’’ 
It was also in 1871 that Eliot introduced a 
graded three-year course at the Harvard 
Medical School. This was symptomatic of 
the broader cultural development of a pro- 
vincial people which followed the struggles 
of the civil war, and yet it is only within 
the last ten years that laboratories, other 
than those of anatomy and gross pathology, 
have. become acknowledged essentials of 
medical schools of the highest class. It is 
due to this fact that the discipline in anat- 
omy was always strong and rigorous. The 
controllme influence over the anatomical 
department was the professor of surgery 
who had advanced directly through that 
path, and the younger men in charge of 
the dissections were practising surgeons 
who hoped to become skillful through exact 
anatomical knowledge. All emphasis was 
laid upon practical application, and a huge 
mass of memorized details were crowded 
into the brain of the submissive student. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


The intimacy between anatomy and sur- 
gery and the rigor of the discipline did 
much to equip American surgeons with a 
practical power which was of great value. 
This relation is shown to-day in the ex- 
amination questions asked by the old-school 
surgeon, which are frequently half of them 
questions of anatomy. 


THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF MEDICAL EDUCA- 
TION 


With the development of higher scien- 
tific standards, the teaching of anatomy has 
been turned over to specialists, preeminent 
of whom is F. P. Mall. The twenty leading 
medical schools in the United States have 
anatomical laboratories, in charge of full- 
time professors, with competent, trained 
assistants, engaged in teaching and re- 
search. These laboratories also embrace 
embryology and histology. Some of the 
laboratories have come under the influence 
of the teachings of the American biologists, 
of men like C. S. Minot, E. B. Wilson, T. 
H. Morgan, E. G. Conklin, Charles B. 
Davenport, R. G. Harrison and Jacques 
Loeb. The mention of these names is pro- 
phetic of accomplishment when American 
medical schools shall be so organized that 
they can produce masters of modern medi- 
cine. 

Reference has been made to Bowditch’s 
influence at Harvard, but physiology in 
America also owes an important debt to H. 
Newell Martin of the English school. Mar- 
tin established a graduate school in physi- 
ology at the Johns Hopkins University in 
1876, and inspired many of the best workers 
in the country in physiology and biology. 
At present the better medical colleges have 
well-equipped physiological laboratories 
with full-time professors. The English sys- 
tem of obligatory student instruction in the 
physiological laboratory has been adopted 
and extended in the United States. 


SCIENCE 


493 


For the development of physiological 
chemistry, the country owes much to 
Chittenden, who studied with Kiihne, and 
who, with tireless energy and fine capacity, 
trained numerous pupils who have charge 
of departments of physiological chemistry 
to-day. Under the old proprietory school 
system, there was, necessarily, a professor 
of chemistry who taught the elements of the 
science. It has, therefore, been an easy 
task to develop a special department of 
physiological chemistry in connection with 
all of the better schools. This has been 
very helpful, since there has been no de- 
partment of medical science the world 
over which has more broadly developed dur- 
ing late years. Practical laboratory exer- 
cises for all the students are compulsory. 

The English can well realize the influence 
which Cushny, a pupil of Schmiedeberg, 
has exerted in establishing pharmacology 
in the United States. Through his pupils, 
and through Abel and Sollman and their 
pupils, medical students are, themselves, 
able to experimentally determine the be- 
havior of drugs upon the anesthetized, 
functionating organism. 

The new German pathology was intro- 
duced into the country, by W. H. Welch, 
at the Bellevue Medical College and by T. 
Mitchell Prudden, at Columbia, who were 
both in New York City during the seventies 
and early eighties. New York was not then 
a scientific center, and the Johns Hopkins 
University, in 1884, offered Welch a pro- 
fessorship of pathology, which subse- 
quently led to the development of a life of 
ereat usefulness, of unselfishly exerted 
power, and well-deserved distinction. The 
spirit of the influence was shown in a 
speech at a dinner given in New York 
seven years ago in honor of Friedrich 
Miller when Welch said: ‘‘It is through 
the laboratory that Germany has attained 
her primacy in medicine, and she will not 


494 


yield that primacy because she knows what 
is good for her.’’ Many excellent men have 
been trained in Welch’s laboratory and 
through them, as well as through pupils of 
Prudden, pathology is well taught in the 
better American schools. One very great 
handicap to medical progress les in the 
laws relating to the autopsy of the hospital 
dead. In the seventies, when E. G. Jane- 
way and Francis Delafield were laying the 
foundation of their masterful comprehen- 
sion of the science of medicine, it was easy 
for them to follow the course of disease 
and see the results at autopsy if the pa- 
tient died. But now the New York law 
forbids an autopsy without consent of the 
next of kin, instead of accepting the more 
rational plan of permitting autopsy unless 
objection is offered within twenty-four 
hours by the next of kin. The difficulties 
to be overcome before an autopsy is al- 
lowed are such that only 10 per cent. of 
the patients dying in Bellevue Hospital, 
with its twelve hundred beds, are actually 
autopsied. A: grotesque reflection upon 
this foolish system is shown in the fact that 
these 10 per cent. of autopsies indicate in- 
correct diagnosis in a large percentage of 
the cases. The following is the record in 
one large public hospital of 390 autopsies 
in the year 1912, as compiled by Oertel. 


Per 

Cases Cent. 

Clinical diagnosis confirmed......... 87 = 22.3 
Clinical diagnosis correct but important 

additional lesions found........... 116 «29.7 

Clinical diagnosis partly correct..... 54 13.8 

Clinical\ diagnosis not confirmed...... 109 27.9 

No clinical diagnosis.............--- 24 6.3 

390 100.0 


If the physician were sure that, in case 
of death, his diagnosis would be checked by 
the pathologist, he would be likely to exer- 
cise greater care in his work, and he and 
his pupils would learn to better understand 
the limitations of diagnosis. Also, the value 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


of vital statistics would be immeasurably 
enhanced. 

This very ill-advised policy on the part 
of the law-making power has had a further 
effect of discouraging pathological mor- 
phology, so that many pathological labor- 
atories have turned attention to experi- 
mental pathology or experimental medicine, 
for which latter separate departments have 
sometimes been instituted. The enforced 
neglect of morphological pathology has 
been a grave obstacle in the path of medical 
progress. 


THE SECOND TWO YEARS OF THE MEDICAL 
COURSE 


For thirty years, it has been possible to 
train laboratory workers in the medical 
sciences according to the best principles, 
and in increasing measure both men and 
opportunity have been developed. It 
seems passing strange that, with all this 
activity, it is only very recently that the 
clinical situation has been touched. Men 
have passed through the schooling of the 
laboratories, and then, for two final years 
of education, have been, and usually still are, 
turned over to clinicians the majority of 
whom have had no laboratory training, and 
the student has graduated, and still grad- 
uates, without knowing the application of 
the fundamental medical sciences to the 
practise of his profession. Halliburton 
has epitomized the situation in the words, 
“«The student forgets his physiology at the 
bedside.’’ It is well for the clinician to 
assure the teachers of the fundamental sci- 
ences that they do best when they emphasize 
the importance of the practical application 
of their scientific knowledge, but this is 
only half the story. The more important 
half lies in the necessity that the clinical 
teacher should know in what way the 
fundamental sciences are helpful in the 
understanding of medicine. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


The conditions in the United States have 
only recently so begun to improve that 
there begins to be a distinct incentive for 
a young clinician to definitely formulate a 
career as a medical teacher. Three years 
ago, in New York City, there was no hos- 
pital which could offer a continuous serv- 
ice. If any one were interested in scientific 
research, he might work for three months 
in his wards, at the end of which time he 
was turned out by a successor who might 
care nothing for research. The admirable 
example of the close affiliation between the 
hospital and medical school at the Johns 
Hopkins was long ignored. The whole 
situation was most unsatisfactory from an 
educational standpoint. 

At the present time Columbia has 
formed an affiliation with the Presbyterian 
Hospital, the Cornell Medical School one 
with the New York Hospital, similar al- 
liances exist in Cleveland, St. Louis and in 
other localities and, in Boston, the Harvard 
Medical School controls the appointments 
to the Peter Brent Brigham Hospital. The 
arrangements are, for the most part, tem- 
porary and experimental. The last-named 
union has enabled the new Brigham Hos- 
pital and the Harvard Medical School to 
attract from different parts of the country 
some of the best minds in the United 
States. It is of happy augury that men 
who, often at the expense of poverty and 
mental anxiety, of illiberal criticism and 
even of personal abuse, have labored to at- 
tain high professional rank through scien- 
tific endeavor, should be given the oppor- 
tunity to achieve a better condition of 
medical scholarship. There is here embod- 
ied the true spirit of the possibility of con- 
quest of the material by the intellectual. 
The appointments at Harvard were made 
for merit and were not due to local celeb- 
rity or to the desire to satisfy relatives or 
personal associates. Of all the traditions 


SCIENCE 


495 


inherited from the days of the proprietory 
school, the faculty perquisite of the ap- 
pointment of local mediocrity to important 
clinical positions dies the hardest. It is 
still too easy to appoint to a professorship 
a man without scientific or educational in- 
terests. Yet such misuse of power is grad- 
ually becoming less and less possible. 

There has been much discussion of late 
years regarding the duties of a university 
professor of a clinical subject. Effort has 
been made to have him renounce all private 
practise. This ideal state has not yet been 
put to the test but arrangements are now 
in progress for its introduction into one of 
the best schools. President Vincent, of the 
University of Minnesota, presents the un- 
solved problem of the clinical teacher in 
the following words: 

You realize how difficult it is to persuade a 
man who is making $25,000 a year from his prac- 
tise on the outside to accept a position of $3,000 
on the inside. If you can get hold of the un- 
sophisticated medical man before he owns an auto- 
mobile, much may be accomplished, but after he 
once yields to the insidious motor car, nothing can 
be done in the way of regeneration. 


The best class of university professors 
accept only a strictly consultation practise 
and do not receive patients for treatment 
except in their own hospitals. The pro- 
fessor of medicine at Columbia has devoted 
five hours daily to his work in the school 
and the affiliated Presbyterian Hospital, 
and his associate does not practise. Herein 
lies the kernel of reformation. The uni- 
versity should emphatically require that 
the welfare of its affiliated hospital, the pa- 
tients therein and the throng of young 
physicians who are being educated, should 
be considered as of at least equal im- 
portance to the maintenance of regular 
office hours by the physicians in charge. 
Progress in the right direction is now being 
accomplished. The increasing spirit of 


496 


scientific research among the younger men 
is sign of hope for the future. 

The hospital teaching of medical students 
is being rapidly improved by the introduc- 
tion of the English system of clinical 
clerks, which was first used in America by 
Osler at the Johns Hopkins. Patients are 
assigned to different students who follow 
carefully the course of the disease, using 
laboratory methods, and perhaps finally 
preparing a thesis upon a group of cases or 
some particularly interesting case, present- 
ing also the literature concerning similar 
cases. Some of these theses are worth pub- 
lishing and thus approach the German 
‘*Doktorarbeit.’’ 

The special medical subjects, such as the 
eye, ear, ete., are treated by local special- 
ists, as is the custom elsewhere. At the 
Johns Hopkins, special hospitals for 
psychiatry and for pediatrics have recently 
been opened and placed under the direction 
of first-class men. 

After receiving his diploma, the medical 
student usually spends a year or two as a 
hospital interne. The Council on Medical 
Education of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation reports that of 2,004 physicians 
graduating during a year from 40 of the 
better class medical schools, 1,403 or 70 
per cent. received hospital internships. At 
Harvard, 90 per cent. of the men followed 
this custom. It is strongly advised by the 
council that a year of hospital internship 
be made compulsory before license to prac- 
tise medicine is allowed. The 4,000 hos- 
pitals in the country would afford ample 
facilities: 

Mention should be made of the influence 
of the Rockefeller Institute in New York, 
the McCormick Institute for Infectious 
Diseases and the Sprague Memorial Insti- 
tute in Chicago, the Wistar Institute 
of Anatomy in Philadelphia and other 
examples of well-endowed research insti- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


tutions which, for the most part, have 
set an example of idealistic accomplish- 
ment that has been of aid to the develop- 
ment of higher aims of medical achieve- 
ment. It would be of little value to set 
forth at this time the extent and cost of 
buildings devoted to medical education in 
the United States for the essential factor is 
the spirit of the institutions themselves 
rather than their material embodiment. In 
commenting on the behavior of a certain 
young professor who complained that he 
could not work on account of lack of lab- 
oratory facilities, Carl Voit once said: 
“Kr ist faul. Er will nicht arbeiten. 
Man kann in einem ganz kleinen Zimmer 
arbeiten.’’ It is not lavish expenditure but 
the right spirit that is needed. 


INFLUENCE OF AGENCIES FOR PUBLIC 
WELFARE 


There have been various helpful agencies 
at work which have wrought wonderful ad- 
vances in medical education in the United 
States. The country is thought to be nat- 
urally conservative, and the medical pro- 
fession especially so. The cause of this is 
partly explained by quoting Vincent again. 

They (the American people) usually display hos- 
tility or, at least, derisive disrespect for the spe- 
cialized and their opinions. To the unspecialized 
average man, the expert is in a way a personal af- 
front. He suggests the idea of a superior class 
and seems to reflect on the competence of the ordi- 
nary citizen. This feeling is a natural survival of 
the early days, especially on the frontier. 


To complete the picture and show how 
difficult is reform in America, whether of 
medical education or of the tariff or of the 
currency, one has only to recall the re- 
mark of A. B. Macallum that the progress 
of the world is accomplished by one thou- 
sandth of one per cent. of its inhabitants. 

The battle for correct principles and 
ideals regarding medical education has 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


been waged by certain of the medical men 
themselves who have been unsparing critics 
of the old-fashioned methods. 

Helpful agencies have been especially 
the Council on Medical Education of the 
American Medical Association composed of 
six individuals, and Abraham Flexner, 
who prepared a report on the condition of 
the medical schools of the country for the 
Carnegie Foundation. 

The medical problem is not a simple one. 
There are 49 states and each state has its 
own examination for the license of its 
physicians. There is no national control, 
and the standards vary greatly. Thus, in 
twenty-seven states, the law gives the li- 
censing board the power to refuse recog- 
nition to the graduates of low-grade med- 
ical colleges, a power too little made use 
of. In four states, it is not even necessary 
that an applicant for medical license be a 
graduate of a reputable medical college, 
and the authorities of Tennessee, in 1912, 
presented the spectacle of licensing 175 in- 
dividuals who were not graduates of any 
medical school whatever. 

In 1904, when the Council on Medical 
Education began its activities, there were 
166 medical schools in the country, which 
was about one half of the world’s supply. 
There are now 110 in contrast with 21 in 
England, 20 in Germany, 20 in Italy and 
5 in France. 

The reduction in the number of medical 
schools by extinction or merger has been 
the happy outcome of severe and public 
criticism. The Council on Medical Educa- 
tion set to work to bring about conform- 
ance to certain standards which may be 
thus abbreviated: (1) A higher entrance 
requirement which includes a year’s work 
in chemistry, physics and biology, as given 
in the universities. (2) The presence of 
at least six full-time professors in the 
fundamental sciences in charge of thor- 


SCIENCE 


497 


oughly equipped laboratories in which the 
student works during his first two years. 
(3) Two years of clinical work in hospitals 
and dispensaries. (4) A post-graduate 
year as interne in an approved hospital. 
(5) The medical teaching to be of high 
excellence. 

As an instance of notable accomplish- 
ment, it may be stated that whereas in 
1904 only four of the 166 medical colleges 
required more than a four-year high school 
course for entrance, and the majority of 
the others admitted all who applied, at 
present sixty medical schools have adopted 
the higher entrance requirements and six 
states have adopted two years of univer- 
sity work as a necessary preliminary to 
the medical course. 

An effective stimulus to medical educa- 
tion has come through the grading of med- 
ical schools into four different classes. 
This has been done as the result of personal 
inspection. The Council has recently pub- 
lished its third grading. In Class A Plus 
there are 22 acceptable medical colleges 
giving a four-year course. In Class A 
there are 31 colleges lacking in certain re- 
spects but otherwise acceptable and giving 
a four-year course. In Class B there are 
22 colleges needing general improvement 
to be made acceptable and giving a four- 
year course. In Class C there are 27 col- 
leges requiring complete reorganization to 
make them acceptable. Besides this, there 
are eight institutions offering only the first 
two years of medicine and there are four 
schools for the colored race, two in Class A 
and two in Class C. 

The publication of these classifications 
has been of inestimable benefit in creating 
public sentiment against unworthy institu- 
tions. The work was greatly advanced in 
the Flexner report which gave detailed de- 
scriptions of abominable conditions in low- 
grade schools. Dr. Henry 8. Pritchett, 


498 SCIENCE 


head of the Carnegie Foundation, has re- 
cently stated that the full power of the 
foundation, to whatever extent may be 
necessary, will be used in the crusade 
against the worthless medical schools 
throughout the country. It is certainly 
right to insist upon the closing of a di- 
ploma mill, the physiological apparatus of 
which consists solely of a sphygmograph, 
when, in the same city, a physiological lab- 
oratory exists in which the annual budget 
reaches $30,000, and yet these two differ- 
ent medical institutions have been main- 
tained under the laws of the same state, 
and, until this year, their graduates have 
been treated on equal footing by the state 
board of examiners. The fact that this low- 
grade school does not appear in the list of 
fully registered colleges this year shows 
how the state can use its power to protect 
its citizens. The legal power to defend the 
community from the ill-educated lies with 
the state boards who examine for the li- 
cense to practise. In 1912, 5,466 physi- 
cians were so licensed as the result of ex- 
aminations in the various states. A com- 
mon standard would be highly desirable 
which would allow a physician licensed in 
one state to practise in another. At pres- 
ent it may happen that an impostor driven 
from one state can readily obtain a license 
to practise in another, and there continue 
his misdeeds. This condition of affairs will 
not much longer be tolerated. 


CONCLUSION 

It is lightly stated by some that the best 
American schools are equal to those of 
Europe. It would be satisfying if one 
could really believe that this were true. 
The American has never been self-satisfied 
and he is outgrowing his ancient habit of 
boasting, but he has always desired the 
best and there is much hope that out of 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 980 


present conditions he will some time evolve 
the best. 
APPENDIX 

1913. Class A Plus.—Acceptable medical col- 
leges well organized and thoroughly equipped, giv- 
ing acceptable courses and requiring for admission 
one or more years of university science. Prepared 
by the Council on Medical Education of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association. 


State Town Institution 
California, San Francisco, Leland Stanford, 
Jr., University. 
San Francisco, University of Cali- 
fornia. 
New Haven, Yale Medical 
School. 

Northwestern Uni- 
versity Medical 
School. 

Chicago, Rush Medical 
School (Univer- 
sity of Chicago). 

Indianapolis, Indiana University 

Medical School. 

State University of 

Towa. 

New Orleans, Tulane University 
of Louisiana. 

Baltimore, Johns Hopkins 

University Med- 
ical Department. 

Harvard Medical 


Connecticut, 


Illinois, Chicago, 


Indiana, 
Iowa, Iowa City, 
Louisiana, 


Maryland, 


Massachusetts, Boston, 


School. 
Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of 
Michigan. 
Minnesota, Minneapolis, University of 
Minnesota. 
Missouri, St. Louis, Washington Uni- 
versity Medical 
School. 
New York, New York, Columbia Univer- 
sity. 
New York, Cornell University. 
New York, New York Univer- 
sity and Bellevue 
Hospital Medical 
School. 
Syracuse, Syracuse Univer- 
sity. 
Ohio, Cincinnati, University of Cin- 
cinnati. 
Cleveland, Western Reserve 


University. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, University of Penn- 
sylvania. 
Texas, Galveston, University of 
Texas. 
Virginia, Charlottesville, University of Vir- 
ginia. 
REFERENCES 


BARDEEN, CHARLES H. Anatomy in America. 
Bulletin 115 of the University of Wisconsin, 
1905. 

Council on Medical Education of the American 
Medical Association: A Model Medical Cur- 
ticulum. A report of a committee of one hun- 
dred leading educators of the United States and 
Canada, 1909. 

Council on Medical Education: Reports of the 
sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth meetings in the 
American Medical Association Bulletin, Educa- 
tional Numbers, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1910; Vol. 6, No. 
3, 1911; Vol. 7, No. 4, 1912, and Vol. 8, No. 4, 
1913. 

FLEXNER, ABRAHAM. . Medical Education in the 
United States and Canada, a report to the Car- 
negie Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching, 1910. 

JANEWAY, THEODORE C. The Organization of an 
American University Medical Clinic. Columbia 
College Quarterly, 1912, Vol. 14, p. 260. 

Council on Medical Education: Third Classification 
of Medical Colleges of the United States. 
Journal of the American Medical Association, 
1913, Vol. 60, p. 1623. 

BEyAN, ARTHUR D. Ninth Annual Report of the 
Chairman of the Council of Medical Education. 
Journal of the American Medical Association, 
1913, Vol. 60, p. 2013. 

OERTEL, Horst and LEWINSKI-CorwIN, E. H. Re- 
port on the post-mortem examinations in the 
United States. Journal of the American Med- 
ical Association, 1913, Vol. 60, p. 1984. 

OrRTEL, Horst. The Inaccuracy of American 
Mortality Statistics. The American Under- 
writers Magazine and Insurance Review, 1913, 


Vol. 39, p. 137. 
Gbeeh ay GraHam Lusk 


CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE, 
New York City 


THE BOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF 
AMBOINA BY THE BUREAU 
OF SCIENCE, MANILA 


GrorcE EprrnarD Rumer (Latin Rumphius) 
died in Amboina, Netherlands East Indies, in 


SCIENCE 


499 


the year 1702, after a period of residence there 
of about thirty years. Some years after his 
death there was published in Amsterdam, 
under the editorship of J. Burmann, his great 
botanical work, the “ Herbarium Amboinense.” 
This monumental work consists of six folio 
volumes, comprising about 1,660 pages and 
669 plates with approximately 960 figures, and 
with the accompanying “ Actuarium” was 
published during the years 1741 to 1755. 
Linneus did not receive a copy of the pub- 
lished parts until too late to incorporate the 
plants described in his “ Species Plantarum.” 
The work, then, as to nomenclature is pre- 
Linnean, although binomial designations for 
the plants described are abundant in it. 

The “Herbarium Amboinense” has at all 
times since its publication been a work of 
great botanical interest and is to-day one of 
the basic works for the student of the Ma- 
layan flora. For the proper interpretation of 
many species proposed by later authors, by 
citation of Rumpf, reference to the “ Her- 
barium Amboinense” is absolutely essential. 

In 1754 Olof Stickman, one of Linnzus’s 
students, published his dissertation entitled 
“Herbarium Amboinense,” a small pamphlet 
of 28 pages, which was reprinted by Linneus 
in 1759 in his “ Amcentates Academice,” IV., 
pp. 112-143. In this work somewhat over 300 
of the plants figured by Rumpf are reduced to 
species proposed by Linnzeus in the first edi- 
tion of his “Species Plantarum” (1753), or, 
by citation, are made the types of new ones. 
Constant references are made by Linneus to 
the “ Herbarium Amboinense” in his later 
works, so that very many of Rumpf’s crude 
figures have become, by citation, the actual 
types of many Linnean species. Later still 
other such species were proposed by Rox- 
burgh, and by other authors, and Rumpf’s 
plates are constantly being cited by modern 
authors in monographs and in papers on the 
Indo-Malayan flora. 

Rumpt’s plates, in many cases decidedly 
crude, being the only means by which a large 
number of proposed species can be inter- 
preted, various attempts have been made more 
definitely to settle the status of the plants 


500 SCIENCE 


figured and described by him. The first at- 
tempt comprehensively to treat Rumpf’s 
plants was by A. W. E. T. Henschel, who pub- 
lished his “Clavis Rumphiana” in 1833, 
pages xiv-+-215. In this work he attempted 
to reduce Rumpf’s species, so far as possible, 
to modern binomial nomenclature. Thirty 
years later J. K. Hasskarl, a Dutch botanist 
having an extensive knowledge of the flora of 
the Malayan region, published his “ Neuer 
Schliissel zu Rumpf’s Herbarium Amboi- 
nense,” vi-+ 247 pages, originally printed in 
the Abhandlung der naturforschenden Gesell- 
schaft, IX. (1866). Both of these works are 
unsatisfactory for the chief reason that a 
simple statement that a certain plate repre- 
sents a certain species is frequently of little 
or no value, especially when the species is 
actually based on the plate, as is frequently 
the case. 

In my work on the Philippine flora during 
the past ten years I have come very fully to 
realize that most of the species described by 
Blanco in his “Flora de Filipinas,” none of 
which are represented by type material, can 
be accurately interpreted only by an intensive 
knowledge of the Philippine flora, as a whole, 
and a very special knowledge of the vegeta- 
tion of those regions from which Blanco se- 
‘eured his botanical material, taking into con- 
sideration also habitats, dates of flowering and 
fruiting, economic uses and native names, in 
fact all data given by Blanco regarding each 
individual species. In many cases one must 
secure material from the actual localities 
cited by Blanco, and our recent collections 
must be compared with Blanco’s descriptions 
not only as to the botanical characters given 
by him, but all other data. Similarly I have 
come to the conclusion that many of the spe- 
‘cies based' on Rumpf’s figures can be correctly 
interpreted and understood only by an inten- 
sive botanical exploration of the regions in 
which Rumpf collected his material, and a 
study of the specimens secured, taking into 
consideration all the data given by Rumpf 
and comparing it with data secured with bo- 
tanical material from Amboina and neighbor- 
ing islands. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 980 


Many of the species based wholly or in part 
on Rumpf’s figures have been credited with 
a wide Indo-Malayan range, but in some 
cases, at least, the “species” are collective 
ones. Many others are not understood at all 
and appear in monographs as unrecognizable, 
doubtful or imperfectly known forms. We 
have in the Philippines many of the species 
proposed by the older authors which are typi- 
fied by Rumpf’s figures, and in critical genera, 
especially in those with numerous species, it 
is frequently quite impossible definitely to 
state which of our forms is the species based 
on Rumpf, and which is a distinct but closely 
allied one. The same principle holds true for 
the entire Malayan region. 

In the case of many plants figured by 
Rumpf, there is absolutely no doubt as to the 
present status of such as the cocoanut, the 
papaya, the tamarind, the mango, the beetle- 
nut palm, and other well-known forms in 
monotypic or small genera. The difficulties 
arise in such genera as Calamus, Canarium, 
Gnetum, Mucuna, Pandanus, ete., where spe- 
cifie differences are frequently not very great. 
It is frequently quite impossible absolutely to 
delimit the species from the figures and de- 
scriptions given by Rumpf, and apparently no 
serious attempt has ever been made to inter- 
pret the species from actual Amboina speci- 
mens. 

To illustrate this matter Mucuna pruriens 
DC. is based on Dolichos pruriens L. The 
original publication of Dolichos pruriens L. 
is in Stickman’s “ Herbarium Amboinense” 
(1754), 23, and is based absolutely and only 
on Cacara pruiens Rumpf Herb. Amboin., 
V., 393, #. 142; the question of specific iden- 
tity of Mucuna pruriens is not complicated by 
any additional synonyms in the original pub- 
lication of Dolichos pruriens. Most botanists 
assign to the species a pantropical distribu- 
tion, as did Linneus in his later publications; 
yet a simple examination of the material in 
any large herbarium will at once show that 
Mucuna pruriens is a “collective species,” 
and that specimens so named really represent 
several more or less distinct species. No 
botanist can definitely state that he actually 


OcroBER 10, 1913] 


knows just what Mucuna pruriens is, yet the 
species undoubtedly still grows in Amboina, 
and specimens from there which agree with 
Rumpf’s figure and description will closely 
typify the Linnean species. I assign to 
Mucuna pruriens a form that is not uncom- 
mon at low altitudes in the Philippines be- 
cause, so far as I can determine, it agrees ab- 
solutely with Rumpf’s figure; moreover the 
Philippine flora is very similar to that of the 
Moluccas. Yet other botanists refer to 
Mucuna pruriens quite different plants, and 
specimens that much less resemble Rumpf’s 
figure than does the Philippine material. 
Now a prominent botanist has proposed to de- 
scribe this Philippine form, my idea of 
Mucuna pruriens, as a new species, yet 
neither he nor I can definitely state whether 
it is or is not the form figured by Rumpf. I 
assume that it is, he assumes that it is not 
Carcara pruriens of Rumpf. 

In 1788 Lamarck described a certain Ru- 
taceous plant as Fagara triphylla, basing his 
description on a single Philippine specimen 
collected by Perrottet, and adding a reference 
to Ampacus angustifolius Rumpf Herb. Am- 
boin., IT., 188, ¢. 62, as illustrating the same 
species. In 1824 DeCandolle transferred La- 
marck’s species to Hvodia, as E. triphylla, and 
until recently the species has been retained in 
that genus. An examination of Lamarck’s 
actual type in the Muséum d’Historie Nat- 
urelle, Paris, shows it to be not an Hvodia at 
all, but a Melicope, and a species known only 
from the Philippines. All botanists, however, 
have interpreted Evodia triphylla from 
Rumpf’s figure, not from the actual type, and 
it has been given a range of from Tenasserim 
and Burma to Japan, China and Malaya. 
Evodia triphylla of modern authors contained 
at least three distinct species in two genera, 
and the number of synonyms is quite appal- 
ling. Whether or not the Amboina Ampacus 
angustifolius is the same as the Philippine 
Melicope triphylla Merr. (Fagara triphylla 
Lam., Hvodia triphylla DC.), it is impossible 

1Merrill, E. D., ‘‘On the Identity of Hvodia 
triphylla DC.,’? Philp. Journ. Sci., VIL, 1912, 
Bot., 373-378. 


SCIENCE 


501 


to determine at present, but the case illus- 
trates remarkably well the errors in interpre- 
tation made by eminent botanists in attempt- 
ing the identification of extra-Moluccan speci- 
mens with Rumpf’s figures. 

Recently Dr. O. Becarri has published his 
great monograph of the genus Calamus, hav- 
ing access to most of the large European, 
Indian and Malayan collections. Rumpf fig- 
ures eleven forms, on which ten species of 
Calamus have been based by later authors; 
yet Dr. Beccari, in spite of his great knowl- 
edge of the group, a personal knowledge of the 
Malayan species based on his own extensive 
Malayan collections, and in spite of the vast 
amount of material examined by him, was 
able definitely to recognize but four of these 
ten species. He states, I. c., 90: 

The others represent, I believe, very well-marked 
species which will be recognized at some future 
time, because considering the period at which they 
were made, Rumpf’s figures are very good and the 
descriptions, if properly understood, are quite re- 
liable. I have therefore no doubt that these spe- 
cies will be found again in the Moluccas when 
these islands are better explored. 


Some months ago I conceived the plan for 
a botanical exploration of Amboina, with the 
primary object of collecting in the original 
localities cited by Rumpf, actual botanical 
material that might represent the species, 
often so crudely figured by him, the actual 
field work to be done with a consideration of 
all the data given by Rumpf, localities, habi- 
tats, native names, uses, time of flowering 
and fruiting, etc. The plan as developed by 
the Bureau of Science was approved by the 
authorities in the Philippines, and has re- 
ceived the cooperation and support of the 
Dutch botanists at Buitenzorg, Java. The 
problem was assigned to Dr. C. B. Robinson, 
of the botanical staff of the Bureau of Science. 
Plans were perfected and he left Manila in 
June for Java and is now in Amboina, where 
he will prosecute botanical exploration for 
some months. 

It is the ultimate plan to distribute the bo- 


2 Ann. Bot. Gard. Calcutta, XI., 1908. 


502 


tanical material thus secured to various insti- 
tutions, authentically named with reference to 
modern nomenclature, and at the same time 
correlated, whenever possible, with Rumpf’s 
figures and descriptions. It is felt that this 
particular piece of taxonomic research is one 
of the very greatest importance and the ma- 
terial we hope to secure should enable botan- 
ists generally very definitely to interpret and 
delimit many of the now doubtful species that 
have been proposed by citation of Rumpf’s 
figures. 

It is hoped that in case we succeed in soly- 
ing some of the taxonomic problems which 
are dependent on a correct interpretation of 
species based on Rumpf’s work, that our suc- 
cess may stimulate some other botanist to do 
for Rheede what we hope to do for Rumpf; 
that is, to collect and distribute a set of plants 
from the Malabar coast in India that shall 
represent those species figured by Rheede tot 
Draakenstein in his “ Hortus Malabaricus,” 
T.-XII., 1678-1703, a work of as great or 
greater importance than that of Rumpf in 
interpreting various Linnean and other spe- 
cies. Eimer D. Merrinu 

BUREAU OF SCIENCE, 

Mania, P. I. 


MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN- 
VESTIGATORS 1913 


ZOOLOGY 


Independent Investigators 

Allee, W. C., Instructor in Zoology, Williams Col- 
lege. 

Baitsell, George A., Graduate Student, Yale Uni- 
versity. 

Beckwith, Cora J., Instructor in Biology, Vassar 
College. 

Binford, Raymond, Professor of Biology, Guilford 
College. 

Boring, Alice M., Associate Professor of Zoology, 
University of Maine. 

Breitenbecker, J. K., Instructor in Biology, West- 
ern Reserve University. 

Browne, Ethel N., Dana Hall, Wellesley College, 
Instructor in Biology. 

Budington, Robert A., Associate Professor of 
Zoology, Oberlin College. 

Bullock, F. D., Associate in Cancer Research, Co- 
lumbia University. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 980 


Calkins, Gary N., Professor of Protozoology, Co- 
lumbia University. 

Chambers, Robert, Assistant Professor of Histol- 
ogy and Comparative Anatomy, University of 
Cincinnati. 

Child, C. M., Associate Professor of Zoology, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Clapp, Cornelia M., Professor of Zoology, Mount 
Holyoke College. 

Conklin, E. G., Professor of Biology, Princeton 
University. 

Crampton, H. E., Professor of Zoology, Barnard 
College, Columbia University. 

Drew, Gilman A., Assistant Director, Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory. 

Edwards, Dayton J., Tutor in Physiology, College 
of the City of New York. 

Glaser, O. C., Junior Professor of Zoology, Uni- 
versity of Michigan. 

Goldfarb, A. J., Instructor in Zoology, College of 
the City of New York. 

Grave, Caswell, Professor of Zoology, Johns Hop- 
kins University. 

Grave, B. H., Professor of Biology, Knox College, 
Galesburg, Ill. 

Gregory, Louise H., Instructor in Zoology, Bar- 


nard College. 
Harvey, E. N., Instructor in Physiology, Princeton 


University. 

Hegner, R. W., Assistant Professor of Zoology, 
University of Michigan. 

Hogue, Mary J., Instructor in Zoology, Mount_ 
Holyoke College. 

Hyde, R. R., Assistant Professor of Physiology 
and Zoology, Indiana State Normal School. 

Jackson, Robert T., Professor of Paleontology, 
Harvard University. 

Just, E. E., Professor of Zoology, Howard Uni- 
versity. 

Knower, H. McE., Professor of Anatomy, Univer- 
sity of Cincinnati. 

Lefevre, George, Professor of Zoology, University 
of Missouri. 

Lillie, Frank R., Professor of Embryology, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Lund, E. J.. Adam T. Bruce Fellow, Johns Hop- 
kins University. 

McClung, C. E., Professor of Zoology, University 
of Pennsylvania. 

McGregor, J. H., Professor of Zoology, Columbia 
University. 

Mall, F. P., Professor of Anatomy, Johns Hop- 
kins University. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


Malone, E. F., Assistant Professor of Anatomy, 
University of Cincinnati. 

Morgan, T. H., Professor of Experimental Zool- 
ogy, Columbia University. 

Morrill, C. V., Instructor in Anatomy, New York 
University. 

Morse, Edward S., Director, Peabody Museum, 
Salem, Mass. 

Newman, H. H., Associate Professor of Zoology, 
University of Chicago. 

Painter, T. S., Instructor in Zoology, Roanoke 
College. 

Pappenheimer, A. M., Associate in Pathology, Co- 
lumbia University. 
Parmenter, C. S., Vice-president and Professor of 
Zoology, Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas. 
Paton, Stewart, Lecturer in Biology, Princeton 
University. 

Patterson, J. T., Professor of Zoology, University 
of Texas. 

Reinke, E. E., Fellow in Zoology, Princeton Uni- 
versity. 

Robertson, W. R. B., Assistant Professor of Zool- 
ogy, University of Kansas. 

Shorey, Marian L., Professor of Biology, Mil- 
waukee-Downer College. 

Shull, A. Franklin, Assistant Professor of Zoology, 
University of Michigan. 

Spaeth, R. A., Research Student, Harvard Univer- 
sity. 

-Spaulding, E. G., Assistant Professor of Phi- 
losophy, Princeton University. | 

Stockard, C. R., Professor of Anatomy, Cornell 
Medical College. 

Strong, O. S., Instructor in Anatomy, Columbia 
University. 

Strong, R. M., Instructor in Zoology, University of 
Chicago. 

Thompson, Caroline B., Associate Professor of 
Zoology, Wellesley College. 

Treadwell, A. L., Professor of Biology, Vassar 
College. 

Van Cleave, H. N., Instructor in Zoology, Univer- 
sity of Illinois. 

Wilson, E. B., Professor of Zoology, Columbia 
University. 

Woodruff, L. L., Assistant Professor of Biology, 
Yale University. 


Beginning Investigators 
Bridges, Calvin B., Graduate Student, Columbia 
University. 
Carver, Gail L., Professor of Biology, Mercer Uni- 
versity. 


SCIENCE 


503 


Dexter, John S., Fellow in Zoology, Columbia Uni- 
versity. 

Faust, E. C., Research Assistant, University of Ili- 
nois. 

Fish, J. Burton, Graduate Student, Columbia Uni- 
versity. 

Glaser, R. W., Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, 
Boston, Mass. 

Goodrich, H. B., Assistant in Zoology, Columbia 
University. 

Hayden, Margaret A., Instructor in Biology, Car- 
negie Institute of Technology. 

Heilbrunn, L. V., Laboratory Assistant in Zoology, 
University of Chicago. 

Hoge, Mildred A., Graduate Student, Columbia 
University. 

Isaacs, Raphael, Assistant in Zoology and Embry- 
ology, University of Cincinnati. 

Linkins, R. H., Assistant in Zoology, University of 
Tlinois. 

Lynch, Clara J., Instructor in Zoology, Smith Col- 
lege. 

MacDowell, E. C., Graduate Student, Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

Morris, Margaret, 53 Edgehill Road, New Haven, 
Conn. 

Packard, Charles, Assistant in Zoology, Columbia 
University. 

Shumway, Waldo, University Scholar in Zoology, 
Columbia University. 

Stark, Mary B., Graduate Student, Columbia Uni- 
versity. ; 

Sturtevant, A. H., Graduate Student, Columbia 
University. 

Wardwell, E. H., Assistant in Biology, Princeton 
University. 

Wheeler, Isabel, 18 the Hattersley, Toledo, Ohio. 


PHYSIOLOGY 
Independent Investigators 

Baneroft, F. W., Associate Member in Department 
of Experimental Biology, Rockefeller Institute 
for Medical Research. 

Bradley, H. C., Assistant Professor of Physiolog- 
ical Chemistry, University of Wisconsin. 

Donaldson, H. H., Wistar Institute of Anatomy 
and Biology. 

Ewald, W. F., Fellow, Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research. 

Garrey, W. E., Associate Professor of Physiology, 
Washington University. 

Hyde, Ida H., Professor of Physiology, University 
of Kansas. 


504 


Kite, G. L., Assistant in Physiological Chemistry, 
University of Chicago. 

Knowlton, F. P., Professor of Physiology, Syra- 
cuse University. 

Lillie, R. S., Assistant Professor of Experimental 
Zoology, University of Pennsylvania. 

Loeb, Jacques, Head of Department of Experi- 
mental Biology, Rockefeller Institute for Med- 
ical Research. 

Mathews, A. P., Professor of Physiological Chem- 
istry, University of Chicago. 

Meigs, E. B., Wistar Institute of Anatomy and 
Biology. 

Moore, A. H., Associate Professor of Physiology, 
Bryn Mawr, College. 

Morse, Max W., Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. 

Tashiro, Shiro, Associate in Physiology, Univer- 
sity of Chicago. 

Wasteneys, Hardolph, Associate in Experimental 
Biology, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search. 

Wherry, W. B., Associate Professor of Bacteriol- 
ogy, University of Cincinnati. 


Beginning Investigators 


Adams, H. S., Fellow in Chemistry, University of 
Chicago. 

Cattell, McKeen, Student, Columbia University. 

Gould, H. N., Fellow in Biology, Princeton Uni- 
versity. 

Kanda, Sakyo, Fellow in Psychology, Clark Uni- 
versity. 

Lloyd, Dorothy J., 16 Ampton Road, Edghaston, 
Birmingham, England. 

Oliver, Wade W., Graduate Student, University of 
Cincinnati. 

Stringer, Caroline E., Head of Biology Depart- 
ment, Omaha High School. 


BOTANY 
Independent 


Duggar, B. M., Research Professor of Plant Physi- 
ology, Washington University. 

Garber, John F., Head of Botany Department, 
Yeatman High School, St. Louis, Mo. 

Hibbard, Rufus P., Instructor in Plant Physiology, 
Michigan Agricultural College. 

Lewis, I. F., Assistant Professor of Botany, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin. 

Lyman, George R., Assistant Professor of Botany, 
Dartmouth College. 

Moore, George T., Director, Missouri Botanical 
Gardens. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 980 


Nichols, Susan P., Associate Professor of Botany, 
Oberlin College. 

Osterhout, W. J. V., Professor of Botany, Har- 
vard University. 

Snow, Laetitia M., Associate Professor of Botany, 
Wellesley College. 

Stomps, Theodor J., Professor of Cytology, Univer- 
sity of Amsterdam. 

Wuist, Elizabeth D., 2351 East 5th Street, Day- 
ton, Ohio. 


Beginning Investigators 

Colley, R. H., Instructor in Biology, Dartmouth 
College. 

Curtis, Otis F., Instructor in Botany, Cornell Uni- 
versity. 

Davis, A. R., Lackland Research Fellow, Wash- 
ington University. 

Foster, Goodwin L., Graduate Student, Dartmouth 
College. 

Hopping, Aleita, Tottenville, Staten Island, New 
York. 

Robbins, W. J., Instructor in Plant Physiology, 
Cornell University. 

Roberts, Edith A., Instructor in Botany, Mount 
Holyoke College. 


THE MICROORGANISM CAUSING EPIDEMIC 
POLIOMYETLITIS1 

From the facts presented it follows that by 
employing a specially devised method there 
has been cultivated from the central nervous 
tissues of human beings and monkeys the sub- 
jects of epidemic poliomyelitis a peculiar mi- 
nute organism that has been caused to repro- 
duce the symptoms and lesions of experi- 
mental poliomyelitis. The microorganism 
consists of globoid bodies measuring from 0.15 
to 0.8 of a micron in diameter, and arranged 
in pairs, chains and masses, according to the 
conditions of growth and multiplication. The 
chain formation takes place in a fluid me- 
dium, the other groupings in both solid and 
fluid media. Within the tissues of infected 
human beings and animals the chains do not 
appear. 

No statement is ventured at present as to 
the place among living things to which the 

1Coneluding part of a paper by Dr. Simon 
Flexner and Dr. Hideyo Noguchi published in the 
Journal of Experimental Medicine for October. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


bodies belong. It is obvious that the cultural 
conditions are those that apply more particu- 
larly to the bacteria. 

On the other hand, the microorganism is 
associated with the production of an acute 
disease in which suppuration does not form 
a prominent part. No special attention at the 
present time has been given to the solution 
of the question as to whether the microorgan- 
ism actually belongs to the bacteria or to the 
protozoa. In the manner of evolution of the 
symptoms, and in the appearance of the le- 
sions, the experimental disease caused by the 
inoculation of the cultures resembles that 
produced by the virus of poliomyelitis as 
ordinarily employed. The central nervous 
organs of monkeys infected with the cultures 
bear preservation and glycerinization as do 
the infected human tissues, or the monkey 
tissues infected directly from human tissues. 
Cultures to which glycerin is directly added 
survive in the refrigerator at least eight days. 

The microorganism passes through Berke- 
feld filters and the filtrates yield upon reculti- 
vation the particular microorganism con- 
tained within the filtered culture. Moreover, 
Berkefeld filtrates prepared from the nervous 
tissues of infected human beings and mon- 
keys yield also in culture the identical micro- 
organism. 

By employing a suitable staining method 
the microorganism has been detected in film 
preparations and sections prepared from hu- 
man nervous tissues, and from the corre- 
sponding tissues of monkeys inoculated with 
the usual virus or with cultures or filtrates 
prepared from monkeys previously injected 
with cultures. From all the infected mater- 
ials mentioned, irrespective of the manner of 
their origin, the microorganism has been re- 
covered in cultures. As would be expected it 
is more uniformly recoverable from the orig- 
inal nervous tissues than from filtrates, and 
doubtless for the reason that in the former 
it exists in greater abundance. 

To obtain the initial culture is difficult, 
and this irrespective of whether the tissues 
submitted to cultivation have come immedi- 
ately from man or from monkeys previously 


SCIENCE 


505 


inoculated with the ordinary virus or even 
with the cultures. Once the microorganism 
adapts itself to a parasitic state it is de- 
veloped with greater difficulty under sapro- 
phytic conditions. Whenever the nervous 
tissues have been shown to be infectious, the 
microorganism has been recoverable, not- 
withstanding long preservation and glycerina- 
tion. In other words, infectivity of the ner- 
vous organs and the presence of the micro- 
organism exist together. It has indeed hap- 
pened that a specimen of infected nervous 
tissue has at the first attempt not yielded the 
initial growth, although it has yielded it 
upon the second attempt. Persistence will 
usually lead to a successful cultivation, pro- 
vided no technical fault is committed. An 
important factor in the technique of cultiva- 
tion is the sample of ascitic fluid. Not all 
samples are suitable, and a preliminary test 
is necessary, using for the purpose a growing 
culture, in selecting samples for culture pur- 
poses. Once a suitable ascitic fluid is ob- 
tained it should be carefully husbanded in 
the refrigerator. Even with this precaution 
failure may still occur. In such an instance 
repetition, using the same materials but in 
two series, one of which is prepared for en- 
closure in the anaerobic jar, while the other 
is allowed to remain outside, may yield the 
desired result; or the result may come on a 
second trial that appears to be an exact repe- 
tition of the first. 

Only the exceptional cultures possess the 
degree of pathogenicity sufficient to cause 
specific infection, and the production of ex- 
perimental poliomyelitis. A pathogenic 
strain may be effective at different and even 
remote generations, and a non-pathogenic 
strain may lack pathogenicity even in the 
second generation. This important fact indi- 
cates strongly that the pathogenic effect is 
not due to mere mechanical carrying over into 
the cultures of an invisible parasite or virus 
with which the cultivated microorganism is 
accidentally associated. Jf such accidental 
association were the cause of the experi- 
mental disease produced by the cultures in 
monkeys, it would display itself preferably in 


506 


the first generations and without reference to 
the strain of the visible microorganism. On 
the other hand, in this fluctuation of patho- 
genicity the cultures imitate the action of the 
virus as contained in human materials, 
namely, nervous tissue, secretions from the 
nasopharynx and intestinal washings, in 
which the virus, either known or believed to 
be present, may yet fail to be demonstrated 
by reason of the want of infectious power for 
monkeys or for the particular monkey inocu- 
lated in a given instance. Moreover, it is a 
common experience in bacteriology to find 
even among the ordinary bacteria lack or 
rapid loss of virulence among saprophytic cul- 
tures, while virulence is not only retained, but 
may be increased in rapid passages from ani- 
mal to animal. 

In view of these considerations it would 
appear that an etiological relationship has 
been shown to exist between the cultivated 
microorganism and epidemic poliomyelitis as 
it occurs in human beings or in monkeys. 
There remains merely a single other possibil- 
ity, already indicated, namely, that two fac- 
tors are present in the cultures, the one an 
invisible because ultramicroscopic organism, 
the other the globoid bodies described. On 
this basis it would have to be supposed that 
the former but hypothetical factor is the es- 
sential agent of infection. As against this 
supposition it may be urged that an instance 
of symbiosis of this nature is not known to 
animal pathology. Regarding the cultivated 
minute but visible microorganism itself, it 
may be held on the basis of the data pre- 
sented that it fulfills the conditions hitherto 
demanded for the establishment of causal re- 
lation between an extraneous parasite and a 
specific disease. The microorganism exists 
in the infectious and diseased organs; it is 
not, as far as is known, a common sapro- 
phyte, or associated with any other patholog- 
ical condition; it is capable of reproducing, 
on inoculation, the experimental disease in 
monkeys, from which animals it can be re- 
covered in pure culture. And besides these 
classical requirements, the microorganism 
withstands preservation and glycerination as 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 980 


does of poliomyelitis 
Finally, the an- 
aerobic nature of the microorganism inter- 
poses no obstacle to its acceptance as the 
causative agent, since the living tissues are 
devoid of free oxygen and the virus of polio- 
myelitis has not yet been detected in the 
circulating blood or cerebrospinal fluid of hu- 
man beings, in which the oxygen is less firmly 
bound; nor need it, even should the micro- 
organism be found sometimes to survive in 
these fluids. 


the ordinary virus 
within the nervous organs. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


At the celebration of founder’s day at Le- 
high University, on October 8, the degree of 
doctor of laws was conferred upon Dr. Mans- 
field Merriman, from 1878 to 1907 head of 
the department of civil engineering, and on 
Professor Edward H. Williams, Jr., head of 
the department of mining and geology from 
1881 to 1902. 


Proressor Eniakim Hastincs Moore, head 
of the department of mathematics of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, was recently elected by 
the council as a corresponding member of the 
British Association for the Advancement of 
Science. 


Dr. ArTHUR SHIPLEY, professor of zoology 
and master of Christ’s College, of Cambridge, 
will make one of the addresses at the formal 
opening of the graduate college of Princeton 
University, on October 22. 


Dr. A. F. BLAKESLEE, who has been spending 
a year’s leave of absence in research work 
in the Carnegie Station for Experimental 
Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., has 
returned to the Connecticut Agricultural Col- 
lege, Storrs, Conn., where he is in charge of 
the department of botany. 


Last summer the U. S. Weather Bureau, in 
cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, 
made a series of balloon ascensions in south- 
ern California, with Mr. W. R. Gregg in 
charge of the field party. The latter part of 
July was spent at Catalina Island, and the 
first twelve days of August on the summit 
of Mount Whitney. 


OctoBER 10, 1913] 


Present Winson has nominated Col. 
Dan C. Kingman, corps of engineers, as 
chief of engineers, with the rank of brigadier 
general. 


Dr. R. LowenHerzZ has been appointed cu- 
rator of the chemical museum of the Berlin 
School of Technology. 


Mr. W. F. Fiske has been requested by the 
Tropical Diseases Committee of the Royal 
Society to investigate the life-history of the 
tsetse flies in Uganda. 


Dr. Hmeyo Nocucut, of the Rockefeller 
Institute, New York, on September 23 pre- 
sented the results of his researches on the 
etiology of rabies before the German Associa- 
tion of Men of Science and Physicians. 


A REPORT on tropical diseases prevalent in 
Ecuador and adjacent republics is being made 
to Superintendent Smith, of the Johns Hop- 
kins Hospital, by Dr. A. W. Sellards who was 
the representative of the Johns Hopkins Hos- 
pital in the expedition sent out by the Har- 
vard Medical School, under the direction of 
Dr. Richard P. Strong. 


Tue Royal Geographical Society’s specially 
designed Antarctic medals will be presented 
to the surviving members of the Scott expe- 
dition by Lord Curzon of Kedleston at a 
meeting of the society on November 10. At 
the same time, at the request of the Italian 
Geographical Society, the president will pre- 
sent to Lady Scott the great Humbert gold 
medal awarded by that society in memory of 
Captain Scott. Silver duplicates will be pre- 
sented to Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Oates, Mrs. Bow- 
ers and Mrs. Evans, widow of petty officer 
Evans. 


Tue Harveian oration before the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians, of London, will be deliv- 
ered by Dr. J. Mitchell Bruce, on October 18. 


THE School Review, published by the Uni- 
versity of Chicago Press, will hereafter be 
under the editorial charge of Rollo LaVerne 
Lyman, this year appointed associate pro- 
fessor of the teaching of English in the 
School of Education. Frank Nugent Free- 
man, instructor in educational psychology, 


SCIENCE 5O7 


has been placed in editorial charge of the 
Hlementary School Teacher. 


Proressor Lucien Acustus Walt, emeritus 
professor of mathematics in Cornell Univer- 
sity, with the faculty of which he was con- 
nected from 1870 until his retirement in 
1910, has died, aged sixty-seven years. 


Dr. Recinatp Faser Fitz, professor emeri- 
tus in the Harvard Medical School, where 
for many years he was Shattuck professor of 
pathological anatomy, died on September 380, 
aged seventy years. 


Tue death is announced of Edward Gard- 
ner Murphy, who was active in educational 
and social matters, and under the name Kel- 
vin McKready was the author of various 
publications in astronomy. 


Tue deaths are also announced of Mr. 
Samuel Roberts, F.R.S., president of the 
London Mathematical Society from 1880 to 
1882, and De Morgan medallist in 1896, and 
of Mr. John Greaves, bursar and senior 
mathematical lecturer at Christ’s College, 
Cambridge. 


Tue government through Secretary of Com- 
merce Redfield has decided to change the sale 
of all the government catch of seal, fox and 
other Alaska furs, from London to St. Louis. 
At the present time St. Louis is said to be the 
largest primary fur market in the world. It is 
estimated that three fourths of all the furs 
trapped on the North American Continent are 
shipped to St. Louis houses to be sold. 


Tue British secretary of state for the col- 
onies has nominated a committee to report: 
(1) Upon the present knowledge available on 
the question of the parts played by wild ani- 
mals and tsetse flies in Africa in the mainte- 
nance and spread of trypanosome infections of 
man and stock. (2) Whether it is necessary 
and feasible to carry out an experiment of 
game destruction in a localized area in order 
to gain further knowledge on these questions, 
and, if so, to decide the locality, probable cost, 
and other details of such an experiment, and to 
provide a scheme for its conduct. (3) Whether 
it is advisable to attempt the extermination of 


508 


wild animals, either generally or locally, with 
a view of checking the trypanosome diseases 
of man and stock. (4) Whether any other 
measures should be taken in order to obtain 
means of controlling these diseases. 


Tue production of gypsum in 1912 was the 
greatest in the history of the industry, accord- 
ing to the U. S. Geological Survey, the amount 
of gypsum consumed being 2,500,757 short tons. 
The value of gypsum and gypsum products 
was $6,563,908, an increase of $101,873 over 
1911. In 1880 only 90,000 tons of gypsum were 
produced; in 1900 the production was 590,000 
tons. The bulk of the gypsum produced in the 
United States is manufactured by grinding 
partial or complete calcination into the various 
plasters, such as plaster of Paris, molding and 
casting plaster, stucco, cement plaster, floor- 
ing plaster and hard-finish plaster. Refined 
grades of plaster are used in dental work, for 
making pottery molds, stereotype molds, molds 
for rubber stamps, and as an ingredient in 
various patent cements. A steadily increasing 
quantity is being used in the raw state as a 
retarder in Portland cement. Considerable 
quantities are ground without burning and 
used as land plaster; smaller quantities are 
used in the manufacture of paint, wall tints, 
crayons, paper, imitation meerschaum and ivory, 
and as an adulterant. The pure white massive 
form, known as alabaster, is much used by 
sculptors for interior ornamentation, less, how- 
ever, in this country than abroad. 


Accorpine to the Scottish Geographical 
Magazine the research vessel Hiawatha, char- 
tered for fishery research in the North Sea, left 
the Tyne in August for the purpose of making 
certain practically continuous hydrographic 
observations, at a fixed position. She was to 
take part in a coordinated research into the 
movements of the great water masses in the 
North Sea, and for this purpose was to drop 
her anchor about 150 miles “E. by N. 4 N.” 
of Shields. Her labors were to be identical in 
aim with researches simultaneously carried 
out on board eight other vessels, also at anchor. 
‘Two of these other vessels were to be research 
vessels, acting on behalf of Sweden and Scot- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


land, the Swedish vessel working in the Ska- 
gerak, the Scottish well to the northeast of 
Aberdeen. The remaining vessels are light 
vessels, two acting for Holland and the other 
four for the English department. The obser- 
vations were to consist of current measure- 
ments made near both surface and bottom 
every hour night and day throughout the fort- 
night, and in fine weather at other intermediate 
depths. Special attention was to be paid to 
the submarine waves which, it is expected, are 
to be met with at the depth at which the 
heavier bottom water and the lighter surface 
water are in contact. Specially devised cur- 
rent meters are used in this work. The tem- 
perature and salinity of the various layers of 
the sea were also to be ascertained, special 
water-bottles being employed to secure samples 
of the sea from any desired depth. Samples of 
the minute floating organisms which, directly 
or indirectly, constitute the food of all our 
food fishes were also to be taken at various 
depths and at the extremes of the tide. It is 
expected that some 8,000 independent current 
measurements would be made from the English 
vessels alone. The operations have been 
planned by a special committee of the Intez- 
national Council for the Exploration of the 
Sea, it is stated, because a knowledge of the 
constitution and movements of the sea water 
is essential to the understanding of the move- 
ments and of the abundance of the fishes upon 
which the fishing industry depends. For in- 
stance, the abundance or scarcity of the her- 
ring of the Kattegat and Skager Rack has been 
found to be connected directly with the amount 
of water which enters the Baltic from the 
North Sea, and other fisheries in southern 
Sweden have been shown to change with the 
ebb and flow of this layer of cold, salt water. 


Tue U.S. Bureau of Mines has issued Bul- 
letin 22, entitled “ Analyses of Coals in the 
United States, with Descriptions of Mine and 
Field Samples collected between July 1, 1904, 
and June 30, 1910.” This report contains the 
analyses of 5,000 samples of coal taken from 
1,500 coal mines and prospects situated in the 
various coal fields of the United States. Not 


OctToBER 10, 1913] 


only all of the important fields are represented, 
but practically all of the more important min- 
ing districts. The purpose of the bureau in 
compiling and publishing this information is 
to present reliable information regarding the 
chemical composition and heating value of the 
coals. The samples of coals were collected by 
experienced men according to a definite and 
uniform system, and were analyzed under care- 
fully controlled conditions, so that there might 
be no question as to the relative merits of the 
different coals so far as this can be deter- 
mined by chemical analyses and determination 
of heating values. An increasing proportion 
of the coal consumed in the power stations and 
the larger manufacturing plants of the coun- 
try is now being purchased under specifications 
based on chemical analyses and calorimetric 
determinations of heat units. In the purchase 
of fuels many matters that have been left to 
chance are now carefully investigated. It is 
the aim of mechanical engineers to construct 
furnaces and to arrange the heat-absorbing 
surface in a furnace with reference to the 
peculiar character of the fuel which is to be 
burned. The report just issued by the Bureau 
of Mines is in two parts, one giving the meth- 
ods used in collecting and analyzing the 
samples, and the results of the analyses, and 
the other giving the exact location from which 
each sample of coal was taken, together with 
a description of the characteristic features of 
the coal bed at the point of sampling, the 
nominal capacity of the mine, and such notes 
on the preparation of the coal as might be use- 
ful to consumers. The data contained in these 
two volumes is not equalled in scope and 
detail and in value for comparative purposes 
by the figures that have been published by 
any other coal-producing country in the world. 
The governments of some of these countries 
have published analyses of coals from different 
mines and from different districts but, with 
few exceptions, the samples of coal were not 
collected and analyzed under a uniform system 
that would make the results comparable in 
all respects, and no country has attempted to 
publish such a large number of analyses that 


SCIENCE 


509 


would be comparable because of the care taken 
in collecting and analyzing the samples. 


Durine the past fiscal year 4,686 predatory 
animals were killed by federal officers on the 
national forests, according to an actual count 
of carcasses. An indeterminate number of 
animals, whose bodies were not found, are pre- 
sumed to have died from poison. The ranger’s 
bag of beasts of prey this year, as shown by 
forest service figures, was made up of 206 
bears, 3,541 coyotes, 133 mountain lions, 62 
lynx, 588 wild cats, 64 wolves and 97 wolf 
pups. The figures indicate that the national 
forests are becoming cleared of wild animals 
that prey upon domestic livestock and game, 
for the forest ranger fills in odd moments be- 
tween other jobs by thinning out “ undesirable 
citizens” of the animal world. Wolves are 
said to cause greater losses to western stock- 
men than any other of the predatory animals. 
It is estimated that a family of wolves will 
destroy about $3,000 worth of stock per annum, 
and that one able-bodied individual costs the 
grazing industry $600 a season. The wolves 
are of two classes, the smaller prairie wolves 
or coyotes, and the larger gray, black or timber 
wolves, called “lobos.” These latter are the 
great stock-destroyers against which the cam- 
paign of the rangers has been waged. The 
methods of hunting wolves in the west vary. 
On the plains wolves are sometimes hunted 
with dogs and horses, but this way is consid- 
ered expensive and often dangerous. ‘This 
sport is described by Roosevelt in his earlier 
hunting books. On national forests the rangers 
either set out poison or baited steel traps or, by 
watching trails and hiding near a wolf’s den, 
are able to shoot one or both of the old wolves 
when they return from foraging. In no other 
way, according to the forest service, can the 
number of wolves be kept down so well as by 
finding their dens and destroying the young. 
The skins of the predatory animals killed by 
the rangers are either kept as souvenirs or 
sold for a price or for bounty. Wolf skins in 
the west are said to bring from $4 to $6 for 
robes and rugs; a mountain lion skin, $10 to 
$20; and a bear skin, anywhere from $20 to 
$150, according to size and species. In addi- 


510 


tion to this there are bounties on bear, lions 
and wolves in most of the western stock states. 
Wyoming, in ten years, has paid out, it is said, 
over $65,000 in bounties on wolves alone and 
$95,000 more on coyotes and mountain lions. 
Through his activity against these pests, the 
forest ranger, it is said, has saved the stockmen 
many thousands of dollars during the year, 
while the protection to game animals, such as 
deer, elk and antelope, is of almost equal 
importance. 


Wirtx the middle of September the fire sea- 
son on the national forests has come prac- 
tically to an end with less damage than ever 
recorded. There is always some danger from 
carelessness of campers or of settlers burning 
brush and clearing land, but the real danger 
season extends only from the middle of June 
until the middle of September. Forest officers 
throughout the west are congratulating them- 
selves on a season so markedly free from 
heavy losses. They feel that the immunity 
from loss has been due to two principal causes, 
partly to a favorable season, but largely to a 
much better organization for fire prevention 
than has been attained heretofore. The ef- 
fectiveness of the organization is shown par- 
ticularly by the fact that while there were in 
all approximately 2,260 fires, as against 2,470 
last year, yet the area burned so far this year 
is only about 60,000 acres as against 230,000 
acres in 1912, and 780,000 in 1911. The vari- 
ous causes of fires have not changed greatly 
Railroads and 
lightning head the list, with campers next. 
There has been, however, a marked decrease in 
the number of fires caused by burning brush, 
which, according to the forest officers, indi- 
cates a closer cooperation with the settlers in 
and near the forests and with timberland 
owners in fire prevention and control. It is 
still true, nevertheless, that a large proportion 
of all fires started are due to human agencies 
and may generally be charged against care- 
lessness. Fires caused by lightning are of 
course not preventable, but the system of look- 
outs by which they may be detected imme- 


in their relative proportions. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 980 


diately after being set is greatly lessening the 
loss from this source. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tue Harvard Medical School has received 
$50,000 from the estate of George S. Hyde. 


Tue Flora Stone Mather Memorial Build- 
ing of the College for Women of Western 
Reserve University was formally dedicated on 
September 30. The building is the gift of 
Mr. Samuel Mather and his children and is a 
memorial to Mrs. Mather, daughter of Amasa 
Stone, the refounder of Adelbert College, and 
the sister of Adelbert Stone, for whom Adel- 
bert College is named. Mr. Mather has built 
the building, equipped it completely through- 
out, and has added to the gift the sum of 
$50,000, as an endowment. The Flora Stone 
Mather Memorial Dormitory, the gift of the 
alumnez of the College for Women, will be 
built upon land situated south of the gym- 
nasium. Immediately following the services 
at the new memorial building the land upon 
which the memorial dormitory is to be built 
was dedicated. 


THe College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts, Mayaguez, Porto Rico, is this year offer- 
ing an apprentice course in general agricul- 
ture. The plans for the course were approved 
at the April meeting of the board of trustees. 
The dominant feature of the course is that 
each student is employed eight hours per 
day in ordinary manual labor on the farm. 
From one to two hours are devoted to special 
class instruction. The work done by these 
students will be the ordinary manual labor of 
the farm, except that the work will be diver- 
sified so as to give each student as broad and 
varied experience as is possible. 


Dr. Joun Casprr Branner, professor of 
geology, was installed as president of Stanford 
University on October 1. 


At the University of Illinois the following 
appointments have been made: L. H. Provine, 
superintendent of construction with the Stone 
and Webster Engineering Corporation at 
Seattle, professor of architectural engineering; 
L. A. Harding, professor and head of the de- 


. OcToBER 10, 1913] 


partment of mechanical engineering of the 
Pennsylvania State College and, during the 
past year, consulting engineer in New York 
City, professor of ‘experimental mechanical 
engineering; A. C. Willard, sanitary and heat- 
ing engineer of the United States War De- 
partment, assistant professor of heating and 
ventilation; E. A. Holbrook, professor of min- 
ing engineering and metallurgy at the Nova 
Scotia Technical College, Halifax, assistant 
professor of mining engineering; J. I. Parcel, 
assistant professor of structural engineering at 
the University of Minnesota, assistant pro- 
fessor of structural engineering; W. M. Wil- 
son, chief designer with the Strauss Bascule 
Bridge Company of Chicago, assistant pro- 
fessor of structural engineering; P. S. Biegler, 
professor of electrical engineering in the Uni- 
versity of Montana, associate in electrical 
engineering; S. O. Andrus, field assistant of 
the U. S. and State Geological Surveys and of 
the department of mining engineering, asso- 
ciate in mining engineering, and A. R. Knight, 
instructor in electrical engineering at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, instructor in electrical 
engineering. 

Tue faculty of the College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts of Porto Rico has changes 
this year as follows: Mr. D. T. Griswold, ani- 
mal husbandryman, has resigned. His present 
address is College Station, Texas. Thefollowing 
are additions to the faculty: Professor Hig- 
gins, horticulture; Dr. Fredholm, agronomy; 
Professor Ham, manual training; Professor 
MacMillan, manual training; Professor Staf- 
ford, mathematics; Miss Baco, mathematics. 

Mr. Frep D. Frommer, a graduate of the 
South Dakota State College, and for the last 
two years a student and assistant at Columbia 
University, has become assistant in the botan- 
ical department of the Indiana Experiment 
Station. Mr. H. C. Travelbee, a graduate of 

’ Purdue University, has also become assistant 
in the same department. The two positions 
were vacated in July by Dr. F. D. Kern and 
Mr. J. B. Demaree, who are now at the Penn- 
sylvania State College. 


Dr. Fanny Coox Gates, formerly professor 
of physics at Goucher College, Baltimore, has 


SCIENCE 


511 


been appointed dean of women at Grinnell 
College, Iowa, with a full professorship in 
physics. 


Dr. Frank Dunn Kern has been elected 


professor of botany at the Pennsylvania State 
College. 


Tue following new appointments have been 
made at the University of Pittsburgh for the 
coming year: College: John M. Mecklin, 
Ph.D., Leipzig, formerly professor of phi- 
losophy at Lafayette College, profesor of phi- 
losophy; W. Paul Webber, Ph.D., University 
of Cincinnati, formerly professor of mathe- 
matics at Bethany College, instructor in 
mathematics; Marks Neidle, Ph.D., Colum- 
bia University, formerly instructor in chem- 
istry at Erin Preparatory School, instructor 
in analytical and physical chemistry; Em- 
mett F. Hitch, Ph.D., Cornell University, 
formerly instructor in chemistry at Cornell 
University, assistant professor of organic and 
technical chemistry. School of Engineering: 
George W. Case, Cornell University, formerly 
assistant professor of sanitary engineering at 
Purdue University, assistant professor of 
sanitary engineering. School of Hducation: 
Thomas J. Kirby, Columbia University, 
formerly supervisor of industrial schools, 
N. Y., professor of elementary education. 
School of Medicine: J. D. Heard, professor of 
medicine; X. O. Werder, professor of gynec- 
ology; J. McMeans, instructor in clinical 
pathology; Miss M. E. Bothwell, research as- 
sistant; Chris. Gardner, 
strator in anatomy. 


assistant demon- 


Dr. Cuartes CrowrHer has been appointed 
professor of agricultural chemistry in the 
University of Leeds, and will have charge of 
the experiments in animal nutrition. 


Proressor E. W. MacBripn, F.R.S., has 
been appointed successor to the late Pro- 
fessor Adam Sedgwick in the chair of zool- 
ogy at the Imperial College of Science, South 
Kensington. 

Dr. AtexanDeR Tornguist, of Kénigsberg, 


has been appointed professor of geology at 
Leipzig. 


512 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE PELYCOSAURIAN MANDIBLE 


Tren years ago I figured and described a 
peculiar bone in the plesiosaurian mandible, 
lying along the teeth on the inner side and 
meeting its mate in the symphysis. It was in 
form and position so totally unlike the coro- 
noid bone of other reptiles that I hesitated 
long before calling it that. Within the past 
few years, however, Dr. Andrews has recog- 
nized the same bone in certain European 
plesiosaurs, and its identity seems assured. 

Some time ago I made out with consid- 
erable confidence a similar structure in the 
mandible of Dimetrodon, from the Permian 
of Texas, but, in the absence of corroborative 
proof, I have waited till an abundance of 
material has confirmed beyond dispute the 
presence of a bone in the mandible lying along 
the teeth and reaching nearly to the sym- 
physis. It is narrow and rather loosely at- 
tached to the dentary, so much so that it is 
usually macerated away and lost. It lies 
along the alveolar border, beginning in an 
acute point opposite the middle of the third 
tooth, and extends apparently quite to the end 
of the tooth series. For most of its extent it 
is bordered below by the splenial, which di- 
verges from it in front opposite the posterior 
end of the symphysis to enclose a V-shaped 
tongue of the dentary. It lies closely applied 
to the bases of the teeth, covering over the 
alveolar pits for the growth of new teeth. It 
apparently ends below the last tooth by a nar- 
row end, but it is not improbable that it is 
very narrowly continuous with the true coro- 
noid, and if so is quite identical with the 
structure in the plesiosaurs. The true coro- 
noid lies at the summit of the coronoid emi- 
nencé, extending about two inches back of the 
teeth. It is covered on the outer side by the 
dentary, and is inserted in a pit in the sur- 
angular; it is usually lost in specimens of 
Dimetrodon. If it is continuous with the 
alveolar bone, as it seems to be, the connection 
must be very narrow. JI doubt not that it is 
homologous with the bone called epicoronoid 
by Watson in the Stegocephalia, even as the 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


alveolar bone is homologous with his so-called 
coronoid. 

The splenial, hitherto undescribed in the 
Pelycosauria, is a large element lying along 
the lower side of the mandible, visible from 
the outer side and entering extensively into 
the symphysis. As I have previously stated, 
and as reaffirmed by Watson, this symphysial 
union of the splenial is characteristic of all 
primitive reptiles, and evidently also, of all 
primitive amphibians. To nearly as far as 
its middle the splenial is bordered above on 
the inner side by the alveolar bone already 
described. Back of its middle it is separated 
from that bone by the slender prolongation of 
the prearticular, precisely as in the plesio- 
saurs. 

This resemblance of the structure of the 
mandible in the pelycosaurs with that of the 
plesiosaurs has an important bearing on any 
theory of the phylogeny of the latter group. 
They could not have originated from any 
forms in which the coronoid had been reduced 
to the condition in all modern reptiles. 

Full descriptions and figures of the man- 
dible, not only of Dimetrodon, but also of 
various other Permian reptiles and amphib- 
ians will be published within a year. 

S. W. WILLISTON 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 

August 25, 1913 


THE DISTANCE HOUSE FLIES, BLUE BOTTLES AND 
STABLE FLIES MAY TRAVEL OVER WATER 


Lirtte evidence exists as to how far stable: 
and blue bottle flies ordinarily travel to or 
from their feeding and breeding places. 
House flies, it is claimed, seldom stray over 
500 yards from their breeding places; but 
some English observations prove that they 
may go over a mile from an infested dump 
to the nearest village. 

In connection with the Cleveland Anti 
Fly Campaign, urgent requests were sent in 
to Dr. Jean Dawson for some means of relief 
from the plague of flies on the eribs of the 
water works, situated a mile and a quarter, 
five miles and six miles out in Lake Erie 
north of the city. Being in Cleveland for a 


OctToBER 10, 1913] 


few days, at the request of Dr. Dawson and 
Mr. Vandusen, of the water works depart- 
ment, I visited the three cribs. The depart- 
ment launch left the harbor about ten o’clock 
of the morning of August 21, steaming di- 
rectly to the nearest crib, a mile and a quarter 
out. Two house flies came out with the 
launch. A light breeze was blowing from the 
south, possibly six to eight miles an hour, and 
it carried the intensely acrid, sulphurous 
smoke of the city out over the lake. For 
nearly a mile out this smoke was so strong 
that it made my eyes smart and run tears, 
and quite possibly this low sheet of smoke 
may have had something to do with driving 
the flies out of the harbor. I found this first 
erib swarming with flies. In a lot caught at 
random I counted 41 house flies, 9 stable flies 
and 4 blue bottles. 

From this crib we steamed out to the six- 
mile crib. Here the flies were even more nu- 
merous than on the first crib or even any- 
where about the docks. My catch here was 
10 house flies, 22 stable flies and 1 blue bottle. 
Possibly twenty stable flies followed us into 
the launch and over to the five-mile crib. My 
catch here was from a trap baited with sugar 
and water with a few drops of vinegar added: 
4 house flies, 25 stable flies and 12 blue botiles. 

Two crib tenders live on each crib, but 
there are no animals and there is absolutely 
nothing in which flies of any kind could 
breed. All garbage and waste matters are 
dumped immediately into the lake or are put 
into a tight incinerator and burned daily. 
Lake steamers pass within about half a mile 
of the cribs, but none of the men had ever 
noticed any evidence of flies coming from 
them. All the crib tenders maintain that a 
south wind brings a cloud of flies from the 
city and that a north wind carries them away. 
No smaller boats were anywhere near the 
cribs that day and seldom come near them. 

The only explanation for the above facts 
seems to be that the flies are blown at least 
six miles off shore, and that they gather on 
the cribs as temporary resting places. At- 
traction of any other sort can not be a strong 
factor: else they would remain on shore, at- 


SCIENCE 


513 


tracted by the animals and men along the 
docks and the much richer food supply. While 
not entirely conclusive, the evidence seems 
strongly to support the theory that flies of 
the above kinds are able to travel much 
farther than is commonly supposed. 

All the flies in the crib appeared to be 
ravenously hungry and it will not be difficult 
to trap the house and blue bottle flies as fast 
as they come. The stable flies bite most vi- 
ciously, but they, too, enter the traps in num- 
bers, and it is quite probable that all the flies 
on the cribs can be killed most easily with 
formalin bottles, 2.5 per cent. in a milk or 
beer or sugar and vinegar mixture, whichever 
may prove most attractive to them. 

C. F. Hopes 


THE WORD “FUNGUS” 


To tHE Epitor oF Science: He is a brave 
man who openly throws stones at another 
man’s domicile, even if he justify the act as 
altruistic, knowing the proverbial danger in- 
curred. Certainly he should not be surprised 
by some return. 

In Science of September 5 Dr. Dabney has 
justly taken exception to the use of the com- 
mon expression “quite a few.” But he has 
erred in calling it “slangy,” “a malevolent 
fungus growth,” or “a sort of fad.” It is 
simply a colloquial term in certain parts of 
the country, and occasionally slips into digni- 
fied writing, as do other indefensible phrases. 
But. they are not becoming established, as 
Dr. Dabney implies; the tendency is quite the 
reverse. When all scientific men shall have 
been recruited from the ranks of the learned, 
such unpleasant evidences of the survival of 
youthful derelictions of speech will have dis- 
appeared. 

Having taken notice of Dr. Dabney’s fling, 
I offer one in return. One must be doubly 
surprised to notice that in a criticism of a col- 
league regarding “ good English,” there occurs 
a lapse in “good grammar.” What justifica- 
tion is there for the usage “fungus growth?” 
Possibly the phraseology is in recognition of 
the increasing demand for hyphenated sub- 
stantives, with the hyphen dropped out. Or 


514 


the adjective fungous may have been intended, 
with the o accidentally omitted. Or could it 
be that the much abused word fungoid would 
have met the author’s requirement? The use 
of words from the sciences demands caution 
from the general writer, but in a scientific 
journal there should be no lapse, certainly 
none from the pen of a critic. The word 
fungus with its derivatives is too often mis- 
used. J. C. ArTHUR 

PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 

LAFAYETTE, IND. 
QUOTATIONS 
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY FROM TWO POINTS OF 
VIEW 

Tue finest thing which civilization has yet 
produced is a great American university upon 
a private foundation. A company of gentle- 
men associate themselves and assume the 
obligation of providing the means for, and 
the organization of, an institution for the 
highest culture, not only without any pecu- 
niary compensation to themselves, but giving 
freely of their time, effort and substance, and 
securing, in their aid, the countenance and 
contributions of their friends and fellow citi- 
zens, and a body of scholars, selected by this 
original association, who, sacrificing at the 
outset the prospect of worldly gain, devote 
themselves zealously and enthusiastically to 
the discovery of truth and its dissemination 
and to the making of character—such, in 
brief outline, is this great product of human 
evolution. No other nation on the earth has 
brought the like of it forth. It is the pe- 
culiar offspring of American conscience and 
American liberty. To have had an honorable 
part in the creation of such an institution is 
a privilege of the highest order and obligates 
the happy participant to render to his fellow- 
men an account of his experiences.—Dean 
John W. Burgess in the Columbia University 
Quarterly for September. 


In America there are three sexes—men, 
women and professors. It is the saying of 
European scholars looking from those self- 
governing democracies, their universities, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


upon ours. They see ours ruled without the 
consent of the governed through presidential 
autocrats by boards of non-scholar trustees— 
not a part of the world of learning, but super- 
imposed upon it. The American professor 
has the status of an employee subject to dis- 
missal without trial by men not his col- 
leagues. 

The universities of Germany, the older uni- 
versities of England and Scotland respect and 
trust and leave free the individual. Their or- 
ganization gives them the right to regard 
themselves as provinces of the republic of let- 
ters. The overlorded universities of America 
have no such right. 

For a couple of centuries American pro- 
fessors have submitted to a system which 
gives most of them little control over their 
own lives, small power to defend any truth 
which has powerful enemies, no part in shap- 
ing the policies of the institutions in which 
they teach. Hence the pitiable figure of the 
American scholar to whom Emerson, Emer- 
sonically oblivious of such little matters as 
despotic college government, held up a high 
ideal of independent manhood. 

The position of her scholars under the 
thumb of business men and capitalists who 
control the university purse is enough to ac- 
count for the fact that America is intellec- 
tually second rate. Unless content to remain 
so Americans haye got to think down to bed- 
rock about university government and do 
what thought demands. 

Feeling that something is wrong, we have 
begun to examine the life of our universities, 
but no general attention has centered as yet 
upon their inherited, undemocratic system of 
control which is bearing the fruit of timidity 
and subservience among those twenty-three 
thousand men and five thousand women 
whose social function is to create and trans- 
mit American thought.—George Cram in the 
Forum for October. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
Determination of Time, Longitude, Latitude 
and Azimuth. Fifth Edition. By WitLiam 
Bowie. Special Publication No. 14, U. S. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


Coast and Geodetic Survey. Washington, 

Government Printing Office. 1918. 

It is the purpose of the reviewer to discuss 
Parts I. and II. only—the parts relating to 
the determination of time and longitude. 

The reason for the appearance of the volume 
is twofold: first, the fourth edition, by Pro- 
fessor John F. Hayford, at the time inspector 
of geodetic work, has become exhausted; and 
secondly, so much that is new has developed in 
the interim, and so much of the old has be- 
come changed or entirely discarded, that it has 
been thought advisable, even though much of 
the old material may be found scattered 
through other publications, to issue still an- 
other volume, one which shall be in itself 
complete and thoroughly accordant with pres- 
ent practise. So great is the demand for this 
valuable manual that the new edition has 
already nearly given out, and it has conse- 
quently been found necessary to order the 
printing of an additional thousand copies. 

The self-registering transit micrometer, in- 
troduced by Repsold a quarter century ago, 
and the principle soon after adopted in Europe 
of reversing the transit instrument during the 
observation of each star, have almost revolu- 
tionized the methods of longitude determina- 
tions. Their advantage is that they afford 
additional strides forward in the direction of 
eliminating constant and systematic errors by 
skilful observational manipulation rather than 
by applying corrections in the course of the 
computation. Reversal during the transit of 
each star eliminates collimation, inequality of 
pivots, irregularity and other errors of the 
transit micrometer screw (or, if a fixed reticle 
be employed, the thread intervals), and, in the 
ease of the broken-back telescope, bisection 
error and flexure. With regard to the mi- 
crometer, though claim has been made that its 
use leads to a higher degree of precision, its 
chief value lies in that it almost annihilates 
the observer’s personal equation. As the in- 
strumental and personal equations are thus so 
greatly reduced, further approach is rendered 
possible towards the ideal arrangement of re- 
ducing the observational errors exclusively to 
the accidental type. These two innovations 


SCIENCE 


515 


have accordingly been attended with so great 
success that, employed originally in the field, 
they have found their way even into the fixed 
observatory. 

There the right-ascension micrometer has 
come to stay. Whether the ponderable tele- 
scopes of the fixed observatory can be adapted 
to quick reversal, however, remains yet to be 
seen. At Kiel and at Bergedorf they are 
employing transit circles designed and built 
with this purpose in view, but the onlooker 
during the operation of reversal instinctively 
fears for the safety of the instrument. Ex- 
periments are still under way. Speedy re- 
versal with the portable transit, on the other 
hand, was long ago effected by both the Ger- 
mans and the French, the latter developing 
the straight telescope with diagonal eye-piece, 
the former the broken back. 

Ever alert as the Coast and Geodetic Survey 
authorities are for any device bearing the 
impress of improvement, they have stamped 
their mark of approval upon both these inno- 
vations. Though they have not purchased or 
made any astronomic instruments for time 
observations since the appearance of the fourth 
edition of their manual, they have recently 
ordered two telescopes of the broken type, 
reversible on each star, such as have “ been 
used with marked success by other countries,” 
and illustrated in Plate 2. The right-ascen- 
sion micrometer they welcomed a decade back. 
Skilfully designed by the chief of the instru- 
ment division, Mr. E. G. Fischer, and tested 
in a thorough experimental and theoretical 
investigation by Professor Hayford,’ the mi- 
crometer has since proved of such worth that 
the effect of its introduction may be traced 
throughout the new edition. 

When the chronographic method of star 
registration was introduced in the middle of 
the last century—and it will be recalled what 
a prominent part the Coast Survey played in 
the introduction—astronomers fondly hoped 
to eliminate by its means that most trouble- 
some of “constant” errors, personal equation. 
That it greatly reduced the magnitude of this 

+ Appendix No, 8, Report of the Superintendent 
for 1904, ‘‘A Test of a Transit Micrometer.’’ 


516 


equation as obtained by the method of the eye 
and ear is well established. The same fond 
hopes lay at the basis of introducing the 
“impersonal” micrometer; and again there 
has been a great reduction in personal equa- 
tion. The evidence in favor of annihilation, 
however, is inconclusive. Though many as- 
tronomers have succeeded in reducing the 
equation to practically within the limits of 
accidental error, and some have made so bold 
as to affirm that the equation has entirely dis- 
appeared, there yet remain other astronomers 
who have not been able to verify these conclu- 
sions—witness the experiences at Ottawa. As 
likely as not, history will repeat itself. 

Even if personal equation has not been 
annihilated, nevertheless, astronomers now 
possess an advantage that formerly was not 
theirs; and that is, that with present facilities 
it is possible entirely to dissipate the effect of 
personal equation in longitude determinations. 
For the variation of personal equation, gen- 
erally conceded to be the chief source of longi- 
tude error, may, now that the personal equa- 
tion itself has become so much lessened, be 
looked upon as lessened to a corresponding 
degree, which makes it negligible; and the 
small residual amount of personal equation 
left in the observations by the right-ascension 
micrometer may be made to disappear through 
exchange of observers. 

It is only in the finest class of longitude 
work that the precaution of exchanging ob- 
servers is deemed necessary. For ordinary 
geodetic purposes, since personal equation has 
become so small as to be termed negligible, 
this precaution is believed to be needless. 
The introduction of the transit micrometer 
has consequently led to radical changes in the 
methods and program of survey longitude op- 
erations. “The program of longitude observa- 
tions was formerly designed to eliminate the 
personal equation” (p. 79); and variation of 
personal equation is a bugbear no longer to 
be feared. The influence on the time and 
expense connected with longitude work (p. 94) 
may be estimated from the fact that it has 
been found possible, in accordance with Pro- 
fessor Hayford’s prediction of 1904, without 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


loss of accuracy, to reduce the original pro- 
gram of ten nights’ observing to three or four. 
It should be noted, however, that even with 
the method of the key, “(a reduction of the 
number of nights per station to six, or even 
four, would result in but slight decrease in 
accuracy ” (p. 94). 

Before leaving the topic of personal equa- 
tion it may be well to call attention to another 
form of this equation, the bisection error. 
On page 90 the writer believes that for ordi- 
nary geodetic purposes this is too small to be 
considered. This may or may not be true; 
and it may make a difference whether a single 
or a double thread be employed. Contradic- 
tory evidence may be found in “A Test of a 
Transit Micrometer,” above cited (p. 472), 
and “Report of the Chief Astronomer,” Ot- 
tawa, 1909 (pp. 576 et seq.). By reversal during 
the transit of each star, as already mentioned, 
the bisection error is automatically eliminated 
from observations made with the broken-back 
telescope. With the straight telescope, this 
elimination may be effected, not from each 
individual star, but from the clock correction, 
by a suitable selection of stars north and 
south of the zenith. 

Returning to the survey observing program, 
another innovation involves the sets of stars 
comprising a time determination for longi- 
tude. The former custom of requiring gen- 
erally four half-sets is still retained; but the 
nature of the sets is greatly changed. Where 
formerly it was customary to observe four 
clock stars and one azimuth star to each half- 
set, the clock stars chosen with balanced A 
factors, the practise now is to eliminate the 
azimuth star entirely, and to replace it by two 
additional clock stars. As the interval of time 
required to observe each star is less than by 
the method of the key, the total time employed 
is not greater than before. The argument is, 
that as the azimuth of the instrument, owing 
to the balancing of the A factors, has but 
little effect upon the resulting time determina- 
tion, it is preferable, rather than to attempt 
determining this azimuth accurately with an 
azimuth star, to strengthen the clock correc- 
tion by observing additional time stars. For 


OcTOBER 10, 1913] 


a discussion of this topic see the fourth edi- 
tion, p. 295. 

At latitudes higher than 50°, where it is 
impracticable to obtain sufficiently slowly 
moving zenith stars with balanced A factors, 
and where, consequently, the error in azimuth 
will materially affect the clock correction, the 
older methdd of observing an azimuth star is 
still employed. The number of stars in each 
half-set, however, following perhaps the prac- 
tise of the Germans, is increased to six. It is 
a fair question, in this connection, whether 
this ratio of azimuth to clock stars is suffi- 
ciently large. 

The time sets are so chosen, and the re- 
versals of the instrument between half-sets so 
planned, as to eliminate collimation and in- 
equality of the pivots (p. 19). Inequality and 
irregularity of the pivots, indeed, as the pivots 
have been reground and tested (p. 46), and 
owing to the plan of observing adopted (p. 50), 
is thought negligible. This is in contrast to 
the practise formerly in vogue. As for the 
collimation, if it may be depended upon to 
remain constant during a time set, it will be 
eliminated entirely. With instruments re- 
versible on each star, as already noted, in- 
equality of pivots and collimation are rigor- 
ously eliminated automatically by the reversal. 
Instead of depending upon the inyariability 
of the instrumental constants for an hour, 
this dependence is necessary for but a few 
moments—a decided advantage. On the other 
hand, the possibility exists that too frequent 
reversal may disturb the azimuth; and as the 
disturbance is likely to occur between the two 
parts of each star observation, this is a serious 
matter. The French have accordingly intro- 
duced the practise of reading at sufficiently 
frequent intervals on a meridian mark. 

It should be noted, too (p. 27), that among 
other advantages, reversal on each star leads 
to simplified computation. 

“Tt is desirable, but not necessary ” (pp. 43 
and 80, sec. 4), is the comment on the require- 
ment of the previous edition that the same 
stars, wherever possible, be observed at both 
stations of a longitude determination. It is 
now believed that errors of the star places are 


SCIENCE 


517 


smaller than those introduced by the instru- 
mental constants; or by the variation of those 
constants due to extending the observations 
over too long an interval; or by poor bal- 
ancing of the A factors; or by an unwise 
choice of epoch for exchange of clock com- 
parison signals (pp. 87 and 93, sec. 7). The 
argument upon which this reasoning is based 
is not conclusive; for the accidental errors of 
the star positions alone are taken into account, 
nothing being said of those classed as sys- 
tematic. Yet it is probably true that great 
inaccuracy will not result, especially if a large 
proportion of the stars be observed in common 
at the two stations. 

Not only is the publication marked by the 
adaptation of a new device to the old instru- 
ment, and the adoption of a new program of 
observing, but also by a new method of re- 
ducing the observations. The germs of this 
method may be found in the old edition, p. 
296. The use of least squares has for the 
most part been done away with; the refine- 
ment, evidently, is believed to be unwarranted 
by the observed data. The result is a more 
direct and easy method of solution. To sim- 
plify the computations further, unsymmetrical 
threads are usually rejected (pp. 24, 79 and 
80). Criteria for the rejection of other 
threads are laid down on p. 80. Corrections 
for rate (p. 24) are generally regarded as 
unnecessary refinement. Contrary to former 
practise, all stars observed at latitudes under 
50° are weighted equally (pp. 79 and 80), and 
weights generally are taboo (p. 89). 

The survey is quick to take advantage of 
any opportunity. When the International 
Geodetic Association commenced furnishing 
corrections for reducing the observed to the 
mean position of the pole, the survey began to 
make use of these corrections. When the 
American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac 
became enabled, through the omission of the 
lunar distance tables, to extend its list of 
stars, the survey, probably having in mind 
also the greater ease of interpolation from the 
Washington meridian, assigned to that ephem- 
eris the preference formerly held by the Ber- 
liner Jahrbuch (pp. 25 and 48); and from 


518 


considerations of economy it put a stop to the 
practise formerly permitted of computing ap- 
parent places. When, from the same cause, 
the American Ephemeris found room between 
its covers for tables of Polaris facilitating 
azimuth determinations, the survey was quick 
to take advantage also of these tables (p. 17). 

With regard to Mr. Duvall’s ingenious de- 
vice for the graphical determination of the 
A, B, C factors of Mayer’s formula, it may 
be stated that this is not the first time such a 
device has been put forward. Plate XIL., 
Astronomical Observations of the U. S. Naval 
Observatory, Washington, 1846, with descrip- 
tion on pp. xliv et seq., illustrates a similar 
solution of the same problem by Bessel’s for- 
mula, the chart being adapted to the deter- 
mination of m+n tan 8, and also, with the 
aid of an auxiliary table, of ¢ sec 8. 

The difficulty encountered in the footnote 
on p. 270 of the former edition has been neatly 
surmounted in the new. 

Another novel feature is the inclusion of a 
treatise on time determinations with the ver- 
tical circle. It would not be surprising to find 
the next edition include also an account of the 
astrolabe. Recently developed by the French, 
and claimed by them to give results com- 
parable with those obtained by the portable 
transit, this instrument has much to commend 
it. It is as portable as a theodolite, requires 
no firm-set pier, is easily manipulated, and the 
same observations employed for time may be 
used also for latitude? On the other hand, 
the computations, both preliminary to and fol- 
lowing the observations, are heavy; and the 
most serious obstacle encountered with this 
instrument, if all accounts are to be believed, 
would seem to be that old and familiar stum- 
bling-block, personal equation. 

From a literary standpoint the new edition 
is markedly improved. Where in the older 
volume the diction was awkward, it has here 
been replaced by wording more smooth and 
elegant. Here and there a sentence has been 
altered for clearness, or a phrase added to 

*See Chauvenet’s ‘‘Spherical Astronomy,’’ Vol. 


I., p. 280, and Claude et Driencourt’s ‘‘L’Astro- 
labe & Prisme.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


supply an idea previously left to the fruitful 
imagination of the reader. Where a para- 
graph or a sentence was superfluous, it has 
here been omitted. The numbering of the 
sections has been done away with, and more 
headings have been supplied for sections which 
properly should appear as such. It can not be 
said, on the other hand, that the change from 
words to figures when referring to numerals is 
a decided literary advantage; nor that all 
omissions have been improvements. On p. 23, 
for example, there might have been retained 
in its proper place the remark on p. 281 of the 
former edition, “ For a discussion of this mat- 
ter, see —.” Among minor changes may be 
noted slight modifications of notation to pre- 
vent confusion, and the substitution of nu- 
merals for asterisks and daggers. The con- 
tinuity is broken by continual switching from 
discussion of methods with the transit mi- 
crometer to those with the key, but to offset 
this the book is of increased value as a more 
complete manual. 

Of the various methods for determining 
longitude, the ordinary telegraphic and the 
chronometrie are treated fully. Lunar and 
other methods less frequently employed in the 
survey are merely mentioned on p. 78. Deter- 
minations by wireless telegraphy, though al- 
ready employed in Europe and by the Ameri- 
ean Navy are still in the experimental stage. 
This will without doubt be the method of 
the future, and the proposed determination 
of the difference of longitude between the 
U. S. Naval Observatory and the Observatory 
of Paris, as well as a similar trans-Atlantic 
scheme under contemplation by the survey 
authorities for the near future, should aid 
greatly in the development of this method. 

The publication is highly creditable to the 
officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 
the reviser and part author is to be con- 
gratulated upon maintaining so well the high 
standard set by his predecessors, Schott and 
Hayford. 

Davi RINEs 


The Climate and Weather of San Diego, Cali- 
fornia. By Forp A. Carprntrr, LL.D., 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


Local Forecaster, United States Weather 
Bureau. San Diego (Chamber of Commerce) 
1913; Pp. xii + 118), 

That a chamber of commence thinks it ad- 
visable to publish such a volume as this speaks 
well for the city represented. The book bears 
little resemblance to the ordinary “boom 
literature” of pushing cities, with which we 
are too familiar. 

The book is distinctly readable and interest- 
ing. The weather phenomena of the southern 
California region are treated in a somewhat 
popular, but thoroughly scientific manner. 
The elements, which make up the complex 
called climate, are considered separately; both 
the conditions more or less peculiar to the re- 
gion and those of more widespread occurrence 
are considered from the standpoint of their 
causes. The climate of San Diego, from the 
records of the Weather Bureau and its prede- 
cessor, the Signal Service, is shown by the 
usual tables of data and is also described in 
words. The record is uninterrupted from its 
beginning, July 1, 1849, when meteorological 
work was established in San Diego as a part 
of the duties of the post surgeon of the army; 
therefore the data form one of the longest rec- 
ords in the United States. The book is well 
illustrated with photographs of the region and 
the meteorological instruments, as well as with 
maps and diagrams. 

This volume may well serve not only as a 
sample of the kind of thing which can and 
ought to be done by a progressive chamber of 
commerce or similar organization in a region 
climatically favored, but it is also well suited 
as an introduction to the whole subject of 
meteorology and should give a better under- 
standing to the processes which control the 
weather. Both Dr. Carpenter and the city of 
San Diego are to be congratulated on the ap- 
pearance of this volume. It is to be hoped that 
as interesting and accurate discussions of the 
climates of particular places will become the 
rule, instead of the exception as at present. 

Witt G. Reep 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 

BERKELEY, CAL. . 


SCIENCE 


519 


NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 


INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGY 


Tue report of the secretary (Dr. G. Hell- 
mann) of the meeting of the International 
Meteorological Committee (composed, in gen- 
eral, of the directors of national weather serv- 
ices), held in Rome, April 7-12, 1913, has re- 
cently appeared.” 

Assistance on the question of the influence 
of weather on agriculture haying been asked 
by the president of the International Institute 
of Agriculture, the Meteorological Committee 
responded by appointing a permanent com- 
mission consisting of Messrs. Angot, Born- 
stein, Brounow, Louis Dop, Hergesell, Palazzo 
and Stupart. 

The recommendations of the Commission on 
Weather Telegraphy, which met in London in 
September, 1912, were adopted with but few 
changes. Thus on May 1, 1914, the long-de- 
sired, uniform telegraphic code throughout 
Europe will come into use. 

The report drawn up by Messrs. Palazzo, 
Koéppen and Lempfert showed that the mean 
wind velocities equivalent to the numbers of 
the Beaufort scale of wind force in use in dif- 
ferent countries are widely variant. The 
Meteorological Committee asked for a further 
investigation, to consider gusts of wind as well 
as mean velocities for the force equivalents of 
the 10- or 12-point Beaufort scale. 

The proposal of the International Committee 
for Scientific Aeronautics to have interna- 
tional cooperation in upper-air observations in 
many parts of the Arctic in 1915, during 
Captain Amundsen’s polar expedition, was 
warmly supported and a small subcommittee 
consisting of Messrs. Hergesell, Rykatchew, 
Ryder and Stupart was appointed to deal with 
the question. 

To have aerological data in convenient form 
for the purposes of dynamic meteorology, Pro- 
fessor V. Bjerknes, of Leipzig, at the meeting 

+¢*Bericht tiber die Versammlung des interna- 
tionalen meteorologischen Komitees Rom 1913,’’ 
No. 260, Veréffentlichungen des Kgl. Preuss. Met. 
Inst. Berlin. See also Nature, London, Vol. 91, 
p. 198. 


520 


of the International Commission for Scien- 
tific Aeronautics in Vienna, May 27—June 1, 
1912,’ proposed (1) that the results of upper- 
air observations shall be arranged according 
to definite steps of pressure instead of steps of 
height; (2) that the heights shall be given in 
“dynamic meters,” 7. e., a step corresponding 
with a certain difference of gravity potential, 
not of geometric height; (3) that pressures 
shall be recorded in millibars (C.G.S. units), 
instead of in millimeters or inches. There 
was so much objection against a change of 
units, that the Meteorological Committee re- 
solved that, for the present at least, aerological 
pressure results should be published both in 
millimeters and in millibars. The substitution 
of pressure steps for linear steps was favorably 
passed upon, but the proposition as to “ dy- 
namic meters” was referred back to the com- 
mission at the request of its president, Dr. 
Hergesell, for further consideration. 

On the recommendation of the radiation 
commission, it was resolved that specifications 
as to sunshine recorders be drawn up, to fa- 
cilitate comparison between sunshine records 
in different countries. 

The resolution of the Paris conference 
(1896), calling for the standardization of 
thermometer exposure, was discussed and tests 
of English thermometer shelters in the tropics 
were recommended. 

A system of signals for international use 
was recommended by the Commission on 
Maritime Meteorology and Storm-warning Sig- 
nals, and accepted by the Meteorological Com- 
mittee with a few minor changes. Thus a sub- 
stantial measure of international agreement 
on day and night storm-warning signals has 
been attained. 

The next conference of the committee will 
come in 1915, in Holland. 


EVAPORATION FROM LAKE SURFACES 
In the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for May, 
1913, Dr. J. Maurer, director of the Swiss 
Weather Service, gives the results of his meas- 
urements of evaporation from the surfaces of 
Lakes Zuger and Ageri in northern Switzer- 
2See Nature, London, Vol. 90, p. 110. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


land, December, 1911-November, 1912, inclu- 
sive. By the method used, the evaporation is 
the difference between the amount of water 
entering a lake and that flowing out, if the 
water-surface level remains constant. The 
amount entering in streams was determined 
as closely as possible by frequent measure- 
ments of the cross-sections and velocities of 
the streams flowing into the two lakes. To 
these the amounts of rainfall on the lake sur- 
faces were added. The water flowing through 
the outlet streams was also carefully meas- 
ured. With the aid of measurements of the 
variations in height of the lake surface as 
indicated on gauges for the purpose, the re- 
sults from the other measurements could be 
checked to some extent. The totals of monthly 
evaporation are probably correct within 0.5 
em. The unknown amount of gain or loss 
of water through the lake bottom was disre- 
garded, for, on the whole, these lakes have im- 
pervious basins and no large springs are 
known. Supplementary observations of the 
temperature of the water surface, humidity at 
the water surface, and of the air-temperature, 
wind, cloudiness, ete., were taken at selected 
points. In 1912, a year with a cool and rainy 
August and September, the measurements 
showed an evaporation of 775 mm. from 
Zuger Lake (417 m. above sea level, area 34 
sq. km.) and 740 mm. from Ageri Lake (727 
m. above sea level, area 7 sq. km.). In a year 
with a normal summer, the annual evapora- 
tion would probably exceed 900 mm. These 
interesting ‘results are the first of their kind 
yet published, and bid fair to lead the way for 
other similar measurements on lakes and 
reservoirs elsewhere. 


VOLCANOES AND CLIMATE 
TuHE solar radiation observations of Messrs. 
C. G. Abbot and F. E. Fowle® and Professor 
H. H. Kimball* show that the Katmai voleanie 
dust cloud in the atmosphere in the summer of 
1912 in the northern hemisphere, so increased 
diffuse reflection into space and absorption of 
heat in the upper atmosphere, that the normal 
2¢¢Voleanoes and Climate,’’? Smithsonian Misc. 


Coll., Vol. 60, No. 29. 
4Mt. Weather Bull., Vol. V., Part 5. 


OcToBER 10, 1913] 


amount of solar radiation received at the 
earth’s surface was decreased by about 10 per 
cent. Observations of terrestrial radiation 
made at the same time by Mr. A. K. Ang- 
strom, showed that the presence of the dust 
likewise hindered terrestrial radiation, but 
not to such an extent as the solar radiation 
(of shorter wave-length). The net result of 
these opposite tendencies, however, seems to 
have been a decrease of heat available to warm 
the lower atmospheres. Temperature observa- 
tions of high-level stations in Europe and 
America bear this out, showing a marked de- 
erease of temperature with the beginning of 
the voleanic dust cloud at the end of June. 

Other periods of marked decrease in the 
solar radiation received as observed during the 
last thirty years were the period 1883-1885 fol- 
lowing the Krakatoa eruption; 1888-1894 
after the great eruptions of Bandai-San, 
Mayon and other volcanoes; and the period 
1902-1904 following the tremendous eruptions 
of Santa Maria and Colima. 

In comparing Abbot’s and Fowle’s composite 
curve of Wolfer’s sunspot numbers and Kim- 
ball’s solar-radiation departures, with the 
mean departures of maximum temperature of 
15 stations in the United States, it is interest- 
ing to note that the temperature effects of 
these dust-haze periods seem to explain the 
discrepancies in the apparent synchronism be- 
tween terrestrial temperatures and the 11-year 
sun-spot period. 

In an extra number of the Bulletin of the 
Mount Weather Observatory, Professor W. J. 
Humphreys has discussed at length the sub- 
ject “ Voleanic Dust and Other Factors in the 
Production of Climatic Changes, and Their 
Possible Relation to Ice Ages.” Particular 
attention is given to sun-spots and great 
voleanic eruptions as related to variations in 
temperature at the earth’s surface since 1750. 
The phase of this subject concerning geological 
changes of climate is treated by the same 
author in the Scientific American Supplement, 
August 23, 1913, p. 114. 

Cuartes F. Brooxs 

BLvuE Hitt METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY 


5 Vol. VI., Part 1, 34 pp. 


SCIENCE 


521 


DEGREES CONFERRED BY THE UNIVER- 
SITY OF BIRMINGHAM 

At the Birmingham meeting of the British 
Association the university of the city con- 
ferred, as has already been noted here, the 
degree of doctor of laws on several of the 
foreign guests. In introducing them Sir 
Oliver Lodge, president of the association and 
principal of the university, spoke as follows: 

Dr. ARRHENIUS: Director of the Nobel Insti- 
tute for Physics and Chemistry, at Stockholm, 
fellow of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, 
and foreign member of our own Royal Society. 
The courageous way in which Dr. Arrhenius 
applied the theory of electrolytic dissociation 
to a quantitative study of chemical reactions 
has profoundly modified the trend of chemical 
science during the past thirty years, enlarging 
the scope of chemical investigation, harmon- 
izing previously disconnected facts, and bring- 
ing an ever-increasing number of chemical 
phenomena within the range of quantitative 
and mathematical treatment. He is thus one 
of the most prominent of the founders of 
modern physical chemistry, the principles of 
which he has even applied, with singular suc- 
cess, to some of the most subtle phenomena of 
organic life. Recently his writings on cos- 
mogony have aroused wide interest; terrestrial 
electricity and the aurora have yielded to him 
some of their secrets; and his speculations on 
worlds in the making are more than interesting 
and suggestive. A man of genius, and one of 
the founders of physical chemistry, I present 
for the honorary degree of doctor of laws, 
Svante August Arrhenius. 

Mapame Curie: The discoverer of radium, 
director of the Physical Laboratory at the 
Sorbonne, and member of the Imperial Acad- 
emy of Sciences at Cracow. All the world 
knows how Madame Curie (coming from 
Warsaw as Marie Sklodowska to work in 
Paris), inspired by the spontaneous radio- 
activity newly discovered by Becquerel, began 
in 1896 a metrical examination of the radio- 
activity of minerals of all kinds; and how, 
when a uranium residue showed a value larger 
than could have been expected from its ura- 
nium content, she, with exemplary skill and 
perseverance, worked down some tons of this 


522 


material (given her by the Austrian govern- 
ment on the instigation of Professor Suess), 
chemically dividing it and retaining always 
the more radio-active portion, until she ob- 
tained evidence first of a new element which 
she christened polonium, in memory of her 
own country, and then after months of labor 
succeeded in isolating a few grains of the other 
and more permanent substance now so famous 
—a substance which not only exhibits physical 
energy in a new form, but is likely to be of 
service to suffering humanity. Of the metallic 
base of this substance she determined the 
atomic weight, finding a place for it in Men- 
deléefi’s series; and with the aid of her hus- 
band, whose lamentable death was so great a 
blow to science, she proceeded to discover 
many of its singular properties, some of them 
so extraordinary as to rivet the attention of the 
world. Subsequent workers engaged in the 
determination of numbers belonging to either 
of her special elements, radium and polonium, 
have sought her advice, and it has proved of 
the utmost value. I have now the honor of 
presenting for our honorary degree the great- 
est woman of science of all time, Marie 
Sklodowska Curie. 

Proressor KerBet: The professor of anatomy 
in the University of Freiburg is the leading 
authority on the development of man and the 
embryology of vertebrates. He originated the 
international standards used in estimating 
embryological data, and through his classical 
work on comparative development he has re- 
formed anatomical teaching by the infusion of 
developmental ideas. His important contribu- 
tions to anatomical knowledge and method are 
widely known and highly esteemed, but no- 
where more heartily and cordially than in the 
anatomical department of this university. 
Held in, affectionate esteem by his colleagues, 
and directing one of the largest schools of 
anatomy in Germany, this eminent embryolo- 
gist has been invited to receive our honorary 
degree, and I present to you Franz Karl Julius 
Keibel. 

Proressor H. A. Lorentz: To the great 
school of mathematical physicists of the last 
and present centuries we in England have 
proudly contributed even more than our share; 


SCIENCE 


[N.8. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 980 


but we recognize in the professor of physics in 
the University of Leyden a contemporary 
worker worthy to rank with our greatest. Pro- 
fessor Lorentz has extended the work of Clerk 
Maxwell into the recently explored region of 
electrons, and has developed in the molecular 
direction the Maxwellian theory of electro- 
dynamics. He is a chief authority on the be- 
havior of material bodies moving through the 
ether of space, and he has adopted and reduced 
to order many of the progeny resulting from 
the fertile marriage of electricity and light. 
A specially interesting magneto-optic phenom- 
enon, experimentally discovered by his country- 
man, Zeeman, of Amsterdam, received at his 
hands its brilliant and satisfying interpreta- 
tion; an interpretation clinched by predictions 
of what, on the electric theory of radiation, 
ought additionally to be observed—predictions 
which were speedily verified. The Zeeman 
phenomenon thus interpreted not only gives 
information as to the intimate structure of 
various elemental atoms, but, in the hands of 
the great American astronomers, has shown 
that sun-spots are electric cyclones of high 
magnetic power, and is likely further to con- 
tribute to our knowledge of solar and stellar 
constitution. As a great authority on electron 
theory, and one whose name will forever be 
associated with the now nascent electrical 
theory of matter, I present to you the distin- 
guished mathematical physicist, Hendrik 
Antoon Lorentz. 

Prorressor R. W. Woop: The professor of 
experimental physics in the John Hopkins 
University of Baltimore is a prolific experi- 
mentalist, and one to whose researches in phys- 
ical optics modern science is greatly indebted. 
By ingenious use of little-known properties of 
light, he has explored the structure of mole- 
cules, applying the principle of resonance to 
determine their natural electronic period of 
vibration. He has, in fact, discovered a new 
type of spectra in the fluorescent resonance of 
metallic vapors. What more he has done, in 
connection with the anomalous absorption of 
sodium vapor with specially designed diffrac- 
tion gratings, and with the application of 
monochromatic photography to the geology of 
the moon, it were long to tell; among other 


OcTOBER 10, 1913] 


things, he anticipated and realized the attain- 
ment of regular reflection from a sufiiciently 
dense absorbing vapor; while to the public in 
America he is known as the inventor of a 
practical method of thawing frozen pipes by 
an electric current. The idea of a gigantic 
telescope in the form of a sunk well, with a 
revolving pool of mercury at its base to consti- 
tute a truly parabolic mirror, may not be a 
new one, but Professor Wood has taken it out 
of the region of the chimerical and shown that 
it is possible, even if not practically useful. 
We in this country have reason to envy the 
splendid resources which the munificence of 
citizens in America, and of governments else- 
where, places at the disposal of scientific ex- 
plorers, and we honor and admire the use 
which is being made of those resources in 
every branch of science. As one of the most 
brilliant experimental physicists of the world, 
I present for our honorary degree Robert 
Williams Wood. 


THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND 
CARAT OF 200 MILLIGRAMS 

THE importance of having uniform weights, 
and the great practical disadvantages result- 
ing from the international use of a perplexing 
variety of standards, have long made them- 
selves felt in the diamond market. This sub- 
ject has just been very fully treated in a 
paper read before the American Institute of 
Mining Engineers, at the New York meeting, 
February, 1918, and at the Butte meeting, 
August, 1913.7 

Those unfamiliar with the system of weights 
employed by diamond-dealers can scarcely ap- 
preciate the confusion that has existed, and 
the necessity for complicated calculations 
thereby entailed. This state of things will be 
best illustrated by giving here the equivalents 
in milligrams and troy grains of the principal 
standard carats as used in various trade 
centers: 


1“<«The New International Metric Diamond Carat 
of 200 Milligrams (Adopted July 1, 1913, in the 
United States),’’ by George Frederick Kunz, New 
York, N. Y., author’s edition, 21 pp. (pp. 1225- 
1245 of the Trans. of the Soc. of Min. Eng.). 


SCIENCE 


523 
Milligrams Grains Troy 
Burin Sea Kexd ew acvacr oe 213.5 3.29480 
BETS ai, PA ager net terse 209.5 2.23307 
WVieTH COLL V ey ctansyersicteesre cists 207.1 3.19603 
Austro-Hungary ........ 206.1 3.18060 
hirancey (Old) waemeysstieients 205.9 3.17752 
France (later) ......... 205.5 3.17135 
France (modern) ...... 205.0 3.16363 
IBOMAHEl. Ghobedgesocaose 205.8 3.17597 
Frankfort and Hamburg 205.8 3.17597 
Germany sjaciienisne niet: 205.5 3.17135 
Has twlandieswpe steye/sysicvalslpehs 205.5 3.17135 
England and Brit. India 205.3 3.16826 
Belgium (Antwerp) .... 205.3 3.16826 
IMUESTEH GS ae a oslo aa aoe 6 205.1 3.16517 
Tolland ewryorie cierto 205.1 3.16517 
eiumkeyiuuorsl tn steiticts/sestoe 200.5 3.09418 
Spain ese naey see ales 199.9 3.08492 
Java and Borneo ...... 196.9 3.03862 
Mloven comers. 196.5 3.03245 
AT ADI A ers ricleeteretestie cis 194.4 3.00004 
IEAM CA So odsasowoooouD 192.2 2.96610 
TERY EMA svaleyetsoelertelacisveers 191.7 2.95838 
Isivloyenieh Sa Ss socopadgeoo 188.6 2.91054 
Internat. Carat, year 1875 205.0 3.16363 
New International Carat . 200.0 3.08647 


A glance over this table will serve to show 
the crying need for the establishment of a 
uniform and rational standard, and a prelim- 
inary step in this direction was taken by the 
Parisian jewelers in 1877, when they adopted 
a carat of exactly 205 milligrams. However, 
such a carat could never become an integral 
part of the metric system, and as early as 1893 
the writer suggested in a paper read at 
Chicago before the International Congress of 
Weights and Measures, held in connection 
with the World’s Columbian Exposition, that 
a carat of exactly 200 milligrams should be 
recognized as the standard carat weight. 
Many years, however, elapsed before there was 
any definite prospect that this idea would be 
realized. The fact that in the early part of 
1905 the German imperial government refused 
to recognize the carat then used in Germany 
as a standard weight, when requested so to do 
by the German Federation of Jewelers, be- 
cause such recognition would be a violation 
of the laws prescribing the exclusive use of 
the metric system, is said to have powerfully 


524 


stimulated French endeavors for the reform 
of the carat by bringing it within the scope 
of the metric system. 

The most effective worker in this direction 
was M. C. E. Guillaume, director of the 
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures at 
Sévres, who urged the adoption of a carat of 
200 milligrams before the International Con- 
gress in April, 1905. In January of the 
succeeding year, the Chambre Syndicale 
de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie et Orfévrerie of 
Paris passed a resolution favoring the adop- 
tion of the metric carat, and in August of the 
same year the German federation of gem- 
dealers and jewelers urged its general adop- 
tion. The movement thus initiated soon 
spread, and by 1908 Spain had given the new 
carat a definite legal status, to be followed in 
1909 by Japan and Switzerland. The adhesion 
of Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway fol- 
lowed in 1910, that of Holland, Portugal, 
Roumania and Sweden in 1911... Although it 
was not until 1912 that it became the legal 
standard in France and Germany, the law 
providing for its institution in the former 
land was passed June 22, 1909. 

As in the case of all efforts to introduce 
metric weights or measures, the advantages of 
the new metric carat only very gradually be- 
came apparent in England and the United 
States. However, its official adoption by our 
Treasury Department, on July 1, 1913, as the 
standard for customs purposes, definitely 
stamps it with the seal of official acceptation 
here. 

Belgium has already provided for the use 
of the new carat and England is expected to 
fall into line before long, so that by next year 
it is confidently believed there will be but one 
standard weight for diamonds, precious stones 
and pearls, the metric carat of 200 milligrams. 

The paper gives a simple and easy method 
for converting the old carats of 205 milligrams 
into the new ones of 200 milligrams, and also 
offers many interesting details as to the his- 
tory of the carat and the origin of decimal 
notation, the first known examples of the latter 
being found im a translation, published by 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


Leonardo of Pisa in 1202, of a work by the 
ninth-century Arabian mathematician, Al- 
Khouarazmi. The first use of the decimal 
point is stated to occur in the arithmetic of 
Frances Pellos, printed at Turin in 1492. 

There can be little doubt that the adoption 
of the metric carat in the United States will 
do much to favor the cause of the metric sys- 
tem generally in this country, as not only the 
thousands of jewellers but also the millions of 
people who buy jewelry will now learn, most 
of them for the first time, what a kilogram, a 
gram and a milligram are, when they are told 
that a carat equals 200 milligrams; five carats, 
one gram, and 5,000 carats (or 20,000 pearl 
grains), one kilogram. 

Some additional particulars may be added 
from advance sheets of M. Guillaume’s report 
to the International Conference of Weights 
and Measures. The Argentine Republic, Peru 
and Servia are all disposed to accept the new 
carat. In Belgium the law promulgated 
March 10, 1913, embraces the following ar- 
ticle: 

In transactions concerning diamonds, pearls and 
precious stones, the denomination ‘‘ metric carat’’ 
can be given to the weight of 200 milligrams, in 
derogation of articles 1 and 3 of the law of 
October 1, 1855. 


The employment of the word “carat” to 
designate any other weight is prohibited. 

In regard to eventual results M. Guillaume 
believes that the day will come when the com- 
merce in precious stones will be confined to 
the employment of the ordinary metric uni- 
ties; the establishment of the carat as a fiftieth 
part of a grain will then have constituted a 
stage in this definite reform, and one greatly 
favoring it. 

Grorce F. Kunz 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE MECHANISM OF FERTILIZATION 
Iy previous papers‘ I have described the 
secretion of a substance by the ova of the sea- 


1 ScreNCcE, N. S., Vol. 36, pp. 527-530, October, 
1912, and Journ. Exp. Zool., Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 
515-574, May, 1913. 


OcTOBER 10, 1913] 


urchin, Arbacia, in sea water, which causes 
agglutination of the sperm of the same spe- 
cies. The eggs of Nereis also secrete a sub- 
stance having a similar effect upon its sperm. 
I therefore named these substances sperm-iso- 
agglutinins. During the present summer I have 
ascertained that in the case of Arbacia, and 
presumably also of Nereis, the agglutinating 
substance is a necessary link in the fertilization 
process and that it acts in the manner of an 
amboceptor, having one side-chain for certain 
receptors in the sperm and another for certain 
receptors in the egg. As this substance rep- 
resents, presumably, a new class of substances, 
analogous in some respects to cytolysins, and 
as the term agglutinin defines only its action 
on sperm suspensions, I have decided to name 
it fertilizin. 

My main purpose this summer was to study 
the réle of the Arbacia fertilizin in the fer- 
tilization of the ovum. 

1. The Spermophile Side-chain.—The first 
need in such a study was to develop a quanti- 
tative method of investigation, and this was 
done for Arbacia as follows: The agglutina- 
tive reaction of the sperm in the presence of 
this substance is, as noted in previous studies, 
reversible, and the intensity and duration of 
the reaction is a factor of concentration of 
the substance. The entire reaction is so 
characteristic that it was possible to arrive at 
a unit by noting the dilution at which the 
least unmistakable reaction was given. This 
was fixed at about a five- or six-second reac- 
tion, which is counted from the time that 
agglutination becomes visible under a mag- 
nification of about 40 diameters until its com- 
plete reversal. The unit is so chosen that a 
half dilution gives no agglutination of a fresh 
1 per cent. sperm suspension. It was then 
found that the filtrate from a suspension of 
“1 part eggs left for ten minutes in 2 or 3 parts 
sea water would stand a dilution of from 800 
to 6,400 times, depending on the proportion of 
ripe eggs and their condition, and still give 
the unit reaction. Such solutions may then 
be rated as 800 to 6,400 agglutinating power, 
and it is possible, therefore, to determine the 
strength of any given solution. This gives us 


SCIENCE 


525 


a means of determining the rate at which eggs 
are producing fertilizin in sea water. 

Determinations with this end in view 
showed that the production of fertilizin by 
unfertilized eggs of Arbacia in sea water goes 
on for about three days and that the quantity 
produced as measured by dilution tests dimin- 
ishes very slowly. Such tests are made by 
suspending a given quantity of eggs in a 
measured amount of sea water in a graduated 
tube; the eggs are then allowed to settle and 
the supernatant fluid poured off and kept for 
testing. The same amount of fresh sea water 
is then added and the eggs stirred up in it, 
allowed to settle, the supernatant fluid poured 
off for testing, and so on. In one series run- 
ning three days in which the quantity of eggs 
was originally 2 ¢.c. and the total volume of 
sea water and eggs in the tube 10 c.c., 6 to 
8 e.c. being poured off at each settling, thirty- 
four changes were made and the agglutinating 
strength of the supernatant fluid diminished 
from 100 at first to 20 at the end. Simultane- 
ously, with this loss of agglutinating strength, 
two things happen: (1) the jelly surrounding 
the eggs undergoes a gradual solution; (2) the 
power of being fertilized is gradually lost. 

It is obvious that the presence of fertilizin 
in such considerable quantities in so long a 
series of washings shows either (1) that solu- 
tion of the jelly liberates fertilizin, or else (2) 
that the eggs secrete more fertilizin each time 
they are washed. Both factors enter into the 
case inasmuch as (1) eggs killed by heat (60° C.) 
will stand 14 or 15 such washings, but with 
more rapid decline of agglutinating power than 
the living eggs. The jelly is gradually dis- 
solved away in this case also, and is presuma- 
bly the only possible source of the agglutina- 
ting substance. (2) Eggs deprived of jelly by 
shaking continue to produce the fertilizin as 
long as eggs with jelly, though in smaller 
quantities at first, and they are equally capable 
of fertilization. 

The fertilizin is therefore present in large 
quantities in the jelly, which is indeed satu- 
rated with the substance, but the eggs con- 
tinue to produce it as long as they remain 
alive and unfertilized. When the eggs are 


526 


fertilized the production of this substance 
suddenly ceases absolutely. 

The total disappearance of fertilizin from 
fertilized eggs can not be demonstrated unless 
the fertilizin-saturated jelly with which the 
ege’s are surrounded be first removed. ‘This is 
very easily done after membrane formation by 
six vigorous shakes of the eggs in a half-filled 
test tube. Three or four washings then are 
sufficient to remove the remains of the jelly, 
and the naked eggs no longer produce the 
substance. 

Such disappearance may be due either to 
complete discharge from the egg, or to fixation 
of all that remains by union with some sub- 
stance contained in the egg itself. That such 
a substance—anti-fertilizin—exists in the egg 
can be shown by a simple test-tube experi- 
ment: If eggs deprived of jelly are washed 
34 times in sea water during three days, they 
are so exhausted that they produce but little 
fertilizin; the supernatant fluid may be 
charged only to the extent of 2 to 10 units. 
The eggs are now on the point of breaking up. 
If they are then vigorously shaken and broken 
up so that the fluid becomes colored with the 
red pigment of the eggs, it will be found that 
agelutinating power has entirely disappeared 
from the solution. The fertilizin present has 
been neutralized. The same phenomenon may 
be demonstrated also by treating eggs, de- 
prived of jelly in order to get rid of excess of 
fertilizin, with distilled water which lakes the 
eggs and extracts the anti-fertilizin. 

It is probable, therefore, that any excess of 
fertilizin remaining in the egg not bound to 
the sperm is neutralized by this combination, 
and polyspermy is thereby prevented. 

We have noted (1) the secretion by unfer- 
tilized:eggs in sea water of a sperm agglutina- 
ting substance, fertilizin; (2) the extreme 
avidity of the sperm for it as shown by dilu- 
tion tests; (3) in my previous papers the fixa- 
tion of this substance in sperm-suspensions of 
the same species (quantitative measurements 
will be given in the complete paper); (4) the 
sudden cessation of fertilizin production by 
fertilized eggs; (5) the existence of an anti- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


fertilizin in the egg; (6) in eggs submitted 
to a series of washings decrease of the fer- 
tilization capacity with reduction of the fer- 
tilizin. The fact that fertilized eggs can not 
be refertilized is associated with the absence 
of free fertilizin in them; (7) I may add that, 
similarly, eggs in which membrane formation 
has been induced by butyric acid can not be 
fertilized by sperm and they contain no free 
fertilizin. 

It ts therefore very probable that the sub- 
stance in question is essential for fertilization. 

It may be maintained that these facts do 
not constitute demonstrative evidence of the 
necessity of this substance for fertilization, 
for the presence or absence or diminution of 
this material associated with presence or ab- 
sence or decrease of fertilizing power could 
always be regarded as a secondary phenome- 
non. However, the second part of this paper 
dealing with the other, or ovophile side-chain 
of the fertilizin, strongly reinforces the argu- 
ment. 

Before passing on to this, I may be allowed 
to note some other properties of the fertilizin: 
In my previous papers I noted the extreme 
heat-resistance of the fertilizin, being only 
slowly destroyed at 95° C. I also noted that 
strongly agglutinating solutions of Arbacia 
may contain a substance which agglutinates 
Nereis sperm and stated that this was prob- 
ably different from the iso-agglutinating sub- 
stance. This turns out to be the case and the 
two can be readily separated. The substance 
must possess great molecular size, as it is 
incapable of passing through a LBerkefeld 
filter. It is also non-dialyzable; it does not 
give the usual protein reactions, a fact for 
the determination of which I am indebted to 
Dr. Otto Glaser. 

2. The Ovophile Side-chain—Assuming, 
then, that the union of this substance with 
the spermatozoon enters in some significant 
way into the process of fertilization, the prob- 
lem was to ascertain in what way. The sim- 
plest idea, viz., that the union is in itself the 
fertilization process, was soon shown to be 
untenable, for the reason that the perivisceral 


OcTOBER 10, 1913] 


fluid (blood) of the sea-urchin, especially of 
ripe males and females, often contains a sub- 
stance which absolutely inhibits fertilization 
in the presence of any quantity of sperm, but 
that this substance has no inhibiting effect at 
all upon the sperm-agglutination reaction. It 
does not enter into combination with the 
spermophile side-chain. In other words, the 
binding of the agglutinin by the sperm may 
be complete, but in the presence of an inhib- 
itor contained in the blood none of the usual 
effects of insemination, no matter how heavy, 
follow. 

The details of the experiments upon which 
the above statement depends are too complex 
for consideration here. But they showed that 
the effect is neither upon the egg alone nor 
upon the sperm alone, for both may stand for 
some time in the presence of this agent and 
after washing be capable of normal behavior 
in fertilization, though there may be some 
decrease in the percentages. No poisonous 
effect is involved on either sexual element. 

The next suggestion was fairly obvious, viz., 
that the substance which we had been calling 
agglutinin, on account of its effect upon the 
spermatozoa, is in reality an amboceptor with 
spermophile and ovophile side-chains, and that 
the binding of the sperm activates the ovo- 
phile side-chains which then seize upon egg 
receptors and fertilize the egg. If this were 
80, it is obvious that the spermatozoon is only 
secondarily a fertilizing agent, in the sense of 
initiating development, and that the egg is in 
reality self-fertilizing, an idea which agrees 
very well with the facts of parthenogenesis 
and the amazing multiplicity of means by 
which parthenogenesis may be effected. For 
the agents need only remove obstacles to the 
union of the amboceptor and egg receptor. 

The inhibiting action of the blood from this 
point of view is a deviation effect due to 
oecupaney of the ovophile side-chain of the 
amboceptor, either because the inhibitor in the 
blood is an anti-body to the amboceptor or 
because it possesses the same combining group 
as the egg receptor. In such a case, the ovo- 
phile group of the amboceptor, being already 


SCIENCE 


527 


occupied by the inhibitor, fertilization could 
not take place. 

Fortunately, this idea is susceptible of a 
ready test; for, if the blood acts in this way 
in inhibiting fertilization, all that is necessary 
to neutralize the inhibiting action would be 
to oceupy the inhibitor by the amboceptor 
(fertilizin) for which ex. hyp. it has strong 
affinity. This experiment was repeated many 
times in different ways with various dilutions, 
and the result was always to lessen or com- 
pletely remove the inhibiting action of the 
blood. 

The plan of such an experiment is this: 
to divide the filtered blood (plasma) in two 
parts, one of which is used for control while 
the other is saturated with fertilizin by addi-., 
tion of eggs. In ten minutes the latter are 
precipitated by the centrifuge and the super- 
natant fluid filtered. Fertilizations are then 
made in graded dilutions of this and the con- 
trol blood. In some cases the inhibiting 
action of the blood was completely neutral- 
ized, and in all largely neutralized. 

The results so far are in agreement with 
the theory. But if it be true that the egg 
contains its own fertilizing substance, it 
might also be possible to induce parthenogen- 
esis by increasing the concentration of this 
substance to a certain point; though it is con- 
ceivable that no increase in concentration 
would break down the resistance that nor- 
mally exists to union of the amboceptor and 
egg receptors. As a matter of fact, Dr. Otto 
Glaser* has shown this summer that a certain 
amount of parthenogenetic action may be in- 
duced in Arbacia in this way. I have been in 
consultation with Dr. Glaser during part of 
his work and can confirm his statements. 

In connection with the assumption that the 
sperm activates an already existing side-chain 
of a substance contained in the egg itself, I 
may be allowed to cite the following state- 
ment of Ehrlich: 

The significance of the variations in affinity will 
be discussed connectedly at a subsequent time. 
We shall content ourselves here by pointing out 

2Scrence, N. S., Vol. XXXVIII., No. 978, Sep- 
tember 26, 1913, p. 446. 


528 


that an understanding of the phenomena of im- 
munity is impossible without the assumption that 
certain haptophore groups become increased or 
decreased in their chemical energy, owing to 
changes in the total molecule. Chemically, such 
an assumption is a matter of course? 

This principle might explain the activation 
of the fertilizing amboceptor by the sperm. 

The question will of course be raised 
whether there is not another and simpler in- 
terpretation of the facts. There are three 
general classes of these facts: (1) the sperm 
agglutination phenomena, and the apparent 
necessity of the agglutinating substance for 
fertilization; (2) the presence of an inhibit- 
ing agent in the blood, especially of ripe males 
and females; (3) the neutralization of this 
inhibiting agent by the agglutinating agent 
(amboceptor). It may be questioned whether 
these facts have the particular causal nexus 
that I have given them. But I think it would 
be difficult to construct a theory taking account 
of all the facts which would differ essentially 
from that presented here. 

The theory is really extremely simple in its 
character, and the facts on which it rests are 
readily tested. It has proven a most valuable 
working hypothesis; indeed, many of the facts 
referred to were discovered only after the 
theory was formed. It has the advantage of 
offering one theory for initiation of develop- 
ment whether by fertilization or by partheno- 
genesis. It is capable of explaining the whole 
range of specificities in fertilization by as- 
suming a specific fertilizin for each species. 
It furnishes the foundation for the chemical 
conceptions necessary to any theory of fertili- 
zation, and it is susceptible of experimental 
test. 

It will be seen that inhibition of fertiliza- 
tion may occur by block in any part of the 
mechanism. 

1. Through loss of fertilizin by the egg. 

2. Through occupancy of the sperm recep- 
tors. 

3. Through occupancy of the egg receptors. 

4. Through occupancy of the ovophile side- 
chain of the amboceptor (fertilizin). 


8“¢ Collected Studies in Immunity,’’ p. 220. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 980 


5. Through occupancy of the spermophile 
side-chain group. 

Of these I have shown the occurrence of the 
first, fourth and fifth in Arbacia. The first in 
the case of long-washed eggs; the fourth in the 
case of the inhibitor ‘contained in the blood; 
the fifth is, I believe, the mechanism for pre- 
vention of polyspermy. 

The mechanism of fertilization appears to 
be the same in Nereis, though I have not a 
complete set of data. However, the data that 
I have are in accord with the theory, and will 
be described in the complete paper. 

I should perhaps state specifically that the 
location of the fertilizin is in the cortex of the 
egg. 

It seems to me probable that the activation 
of the fertilizin is by no means confined to 
that bound by the single penetrating sperm, 
but that activation once set up spreads around 
the cortex. The supernumerary spermatozoa 
that fail to enter the egg may also play a 
part by setting up centers of activation. In 
this connection Glaser’s contention that sev- 
eral spermatozoa at least are necessary for 
fertilization is of great interest. The nature 
of the effect of the activated fertilizin on the 
egg is analogous in some respects to a super- 
ficial cytolysis, in this respect agreeing with 
Loeb’s theory. But the “lysin” is contained 
in the egg, not in the sperm, as Loeb thought; 
if cytolysis is involved, it is a case of auto- 
cytolysis. This may involve increase of per- 
meability, the effects of which R. S. Lillie has 
especially studied. I mention these possibil- 
ities in order to point out that the conception 
contained in this paper is not in conflict with 
the well-established work of others. 

In conclusion, I may point out that the 
theory assumes a form of linkage of sperm and 
egg components by means of an intermediate 
body that may find a place in the study of 
heredity. The detailed experiments will be 
published later. 

Frank R. Linu 

MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

Woops Hour, Mass., 
September 1, 1913 


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FRipay, OCTOBER 17, 1913 


CONTENTS 


The British Association for the Advancement 
of Science :— 
The Result of the Last Twenty Years of 
Agricultural Research: PRoressor T. B. 
Woop 


Scientific Notes and News .............++.. 541 


University and Educational News 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Doctorates Conferred by American Univer- 
sities: PROFESSOR MAXIME BOcCHER. Air in 
the Depths of the Ocean: Dr. C. Jupay. 
An Anomalous Effect of Roéntgen Rays: F. 
R. GoRTON. The Acid Spotting of Morning 
Glories by City Rain: PRoFEssoR JoHN W. 


HARSHBERGER 546 


Scientific Books :— 


Dykes’s The Genus Iris: PROFESSOR CHARLES 
E. Bessey. Baldwin’s Thought and Things: 
PROFESSOR G. A. TAWNEY. Weber’s Lehr- 
buch der Algebra: PRoressor G. A. MILLER. 
Measures of Proper Motion Stars: Pro- 
FESSOR GEORGE C. COMSTOCK 


Scientific Journals and Articles ............ 


Special Articles :— 


Transformation of Gravitational Waves into 
Ether Vortices: DR. REGINALD A. FESSENDEN. 


The Specific Gravity of Silt: E. W. SHaw. 553 


On Psychology and Medical Education: Dr. 
SHEPHERD IVORY FRANZ ...........-.-2+- 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE RESULT OF THE LAST TWENTY 
YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL 
RESEARCH1 

I propose to follow the example of my 
predecessor of last year, in that the remarks 
I wish to make to-day have to deal with the 
history of agriculture. Unlike Mr. Middle- 
ton, however, whose survey of the subject 
went back almost to prehistoric times, I 
propose to confine myself to the last quar- 
ter of a century—a period which covers 
what I may perhaps be permitted to call 
the revival of agricultural science. 

Twenty-five years ago institutions con- 
cerned with the teaching of agriculture or 
the investigation of agricultural problems 
were few and far between. I do not pro- 
pose to waste time in giving an exhaustive 
list, nor would such a list help me in 
developing the argument I wish to lay be- 
fore the section. It will serve my purpose 
to mention that organized instruction in 
agriculture and the allied sciences was al- 
ready at that date being given at the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh and at the Royal 
Agricultural College, whilst, in addition, 
one or more old endowments at other uni- 
versities provided courses of lectures from 
time to time on subjects related to rural 
economy. Agricultural research had been 
in progress for fifty years at the Rotham- 
sted Experimental Station, where the work 
of Lawes and Gilbert had settled for all 
time the fundamental principles of crop 
production. Investigations of a more prac- 
tical nature had also been commenced by 


1Section M: Birmingham, 1913. Address of 
the president to the Agricultural Section of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence. 


530 SCIENCE 


the leading agricultural societies and by 
more than one private land-owner. 

In these few sentences I have endeay- 
ored to give a rough, but for my purpose 
sufficient, outline of the facilities for the 
study of agricultural science twenty-five 
years ago, at the time when the county 
councils were created. Their creation was 
followed almost immediately by what can 
only be called a stroke of luck for agricul- 
ture. The chancellor of the exchequer 
found himself with a considerable sum of 
money at his disposal, and this was voted 
by Parliament to the newly created county 
councils for the provision of technical in- 
struction in agriculture and other indus- 
tries. 

Farmers were at that time struggling 
with the bad times following the wet sea- 
sons and low prices of the ’seventies and 
eighties, and some of the technical instruc- 
tion grant was devoted to their assistance 
by the county councils, who provided tech- 
nical instruction in agriculture. Thus, for 
the first time considerable sums provided 
by the government were available for the 
furtherance of agricultural science; and, 
although at first there was no general plan 
of working and every county was a law 
unto itself, the result has been a great in- 
erease of facilities for agricultural educa- 
tion and research. 

Almost every county has taken some 
part. The larger and richer counties have 
founded agricultural institutions of their 
own. In some eases groups of counties 
have joined together and federated them- 
selves with established teaching institu- 
tions. For my purpose it suffices to state, 
without going into detail, that in practi- 
eally every county, in one way or other, at- 
tempts have been made to carry out inves- 
tigations of problems related to agriculture. 

Twenty years after the voting of the 
technical instruction grant to the county 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


councils, parliament has again subsidized 
agriculture, in the shape of the develop- 
ment fund, by means of which large sums 
of money have been devoted to what may 
be broadly ealled agricultural science. It 
seems to me that the advent of this second 
subsidy is an occasion when this section 
may well pause to take stock of the results 
which have been achieved by the expendi- 
ture of the technical education grant. I 
do not propose to discuss the results 
achieved in the way of education, although 
most of the technical instruction grant has 
been spent in that direction. It will be 
more to the point in addressing the Agri- 
cultural Section to discuss the results ob- 
tained by research. 

The subject, then, of my address is the 
result of the last twenty years of agricul- 
tural research, and I propose to discuss 
both successes and failures, in the hope of 
arriving at conclusions which may be of 
use in the future. 

Agricultural science embraces a variety 
of subjects. I propose to consider first the 
results which have been obtained by the 
numerous practical field experiments which 
have been carried out in almost every 
county. I suppose that the most striking 
result of these during the last twenty years 
is the demonstration that in certain cases 
phosphates are capable of making a very 
ereat increase in the crop of hay, and a 
still greater increase in the feeding value 
of pastures. This increase is not yielded in 
all cases, but the subject has been widely 
investigated, and the advisory staffs of the 
colleges are in a position to give inquirers 
reliable information as to the probability of 
suecess in almost any case which may be 
submitted to them. This is a satisfactory 
state of things, and the question naturally 
arises: How has it come about? 

On looking through the figures of the 
numerous reports which have been pub- 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


lished on this subject, it appears at once 
that in many cases the increase in live- 
weight of sheep fed on plots manured with 
a suitable dressing of phosphate has been 
twice as great as the increase in weight of 
similar animals fed on plots to which phos- 
phate has not been applied. Now about a 
difference of this magnitude between two 
plots there can be no mistake. It has been 
shown by more than one experimenter that 
two plots treated similarly in every way are 
as likely as not to differ in production from 
their mean by five per cent. of their pro- 
duce, and this may be taken as the prob- 
able error of a single plot. Where, as in 
the case of many of the phosphate experi- 
ments, a difference of 100 per cent. is re- 
corded, a difference of twenty times the 
probable error, the chances amount to a 
certainty that the difference is not an acci- 
dental variation, but a real effect of the 
different treatment of the two plots. The 
single-plot method of conducting field 
trials, which is the one most commonly 
used, is evidently a satisfactory method of 
measuring the effects of manures which are 
capable of producing 100 per cent. in- 
creases. It was good enough to demonstrate 
with certainty the effects of phosphate 
manuring on many kinds of grass land, and 
it is to this fact that we owe one of the most 


notable achievements of agricultural science 


in recent years. 

Another notable achievement is the dis- 
covery that in the case of most of the large- 
cropping varieties of potatoes the use of 
seed from certain districts in Scotland or 
the northern counties of Ireland is profita- 
ble. This is another instance of an increase 
large enough to be measured accurately by 
the single-plot method. Reports on the sub- 
ject show that seed brought recently from 
Scotland or Ireland gives increased yields 
of from thirty to fifty per cent. over the 


SCIENCE 


531 


yields produced by seed grown locally for 
three or more years. 

That the single-plot method fails to give 
definite results in many cases where it has 
been used for manurial trials is a matter of 
common knowledge. Half the reports of 
such trials consist of explanations of the 
discrepancies between the results obtained 
and the results which ought to have been 
obtained. The moral is obvious. The 
single-plot method, which suffices to demon- 
strate results as striking as those given by 
phosphates on some kinds of pasture land, 
signally fails when the subject of investi- 
gation is concerned with differences of ten 
per cent. or thereabouts. 

Before suggesting a remedy for this state 
of things it will be well to consider the 
allied subject of variety testing, which has 
been brought into great prominence re- 
cently by the introduction of new varieties 
of many kinds of farm crops. In testing a 
new variety it is necessary to measure two 
properties—its quality and its yielding 
capacity—for money-return per acre is ob- 
viously determined by the product of yield- 
ing capacity and quality as expressed by 
market price. I propose here to deal only 
with the determination of yielding capacity. 
The determination of quality is not allied 
to manurial trials. 

In attempting to determine yielding 
capacity there has always been a strong 
temptation to rely on the measurement of 
obvious structural characters. For in- 
stance, in the case of cereals many farmers 
like large ears, no doubt with the idea that 
they are an indication of high yielding 
capacity. Many very elaborate series of 
selections have been carried out, on the 
assumption that large grains, or large ears, 
or many ears per plant implied high yield. 

We may take it as definitely settled that 
none of these characters is reliable, and that 
the determination of yielding capacity re- 


532 


solves itself into the measurement of the 
yield given by a definite area. The actual 
measurement, therefore, is the same as that 
made in manurial trials, and is, of course, 
subject to the same probable error of about 
five per cent. 

It follows, therefore, that it is subject to 
the same limitations. Variety trials on 
single plots, and that is the method com- 
monly used, will serve to measure varia- 
tions in yielding capacity of thirty per 
cent., or more, but are totally inadequate to 
distinguish between varieties whose yield- 
ing capacities are within ten per cent. of 
each other. 

Numbers of such single-plot trials have 
been carried out, with the result that many 
varieties with yielding capacities much be- 
low normal have almost disappeared from 
cultivation, and those commonly grown do 
not differ greatly from one another—prob- 
ably not more than ten per cent. 

Ten per cent. in yielding capacity, how- 
ever, in cereals means a return of something 
like 15 shillings to 20 shillings per acre—a 
sum which may make the difference be- 
tween profit and loss; and if progress is to 
be made in manuring and variety testing 
some method must be adopted which is ¢ca- 
pable of measuring accurately differences in 
yield per unit area of the order of ten per 
cent. — 

The only way of decreasing the probable 
error is to increase the number of plots, and 
to arrange them so that plots between which 
direct comparison is necessary are placed 
side ‘by side, so as to reduce as much as 
possible variations due to differences in soil. 
Thus it has been shown that with ten plots 
in five pairs the probable error on the aver- 
age can be reduced to about one per cent., 
in which case a difference of from five to 
ten per cent. can be measured with con- 
siderable certainty. 

Such a method involves, of course, a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 981 


great deal of trouble; but agricultural 
science has now reached that stage of devel- 
opment at which the obvious facts which 
can be demonstrated without considerable 
effort have been demonstrated, and further 
knowledge can only be acquired by the ex- 
penditure of continually increasing effort. 
In fact, the law of diminishing return holds 
here, as elsewhere. 

It appears, then, that for questions in- 
volving measurements of yield per unit 
area, such, for instance, as manurial or 
variety trials, further advance is not likely 
to be made without the expenditure of much 
more care than has been given to such work 
in the past. The question naturally arises: 
Is it worth while? I think the following 
instance shows that it is: 

Some years ago an extensive series of 
variety trials was carried out in Norfolk, in 
which several of the more popular varieties 
of barley were grown side by side at several 
stations for several seasons. Im all, the 
trial was repeated eleven times. As a final 
result it was found that Archer’s stiff-straw 
barley gave ten per cent. greater yield than 
any other variety included in the trials, and 
by repetition of the experiment the prob- 
able error was reduced to one and a half 
per cent. The greater yield of ten per cent., 
being over six times the probable error of 
the experiment, indicates practical certainty 
that Archer barley may be relied on to give 
a larger crop than any of the other varieties 
with which it was compared. One difficulty 
still remained. It was almost impossible to 
obtain anything like a pure strain of 
Archer barley. Samples of Archer sold for 
seed commonly contained twenty-five per 
cent. of other varieties. This difficulty was 
removed by Mr. Beaven, who selected, again 
with enormous trouble, a pure high-yielding 
strain of Archer barley. Since this strain 
was introduced into the eastern counties 
the demand for it has always exceeded the 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


supply which could be grown at Cambridge 
and at the Norfolk Agricultural Station, 
and it is regarded by farmers generally as 
a very great success. 

The conclusion, therefore, is that a ten- 
per-cent. difference is well worth measur- 
ing, that it can not be measured with cer- 
tainty by the single-plot method, and that 
it behooves those of us who are concerned 
with field trials to look to our methods, and 
to avoid printing figures for single-plot 
experiments which may very well be mis- 
leading. Almost every one thinks himself 
competent to criticize the farmer, who is 
commonly described as too self-satisfied to 
acquaint himself with new discoveries, and 
too conservative to try them when they are 
brought to his notice. Let us examine the 
real facts of the case. Does the farmer 
ignore new discoveries? The largely in- 
ereasing practise of consulting the staffs of 
the agricultural colleges, which has arisen 
among farmers during the last few years, 
conclusively shows that he does not; that he 
is, in fact, perfectly ready to avail himself 
of sound advice whenever he can. Is he too 
conservative to try new discoveries when 
brought to his notice? The extraordinary 
demand for seed of the new Archer barley 
quoted above, and for seed of new varieties 
generally, the continuous advance in the 
prices of phosphatic manures, as the result 
of increased demand by farmers, the trade 
in Scotch and Irish seed potatoes, all show 
how ready the farmer is to try new things. 
The chief danger seems to be that he tries 
new things simply because they are new, 
and he may be disappointed if those who 
are responsible for the new things in ques- 
tion have not taken pains to ascertain with 
certainty that they are not only new, but 
good. Farmers are nowadays in what may 
be called a very receptive condition. Wit- 
ness the avidity with which they paid extrav- 
agant prices for single tubers of so-called 


SCIENCE 


533 


new, but inadequately tested, varieties of 
potatoes some years ago, and in a less degree 
the extraordinary demand for seed of the 
much-boomed French wheats, and the 
excitement about nitragin for soil or seed 
inoculation. Witness, too, the almost uni- 
versal failure of the new potatoes and 
French wheats introduced during the boom, 
and the few cases in which nitragin gave 
any appreciable result. The farmer who 
was disappointed with his ten-guinea tuber, 
his expensive French wheat, or his culture 
of nitragin can not but be disillusioned. 
Once bitten, twice shy. He does not readily 
take advice again. 

Let us, therefore, recognize that the far- 
mers of the country are ready to listen to us, 
and to try our recommendations, and let 
that very fact bring home to us a sense of 
our responsibility. All that is new is not, 
therefore, necessarily good. Before we 
recommend a new thing let us take pains to 
assure ourselves of its goodness. To do so 
we must find not only that the new thing 
produces a greater return per acre, but that 
the increased return is worth more than it 
costs to produce, and we must also define 
the area or the type of soil to which this 
result is applicable. This implies in prac- 
tise that each field trial should confine itself 
to the investigation of only one, or, at most, 
two, definite points, since five pairs of plots 
will be required to settle each point; that 
the experimental results should be reviewed 
in the light of a thorough knowledge of 
farm book-keeping, and that accurate notes 
should be taken of the type of the soil, and 
the area to which it extends, and of the 
various meteorological factors which make 
up the local climate. At present we are not 
in possession of a sufficient knowledge of 
farm accountancy, but there is hope that 
this deficiency will be removed by the work 
of the Institute for Research in Agriculture 
Economies, which has recently been founded 


534 


at Oxford by the board of agriculture and 
the development commission. The excellent 
example set by Hall and Russell in their 
“‘Survey of the Soils and Agriculture of 
the Southeastern Counties,’’ an example 
which is being followed in Cambridge and 
elsewhere, seems likely to result in the near 
future in a complete survey of the soils of 
England which will make a sound scientific 
basis for delimiting the areas over which 
the results of manurial or variety trials are 
applicable. 

Reviewing this branch of agricultural 
science, the outlook is distinctly hopeful. 
New fertilizers are coming into the market, 
as, for instance, the various products made 
from atmospheric nitrogen. New varieties 
of farm crops are being produced by the 
Plant-breeding Institute at Cambridge, and 
elsewhere. It is to be hoped that the work 
of the Agricultural Economics Institute at 
Oxford will throw new light on the inter- 
pretation of experimental results from the 
accountaney standpoint. Finally, the soil 
surveys on which the colleges have seriously 
embarked will assist in defining the areas 
over which such results are applicable. It 
only remains for those of us who are respon- 
sible for the conduct of field trials to in- 
erease the accuracy of our results, and the 
steady accumulation of a mass of systematic 
and scientific knowledge is assured. It will 
be the business of the advisory staffs with 
which the colleges have recently been 
equipped by the board of agriculture and 
the development commission to disseminate 
this knowledge in practicable form to the 
farmers.of this country. 

One more point, and I have finished this 
section of my address. I have perhaps in- 
veighed rather strongly against the publica- 
tion of the results of single-plot trials. I 
quite recognize that the publication of such 
results was to a great extent forced upon 
those experimenters who were financed by 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 981 


annually renewed grants of public money. 
Nowadays, however, agricultural science is 
in a stronger position, and I venture to 
hope that most public authorities which 
subsidize such work are sufficiently alive to 
the evils attendant on the publication of in- 
conclusive results to agree to continue their 
grants for such periods as may suffice for 
the complete working out of the problem 
under investigation, and to allow the final 
conclusions to be published in some prop- 
erly accredited agricultural journal, where 
they would be readily and permanently 
available to all concerned. This would in 
no wise prevent their subsequent incorpora- 
tion in bulletins specially written for the 
use of the practical farmer. 

So far I have confined my remarks to sub- 
jects of which I presume that every member 
of the section has practical experience, sub- 
jects which depend on the measurement of 
the yield per unit area. These subjects, 
however, although they have received far 
more general attention than anything else, 
by no means comprise the whole of agricul- 
tural science. Certain scientific workers 
have confined their efforts to the thorough 
solution of specific and circumscribed prob- 
lems. I propose now to ask the section to 
direct its attention to some typical results 
which have been thus achieved during the 
last twenty years. 

The first of these is the development of 
what I may eall soil science. Twenty years 
ago the bacteriology of nitrification had 
just been worked out by Warington and by 
Winoeradski. The phenomena of ammo- 
niacal fermentation of organic matter in 
the soil were also fairly well established. The 
fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by organ- 
isms symbiotic on the leguminose had been 
definitely demonstrated. Fixation of nitro- 
gen by free-living organisms had been sug- 
gested, but was still strenuously denied by 
most soil investigators. No suggestion had 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


yet been made of the presence in normal 
soils of any factor which inhibited crop- 
production. The last twenty years have 
seen a wonderful advance in soil science. 
Our knowledge of nitrification and ammo- 
niacal fermentation has been much ex- 
tended. The part played by the nodule 
organisms of the leguminose has been well 
worked out, has seen a newspaper boom, 
and a subsequent collapse, from which it 
has not yet recovered. But the greatest 
advance has been the discovery of the part 
played by protozoa in the inhibition of 
fertility. 

The suggestion that ordinary soils con- 
tained a factor which limited their fertility 
emanated in the first instance from the 
American Bureau of Soils. The factor was 
at first thought to be chemical, and its pres- 
ence was tentatively attributed to root ex- 
eretion. Certain organic substances, pre- 
sumably having this origin, have been iso- 
lated from sterile soils, and found to retard 
plant growth in water culture. It is 
claimed, too, that the retardation they cause 
is prevented by the presence of many ordi- 
nary manurial salts with which they are 
supposed to form some kind of combination. 

Contributions to the subject have come 
from several quarters, but whilst the sug- 
gested presence of an inhibitory factor has 
been generally confirmed, its origin as a 
root-exeretion and its prevention by manu- 
rial salts has not received general confirma- 
tion outside American official circles. The 
matter has been strikingly cleared up by 
the work of Russell and Hutchinson at 
Rothamsted, who observed that the fertility 
of certain soils which had become sterile 
was at once restored by partial sterilization, 
either by heating to a temperature below 
100° C., or by the use of volatile antiseptics 
such as toluene. This observation suggested 
that the factor causing sterility in these 
cases was biological in nature, that it con- 


SCIENCE 


535 


sisted, in fact, of some kind of organism 
inimical to the useful fermentation bacteria, 
and more easily killed than they by heat or 
antiseptics. After a long series of admira- 
ble scientific investigations these workers 
and their colleagues have shown that soils 
contain many species of protozoa, which 
prey upon the soil bacteria, whose numbers 
they keep within definite limits. Under cer- 
tain circumstances, such, for instance, as 
those existing in the soil of sewage farms, 
and in the artificial soils used for the culti- 
vation of cucumbers, tomatoes, ete., under 
glass, the protozoa increase so that the bac- 
teria are reduced below the numbers requi- 
site to decompose the organic matter in 
the soil into substances suitable for absorp- 
tion by the roots of the crop. Practical 
trials of heating such soils, or subjecting 
them to the action of toluene, or other vola- 
tile antiseptics, have shown that their lost 
efficiency can thus be easily restored, and 
the method is now rapidly spreading among 
the market gardeners of the Lea Valley. 

I have attempted to sketch the chief 


‘points of this subject with some detail in 


order to show that strictly scientific work, 
quite outside the scope of what some people 
still regard as ‘‘practical,’’ may result in 
discoveries which, apart from their great 
academic interest, may at once be turned to 
account by the cultivator. The constant 
renewal of expensively prepared soil which 
becomes ‘‘sick’’ in the course of a year or 
so is a serious item in the cost of growing 
cucumbers and tomatoes. It can now be 
restored to fertility by partial sterilization 
at a fraction of the cost of renewal, and 
considerable sums are thus saved by the 
Lea Valley growers. 

For my second instance of scientific work 
which has given results of direct value to 
farmers, I must ask to be allowed to give 
a short outline of the wheat-breeding inves- 
tigations of my colleague Professor Biffen, 


536 


Even as late as fifteen years ago plant- 
breeding was in the purely empirical hap- 
hazard stage. Then came the rediscovery 
of Mendel’s laws of heredity, which put in 
the hands of breeders an entirely new 
weapon. About the same time the Millers’ 
Association created the Home-grown Wheat 
Committee, of which Biffen was a member. 
Through this committee he was able to 
define his problem as far as the improve- 
ment of English wheat was concerned. 
There appeared to be two desiderata: (1) 
The production of a wheat which would 
crop as well as the best standard home- 
grown varieties, at the same time yielding 
strong grain, 7. ¢., grain of good milling and 
baking quality; and (2) the production of 
varieties of wheat resistant to yellow rust, 
a disease which has been computed to de- 
crease the wheat crop of the world by about 
one third. 

The problem having been defined, sam- 
ples of wheat were collected from every 
part of the world and sown on small plots. 
From the first year’s crop single ears were 
picked out and grown on again. Thus sev- 
eral hundred pure strains were obtained. 
Many were obviously worthless. A few 
possessed one or more valuable character- 
istics: strong grain, freedom from rust, 
sturdy straw, and so on. These were used 
as parents for crossing, and from the prog- 
eny two new varieties have been grown on, 
thoroughly tested, and finally put on the 
market. Both have succeeded, but both 
have their limitations. Burgoyne’s Fife, 
which came from a cross between strains 
isolated respectively from Canadian Red 
Fife and Rough Chaff, was distributed by 
the Millers’ Association after a series of 
about forty tests, in which it gave an aver- 
age crop of forty bushels per acre of grain, 
which milled and baked practically as well 
as the best imported Canadian wheat. It is 
an early-ripening variety which may even 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 981 


be sown as a spring wheat. It has repeat- 
edly been awarded prizes for the best sam- 
ple of wheat at shows, but it only succeeds 
in certain districts. It is widely and suc- 
cessfully grown in Bedfordshire and Dorset, 
but has not done well in Norfolk. The 
other variety, Little Joss, sueceeds much 
more generally. In a series of twenty-nine 
trials scattered between Norfolk and Shrop- 
shire, Kent and Scotland, it gave an aver- 
age of forty-four bushels per acre, as com- 
pared with forty bushels given by adjoin- 
ing plots of Square Head’s Master. It 
originated from a cross between Square 
Head’s Master and a strain isolated from 
a Russian graded wheat known as Glinka. 
Its grain is the quality of ordinary English 
wheat. It tillers exceptionally well in the 
spring, and is practically rust-proof. Its 
one drawback is its slow growth during the 
winter if sown at all late. It has met with 
its greatest success in the Fen districts, 
where rust is more than usually virulent. 

The importance of this work is not to be 
measured only by the readiness with which 
the seed of the new varieties has been tried 
by farmers and the extent to which it has 
sueceeded. The demonstration of the in- 
heritance of immunity to the disease known 
as yellow rust, the first really accurate con- 
tribution to the inheritance of resistance to 
any kind of disease, inspires hope that a 
new method has appeared for the preven- 
tion of diseases in general. 

Biffen’s work too shows the enormous 
value of coopération between the investi- 
gator and the buyer in defining problems 
connected with the improvement of agricul- 
tural produce. It is open to doubt if a 
committee of farmers would have been able 
to define the problems of English wheat 
production as was done by the Millers’ 
Committee, and in the solution of any prob- 
lem its exact definition is half the battle. 
Mackenzie and Marshall in their work on 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


the ‘‘Pigmentation of Bacon Fat’’ and on 
the spaying of sows for fattening, have 
found the great value of consultation with 
the staffs of several large bacon factories. 
There seems to be in this a general lesson 
that before taking up any problem one 
should get into touch not only with the 
producers, but with the buyers, from whom 
much useful information can be obtained. 

I feel that Biffen’s work has borne fruit 
in still another direction, for which perhaps 
he is not alone responsible. Twenty years 
ago agricultural botany took a very sub- 
sidiary position in such agricultural exami- 
nations as then existed. In some of the 
agricultural teaching institutions there was 
no botanist, in others the botanist was only 
a junior assistant. It is largely due to the 
work of Biffen and the botanists at other 
agricultural centers that botany is now re- 
garded as perhaps the most important 
science allied to agriculture. 

I must here repeat that I am not attempt- 
ing to make a complete survey of all the re- 
sults obtained in the last twenty years. My 
object is only to pick out some of the typical 
successes and failures and to endeavor to 
draw from their consideration useful lessons 
for the future. So far I have not referred 
to the work which has been done in the 
nutrition of animals, and I now propose to 
conelude with a short discussion of that 
subject. The work on that subject which 
has been carried out in Great Britain dur- 
ing the last twenty years has been almost 
entirely confined to practical feeding trials 
of various foods or mixtures of foods, trials 


which have been for the most part incon- ’ 


clusive. 

It has been shown recently that if a num- 
ber of animals in store condition are put 
on a fattening diet, at the end of a feeding 
period of twelve to twenty weeks about half 
of them will show live-weight increases 
differing by about fourteen per cent. from 


SCIENCE 


537 


the average live-weight increase of the 
whole lot. In other words, the probable 
error of the live-weight increase of a single 
fattening ox or sheep is fourteen per cent. 
of the live-weight increase. This being so, 
it is obvious that very large numbers of 
animals must be employed in any feeding 
experiment which is designed to compare 
the feeding value of two rations with rea- 
sonable accuracy. For instance, to measure 
a difference of ten per cent. it is necessary 
to reduce the probable error to three per 
cent. in order that the ten per cent. differ- 
ence may have a certainty of thirty to one. 
To achieve this, twenty-five animals must be 
fed on each ration. Those conversant with 
the numerous reports of feeding trials 
which have been published in the last 
twenty years will agree that in very few 
cases have such numbers been used. We 
must admit then that many of the feeding 
trials which have been carried out can lay 
no claim to accuracy. Nevertheless, they 
have served a very useful purpose. From 
time to time new articles of food come on 
the market, and are viewed with suspicion 
by the farmers. These have been included 
in feeding trials and found to be safe or 
otherwise, a piece of most useful informa- 
tion. Thus, for instance, Bombay cotton 
cake, when first put on the market, was 
thought to be dangerous on account of its 
woolly appearance. It was tried, however, 
by several of the agricultural colleges and 
found to be quite harmless to cattle. Its 
composition is practically the same as that 
of Egyptian cotton cake, and it now makes 
on the market practically the same price. 
Soya-bean cake is another instance of a 
new food which has been similarly tested, 
and found to be safe for cattle if used in 
rather small quantities and mixed with 
cotton cake. The price is now rapidly ris- 
ing to that indicated by its analysis. Work 
of this kind is, and always will be, most 


538 SCIENCE 


useful. Trials with few animals, whilst 
they can not measure accurately the feed- 
ing value of a new food, are quite good 
enough to demonstrate its general proper- 
ties, and its price will then gradually settle 
itself as the food gets known. 

Turning to the more strictly scientific 
aspects of animal nutrition, entirely new 
ideas have arisen during the last twenty 
years. I propose to discuss these shortly, 
beginning with the proteins. Twenty years 
ago the generally accepted view of the réle 
of proteins in nutrition was that the pro- 
teins ingested were transformed in the 
stomach and gut into peptones, and ab- 
sorbed as such without further change. 
Splitting into crystalline products, such as 
leucin and tyrosin, was thought only to take 
place when the supply of ingested protein 
exceeded the demand, and peptones re- 
mained in the gut for some time unab- 
sorbed. It is now generally agreed that in- 
gested protein is normally split into erystal- 
line products which are separately absorbed 
from the gut, and built up again into the 
various proteins required by the animal. If 
the ingested protein does not yield a mix- 
ture of crystalline products in the right 
proportions to build up the proteins re- 
quired, those crystalline products which 
are in excess are further changed and ex- 
creted. If the mixture contains none of one 
of the products required by the animal, then 
life can not be maintained. This has been 
actually demonstrated in the case of zein, 
one of the proteins of maize, which contains 
no tryptophane. The addition of a trace 
of tryptophane to a diet, in which zein was 
the only protein, markedly increased the 
survival period of mice. 

The adoption of this view emphasizes the 
importance of a knowledge of the composi- 
tion of the proteins, and especially of a 
quantitative knowledge of their splitting 
products, and much work is being directed 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 981 


to this subject in Germany, in America, and 
more recently in Cambridge as a result of 
the creation there of an Institute for Re- 
search in Animal Nutrition by the Board 
of Agriculture and the Development Com- 
mission. This work is expected ultimately 
to provide a scientific basis for the com- 
pounding of rations, the idea beine to 
combine foods whose proteins are, so to 
speak, complementary to each other, one 
giving on digestion much of the products of 
which the other gives little. Meantime, it 
is desirable that information should be col- 
lected as to mixtures of foods which are 
particularly successful or the reverse. 

Here the question arises, for what pur- 
pose does the animal require a peculiarly 
complicated substance like tryptophane? 
The natural suggestion seems to be that the 
tryptophane grouping is required for the 
building up of animal proteins. It has also 
been suggested that such substances are 
required for the formation of hormones, the 
active principles of the internal secretions 
whose importance in the animal economy 
has received such ample demonstration in 
recent years. The importance of even mere 
traces of various substances in the animal 
economy is another quite recent conception. 
Thus it has been shown, both in Cambridge 
and in America, that young animals fail to 
grow on a diet of carefully purified casein, 
starch, fat and ash, although they will re- 
main alive for long periods. In animals on 
such a diet, however, normal growth is at 
once started by the addition of a few drops 
of milk or meat juice, or a trace of yeast, 
or other fresh animal or vegetable matter. 
The amount added is far too small to affect 
the actual nutritive value of the diet. Its 
effect can only be due to the presence of a 
trace of some substance which acts, so to 
speak, as the hormone of growth. The 
search for such a substance is now being 
actively prosecuted. Its discovery will be 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


of the greatest scientific and practical 
interest. 

Evidently new ideas are not lacking 
amongst those who are engaged in investi- 
gating the réle of the proteins and their 
splitting products in the animal economy. 
But of more immediate practical interest 
is the question of the amount of protein 
required by animals under various condi- 
tions. It is obviously impossible to fix this 
amount with any great accuracy, since pro- 
teins differ so widely in composition, but 
from many experiments, in which a nitrogen 
balance between the ingesta and the excreta 
was made, it appears that oxen remain in 
nitrogenous equilibrium on a ration contain- 
ing about one pound of protein per 1,000 
Ibs. live-weight per day. All the British 
experiments of a more practical nature have 
been recalculated on a systematic basis by 
Ingle, and tabulated in the Journal of the 
Highland and Agricultural Society. From 
them it appears that increase of protein in 
the ration, beyond somewhere between one 
and a half and two pounds per 1,000 pounds 
live-weight per day of digestible protein, 
ceases to have any direct influence on in- 
erease in live-weight. 

We may fairly conclude, then, that about 
two pounds of protein per 1,000 pounds 
live-weight per day is sufficient for a fatten- 
ing ox. This amount is repeatedly exceeded 
in most of the districts where beef produc- 
tion is a staple industry, the idea being to 
produce farmyard manure rich in nitrogen. 
The economy of this method of augmenting 
the fertility of the land is very doubtful. 
The question is one of those for the solution 
of which a combination of accurate experi- 
ment and modern accountancy is required. 
Protein is the most expensive constituent of 
an animal’s dietary. If the scientific inves- 
tigator, from a study of the quantitative 
composition of the proteins of the common 
farm foods, and the economist, from careful 


SCIENCE 


539 


dissection of farm accounts, can fix an 
authoritative standard for the amounts of 
protein required per 1,000 lb. live-weight 
per day for various types of animals, a 
great step will have been made towards 
making mutton and beef production prof- 
itable apart from corn-growing. 

For many years it has been recognized 
that an animal requires not only so much 
protein per day, but a certain quota of 
energy, and many attempts have been made 
to express this fact in intelligible terms. 
Most of them have taken as basis the expres- 
sion of the value of all the constituents of 
the diet in terms of starch, the sum of all 
the values being called the starch equiva- 
lent. This term is used by various writers 
in so many different senses that confusion 
has often arisen, and this has militated 
against its general acceptance. Perhaps 
the most usual sense in which the term is 
used is that in which it means the sum of 
the digestible protein multiplied by a factor 
(usually 1.94) plus the digestible fat multi- 
plied by a factor (usually 2.3), plus the 
digestible carbohydrates. This, however, 
gives misleading values which are too high 
in concentrated foods and too low in bulky 
foods, the discrepancy being due to the 
larger proportion of the energy of the 
bulky foods which is used up in the much 
greater work of digestion which they re- 
quire. Kellner and his school have devised 
a method which measures the starch equiva- 
lent by experiment, a much more satis- 
factory and practical method than any 
system which depends purely on ealecula- 
tion. 

An animal or a number of animals are 
kept on a maintenance diet so that their 
weight remains constant. To this diet is 
added a known weight of starch, and the 
increase in weight observed. The animal 
or animals are then placed again on the 
same maintenance diet for some time, and 


540 


then a known weight of the food to be 
tested is added, and the increase in weight 
again observed. The data thus obtained 
indicate that so many pounds of starch 
produce as much inerease in live-weight as 
so many pounds of the food under experi- 
ment, from which it is easy to calculate how 
many pounds of starch are actually re- 
quired to produce as much increase in live- 
weight as 100 lb. of the food under experi- 
ment. The starch equivalent thus found 
expresses an experimentally determined 
fact which is of immediate practical value 
in arranging a dietary, its value, however, 
depending on the accuracy with which it 
has been determined. Kellner and his col- 
leagues have thus determined the starch 
equivalents of all the commonly used foods. 
Their values for concentrated foods, and 
other foods commonly used in Germany, 
have been determined with considerable 
aceuracy, and with the method which has 
also been devised for defining the relation 
between the experimentally determined 
equivalent and the equivalent calculated 
from the analysis by means of a formula, 
they form by far the most reliable basis for 
arranging a feeding ration including such 
kinds of foods. 

But roots, which form the staple of the 
diet of fattening animals in Great Britain, 
are not used on the same scale in Germany, 
and Kellner’s starch equivalents for roots 
have not been determined with sufficient 
accuracy or under suitable conditions to 
warrant their use for arranging diets under 
our conditions. 

This, and the fact that the term starch 
equivalent is so widely misunderstood, is no 
doubt the reason why the Kellner equiva- 
lent has not been more generally accepted 
in Great Britain. An advance will be made 
in the practise of feeding as soon as the 
starch equivalent of roots has been accu- 
rately determined under our conditions, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


when the Kellner equivalents will no doubt 
come into general use. 

I have now reached the end of my survey. 
I recognize that it is very incomplete, and 
that I have been compelled to neglect whole 
subjects in which important work has been 
done. I venture to hope, however, that my 
words have not been altogether unprofita- 
ble. It is somewhat difficult to summarize 
what is in itself really nothing but a sum- 
mary. Perhaps, however, I may be allowed 
to point out once more what appears to me 
to be the moral of the last twenty years of 
work in agricultural science. 

The many practical field and feeding 
tests carried out all over the country have 
demonstrated several very striking results; 
but, if they are to be continued with profit, 
more trouble must be taken to insure accu- 
racy. Farmers are ready to listen. It be- 
hooves us more than ever to found what we 
tell them on accurate results. 

Besides such practical trials, however, 
much has been done in the way of individ- 
ual scientific work. The results thus 
obtained, as, for instance, Russell and 
Hutchinson’s partial sterilization of soils. 
Biffen’s new wheats, and Beaven’s pure 
Archer barley, are of practical value to the 
farmer as immediate as the most practical 
field trial, and of far wider application. 


T. B. Woop 


THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 


ANNOUNCEMENT has been made of the plans 
for the new session of the Royal Geographical 
Society. The first of the ordinary meetings 
will be held, as usual, in the Theater, Burling- 
ton-gardens, on November 10, when Mr. Ray- 
mond E. Priestley will give an account of the 
work and adventures of the northern party of 
Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition, for the 
conduct of which, under the most trying cir- 
cumstances, it will be remembered Lieutenant 
Victor Campbell was awarded a gold watch by 
the society. At the next meeting, on Novem- 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


ber 24, Mrs. Bullock Workman and Dr. Hunter 
Workman will give an account of their most 
recent explorations in the eastern Karakoram. 
An interesting and perplexing subject will be 
dealt with at the meeting of December 8 by 
Professor J. W. Gregory, who will endeavor to 
answer the question, “Is the Earth Drying 
Up?” At the first meeting in January, 1914, 
on the 12th, it is probable that Mr. Griffith 
Taylor will give a paper on the Federal district 
and capital, Canberra, of the Commonwealth 
of Australia. Mr. Griffith Taylor was one of 
the geologists on Captain Scott’s expedition, 
and made a special survey of the Federal dis- 
trict on behalf of the Australian government. 
It is also expected that either at one of the 
evening meetings or at an afternoon meeting 
Mr. Taylor will deal with the geographical 
aspects of two sub-expeditions in the Antarctic. 
At an early meeting in the New Year it is 
hoped that Dr. Hamilton Rice will give an 
account of his interesting journeys in the 
Upper Amazon basin, about which some infor- 
mation was published in a recent number of 
The Times. Other subjects which may be 
dealt with at subsequent meetings will be 
“ An Expedition to Dutch New Guinea,” by 
A. F. R. Wollaston; “Famous Maps in the 
British Museum,” by J. A. J. de Villiers; 
“The Anglo-German Boundary Survey in 
West Africa,” by Captain W. P. Nugent, R.A.; 
“The Gulf Stream,” by Commander Campbell 
Hepworth, C.B.; “Journey through Arabia,’ 
by Captain G. EK. Leachman; “The Red Sea 
and the Jordan,” by Sir William Willcocks; 
“Fresh Discoveries in the Eket District of 
Southern Nigeria,” by Mr. P. A. Talbot; “ The 
Atlantic Ocean,” by Professor Edward Hull, 
F.R.S., and “The Panama Canal,’ by Dr. 
Vaughan Cornish. The afternoon meetings 
are held in the map room of the society at 5 
P.M., and are devoted mainly to the discus- 
sion of questions of a more scientific character 
than the subjects which occupy the evening 
meetings. The first of these will take place on 
November 20, when it is expected that Captain 
H. G. Lyons, F.R.S., will deal with the sub- 
ject of “Relief in Cartography.” At subse- 
quent meetings Dr. A. Strahan, F.R.S., will 


SCIENCE 


541 


give his final report on the river investigation, 
which has been carried on under the society 
for some years past. Other subjects will be 
“Recent Geodetic Work,” by Captain E. O. 
Henrici, R.E.; “The Rainfall of the World,” 
by Professor A. J. Herbertson; “ Some Central 
Asian Problems,” by Mr. Douglas Carruthers; 
“Results of a Recent Journey in Turkestan 
and Siberia,” by Dr. Mackintosh Bell; “ Re- 
searches in the Natron Lake Region, East 
Africa,” by Mr. John Parkinson, and “The 
Agricultural Geography of New Zealand,” by 
Mr. F. N. Roxby. There will be two Christ- 
mas lectures to young people early in January, 
one on “ Glaciers,” by Mr. Alan G. Ogilvie, 
and the other on “ Earthquakes and Up- 
heavals,” by Mr. Carus-Wilson. The anniver- 
sary meeting and dinner will take place on 
May 25. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THE autumn meeting of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences will be held at the Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, on November 
18 and 19. 


Proressor Fetix Kuern, of Gottingen, has 
been presented by his former pupils with a 
portrait of himself, painted by Max Lieber- 
mann. It will be placed in the mathematical 
institute of the university as soon as the build- 
ing is completed. 


Mr. RooseveEtt is on his way to South Amer- 
ica in response to invitations from Argentina, 
Brazil and Chile, to deliver addresses on sub- 
jects of international social interest. After 
the delivery of the addresses, Mr. Roosevelt 
will head a scientific expedition into the trop- 
ical interior of South America. This expedi- 
tion is organized by the American Museum of 
Natural History, and two naturalists of that 
museum, Mr. George K. Cherry and Mr. Leo 
Miller, will accompany Mr. Roosevelt, while 
the Arctic explorer Mr. Anthony Fiala will 
have charge of the equipment and route. 


Sirk Davw Bruce will leave England on 
November 1 for the purpose of concluding his 
sleeping sickness investigations in Central 
Africa. He will be accompanied by Lady 


542 


Bruce, who is herself a member of the com- 
mission. 


Proressor Paut S. Remscu, who resigned 
the chair of political science in the University 
of Wisconsin to become ambassador to China, 
has sailed from San Francisco for Yokohama. 


Proressor P. KE. Porr, who held the chair of 
general chemistry in the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, has retired under the 
Carnegie Foundation. 


Cyrm G. Hopkins, professor of agronomy, 
University of Illinois, has been granted a leave 
of absence for one year, beginning November 1, 
in order to accept the position of director of 
agriculture for the Southern Settlement and 
Development Organization. This is an organi- 
zation affected chiefly by the governors of the 
Southern States and the presidents of rail- 
roads in those states, and supported principally 
by state and railway appropriations. Its pri- 
mary purpose is “to make a thorough and 
scientific study of the resources and possibil- 
ities [of the South] and the best practical 
methods of developing the same.” 


M. Lucten Butt, sub-director of the Marey 
Institute, Boulogne Sur Seine, has been 
commissioned by the Société d’Hygiéne 
Alimentaire et d’Alimentation Rationnelle de 
YHomme to spend several months in Boston at 
the nutrition laboratory of the Carnegie Insti- 
tution of Washington, studying the construc- 
tion and methods of testing and use of the 
various respiration calorimeters there installed. 


We learn from Nature that in connection 
with the work on animal nutrition which is 
being conducted at the University of Leeds 
under a grant from the development commis- 
sioners, Dr. H. W. Dudley, of the Herter Re- 
search Laboratory, New York, has been ap- 
pointed lecturer in biochemistry. The experi- 
mental station in flax growing, which is also 
supported by the development commissioners, 
has been placed under the direction of Mr. F. 
K. Jackson, formerly of the agricultural de- 
partments of the Universities of Leeds and 
Cambridge. 


Dr. E. B. Puenps, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, known for his work 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


in sanitary engineering, has accepted a posi- 
tion in the U. S. Public Health Service, 
Washington. 

Dr. JosrpH A. Buake has resigned from the 
chair of surgery at the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Columbia University. 

Proressor ARCHIBALD Barr has resigned 
from the chair of civil engineering and me- 
chanics at the University of Glasgow. 


Tue officers of the British Mycological Soci- 
ety elected for 1914 are: President, Professor 
A. H. R. Buller; vice-president, Miss G. 
Lister; honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr. 
Carleton Rea. The localities for the spring 
and autumn meetings are the Forest of Dean 
and Doncaster. 


Dr. Lewis M. TEerMAN, associate professor of 
education, Stanford University, has been 
elected a member of the permanent Inter- 
national Committee on School Hygiene and 
has also been made the vice-president of the 
Council of Thirty of the American School 
Hygiene Association. 


Mr. James Birch Rorer, mycologist and 
pathologist to the board of agriculture of 
Trinidad, British West Indies, is on a visit to 
the United States. His address while in this 
country is care of Dr. Erwin F. Smith, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C. 

BrrorE the Geographic Society of Chicago 
on October 10 a lecture was given by Professor 
Walter S. Tower, of the University of Chicago, 
the title being “ A Journey through Northern 
and Central Chile.” 


Tuer twenty-first James Forrest lecture of 
the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 
will be delivered in the lecture theater of the } 
new building of the institution, on October 23, 
by Mr. Alexander Gracie, on “Progress of 
Marine Construction.” 


WE learn from the Bulletin of the American 
Mathematical Society that owing to the mass 
of new material which has been found at St. 
Petersburg and at other places, the Euler com- 
mission realizes that it must face a deficit in 
the publication of Euler’s works, unless fur- 
ther funds are provided. The publication of 
this new matter will necessitate several addi- 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


tional volumes and involve an unforeseen ex- 
pense of at least $40,000. To defray this ex- 
pense it is proposed to form a Euler society, 
with dues of ten francs per year, the receipts 
of which are to be devoted entirely to this 
purpose. 

Puans have been completed for publishing 
the complete works of the late Henri Poincaré. 
The publication will be undertaken at once by 
Gauthier-Villars under the direction of the 
French minister of public instruction and the 
academy of sciences of Paris. 


Proressor Louis Kuttner, of Berlin, known 
for his work on intestinal diseases, died on 
October 5, aged forty-seven years. 

THE French toxicologist, Dr. Jules Ogier, 
has died at sixty years of age. 

THERE are several important places in metal- 
lurgy under the Bureau of Mines, to be filled 
by civil service examination on November 10. 
The salaries of these positions range from 
$2,000 to $4,800. Several of the vacancies are 
in Denver, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. 


It is reported that steps are being taken, 
under the auspices of the Resident-General of 
France and of his Highness the Bey of Tunis, 
to establish in Tunisia a reserve in which the 
disappearing fauna of the country may find 
immunity from persecution. For this pur- 
pose some 4,000 acres of wild mountainous 
country, with an adjoining marsh of 5,000 
acres, have been secured. 


Tue Russian government will establish a 
physical observatory at Vladivostok and experi- 
mental stations on the Pacific coast with the 
view of cooperating with the authorities of 
meteorological stations in China and Japan. 
Mr. S. D. Griboyedovy has been commissioned 
to investigate suitable sites for the proposed 
stations. 


Tue general reorganization and rearrange- 
ment of the Rocky Mountains Park Museum 
maintained by the park department of the 
Canadian government at Banff, Alberta, has 
been carried out by Harlan J. Smith, of the 
Geological Survey, Canada. The museum 
has been limited in scope to the Rocky 
Mountain region of Alberta and British Co- 


SCIENCE 


543 


lumbia. Only the collections on hand, local 
park employees and local supplies were used 
with the exception of a few labels, maps and 
books given for the purpose by the Geological 
Survey, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the 
American Museum of Natural History of New 
York, the Conservation Commission of Can- 
ada and the Central Experimental Farm at 
Ottawa. The museum has been divided into 
the following sections: Mammals, birds, fish, 
reptiles, insects, plants, minerals, rocks, fos- 
sils, weather and Indians, of the Rocky 
Mountains Park, respectively. Professor 
Allen, of the University of Alberta and the 
Geological Survey, assisted in the work of the 
geological sections. The chief features of the 
museum are the initiation of large sectional 
labels, case labels and a few general labels to 
species, in addition to the individual labels— 
all interpreting the truths of science in 
simple words for the tourists who visit the 
park. The cases and labels have been 
painted to harmonize with the natural finish 
of the building and the letters on the labels 
have been made in the color of the knots and 
grain of the wood. 

Secretary Houston, of the Department of 
Agriculture, says that the state and federal 
governments should work together for high- 
way improvement in order that a large pro- 
portion of the money annually spent for road 
construction may not be wasted. In his own 
department the office of public roads has been 
demonstrating the value of proper road-build- 
ing by the construction of certain object-les- 
son roads, and the forest service is carrying 
out his idea of national and state cooperation 
in road building. The law requires that ten 
per cent. of the gross receipts from the na- 
tional forests shall be spent in the states in 
which the forests are situated. This money 
is expended for road improvement under di- 
rect control of the secretary of agriculture. 
The amount appropriated under this act, 
based on the receipts of the national forests 
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, is 
$234,638.68. From the 1912 receipts for this 
ten-per-cent. road item, there is an additional 
$134,831.10, which is still available. In ad- 


544 


ministering the ten-per-cent. road fund, for- 
est officers charged with the actual plans and 
expenditures in the neighborhood of their 
forests have, in almost all cases, secured an 
equal or a larger cooperative fund from state 
authorities for the building of certain pieces 
of road. With the money thus expended many 
important roads are being built or put in re- 
pair. One on the Wyoming National Forest, 
six miles long, makes accessible to farmers a 
large body of timber and opens up a region of 
great scenic beauty. In northwestern Ari- 
zona, part of the fund will be used in connec- 
tion with the LeFevre-Bright Angel road, 
important because it makes accessible to tour- 
ists the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. In 
one place, the ocean-to-ocean highway crosses 
the Apache National Forest, Arizona, and on 
this project the forest service and the local 
authorities cooperated enthusiastically. On 
the Florida national forest in western Florida 
steel bridges and graded roads have, under 
the stimulus of this fund, taken the place of 
corduroy, bog and sand. This federal road 
fund is now available in all national forest 
states of the west. Just as fast as returns 
come in, the forestry officials say, a similar 
fund will become available in states in which 
eastern national forests are being secured. 


Tue American Petroleum Society was or- 
ganized on September 10 at the Experiment 
Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. This organization is the result of 
an effort of the bureau for the past seven 
years to bring together the men interested in 
the petroleum industry. Invitations were sent 
out in July to the secretaries of twenty-four 
of the national societies of the United States, 
inviting them to be present and cooperate in 
this organization. Eighteen of these societies 
responded at a meeting on August 1 at the 
Bureau of Mines. A similar invitation was 
sent out in August to eight additional socie- 
ties, making a total of thirty-two societies that 
were invited to attend the September confer- 
ence. A large number of these were repre- 
sented at the meeting on September 10, when 
the final organization was completed. This 
society will concern itself with the study of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XX XVIII. No. 981 


all phases of natural gases and petroleum, 
including the origin, statistics, conservation, 
drilling methods, production, transportation, 
storage, refining and specifications for refined 
products. At the meeting the constitution 
and by-laws were adopted, and officers were 
elected as follows: president, OC. D. Chamber- 
lin, of the National Petroleum Association, 
Cleveland, Ohio; vice-president, R. Galbreath, 
of the Independent Oil and Gas Producers’ 
Association of Oklahoma, Tulsa, Okla.; sec- 
retary, Dr. Irving C. Allen, U. S. Bureau of 
Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa. It is anticipated that 
the first annual meeting will be held at some 
convenient place in the United States in the 
spring of 1914, and the second annual meeting 
will be held at the Panama Pacific Universal 
Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. At the 
1915 meeting it is anticipated that all of the 
petroleum societies in the country will meet 
in one great congress. An invitation has been 
sent to the president of the International 
Petroleum Commission, which meets in Jan- 
uary, 1914, in Bucharest, Roumania, to hold 
its annual meeting for 1915 in San Francisco. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Mrs. W. Bayarp Curtine and her children 
have given $200,000 to Columbia University 
for a fund in memory of the late W. Bayard 
Cutting, of the class of 769, who served as 
trustee of the university from 1880 until his 
death, in 1912. The income of this fund is to 
be applied to the maintenance of traveling 
fellowships, open to graduate students of dis- 
tinction in letters, science, law and medicine 
or engineering. 

Dr. Gavin Paterson TENNENT, of Glasgow, 
has bequeathed £25,000 to the University of 
Glasgow, to be applied for such objects or ob- 
ject in connection with the faculty of medi- 
cine as the trustees may determine. The uni- 
versity has also received a legacy of £4,000 
from the late Mrs. Caird, widow of Principal 
Caird, to establish two scholarships in classics 
or mental philosophy, and a legacy of £5,000 
by the late Mr. William Weir, ironmaster, the 
income of which is to pay for an additional 
assistant to the professor of materia medica. 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


THE construction of two new buildings on 
the campus of the Ohio State University is 
progressing rapidly. One will house the de- 
partments of botany and zoology and entomol- 
ogy; the other, the departments of forestry 
and horticulture. They will be of brick con- 
struction and will cost $125,000 each, exclu- 
sive of equipment. 


A NEW course in applied entomology is of- 
fered this year at the Ohio State University. 
The course covers four years and leads to the 
degree of bachelor of science in entomology. 
The chief purpose of the course is to train 
students for the increasing demand coming 
from various government bureaus, experi- 
ment stations and from state and local health 
boards for advisers and investigators. The 
university has also established two new com- 
bination courses between the College of Arts 
and the College of Agriculture and designated 
them arts-culture and arts-home economics 
courses. The student is registered the first 
three years in the former college and the last 
two years in the latter. At the end of the 
fourth year the degree of bachelor of arts is 
granted and at the end of the fifth year the 
degree is either bachelor of science in agri- 
culture or home economics. 


Dr. H. W. Lors has been made dean of the 
St. Louis University School of Medicine. In 
addition to the appointments of Dr. A. G. 
Pohlman and Dr. Don R. Joseph, already 
noted here, to the chairs of anatomy and physi- 
ology, Dr. Albert Kuntz, formerly instructor 
in the University of Iowa, has been appointed 
assistant professor of experimental biology. 


Proressor Ratpu §. Linum, of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, has been elected head of 
the biological department of Clark University 
to succeed Professor Clifton F. Hodge, who has 
gone to the University of Oregon. 


Dr. N. J. Lennus, of Columbia University, 
has been appointed professor of mathematics 
in the University of Montana. 

In the department of biology and public 
health of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology Mr. Robert Spurr Weston has been ap- 
pointed assistant professor. 


SCIENCE 


545 


Recent appointments in the University of 
California include the following to positions 
in the citrus experiment station and graduate 
school of tropical agriculture, located at River- 
side, California: Dr. J. T. Barrett, pathologist 
of the University of Illinois, has been ap- 
pointed professor of plant pathology; Pro- 
fessor H. S. Fawcett, pathologist of the Cali- 
fornia State Department of Horticulture and 
formerly pathologist of the Florida Experi- 
ment Station, has been appointed associate 
professor of plant pathology; Dr. Howard B. 
Frost, assistant in plant-breeding, Cornell 
University, has been, appointed an instructor 
in plant-breeding. 

At Grinnell College Dr. Leonidas R. Little- 
ton, instructor in chemistry, has resigned to 
accept the professorship of chemistry at Emory 
and Henry College. He has been succeeded by 
William A. Ziegler, A.B. (Grinnell, 710), A.P. 
(Oxford, 713), a Rhodes scholar from Iowa. 
Dr. Louis D. Hartson has been promoted 
from instructor to assistant professor of psy- 
chology and education. 

Durine the absence of Dr. David Hilt 
Tennent, who is on a Carnegie Research Expe- 
dition, Dr. Florence Peebles is taking charge 
of his work in Bryn Mawr College. Dr. 
Peebles, who was last year fellow of the Asso- 
ciation of Collegiate Alumne, has just re- 
turned from a year abroad, where she carried 
on investigations in the marine laboratories at 
Naples and Monaco, and also in the University 
of Freiburg in Breisgau. 

At the University of Wisconsin Dr. A. S. 
Pearse has been promoted to be associate pro- 
fessor of zoology. 

Av the University of Chicago Professors G. 
A. Bliss and H. E. Slaught have been pro- 
moted to full professorships of mathematics. 

Dr. J. G. Firzcrratp has resigned as asso- 
ciate professor of bacteriology in the Univer- 
sity of California and has been appointed asso- 
ciate professor of hygiene in the University of 
Toronto. 

Dr. T. Franxuiw Sry, lecturer in geology 
at King’s College, London, has been appointed 
professor of geology in the University College 
of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff. 


546 SCIENCE 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


DOCTORATES CONFERRED BY AMERICAN 
UNIVERSITIES 


To tHe Eprror or Science: Your article 
“Doctorates conferred by American Universi- 
ties” (Scrmncre, No. 973) is a valuable state- 
ment of facts from which you have wisely 
refrained from drawing conclusions. J fear 
that many of your readers will take it almost 
as a matter of course that those institutions 
which confer the largest number of doctor’s 
degrees are the ones which are doing most for 
the highest education and for the progress of 
scholarship in America. .This inference is not 
merely erroneous but is distinctly harmful. It 
is true that those institutions which succeed in 
collecting the largest number of students with 
the capacity and preparation necessary for do- 
ing work to some slight extent original, and 
which have teachers able and willing to inspire 
their students with the desire to do productive 
work are contributing most to the scientific ad- 
vancement of the country. It is also true that 
other things being equal such institutions will 
produce each year the largest numbers of doc- 
tors. There is, however, another element of 
fundamental importance which is too often 
left out of account. The level of attainment 
and capacity of our doctors is, on the average, 
below that of German doctors, and these latter 
stand far below the doctors of several other 
European nations, such as France or the Scan- 
dinavian countries. In these latter countries 
the holder of the doctor’s degree may, to use 
your phrase, be said to be “ officially certified 
as competent to undertake advanced teaching 
and research work.” In Germany and in this 
country such a statement must be taken in a 
decidedly Pickwickian sense, most doctors there 
being quite unable to stand alone scientifically. 
This is of less consequence in Germany, where 
the keen competition of the best doctors for 
academic promotion gives a sufficient incentive 
to further development beyond the usually 
rather low level of the doctor’s degree. In this 
country such incentives are to a large extent 
lacking, and it is the duty of the strongest 
universities to raise the level of the doctor’s 
degree distinctly above the standard set in Ger- 
many. Some of our strongest institutions are 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


aware of this fact and try, even if as yet only 
in an uncertain and halting manner, to per- 
form this duty in spite of the competition of 
the weaker institutions, some of which are glad 
to give the degree to men of doubtful qualifica- 
tions. To expect uniformity of standard here 
would be Utopian; but it is important that in 
judging the relative success of different uni- 
versities the quality of the output be given at 
least as much weight as the quantity. I, for 
one, hope the time is still very far distant when 
as large a proportion of our population take 
the doctor’s degree as is the case in Germany. 


Maxime BocHER 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


AIR IN THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN 


SEVERAL months ago three communications 
relating to the manner in which the water in 
the depths of the ocean is aerated, appeared in 
Science’ and a recent review of them has 
served to call attention to this subject again. 
Before the question is finally dismissed it 
may be worth while to point out that the single 
factor, namely, diffusion, suggested in these 
articles as the sole agent involved, plays only a 
negligible réle in the process of aeration. The 
atmospheric gases diffuse very slowly through 
water, the coefficient of nitrogen being 1.73, of 
oxygen 1.62, and of carbon dioxide 1.38. The 
rapidity with which oxygen is transferred is 
well illustrated by Hiifner’s* computations for 
the Bodensee, which has a maximum depth of 
about 250 meters. His results show (1) that it 
would take oxygen about forty-two and a third 
years to pass from the surface to the bottom 
of this lake by the process of diffusion alone; 
(2) that it would take over a hundred thou- 
sand years for the quantity of oxygen which 
its waters at a temperature of 10° C. are capa- 
ble of holding, to diffuse into a body of water 
of equal area and unlimited depth; (3) that, 
under natural conditions, with the depth 
limited to 250 meters, it would require over a 
million years for this body of water to become 
saturated at the above temperature if it had no 


1 Vol. XXXIV., pp. 239, 562 and 874. 

2 Internat. Revue, Bd. V., p. 448. 

3 Arch. fiir Anat. und Physiol. (Physiol. Abteil.), 
1897, p. 112. 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


dissolved oxygen and acquired a supply only 
by diffusion from the atmosphere. 

If ocean waters were aerated solely by diffu- 
sion from the atmosphere we should expect the 
upper strata to possess a larger amount of dis- 
solved oxygen than the lower. But such is not 
the case in the tropical Atlantic, for instance. 
Here the smallest amounts, one to two cubic 
centimeters per liter of water, are found be- 
tween the depths of 150 and 800 meters, while 
the water between 1,100 and 1,500 meters con- 
tains twice as much or more, that is, three to 
four cubie centimeters per liter.’ 

The Black Sea affords an excellent illustra- 
tion of the inefficiency of diffusion in the proc- 
ess of aeration. Owing to the greater salinity, 
hence greater density, of the lower water the 
vertical currents do not penetrate to the bot- 
tom of the sea; that is, the lower portion is 
permanently stagnant and oxygen can pass 
into it only by diffusion. But Lebedinzeff* 
found no dissolved oxygen below a depth of 
200 meters, the aerated portion comprising only 
about eight per cent. of the maximum depth of 
this body of water. 

Similar conditions are found in many fresh- 
water lakes during the summer period of 
thermal stratification. At this time the cool 
lower stratum of water is cut off from contact 
with the air by the warm upper stratum and 
can receive new supplies of oxygen only by 
diffusion from the latter. If the former loses 
any or all of its dissolved oxygen during the 
stagnation period, however, the deficiency con- 
tinues until the autumnal overturning takes 
place.° 

In view of these facts it is evident that some 
agent other than diffusion is responsible for 
the aeration of bodies of water. In lakes aera- 
tion is accomplished by the vernal and au- 
tumnal overturning of the water and its subse- 
quent circulation for a longer or shorter period. 
In speaking of the aeration of ocean waters 


4 Schott, ‘‘Physische Meereskunde,’’ p. 72. 

5‘¢Aus der Fischzuchtanstalt Nikolsk,’’ No. 9, 
p. 113. 

6 Birge and Juday, Bull. XXII., Wis. Geol. and 
Nat. Hist. Survey. 

7“<The Depths of the Ocean,’’ p. 253. 


SCIENCE 


547 


Helland-Hansen" states that “these gases are 
absorbed at the surface from the atmosphere 
and are carried by currents even into the 
deepest parts of the ocean in varying amounts.” 
C. Jupay 


AN ANOMALOUS EFFECT OF RONTGEN RAYS 


AN unexpected effect due to X-rays has 
been brought to my attention, which I be- 
lieve has been hitherto unobserved. The re- 
sult is obtained as follows: 

Let a sensitive plate be placed film down 
upon a silver coin, and let a second silver 
coin be so placed above the plate that areas of 
contact of the plate and coins partially over- 
lap. Now let the plate and coins which are 
enclosed in a light-tight box be exposed to 
X-rays from above. 

When the plate is developed, the result is of 
course a light area with but little effect due 
to radiation transmitted by the upper coin 
and a dark area due to the secondary radia- 
tion from the coin below. The anomaly ap- 
pears at the area of overlapping coins. Since 
this receives its impression both from trans- 
mitted rays and from the secondary rays 
from the coin below, it is to be expected that 
this area will be darker than the remaining 
area shaded by the upper coin. The opposite 
is true, and the area of the overlapping coins 
is always lighter, as though the secondary 
radiation from the lower coin cancelled the 
effect of the rays transmitted by the upper 
coin. When small plates of lead are substi- 
tuted for the silver coins, the effect is re- 
versed, and the area in question is darker in- 
stead of lighter. This is the result that one 
would expect. 

The writer has tried many combinations of 
metals in this manner and has found that the 
anomalous effect occurs in a number of cases, 
as for two gold coins, copper coins, gold and 
silver, and many others. 

The question which the case suggests is in 
regard to the manner in which the neutraliza- 
tion of the effect of the transmitted rays is 
brought about by the secondary rays and why 
it seems to be so complete in some cases and 
not in others. The writer has tried to ascer- 


548 


tain whether the exposure of the plate to the 
transmitted rays and to the secondary rays 
must be simultaneous, but has been unable to 
produce the anomalous effect by successive ex- 
posures, that is, by an exposure first with the 
upper coin in place followed by another ex- 
posure with this coin removed and the lower 
No vestige of cancellation 
F. R. Gorron 


coin in place. 


eould be found. 


THE ACID SPOTTING OF MORNING GLORIES BY 
CITY RAIN 


Tuat the trees, shrubs and flowering plants 
in our large cities and in the country along 
our trunk-line railroads are subjected to con- 
ditions which cause unhealthy growth and 
disease has been proven abundantly. Large 
factories, power plants and railroad loco- 
motives are pouring out volumes of smoke, 
which alone is highly injurious, but in addi- 
tion the acid which is formed in the combus- 
tion of coal, when dissolved in rain water, 
has injurious effect upon foliage and other 
plant parts. Its action is seen in the corrosion 
of tin roofs, rain pipes and ornamental iron 
wo.k about city houses. 

The following note is of interest to the 
plant pathologist and plant physiologist. 
During the night of September 19, 1913, a 
light rain fell, followed by a fine drizzle in 
the early morning of September 20. The wide- 
open campanulate flowers of the common morn- 
ing glory (Ipomea purpurea Roth), growing on 
a lot in West Philadelphia, four or five blocks 
from the Pennsylvania Railroad, had their 
usual quota of raindrops studded over the 
upper, inner surface of the purple corollas. 
Wherever the drops touched the surface of 
the corolla, the purple color was changed to a 
pinkish red, and in the process of evaporation 
of the raindrops the acid of the drops was 
concentrated, so that after the complete dis- 
appearance of the drops a brown spot was left 
in the center of the pinkish red circles of dis- 
coloration. The explanation of the alteration 
of color is found in the change of the sap of 
the corolla cells, where touched by the acid 
raindrops, from an alkaline to an acid reac- 


tion. A similar change can be induced in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIZI. No. 981 


blue violet petals by bruising them slightly 
and placing them in an acid liquid. The 
petals change, like blue alkaline litmus paper, 
from blue to red, and this reaction with violet 
petals has proved useful in the physiologic 
laboratory in the absence of litmus paper. In 
nature a reverse change, which illustrates the 
same chemic principle, takes place in many 
flowers of plants belonging to the family 
Borraginacee. For example, in Symphytum 
and Mertensia, the red flower buds, the cells 
of which have an acid cell sap, gradually 
change to blue as the flowers open. That this 
is a chemie change is proved by treating the 
red buds with an alkaline fluid and the blue 
flowers with an acid one. 

Similar spotting, but less clearly discernible 
and demonstrable, as the delicate reaction with 
morning-glory flowers, undoubtedly occurs on 
leaves and fruits, and the suggestion is made 
here, that such spots caused by the acidity of 
raindrops serve repeatedly as the points of 
entry of parasitic fungi, for there are many 
leaf spots and fruit spots that show concen- 
tric rings of diseased tissue in the earliest 
lesions produced. A fungus, which is stimu- 
lated to growth by an acid condition of the 
cell sap, would find ideal conditions for the 
commencement of growth by entering areas 
influenced by acid raindrops. 


JOHN W. HarsSHBERGER 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The Genus Iris. By WituiaM Rikatson Dykes. 

With forty-seven colored drawings by F. H. 

Rowunp, one colored plate of seeds by Miss 

R. M. Carpew and thirty line drawings by 

C. W. Jounson. Cambridge, at the Univer- 

sity Press. The University of Chicago 

Press, Chicago, Il]. 1918. Demy Folio. 

Pp. viii 246. Price £6, 6s. net. 

Thirty-six years ago J. G. Baker published 
his “Systema Iridacearum” in the Journal 
of the Iinnean Society, including a revision 
of all the genera of the family. In this paper 
the genus Iris was made to include 81 species, 
distributed among six “sub-genera,” namely, 
Apogon (88 sp.), Onocyclus (5 sp.), Hvansia 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


(6 sp.), Pogoniris (31 sp.), Hexapogon (2 sp.), 
and Dietes (4 sp.). The genera Xiphion and 
Juno, excluded by Baker but since merged in 
Tris, included nearly 20 species, so that at that 
time the known plants now regarded as spe- 
cies of Iris reached about 100. A few years 
later (1892) when Baker published his “ Hand- 
book of the Irideae” the number of species 
was increased to 161, distributed among ten 
“subgenera” as he continued to regard them, 
as against six in his earlier treatment. Com- 
paring Baker’s disposition of the species with 
that of Dykes the greatest difference is to be 
found in Pogoniris, to which Baker assigned 
52 species, while the later author assigns to it 
but 34 species. Xiphiwm with 14 species in 
Baker’s “Handbook,” has but 6 in Dykes’s 
book. In some cases the later author has been 
unable to identify certain old names, while in 
others he has reduced them to synonymy. 

American students have found Hasselbring’s 
article “Jris” in Bailey’s “Cyclopedia of 
Horticulture” very helpful. His treatment 
follows the general lines laid down by Baker, 
and includes 102 species. 

Coming to the book before us one finds a 
far fuller treatment than had previously been 
accorded these plants, for here we have a bo- 
tanical monograph of a generous type, in 
which there is successfully combined accuracy 
of scientific detail with popular directions to 
growers. To these matters of fact are added 
the exquisite colored drawings and fine print- 
ing and binding which make this a work of 
high artistic merit. 

The botanist will notice that the author di- 
vides the genus into twelve sections, approxi- 
mately equivalent to Baker’s “subgenera.” In 
eight of these the underground portion of the 
plant is a rhizome, while in the remaining sec- 
tions it is bulbous (a bulb or corm). This 
character at once divides the genus into two 
parts—the “rhizomatous Jrises,’ and the 
“bulbous Irises,’ and after this the sections 
are distinguished by their “smooth,” 
“erested” or merely “bearded” outer seg- 
ments (falls), and the seed characters (aril- 
late, non-arillate). One third of the species 
(49) are found in the section Apogon with 


SCIENCE 


549 


rhizomatous plants, and smooth falls, and 
nearly one fourth (34) are in the section 
Pogoniris with rhizomatous plants, and 
bearded falls. In the first of these are Iris 
versicolor, I. missouriensis, I. montana, I. 
verna, etc., while in the second are J. pumila 
and J. germanica, of our gardens. The sections 
Onocyclus (rhizomatous, with sparsely bearded 
falls; 16 sp.) and Jwno (bulbous, with smooth 
falls; 17 sp.), include less commonly known 
species. The plants of the Juno section look 
very unlike ordinary Irises, their leaves being 
channeled, instead of sword-shaped, and the 
standards are spreading, instead of erect. In 
the Onocyclus section is found Iris lortetit, of 
the southern slopes of Lebanon in Palestine, 
“yerhaps the most beautiful of all Irises.” 
Its large flower is quite remarkable, with its 
nearly orbicular falls, orbicular, erect stand- 
ards (3-4 inches in diameter) and arched, 
crimson-red styles. ‘‘ Unfortunately it seems 
to be one of the most difficult to cultivate 
among the difficult members of its class.” 

This fine volume is destined to become the 
standard book on Irises, and on this account 
must be found in every botanical library, 
while its beautiful plates, fine paper, print and 
binding will cause it to find place in many pri- 
vate libraries. 

Cuartes E. Brssry 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


Thought and Things, or Genetic Logic. 
TII., Part I. Real Logic. Interest and Art. 
JAMES Mark Batpwin. London, George 
Allen and Company; New York, The Mac- 
millan Company. 1911. Pp. xvi-t 284. 
This Part I. of Volume III. of Baldwin’s 

“Genetic Logic” opens with a résumé of the 

conclusions of the other two volumes, “ with a 

view to their bearing on the problem of 

reality.” The “logic” of “affective experi- 
ence” is discussed under the title The Logic 
of Practise, in Part ITJ.; Esthetic Experience 

is discussed in Part IV.; The Modes of Im- 

mediacy are discussed in Part V.; and in a 

sixth part, the new term Pancalism (from the 

motto of the work as a whole, 76 xaddov way) is 
proposed as a name for the author’s philosophy, 


Vol. 


550 SCIENCE 


and a program is projected for another volume 
which will complete the work. 

Perhaps the point of chief interest to the 
student of science in this volume is Baldwin’s 
solution of the dualism of inner and outer con- 
trols developed especially in Volume II. It 
may be remembered that the actual and the 
imaginative are there contrasted with each 
other and traced to the external world, on the 
one hand, and to the self on the other. This 
knowledge and semblance “is the universal 
and ever-present contrast in the meanings of 
cognition.” The imaginative rendering is 
always instrumental to the actual and the 
true. “ We make-believe in order that we may 
believe.” “The two controls (the inner and 
the outer) are now adjusted to each other 
through the mediation of ideas or thoughts.” 
That is to say, the imagined or merely thought, 
under the inner control of the self, is instru- 
mental to the attainment of truth. The work 
then distinguishes two sorts of knowledge to 
the attainment of which the imaginative is 
instrumental, namely theoretical knowledge 
and practical. Hence arises the question 
“ whether there are other types of apprehension 
which either set up still further ends or in 
some way reduce or reconcile the duality dis- 
closed by these two.” To this question Baldwin 
replies, “ There is a type of imaginative cog- 
nition, I wish at once to say, that does not 
allow of description under either of the two 
foregoing headings; a type which is motived 
not by the interest of completeness of knowl- 
edge or thought, nor yet by the interest of 
seeking satisfactions or working practical ef- 
fects. There is a way of treating a content, 
usually and properly called ‘esthetic, that we 
may describe as both over-logical and over- 
practical, as not being strictly either of these, 
although involving both of them” (13). “The 
outcome of our investigation is that in the 
esthetic mode of experience so defined, we have 
the only inkling of the way that the self-reality 
of inner control which is the postulate of the 
practical and the worthful, and the thing- 
reality of external control which is the pre- 
supposition of knowledge and truth, can in the 
process of experience come together after hav- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


ing fallen apart in the development of cogni- 
tion.” 

The last statement may be regarded as the 
main thesis of this third volume. It means 
that we are interested in practical and in theo- 
retical knowledge because of a profound es- 
thetic impulse which finds satisfaction now in 
the one and now in the other. The funda- 
mental categories of the ethico-political con- 
sciousness as well as those of the scientific con- 
sciousness are esthetic. The objects of both 
kinds of knowledge are comprehended in a 
Whole beautiful which is known in contempla- 
tion. In that Whole both the self and the 
world of scientific knowledge find their fulfill- 
ment and satisfaction. It is their reality. 

The intellectual project of this work, and its 
genetic method of investigation, are most in- 
teresting; but many will find difficulties in the 
final results. To the present writer, the dual- 
ism of inner and outer controls seems to be a 
presupposition of Baldwin’s entire treatment 
of cognition, and consequently his esthetic ex- 
perience, like Kant’s purposive Urtheilskraft, 
can have only phenomenal validity. Moreover, 
we find Baldwin’s discussion of the practical 
quite unsatisfactory. Does Baldwin mean that 
practise can be reduced to terms of knowledge- 
of-practise? The section on the “Logic of 
Practise” is devoted to the subject of affec- 
tive logic, in the sense of Ribot, and we do not 
find in it a recognition of the world of human 
action with its rights and obligations, its free- 
dom and responsibility. Finally, the question 
occurs to us whether Baldwin’s beautiful Whole 
differs much, except in name, from Bradley’s 
Absolute; for that also is a form of immediate 
experience. That method of Bradley’s great 
book and that of Baldwin’s are radically dif- 
ferent, but are their results so far removed 
from each other as their methods? 


G. A. TAWNEY 
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 


Lehrbuch der Algebra. Von HrtmyricH WEBER. 
Kleine Ausgabe in einem Bande. Braun- 
schweig. Wieweg und Sohn. 1912. Pp.x-+ 
528. 

Among the advanced text-books on algebra 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


there is probably none which is more favorably 
known than Weber’s “ Lehrbuch der Algebra” 
in three large volumes. The great extent of 
the work doubtless discouraged many begin- 
ners as well as those who have only time to 
learn the fundamental principles of this vast 
subject. Hence the small volume before us 
should find a hearty weleome among many 
students of mathematics who understand the 
German language. 

The present book begins with a study of the 
elementary properties of determinants and 
their applications in the solution of a system 
of linear equations. The remaining fourteen 
chapters bear the following headings, in order: 
Numbers and integral functions, symmetric 
functions, roots, cubic and biquadratic equa- 
tions, Sturm’s theorem, approximation of the 
roots, groups, the Galois theory, cyclic equa- 
tions, divisions of the circle, solution of the 
cyclotomic equation, algebraic solution of equa- 
tions, numbers and functions of an algebraic 
realm, applications to cyclic realms. 

From these chapter headings it is evident 
that the book under review is not confined to 
the most elementary matters, which can be 
found in nearly all the text-books on this sub- 
ject. On the other hand, it does not presup- 
pose very much, but develops from the begin- 
ning most of the subjects which it treats. As 
the book is a final effort, on the part of a 
great scholar and excellent writer, to present 
the main subjects of advanced algebra, it has 
a peculiar interest, both as regards the choice 
of material and the methods of treatment. 

Although most students who are in position 
to profit much by the study of such a work can 
read German, yet there is doubtless a consider- 
able number to whom an English translation 
would be very helpful, since there is no algebra 
in the English language which covers the same 
ground. The excellent “ Introduction to Mod- 
ern Algebra,” by Professor Bécher, for in- 
stance, does not enter into the Galois theory 
of equations and the theory of algebraic num- 
bers—theories which occupy a prominent 
place in the present work. 

In the preface it is stated that the author 
was assisted by his colleagues, especially by 


SCIENCE 551 


Messrs. Lowy, Epstein and Levi, while cor- 
recting the proof. These names, together with 
that of H. Weber, are a sufficient guarantee 
that no important errors appear in the book. 
Among the minor errors the statement that 
Dedekind first divided a group into double 


-co-sets, which appears as a foot-note on page 


196, is of especial interest. It is well known 
that Frobenius developed this method exten- 
sively in an article which appeared in Crelle’s 
Journal in 1887, while Dedekind’s article ap- 
peared seven years later. 

G. A. Minter 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


Measures of Proper Motion Stars Made with 
the 40-inch Refractor of the Yerkes Observ- 
atory in the Years 1907 to 1912. By S. W. 
BurnuaM. Washington, D. ©. Published 
by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 
1918. 

This handsome volume of ivy-+ 3811 quarto 
pages is so fully described by its title, given 
above, that comment upon it may be brief. To 
the astronomers of old time the stars were 
“fixed,” 7. e., abiding eternally in the same 
celestial place without any trace of motion 
relative to their fellows. Less than two cen- 
turies ago, it was found that a few of the 
brighter stars appeared to be exceptional in 
this respect. Since increasing refinement of 
observation indicated a slow but continuous 
progression across the sky, peculiar or 
“»roper” to a few stars that were forthwith 
assumed to be nearer than the others. The 
search for and determination of these proper 
motions has been one of the standard prob- 
lems of astronomy since the time of Halley 
and the present volume is a contribution to 
that end. Its fundamental idea is that per- 
ceptible motion, being an unusual stellar 
attribute, may be assumed limited to the 
brighter stars and may be determined by 
measuring the change in the position of these 
exceptional stars by reference to any of the 
fainter ones about them. Possibly some sus- 
picions with regard to the assumed fixity of 
the fainter stars finds expression in the au- 
thor’s introductory words, “It. goes without 


552 


saying that every star in the heavens... 
must have some proper motion,” but never- 
theless he stoutly insists that for most stars 
this motion is of negligible amount, because 
the contrary has not yet been proved. 

While the logic thus employed seems some- 
what dubious, its quality need not be here too 
closely scanned. The present state of knowl- 
edge concerning stellar proper motions may be 
described as occupying intermediate ground be- 
tween the fixity of the faint stars assumed by 
Burnham and his alternative proposition 
quoted above, which may be paraphrased into: 
Every star in the heavens does possess a sen- 
sible proper motion. The reviewer will 
undertake to show elsewhere that, at least 
down to the thirteenth magnitude, the latter 
proposition is more nearly true than is Burn- 
ham’s assumption of fixity for the faint stars. 
If such be the case, the proper motions de- 
rived in this volume can command but little 
credence; they are quite futile, and the chief 
value of the work must be sought not in the 
fulfilment of its professed purposes, but in 
the furnishing of data from which the mo- 
tions of the fainter stars may hereafter be de- 
rived when those of the brighter stars have 
been otherwise determined. 

The as yet unborn investigator of stellar 
motions will find in this volume a rich store 
of material that he must use and will use for 
this purpose, albeit with writhings of spirit at 
the scanty information vouchsafed concerning 
its details, viz.: “These observations have 
been made in the usual way, fully described 
heretofore.” The reviewer has not been able 
to find this description. He is left in doubt 
as to whether “the usual way” refers to ob- 
servations of close double stars, such as have 
constituted the bulk of the author’s previous 
work, or whether it implies that those modifi- 
cations of program have been introduced 
that are required by the much greater angular 
distances between the stars here observed. 
How and with what precision was the parallel 
determined? How has the small, but trouble- 
some, influence of refraction been dealt with? 
etc. These are questions that necessarily 
arise here, although of little consequence in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 981 


ordinary double-star work. They find no 
answer in the text and, being unanswered, 
they must diminish the influence of the work 
and detract from the credence presumably due 
to its intrinsic character. 


GrorGE C. Comstock 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


THE articles in the American Journal of 
Science for October are: 


‘*Distribution of the Active Deposit of Radium 
in an Electric Field (II.),’’ E. M. Wellisch. 

“Adjustment of the Quartz Spectrograph,’’ C. 
C. Hutchins. 

“«Stability Relations of the Silica Mimerals,’’ C. 
N. Fenner. 

““Custerite: A New Contact Metamorphic Min- 
eral,’’? J. B. Umpleby, W. T. Schaller and E. S. 
Larsen. 

‘Ordovician Outlier at Hyde Manor in Sud- 
bury, Vermont,’’ T. N. Dale. 

“¢Preparation of Tellurous Acid and Copper Am- 
monium Tellurite,’’? G. O. Oberhelman and P. E. 
Browning. 

““Determination of Water of Crystallization in 
Sulphates,’’ S. B. Kuzirian. 

““Paleozoie Section in Northern Utah,’’ G. B. 
Richardson. 


THE September issue of Terrestrial Magnet- 
ism and Atmospheric Electricity contains the 
following articles: 


“‘Deseription of the C. I. W. Combined Mag- 
netometer and Earth Inductor,’’ J. A. Fleming 
and J. A. Widmer. 

‘“Magnetic Declinations and Chart Corrections 
Obtained by the Carnegie from Port Stanley, Falk- 
land Islands, to St. Helena and Bahia, February to 
April, 1913,’’ L. A. Bauer and W. J. Peters. 

“(Magnetic Results of Halley’s Expedition, 
1698-1700,’’ L. A. Bauer. 

‘¢Halley’s Observations of the Magnetic Declina- 
tion, 1698-1700,’’ J. P. Ault and W. F. Wallis. 

“¢On an Auroral Expedition to Bossekop, in the 
Spring of 1913,’’ C. Stormer. 

‘¢Biographical Sketch of William Sutherland,’’ 
E. F. J. Love. 

‘Results of Magnetic Observations Made by the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey at the 
Time of the Solar Eclipse of October 10, 1912,’’ 
O. H. Tittmann. 

Letters to Editor: ‘‘Principal Magnetie Storms 


OCTOBER 17, 1913] 


Recorded at the Cheltenham Magnetic Observa- 
tory,’’ O. H. Tittmann; ‘‘The Magnetic Character 
of the Year 1912,’’ G. van Dijk. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


TRANSFORMATION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES 
ETHER VORTICES 


INTO 


ON a number of occasions since 1890, when 
I first published my electrostatic doublet 
theory of cohesion, SctrNcE has been so good 
as to afford me the opportunity of making 
public the results of my investigations along 
this and other lines.1 A brief account of 
some later work on the origin of vortex sys- 
tems, accomplished during the past five or six 
years, may be of interest. 

In the above-mentioned series of papers it 
was shown that all electrical and magnetic 
phenomena known could be mathematically 
derived from a system consisting of a single 
vortex filament in a frictionless fluid, and 
that gravitation was a compressional elasticity 
phenomenon in this fluid. 

Now this single vortex filament, while sat- 
isfactory from the mathematical point of view, 
so far as all known phenomena go, is not 
equally so if, as we may suspect, the universe 
is conservative. There is a gap in the cycle. 
Also, while the single vortex filament appears 
to be forced upon us by the difficulty of form- 
ing any plausible idea of an action which 
would lead to a filling of the universe with a 
number of exactly similar vortices, yet if such 
an action could be formulated it would be 
more satisfactory, on the ground of probabil- 
ity, than the concept of the single vortex. 

While still incomplete, the work above re- 
ferred to as having been done since 1900, and 
mostly within the last five years, has given 
results which are quite satisfactory in regard 
to both the above-mentioned points. Put 
briefly, it would appear that gravitational 
waves shed off a portion of their energy as 
vortices, and that these vortices are of exactly 
_ 1‘*Wurther Developments of the Electrostatic 
Doublet Theory of Cohesion,’’ ScimNcE, July 22, 
1892, and March 3, 1893; ‘‘Determination of the 
Nature and Velocity of Gravitation,’’ ScrENncz, 
November 16, 1900, ete. 


SCIENCE 


553 


similar nature irrespective of the intensity of 
the wave. 

In my search for a satisfactory theory to ac- 
count for the apparently exact similarity of 
vortex singularities in the ether I came again 
to Lord Rayleigh’s discussion? of the difficulty 
in the equations for the propagation of plane 
sound waves (which difficulty was first pointed 
out by Stokes).* 

According to these equations, the motion of 
a plane wave becomes after a time discontinu- 
ous. Stokes suggested (and Lord Rayleigh 
considered it probable) that some sort of re- 
flection took place when the motion became 
discontinuous. Rayleigh also states that di- 
vergence would possibly prevent the occur- 
rence of discontinuity, but my work seems to 
show that there is no beneficial effect caused 
by divergence; Rayleigh, Taylor and others 
have pointed out that viscosity would tend to 
prevent discontinuity. 

Some time previously I had done consider- 
able work, in connection with yacht designing, 
on the discontinuity of flow with the slipping 
of water along the side of a moving vessel; on 
the electromagnetic rotation of light in ab- 
sorbing bodies ;* and on the reflection of elec- 
trie oscillations in electric wires with lumped 
capacity and inductance,® all of which work 
had at some point or other led up to discon- 
tinuities, when treated in the regular way, but 
all of which could be made to give, beyond the 
point of discontinuity, two part solutions, one 
part consisting of a diminished flow or wave 
intensity, and the other of an imaginary part 
which was interpretable as a vortex, some- 
times oscillating, and sometimes conjoined 
with reflection. 

This was at least suggestive, and on a care- 
ful examination of the difficulty referred to 
by Stokes and Lord Rayleigh in the equations 
for the propagation of plane waves, it was seen 
that the essential thing necessary to keep the 
wave from becoming discontinuous was that 
it should shed off a certain fractional part of 


2 Rayleigh, ‘‘Sound,’’ Vol. 2, p. 35. 
3 Phil. Mag., November, 1848. 

4 Phys. Rev., March, 1900. 

5U. 8. patent 706,738, 1901. 


554 SCIENCE 


its energy, and that it did not matter how it 
did it, whether by viscosity or hysteresis or 
heat conduction or reflection or vortex mo- 
tion. (1 omit divergenecy because the only 
functions I can find connected with divergency 
which would prevent discontinuity either van- 
ish at a short distance from the source, or 
only exist at the lateral edges of the wave, and 
hence do not affect spherical waves.) 

Now in a fluid like the ether, viscosity, 
hysteresis and heat conduction losses can not 
occur. Nor, if my work is correct, can reflec- 
tion occur without vortex motion, and then 
not necessarily. 

But the vortex motion is a necessity, in a 
fluid like the ether, whenever a spherical wave 
reaches a certain distance from its source. 
And gravitational waves must therefore give 
rise to vortices in the ether. 

And the satisfactory point about these vor- 
tices is that they are exactly similar, irrespec- 
tive of the intensity of the gravitational wave, 
and dependent only upon the elasticity and 
density of the medium. This therefore relieves 
us of the necessity of assuming a single vor- 
tex filament. 

There are some points still to be cleared up. 
For example, one might anticipate that the ro- 
tational velocity of the vortices would be the 
same as the translational velocity of the wave, 
but there appear to be at least one, and pos- 
sibly two, other types, with rotational veloci- 
ties of the square and cube root of the wave 
velocity; also in some respects the motion of 
what I have called the oscilla appear to differ 
from that of our standard vortex filament. All 
this is at present rather hard to interpret, but 
doubtless, as the difficulties of the analysis are 
gradually overcome, we shall be able to visual- 
ize the system more clearly. 

As the work is still under way, the above re- 
sults would not have been published but for 
the fact that it appears to have been generally 
assumed at the last British Association meet- 
ing that Planck’s “ quanta” theory and Max- 
well’s continuous medium theory are mutually 
exclusive and that one or the other must be 
given up. Now the results referred to above 
show that this is not so, but that every con- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


tinuous medium theory must involve quanta, 
and we might almost say that a continuous 
medium begins to count as soon as it gets its 
legs. A unit quantity is, therefore, just as 
natural a thing as a flux; and in this connec- 
tion it is interesting to note how, from Newton 
and Leibnitz down to Maxwell and Planck the 
English mind runs always to continuities and 
fluxes and the German to quanta and infini- 
tesimals. 

It may also be pointed out that quanta are 
a necessary consequence of motion due to cen- 
tral attraction. One visible example of this is 
the gaps in Saturn’s rings. These are due to 
satellite resonance, but I have found that 
nucleus resonance gives quanta,® whether the 
resonant nucleus be the sun or the positive 
electron. The latter case is much the simpler, 
as all the corpuscles are the same size and so 
what we may call the “quanta orbits” are 
simpler. 

From the above it will be seen that the 
problem of the transmission of plane waves in 
a frictionless fluid is not, as has been generally 
assumed, a matter of no practical importance 
and of interest to pure mathematicians only. 
But that it is a matter of very great practical 
importance, and that the complete solution of 
the problem is of capital importance in many 
fields, from the design of aeroplanes and the 
calculation of frictional resistance of ships to 
the theory of the constitution of the ether and 
the structure of the positive charge. 

Recinatp A, FESSENDEN 


THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF SILT? 


In a report recently published by the De- 
partment of State, entitled “Silt in the Rio 
Grande,” certain fundamental ideas are pro- 
mulgated, concerning the specific gravity of 
silt which seemed to the writer incorrect, and 
of sufficient importance to be worthy of a 
brief note in SCIENCE. 

The author, W. W. Follett, consulting engi- 
neer of the International Boundary Commis- 

6 See also some of Darwin’s papers. 

1 Published by permission of Director of the 
United States Geological Survey, Washington, 
D. C. 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


sion, and advisory engineer, commission for 
the equitable distribution of the waters of the 
Rio Grande, takes up the problem of how 
much space a given weight of river-borne silt 
will occupy when deposited in a reservoir, 
saying, on pages 11 and 12: 

It was evident that the per cent. of bulk, ob- 
tained from test tubes, would be too large for the 
desired unit because there was no weight on the 
silt in the tube to compact it, as there would be 
im a reservoir. ... 

Something more than guesswork was wanted. 
It did not seem proper to us to found all our silt 
calculations on an assumed bulk for it which was, 
as it were, simply pulled out of the air. The de- 
sire was to approximate as closely as possible to 
the conditions which would be found in the bot- 
tom of a reservoir. After considering various 
schemes, to all of which there seemed to be valid 
objections, it was finally decided to seek a mud 
bar in the river where the water had been com- 
paratively still and which had shrunk enough to 
show material cracks, and to cut from this bar a 
three-inch cube, have it dried out and weighed 
and to abide by the result, whatever it was. The 
idea was that a bar should be chosen which had 
shrunken enough to make up for the compression 
which the silt in the bottom of a reservoir would 
undergo from the weight of the water over it. 
Of course, the necessary amount of shrinkage 
could not be told exactly, but it was thought that 
a fairly good guess could be made. 


The three-inch cube was cdllected, dried 
and found to weigh 85 per cent. as much as a 
three-inch cube of water. It was, therefore, 
assumed that “the above experiment fairly 
determined the weight of reservoir silt and 
that all silt determinations should be divided 
by 0.85 in order to obtain the actual final vol- 
ume of the silt.” The collection of the three- 
inch cube of silt is further described on page 
75 of the report. 

The first idea, which seems incorrect, is that 
deep water through its greater weight makes 
deposited silt more compact than shallow 
water. If the pores are filled with water, the 
pressure must be equal in all directions and 
the individual particles of silt being practi- 
cally incompressible, the weight of the water 
must have negligible effect on the compact- 
ness of the silt. If the pores are not filled 


SCIENCE 


555 


with water, but contain some air or other gas, 
the material would be compressed in propor- 
tion to the quantity of gas and the amount of 
pressure, but it does not seem probable that 
the compactness of silt is, in general, greatly 
affected by compression of included gases. It 
seems more reasonable to suppose that any 
greater compactness displayed by silt de- 
posited in deep water is due to the arrange- 
ment of the particles or a modification of 
their form, brought about by the great dis- 
tance traversed in settling, and especially is 
this true unless it can be shown that such silt 
expands when taken out of the water. 

The second somewhat surprising idea is 
that one three-inch cube furnishes a better 
basis for determining the specific gravity of 
Rio Grande silt than all other available data, 
both inferential and experimental. If this be 
correct, there is certainly great need of adding 
to the available data, for the determination 
concerning the three-inch cube seems to be a 
small foundation for the argument and hun- 
dreds of computations which are based upon 
them. The result obtained, namely, that silt 
free from water weighs only 53 pounds per 
cubic foot, is considerably below most esti- 
mates and means that the material has a pore 
space of nearly 68 per cent. —. W. Suaw 


ON PSYCHOLOGY AND MEDICAL 
EDUCATION? 


FotLowine the symposium on psychology 


1 Report of the Committee of the American Psy- 
chological Association. The committee was con- 
stituted as follows: Shepherd Ivory Franz, scien- 
tifie director and psychologist, Government Hos- 
pital for the Insane, and professor of physiology, 
George Washington Medical School, chairman; 
E. E. Southard, professor of neuropathology, Har- 
vard Medical School, and director of the psycho- 
pathic department of the Boston State Hospital, 
and J. B. Watson, professor of psychology and 
director of the psychological laboratory, Johns 
Hopkins University. The scope of the inquiries 
of the committee was determined by the commit- 
tee; the present report was written by the chair- 
man, who is responsible for its form and the 
aceuracy of its parts, but all the members of the 
committee are in accord with the conclusions. 


556 


and medical education’ before the American 
Psychological Association in December, 1911, 
a committee was appointed to investigate and 
to cooperate with other bodies interested in 
this matter. The first part of this work forms 
the basis of the present report. 

The committee sent to all the known med- 
ical schools in the United States and Canada 
inquiries which would lead to an understand- 
ing of the present belief regarding the ad- 
visability of including psychology as a re- 
quired subject for medical students, and which 
would, at the same time, give facts regarding 
the teaching of allied subjects in the medical 
schools. Many of the institutions addressed 
did not reply to the first letter, and five 
months later, a second letter, incorporating 
the same questions, was sent to each school in 
the United States, which had not previously 
replied.* From the 116 schools in the United 
States, answers were received from 24 class 
A+; 81 class A; 11 class B, and 5 class C— 
41 in all, or 61 per cent. of the total. Answers 
were not received from a number of the med- 
ical colleges which had decided to merge with 
others or to discontinue, or which are not in 
good standing with their respective states. 
These include 3 class A (Baltimore Medical, 
University of Maryland and Drake) ; 3 class B 
(University Medical of Kansas City, Kansas 
Medical and Birmingham Medical); and 7 
class C (Jenner Medical, Herring Medical, 
Eclectic Medical of Kansas, Ensworth Med- 
ical, Willamette Medical, Wisconsin College 
of Physicians and Surgeons and Milwaukee 
Medical). In addition, one class C college 

2 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1912, Vol. 58, 909- 
921, 

%Two schools were not written to because their 
names and addresses were unknown to the com- 
mittee at the time of the sending of our letters 
(Southern College of Medicine and Surgery of 
Atlanta, Georgia, and Chicago Hospital College). 
No replies were received from the eight Canadian 
medical colleges. 

“The elassification of schools in the present 
report has been taken from the ‘‘Classified List 
of Medical Colleges in the United States,’’ re- 
vised to April 1, 1913, by the Council on Medical 
Education of the American Medical Association. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 981 


(Ecletic Medical of New York) advised us of 
its suspension. Assuming that these institu- 
tions would have no special interest in the 
matters of which we inquired, or, on account 
of merging or discontinuation, could not give 
definite answers to the questions, it leaves 102 
American medical colleges from which an- 
swers to our inquiries might have been ex- 
pected. The total of 71 answers represents, 
therefore, replies from over two thirds of the 
presumably active medical schools in this 
country. In many cases, individual questions 
were not answered by the medical college 
authorities and only in a comparatively few 
cases were the replies full and complete. It is 
a notable fact that the full answers were 
received mainly from class A+ medical col- 
leges, which, as is well known, are integral 
parts of universities. With but few excep- 
tions the answers from B and © medical col- 
leges were most unsatisfactory as regards 
completeness. 
TABLE I 
Classes of Schools Answering Inquiries 


Per Cent of 
Total Suspended, Expected 
Classes Numbers Answered Merged Replies 

A+ 24 24 0 100 
A 41 31 3 82 
B 24 11 3 52 
Cc 27° 5 8 26 
Totals 116 Tal 14 70 


The accompanying table shows the numbers 
of medical schools of the different classes, the 
number in each class answering our inquiries 
and the number of replies in each class which 
was not expected on account of mergers, etc., 
as indicated above. ‘This table is an impor- 
tant indicator of the quality of the data used 
in making up the present report. Since the 
committee did not ask for the privilege of 
printing under the individual school names 
the data and opinions furnished to it, an arbi- 
trary number has been assigned to each re- 
porting school, from 1 to 24 to class A+ 
schools; 25 to 53 and 70 and 71 to class A 
schools; 54 to 64 to class B schools, and 65 
to 69 to class C schools. 


5 Two others not written to (see above). 


OcToBER 17, 1913] 


We wish to express our appreciation to the 
deans and professors of these medical schools 
for their replies, which were often extensive 
and showed painstaking interest. Without 
the cooperation and interest of these medical 
school officials, the present report would not 
be possible.° 

The committee requested information along 
five lines. The special questions which were 
asked are given below as the heads of the indi- 
vidual sections of the report. It will be noted 
that matters regarding which inquiries were 
made were not entirely or strictly psycholog- 
ical. Since psychology has many connections 
with, and the understanding of many of its 
topics or divisions depends upon a certain 
amount of knowledge of, anatomy, physiology, 
pathology, neurology and psychiatry, the in- 
quiries were broad enough to include informa- 


°A list of the medical schools which did not 
answer the two letters of inquiry which were sent 
to them is of some interest, since in general it 
would appear to indicate a lack of interest on the 
part of these school authorities (there may be 
exceptions) in educational topics which have more 
than local application. It is notable that all of 
class A-++ answered our letters. The A class 
schools which did not answer are: Jefferson, 
Meharry, University of Louisville, University of 
Mississippi, University of Vermont, Vanderbilt 
University, Wake Forest Medical Schools. Of the 
B class, the following: Atlanta School of Medi- 
cine, Baylor University, Chicago College of Medi- 
cine and Surgery, College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons of Los Angeles, Detroit College of Medicine, 
Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, Hahne- 
mann Medical College of Chicago, John A. Creigh- 
ton Medical College, University of Arkansas, Uni- 
versity of Oklahoma. Of C class, there were the 
following: College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
San Francisco, College of Medical Evangelists, 
California Eclectic Medical College, Georgia Col- 
lege of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery, American 
Medical of St. Louis, Kansas Hahnemann Medical 
College, Cotner University, Toledo Medical Col- 
lege, New York Medical College for Women, 
Leonard Medical College, Cleveland-Pulte Medical 
College, Fort Worth College of Medicine, Lincoln 
Memorial University, University of West Ten- 
nessee. Some of these schools have more recently 
announced discontinuation. 


SCIENCE 


557 


tion regarding certain aspects of these courses 
so that there might be considered the possible 
relations they might have to instruction in 
psychology. The inquiries were also made 
broad because the general medical conception 
of psychology is not that of the professional 
psychologist and- psychiatrist, as some of the 
answers showed. In fact in some answers a 
very narrow conception of psychology was in- 
dicated; this, too, by men, well known in their 
own special fields, who were apparently labor- 
ing under the belief that psychology is the 
equivalent of “psychoanalysis ” or some other 
equally restricted part of the whole. 

1. What amounts of time and what proportions 
of the courses in anatomy (including histology), 
physiology and pathology are devoted to the nervy- 
ous system? 

The individual answers to this question 
were on the whole unsatisfactory. Many of 
the colleges reported the numbers of hours 
without the percentages, others gave the per- 
centages without the numbers of hours, and 
in only a few cases was the information com- 
plete. A tabular account of the answers is 
given in the accompanying table (Table II.). 


TABLE II 


Average Amounts and Proportions of Courses 
devoted to the Consideration of the 
Nervous System 


No. of No. of 

Hours Answers Percentages Answers 
Anatomy 123 26 17.5 17 
Physiology 71 31 22.5 22 
Pathology 30 22 12.3 18 


In this table the data are grouped irre- 
spective of the fullness of the answers. For 
example, all answers which gave the total time 
for the consideration of the nervous system 
are grouped, and all those which gave pro- 
portions. 

Anatomy of the Nervous System.—Only 12 
schools gave both hours and percentages for 
anatomy and histology, and when these schools 
are considered apart, it is found that they 
average for the nervous system, 127 hours, or 
14.5 per cent. of the average total time de- 
voted to these courses. The average total for 
these 12 schools is, therefore, not far from the 


558 SCIENCE 


general average of the 26, but the average per- 
centage is much less. The variation from the 
average percentage (about 20 per cent.) is 
probably due to the fact that the 5 other 
schools reported their proportions in round 
numbers, as one fifth, one quarter, one third, 
and these should probably be considered esti- 
mates and not actual reports. It is impor- 
tant to note that the actual variations are 
considerable, the lowest numbers of reported 
hours being 54 (26)," 55 (80) and 60 (43); the 
highest, 246 (53), 192 (6) and 185 (16). The 
percentages also vary greatly; from 8 (43) 
and 9.1 (1) to 33.8 (33) and 82 (4). 

It is possible that the different schools have 
not reported or estimated amounts of time for 
the same thing. It appears improbable that 
only 55 or 60 hours are devoted to the anat- 
omy of the central and peripheral nervous 
system, as have been reported, and it does 
appear probable that in the schools reporting 
the lowest number of hours, no estimation has 
been made of the time devoted to dissection 
of the peripheral nervous system or to the 
special sense organs. While the last state- 
ment should not be considered as one of fact, 
it seems to us that the understanding of the 
connotation of the term “nervous system” 
varies from school to school. It is impossible 
to make allowances or estimations for the pos- 
sible lack of understanding of the broad term 
which we used, but we believe that it would be 
safe to add at least 30 hours to many of the 
lowest estimates, and these additions would 
increase the general average by about 15. 

Physiology of the Nervous System.—Thirteen 
of the schools reported less than 50 hours de- 
voted to the physiology of the nervous system, 
12 from 51 to 100 hours, and only 6 reported 
100 hours or more. The lowest totals were 18 
(28) and 20 (48); the highest were 150 (18, 
80) and 139 (58). The percentage variations 
were from 11 (34) to 45 (5). Eleven schools 
reported both amounts of time and proportions; 
these averaged 64 hours and 23.4 per cent., 
which are close to the general averages noted 
in Table II. Some of these wide variations 

‘These italic figures, it will be remembered, 
refer to individual schools. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


are also probably to be explained by differ- 
ences in conception of what was meant by the 
term “nervous system.” It is not reasonable 
to suppose that a department of physiology 
devotes, as was reported by school 2, only 22 
hours out of 194 to this subject, which, if 
considered to include only the central nervous 
system and the special senses, takes up one 
third or more of the space of our modern 
text-books of physiology. On the other hand, 
it must be remembered also, as several answers 
indicated, that the time devoted to such topics 
as the nervous control of respiratory and in- 
testinal movements can not readily be eal- 
culated. A careful count of two widely used 
text-books of physiology shows that, leaving 
out the parts devoted to the general physiol- 
ogy of muscular contraction, but including 
those dealing with the general physiology of 
nerve and the nervous control of various or- 
gans, the total physiological text-book con- 
sideration of the nervous system is from 39.5 
per cent. to 82 per cent. When it is realized 
that in most medical schools there are separate 
departments of physiological chemistry, and 
that the two books examined give, respectively, 
about 4 per cent. and 18 per cent. of their 
space to this matter, it appears probable that 
there has been a tendency on the part of the 
medical school officers to make an underesti- 
mation of the time given to the nervous sys- 
tem rather than the reverse. 

Moreover, the inclusion of pharmacology 
with physiology was not thought of by the 
committee, but it is apparent that in many 
institutions the study of the effects of drugs 
on the nervous system receives considerable 
attention. In some schools pharmacology (or 
pharmacodynamics) is taught in combination 
with physiology, and, in fact, one school re- 
ported that of the time devoted to “ physiology, 
pharmacology and physiological chemistry,” 
20 per cent. to 25 per cent. was given to the 
nervous system. 

Pathology of the Nervous System—From 
the data collected it also appears probable that 
under the term “ pathology” different colleges 
include different courses. One school (16), 
for example, reported the proportion for the 


OcTOBER 17, 1913] 


combined “course in pathology, bacteriology 
and hygiene.” In seven cases in which infor- 
mation was given by which the total time of 
the course in pathology could be calculated, it 
appears that the total time devoted to pathol- 
ogy varies from 126 hours (12) to 316 hours 
(47), with an average time of 249 hours. It 
is certain, however, that in the course in 
pathology in some medical schools only the 
more general conditions are dealt with, and 
that lectures on the pathology of nervous dis- 
eases are given in conjunction with those on 
the clinical aspects. Because of the latter 
condition, in some of the replies it was stated 
that it was impossible to give accurate figures, 
or even to estimate the amount or proportion, 
of the time devoted to the pathology of the 
nervous system. From Table II., however, it 
will be noted that 22 answers were received 
giving the amounts of time, average 30 hours; 
and 18 giving the proportions of time, average 
12.3 per cent. The variations from these 
figures are as extensive as in anatomy and 
physiology. The smallest amount of time re- 
ported to us was 5 hours (30), the greatest, 
60+ hours (15). The smallest percentage 
was 2 (42), and the greatest, 25 (27). The 
seven schools which reported sufficiently full 
information for accurate calculation of total 
and proportionate times gave averages of 33 
hours and 13.5 per cent. 

Total Time Devoted to the General Study 
of the Nervous System.—By adding together 
the average amounts of time in anatomy, 
physiology and pathology, we find that ap- 
proximately 224 hours are devoted to the gen- 
eral study of the nervous system. In most 
institutions, this is part of the first two years’ 
work, and since the yearly total of hours is 
usually between 1,000 and 1,200, it is seen 
that practically one tenth of the total time 
during the first two years is devoted to dis- 
cussion and laboratory teaching of this impor- 
tant system. For comparison with the sum 
of the average times given to the nervous sys- 
tem in the three subjects, the answers from 
16 schools (9 A-++, 5 A and 2 B) which gave 
the times for all three subjects are of interest. 
Although the schools varied from 109 (26) to 


SCIENCE 


559 


317 hours (16), the average, 214, approaches 
the above figures.* The possibilities which 
were noted above, of underestimation of time 
in regard to each of the three subjects, must 
also be kept in mind, and if our beliefs in this 
regard have any validity, it must be concluded 
that fully ten per cent., and probably as much 
as fifteen per cent., of the total time of the 
first two years in medical schools is devoted 
to the study of the nervous system. 

From personal acquaintance with the con- 
tent of individual courses in anatomy and 
physiology, it is certain that many lecturers in 
both subjects discuss psychological matters 
and an examination of text-books of physiol- 
ogy shows that a considerable part of the 
space devoted to the “physiology of the nerv- 
ous system” deals with what is now recog- 
nized as psychology. In this connection it is 
only necessary to point out that the method 
of working of the cerebral cells is not under- 
stood and that, because of this, physiologists 
describe the mental changes which are con- 
comitants of injuries to or destructions of 
cerebral cells and connections. In the teach- 
ing of the functions of the nervous system, 
and especially of those of the special sense 
organs, much psychology (sometimes anti- 
quated, to be sure) is introduced in lieu of 
strict psychology.” 

From knowledge of individual courses and 
text-books, the committee believes that at the 
present time there is more psychology taught 
in medical schools than the catalogues of the 
institutions, or the replies to our letters would 


indicate. Much of this is dealt with in the 


®Qne school (32) reported a total in all three 
courses of 460 hours. This figure was not used in 
the above calculation because the amounts of time 
for the individual subjects were not noted. 

®The committee does not wish to imitiate a dis- 
eussion regarding the boundaries between and the 
fields of psychology and physiology. It assumes 
a certain general agreement regarding these mat- 
ters which may be expressed briefly by the state- 
ments that psychology deals with mental matters 
(sensations, associations, ete.) and that physiology 
deals chiefly with the activities of cells or organs, 
and the interrelations of these. 


560 


courses in physiology, but even in anatomy 
and pathology lecturers do not entirely confine 
themselves to the discussion of non-psycholog- 
ical matters. While it may be possible to 
teach anatomy, physiology and pathology with- 
out reference to psychological matters, in 
practise this is probably rarely done. In con- 
sidering the present status of psychology in 
the medical curriculum, account should, there- 
fore, be taken of the inclusion in anatomy of 
a modicum of psychology and in dealing with 
such matters as sensation, perception, etc., the 
lack of strict separation of psychological facts 
and theories from those of a physiological 
nature. 


2. How far do the third (or fourth) year courses 
in nervous and mental diseases take up the biolog- 
ical sides of neurology and psychiatry? 


From the answers which were received, it 
is apparent that this question was quite gen- 
erally not understood. The fact that it was 
not understood does, however, give some in- 
formation regarding the teaching of neurol- 
ogy and psychiatry. Of the 57 answers, 27 
were “no”; 24 were of a doubtful character, 
and only 6 were definitely positive. Careful 
reading of the doubtful answers shows that 
16 of these should be grouped with the defi- 
nitely “no” replies. The fullest replies, which 
were received from the professors of neurology 
in schools 30 and $7, indicate plainly that 
their teaching of psychiatry and neurology is 
broadly biological, and not the narrow clinical 
teaching which characterizes so many of these 
courses. It is also apparent that in a very 
large proportion of our medical schools, 
neurology and psychiatry are taught as clin- 
ical subjects—diseases are described, differen- 
tial diagnostic signs are discussed and meth- 
ods of treatment are suggested. The broader 
aspects of these subjects are apparently not 
even hinted at in many schools, although a 
superficial reading of many of the answers 
which were received might lead to the opposite 
conclusion. Thus we read: 

‘All work in neurology and psychiatry is bio- 


logical. I know of no other kind’’ (25); ‘‘Three 
months’? (57); ‘‘15 lectures’’ (66). 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 981 


It will be appreciated that answers such as 
the latter two indicate either a lack of under- 
standing of what is meant by the “ biological 
sides ” of neurology and psychiatry, or there 
has been an unwarranted exaggeration of the 
amount of time given to this part of the 
subject. 

3. Are there elective or graduate courses in 
medicine which deal with the relations of neurol- 
ogy, psychiatry and psychology, and how much 
time is given to them? 

Only two schools (3 and 23) out of 60 which 
answered this question replied in the aftirma- 
tive. School 23 reported an elective course, 
but gave no other information regarding it. 
School 3 reported a course of 6 hours on the 
relations of psychology and neurology. An- 
other school (4) reported an “ optional course, 
with interneship in hospital,” and a fourth 
school (43) an “elective course of 32 hours, 
junior year.” The remainder were negative. 

It is apparent that students and graduates 
in medicine who incline toward practise in 
diseases of the mind and nervous system have 
few or no opportunities in the medical schools 
of this country to acquire a broader acquaint- 
ance with the subjects of neurology and psy- 
chiatry, than the clinical courses which are 
offered. It is also true that one seeking in- 
formation regarding relations between such 
closely allied subjects as psychiatry, neurology 
and psychology must turn from the medical 
schools to some other source. At times, 
courses have been given in connection with 
psychiatric institutes or hospitals for the in- 
sane to fit their own appointees for the work 
they may be expected to perform, for it is 
notorious that the internes entering hospitals 
for the insane are not only ignorant of the 
facts of neurology and psychiatry and are 
unable to make diagnoses except in the 
simplest cases, but that at the same time they 
do not appreciate any of the possible interre- 
lations of these subjects and that the burden 
of their special education must be borne by 
the older members of the staff. With the ex- 
ception of an apprenticeship in a hospital for 
the insane, and this is not always adequate, 
there is at present no possible means of get- 


OctToBER 17, 1913] 


ting an adequate conception of, and training 
for dealing with, the mass of nervous and 
mental disorders which is encountered in gen- 
eral practise. 

When it is realized that the proportion of 
insanity is greater than 1: 300 of the general 
population, it is a matter for wonder, and one 
which those interested in the proper prepara- 
tion of and training of medical men should 
study carefully, that the medical schools do 
not offer adequate means for the acquirement 
of knowledge along these lines. When, to the 
number of insane there be added those whose 
mental conditions are not sufficiently abnor- 
mal to order their detention in a hospital for 
the insane, the wonder grows that the grad- 
uate of medicine is able to do more than to 
appreciate the fact that something is wrong 
with these patients when they consult him. 
In relation to the quantity of the physical 
diseases of the population, 7. e., total days of 
illness, it must be kept in mind that the pro- 
portion of the mental diseases is larger than 
1: 300, for this relation holds for three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days in the year. In view 
of the large proportion of insanity, and to this 
should be added the non-insane mental dis- 
orders and the nervous affections, it is not an 
exaggeration to say that the courses on in- 
sanity and neurology in medical schools are 
inadequate in time and usually quite unfit in 
character to prepare the student of medicine 
for this difficult part of his practise. The 
student is not prepared to appreciate what 
mind is, nor the conditions of its alteration, 
because his preparation in this particular is 
composed of a few didactic lectures regarding 
the forms of mental disease, perhaps a few 
clinical exercises in which patients are shown, 
and, if the conditions for teaching in hospitals 
for the insane are good, each student may 
have an opportunity to talk with a few cases 
of marked mental disease. At present the 
teaching of psychiatry appears to be in an 
earlier stage than surgery was in the two- or 
three-year course in medicine twenty years 
ago. How much longer will the medical 
schools keep psychiatry, neurology and psy- 
chology in these dark ages? 


SCIENCE 


561 


4, Is there any correlation or cooperation be- 
tween the department of psychology in the aca- 
demic department and the department of neurol- 
ogy and psychiatry in the medical school? 


Three schools failed to answer this question 
in any manner; three others did not answer it 
because they were “two-year schools,” but by 
their failure to answer for this reason indi- 
eated plainly that there was no cooperation or 
correlation between the medical work and the 
department of psychology in the college of 
arts and sciences. Eighteen other schools re- 
ported that they had no academic connections; 
thirty-three definitely reported no cooperation; 
one gave an unqualified positive answer and 
the remaining thirteen answered with more 
than a brief affirmation by giving indications 
of the character of the cooperation. Of the 
52 schools which have affiliations, close or re- 
mote, with academic departments, only two 
sevenths report any form of correlation or 
cooperation with the department of psychol- 
ogy. Extracts noting the character of the 
cooperation between the department of psy- 
chology and the medical school follow: 


“Men from the department of psychology .. . 
attend lectures and clinics of the professor of 
psychiatry’’; also lectures on diseases of the 
brain (1). 

Next year an instructor in psychiatry ‘‘is to 
give lectures on psychopathology in the academic 
department . . . otherwise, cooperation is unoffi- 
cial though fairly strong’’ (3). 

‘The department of psychology . . . delivers a 
series of lectures in conjunction with the depart- 
ment of medicine and presents clinics at the in- 
sane hospital’? (4). 

“*TIn the psychological department students take 
some work in the clinies’’ (5). 

‘*Some coordination’’ but no cooperation (6). 

“‘The department of psychology has affiliated 
all related branches in the medical department 
with a view of developing the fields cognate with 
the subject’’ (4. ¢., irregular children) (17). 

“‘The department of psychology ... offers a 
special course for the medical students’’ (27). 

“<“The psychology and physiology of the special 
senses is taught by a professor in the academic 
department’’ (24). 

““None excepi to borrow apparatus’’ (45). 


562 


‘¢Students are expected to select ... one course 
in psychology during the preliminary year’’ (46). 

“«Psychology has been .. . placed in the second 
year of medical work’’ (49). 

‘“Students in the two years of (premedical) 
work ... are required to take two terms of three 
hours a week of general psychology. . . . Work- 
ing upon the basis of closer contact and coopera- 
tion’? (50). 

It will be noted that not more than one half 
of these answers indicate any definite form of 
cooperation or correlation. At the most, the 
replies show that in some institutions aca- 
demic students who are interested in psycho- 
logical matters may attend certain courses in 
the medical school, and that in other institu- 
tions medical students are advised or com- 
pelled to take courses in psychology. It may 
be concluded that in this respect there is more 
promise than accomplishment. 

5. In view of the increasing realization of the 
importance of the mental factor in medicine, is it 
your opinion that (a) it would be advisable to 
have given to the students special instruction in 
psychology, and, if so, (b) at what stage of the 
medical course would this instruction be best 
given? 


Only 4 of the 71 medical schools failed to 
answer the first part of this question. The 
numbers and percentages of the different re- 
plies are as follows: 49 affirmative (73 per 
cent.) ; 8 negative (12 per cent.) ; 10 qualified 
affirmative or negative (15 per cent.). The 
percentages of affirmative and negative an- 
swers from the four classes of schools (A+, 
A, B and C) are approximately the same, 
being, respectively, 71, 72, 80 and 75. 

After the first few answers were received, 
it was the supposition of the committee that 
those schools which had no academic connec- 
tions’.would be less in favor of introducing 
into the medical school.a subject which might 
necessitate the employment of a special in- 
structor, but the full data indicate that the 
percentage (65) of affirmative replies from 
these schools varies but little from that. (76) 
of the schools which have close academic ties. 
The answers to this question can not be well 
tabulated except in the rough form which is 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 981 


given above, but for an understanding of the 
beliefs regarding the advisability of intro- 
ducing psychology into the medical school 
curriculum, or into the preparatory period of 
training, it is advisable to give brief extracts 
from some of the answers which were received. 
These will be taken up in the following order: 
negative, doubtful, affirmative. 

In a few cases the negative answers were 
accompanied by some expression of view in 
addition to the simple “no.” Some of these 
answers are interesting because of the ap- 
parent beliefs of certain medical men regard- 
ing the scope and recent developments of psy- 
chology, and are recorded here, because they 
serve to indicate that some of the apparent 
objections to the introduction of psychology 
into the course for medical students may be 
based upon ignorance or misapprehension of 
what the term psychology connotes. 


‘«The professor of neurology .. . thinks it is 
a temporary fad which will be forgotten in a few 
years, just as electricity is now practically for- 
gotten in the treatment of nervous diseases’’ (1). 

‘*T doubt very much if information in formal 
psychology, I mean psychology in the older sense, 
is of very much use to the medical student’’ (18). 

“¢T am not in favor of teaching psychology in the 
medical college. I believe that the wave of so- - 
called psychology which has spread over medical 
literature during the past ten years is not worthy 
of the name and has been a distinct injury to 
medical science. It is in my opinion very errone- 
ous and misleading. None more so than Dr. Mor- 
ton Prince’s and Dr. Freud’s’’ (25). 


The two following quotations are also of 
interest as negative answers: 


‘‘No unanimity of opinion among the faculty 
members. I personally am of the opinion that the 
experiment might well be tried by some of the 
larger university medical departments’’ (20). 

‘‘We do not think it would be advisable to in- 
clude psychology in the medical curriculum. All 
of our students must be graduates in arts and 
sciences before entering the medical school and 
these courses usually include psychology, logie, 
philosophy, ete.’’ (2).”° 

Tn a conversation with the professor of psy- 
chiatry of this medical school, it was learned that 
this view was not the one held by him, and he 


OctToBER 17, 1913] 


The following are some of the answers 
which, while not decisively positive or nega- 
tive, but at the same time not favoring the 
introduction of psychology into the medical 
school curriculum or as a requirement for 
entrance, modify the statements in certain 
particulars. 


‘«While we consider that it would be desirable 
to give special instruction in psychology, especially 
in the fourth year, we do not at the present time 
see how time could be found for it’’ (12). 

“Yes; but it is hardly feasible in the immediate 
future’? (35). 

‘*Tt would be desirable for the students to be 
taught psychology, but on account of the fact that 
it is only a four-year course and other subjects 
being more important and requiring all the stu- 
dents’ time, as the course is now arranged, it is 
not probable that we shall be able to establish a 
separate course in psychology. If it were intro- 
duced it would be best to have it in the third 
year’’ (54). 

‘¢T believe it is very undesirable to add more to 
the medical curriculum. . . . It seems to me that 
it would be better to urge students to study psy- 
chology in the premedical college course’’ (19). 

“¢Tt seems doubtful if instruction in psychology 
can be introduced into the already crowded under- 
graduate course. Elementary instruction in psy- 
chology is desirable as a preliminary study, though 
it is not possible to require it at present. It is 
improbable that psychology can be introduced as a 
required subject. An optional course might be 
profitably given’’ (22). 

““Tt would seem that nothing should be added 
to the medical course without an equivalent ab- 
straction. ... It seems as if psychology was neces- 
sary, and, in the light of my previous statements, 


reported that he did not believe it represented the 
attitude of the medical departments chiefly con- 
cerned. Since this report was typed, the secretary 
ef this school has written correcting the above 
statement as follows: ‘‘As a matter of fact, Pro- 
fessor is already committed to the advisa- 
bility of extending his lectures by adding a sufii- 
cient course of instruction in advanced normal 
psychology from the medical standpoint, and the 
authorities of the college have already expressed 
their approval of his ideas in this direction.’’ 
The percentage of affirmative answers is, there- 
fore, increased to 75, and that of.the negative 
answers reduced to 10. 


SCIENCE 


563 


it ought to be taught as a part of . . . prepara- 
tion’’ (36). 

“‘T consider it inadvisable at any time to touch 
more than lightly to the undergraduate body upon 
the question of psychology. It should, however, 
be touched, in my opinion, in the final year if 
taught in the regular course. Personally, I believe 
that it should be devoted to post-graduate work’’ 
(82). 

‘Tt would be unwise to add anything further 
as compulsory work. I think it well to give an 
optional or post-graduate course for students espe- 
cially interested’’ (40). 

“‘The medical curriculum is now overcrowded; 
this should be graduate work, in my opinion’’ 


(45). 


Opposed to these negative and doubtful 
answers others of an equally positive nature 
have been received. Some of these are as 
follows: 


““Psychology is a desirable study for medical 
students. Up to date I know of no course in psy- 
chology which is particularly adapted to the needs 
of the medical student. Could instruction in psy- 
chology be given by a trained psychiatrist rather 
than a pure psychologist, time could probably be 
found for such a course in the medical curric- 
ulum’’ (6). 

“‘Tnstruction in psychology is not merely ad- 
visable . . . but necessary, and such instruction 
should be at least partially premedical, and should 
be developed practically and logically later in the 
medical course in the departments of neurology 
and psychiatry’’ (8). 

“We have felt for a long time that psychology 
was most important as a preparation for the study 
and practise of medicine’’ (9). 

““My observation in regard to those who write 
in medical journals on the subject (psychiatry) 
would seem to indicate that they had had no com- 
petent preparation in psychology. . . I have 
recommended that one of the professors in the 
department of psychology who is trained in the 
physiology and pathology of the brain and nervous 
system give a course in the college of medicine 
preliminary to the study of psychiatry’’ (10). 

“‘T thoroughly agree with the importance of 
special instruction in psychology in the broad 
scope which your inquiries would indicate and 1 
should be glad to have any information which 
would lead to the possibility of the establishment 
of a systematic course in the subject’’ (11). 


564 


‘‘The demands of modern medicine require an 
elementary course in medical psychology to be 
given in the medical department ... (to) be 
carried out under the direction of the department 
of nervous and mental diseases. . .. in the second 
year after the work in anatomy and physiology of 
the nervous system’’ (16). 

““Psychology is of such importance in medicine 
that a course in general psychology should be 
recognized as one of the fundamentals, and should 
be required as a part of the college work required 
for entrance. Further instruction in applied psy- 
chology should form a part of the clinical work in 
connection with mental and nervous diseases’’ 


(17). 
“*T believe that special instruction in psychology 
should be given medical students . .. (not) the 


traditional introspective aspects of the subject 
. . - but psychology for medical students ought to 
be as concrete and objective as possible’’ (21). 
“‘T am decidedly of the opinion that students 
should receive instruction in normal psychology 
. . . Such instruction should be given as part of 
the course in physiology in those institutions in 
which one of the professors in physiology were 
sufficiently familiar with the subject’’ (58). 


It should also be noted that 10 medical 
schools have already introduced (or plan to 
introduce next year) psychology into the cur- 
riculum or require it for entrance, and one 
advises students to take a course in psychol- 
ogy in the preparatory premedical years. 
Quotations from these replies follow: 


“Tn the ... second year the students are to be 
given a course in psychology as an extension of 
their anatomical and physiological course in the 
medically important topics of psychology ... in 
the ... third year a course of ... lectures and 
demonstrations covers the essentials of experi- 
mental and clinical psychopathology’’ (5). 

““Psychology is recommended as preparatory to 
the study of medicine’’ (15). 

“‘Beginning next year, psychology prescribed 
during second of the two collegiate years required 
for entrance’’ (29). 

““Tnstruction in psychology is given to students 
in their second year of collegiate work. We hope 
to have a course in medical psychology for senior 
students’’ (30). 

‘“Psychology has been removed from the second 
premedical year and placed in the second year of 
medical work’’ (49). 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 981 


‘“A full course in physiological psychology ex- 
tending throughout the year is given to the sopho- 
mores. . . .The course prepares the students for 
the instruction in neurology and psychiatry’’ (56). 

“‘Ours (7. €., course in psychology) is given 
during the latter part of the session, but it seems 
to me that a large (part of the) time that is 
devoted to pharmacology and materia medica could 
be more profitably spent in neurophysiology and 
psychology’’ (62). 

“‘T give the students a preliminary course of 
normal psychology and then take up pathological 
psychology’’ (64). 

“«We have a course, 32 hours to sophomores, in 
psychology’’ (65). 

“‘T have been teaching applied psychology . . . 
for the last three years... not... the usual psy- 
chology taught in academic departments, but psy- 
chology as it applies to the normal and then to 
the neurotic. . . . In my own opinion most of the 
so-called psychological courses given are worthless 
. .. purely academie in nature, and no applica- 
tion whatever is made to their every-day uses’’ 
(70). 

Of the 49 schools which indicated their 
belief that psychology should be introduced 
into the medical curriculum, 47 have also 
indicated the position that such work should 
occupy. Of these schools, 27 advise that it be 
placed in the medical preparatory years or in 
the first two years of the medical courses, and 
the other 20 stated that it should be given in 
the final years. Most of the latter insisted 
that its place was a part of, or as a special 
preparation for, the work in nervous and men- 
tal diseases. Of the 27 schools which advised 
the introduction of psychology into the first 
part of the course or into the years of medical 
preparation, 12 refer, explicitly or by implica- 
tion, to the dependence of psychology upon 
the facts of anatomy and physiology, and 
advise its introduction at a time when the 
courses in the anatomy and physiology of the 
nervous system are being given or after they 
have been completed. Although admitting its 
value, 4 would dismiss psychology by in- 
cluding it as a required course in the pre- 
medical years. The other 11 schools advise 
that a second course be given during the third 
or fourth years in addition to the require- 


OcroBER 17, 1913] 


ment of the first years of the medical work. 
They would divide the instruction in psychol- 
ogy into two portions, the first to be offered 
to students during the first part (including 
the premedical years) of the medical course, 
the second during the last two years of the 
curriculum. In the first course in psychology 
only the general outline of the subject would 
be given, in the second particular attention 
would be paid to its “special medical mean- 
ings.” The latter, dealing with the applica- 
tions of psychology, would be given previous 
to, or coordinate with, the courses in clinical 
neurology and psychiatry. 

Relative to the above results the committee 
may at this point answer a possible question 
regarding them. It may properly be asked if 
the results do not represent chiefly the opin- 
ions of professors of neurology and psychiatry, 
who are supposed to have a special interest in 
psychological matters, and not those of other 
members of the medical faculties. All of our 
letters of inquiry were addressed to deans or 
other administrative officers of the medical 
schools. In a number of instances the letters 
of the committee were transmitted to other 
members of the faculty for answer. It is 
probably due to this fact that in a number of 
cases complete answers were not received, for 
the member of the faculty to whom the letter 
was transmitted sometimes answered only that 
part relative to his department. In many 
cases the deans obtained the full information 
from the members of the departments con- 
cerned, and transmitted all information, at 
times with great fullness, to us. In the an- 
swers to our question 5, only 19 of the 67 
replies were answers by, or contained quota- 
tions of opinions of, professors of neurology 
and psychiatry. An equal number were an- 
swers from the administrative officers, dean or 
secretary, whose special medical interests could 
not be determined"! (but probably represent- 
ing the views of their faculties). The re- 
4 Catalogues of the institutions were not at 
hand, and reference was made to ‘‘ American Men 
of Science’’ and to ‘‘Who’s Who in America,’’ 
1912-13. The names of these 19 correspondents 
were not found in either directory. 


SCIENCE 


565 


maining 29 were from deans and other admin- 
istrative officers whose primary medical inter- 
ests were distributed over a wide field; 4 in 
physiology, 4 in pathology, 11 in medicine, 
1 in surgery, 1 in hygiene and 8 in anatomy. 
The decisively negative answers to this ques- 
tion were received from 5 professors of nerv- 
ous and mental diseases, 1 of anatomy, and 
2 administrative officers; the doubtful an- 
swers were received from 2 professors of 
nervous and mental diseases, 2 of anatomy, 1 
each of physiology, medicine and pathology 
and 38 administrative officers; the positive 
answers were received from 12 professors of 
nervous and mental diseases, 5 of anatomy, 3 
of physiology, 3 of pathology, 10 of medicine, 
1 of surgery, 1 of hygiene and 14 administra- 
tive officers whose medical interests are un- 
known. [f all the answers from professors of 
nervous and mental diseases be omitted be- 
cause of possible professional bias, the per- 
centage of replies in favor of the introduction 
of psychology into the period of medical train- 
ing is 77, which, it will be noted, is slightly in 
excess of the general percentage. 

From the facts which the committee has 
been able to gather, the following conclusions 
have been drawn: 

1. It appears to be the preponderating 
opinion both of the best schools and of the 
schools as a whole, that some instruction in 
psychology is necessary so that students may 
understand the mental side of their patients, 
not only of those which are to be dealt with as 
insane, but also of many who never reach the 
extreme conditions which warrant their being 
sent to an institution for nervous or mental 
diseases. 

2. By those medical schools which require 
for entrance a college education in arts or 
sciences, the committee believes that an intro- 
ductory course in psychology may well be re- 
quired, in the same way as they now require 
chemistry, biology, physics, ete. In those 
schools which do not require a preliminary 
college training but which require one or two 
years of college work, the committee believes 
that part of the premedical preparation should 
be devoted to general psychology, or in lieu 


566 


thereof, a course should be given preferably in 
the second year after the general work in anat- 
omy and physiology of the nervous system has 
been completed. The committee believes that 
a briefer course following the physiology of 
the nervous system would be more desirable 
than a course in the premedical years. If the 
earlier course be more extensive and devote 
sufficient time to the functions of the nervous 
system, the advantage of the later course 
would be counterbalanced. 

3. It is the belief of most of the best schools 
that a second course in psychology should pre- 
cede the course in clinical psychiatry and neu- 
rology. This course should have more of a 
practical nature, and should deal especially 
with abnormal mental processes and with the 
application of psychological principles and 
facts to medical topics. Although this course 
should deal chiefly with psychopathology, it 
should not be permitted to develop, or degene- 
rate, into a course in psychiatry, neurology or 
psychotherapeutics. This course should be 
clinical in the sense that, as far as possible, 
clinical material should be the basis of the 
course, but it should not be clinical in the 
sense that the students are given particular 
cases for the purpose of diagnosis. or of treat- 
ment. The functions of the courses in psychi- 
atry and neurology should not be assumed by 
this course. 

4, Although, on account of their knowledge 
of the practical medical application, it might 
be best if both courses in psychology could be 
given by competent medical men, the commit- 
tee feel that there are at present few medical 
men who have had sufficient training or have 
sufficient interest in psychology to warrant 
their appointment to initiate such work. It 
seems best, therefore, to recommend for those 
medical schools in which there is a possibility 
of correlation or cooperation with the depart- 
ment of psychology in the school of arts and 
sciences, that these courses be given jointly, 
and cooperatively, by the departments of psy- 
chology and psychiatry or neurology. 

5. The content of the course or courses in 
psychology should be the object of careful con- 
sideration by representatives or professors of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 981 


those subjects which are allied to psychology. 
The departments which should be chiefly con- 
sulted include physiology, psychiatry, psychol- 
ogy and neurology. It is the belief of the com- 
mittee, however, that since the courses are in- 
tended for the preparation of medical men, the 
courses should be practical and should deal 
with actual medical facts as much as possible. 
The committee would not, however, limit the 
teaching in the elementary courses to those 
topics which have a known practical medical 
value at the present time, for it has always 
been found that facts apparently incapable of 
application at the time of, and immediately 
after, their discovery are soon applied. It is 
our belief, therefore, that the first course in 
psychology, as introductory to the study of 
medicine, should be a general course, dealing 
largely with general psychological facts, stand- 
points and methods, but that constant refer- 
ence should be made to the practical problems 
which may be solved by means of the psycho- 
logical methods and facts which are discussed. 
The committee also believes that both courses 
in psychology should be laboratory or experi- 
mental as far as possible, that the student may 
become personally acquainted with the methods 
and with the general nature of psychological 
experimentation, rather than obtain his knowl- 
edge from text-books. Although recitations or 
lectures have great value, they can not give 
an adequate knowledge of the manifold diffi- 
culties which one encounters in dealing with 
matters of a mental nature. 

6. The committee also feels strongly that 
more extensive and intensive cooperation be- 
tween psychologists and physicians is desirable. 
From the psychologist’s standpoint the psy- 
chology of medical men is crude; from the 
medical standpoint the pathology and physiol- 
ogy of the psychologist are out of date. 
Since both classes have many common inter- 
ests it would appear wise that the knowledge 
of psychologists should be utilized by physi- 
cians and that in turn the experience of more 
physicians might be made available for the 
advancement of psychology and _ psycho- 
pathology. 

SHEPHERD Ivory FRANZ 


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CIENCE 


eee 


Fray, OcToBER 24, 1913 


CONTENTS 


Some Relations between Philosophy and Sci- 
ence im the First Half of the Nineteenth 
Century in Germany: PROFESSOR JOSIAH 


‘ROYCE 


Some Tables of Student Hours of Instruc- 
tion: PROFESSOR FREDERICK C. FERRY .... 


adooussoboulodaaoe 589 


Scientific Notes and News 


Unwersity and Educational News 592 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Comments on Professor Bolley’s Article on 
Cereal Cropping: 
“* Quite a Few’’: Henry K. WHITE 


CHas. E. SAUNDERS. 


592 


Scientific Books :— 


A Biological Survey of the Waters of 
Woods Hole: FRANK S. Couuins. Hop- 
kins’s Bibliography of the Tunicata: Pro- 
FESSOR MAYNARD M. MeErcaur. Swaine’s 
The Earth, its Genesis and Evolution Con- 
sidered in the Light of the Most Recent 
Scientific Research: CROFESSOR ALFRED C. 


LANE 595 


Scientific Journals and Articles 598 


Oceanographic Cruises of the U. 8S. Fisheries 


Schooner ‘‘Grampus’’: HENRY B. BIGELOW. 599 


Special Articles :— 


Ecto-parasites of the Monkeys, Apes and 


Man: PRoFESSoR VERNON L. KetLoge .... 601 


MSS. intended for publication and beoks, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


SOME RELATIONS BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY 
AND SCIENCE IN THE FIRST HALF 
OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
IN GERMANY1 


I PRESENT this paper in response to Dr. 
Councilman’s request; and its choice of 
topics is determined wholly by the instruc- 
tions that he has given me in asking me to 
prepare to meet you. It is not for me to 
judge in what way these hastily prepared 
notes can be of service to any of you; and asa 
fact, I confess myself unable to see that they 
can be of any service whatever to a company 
of pathologists. Iam, of course, profoundly 
ignorant of pathology. And, as I learn 
from consulting the sources, the school of 
scientific men of whom Virchow was the 
leader felt, at the outset of their great 
undertaking, in the years before 1850, that 
philosophy, and, in particular, that what 
used to be called, in Germany, the Natur- 
philosophie, had formerly been, in the main, 
profoundly harmful in its influence upon 
medicine in general, and upon the begin- 
nings of modern pathology in particular, 
so that one great initial purpose of Vir- 
chow and of his allies, during the years 
before 1848, was to free their young science 
from whatever was still left of these evil 
philosophical influences and to make it a 
true natural science. I not only learn that 
this was their opinion; but I see, as any stu- 
dent of the history of thought in the nine- 
teenth century must see, that this opinion 
was in a large measure very well justified. 
Philosophy, in the first quarter of the nine- 


1 Read at a session of the Pathological Club, of 
the Harvard Medical School, at the request of 
Professor W. T. Councilman, President of the 
Club. 


568 SCIENCE 


teenth century, in Germany, had done 
medicine a good deal of harm. The evil 
influence continued in some sense, although 
in much diminished degree, into the next 
decadeorso. Yet I am now asked to tell you 
something about what this movement of 
thought called the Naturphilosophie was, 
and about what its relations to the natural 
sciences were up to, say, 1840. But what 
interest can you take to-day in the story of 
the evil influence of an enemy that is said 
indeed to have threatened the eradle of 
your infant science of modern pathology, 
but that very early lost all its power to 
harm. As a fact, the Naturphilosophie, 
viewed as an officially recognized tendency 
that could possess any strong direct influ- 
ence in Germany, was very nearly dead 
before the great days of 1848 came. Since 
its death, the Naturphilosophie has seldom 
been mentioned by anybody except with 
contempt. Its later direct and overt influ- 
ence upon the course of scientific discovery 
has been nothing. Nothing then that is of 
any critical importance to the later devel- 
opment of your science seems to be involved 
in the story that I have been asked to 
rehearse. 

In fact, to speak in a figure, your science 
of modern pathology, as Virchow nourished 
it, proved to be a sort of Hercules. In his 
infaney this Hercules strangled various 
serpents. One of these is understood to 
have been so much of the Naturphilosophie 
as a hostile metaphysical power had sent 
forth to vex medicine, and as still survived 
to be strangled. Now the original Greek 
Hereules and his friends were no doubt 
always fond of telling over, in later years, 
the story about the strangling of the ser- 
pents by the infant. But I have not heard 
that Hercules and his friends ever put any- 
body into my present position by asking 
him to read them a paper on the natural 
history of snakes. I doubt whether either 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


Hercules or his companions would have 
found such a paper interesting. Snakes, 
they would have said, are to be strangled, 
not studied. The difficulty of my own posi- 
tion in your presence to-night is of course 
further increased by the fact that I, who 
study philosophy, doubtless must seem to 
some of you to be myself a representative, 
in some sense, of the very generation of 
vipers in question. My task is therefore 
hard indeed. 

One thing alone has given me the cour- 
age to attempt the enterprise. This is the 
fact that if the direct and easily visible 
influence of the Naturphilosophie upon the 
later growth of modern science was indeed 
small, its indirect and relatively invisible 
influence was probably large, while this 
latter influence was of a sort which not 
only may interest you, when I point it out, 
but which also probably determines some 
of your own scientific interests even at the 
present day. I can not show you then that 
the literal teachings of the Naturphilosophie 
accomplished much of direct moment or of 
critical importance for the science of that 
time. But I think that as a fact the spirit 
of the Naturphilosophie did enter, more or 
less unconsciously, and in ways which were 
not always evil, into the life of later scien- 
tific thinking. I do find that this spirit 
tends at the present time to be revived, and 
by some scientific men too,—to be revived, I 
say, in forms which, as I hope, will prove to 
be far nobler and more stable than were 
those which grew up in the first two decades 
of the nineteenth century. JI see moreover 
that when we try to estimate what this 
more immortal part of the Naturphilosophie 
meant, we are led to certain considerations 
about the true spirit and methods of natu- 
ral science,—to certain questions in which 
I, as a student of logic, am much interested, 
and in which, as I believe, you too may 
take some interest. And so, doubtful as 


OcToBER 24, 1913] 


my task is, it is not wholly hopeless. Per- 
haps, after all, before I am done I may 
show you a few facts in which as students 
of the methods and of the general rela- 
tions of your own science, you may find 
something that will be serviceable. 

My plan will be this: First I shall sketch 
for you in the barest outline the external 
history of the movement called in Germany 
the Naturphilosophie—its rise, its brief 
success, its inglorious downfall and end. 
I shall lay stress, of course, on its relations 
to natural science, such as they were. 
Then, secondly, I shall try to indicate to 
you what the deeper ideas were which lay 
behind and beneath all the vanities and the 
excesses of the Naturphilosophen. Thirdly, 
I shall try to indicate how these deeper 
ideas, despite the vanishing of the Natur- 
philosophie from the scene, indirectly but 
seriously influenced the course of the later 
development of natural science in the nine- 
teenth century, and how these ideas seem to 
be traceable even in some aspects of the 
history of your own science, so far as those 
aspects are visible to the layman. Fourthly, 
and lastly, I shall present to you the ques- 
tion whether some light is not thrown upon 
the logic of natural science, upon the ideals 
and methods of scientific work, by con- 
sidering the relation between those deeper 
ideas that inspired the Naturphilosophie 
and the actual growth of scientific investi- 
gation in the years since 1840. 


I 

First then, for the purely external, and 
the least interesting aspect of our story. 

At the opening of the nineteenth cen. 
tury, a very notable philosophical move- 
ment was under way in the thought of 
Germany. This movement had been initi- 
ated, in the years about and after 1780, by 
Kant—himself a man of considerable 
training in the physical sciences of his 


SCIENCE 


569 


time, of considerable acquaintance also with 
the empirical study of human nature, and 
of a very sane, sober and critical judgment. 
Kant intended, amongst other things, to 
define and to formulate a philosophy of the 
principles and methods of the natural 
sciences. He succeeded so well that his 
ideas are still of great importance for any 
serious student of logic and of the theory 
of knowledge; and their value for such a 
student will not soon be exhausted. 

But Kant’s influence was not confined to 
the study of the foundations and methods 
of science. He still more immediately infiu- 
enced his time with regard to questions of 
ethics, of theology, and of the more funda- 
mental religious issues of life generally. 
As a fact, his age—which soon became the 
age of the French Revolution, and of the 
great classical literature of Germany, was: 
in his country an age of the humanities, 
rather than of the natural sciences. His: 
influence was therefore felt, at the moment, 
much more in the direction of the human- 
ities, than in any other way. The philo- 
sophical movement to which he gave rise, 
accordingly, soon grew beyond what he had 
intended, and concerned itself with a con- 
structive creation of idealistic systems of 
thought such as he himself considered un- 
justifiable. And in these systems, about 
and after the year 1800, the principal 
stress was laid upon what were essentially 
ethical and theological issues. The post- 
Kantian idealists conceived their philos- 
ophy as a sort of substitute for all that 
traditional religion had so far meant for 
the world, or at least as a discovery of the 
absolute rational warrant for new and 
higher stages of the religious consciousness. 
So a great part of their work had no direct 
relation to the business of natural science. 

It came to pass, however, just before 
1800, that one of the most enthusiastic of 
these young idealists, namely, Friedrich 


570 


Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, was led by mo- 
tives, which I need not pause here to por- 
tray, to turn a large share of his attention 
to an effort to absorb into his absolute sys- 
tem an organized theory of the nature and 
meaning of the physical universe. Schel- 
ling called this portion of his doctrine the 
“<Philosophy of Nature.’’ That special use 
of the term Naturphilosophie with which 
we are here concerned was thus due to 
Schelling. It meant an interpretation of 
nature in the light of the principles of an 
idealistic philosophy. 

Of Schelling’s genuine significance as a 
philosopher this is not the place to speak. 
Of the man himself, a very general charac- 
terization is more possible. In 1800 he was 
twenty-five years of age. Yet he was al- 
ready a professor at the University of Jena, 
to which he had been called in 1798 by 
Goethe’s recommendation ; and he was also, 
before the close of the eighteenth century, 
a celebrated man and a prolific author. He 
was, in this his decidedly wonderful youth, 
an intensely restless genius, all aglow with 
brilliant and often with very genuinely 
significant ideas—a man of a tropical intel- 
lectual fecundity, but also of dangerous 
self-confidence. In polemic he was merci- 
less, In expression enormously complex, in 
literary form strangely unequal. The 
luminous and the hopelessly opaque stand 
side by side in his books in the strangest 
contrast. His industry was enormous, his 
sincerity unquestionable, his real power un- 
mistakable, his waywardness exasperating, 
his frequent obscurity unpardonable, his 
contemporary influence vast, but most of his 
work, despite its frequent value, still far 
too unstable. He inspired a generation of 
young men, but did them little good that 
was at once direct and permanent. He 
wrote down some thoughts that deserve to 
be remembered for all time, yet so affected 
his contemporaries that the best of them 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 982 


later turned almost wholly away from him. 
He thus proved, in the long run, to be an 
irritant rather than an organizing power. 
His work was often like that of a whirlwind 
in the world of thought, disturbing, cloud- 
enshrouded, momentous, but dissatisfying. 
After 1803 he left Jena, lived long in South 
Germany, lost his place for many years as 
a leader of the national thought, passed 
through various periods of further philo- 
sophical development, lived to a stately and 
ineffective old age, came once more in 1841 
into a brief prominence as a public lecturer 
in Berlin, but then, retiring yet again from 
public notice, died in 1854, nearly eighty 
years old. His published works number 
fourteen volumes octavo. 

For our present purposes, in order to 
sketch the youthful Schelling’s Naturphi- 
losophie as he formulated it in the years 
about 1800, I shall content myself with the 
following : Certain reasons which I need not 
now try to portray, but which, in view of the 
history of human thought, are, to say the 
least, strictly intelligible reasons and which 
are in their true interpretation, as I my- 
self think, quite defensible reasons, led 
Schelling to hold, as many philosophers had 
held before him, that the universe in which 
we live is in its inmost nature a single or- 
ganized unity. In other words, Schelling 
was what you nowadays often hear ealled a 
monist. Moreover, Schelling was confident 
that philosophy, as it was in his time, was 
prepared to give a new and final interpre- 
tation of this unity of things. Now an ac- 
count of the unity of the world would of 
course undertake to consider the problems 
of theology, of ethics, and of the philosophy 
of mind. But this same philosophical ac- 
count, as Schelling held, would also include 
a discussion of the nature, the unity and the 
meaning, of the physical world. Such an 
account—such a philosophical theory of 
nature—as Schelling often and expressly 


OctToBER 24, 1913] 


maintained, would be, in one aspect, an 
a priori theory, that is, it would be based 
upon the general character of our own 
knowledge of nature, and upon the demands 
which are made by our reason. For, as 
Schelling held, truth can not be accepted 
by us, unless we can recognize it as in some 
sense our own truth, the expression of our 
own rational demands. Great stress was 
thus laid, by the philosopher, upon the 
share which our own self-conscious insight 
has in defining for us the nature of things. 
It would be a mistake, however, to suppose 
that the youthful Schelling, even with all 
his enthusiasm, actually ventured to at- 
tempt to spin all the contents of his Natur- 
philosophie out of his bare and unaided 
inner consciousness. He was both ignorant 
and contemptuous of the well-disciplined 
procedure of the more abstruse experi- 
mental sciences; but he was not ignorant of 
the broader results which the natural 
sciences of his time reported; and he took 
considerable interest in these results. 
Moreover he was, in a way, an enthusiastic 
although very undisciplined observer of 
nature. His defect was thus not like the 
defect of a modern christian scientist who 
simply turns away from natural phenom- 
ena, and denying that they mean anything 
but mortal error, does indeed get a theory 
of nature only by means of deliberately 
ignoring natural truth. Schelling’s defect 
was rather that of an esthetically minded 
enthusiast who revels in the study of a 
great variety of natural phenomena, but 
who undertakes to interpret these phenom- 
ena by means of personal intuitions. Mean- 
while these intuitions themselves were, with 
Schelling, by no means those of a mere 
child, or of a savage, but of a wayward yet 
highly cultivated young man of the close of 
the eighteenth century. They were intui- 
tions which presupposed, and undertook to 
interpret, the results of much miscellaneous 


SCIENCE 


571 


reading, and of a good deal of undisciplined 
observation on Schelling’s part relating to 
physical, chemical and biological facts and 
theories. You can not doubt Schelling’s 
capricious but extensive industry in the 
study of nature. His fault lay in his self- 
assurance, in his impatience, and in his 
determination to tell nature at once upon 
meeting her precisely what she meant. 
Amongst his favorite classes of phenomena, 
about which he read and speculated, were 
those of electricity and magnetism, of chem- 
ical affinity, so far as these phenomena were 
then known, and of organic development. 
He was indeed far beyond the uncultivated 
fashions of interpretation which we know 
so well in ordinary cranks. Yet much of 
his work was as vain as circle-squaring in 
its actually resulting relation to any con- 
erete business of natural science. Schel- 
ling had amongst other things a consider- 
able and a somewhat mischievous interest 
in medicine. What now is called psychical 
research was a favorite occupation of the 
time; and that too won a good deal of 
Schelling’s attention. In 1806, after 
Schelling had left Jena, he began to pub- 
lish, in union with a friend and partial dis- 
ciple of his, A. F. Marcus, a periodical 
called Jahrbiicher der Medicin als Wissen- 
schaft. Of this periodical three volumes 
appeared at Tiibinzen, the third and last in 
1808. The articles to be found in it include 
an. extensive series of aphorisms on the 
Naturphilosophie by Schelling, papers on 
animal magnetism by Schelling’s brother 
(himself a physician), essays on the appli- 
cation of various metals (iron, mercury) in 
medicine by Marcus, papers on the relation 
of botany to medicine by Steffens, on in- 
flammation by Marcus, and so on. 

As the mention of this journal shows you, 
the Naturphilosophie of Schelling had from 
the first the tendency not to remain the ex- 
pression of the individual philosopher, but 


572 


to form a school, to apply itself to various 
arts and sciences, to publish in journals 
special researches—in brief, to assume the 
outward seeming of a progressive and hu- 
mane science. Ere long it had represen- 
tatives, exemplifying various grades of dis- 
cipleship, in academic chairs in Germany. 
To the young men who fell under its influ- 
ence it sometimes meant, no doubt, a chance 
simply to spare themselves serious effort in 
their study of natural science. A young 
medical man might learn phrases instead of 
making laborious observations. On the 
other hand, one can not accuse most of the 
prominent Naturphilosophen of laziness. 
They were for the most part very industri- 
ous writers and thinkers and some of them 
did a great deal of empirical investigation. 
Their enthusiasm was due to their belief 
that they had found a general way of inter- 
preting the results of natural science so far 
as these were known to them. As the age 
was one when, in Germany, the teaching of 
the natural sciences had been for some time 
at a low ebb in the German universities, 
there is something to say for the view that 
the whole movement of the Naturphilos- 
ophie was the first crude and eager begin- 
ning of a new era of scientific activity in 
that land, rather than a hindrance to an al- 
ready developed scientific movement. For 
the rest, the fact that results of natural 
science, obtained for the most part outside 
of Germany, had suggested to that period 
new and attractive ideas, which seemed to 
promise surprising generalizations—this 
fact, I say, serves in some measure to excuse 
the enthusiasm of the Naturphilosophen. 
The discovery of galvanism, the general 
progress of the knowledge of electricity, the 
beginnings of chemistry, the various begin- 
nings of discovery in the biological sciences 
—all these things constituted fascinating 
temptations to overhasty generalization. 
To these temptations the Naturphilosophen 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


fell a prey. As to the precise extent to 
which the Naturphilosophie directly affected 
the scientific thought of Germany, mere 
statistics may show something. Three only 
of the philosophers who were especially 
identified with the movement are now re- 
membered as of note in the history of 
philosophy. These are Schelling himself; 
the Norwegian Steffens, who mostly lived 
and wrote in Germany, and was professor 
in Halle and Berlin; and Oken, the one 
amongst the Naturphilosophen who had the 
most serious and varied training in natural 
science, and the most direct influence upon 
important scientific activities outside of 
philosophy. Oken instituted, for instance, 
the yearly gatherings of the German Natur- 
forscher and Aertzte. In addition to these 
men, Ueberweg, in his ‘‘ History of Philos- 
ophy,’’ finds it worth while to mention, 
amongst the followers and allies of Schel- 
ling, ten different men who may be said to 
have been in the main Naturphilosophen. 
None of these are of great historical impor- 
tance from the point of view of later 
thought, although they are men of decidedly 
various degrees of power and service in 
their time. Some philosophers of the first 
rank, such as Hegel, who also belong to that 
age, and contributed to some form of the 
Naturphilosophie, are nevertheless not to 
be reckoned among the Naturphilosophen 
proper, because their main work and influ- 
ence lay elsewhere. Hegel’s Naturphilos- 
ophie was only a small part of that 
thinker’s encyclopedic system, and that part 
of his system contributed little to his his- 
torical influence. 

If one turns to the directer influence of 
the Naturphilosophie upon the more special 
sciences, I find that Siegmund Giinther in 
his ‘‘Geschichte der anorganischen Natur- 
wissenschaften im 19ten Jahrhundert,’ 
mentions only five or six names as those of 
men sufficiently important on the side of 


OcToBER 24, 1913] 


their relations to natural science to need 
consideration from his point of view as 
representatives of the Naturphilosophie. 
On the other hand, F. C. Miiller, in his 
““Geschichte d. organischen Wissenschaften 
im 19ten Jahrhundert,’’ beginning his men- 
tion of the Naturphilosophen who influ- 
enced the organic sciences with Schelling 
and Oken, adds thereupon the names of 
fifteen others whom he classes as ‘‘ Bedeut- 
endste medicinische Naturphilosophen.’’ 
Of these Steffens and Marcus have already 
been mentioned. The rest are described as 
men of various caliber—some of them medi- 
cal authors, most of them professors— 
some of them contributors of important 
special researches in medicine—others less 
fruitful. To the most important belong 
Kielmeyer, who greatly influenced some 
portions of the work of his contemporary 
Cuvier, and Ignatius Dollinger, who was a 
center of great importance in medical teach- 
ing at Wiirzburg. Hirsch, in his ‘‘ History 
of Medicine in Germany,’’ enumerates a 
still somewhat larger list of more or less 
pronounced Naturphilosophen who deserve 
mention from the medical point of view— 
altogether more than a score. Hirsch, J. C. 
Miiller and Haeser, in his ‘‘Geschichte der 
Medicin,’’ agree in giving much the same 
impression of the activities of these men— 
several of them special investigators of 
much industry and productivity, several of 
them persons who gradually worked them- 
selves free from the formulas of their phi- 
losophy—all of them injured, in the eyes of 
later science, by a tendency to constructive 
formulas of an unjustifiable type. Where 
they did good work, in the general biolog- 
ical sciences, their work was usually, as I 
gather, in relation to some aspect of the 
study of the evolution and the comparative 
morphology of living forms. 

It is customary to say that these Natur- 
philosophen stood altogether in the way of 


SCIENCE 


573 


the new awakening of the natural sciences 
in Germany. But as I have already said, 
while philosophy no doubt did medicine 
mischief in those days, it is still at least 
partly true that these Naturphilosophen 
constituted a transition from a time of 
scientific stagnation to one of great activity. 
They must be judged, accordingly, as begin- 
ners rather than as mere mischief makers. 
Their most characteristic work falls before 
1820. Before 1830 the school had been led, 
in their relations to pure philosophy, by the 
official suecess of Hegel’s doctrine at Ber- 
lin, to occupy a less notable place as a sub- 
ordinate part of a philosophical movement 
in which, for Hegel himself, religious, polit- 
ical, and ethical issues were more important 
than were those of the interpretation of 
nature. After Hegel’s death, in 1831, the 
movement of the Naturphilosophie ere long 
began to lose the sort of moral support 
that his type of constructive idealism could 
give to it. For the Hegelian school became 
absorbed in religious and in political con- 
flicts, split up into parties, and soon lost 
whatever touch it had possessed with the 
progress of natural science. The conse- 
quence was that after 1830, the Naturphilo- 
sophie, neglected by the philosophers them- 
selves, generally denounced by the academic 
leaders of natural science, and little de- 
fended by its own now aging followers, 
rapidly lost its hold upon the public. Vir- 
chow still regarded it as a danger until 
1848. After 1848 he too speaks of it as 
altogether dead. 


II 


So much for the external history of the 
movement. But now for some words as to 
its leading ideas and as to its indirect 
influence. 

An idea may be advanced by a man who 
has no sufficient logical right to hold it. 
That idea may later become fruitful in the 


574 SCIENCE 


minds of wiser men. The originator is then 
often either forgotten or condemned. But 
the idea is none the less potent and valu- 
able. Now amongst the leading ideas of the 
Naturphilosophie were a number which 
have since proved to be of no small impor- 
tance in the sciences. The first of these 
ideas is a vague and an ancient, but a 
powerful idea, which the Naturphilosophie 
simply translated into more modern terms, 
and so prepared, as it were, for use in the 
new century. This is the idea that all 
science must strive to be one, that special 
research must be governed, in the long run, 
by the aim to bring truth into unity, and 
that unity is always beneath all sorts of 
plurality, as the basis and the meaning 
thereof. 

I have said that this idea is vague. It 
always remains vague until you discover, 
in some field of knowledge, in what sense 
it is true. Then it always appears very 
luminous, and you rejoice in it. I have 
said that this idea of the essential unity 
of truth is ancient. The Greeks began 
with it. The sages and the saints lived 
and died for the sake of it. The church 
tried to secure its recognition by means of 
a catholic creed. The medieval mystics 
revelled in it. Yet many heretics also 
gloried in it as their own peculiar posses- 
sion, and Giordano Bruno was burned for 
the sake of it. The modern philosophers 
renewed the idea. Spinoza reared a beau- 
tiful monument of thought in its honor. 
The Naturphilosophen spent their strength 
in proclaiming it. And since their time 
modern science, in the later theory of en- 
ergy, in the doctrine of evolution, in vari- 
ous other ways which I need not enumer- 
ate, has illustrated it with unexpected 
briliancy, and with marvelous precision. 

Now this idea, that the unity of the truth 
is deeper than is even the most baffling 
variety of phenomena—what does this idea 
mean? In what sense is it a leading idea 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 982 


of science as well as of religion and philos- 
ophy? To this question it is easy to an- 
swer that by the unity of truth one means 
nothing that one would have a right to 
assert of any world that is foreign to hu- 
man thought. One means only that man 
always strives and must strive for his own 
rational purposes, to get his ideas into 
some sort of rational connection, and to 
view them as a system. The demand that 
truth shall hang together and be one whole 
is man’s demand. His reason restlessly 
searches for such unity, and is discontented 
until the quest succeeds. This is indeed 
the fact. Man’s reason demands that 
man’s experience shall be viewed as a con- 
nected whole. Well—this, apart from 
their obscurities, is precisely what the Na- 
turphilosophen taught. Since they were 
idealists, they did not view the world as 
anything foreign to the human reason. 
Hence they founded their interpretation 
of the unity of things expressly upon the 
needs and the interpretation of man’s own 
rational nature. Vague as their thinking 
was, it did therefore express a decidedly 
sound consciousness of the motives that 
lead us to seek for unity in the world of 
scientific truth. Now you may rightly say 
that the Naturphilosophen had no right to 
prescribe to nature, as they did, just how 
her laws should be interpreted even before 
they had been adequately observed. But, 
on the other hand, men generally do not 
find until they eagerly seek. The Natur- 
philosophen set their countrymen eagerly 
seeking for unity in nature. They special- 
ized the vaguer ancient idea of unity by 
giving it conscious relations to the newer 
fields of natural science. I am tolerably 
certain that the eager search thus begun 
had a very real, even if a mainly indirect, 
influence upon the successful prosecution 
of the search which so soon followed the 
decay of the Naturphilosophie itself. I 


OcToBER 24, 1913] 


shall show you in a moment a little evi- 
dence bearing upon the subject. 

The second of the leading ideas of the 
Naturphilosophie related to the special 
form which they conceived the unity of 
natural truth to. take. They were very 
fond of speculating upon the unity of what 
we now call the various forms of natural 
energy. Light, electricity, magnetism, the 
vital processes, these, they were disposed to 
insist, were forms or stages of a single, all 
pervasive natural process. Now, nobody 
with the least sense for logical connections 
can for a moment confuse the modern doc- 
trine of energy, with its exactness of quan- 
titative definitions and relations, with the 
vaguely conceived teleological unity that 
the Naturphilosophen ascribed to the nat- 
ural world. On the other hand, nobody 
who considers fairly the history of the 
topic ean fail to see that the modern doc- 
trine of energy had two very distinct, but 
marvelously related sources. One of these 
sources was the state of modern technolog- 
ical knowledge in the early part of the 
nineteenth century. The other source is 
the state of general philosophy in the same 
period. The modern doctrine of energy is 
due, I insist, to a curious and unintended 
alliance between the interests of the engi- 
neers and the ideas of the philosophers. I 
shall recur to this topic again very soon. 
For the rest, one may say that a concep- 
tion like that of the modern doctrine of 
energy is not found until one learns to look 
for it in the right spirit. The Naturphi- 
losophie had its indirect part in creating 
this right spirit with which later men, far 
better equipped than were the Naturphilos- 
ophen themselves, looked for the truth 
which took form in the doctrine of energy. 

Thirdly, the Naturphilosophie had an- 
other leading idea which more directly con- 
cerns your own science. This was the idea 
of comprehending organic products’ by 


SCIENCE 


575 


conceiving them as results or at any rate 
as stages, of a process which has the form 
of an evolution. The more modern evolu- 
tionary ideas are prefigured in all sorts of 
vaguer and of more concrete forms by the 
various Naturphilosophen, from Schelling 
onwards. Oken comes nearest of all of the 
group to using categories like those of a 
modern evolutionist. When, in the gen- 
eration that was in its early prime in the 
thirties and the forties, various naturalists 
made a systematic method of appealing to 
a study of the embryology, of the early 
stages, of any natural form, as a principal 
means of understanding its mature struc- 
ture, they were following a leading idea 
which was again in one sense a very an- 
cient idea, since the Greeks already pos- 
sessed cruder forms of this idea. But, on 
the other hand, this leading idea had as- 
sumed, by the time in question, shapes 
which it could not have assumed had not 
the Naturphilosophen preceded. Herein 
lay, in all probability, one of the most sub- 
stantial of their indirect influences upon 
the course of later science. In the minds 
of the Naturphilosophen, this idea of con- 
ceiving organic nature as a process to be 
understood in evolutionary, or at least in 
quasi-evolutionary ways, was a direct re- 
sult of their philosophical principles. 
They not only possesed the idea; but they 
applied it in ways which brought it into 
relations with modern science. The pre- 
dominance of Entwickelungsgeschichte in 
all the later studies of German science in 
the nineteenth century is in all probability 
largely influenced by the indirect effects of 
the Naturphilosophie. 

As you see, no one of the three leading 
ideas just mentioned can be regarded as 
originated by the Naturphilosophie. Each 
is, IN some sense and in some degree, a very 
old idea. But the interest of the Natur- 
philosophie lies in the fact that just be- 


576 


cause of its enthusiastic efforts to reform 
and to conquer the natural science of its 
time, it gave to these old ideas a new turn, 
a new setting, a new application, a new 
translation. The Naturphilosophie sup- 
posed itself to be interpreting the world of 
natural science in the light of its own 
philosophical ideas. Asa fact, it was 
rather interpreting certain ancient philo- 
sophical ideas in the light of the facts 
which it learned in the course of its rather 
undisciplined study of science. But by 
thus reshaping the old ideas into modern 
forms, it prepared them to become leading 
ideas for a later generation of serious sci- 
entific workers. For, when it thus trans- 
lated them into more modern terms, it 
rendered them comprehensible and attrac- 
tive to men of the new time. It made them 
seem portentous to its own generation. 
The Naturphilosophie itself was soon dead, 
and mouldering in the grave. These lead- 
ing ideas, its soul, went marching on. 


Til 


I have now enumerated three of the 
leading ideas of the Naturphilosophie. 
You will properly ask what evidence there 
is that leading ideas derived from such 
sources actually influenced any serious sci- 
entific workers of a later period. 

And go I come, hereupon, to a very in- 
adequate report of an interesting class of 
phenomena, whose significance the his- 
torians of the nineteenth century science 
seem to me to have somewhat neglected. 
Let me call your attention to the following 
biographical facts regarding a number of 
notable scientific men. 

Johannes Miiller, the physiologist, born 
in 1801, studied from 1819 to 1822 in 
Bonn. His most notable teachers in medi- 
cine were Naturphilosophen in tendency. 
Bonn was then a center of medical Natur- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


philosophie. Miller later rejected the 
philosophy in question—how vigorously I 
need not tell you. But he always remained 
in spirit, as I have understood from the 
authorities, in the better sense a distinctly 
philosophical physiologist. He abandoned 
speculation, but he did not abandon syn- 
thesis. His Habilitationsschrift in 1830, at 
Bonn, related to embryology, which also 
received other contributions from him, 
His great work on physiology is a syn- 
thetic one. He always viewed his special 
work in its relations to the whole medical 
science. His influence was in the direction 
of unity as well as of thoroughness. 
Amongst his pupils were Helmholtz, Du 
Bois Reymond, Schwann and Virchow— 
all of them men of a distinctly philosoph- 
ical universality of grasp. 

J. L. Schonlein, born in 1793, studied 
in Wiirzburg from 1813 to 1816. Here he 
was under the influence of the Naturphi- 
losophie. later he, too, as I learn from 
the historians of medicine, achieved his 
scientific independence. He is called by 
Haeser the founder of exact modern clin- 
ical methods in Germany; and was the 
center of a great school of medical workers, 
to which Virchow also later belonged. He 
was a Clinical organizer rather than a pro- 
ductive writer; but the influence of philo- 
sophical interests upon his work appears 
to have been decided. 

To pass to another field of scientific 
work, Von Baer, the embryologist, was a 
pupil of Dollinger in Wiirzburg. Doll- 
inger was a prominent medical Naturpht- 
losoph. It was he who seems to have first 
set both Von Baer and Von Baer’s con- 
temporary and coworker Pander to work 
upon embryological researches. Dollinger 
himself, as Naturphilosoph, had been led 
to work upon comparative anatomy. His 
merit as the inspirer and teacher of Von 
Baer is expressly. recognized .by Franz 


OCTOBER 24, 1913] 


Miiller in the latter’s just quoted ‘‘Gesch. 
d. org. Naturw. im 19ten Jahrh.”’ 

Nageli, the botanist, whose philosophical 
predispositions were very manifest in all 
his work, was born in 1817, was for a time 
under the influence of Oken, heard Hegel 
in Berlin, soon turned away from the Na- 
turphilosophie with a decided sense of dis- 
illusionment, contributed largely to science, 
but remained in spirit a philosopher to the 
end of his days. 

More indirect, but extremely obvious, is 
the relation of Virchow himself to the 
Naturphilosophie. Born in 1821, and 
growing up as he did in the generation 
when the Naturphilosophie was generally 
regarded with disfavor by all the strongest 
scientific men, Virchow, like Helmholtz, 
had not first to live through and overcome 
an adherence to the doctrines of the Na- 
turphilosophen. But he too was as full of 
a philosophical spirit as if he had been 
a speculative thinker. His essay, ‘‘Die 
Einheitsbestrebungen in der wissenschaft- 
lichen Medecin,’’ belonging to the late 
forties, is a defense of certain leading 
ideas which he never could have formu- 
lated if he had not come to consciousness 
under the influence of the philosophical 
problems of his time. His interesting con- 
ception of the relation of medicine to social 
science, and even to politics, his definition 
of his own philosophy as ‘‘Humanism,’’ 
his insistence upon the search for unity of 
knowledge as the justification of all spe- 
cialism—these are all philosophical notions 
which one can only understand in their 
relations to German thought at large. 
Virchow’s frequent return, in his various 
addresses, to the portrayal of the history 
and the merits of the controversies of the 
period of the Naturphilosophie, show how 
much he was dependent for his original 
inspiration and his spirit upon the issues 
that the Naturphilosophie defined. In 


SCIENCE 


577 


what sense does science seek for unity? 
How is science related to religion, to the 
humanities, to the social interests of man- 
kind, to the problems of the theory of 
knowledge? These are problems which 
Virchow repeatedly faces. His vindication 
of the right and the duty of special re- 
search is a philosophical one. Moreover, 
he too, as you well know, founds his work 
as a pathologist upon the leading idea that 
the study of the Entwickelungsgeschichte 
of tissues, and, in particular, of morbid 
growths, must be a central task for the 
pathologist. Experience vindicated the 
value of this idea. But the history of 
philosophy had a good deal to do with the 
importance which the idea had obtained 
during the time of Virchow’s own youthful 
process of development. 

So far for a few examples of tendencies 
which were in those days quite prevalent. 
But now for a somewhat more general 
view. Nobody who takes a broader survey 
of the history of German scholarship in the 
second and third and fourth decades of 
the nineteenth century can fail to see how 
wide-spread was the influence of what may 
in general be called the evolutionary idea 
upon the whole conduct of special re- 
search. It makes no difference whether 
you turn to pathology or to Indo-European 
philology, to the work of the students of 
jurisprudence or to that of the compara- 
tive embryologists, whether the cell-theory 
or Bopp’s Comparative Grammar is used 
as your illustration—all sorts of branches 
of special natural research, outside of phys- 
ies and chemistry themselves, and espe- 
cially in Germany, were in those days 
guided by the idea that the most important 
aspect of natural objects and processes that 
could be studied was their historical aspect, 
their growth, the history of their evolution, 
unless indeed, as in physics and chemistry, 
the phenomena presented few or no points 


578 


of attack for such a type of research. In 
my ‘‘Spirit of Modern Philosophy,’’ twenty 
years or so since, I pointed out the 
meaning and the historical source of this 
general tendency of German science and 
scholarship in the period in question. 
While preparing that book I at one time 
made for myself a list of those great treat- 
ises belonging to the years between 1815 
and 1835—treatises issued in Germany, 
each one of which may be called epoch- 
marking in its own branch of historical 
or of more or less definitely evolutionary 
research. It is a list of notable works, 
which shows a constant widening and 
deepening interest in the growth of insti- 
tutions, civilizations, art, religion, organ- 
isms, languages—in short, of whatever 
lives and can grow. 

Now this interest in the evolutionary 
aspect of things had not been characteristic 
of the ecighteenth-century science. It did 
not until much later become as prominent 
in English or in French science as, during 
the decades in question, it already was in 
Germany. Its relation during the years 
after 1815 in Germany to the leading ideas 
—to the dreams, if you will, of the previous 
romantic period of the Naturphilosophie, 
is historically obvious. Its relation to the 
later organization of the general doctrine 
of evolution is just as obvious. One has, 
therefore, to give credit to the Naturphi- 
losophie for an indirect influence upon the 
course of the progress of the most various 
sciences—an influence as salutary as the 
direct influence of the Naturphilosophen 
had frequently been enervating or con- 
fusing. The special worker might well 
say, like Virchow, ‘‘You, the Naturphilos- 
ophie, were my enemy, from whom I hap- 
pily escaped. For you counseled dreamy 
speculation; while I learned to look faith- 
fully through my microscope at the facts 
as they were.’’ But the Naturphilosophie, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 982 


had it still lived to follow its own indirect 
influence, might have replied: ‘‘Yes, but 
I dreamed of evolution, and you speeial 
workers found it. I viewed the prom- 
ised land from Pisgah and died. You 
crossed the Jordan of hard work and en- 
tered in.”’ 

To drop metaphor, the sober facts are 
these—facts of some importance in the his- 
tory of science, although I have no wish to 
give them any false importance. Some of 
the most notable scientific discoverers of 
Germany in the years between 1820 or 
1830 and 1860 were men who had been in 
their youth, sometimes directly, sometimes 
indirectly, under the influence of the Na- 
turphilosophie. With this influence such 
men had in general learned to quarrel. 
They consciously turned away from it to 
special research. But the influence after 
all left in them a love for the universal, for 
the connections of things, for reflection 
upon the meaning of their special re- 
searches, for synthesis. And above all, 
this influence left in them an intense eager- 
ness to study the connected story of the 
growth of organisms—a sense for the mean- 
ing of evolution—a disposition to interpret 
facts in the light of the growth of organ- 
ized processes. Herein lay then an instruct- 
ive although indirect relation between 
philosophy and science. 

In the inorganic sciences, where the evo- 
lutionary idea was, at least at that time, 
and except in geology, out of place, the 
indirect influence of the Naturphilosophie 
showed itself mainly in a disposition to 
seek for the unity that binds into one sys- 
tem the various forms of natural energy. 

As I before pointed out, the modern the- 
ory of the conservation of energy, of the 
equivalence of various forms of energy, 
and of the conditions which determine the 
transformations of energy, is not the prod- 
uct of any one set of motives. It is in fact 


OcTOBER 24, 1913] 


a remarkable example of the union of two 
sets of motives. The whole experience of 
modern industrial art gave rise to the in- 
duction that perpetual motion is in all 
forms impossible, that all sorts of energy 
must be paid for if you mean to use them, 
and that the expenditure of any form of 
energy takes place in one direction only, 
or, in other words, that energy will not, so 
to speak, run up hill without special costs 
due to the process whereby it is set running 
up hill. These were practical inductions, 
forced upon the users of machines by con- 
siderations of need, economy and expense. 
The steam engine especially taught lessons 
of this sort, and led Carnot to his famous 
“Reflections on the Motor Power of Heat.’’ 
Here lay concealed one side of the coming 
energy theory. In England a similar 
union of technological and physical re- 
search also led to the threshold of the final 
generalization. But an important part of 
the theory was due to quite another sort of 
man, viz., to a medical man, and one who 
was in spirit a good deal disposed to large 
syntheses of a type similar to those of the 
former Naturphilosophie. In the early 
forties, Mayer had his attention called, 
while he was physician in charge of a 
ship’s company in the tropics, to the fact 
that the venous and the arterial blood of 
his patients were not so different from one 
another in color as they were in a colder 
climate. This single fact aroused a long 
series of reflections upon the process of 
oxidation in its relation to the production 
of heat in the organism, and then upon the 
relation of chemical and organic processes 
in general, and then upon the relations of 
both to physical processes. Before Mayer 
returned to Europe, he had his mind full of 
an universal theory of the relations of the 
natural energies, organic as well as inor- 
ganic. The theory had the advantage over 
the Schellingian type of theory that it could 


SCIENCE 


579 


be brought into exact relations to experi- 
ence, and so tested. But in its origin it was 
a theory of a philosophical type such as the 
older Naturphilosophie might have used 
had it been acquainted with what the sci- 
ence of 1840 knew. 

It was the union of philosophical inter- 
ests and industrial needs that thus gave 
birth to the modern doctrine of energy. 
The moral seems to be that one very good 
foundation for important scientific gen- 
eralizations lies in bringing into close rela- 
tions widely philosophical and intensely 
and imperiously practical human interests. 
I think that, as the foregoing historical 
examples show, medicine itself has more 
than once greatly profited by just such 
an union. The industrial and the medical 
arts, if too much oppressed by the mere 
desire to accommodate themselves to the 
momentary needs of individual men, tend, 
when left to themselves, towards a shallow 
and unprogressive empiricism. Philos- 
ophy, by itself, tends, when applied to the 
subject matter of such arts, to fruitlessly 
vague dreams. But the union of the in- 
dustrial or the strictly practical and the 
philosophical spirit tends to produce men 
like Virchow, or doctrines like the modern 
doctrine of energy. Hence I myself heart- 
ily welcome the introduction of technolog- 
ical enterprises into modern universities ; 
and I also believe that the useful arts are 
all the better off for being troubled oceca- 
sionally, by the neighborhood of philos- 
ophy. Philosophy, on the one hand, and 
the useful arts, on the other, are too often 
somewhat like the pine and the palm tree 
of Heine’s well-known lyric. They are far 
apart; but they sometimes long for each 
other. It is a pity to keep them in such 
isolation. 

IV 

But now, finally, what follows from the 

foregoing historical sketch for our under- 


580 


standing of the logic of scientific method? 
I venture still to add these few summary 
comments as I close. 

Inductive scientific generalizations, in 
the logically simplest cases, depend upon 
what Mr. Charles Peirce has defined as the 
method of taking a ‘‘fair sample’’ of a 
chosen type of facts. Thus one who sam- 
ples, to use Mr. Peirce’s typical example, 
a cargo of wheat, by taking samples from 
various parts of the cargo, carefully select- 
ing the samples so that they shall not tend 
to represent one part of the cargo only, but 
any part chosen at random, employs essen- 
tially the same inductive method which, as 
J gather from inquiry, Virchow used in 
reaching the main fundamental generaliza- 
tions of his cellular pathology. Samples 
chosen for investigation from a great va- 
riety of growths show, both in the case of 
normal and in the case of morbid tissues, 
that in the observed samples there is suffi- 
cient evidence of the origin of each cell 
from a previous cell, and evidence too that 
the tissue is formed of generations of cells 
whose beginnings, both in the normal and 
in the morbid growths, lead back to parent 
cells of certain definable types. This out- 
come of observation, repeatedly confirmed 
by samples fairly chosen, that is, by sam- 
ples chosen from various organisms, from 
various tissues, and chosen not merely to 
illustrate the theory, but to represent as 
well as may be all sorts of growths—this, 
I say, leads to the probable assertion that 
this kind of origin of tissues is universal, 
and that one is dealing with a genuine law 
of nature. The probability of such a gen- 
eralization can be tested in a more or less 
exact way, as Peirce has shown, by the 
principles of the mathematical theory of 
probabilities. Inductions of this type we 
may call statistical inductions. They pre- 
suppose nothing at the outset as to what 
laws are present in the world of the facts 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 982 


which are to be sampled. The technique 
of induction here consists wholly in learn- 
ing, (1) how to take fair samples of the 
facts in question, and (2) how to observe 
these facts accurately and adequately. 
This kind of induction seems to be espe- 
cially prominent in the organic sciences. 
Its logical theory is reducible to the gen- 
eral theory of probability, since fair sam- 
ples, chosen at random from a collection of 
objects, tend to agree in their constitution 
with the average constitution of the whole 
collection. 

But now, as you well know, a great deal 
of scientific work consists of the forming 
and testing of hypotheses. In such cases 
the inductive process is more complex. 
Peirce defines it first as the process of 
taking a fair sample from amongst the 
totality of those consequences which will 
be true if the hypothesis to be tested is 
true, and secondly as the process of 
observing how far these chosen con- 
sequences agree with experience. If a 
given hypothesis, in case it is true, de- 
mands, as often happens, countless conse- 
quences, you of course can not test all of 
these consequences, to see if every one of 
them is true. But you select a fair sample 
from amongst these consequences, and test 
each of these selected consequences of the 
hypothesis. If they agree with experience, 
the hypothesis is thereby rendered in some 
degree probable. The technique of induc- 
tion now involves at least four distinct 
processes: (1) The choice of a good hypoth- 
esis; (2) the computation of certain con- 
sequences, all of which must be true if the 
hypothesis is true; (3) the choice of a fair 
sample of these consequences for a test; 
and (4) the actual test of each of these 
chosen consequences. So far as you make 
use of this method of induction, you need 
what is called training in the theory of 
your topic, that is, training in the art of 


OcTOBER 24, 1913] 


deducing the consequences of a given hy- 
pothesis. This may involve computations 
of all degrees of complexity. You also 
need training in the art of taking a fair 
sample of consequences for your test; for 
a given hypothesis may involve numerous 
consequences that are already known, from 
previous experience, to be true. And such 
consequences furnish you with no crucial 
tests. In case of success, your hypothesis 
may become very highly probable. But 
induction never renders it altogether cer- 
tain. 

Classic instances of this method of induc- 
tion exist in the physical sciences. In the 
organic sciences the process of testing hy- 
potheses is frequent, but is less highly 
organized, and generally less exact than in 
the great cases that occur in the inorganic 
sciences. No theory of the consequences of 
any hypothesis in the organic sciences has 
ever yet reached the degree of precision 
attained by the kinetic theory of gases, or 
by the theory of gravitation. 

So much for the two great inductive 
methods, as Peirce defines them. But now 
does successful scientific method wholly 
reduce to these two processes, viz., (1) 
sampling the constitution of classes of phe- 
nomena; and (2) sampling the theoretical 
consequences of hypotheses? Many stu- 
dents of the subject seem to think so. I 
think that the history of science shows us 
otherwise. 

As a fact, I think that the progress of 
science largely depends upon still another 
factor, viz., upon the more or less provi- 
sional choice and use of what I have already 
called, in this paper, leading ideas. 

A leading idea is, of course, in any given 
natural science, an hypothesis. But it is an 
hypothesis which decidedly differs from 
those hypotheses that you directly test by 
the observations and experiments of the 
particular research wherein you are en- 


SCIENCE 


581 


gaged. Unlike them, it is a hypothesis that 
you use as a guide, or in Kant’s phrase, as 
a regulative principle of your research, 
even although you do not in general intend 
directly to test it by your present scientific 
work. It is usually of too general a nature 
to be tested by the means at the disposal of 
your special investigation. Yet it does 
determine the direction of your labors, and 
may be highly momentous for you. 

Such a leading idea, for instance, is the 
ordinary hypothesis that even in the most 
confused or puzzling regions of the natural 
world law actually reigns, and awaits the 
coming of the discoverer. We can not say 
that our science has already so fairly 
sampled natural phenomena as to have 
empirically verified this assumption, so as 
to give it a definite inductive probability. 
For as a fact, science usually pays small 
attention to phenomena unless there ap- 
pears to be a definable prospect of reduc- 
ing them to some sort of law within a rea- 
sonable time; and chaotic natural facts, if 
there were such, would probably be pretty 
stubbornly neglected by science, so far as 
such neglect was possible. On the other 
hand, the leading idea that law is to be 
found if you look for it long enough and 
carefully enough is one of the great motive 
powers not only of science but of civiliza- 
tion. 

It may interest you to know that the 
modern study of the so-called axioms of 
geometry, as pursued by the mathemati- 
cians themselves, has shown that such prin- 
ciples as the ordinary postulate about the 
properties of parallel lines (as Euclid de- 
fines that postulate) are simply leading 
ideas. What the text-books of geometry 
usually assert to be true about the funda- 
mental properties of parallel lines is a 
principle that is neither self-evident, nor 
necessarily true, nor even an inductively 
assured truth of experience. It turns out, 


582 SCIENCE 


in the light of modern logical mathematical 
analysis, to be, I say, simply a leading idea, 
—that is, a principle which we can neither 
confirm nor refute by any experience now 
within our range, but which we use and 
need in geometry precisely because it is so 
serviceable in simplifying the geometry of 
the plane. 

If I may venture to cite an example from 
your own science, I should suggest the fol- 
lowing: That fundamental principle of 
Virchow’s ‘‘Cellular Pathology’’ which 
asserted the origin of every cell from a cell 
was, as I already said, a perfectly straight- 
forward induction, of Peirce’s first type, 
that is, it was a probable assertion of a cer- 
tain constitution as holding for a whole 
type of cases—an assertion made simply 
because this constitution had been observed 
to hold for a sufficient number of fairly 
selected samples of the type. But, on the 
other hand, consider another principle which 
Virchow asserted already in 1847 or earlier, 
and which, as I have long been told, has 
been of the first importance for the whole 
later development of your science: ‘‘We 
have learned to recognize,’’ says Virchow, 
“that diseases are not autonomous organ- 
isms, that they are no entities that have 
entered into the body, that they are no 
parasites which take root in the body, but 
that they merely show us the course of the 
vital processes under altered conditions’’ 
(‘das sie nur den Ablauf der Lebenser- 
scheinungen unter verinderten Bedingun- 
gen darstellen’’). 

Now of course I have nothing to suggest 
regarding the objective truth of this asser- 
tion. But I venture to point out that, logic- 
ally regarded, it is not an hypothesis to be 
definitely tested by any observation, but is 
rather an hypothesis of the type of Euclid’s 
postulate about the parallel lines, that is, 
it is a leading idea. For, on the one hand, 
how could Virchow regard this principle as 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


one that had been definitely tested, and al- 
ready confirmed by direct observation and 
experience at a time when, as in 1847, he 
was not yet possessed even of his own gen- 
eral principle of a cellular pathology, and 
when he regarded the whole science of 
pathology as in its infancy, and the causa- 
tion of disease as very largely unknown. 
On the other hand, what experience could 
one look for that would definitely refute the 
principle if it were false? Would the ex- 
perience of such facts as those of your 
modern bacteriology refute that principle? 
No, at least so far as I understand the sense 
of the principle as Virchow stated it in 
1847. For when bacteria, or when any of 
their products or accompaniments came to 
be recognized either as causing disease, or 
as affecting the course of disease in any 
way, it was still open to Virchow to say that 
the causes thus defined simply constitute 
these very verdnderte Bedingungen under 
which the Ablauf der Lebenserscheinungen 
takes place. In other words, the principle, 
if understood with sufficient generality, 
simply asserts that a disease can not occur 
in an organism without the processes of the 
disease being themselves alterations of the 
processes of the organism, and such altera- 
tions as the altered conditions, whatever 
they are, determine. Such a principle, so 
understood, seems tolerably safe from em- 
pirical refutation. It would remain un- 
refuted, and empirically irrefutable, so far 
as I can see, even if the devil caused disease. 
For the devil would then simply be one of 
the verdinderte Bedingungen. Thus when 
the devils on a famous occasion entered, in 
the tale, into the Gaderene swine, the 
Ablauf of the Lebenserscheinungen of the 
swine was such, under the verdnderte Bedin- 
gungen, that, as we are told, they ran down 
a steep place into the sea. But I do not 
see that this just stated pathological postu- 
late of Virchow’s need have suffered ship- 


OcroBER 24, 1913] 


wreck, or need even have received any 
damage, even on this occasion. The devils 
are indeed represented in the tale as enti- 
ties that from without entered into the 
swine, as bullets might have done. But the 
running down into the sea is nur der 
Ablauf der Lebenserscheinungen of the 
swine themselves. Let bullets or bacteria, 
poisons or compressed air, be the Beding- 
ungen, the postulate that Virchow states will 
remain irrefutable, if only it be interpreted 
to meet the case. For the principle merely 
says that whatever entity it may be, fire or 
air or bullet or poison or devil, that affects 
the organism, the disease is not that entity, 
but is the changed process of the organism. 
What then is this hypothesis, this rejec- 
tion of every external-entity-theory of dis- 
ease, as the hypothesis appears when Vir- 
chow writes these words in 1847? I reply, 
this is no hypothesis in the stricter sense; 
that is, it is no trial proposition to be sub- 
mitted to precise empirical tests. It is, on 
the contrary, a very precious leading idea. 
It is equivalent to a resolution to search for 
the concrete connection between the proc- 
esses of any disease and the normal process 
of the organism, so as to find the true unity 
of the pathological and the normal process 
through such a search. Without some such 
leading idea, the cellular pathology itself 
could never have resulted ; because the facts 
in question would never have been ob- 
served. And I suppose that some equiva- 
lent leading idea, if not precisely that which 
Virchow stated in 1847, is just as precious 
to you to-day in your own pathological 
work. 

The value of such leading ideas for a 
science lies in the sorts of research that 
they lead men to undertake, and also in the 
sorts of work that they discourage. They 
are, I repeat, regulative principles. Obser- 
vation does not, at least for the time, either 
confirm or refute them. But, on the other 


SCIENCE 


583 


hand, they awaken interest in vast ranges 
of observation and experiment, and sus- 
tain the patience and enthusiasm of work- 
ers through long and baffling investigations. 
They organize science, keep it in touch 
with the spirit of the age, keep alive in it 
the sense of the universal, and assure its 
service to humanity. Specialism, without 
leading ideas, remains but a sounding brass 
and a tinkling cymbal. 

The sources of useful leading ideas seem 
to me to be various. Social, and in partic- 
ular industrial interests, suggest some of 
them, as the perennial need of paying the 
coal-bills for the steam engines suggested, 
as we have seen, one of the leading ideas 
which pointed the way towards the modern 
theory of energy. The comparison of the 
results of various sciences awakens such 
leading ideas in various minds. Schleiden 
set Schwamm searching for the basis of 
the cell theory in animal tissues. That was 
the suggestion of an hypothesis in the nar. 
rower sense, to be tested. But when the 
physical sciences set the students of organie 
science to the work of conceiving organic 
processes as mechanical in their inmost 
nature, that was the suggestion of a leading 
idea, 

But another source of such leading ideas 
has been, upon oceasion, philosophy. Phi- 
losophy itself might be defined as a system- 
atic scrutiny of leading ideas. It has also 
proved to be often an inventor and inter- 
preter of such ideas. Its faults in its work 
have been frequent and obvious. In answer 
to Dr. Councilman’s request I have tried, 
dispassionately, to point out such faults in 
the Naturphilosophie. It has also been my 
duty to point out some of the excellencies 
that went with these defects. The moral of 
my story is, I suppose, that it is the inter- 
action of various types of human thought 
and investigation, and not mutual isolation 
or contempt, which helps us all, while he 


584 SCIENCE 


does best who works as you do in medicine 
with the profoundest theoretical problems 
and the most intensely practical interests 
at once pressing upon him, with the widest 
and most philosophical breadth of view, 
and the most faithful special labor, at once 
demanding attention. 


JOSIAH ROYCE 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SOME TABLES OF STUDENT HOURS OF 
INSTRUCTION 


In the days of President Dunster, the pub- 
lications of Harvard University gave the cur- 
riculum leading to the first degree in arts in 
a single sentence thus: “The first year shall 
teach Rhetoric, second and third years Dia- 
lectics, and the fourth year shall add Philos- 
ophy.” In no such simple form are the re- 
quirements for graduation set forth in a mod- 
ern college catalogue. To determine exactly 
what studies must and what studies may be 
included in the college course calls in most 
eases for much study. To learn even approxi- 
mately how many undergraduates, or what 
proportion of the undergraduates, are taking 
courses in any particular subject is in general 
impossible from the college catalogue. In 
some departments, many courses are offered, 
while few students elect; in other departments, 
few courses are offered and many students 
take them. At a few institutions the enroll- 
ment figures for all classes are now available 
in the published reports of the president or 
other officer, but in most cases one must call 
on the recording office to obtain such figures. 

For the sake of the interest which the com- 
parison of such statistics from many institu- 
tions may afford, the following tables have 
been prepared. They give the registration in 
the various subjects at eighteen more or less 
tTepresentative American colleges and univer- 
sities. In the first table the numbers of “ stu- 
dent hours of instruction” are given by sub- 
jects, while the second table gives the same 
facts in a form more suitable for comparison 
of the work of different institutions, since in 
it all the figures have been reduced to, and are 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 982 


expressed in, percentages. These statistics rest 
on a semester basis and include in general 
only undergraduates—candidates for the first 
degree; accordingly, special students and par- 
tial course students and all graduate students, 
so far as possible, have been omitted. Fur- 
thermore, in the cases of the universities, only 
the college of arts, or the college of letters 
and science, according as that school of the 
university is named, has ordinarily been in- 
cluded. Thus, the Columbia statistics refer 
only to Columbia College, the Yale statistics 
to Yale College, the Harvard statisties to 
Harvard College, the Wisconsin statistics to 
the college of letters and science, ete. It is 
only fair to state at once, however, that the 
great diversity in the grouping of the work 
of the universities in different schools makes 
the results here given unsatisfactory for com- 
parison in the cases of the universities. One 
university appears to include all of its under- 
graduate work in engineering in the college 
of letters, while a second university includes 
only a little in that school, and a third none. 
Other differences of similar sort have been 
found in comparing the figures from the uni- 
versities. No such difficulties arise with re- 
gard to the statistics of the colleges and it is 
believed that the tables are entitled to full 
eredence for purposes of comparison so far as 
all the fourteen or fifteen smaller institutions 
included are concerned. 

The figures have been submitted in most 
eases by the registrar for the purpose of this 
paper, but in a few instances they have been 
compiled from the printed report of the presi- 
dent, dean or registrar. 

A “student hour of instruction,” as that 
term is used here, means the taking of a course 
of one hour per week by one student through 
one semester. Thus, a class of twenty stu- 
dents taking a three-hours-per-week course in 
English for two semesters gives 120 student 
hours of instruction in English. The number 
of student hours of instruction in any course 
for any semester is obtained by multiplying 
the number of students in the course by the 
number of hours per week which that course 
counts towards graduation; ordinarily, in a 


OcToBER 24, 1913] 


non-laboratory course, the latter factor is the 
same as the number of class-room hours per 
week given to the course; while in laboratory 
courses, and occasionally in non-laboratory 
courses, this factor is less than the number of 
hours given to the class-room exercises of the 
week. It is believed that this factor has al- 
ways been used, in the work of these tables, in 
accordance with the established ruling of the 
institution concerned. 

The subjects have been grouped in three di- 
visions along the lines most generally ac- 
cepted, if any association of subjects has 
gained sufficient adoption to entitle it to a 
claim of general acceptance. The first di- 
vision includes the foreign languages, to- 
gether with archeology, philology, comparative 
literature and “Greek art, ete.’ The third 
division includes mathematics and the sci- 
ences. The second division includes all other 
subjects, particularly English, history, phi- 
losophy and allied departments. It was found 
unfeasible to retain in all cases the depart- 
mental or subject names used by the various 
institutions. Consequently, such grouping of 
departmental titles as seemed feasible has 
been made. Thus philology is made to in- 
elude “ classical philology ” and “ comparative 
philology ”; archeology includes “ archeology 


and art”; Romance languages includes 
“French,” “Italian” and “Spanish”; 
English includes “English composition,” 


“English language” and “English litera- 
ture”; public speaking includes “ oratory ” 
and “elocution”; government includes “ mod- 
ern government,” or “ politics ” and “ political 
science,’—which seems to be used at one insti- 
tution as including government only and at 
another as including both economics and 
government; economics includes “ sociology,” 
“economics and sociology,” “ political econ- 
omy” and “commercial organization”; phi- 
losophy includes “ psychology ”; Bible includes 
“Biblical history,” “Biblical literature” 
and “Biblical history and literature”; art 
includes “the fine arts,” “art and archeol- 
ogy” and “graphic art”; drawing includes 
the work in that subject which seems to be 
properly supplementary to the department of 


SCIENCE 


585 


art, while “ mechanical drawing” is included 
ordinarily under surveying and drawing or 
mathematics; music includes “musical his- 
tory ”; mathematics includes “applied mathe- 
matics” in the case of Leland Stanford Jun- 
ior University; engineering includes “ graph- 
ics,’ “graphics and engineering,” “ civil 
engineering,” “electrical engineering” and 
“mechanical engineering”; chemistry in- 
cludes “chemistry and mineralogy ”; zoology 
includes “entomology and bionomics”; geol- 
ogy includes “geology and mining,” “ geol- 
ogy and mineralogy,” “mineralogy” and 
“mineralogy and petrography”; physiology 
and hygiene includes “ physiology,” “ hy- 
giene”’ and “ physiology and histology”; and 
physical education includes “ physical train- 
ing” and “physical training and personal 
hygiene,”—the gymnasium-work component 
of which subject is included in the figures 
reported from a few institutions, but is 
omitted by most of them. It is acknowledged 
that these groupings might be changed on 
fuller knowledge of the facts of the particular 
institutions, but the various combinations 
mentioned may perhaps be regarded suitable 
and sufficient for the present purpose. 

It is to be noted that the Dartmouth fig- 
ures do not take into account the courses 
taken by the undergraduates in the profes- 
sional work of the medical, Thayer and Tuck 
schools. Similarly, the figures for Cornell 
include only such work as is taken by arts 
students, omitting that done by other stu- 
dents in other colleges in that university. 

The statistics from the Johns Hopkins 
University refer to the year 1912-13, but are 
submitted for this report with the statement 
that it is believed they are not very unlike 
those of 1911-12; all the other information in 
the tables applies to 1911-12 only. The Smith 
College figures are based on only the first se- 
mester of the college year, but one reads in 
the report from which they are taken that 
they differ very little for the second semester ; 
accordingly, the same figures are used for 
both semesters. 

The Leland Stanford Junior totals do not 
include the work done in the medical depart- 


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688 


ment; and they contain results for both un- 
dergraduate and graduate students—contrary 
to the plan of using the figures for under- 
graduates only. 

The statistics from the University of Wis- 
consin should be viewed in the light of the 
following statements from Dean Birge: 
“The college of letters and science teaches all 
the language, science and mathematics for 
the colleges of engineering and agriculture. 
This gives us a great many students in the 
elementary classes who take their advanced 
work in other colleges. This fact would make 
the advanced work relatively smaller than it 
would be if the college of letters and science 
alone were concerned. It increases the regis- 
tration in modern languages, English, chem- 
istry, physics and mathematics very consid- 
erably.” The figures for the first semester 
are used, with permission, for both semesters 
in the case of Wisconsin. 

The numbers of those who entered for the 
different final honors schools in 1912 at the 
University of Oxford have been included in 
the tables. Perhaps much more value would 
attach to statistics which should include the 
“pass” men also; but figures showing the 
lines along which the choices of the more 
earnest students at this great English uni- 
versity fall are regarded of at least sufficient 
interest to warrant their inclusion here. 

In the order of the relative amount of 
work done in the foreign languages, the sev- 
enteen American institutions considered rank, 
according to this table, for the year in ques- 
tion thus: (1) Williams, (2) Amherst, (8) 
Bowdoin, (4) Dartmouth, (5) Smith, (6) 
Yale, (7) Johns Hopkins, (8) Bryn Mawr, 
(9) Wisconsin, (10) Princeton, (11) Har- 
vard, (12) Wesleyan, (13) Mount Holyoke, 
(14) Oberlin, (15) Cornell, (16) Columbia, 
(17) Wellesley and (18) Leland Stanford 
Junior, with the Oxford honors men standing 
between Princeton and Harvard. 

Similarly, the order as to the amount of 
work done in the subjects of the second divi- 
sion (English, history, philosophy, etc.) is as 
follows: (1) Bryn Mawr, (2) Yale, (38) 
Smith, (4) Wellesley, (5) Mount Holyoke, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 982: 


(6) Oberlin, (7) Bowdoin, (8) Columbia, (9) 
Harvard, and, with a long interval, (10) 
Wesleyan, (11) Cornell, (12) Leland Stan- 
ford Junior, (18) Amherst, (14) Dartmouth, 
(15) Wisconsin, (16) Johns Hopkins, (17) 
Williams and (18) Princeton, with the Ox- 
ford honors men preceding Bryn Mawr. 

Again, the order for the division of science: 
stands thus: (1) Leland Stanford Junior,. 
(2) Princeton, (8) Cornell, (4) Wisconsin,. 
(5) Johns Hopkins, (6) Dartmouth, (7) 
Wesleyan, (8) Amherst, (9) Columbia, (10) 
Wellesley, (11) Williams, (12) Oberlin, (13): 
Mount Holyoke, (14) Harvard, (15) Yale,. 
(16) Smith, (17) Bryn Mawr, (18) Bowdoin,. 
with the Oxford honors men last of all. 

In general, the eastern institutions show a 
greater amount of work in the foreign lan- 
guages than the western, while the western 
show much larger numbers in science. Im 
the second division the line between the east 
and the west is not nearly so clear, while: 
Yale and the colleges for women stand to- 
gether at the head of the list. Amherst and’ 
Dartmouth stand much closer to each other 
in the distribution of their work along these: 
three lines than do any other two of the 
group which includes them and Bowdoin, 
Wesleyan and Williams. Johns Hopkins and’ 
Wisconsin present results which are very 
similar; and so do Smith College and Yale: 
College, while Bryn Mawr stands very close: 
to both. 

One hesitates to try to account for these: 
differences of distribution of work in our 
colleges. Probably the presence or absence of 
required courses, the economic and social fac 
tors of the time and place, the influence of 
women in coeducational institutions, the: 
countless personal equations and all those- 
tendencies, accidental, traditional and _his- 
torical, which enter in the making of a cur- 
riculum and the creation of the student senti- 
ment towards it—all these and many more- 
must be the reasons which together determine- 
these things. Into these questions the sta-- 
tistician makes no attempt to enter. The- 
tables are presented simply as shedding a bit: 


OctoBER 24, 1913] 


of light of some interest on the great subject 
of American collegiate education. 


Freperick C. FErry 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THE statue of Lord Kelvin, erected in Kelvin 
Grove Park, Glasgow, was unveiled on October 
8. Mr. Augustine Birrell, rector of Glasgow 
University, made the address, and at the lunch- 
eon which followed an address was made by 
Mr. Arthur Balfour. The statue, which is of 
bronze, is the work of A. McF. Shannan. 

CotoneL Gro. W. GorrTHats, chairman of 
the Isthmian Canal Commission and chief 
engineer of the Panama Canal, has accepted 
the honorary presidency of the International 
Engineering Congress and will preside over the 
general session to be held in San Francisco, 
September 20-25, 1915. 


Proressor THEOBALD Situ, of Harvard 
University, has accepted membership on an 
International Committee with Professor 
Gaffky, of Berlin, and Professor Calmette, of 
Lille, to award in 1914 the first Emil Chr. 
Hansen Prize for researches in medical micro- 
biology. 

Tue Warren triennial prize for 1913, 
amounting to $500, has been awarded to Dr. 
Arrigo Visentini, instructor in pathologic 
anatomy in the Royal University, Pavia, Italy, 
for his essay entitled, “ Function of the Pan- 
creas and its Relation to the Pathogenesis of 
Diabetes.” 


At its last meeting the Rumford Committee 
of the American Academy made the following 
appropriations: To Professor W. O. Sawtelle, 
of Haverford College, $300, in addition to a 
former appropriation, in aid of his research on 
“The spectra of light from the spark of an 
oscillatory discharge”; to Professor G. N. 
Lewis, of the University of California, $300, 
in addition to a former appropriation, in aid of 
his researches on the “ Free energy changes in 
chemical reactions ”; to Professor H. N. Davis, 
of Harvard University, $200, in aid of his 
various thermodynamical researches. 

Dr. Cart VOEGTLIN, associate professor of 
pharmacology in the Johns Hopkins Univer- 


SCIENCE 


589 


sity, has been appointed professor of pharma- 
cology in the hygienic laboratory, U. S. Public 
Health Service, to succeed Professor Reid 
Hunt, now head of the department of pharma- 
cology at Harvard University. 


Privatpozent Dr. Cart TicERSTEDT, of the 
physiological institute of the University of 
Helsingfors, Finland, recently appointed as 
research associate of the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington, is spending the winter in the 
Nutrition Laboratory in Boston. 


ALBerT W. WuitTNey has resigned his posi- 
tion of associate professor of insurance and 
mathematices in the University of California 
to become assistant actuary in the Insurance 
Department of the State of New York. 


Professor GAFFKY, director of the Institute 
for Infectious Diseases, Berlin, retired from 
his position on October 1. His successor will 
probably be Professor Loeffler, of Greifswald. 


Proressor A. OsprecHt has been appointed 
director of the Santiago Observatory in suc- 
cession to the late Dr. Ristenpart. 


Dr. Roger Croissant, Paris, is visiting the 
United States, to study the system of training 
nurses with a view of organizing similar work 
in France. 


Dr. JosEF SCHUMPETER, professor of political 
economy in the University of Graz, Austria, 
has been named as the Austrian exchange pro- 
fessor for the winter semester of 1913-14 at 
Columbia University. He is a graduate of the 
University of Vienna in 1906, and studied 
later in Berlin and England, in which latter 
country he remained until 1908. Dr. Schum- 
peter writes and speaks the English language 
perfectly. 


Dr. Roopa ErpMANn, of the department of 
protozoology of the Berlin Institute for Infec- 
tious Diseases, has been appointed Seesel re- 
search fellow in zoology at Yale University, to 
enable her to study Professor Woodruff’s pedi- 
greed race of Paramecium. 


Dr. Burt G. WILDER, emeritus professor of 
neurology and vertebrate zoology in Cornell 
University, will reside hereafter in Brookline, 
Mass., the home of his boyhood. His address 


590 


this winter is 60 Park St. For the present he 
has given up scientific research in order to 
complete his “ Records and Recollections of 
the Civil War,” based upon his daily letters, 
which were all preserved. 


Proressor W. M. Davis, of Harvard Univer- 
sity, lectured on “ The Lessons of the Colorado 
Canyon,” at Denison University, October 6; at 
Ohio Wesleyan University, October 7; at Ohio 
State University, October 8; at State Normal 
College, Ypsilanti, October 10, and at the Uni- 
versity of Rochester, October 13. He also 
spoke on “Glacial Erosion in Montana” at 
Ohio Wesleyan; on “The Bearing of Physi- 
egraphy on the Theories of Coral Reefs,” at 
Columbus, and on “ Experiences of an Ex- 
change Professor at Berlin and Paris,” at 
Ypsilanti. 


“Tue Physical Basis and Determination of 
Sex ” was the subject of an illustrated address 
given on October 18 by Associate Professor H. 
H. Newman, of the department of zoology of 
the University of Chicago, at Fullerton Hall, 
Art Institute of Chicago, under the auspices 
of the Field Museum of Natural History. 


Dr. Hipryo Nocucut gave a demonstration 
at a meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine, 
London, on October 13, of the results of his 
recent investigations, most of them carried out 
at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Re- 
search, of which he is an associate. He showed 
pure cultures of various pathogenic and sapro- 
phytic spirochetes, demonstrated the presence 
of Treponema pallidum in the brain in cases 
of general paralysis, and showed experimental 
general paralysis in rabbits. He also gave a 
demonstration of his recent cultural studies of 
the virus of rabies. 


Mr. Crayton D. Mett, of the U. S. Forest 
Service, sailed on October 16 from New York 
for British Guiana to inspect greenheart 
timber to be used in the construction of docks 
and other marine works for the Panama Canal. 


Mr. R. A. Rowtey, assistant professor of 


geology in the University of the Philippines, 


has recently returned from an expedition to 
the northern part of the Island of Palawan, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 982 


and is engaged in working up a suite of rocks 
from that little known region. 

It is stated in Nature that Major Barrett- 
Hamilton, accompanied by Mr. Stammwitz, 
one of the taxidermists on the staff of the 
British Museum (Nat. His.), has sailed in a 
whaler for South Georgia, on a mission from 
the Colonial Office, to report on the whaling 
stations leased by the British government to a 
Norwegian firm. 

A BRANCH laboratory of the United States 
Bureau of Mines has been established in Morse 
Hall, Cornell University, in connection with 
the department of chemistry. Investigations 
will be made of problems related to the manu- 
facture of brass and other alloys of copper by 
Dr. H. W. Gillett and Dr. J. M. Lohr under 
the direction of Dr. Charles Lathrop Parsons, 
chief mineral chemist of the Bureau of Mines, 
and Professor Bancroft. 

THE sixty-seventh anniversary of Ether Day 
was celebrated at the Massachusetts General 
Hospital, Boston, on October 16, when the 
principal address was delivered by Dr. Milton 
J. Rosenau. 

WE learn from Nature that at the recent 
International Congress of Pharmacy held at 
the Hague, a proposal to form an international 
pharmacopeial bureau was discussed, and a 
commission was appointed to consider the 
question, and to submit to the International 
Pharmaceutical Federation at an early date a 
scheme for the establishment of such a bureau. 
The commission is composed of seven mem- 
bers, representing, respectively, Great Britain, 
the United States, Germany, France, Holland, 
Belgium and Switzerland; most of the mem- . 
bers are associated with the revision of their 
national pharmacopeias, the English repre- 
sentative being Professor H. G. Greenish, 
joint editor of the “ British Pharmacopeia,” 
and the American, Professor J. P. Remington, 
editor of the “ United States Pharmacopeia.” 
Among the duties of such a bureau as that 
proposed would be the collection and examina- 
tion of all literature relating to pharmacopeial 
revision and the experimental investigation of 
new drugs and preparations, and no doubt the 


OcToOBER 24, 1913] 


influence of the bureau would tend to encour- 
age the work already commenced in the direc- 
tion of the unification of pharmacopeias. 


AT the request and with the cooperation of 
the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals, the faculty of medi- 
eine of Harvard University offers a course of 
free public lectures, to be given at the Medical 
School, on Sunday afternoons, beginning Oc- 
tober 5 and ending December 21, 1913. The 
lectures begin at four o’clock. 


October 5, ‘‘The Protection of Domesticated 
Animals,’’ Professor Veranus A. Moore, of Cor- 
nell University. 

October 12, ‘‘Our Increased Knowledge con- 
cerning the Nature of Animal Diseases,’’ Dr. 
George W. Pope, of the Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry, Washington. 

October 19, ‘‘The Dangers of Live-stock 
Traffic,’’ Professor Karl F. Meyer, of Philadel- 
phia. 

October 26, ‘‘Stable Ventilation’’ (with lan- 
tern-slide demonstration), Professor James B. 
Page, of Amherst. 

November 2, ‘‘Modern Operative Methods ap- 
plied to Veterinary Surgery,’’ Professor Harvey 
Cushing, of Boston. 

November 9, ‘‘The Relation between Human 
and Animal Tuberculosis,’’? Professor Theobald 
Smith, of Boston. 

November 16, ‘‘Protection of Animals from 
Infective Diseases,’’ Dr. Charles H. Higgins, of 
Ottawa. 

November 23, ‘‘The Diseases and Care of Poul- 
try and the Pig,’’ Dr. Austin Peters, of Boston. 

November 30, ‘‘The Diseases and Care of the 
Dog and the Cat,’’ Dr. Arthur W. May, of Bos- 
ton. 

December 7, ‘‘The Diseases and Care of the 
Horse and the Cow,’’ Dr. F. H. Osgood, of Bos- 
ton. 

December 14, ‘‘Rabies and Glanders,’’ Dr. 
Langdon Frothingham, of Boston. 

December 21, ‘‘The Relationship between Hu- 
man and Animal Diseases in the Tropics,’’ Pro- 
fessor R. P. Strong, of Boston. 


THE Vienna correspondent of the British 
Medical Journal writes that the events of the 
past year have forced the senate of the Univer- 
sity of Vienna to the unwelcome conclusion 
that the university no longer occupies the posi- 


SCIENCE 


591 


tion it once held in the esteem of foreign sci- 
entific men. This has been proved by the fact 
that the well-known physiological chemist, 
Professor Abderhalden, refused the director- 
ship of the chemical institute left vacant by 
the departure of Professor Ludwig, whilst the 
post of director of the medical clinic, formerly 
held by Professor von Noorden, has likewise 
been declined by Professor His, of Berlin. 
These refusals, which were totally unexpected 
and caused very great surprise, are in them- 
selves sufficient to prove that the university is 
to blame for this loss of prestige; whilst the 
resignation of two such eminent German sci- 
entific men as Professor von Striimpell and 
von Noorden, both men in the prime of life, 
seems to point to the existence of some grave 
cause for dissatisfaction on the part of foreign 
professors. It is said that the matter has pro- 
voked much comment among the medical pro- 
fession in Austria, which is beginning to ex- 
press its disapproval of a régime that has had 
the effect of driving strangers away from 
Vienna, instead of attracting them to it. It is 
evident that some reformation of the existing 
conditions is needed, and it rests with the pro- 
fession to see that this is properly carried out. 
In the meantime, temporary substitutes have 
been appointed to vacant posts in the persons 
of Professor Nauthner to the chemical insti- 
tute and Professor Salomon to von Noorden’s 
clinic. Public opinion is said to be in favor of 
the reservation of these posts in future for 
Austrians but religion, race and politics play 
as important a part in their selection as scien- 
tific attainments. 


Statistics of the electrical machinery, appa- 
ratus and supplies industry in the United 
States for 1909 are presented in detail in a 
bulletin soon to be issued by the Bureau of the 
Census. It was prepared under the supervi- 
sion of W. M. Steuart, chief statistician for 
manufactures. This industry includes the 
manufacture of the machines and appliances 
used in the generation, transmission and utili- 
zation of electric energy, together with most of 
the parts, accessories and supplies for them. 
It does not include, however, the production 
of poles, whether of wood, iron or steel; nor 


592 SCIENCE 


does it include the manufacture of glass and 
porcelain ware made expressly for electrical 
purposes, that of bare iron and copper wire, or 
any of the group of electrochemical and elec- 
trometallurgical products. The total number 
of establishments in the United States in 1909 
engaged in the manufacture of electrical ma- 
chinery, apparatus and supplies, was 1,009. 
The total number of persons engaged in the 
industry was 105,600, of whom 102,950 were 
wage earners. The total capital employed was 
$267,844,432, and the total value of products 
was $221,308,563. The industry in 1909 was 
largely centralized in the six states of New 
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachu- 
setts, Illinois and Ohio. These states to- 
gether reported 83.9 per cent. of the total 
average number of wage earners, 82.6 per cent. 
of the total value of products and 83.1 per 
cent. of the total value added by manufacture. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THE Graduate College of Princeton Univer- 
sity was formally dedicated on October 22. 
Professor Andrew F. West, dean of the gradu- 
ate school, made the principal address, his sub- 
ject being “The Household of Knowledge.” 
Addresses of congratulation were made by Dr. 
Alois Riehl, professor and former rector in the 
University of Berlin; Dr. Arthur Shipley, 
master of Christ’s College, Cambridge; Dr. 
Arthur Denis Godley, fellow of Magdalen Col- 
lege and public orator in the University of 
Oxford; M. Emile Boutroux, honorary pro- 
fessor in the University of Paris and president 
of the Foundation Thiers, and by President 
Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia Univer- 
sity. The Cleveland Memorial Tower was then 
presented by Mr. Richard V. Lindabury, presi- 
dent of the Cleveland Monument Association, 
and accepted on behalf of the university by 
President John Grier Hibben. A memorial 
address on “Grover Cleveland” was then 
made by ex-President William Howard Taft. 
Earlier in the week the foreign guests gave 
public lectures, the subject of Dr. Shipley’s 
address being “ The Origin of Life.” 

Dr. Curistian B. Hotmes has been ap- 
pointed dean of the medical department of the 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


University of Cincinnati, succeeding Dr. Paul 
G. Woolley. 


At the University of California, Frank 
LeRoy Peterson has been appointed assistant 
professor of farm mechanics, and Dr. Max 
Morse, instructor in physiology. 


Cuarues T. Kirk, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, 711), 
has been appointed professor of geology in the 
University of New Mexico. 


Miss Fanny C. Gates, formerly head of the 
department of physics at Goucher College, has 
been appointed dean of women and professor of 
mental and physical hygiene in Grinnell 
College. 


Mr. Georce R. Jounsrone, A.B. (Illinois, 
713), has been appointed instructor in botany at 
the Michigan Agricultural College, making 
four instructors in addition to professor and 
assistant professor, who give the full time to 
instruction in botany, with two research 
assistants giving a quarter of their time re- 
spectively to plant pathology and plant physi- 
ology. Five hundred and twenty-one students 
have registered for work in the botanical de- 
partment, being an increase of twenty-five per 
cent. over last year. 


Mr. Witui1am CO. Witiarp, C.E., M.Sce., Lehigh 
University, has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of railway engineering at McGill Uni- 
versity, Montreal. 


At Birmingham University Dr. F. C. Lee 
has been nominated to the chair of civil engi- 
neering vacated by Professor S. M. Dixon. 
Professor P. F. Frankland, F.R.S., has been 
elected dean of the faculty of science in suc- 
cession to Professor Dixon. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


COMMENTS ON PROFESSOR BOLLEY’S ARTICLE ON 
CEREAL CROPPING 


Tr is now rather late to refer to Professor 
Bolley’s article on ‘“ Cereal Cropping,” pub- 
lished in Science on August 22, but I can not 
refrain from calling in question his statements 
in regard to the deterioration in the quality of 
wheat grown on soils which are “ exhausted” 


OcToBER 24, 1913] 


or “sick.” The question of yield I shall not 
+ouch upon further than to say that the only in- 
stances which have come under my observation 
where a total crop failure has occurred (and 
which could not easily be accounted for by 
weather conditions or attacks of recognized 
diseases, insects, etc.) have been on new lands. 

Tt is certainly a common idea of millers 
that the quality of wheat has steadily dete- 
riorated in most localities where it has been 
‘grown for many years; but one can not be 
‘expected to receive as conclusive a popular 
opinion unsupported by evidence. As Pro- 
fessor Bolley says, “In late years there has 
‘been a vast amount of talk about cereal crop 
deterioration ” both in regard to quantity and 
quality. But “a vast amount of talk” is one 
thing, and scientific proof quite another. 

He asks: 


Why is it that fertile wheat lands do not pro- 
-duce wheat of reasonably normal quality? 


Further on he refers to 


the evident rapid deterioration of the quality of 
grain which invariably accompanies the first few 
years of cropping upon the new land areas. In- 
deed, in some of the newer great wheat-producing 
regions the most fertile new lands do not produce 
wheat now either in yield per acre or in quality sim- 
‘lar to that which adjoining lands did when first put 
under wheat culture. Commonly, the new lands at 
first, even though of light texture, and of low 
chemical fertility, are expected and usually do 
produce grain above the ordinary average as to 
-quality in color, form and milling texture, but, 
very soon, the yield per acre and the quality drops 
off to such extent that the millers complain bit- 
-terly. 


Again he refers to the “ low yield and invari- 
able deficiency in quality.” Further on occur 
-these words: 


In spite of these directions [by our best agri- 
culturists] the wheat soon becomes soft and shows 
:all of the peculiar characteristics which we find 
named in the literature of the chemical laboratory, 
or in the milling tests of wheat as previously indi- 
eated, ‘‘white-bellied,’’ ‘‘piebald,’’ or shrivelled, 
“bleached and blistered, ‘‘black-pointed,’’ in fact 
zall the qualities of deteriorated grain. 


Where farm manure is applied, he says: 


SCIENCE 


593 


There may be increased yields, with vital deterio- 
ration in quality of seed produced. 


I am not sure of the exact meaning of the 
word vital in this case, but presume that it 
means hereditary. 

I hope I am not one of those who are “ too 
cocksure of their scientific principles,” but I 
certainly disagree with Professor Bolley and 
venture to bring forward a little evidence for 
my views. 

It is a fact that “ piebald” or “ yellowberry ” 
wheat, which is counted of poor quality by 
millers because of its softness, is often pro- 
duced (in Canada) on newly cleared land. 
Some years ago when searching for very soft 
(i. e., low grade) wheat in Manitoba, I was 
obliged to go to new land, on which the first 
crop was being raised. There I secured an 
extremely poor (though plump) specimen of 
Red Fife wheat, so soft that an ordinary 
miller would almost refuse to buy it. That 
this is a common occurrence is proved by a 
large number of examples, and I venture to 
say that every careful student of wheat in 
Canada will agree with me on this point. I 
have never seen any wheat grown on old land, 
in the great spring-wheat areas of Canada, as 
soft as some of the samples from new lands. 
Without being able to quote specific proofs, I 
believe it is true that these new lands gradu- 
ally by cultivation become altered in their 
texture so as to produce wheat of harder 
grade, 7. e., superior wheat from a miller’s 
point of view. In other words the actual 
process is one of gradual improvement and not 
of degeneration. I believe that the popular 
idea of “ degeneration” (which is prevalent in 
eastern Canada) is due, in so far as there is 
any truth in it, to the farmers growing infe- 
rior varieties, which are supposed to give 
larger yields than Red Fife when grown on 
partially exhausted soil. 

That wheat is not growing poorer in quality 
on this farm or in the Ottawa Valley is clearly 
shown by the excellent samples produced this 
season, and indeed in most seasons since 1902, 
which was a soft wheat year. If there is any 
tendency to gradual change it seems to be in 
tthe direction of improvement. I fully expect, 


594 


however, that when a suitable season for the 
production of soft wheat occurs again, the 
crop will be quite as soft as in 1902. 

A careful series of milling and baking tests 
of wheat from highly fertilized and exhausted 
soils (or soils on which wheat had been grown 
repeatedly) was made by me a few years ago. 
These results have not yet been published, but 
they prove, in so far as one series of tests can 
prove anything, that there is no essential differ- 
ence in flour quality between samples of wheat 
raised under the two extreme conditions. I 
have not seen any trustworthy evidence what- 
ever that wheat grown on poor soil (whether 
“exhausted” or “sick”) is inferior for mill- 
ing and baking purposes to that grown under 
more favorable conditions, except as regards 
plumpness, and even there I am not at all sure 
that the smaller crop from poor soils is as a 
rule distinctly less plump. I suspect that the 
lower yield, which is, of course, obtained, is 
due essentially to a smaller number of kernels 
rather than to imperfect development of them. 

I hope that Professor Bolley will find time 
to give to the public some of the evidence on 
which his statements are based, especially the 
milling and baking tests, and some instances 
of “vital deterioration in quality of seed,” due 
to manuring. 


Cuas. E. SAuNDERS 
EXPERIMENTAL FARM, 


Orrawa, CANADA, 
October 8, 1913 


“QUITE A FEW” 

To THE Epiror or Science: The criticism 
of T. G. Dabney, in Science of September 5, 
of the phrase “quite a few,” used by Pro- 
fessor Bolley in his paper in ScreENcE of July 
11, is calculated to excite a surprise among 
his readers equal, probably, to that which Mr. 
Dabney himself feels towards Professor Bol- 
ley. But “quite a few” conveyed Professor 
Bolley’s meaning perfectly, and, for myself, 
I can not think of a satisfactory equivalent 
that could have been substituted. Quite a 
number is a phrase sufficiently commonplace, 
probably—if it had been used—to have es- 
caped Mr. Dabney’s eagle eye, but is no more 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


precise. What more can an essayist ask, and 
what can a reasonable critic object to, if a 
writing is so worded—albeit slightly colloquial 
—that its meaning is taken instantly? 

If purists are to pounce on all our collo- 
qualisms whenever they happen to be found 
isuing, “from a learned teacher, in a scien- 
tifie disquisition in a scientific journal” and 
articles are to be reduced to the cast-iron re- 
quirements of such critics, then the readers 
thereof will lose some valuable time. For it 
takes time to get the meaning of a thorough- 
going pedant. What should be said, for in- 
stance, of the phrase “ pretty nearly,” which is 
pretty common, I believe, among good writers? 
“Pretty” refers to the looks of a thing. 
Would anybody say that “ pretty nearly ” must 
be taken to mean nearly pretty? Then there 
is “ Now then,” a favorite phrase of lecturers 
introductory to the elucidation of some point 
just previously dated. If it means now, Mr. 
Dabney might say, it can not mean then. 
Take the word “scientist,” which is ad- 
mittedly a barbarism and one that has been 
fought against for forty years, yet sticks in 
the language like a burr, because of its use- 
fulness—what are we going to do with that? 
Why, use it, of course, and snap our fingers at 
etymology and consistency, for it takes the 
place of three words and can not possibly be 
misunderstood. 

The fact is, the English language defies ar- 
gument. Vagrant words, phrases and sen- 
tences, illogical and intolerable at first, are 
every now and then creeping into usage and 
refusing to be turned out. In the beginning 
they may excite loathing, then they are simply 
frowned on and avoided whenever possible— 
though often through considerable cireumlo- 
eution—but in the end they become “good 
English.” And the chances are that some 
day we are astonished to find some of them in 
Shakespeare—like “a bum bailiff,” for ex- 
ample, which he who looks for will find there. 

The meaning to be conveyed is the desid- 
eratum above everything else. That may be 
developed with much labor, in sentences al- 
ways capable of parsing and always logical, 
or the writer may show a little more elasticity 


OcTOBER 24, 1913] 


of style and be just as well, if not better, 
understood. He will also be more agreeable 
to “quite a few” of SctENcr’s readers I have 
no doubt, among whom is 

Henry K. WHITE 


CATONSVILLE, MARYLAND, 
September 25, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


A Biological Survey of the Waters of Woods 
Hole and Vicinity. Section I., Physical 
and Zoological, by Francis B. SuMNeER, 
Raymond C. Osspurn and Leon J. Cote. 
Section II., Botanical, by Braptey M. 
Davis. Section III., A Catalogue of the 
Marine Fauna, by Francis B. SuMNER, 
Raymonp C. Ospurn and Leon J. Cote. 
Section IV., A Catalogue of the Marine 
Flora, by BraptEy M. Davis. Department 
of Commerce and Labor. Bulletin of the 
Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. XXXI., 1911. 
Washington, Government Printing Office. 
1913. 

This bulletin is issued in two parts, each a 
separate volume; Part I., 544 pages, of which 
54 contain introductory explanations and 
physical data, the remainder giving the results 
of the dredging operations carried on by the 
bureau, supplemented by some observations on 
conditions in shallower water, where dredging 
was not necessary. In this part 274 charts and 
maps are included. The second part con- 
tains 316 pages, numbered continuously with 
the first part. It consists of catalogues of the 
marine animals and plants, with localities, 
etc., bibliographies of works referring to the 
region in question, and ends with what appears 
to be a complete index. The present notes 
refer to the botanical parts, which occupy 147 
pages, aS against 620 pages for the zoological; 
but some reference is necessary to the intro- 
duetory part. 

The region under consideration includes 
Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay; the main 
body of the information on which this work 
is based was obtained by dredgings in the 
years 1903, 1904 and 1905, and a few in 1907, 
from the government steamers, Fish Hawk, 
Phalarope and Blue Wing. In all 458 stations 


SCIENCE 


595 


were dredged, of which a list is given, showing 
date, location, depth and character of bottom. 
Charts 225 to 227 also show these data graphic- 
ally. At each station a record was kept of 
the species brought up by the dredge, so that 
the data as to distribution may be considered 
as fairly complete. The result of this, as 
regards 38 species of alge, is shown on charts, 
identical outline charts of the region, one for 
each species, with a star showing each station 
where the species was found. No verbal de- 
scription can express as clearly as do these 
charts the area inhabited by a species, and 
their value is especially shown when one com- 
pares the eight similar charts in the zoological 
section, showing, not distribution of species, 
but temperature, density, etc. Compare, for 
instance, chart 228, Chetomorpha melago- 
nium, a northern plant, occurring here only in 
the colder waters by Gay Head and Cutty- 
hunk; chart 237, Laminaria digitata, also 
northern, about Gay Head only; chart 241, 
Griffithsia Bornetiana, almost entirely in the 
warmer waters near shore; chart 242, Griffith- 
sia tenuis, a common plant of the Mediter- 
ranean and Bermuda, here reaching its north- 
ern limit, and here recorded only in the ex- 
treme northern portion of the chart, where 
shallow water and distance from the open sea 
give a higher temperature than in the more 
southern part of the bay or in the sound 

With these chart 261, Grinnellia americana, 
is in strong contrast, showing an almost uni- 
versal distribution for this beautiful and char- 
acteristically American species. 

The dredgings on which the charts were 
based were all made in the months of July, 
August and September; that different results 
would have been obtained by dredgings in 
other months is quite possible, especially as 
regards annuals, but probably the difference 
would be less than what is found between tide 
marks, or just below low-water mark; at such 


*G. tenuis also occurs just east of the region 
represented in the charts, but only in such bodies 
of water as Waquoit Bay, which are very shallow, 
connected with the sea by a narrow channel, and in 
which in summer the temperature of the water is 


quite high. 


596 


stations in practically all temperate regions a 
large number of species appear, often abun- 
dantly, in late winter and early spring, only to 
disappear before the midsummer flora is 
established. This deficiency in data for other 
than the summer months is in part compen- 
sated for by a careful study which Dr. Davis 
has made of a very limited region, “ Spindle 
Rocks,” continuing over a period of fifteen 
months, after which the rocks were removed 
in connection with a widening of the ship 
channel. The eight charts given show zones 
of growth about each rock, and the appear- 
ance, maximum and disappearance of the vari- 
ous species of alge. 

Section IV., list of the marine alge, is in- 
tended to include all species whose occurrence 
in the Woods Hole region is properly vouched 
for, including many forms not noted in Sec- 
tion II. Details of distribution, exact locali- 
ties for rarer forms, dredging stations, seasonal 
occurrence, references to publications and to 
exsiccatz, with synonyms, make this section 
very complete. The total number of species 
and the proportions of the different classes are 
as follows: 


G@yanophy cere) iy teicierreloletclorer-telelenckier= 37 
Chiorophyceseererirpreromiorricierekcrks 48 
LENE ONAL Go5cogosocoo00boodKKS 66 
Rhodophycewes yerereicelrreriletachsiel- 89 

Total ds ajc. srelsins Stns eee eee 240 


The Woods Hole region has had prominence 
in the marine algology of New England since 
the publication of Farlow’s list of 1873.’ 

In addition to the investigations of the Fish 
Commission and its successors, of which the 
work now under consideration is the latest re- 
sult, the Woods Hole Marine Biological Lab- 
oratory has maintained a summer school here 
for over thirty years, and the records and 
herbarium of the laboratory have been utilized 
in making up this list, which may be consid- 
ered as approximating completeness nearly 


2W. G. Farlow, ‘‘List of the Seaweeds or Ma- 
rine Alge of the South Coast of New England,’’ 
Report of U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries 
for 1871-72 (1873), pp. 281-294. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


enough to justify drawing some general con- 
clusions. Into these conclusions Dr. Davis 
has gone in some detail; and as to the general 
character of the flora of this region, the older 
hypothesis seems justified, that Cape Cod is a 
relatively sharp boundary line between a sub- 
arctic flora, inhabiting the shores north, and a 
warm-water flora extending south; but with 
isolated colonies of northern plants in the 
south, of southern plants in the north. 

Dr. Davis’s comments on the influence of 
tides, currents, etc., seem to be well reasoned 
out and conservative. 

The present notes give of course a very in- 
complete idea of the fullness of the work, 
which is noteworthy also as the first American 
attempt to represent the distribution of alge 
graphically, rather than by description; indeed 
the writer can not recall any European work 
of the same character. Rosenvinge* in the first 
part of his treatise on the alge of Denmark 
has given a long list of dredgings, with data 
of depth, bottom, ete., but there is no indica- 
tion that any graphic representation is 
planned. Something resembling this has oc- 
casionally been attempted in regard to flower- 
ing plants, as for instance by Fernald,’ Stone,” 
but in these the shading or dotting indicates 
an area, not a station. The charts for Spindle 
Rocks are practically unique by their exactness. 


® The distinction of an arctic flora on one side 
of Cape Cod and a warmer flora on the other re- 
quires some modification if exactness is wanted.. 
The writer’s observations have shown that at 
Eastham and Wellfleet, 25 miles north of Woods 
Hole, the Massachusetts Bay shore of the cape has 
a summer flora practically the same as that of the 
shore of Buzzards Bay. More observations are 
needed, but it is probable that the flora on both 
shores of the cape is much the same. 

41. Kolderup Rosenvinge, ‘‘The Marine Alge of 
Denmark, Contributions to their Natural History,’’ 
Kgl. Dansk. Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter, 7 Raekke,. 
Vol. VII., No. 1. Kobehavn, 1909. 

5M. L. Fernald, ‘‘An Expedition to Newfound- 
Jand and Labrador,’’ Rhodora, Vol. XIII., p. 109, 
1911. 

6 Witmer Stone, ‘‘The Plants of Southern New 
Jersey,’’ Annual Report of the New Jersey State 
Museum, 1910 (1911). 


OctoBER 24, 1913] 


and their completeness through the year. Con- 
siderable attention is given to the matter of 
“formations” and “ associations,” as is the 
custom nowadays in works treating of distri- 
bution; it may be a question how far subdivision 
should be carried in this matter, and whether 
it is wise to refer to the “ Nemalion associa- 
tion,” “Dasya association” and the like, to 
indicate that a single species grows plentifully 
in certain localities, without, as far as stated 
by the author, admixture of any other plant. 
While much attention is paid to the habitats 
of the different species, favorable and un- 
favorable conditions, epiphytes, etc., the word 
“ecology” is generally conspicuous by its 
absence; this is to the writer a good sign, as 
authors who most enjoy using it seem often 
to be persons with a distaste or contempt for 
systematic botany, and the systematic botanist 
has learned to be somewhat cautious in ac- 
cepting the names used for the plants making 
up their “associations,” ete. The case is 
stated very compactly in a footnote to a 
recent paper by Tidestrom.’ 

While there will always be differences of 
opinion as to the limitations of species, ete., 
the writer, who is fairly familiar with the New 
England marine flora, has not found anything 
to indicate an error in determination in Dr. 
Davis’s list. 

While this work is by far the most complete 
study of the marine flora of any limited region 
of this continent, it leaves plenty of questions 
for further study. Among them the writer 
would suggest as specially interesting the 


matter of the different range in latitude on ~ 


the two sides of the Atlantic, of a species 
occurring on both sides. The occurrence in 
the Woods Hole region of many Mediterra- 
nean species, but the absence of others asso- 
ciated with them in Europe, was long ago 
pointed out. While this is not taken up by 
Dr. Davis, it would seem to the writer that it 
may be due to the much greater range of tem- 
perature at Woods Hole, as indicated by the 


™‘Much argument ecological falls of its own 
weight when the entities considered are not known 
to the observers.’’ Ivar Tidestrom, ‘‘ Notes on 
Vol. XV., p. 104, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


597 


charts, ete.; a Mediterranean annual demand- 
ing a high summer temperature, but passing 
the winter in the spore state, would find no 
difficulty in living here; while it would be im- 
possible to acclimate an alga requiring a tem- 
perature of at least 40° Fahr. throughout the 
year. But some other cause must be found in 
the case of a species like Hypnea musciformis, 
abundant and luxuriant at Woods Hole, but 
not reaching to the English Channel; while 
Dictyota dichotoma, at its best on the English 
coast, has not been found with us north of 
North Carolina. 

Botanists who desire uniformity of nomen- 
elature will be glad to see that the interna- 
tional rules, as adopted at the Vienna Con- 
gress of 1905, are here followed,® and it is a 
matter for congratulation that so careful and 
thorough a work as Dr. Davis’s has been 
brought out in so good shape as a government 
publication. 


Frank 8. Coins 
NortH EAsTHAM, Mass. 


A Bibliography of the Tunicata, 1469-1910. 
By Joun Hopxms, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., 
ete., Secretary of the Ray Society. Printed 
for the Ray Society and sold by Dulau & 
Co., Ltd., 37 Soho Square, London, West, 
dated 1913. 

The author prepared a portion of this bibli- 
ography, dealing with titles up to the year 

1870, in connection with his preparation for 


*The results of the Brussels Congress of 1910 
were not published at the time Dr. Davis’s manu- 
seript was accepted by the government; under the 
tule that the names of Nostocacee heterocystee 
and Nostocacee homocystee date, respectively, 
from the ‘‘ Revision ’’ of Bornet & Flahault, and 
the ‘‘Monographie’’ of Gomont, a few names of 
authors, given in parenthesis by Dr. Davis, would 
be omitted, but no generic or specific names would 
be changed. It is possible that under a strict 
construction of the Vienna rules the name of Grif- 
fithsia Bornetiana may have to be given up; but 
as the few writers who have proposed a substitute 
use a name certainly unjustified by the same rules, 
Dr. Davis has done well to retain, in company 
with all other American algologists, the specific 
name given by Farlow. 


598 


publication of Alder & Hancock’s “ British 
Tunicata.” He has since completed it through 
the year 1910. He has added many titles to 
Herdmann’s bibliographic list in his Chal- 
lenger reports, which has been the standard 
bibliography for the Tunicata. 

The bibliography is in the form of an au- 
thor’s index with full titles, with page refer- 
ences, and often with brief note as to contents. 
There are included not only works which deal 
exclusively or mainly with the Tunicata, as 
indicated in their titles, but very many works 
in which the reference to the Tunicata is not 
the main theme, general text-books being in- 
cluded in the list. Of course, no such list can 
possibly be entirely complete, but in this in- 
stance it is a remarkably full one and will be 
of great value to students of the group. 

In several weeks’ use of the bibliography 
the reviewer has noticed no inaccuracies and 
no omissions of any moment. It is a little 
unfortunate that about a tenth of the titles 
are placed in a supplementary list. 


Maynarp M. Merca.r 
OBERLIN, OHIO, 
October 1, 1913 


The Earth: Its Genesis and Evolution Consid- 
ered in the Light of the Most Recent Scien- 
tific Research. By A. T. Swaine. London. 
Worthless is a very strong adjective to apply 

to a book which is almost a model in paper, 

typography and illustration. Yet just what is 
the value of a book whose author believes that 
vital force produces matter (p. 72), that thus 

the earth is slowly growing larger (p. 263), 

that the great cycles of sedimentation corre- 

spond to a filling up of the great ocean depths, 

a straw-colored siliceous ooze below 3,000 fath- 

oms and red clays corresponding to the basal 

quartzites and red beds (p. 20), that up to the 
close of the Paleozoic the light and heat energy 
of the sun had not been experienced on earth 

(pp. 144-151), but that an increase in tempera- 

ture of the earth’s crust in cycles was due to 

igneous activity and outflow of heat from the 
interior, which evaporated a large amount of 

the ocean (pp. 89, 95, 109, 174, 183, 193) 2 

Compared with these heresies, the theory that 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 982 


sedimentary rocks are fused sediments (p. 54), 
that erosion and conglomerates are largely due 
to the wash of the evaporated ocean condensing 
again (p. 95) with the tidal waves caused by 
earth movement paroxysms (pp. 186, 213), the 
explanation of transgressive formations (p. 
95), of laterite (p. 199) and of drumlins (p. 
245) are but minor. The book shows, however, 
a wide acquaintance with recent and the best 
geological literature, though it is curious in a 
book that dwells so much on geologic cycles of 
sedimentation that no mention’ seems to be 
made of Newberry or Schuchert. It contains a 
mass of geological fact mixed with the author’s 
unique views put in an interesting way. 

Conceivably, it might be of use to give to a 
rather advanced student, inclined to swallow 
what he reads too easily, as an emetic, asking 
him to show why the facts advanced by the 
author do not support his theories. 

ALFRED C. LANE 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


Tue first number of the new Journal of 
Agricultural Research published by the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture was issued October 
10. It consists of eighty-seven pages of letter- 
press and line drawings and five plates, includ- 
ing one color plate. The articles in the first 
number are: 

“‘Citrus ichangensis, a Promising, Hardy, New 

Species from Southwestern China and Assam.’’ 
““Cysticercus ovis, the Cause of Tapeworm Cysts in 

Mutton.’’ 

“‘The Serpentine Leaf-Miner.’’ 

In the introduction, written by Dr. B. T. Gal- 
loway, assistant secretary, the purposes of the 
journal are explained as follows: “The recent 
advances in the theory and practise of agricul- 
ture have come almost entirely from scientific 
research applied to agricultural problems. 
Accumulated results of centuries of pains- 
taking studies have been drawn upon, and it 
has become evident that further improvement 
in agriculture calls for continued investigation 
of the most accurate and thorough nature. 
The first recognition of the economic value of 
progress in these investigations as well as the 
initial application of theories to practical prob- 


OCTOBER 24, 1913] 


lems comes usually from specialists. Indeed, 
only in rare instances is the significance of the 
results of scientific research apparent to farm- 
ers, since newly discovered facts are seldom 
directly applicable to agricultural conditions. 
The suggestive or the indirect value of reports 
of new work is usually of paramount economic 
importance; it is the purpose of the Journal of 
Agricultural Research, therefore, to record in- 
vestigations bearing directly or indirectly upon 
economic conditions of agriculture.” Accord- 
ing to the foreword the journal for the first 
few issues will contain papers from the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture only. The later numbers, 
however, will probably include articles pre- 
pared and submitted by investigators in the 
‘state agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 
tions. The book is highly technical in char- 
acter and will not be circulated except among 
‘scientific specialists. 


OCEANOGRAPHIC CRUISES OF THE U. 8. 
FISHERIES SCHOONER ‘‘GRAMPUS’’ 
1912-1913 
In the advance of the modern science of 
oceanography the coastal waters of the east- 
ern seaboard of the United States have re- 
ceived little attention. But the introduction 
of new fishery methods, and the frequent re- 
ports of a diminution of food fishes along our 
coast add an economic to the purely scientific 
need for a close study of the physical features, 
and plankton, of our waters, such as has long 
been prosecuted in the North Sea by the 
nations bordering upon it. A beginning has 
been made along these lines by the U. S. 
Bureau of Fisheries, with the cooperation of 
the Museum of Comparative Zoology. And 
during the past two summers the Fisheries 
schooner Grampus has been detailed, in my 
charge, for oceanographic cruises which have 
so far extended from Nova Scotia to Chesa- 
peake Bay, a brief outline of which is given 
here. In both years Mr. W. W. Welsh, 
of the bureau, has acted as my assistant. 

In a sailing vessel, which the Grampus is 
primarily in spite of a small auxiliary gaso- 
line engine, oceanographic work is neces- 
sarily carried on under difficulties. But 


SCIENCE 


599 


there was no steamer available. And fortu- 
nately we have enjoyed such exceptionally 
fine weather on both cruises that we worked 
to better advantage than might have been ex- 
pected. Such operations as require the vessel 
to be stationary for any length of time, for 
example current measurements, were usually 
performed from a dory at anchor, though oc- 
casionally, if the sea was too rough, we 
anchored the vessel herself for this purpose. 
For hoisting purposes a gasoline winch was 
installed on deck. The equipment of the 
Grampus consisted, in 1912, of Negretti and 
Zambra reversing deep-sea thermometers, a 
Sigsbee and a stopcock water bottle; an Ek- 
man current meter, a closing net for hori- 
zontal towing, described elsewhere, quanti- 
tative nets of the Hensen pattern, a variety 
of ordinary tow nets, large and small, of 
various grades of silk, and an eight-foot 
beam trawl. 

In 1913 we added a second current meter, 
two more stopcock water-bottles, a Helgoland 
“shear board” tow net, which proved to be 
the most effective of our nets, a three-foot 
tow net of the Michael Sars pattern and a 
Lucas sounding machine. On the other hand, 
we discarded the Sigsbee water bottle, which 
proved unreliable, and substituted an otter 
trawl for the beam trawl, a change which 
proved very advantageous. 

In 1912 our cruise lasted from July 8 until 
August 31. We chose the Gulf of Maine as 
our first field of work partly because of its 
important fisheries, partly because it was 
nearly virgin ground so far as sub-surface 
temperatures, salinities and plankton were 
concerned, but chiefly because, being a par- 
tially isolated area, a comparatively complete 
survey could be made in the time at our dis- 
posal. The stations were planned to include 
Massachusetts Bay, the deep basin off Cape 
Ann and Cape Cod, the coastal waters and 
off-shore banks along the coast of Maine, and 
a line from Cape Elizabeth to Cape Sable, 
while a week was spent trawling in and near 
Casco Bay in cooperation with the Harpswell 


1 Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. Hydrogr., 5: p. 576, 1913. 


600 SCIENCE 


Marine ‘Laboratory. During the cruise 
forty-six off-shore stations were occupied, at 
which 1380 tows were made with the various 
nets; quantitative hauls were made at sixteen 
stations; the dredge or trawl used at four- 
teen; serial temperatures were taken at 
thirty-nine, bottom, intermediate and _ sur- 
face water samples at 37, while 38 current 
measurements were made. The surface tem- 
perature was recorded hourly, and the color 
of the sea noted by the Forel scale. 

On our return to port the salinities of the 
water samples were obtained by titration with 
nitrate of silver, the use of floating hydrom- 
eters having been abandoned as wholly un- 
reliable. 

In November, 1912, operations ‘were re- 
sumed on the steamer Blue Wing, which 
acted as tender to the Grampus during her 
fish-cultural operations of the winter. By 
the courtesy of the Bureau of Fisheries I was 
enabled to make stations on the Blue Wing 
bi-monthly until April, 1913, in Massachusetts 
Bay, taking the usual serial temperatures, 
serial water samples and tows. And during 
March, April and May, 1913, this work was 
greatly advanced by Mr. W. W. Welsh, of the 
Bureau of Fisheries, who took temperatures, 
water samples and surface tows at numerous 
stations between Cape Ann and Boon Is- 
land, while investigating the spawning habits 
of the haddock. 

We laid out a more ambitious program for 
our summer cruise in 1913 than in the pre- 
ceding year, planning to cover the cool coastal 
water between the coast and the Gulf stream, 
from Cape Cod to the mouth of Chesapeake 
Bay, besides repeating, in a general way, our 
stations of 1912 in the Gulf of Maine. The 
object of the latter part of the work was, of 
course, to trace the changes which might take 
place there from year to year. 

On July 7, the Grampus, again in my 
charge, sailed southward from Gloucester. 
And we were now able to work in much 
greater comfort than before, an excellent lab- 
oratory having been constructed on board 
during the winter. Our course took us to the 
western edge of Georges Bank, where we 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 982 


made our second station, thence directly to 
the edge of the Gulf stream south of Nan- 
tucket Shoals Light Ship. We then pro- 
ceeded southwestward along the coast in a 
zigzag course, occupying a station every 45 
miles or so, and running three sections across 
the coastal bank to the Gulf stream over the 
continental slope. On July 24 we reached 
the Chesapeake, and anchored in Norfolk to 
refit. 

During this part of the cruise three sta- 
tions were devoted to current measure- 
ments, off Long Island, Cape May and Chin- 
coteague, observations being taken hourly, at 
surface and bottom, for six hours at each 
station. The first was timed to include parts 
of both flood- and ebb-tides, the last two to- 
gether covered an entire flood and nearly an 
entire ebb. 

We left Norfolk July 29, reached Gloucester 
August 4, and put to sea again for the Gulf 
of Maine on August 9. We now ran from 
Cape Ann to Cape Sable, and besides ma- 
king stations en route, turned aside to visit 
Jeffreys Bank and the deep trough off Platt’s 
Bank. We then turned northward, crossing 
the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, and fol- 
lowed the coast back to Gloucester, where we 
arrived on August 15. During the sum- 
mer’s cruise complete oceanographic observa- 
tions, including serial temperatures and serial 
water samples, were taken at 50 stations. 
And. thanks to our ample supply of water 
bottles, water samples were taken at from 
3 to 5 levels at every station. One hundred 
and sixty-five tows were made with the vari- 
ous plankton nets, including 15 hauls with 
the quantitative net, the latter all in the 
Gulf of Maine, and the otter trawl was used 
at 10 stations. It may be of interest to note 
that the distance traveled was about 2,100 
miles. 

The plankton collections gathered during 
1912 and 1913 are very extensive, and as 
varied as the large ocean area traversed 
would suggest, fish fry and eggs, copepods, 
hyperiid amphipods, schizopods,  sagitte, 
pteropods, meduse and diatoms being espe- 
cially well represented. And the oceano- 


OctoBER 24, 1913] 


graphic data afford a fairly comprehensive 
survey, for the summer months. As yet our 
winter data are confined to Massachusetts Bay, 
and the region just north of Cape Ann, but 
it is proposed to continue the work at other 
seasons in future years. The reports on the 
oceanography, with preliminary accounts of 
the plankton, are being prepared in the Mu- 
seum of Comparative Zoology, those for the 
summer of 1912 being now in press. And the 
more important groups of pelagic organisms 
have been distributed to specialists who have 
undertaken the task of reporting on them. 

It would be premature to discuss the scien- 
tific results of the cruises here. But passing 
notice may be called to our demonstration of 
the fact, long ago suspected by Verrill, that 
the low surface temperatures of the north- 
eastern part of the Gulf of Maine do not indi- 
ate the direct influence of an Arctic current, 
as has so often been suggested, but are merely 
the evidence of the strong tidal currents, 
which cause a more or less complete vertical 
mixing of the water. Where the gulf is cold- 
est on the surface, it is warmest at the bot- 
tom, depth for depth, and vice versa. This 
process reaches its extreme in the Grand 
Menan Channel, and on German Bank, where 
the physical characters of the water are prac- 
tically uniform from surface to bottom. 
Mention has already been made in the daily 
press of our discovery of extensive beds of the 
sea scallop (Pecten magellanicus) off the 
eoasts of New York, New Jersey and Mary- 
Jand. And this promises a new fishery of such 
importance that the Grampus was dispatched 
southward once more, on August 20, 1913, in 
charge of Mr. W. W. Welsh, for a two weeks’ 
survey of the beds. 


Henry B. BicELow 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


3ECTO-PARASITES OF THE MONKEYS, APES AND MAN 

For several years I have been urging the 
thesis that the host distribution of the wing- 
less, permanent ecto-parasites of birds and 
mammals is governed more by the genetic re- 


SCIENCE 


601 


lationships of the hosts than by their geo- 
graphic range, or by any other ecologic condi- 
tions. In numerous papers, and particularly 
in a recent’ one surveying all the known rec- 
ords of the occurrence of Mallophaga on birds, 
I have offered evidence to support this thesis. 

Now, if this contention is sound, the con- 
verse of the statement is also true. That is, 
the kinds (genus, species, ete.) of permanent 
ecto-parasites found on birds and mammals 
will indicate in some measure the genetic rela- 
tionships of the hosts. If, for example, or- 
nithologists have before their eyes certain birds 
of doubtful relationships, as the hoatzins of 
South America, or the whole family of owls, 
they may well pay respectful attention to the 
kinds of ecto-parasites harbored by these hosts. 
I have, indeed, pointed out, in the paper just 
referred to, some suggestive specific cases of 
this sort. 

The wingless, permanent ecto-parasites of 
birds and mammals are of two groups, namely, 
the biting lice, Mallophaga, feeding on the 
feathers and hair, and the sucking lice, Ano- 
plura, feeding on blood. Certain mites 
(Acarina) may perhaps also be assigned to 
this category of permanent wingless parasites, 
but the fleas can not be, for they hop on and 
off their host, and all their immature life is 
non-parasitic and wholly apart from their fu- 
ture hosts. The Mallophaga, of which nearly 
2,000 species are now known, occur chiefly on 
birds, while the Anoplura, of which less than 
100 are known so far, are confined to mam- 
mals. 

As my own study of these ecto-parasites has 
been almost exclusively restricted to the Mallo- 
phaga I have not been able to illustrate or 
bolster up my thesis with many examples de- 
rived from conditions among the mammals, 
but the recent careful work of Fahrenholz 
(Hanover) and Neumann (Toulouse) on the 
determination and distribution of certain 
genera and species of Anoplura makes it pos- 
sible to point out an especially interesting 
case of host and parasitic relations which is 

1‘‘Distribution and Species-Forming of Ecto- 
Parasites,’’? Amer. Nat., Vol. 47, pp. 129-158, 
March, 1913. 


602 


highly pertinent to the thesis and its converse 
or corollary, as worded above. This case is 
that of the sucking lice (Pediculide) of man, 
the anthropoid apes and the tailed monkeys. 
As no biting lice (Mallophaga) have been 
found on man, nor on any anthropoid, and 
only two species, so far, on the lower monk- 
eys, no evidence from their distribution can 
be derived to confirm or contradict the evi- 
dence from the occurrence of the Pediculines. 

The situation is this. Sucking lice of spe- 
cies representing two genera, Pediculus and 
Phthirius, occur on man. Of the second 
genus but one species is known, and this is 
confined exclusively to Homo. Of the other, 
Pediculus, six species (perhaps five and a va- 
riety) are known of which two (or perhaps, as 
Neumann holds, one and a well-marked va- 
riety) occur on man and only on man, while 
one is found, and exclusively, on the chim- 
panzee, another on the gibbons (two species of 
gibbons), and two on monkeys of an American 
tailed genus, Ateles. On the other tailed 
monkeys are found several Pediculine species 


of two distinct genera, Pedicinus and Phthir- 


pedecinus. 

It is gratifying—to the upholder of my 
thesis—to find man and his cousins, the anthro- 
poid apes, harboring and really characterized 
by parasites of such near relationships, while 
when the leap from the anthropoid to the lower 
monkeys is made—a leap notoriously greater, 
from a genetic point of view, than that from 
man to the anthropoids—the parasites are 
found to be of other genera. Only the Pedi- 
culus species on Ateles seems to be a disturb- 
ing exception. But it is precisely the monkey 
genus Ateles which offers a special taxonomic 
problem to students of the primates. Frie- 
denthal (of serum precipitins fame) has af- 
firmed that on a basis of blood and hair com- 
parison Ateles shows unmistakable differences 
from other tailed monkeys, and resemblances 
with the anthropoids, and he suggests that in 
Ateles we should see monkeys that, in a cer- 
tain sense, replace, in the new world, the 
anthropoids. 

The above is the situation as Fahrenholz 
works it out. Neumann believes that the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 982 


typical, man-infesting parasite species, Pedi- 
culus capitis, should include not only the 
other man-infesting form, P. corporis, but also 
perhaps one of the Ateles-infesting forms (P. 
consobrinus). And he is inclined to credit 
Pediculus. capitis with a tendency to pass 
from man to man-apes and monkeys in me- 
nageries, and to persist on these new hosts. If 
capitis can do this, then that in itself is a 
curiously strong indication of the genetic af- 
finities of these various hosts, because both 
the Mallophaga and Anoplura are curiously 
sensitive to differences in host blood or host 
hair and feathers. I have often become, in 
the course of collection, the temporary host of 
various bird- and mammal-infesting Mallo- 
phaga, but these parasites all seemed as anxious 
to escape as I was to have them. And they 
did escape; or, if they did not, they died in a 
few hours. There is, indeed, an extraordinar- 
ily exact fitting of parasite to host in the case 
of Mallophaga and Anoplura. It is hard to 
understand of just what details this fitting 
consists, beyond such more obvious, and in- 
sufficient, ones, as number and shape of claws, 
number and character of clinging spine-hairs, 
etc. The essential fitting is far more subtle. 
It is a fitting to the host’s physiology as well 
as to its epidermal structures. 

Anyway, Neumann has not known all the 
cases of the taking of Pediculus specimens 
from the man-apes and from Ateles, and some 
of these cases are beyond the explanation of 
casual straggling in menageries. For some of 
the ape hosts were not in menageries. 

There is no doubt that man is host to cer- 
tain permanent, wingless ecto-parasites which 
find their closest relatives in parasites of the 
man-apes and of a problematic lower monkey. 
And this evidence from commonness of para- 
sites adds itself to the already acquired great 
mass of other evidence from conditions of 
structure, blood serum reactions, crystallizable 
proteins (hemoglobins), and the rest, that bind 
us so unescapably in close genetic relationship 
with the anthropoids. 

Vernon L. Ketioce 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 

CALIFORNIA 


Serk tt 


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NEw SERIES 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 983 


Fripay, OcrosBer 31, 1913 


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CONTENTS 
The Appeal of the Natural Sciences: Pro- 


FESSOR J. FP. KEMP .......cccccccccescee 603 
Our Radium Resources: Dr. CHARLES L. Par- 

SONS GotdoadcoomoD Oe nUO BOE He OD eDOe DOO 612 
The Decennial of the Desert Laboratory ..... 620 


The William H. Welch Fund of the Johns 


Hopkins Medical School ............+.4- 621 
Scientific Notes and News ........+.....++- 622 
University and Educational News .......... 624 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

On the Occurrence of a Probable New Min- 

FRYE LNT Wy, OGiMEIIH Sook Ga bb doaoodUKdOe 624 
Scientific Books :— 

Dresslar’s School Hygiene: PROFESSOR 

Lewis M. Terman. Weoodward’s The Geol- 

ogy of Soils: Dr. GEoRGE P. MERRILL .... 625 


Notes on Meteorology and Climatology :— 


European Meteorology; Southern Hemi- 
sphere Seasonal Correlations; Changes of 
Climate im the Southwest; Coronium; Ex- 
ploration of the Interior of Greenland; 
Earthquakes and Rainfall; Notes: CHARLES 


I, IRONS ooacadosacoscagc0n0dOCdUdOGS 627 
Special Articles :— 

Reliability and Distribution of Grades: 

PROFESSOR DANIEL STARCH .............. 630 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
L. Parsons 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE APPEAL OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES1 


AGAIN the revolving year brings us all 
together at the opening of the autumn term. 
And yet not all—no university gathering is 
ever the same in two successive years. Since 
last September a thousand and yet again a 
half a thousand earnest young men and wo- 
men have left us and have gone to all 
quarters of the earth to take their places in 
the world’s work. To us who remain their’ 
faces have become a cherished memory; 
their future efforts are a subject of confi- 
dent trust. Twelve months before there 
were a thousand and less than half a thou- 
sand; and as our minds run backward over 
the earlier years we recall the time when 
the departing graduates were numbered 
by hundreds, still earlier by tens; at the 
very outset, in the small beginnings of colo- 
nial days by units. At this the opening of 
the one hundred and sixtieth year of the 
institution’s life, we hark back to the past 
more naturally than we would were the 
year drawing to its close. At Commence- 
ment, eyes are turned toward the future; 
but as we gather ourselves together for re- 
newed effort eyes may be most fittingly for 
the moment turned toward the past. 

It seems a far ery from the Columbia of 
to-day to the Kings College of 1754, hovered 
under the wings of Trinity Church in the 
little colonial town. Much has happened 
meanwhile and vast changes in conditions, 
in population and in magnitudes of all 
sorts have come to pass. But the succession 
is unbroken. We recognize ourselves to be 
the end members in a long and honorable 
line. We may for the moment put our- 


1 Address delivered at the opening exercises of 
Columbia University, September 24, 1913. 


604 


selves somewhat in the frame of mind of 
the Orientals to whom the worship of ances- 
tors is a vital part of life, and we may 
endeavor from our line of ancestry to draw 
strength and inspiration for the year’s 
work. 

We can do so the more readily because 
the newness of these buildings is wearing 
off. Year after year great meetings have 
been held in this room until its aspect is 
becoming familiar and it is associated with 
the feelings of uplift which great audiences 
give. Ivy begins to cover our walls; while 
tradition, inheritance, the priceless influ- 
ence of the past more and more assert them- 
selves. They are indeed one of the great 
possessions of the university, to which, 
amid omnipresent change and newness, 
despite incomparable improvement and 
convenience, we are prone sometimes to be 
less sensible than we ought. Let us then 
run back to the earlier days in the natural 
sciences in the old Columbia and let the 
masters of those times make the first appeal 
for their beloved pursuits. 

A century and a half ago the ‘‘natural 
sciences,’’ as the various branches were col- 
lectively called, were given less recognition 
in systems of education than became the 
custom later. The very name ‘‘natural”’ 
is itself an interesting commentary on the 
habit of thought of the time. There were 
‘‘natural’’ and ‘‘revealed’’ religion; ‘‘nat- 
ural’’ and ‘‘intellectual’’ philosophy; the 
‘‘natural’’ man, much to his discredit, was 
contrasted with the “‘spiritual’’ man. Even 
in my own schoolboy days we studied ‘‘nat- 
ural philosophy’’ instead of physics. The 
point of view, bred especially in the clois- 
ters, that there was something vaguely 
wicked about the great world of the out-of- 
doors had not been outgrown. All will re- 
eall that curious phase of thought, current 
to a certain degree among the ancients, still 
more generally developed among the peo- 


ce 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


ple of the Middle Ages, and still strong 
among ignorant and superstitious peoples 
to-day, which ascribes something uncanny, 
harmful, and even demoniacal to the phe- 
nomena of nature. Deep ravines, dark 
recesses of the woods, gloomy caverns with 
their hordes of devilish-looking bats, the 
very darkness of night itself, and many 
other perfectly innocent and to us irresisti- 
upon by our forefathers as things accursed. 
The old habits survive for us in many a 
story and legend; they have furnished the 
charm of operas, as in the Freischititz and 
Tannhauser; and they cast an interesting 
side-light on the men and times of the past. 
But it has taken many years to outgrow 
them and their germs are part and parcel 
of us to-day. Our forerunners in natural 
science had to contend with them, and they 
were very real obstacles in the way. They 
were not without their influence on courses 
of study and in marking the channels in 
which the currents of instruction ran. 

Education in the old days, as we all 
know, was chiefly work in languages, litera- 
ture, mathematics and so-called mental 
philosophy. The subjective mind was the 
all-important point of attack. The objec- 
tive universe gained recognition later. 

In the eighteenth century in America, 
the natural sciences received organized care 
and oversight first in Philadelphia, then the 
chief American center of intellectual and 
social life. Benjamin Franklin founded 
the American Philosophical Society in 
1769, the pioneer of our scientific associa- 
tions, an ancient but still vigorous body, 
in which, membership to-day is one of the 
chief prizes for men of science in this 
country. Eleven years later came the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 
Boston. In 1812 the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy of Sciences was organized; and five 
years thereafter the New York Lyceum of 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


Natural History, now the New York Acad- 
emy of Sciences, made the fourth of our 
vigorous scientific bodies. It is extremely 
interesting to read the books of travelers 
who visited these three cities in the early 
decades of the last century and to note 
their comments upon the meetings of the 
societies mentioned and upon their collec- 
tions and general activities. The New York 
Lyceum of Natural History with its build- 
ing on Broadway near Spring St. was the 
scene of many an animated gathering. 
There is great satisfaction in noting the 
attention to natural science which was 
given in the early days of Kings College. 
It was really greater than was often the 
ease. President Samuel Johnson, an ac- 
complished classical scholar, constituted the 
entire faculty when instruction began for 
eight entering students, July 17, 1754. 
The next year he was aided by his son 
William, like himself a graduate of Yale. 
William Johnson was a fellow or assistant 
tutor; but the first actual professorship was 
that of mathematics and natural history, to 
which in 1757 Daniel Treadwell, a gradu- 
ate of Harvard, was called. Professor 
Treadwell, by agreement, taught the senior 
classes ‘‘Mathematics and Natural Phylos- 
ophy,’’ and the youngest class, Latin and 
Greek. The establishment of the medical 
school ten years later added to the staff a 
professor of chemistry and the materia 
medica. When the War of Independence 
had passed and efforts were made to resume 
instruction in 1784, the College had an 
annual income of £1,000. A movement 
arose to increase this amount and to estab- 
lish seven professorships, viz., Latin, Greek, 
moral philosophy, rhetoric and logic, mathe- 
matics, natural philosophy and astronomy. 
We scientific men may note with a wee bit 
of wicked satisfaction, that it was proposed 
to give the professors in Latin, Greek and 
moral philosophy, £100 yearly; the pro- 


SCIENCE 


605 


fessor of rhetoric and logic, £50; while the 
three professors in the sciences were each to 
receive, £200. During the closing decades 
of the eighteenth century, instruction was 
also given in geography, in botany, and, in 
1792, a chair was established of ‘‘Natural 
History, Agriculture and the Arts depend- 
ent thereon.’’ It was held by Dr. Samuel 
L. Mitchill, one of the leading citizens of 
the city, later member of Congress, and 
first president of the Lyceum of Natural 
History. 

The foundation of the School of Mines, 
whose fiftieth anniversary we are planning 
to celebrate next May, placed the natural 
sciences upon the firmest foundation which 
they had possessed up to that time; and 
while we look back to the earlier names of 
Mitchill, Hosack, Adrain and Torrey with 
veneration, we feel that in the inner circle 
of the college and the closely associated 
enginering school, the names of Egleston, 
Chandler, Newberry, Rood and Van Am- 
ringe are the ones that make the strongest 
appeal. 

The lives and works of those who have 
gone before exert a very powerful pressure 
upon us to maintain the traditions and to 
pass on to our successors in undiminished 
importance what we have received. But 
these influences are active only upon those 
of us who are year after year in the uni- 
versity. They can not furnish the appeal 
to the young men and women who come to 
us and to other institutions for instruction. 
It may not be inappropriate therefore to 
also consider at the outset of the year the 
various forces which turn them toward the 
natural sciences and then the effect of these 
studies upon minds and characters. It is 
a subject in which I have long been inter- 
ested and which I have followed up by the 
reading of biographies, by conversations 
with many of the older scientific men and 
with younger workers. But all of us teach- 


606 


ers of science, who for periods of years have 
had young men come to study with us our 
favorite subjects, have inevitably noted the 
various influences which have prompted 
them to do so. 

Some young men are naturally hunters or 
fishermen and become thereby attached to 
outdoor life. An obscure inheritance from 
some far-off ancestor, who was forced to 
hunt or to fish for the necessaries of life, 
may ofttimes assert itself. The latent 
savage in us, in so far as it may revive and 
lead to a life in the open, is to be cultivated 
and developed rather than to be suppressed 
and bred out. No one, young or old, can 
roam the woods or fish the streams, the 
lakes or the ocean, without forming a pro- 
found attachment for these surroundings. 
The pastime of the free days of youth 
brings into the field of view possible sub- 
jects of study for maturer years and occa- 
sionally for a life-work. If a youth pos- 
sesses a studious, thoughtful and reflective 
type of mind, he is drawn well-nigh irresis- 
tibly to continue in these ways. Dr. Henry 
van Dyke, in one of his charming sketches, 
describes the taking of his first trout under 
the guidance of his father, and the deep im- 
pression which it made upon him. So many 
similar experiences followed, with close 
comradeship between father and son, as to 
lead our delightful author to wonder, in a 
mood of whimsical and touching fancy, if 
somewhere in the Elysian Fields of the 
future the comradeship will not be resumed. 
One can not but suspect that it must have 
been a close decision in his early life whether 
the youthful van Dyke should become a 
clergyman or a naturalist; or, as the result 
proved, a happy combination of both. 

Some young men have not roamed the 
woods or fished the streams for sport in 
their earlier years, but have been naturally 
of observant and accurate habit of mind 
and have been accustomed to note likenesses 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


and differences. The plants, the animals, 
the minerals and rocks have been the objects 
to which they have turned and upon which 
they have exercised their efforts. From an 
early and close acquaintanceship with a 
limited area they have begun to wonder 
about the world outside. The longing to 
know more fully has brought them to the 
lecture rooms of the university. 

Some are natural collectors and bring to- 
gether minerals or plants or the smaller 
forms of animal life in private cabinets. 
Many a lad has worked by himself over his 
little herbarium, his trays of minerals or 
butterflies or birds or beetles until the in- 
terest thereby aroused has shaped his fu- 
ture life-work. The beauty of crystal form 
or of plant structure has appealed to a few 
more susceptible natures and has drawn 
them to the study of objects whose attrac- 
tions seemed irresistible. There are, more- 
over, from time to time, teachers born into 
the world—men and women with the gift 
of clear exposition and with the irrepressi- 
ble call to shape their lives so as to give it 
free scope. Some turn to languages; some 
to the subjective thought of the past; some 
to moral, religious or economic instruction; 
and some to preach the gospel of the out-of- 
doors and of the world of nature. 

Some men, especially amid the mountains 
or in the desert regions such as we find in 
our western states, are born and reared 
amid the grand and striking phenomena of 
nature. Great gorges, abrupt precipices or 
barren wastes may well raise in their minds 
the desire to know more about these phe- 
nomena. We always find the people in such 
surroundings reflecting on the causes of 
things about them and groping for their 
explanation, it may be blindly, until taught 
the results laboriously attained by earlier 
students and until they are steadied by the 
accumulated results of many observers. 
There are in other regions young men of 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


naturally inquiring type of mind, human 
interrogation points, with a consuming de- 
sire to discover the reason of things. The 
currents of human life and action some- 
times attract them less than the phenomena 
of nature. They turn to the latter as the 
proper objects of their effort. If endowed 
with that happy but rare combination of an 
ability to reason logically and closely and 
yet to let imagination have its revealing 
play, they may advance the outposts of 
knowledge in no small degree. 

Let me illustrate by the lives of two or 
three geologists, selecting them because they 
are less familiar than the youth of some of 
the more widely known names in other 
branches and are therefore possessed of 
freshness and newness. James Hall, our 
famous New York state geologist of other 
days, was a lad in Hingham, Massachusetts, 
near Boston. Hearing that a school had 
been started near Troy, N. Y., where nat- 
ural sciences were especially taught, and 
having slender resources, he walked from 
Hingham to Troy and began his studies. 
He roamed the hills around the little city 
of the upper Hudson valley, collected the 
plants and animals, became a teacher in the 
school and ultimately the official of this and 
other states. He devoted his mature years 
to the description and illustration of the 
dead and gone life of the past with such 
skill that his works are among America’s 
ereatest contributions to science. Peter 
Lesley, the famous state geologist of Penn- 
sylvania, was a graduate of the Andover 
Theological Seminary. From failing health 
he gave up a settled pastorate and became 
a distributor of bibles in the remoter hills 
of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Walking 
from cabin to cabin of the mountaineers, 
his eye caught the wonderful geological 
structure displayed in this region and he 
turned to natural science; never losing, 
however, that love of his fellow man which 


SCIENCE 


607 


first directed his steps to the mountains as 
a colporter of sacred books. Newberry, our 
old-time and distinguished professor, was a 
boy amid the coal mines owned by his 
father in eastern Ohio. The wonderfully 
preserved ferns in the beds associated with 
the coal interested him profoundly. In 
later life he tried to curb his natural tend- 
encies and practise medicine in Cleveland, 
but after five years he gave up the struggle 
and became naturalist to several successive 
exploring parties, sent out by the federal 
government in the West. After the Civil 
War he was called to be one of the half 
dozen professors in our School of Mines. 
He was our first native-born student and 
describer of the floras of past geological 
time. 

There come also to our class-rooms young 
men of able and gifted minds, but as yet 
with no positive inclination toward any 
special line of work. The influence of some 
teacher who has the divine fire may arouse 
latent interest and ambition so that a career 
of good and serviceable work opens out. To 
this last group who enter the class-rooms 
without special call for the future and 
whom a teacher can influence for a few 
months, it is all-important, whether they 
follow science or not, to present in addition 
to the hard facts of the subject as many of 
its great truths and generalizations as pos- 
sible. We should leave some deep imprint 
which they can never forget. The concep- 
tion of the earth, for example, as the prod- 
uct of the long, long interplay of many 
forces, is one which can be readily driven 
home. The rise and fall of continents, the 
advance and retreat of oceans, the records 
of the more recent, and then of the remoter, 
and finally of the most ancient past, which 
have now been brought into orderly se- 
quence, convey an impress which, once 
stamped, can never be effaced. When, 
therefore, the future lawyer, physician, 


608 


clergyman or merchant travels and looks 
upon mountains, plain and ocean, they 
mean something to him, and his intelligence 
grasps them in a way not only to add to his 
enjoyment, but to make him a broader- 
minded and better member of human 
society. 

The effects are the same with other 
branches of natural science. Even from 
elementary work with plants and animals, 
some grasp can be gained of their kinds and 
local associations. Some standard of com- 
parison with other regions is afforded such 
that by an observant eye intelligent paral- 
lels can be drawn. No one who has even a 
superficial knowledge of the plants and 
trees in our northern states can travel in the 
north of Europe without being constantly 
reminded of his home surroundings. The 
little twin flower, Linnea, growing on the 
sands and glacial boulders of our northern 
and Canadian mountains, has removed the 
homesickness from the heart of many a 
Scandinavian settler and has made him feel 
as if the world was very narrow, after all. 
And thus arise the questions of animal and 
plant dispersion. Why is it that they are 
so nearly the same on opposite sides of the 
ocean or that one little vine, with the most 
delicate and fragrant flowers imaginable, 
ean girdle the earth in its northern lati- 
tudes? 

Again, if with collections and with field 
experience we can bring home to an intelli- 
gent student that one species of plant or 
animal shades off through close relatives 
and similar varieties into others and so on 
to others more remote, so that, although we 
recognize the entire unlikeness of the widely 
separated members, we hardly know where 
to mark a break in the series, a new and 
startling view of nature is gained. Or, if 
we find difficulty in bridging some of the 
gaps among the surviving species on the 
earth to-day and appeal to the evidences of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


the fossil past so as to show converging 
lines of ancestry, the organic world takes 
on new aspects and an orderly, reasonable 
and understandable character, not possessed 
before. 

The strongest, most striking, and most 
readily received impression of all is the one 
given by the heavens. The sun and moon, 
the planets and the more distant fixed stars, 
set as we know them to be in orbits capable 
of exact mathematical expression; open to 
our view in all parts of the world; equally 
visible from land or sea; and best of all in 
the clear atmosphere of the desert; make the 
profoundest impression and the strongest 
appeal of all the branches of natural 
science. The enormous distances, the order 
and precision, the series from glowing 
nebule to dead, cold bodies, the vast stores 
of energy radiating into space, stimulate an 
inquiring mind as does no other branch of 
natural science. We are face to face with 
the origin and development not alone of 
one world, but of many worlds, indeed of 
the universe itself. 

But there is one additional appeal from 
the natural sciences which in a fairly new 
and rapidly developing country like our 
own is particularly strong to the minds of 
young men. It was not altogether by 
chance that the natural sciences received 
recognition in the medical school of Colum- 
bia College in 1767 nor that they were first 
placed solidly on their feet with the estab- 
lishment of the School of Mines in 1864. 
The appeal is based on their useful applica- 
cations and the assistance which they can 
give to the practise of medicine and surgery 
and to all branches of engineering and 
manufacturing. There was formerly a dis- 
position to think lightly, sometimes even 
scornfully, in university circles of the appli- 
cations of our natural sciences and to con- 
clude that if a professor or student once 
became influenced by them he lost his ideals 


OcTOBER 31, 1913] 


and his devotion to pure investigation. But 
I think we have outgrown this narrow point 
of view. Not so very many years have 
passed since the brilliant course of lectures 
delivered at this university by the late Pro- 
fessor James, in which he set forth the prin- 
ciples of pragmatism. That is, if I under- 
stood them correctly, he applied to systems 
of philosophy and all manner of doctrines 
very much the same tests that we use for all 
sorts of useful devices. Will they work? 
Will they do good service? Are they worth 
while? Some have at once concluded that 
pragmatism restricts idealism and mini- 
mizes respect for grand truths which stand 
eternally whether they are of service to 
mankind or not. Possibly in connection 
with the last results of mathematical rea- 
soning there may be ground for the criti- 
cism. On the other hand, there is much to 
be said in favor of the check which the 
pragmatic point of view puts upon vain 
and idle lines of thought, leading nowhere; 
in favor of the curb placed upon the put- 
terer in the fields of intellectual activity ; 
or, to use another figure, in favor of the 
jetties by which it keeps the current of 
thought in safe and deep channels. Our 
colleague Professor Fullerton has shown in 
his recent stimulating work, that in all 
philosophical reasoning we must take into 
account that great body of human experi- 
ence and its resulting influence on habits of 
thought, which is the common heritage of 
every man. To be intelligible and to exer- 
cise an effective influence, the work of a 
teacher is blocked out by these all-important 
considerations. 

It is no reflection on the natural sciences, 
therefore, that they do good service to our 
modern civilization, nor need the students 
and teachers of them feel otherwise than 
proud that their studies have been of serv- 
ice to mankind. The investigator into the 
minute forms of life, whether of plant or 


SCIENCE 


609 


animal, has often found his inspiration in 
the hope that his results might decrease dis- 
ease and relieve human suffering. The 
worker upon the larger forms of plants and 
animals has multiplied in extraordinary 
degree the foodstuffs and fabrics. The close 
study of minerals and their occurrences in 
nature has added to our mines and supplies 
of the metals. Even the very fossils in the 
rocks, the type and symbol in the minds of 
many for the useless and the negligible, 
have in the hands of the geologist been of 
indispensable assistance in selecting the 
best course for a great, new aqueduct which 
is to supply our metropolis with its neces- 
sary water. 

Now the belief that what a student. 
learns, both of scientific fact and doctrine, 
will be of service to him in his future pro- 
fession in medicine, engineering or kindred 
lines, is a very strong and a very worthy 
appeal. It draws not a few to our courses 
of study and makes of them diligent 
workers in the class room and laboratory. 
That instructor will gain the best results 
who, while abating in no particular the 
thoroughness of his presentation, yet slips 
in the pregnant illustration, which from 
time to time ties up his subject with the 
future work of his students. We thus 
exemplify the truth of the doctrine, ex- 
pounded in its most general form by Pro- 
fessor Fullerton, that for results we must 
consider that great body of accumulated 
experience which has shaped our habits of 
thought. 

In referring to the useful, I do not mean 
to limit the field merely to the satisfaction 
of material wants. To enlarge the life of 
the spirit is, when gaged by its results, as 
beneficial a service to humanity as to feed 
the hungry, clothe the naked or relieve the 
suffering. But the final values are deter- 
mined by the fruits. 

While I have spoken of the connections 


610 


between the natural sciences anc the pro- 
fessions of medicine and engineering, there 
are many points of contact between the stu- 
dent of nature and the artist on the one 
side and the poet on the other. As between 
the first two there is the consuming ambi- 
tion to faithfully depict what one has seen. 
The scientist does it with descriptions, for- 
tified more and more ir later years with 
pictures. The descriptions reproduce for a 
person at a distance the object before the 
actual observer. They record for the future 
the fleeting things of the present. In so far 
as the artist deals with the actual rather than 
the imaginary, his ambition is likewise to 
give true and accurate impressions, and by 
his medium of expression to convey his 
thought to others. The record is indeed not 
for comparison with the original at some fu- 
ture time, as it is with the scientific man, 
and it appeals rather from its own intrinsic 
merits than because it places objects in sys- 
tems of classifications or shows them to con- 
form to law, but the inspiring motive or 
ideal which holds each to the proper fulfil- 
ment of his task is the same. Wielders of 
the brush or of the chisel often become as 
thorough masters of bone, muscle and form 
as the professional anatomists themselves. 
‘The portrayers upon canvas of mountains 
and canyons must be true to geological 
structure as much as if they were geolo- 
gists. Ruskin, you will recall, has empha- 
sized this truth in one of his essays. Some- 
times the portrayer of landscapes and the 
geologist strike hands and work together. 
Thomas Moran, the artist, was in the party 
of Clarence Dutton, the geologist, when the 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado was studied 
thirty years ago. They greatly aided each 
other and sometimes when we read the 
word-painting of Dutton and view the 
color-portrayal of Moran, we hardly know 
which was the greater artist. Certainly 
both were profoundly moved by their sur- 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 983 


roundings and singularly gifted, each in his 
own medium of expression. 

One soon learns from the lives of geolo- 
gists that over and over the masters of the 
subject have turned to their sketch-books 
and pencils to faithfully record what they 
saw in the field. The excellence of the por- 
trayal leaves us sometimes in doubt whether 
they were the more artist or scientist. In- 
deed, we may wonder, if after all when the 
real master appears the two terms are not 
synonymous. Deep down in the funda- 
mental inspiration of each you will find an 
identical substratum. 

The close relations between the student 
of nature and the poet, I fancy, you will 
find less easy to establish, and yet there is 
much in common. The parallel may be first 
drawn between the means of expression. 
The music of verse is based upon orderly 
mathematical relations as much as the 
music of notes. In fact the two are not far 
apart in this primary feature, and the ap- 
peal of each to the ear is based on the fond- 
ness of our minds for just this orderly 
arrangement of sounds and accents. The 
order and the harmony are necessary ; other- 
wise we are in revolt. The student of 
plants, animals or minerals seeks to classify 
them all in natural and related groups. 
The relationship, the conformity to law, the 
harmony thus displayed are what appeal to 
him. Through drudgery, hardship, effort 
without limit, they carry him unfalteringly 
to his goal. The geologist seeks the laws 
which govern the phenomena of our mate- 
rial earth; while the astronomer deals with 
the forces of attraction which bind the uni- 
verse in a united whole. ‘The words of a 
poet and the phenomena of a naturalist fall 
into very similar relations. But back of 
the words of the poet and back of the phe- 
nomena of the naturalist, there must be in 
the mind of each an insight into the mean- 


ing of things, which is a very rare and very 


OcTOBER 31, 1913] 


great gift. Fullness of experience and 
broad knowledge of the phenomena of 
human life on the part of the one—equally 
broad and comprehensive grasp of the phe- 
nomena, of nature on the part of the other 
—lead to revelations of otherwise unsus- 
pected truths. 

We are not without illustrations. It is 
really quite impressive that when we come 
to know the lives of geologists intimately, 
we very often find them expressing them- 
selves in verse. I doubt not, if we could 
have access to their notebooks, recorded in 
the field, we would find many a stanza, in 
which amid grand scenery the geologist 
sought to give utterance to the emotions 
which filled him. Some have actually gone 
to press. The verses of Perceval, the old- 
time state geologist of Connecticut and 
Wisconsin, fill a volume in the works of 
earlier American writers. Throughout the 
‘‘Tife and Letters of Sir Andrew Ram- 
sey,’’ the late chief of the Geological Sur- 
vey of Great Britain, we find now a sonnet, 
again a song, in which his feelings found 
irrepressible outlet. Only a few years have 
passed since the late Professor Shaler, the 
man of great heart and boundless sym- 
pathies, long in the chair of geology at 
Harvard, gave us five entire volumes of 
dramas, reproducing the Elizabethan pe- 
riod, and all in verse. His thought found 
metrical expression with great ease and 
fluency. His geological training, with its 
broad sympathy with nature, was far from 
an inappropriate preparation for the task. 
To come nearer home, we will many of us 
recall that from the severe mathematical 
and scientific training of our School of 
Mines, have come two of the most graceful 
and appealing of our modern American 
writers of verse. It is rare that stanzas go 
so straight to our hearts as do theirs. In- 
deed, unless the student or investigator of 
scientific problems has in his composition 


SCIENCE 


611 


some infusion of the divine fire, his work 
never rises above the humdrum and the 
commonplace. He must at times feel his 
heart burn within him as he walks the ways 
of his chosen calling. 

Many, as I have mentioned, follow 
courses of study in the natural sciences 
from interest in the subjects, but the stu- 
dent can not do so without a reflex influ- 
ence upon himself. He is, for example, 
obliged by the very nature of the pursuit 
to be accurate, precise and orderly in his 
thinking. False observations, careless rec- 
ords or confusion of thought bring no re- 
sults. Clearness and a remorseless regard 
for the truth must be all-absorbing. There 
is and can be no attempt to make the worse 
appear the better reason; there is no com- 
plexity of motive; but simple and direct 
habits of mind must be cultivated. Results 
are to be reported to others and are certain 
to be checked in the future. There is there- 
fore the constant pressure to have them 
right. An ideal is held before a man which 
is not without its ethical response. While 
one can not say that it is always manifested 
in the lives of scientific men with all the 
force that we might wish; nor can we say 
that every one of them is as truthful, direct 
or accurate as he should be, yet the influ- 
ences of his pursuits are strong, even if not 
altogether transforming. 

The natural sciences, when not pursued 
as a life-work, exercise in other respects a 
most wholesome influence. They serve as a 
change from other work and as a foil to 
complete absorption in ordinary employ- 
ments. People in general are too exclu- 
sively occupied with matters which concern 
their own kind alone. It becomes easy to 
regard man as the end and object of the 
universe, the old conception of the teleolo- 
gists. The dwellers in crowded cities tend 
to be concerned solely with human, purely 
human affairs. Brick-walls and pavements, 


612 SCIENCE 


the clothing, feeding and housing of men, 
women and children make up the entire 
round of life, so that for their use the world 
may have naturally seemed created. This 
is an ancient and charmingly child-like con- 
ception. But when we know something of 
the earth’s complexity, of its wonderful in- 
ter-relations, of its long past and of the cer- 
tain developments through which it will 
pass in the future, these false notions give 
place to much more correct perspectives. 
Man is indeed a member of the great, or- 
ganic family, but he has his place in the 
series, just as do all the other members. He 
plays his part, but so do they. In some re- 
spects he is more impressive than other liv- 
ing creatures; in some respects less so. A 
well-balanced student of natural science ac- 
cepts these facts and draws no comparisons 
of superiority or inferiority. He has borne 
in upon him the conviction that human 
affairs are not all of the universe, and that 
he should be neither unduly exalted nor cast 
down. A calm and steadfast habit of mind 
should be his and his studies should exer- 
cise this disciplinary influence upon him. 
The American who has given the best ex- 
pression to this influence of nature upon 
man is Bryant. Himself a keen lover of the 
woods, fields and mountains, he had further 
the great gift of describing in dignified and 
musical verse their effects upon him. In 
his ‘‘Forest Hymn’’ and again in ‘‘Thana- 
topsis’’ we find these influences beautifully 
set forth. The calm philosophy which 
places one apart from the small bickerings 
and petty things of life rings true in his 
lines, so that often the words go coursing 
through our thoughts when face to face 
with the sublime phenomena of nature. 
Bryant, however, is not alone in giving 
utterance to these conceptions of life. 
Many and many a naturalist—to use again 
as I have several times already this old 
descriptive term for a student of nature— 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


many a naturalist has felt the same and from 
time to time has set down in his pages the 
thoughts regarding a philosophy of life, 
which sprang for utterance while describing 
material phenomena. We have had within 
a few years a monumental work from a 
venerable and greatly beloved Austrian 
geologist, Eduard Suess. He has discussed 
the ‘‘Face of the Harth’’; that is, he has 
passed in review the entire surface of the 
earth; its elevations and depressions; their 
connection with geological structure and 
time of production; their characters; rela- 
tionships; systems; causes. He spreads be- 
fore us a wonderful panorama and casts a 
flood of light upon its obscurities. But 
when he comes to his closing sentences he 
is reminded that his pages are to be read by 
men and women, and to have their influ- 
ence upon human lives. Recognizing, there- 
fore, the problems which have been solved 
and the many others which remain for the 
future, he sums up in the following words: 

In the face of these open questions, let us rejoice 
in the sunshine, the starry firmament and all the 
manifold diversity of the face of our earth, 
which has been produced by these very processes, 
recognizing at the same time to how great a de- 
gree life is controlled by the nature of the planet 
and its fortunes. 

J. KF. Kemp 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


OUR RADIUM RESOURCES1 

Tue ‘‘wonders of radium,’’ both fact and 
fable, have been treated so extensively in 
the scientific and public press that it is not 
my intention, nor is it at all necessary, to 
repeat them here. Rather it is my wish 
to-day to present to a body of men inter- 
ested in the development of American min- 
ing the present commercial situation as 
regards radium and its ores, and to point 

1 Address to the sixteenth annual convention of 


the American Mining Congress, Philadelphia, Oc- 
tober 20-24, 1913. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


out, so far as I may, some of those future 
developments that already begin to be more 
or less distinctively visible. 

A bulletin on the radium, uranium and 
vanadium situation, by R. B. Moore, phys- 
ical chemist in charge of the Denver office 
of the Bureau of Mines, and K. L. Kithil, 
mineral technologist of the Bureau, will 
appear within a few weeks and will contain 
much detail of interest to the mining indus- 
try. Last April an advance statement, 
authorized by the director, regarding this 
bulletin, brought out particularly the fact 
that practically all of the carnotite ore 
mined in the world in 1912 was shipped 
abroad and that this country was furnish- 
ing annually nearly three times as much 
radium from its Colorado carnotite deposits 
as all the rest of the world put together. It 
was further pointed out that this material 
has been bought by European buyers at a 
price entirely incommensurate with its 
radium value and that efforts should be 
made to keep at home both the radium itself 
and the profits of its manufacture; also that 
too much stress could not be laid upon the 
extensive waste of valuable radium ore 
thrown on the dumps of mines and pros- 
pects—much of it under such conditions 
that it could never be recovered. 

The publication of this statement has al- 
ready resulted in an increase of at least 33 
per cent. in the price of carnotite ore, and 
European buyers are awakening to the fact 
that they must pay to the American miner 
a price nearer the actual value of his ore. 
Also, a much lower grade of ore is now 
marketable, for whereas six months ago ore 
containing 2 per cent. uranium oxide was 
the lowest grade accepted by European 
buyers, agents of these buyers are now ask- 
ing for and actually purchasing ore con- 
taining no more than half this content of 
uranium. Furthermore, the operators are 
taking more care in separating their low 


SCIENCE 


613 


grade ore from the gangue and in protect- 
ing it from wind and weather. Moreover, 
old dumps are being sold and ore that a few 
months ago was thrown aside as valueless 
will be recovered from them. 

In this paper I shall refer to other facts 
contained in this bulletin and shall mention 
some new developments having a direct 
bearing upon the American radium indus- 
try which have taken place since the manu- 
seript was sent to the printer. 

As is well known to all of you, the pop- 
ular belief has been that the chief source of 
radium is the mineral pitchblende, espe- 
cially that obtained from the mines now 
under the control of the Austrian govern- 
ment at Joachimenthal, Bohemia, and pitch- 
blende is the richest and most eagerly 
sought uranium radium ore. Outside of the 
ore in Austria, the only pitchblende de- 
posits of any size are those in Gilpin 
County, Colorado, from which some thirty 
tons, more or less, have been procured since 
the mineral became valuable as a source of 
radium. The Denver papers recently an- 
nounced that these pitchblende-bearing 
mines have been acquired by Alfred I. du 
Pont, of Wilmington, Delaware, and it is 
greatly to be hoped that their exploitation 
under his direction will yield an increased 
supply of this valuable mineral. It is not, 
however, so generally recognized that the 
mineral carnotite, which, outside of the 
United States, occurs only in the Olray dis- 
trict of South Australia and in low-grade 
ores mixed with ilmenite as a calcium ear- 
notite (communicated by W. F. Hillebrand) 
under the name of Tyuyamyunite, in Ferg- 
hana, Russian Turkestan, low-grade ore 
mixed with ilmenite, is by far the more 
important source of radium. From the 
most authentic sources it can be definitely 
stated that the Australian and Russian 
deposits do not compare in extent or rich- 
ness with our own. The American carno- 


614 


tite is accordingly the largest source of 
radium at the present time, and at least 
four times as much radium was mined in 
America in the form of carnotite in 1912 as 
has been produced from Colorado pitch- 
blende since it was first discovered in that 
state. 

Outside of carnotite and pitchblende, the 
only known source of radium is the mineral 
autunite. The autunite deposits of Por- 
tugal have probably furnished a few milli- 
‘crams to commerce, and from the Mt. 
Painter deposits in South Australia a few 
tons of autunite-bearing ores have been 
shipped to London. 

American carnotite is found chiefly in 
Montrose and San Miguel counties, Colo- 
rado, and in Utah, northwest of these 
counties. The Utah deposits are at Green 
River, Table Mountain, Richardson, Fruita, 
Moab, and some sixteen miles south- 
east of Thompsons. The ores of these de- 
posits are of a lower grade than those of the 
Paradox Valley, but they are nearer to the 
railroads and transportation costs are much 
less. The Green River deposits have appar- 
ently become regular producers. In Colo- 
rado, prospects have been opened at Coal 
Creek, fourteen miles north of Meeker, and 
at Skull Creek, sixty-five miles west of 
-Meeker, but the richest of all American 
carnotite localities and, indeed, the richest 
known radium-bearing region in the world 
is that of the Paradox Valley, extending 
from Hydraulic on the north to the Me- 
Intyre district on the south. 

Geologists are now in the field making a 
special study of these carnotite ores with 
special reference to their occurrence and 
origin, of which altogether too little is now 
known. In the Paradox region, the deposits 
seem to lie invariably just above the fine- 
grained La Plata sandstone. This rock is 
usually exposed high on the sides of the 
canyons, some of which are excelled in ex- 


SCIENCE 


[N..S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


tent and in natural beauty by only the 
Grand Canyon itself. In a few instances, 
as at Long Park and Club Ranch, the de- 
posits are only a few feet under the sur- 
face, the higher formations having been 
eroded; but for the main part, the stratum 
in which the carnotite occurs, when not 
entirely eroded, is deep below the surface 
of the mass. Accordingly prospecting is 
mainly carried on along the sides of the 
canyons, and where vanadium and uranium 
stains are seen upon the rock the prospector 
blasts his tunnel in the hope of developing 
a pocket of the ore. The fact that the ore 
occurs in pockets renders prospecting un- 
certain, and there appears to be no present 
hope of insuring a successful search for 
pockets that are not exposed, or do not 
happen to be near the surface. Although it 
is probable that many other pockets of ear- 
notite occur at the same geologic horizon, 
their discovery, except where the ore-bear- 
ing stratum has been exposed by erosion, 
appears at present to be an almost hopeless 
task. The eroded sides of the canyons have 
been prospected again and again, but new 
claims are still being opened and are being 
sold by the prospector to the larger com- 
panies or operators who mine the ore. In 
such a sale the prospector and the pur- 
chaser both take a decided risk, for at pres- 
ent no method is used to determine the ex- 
tent of the ore in the pocket other than the 
““prospector’s hole.’’ 

As few of the prospectors of the west are 
acquainted with carnotite and pitchblende, 
the following description of the ores has 
been issued from the Denver office of the 
Bureau of Mines and is sent to all who make 
inquiry : 

In reply to your letter for information concern- 
ing radium ores, the following facts may be of in- 
terest: 

Radium is found with uranium minerals only. 


Wherever uranium exists, radium is also found in 
the mineral; and where there is no uranium, radium 


OcTOBER 31, 1913] 


has never been found. Uranium and therefore 
radium are found in this country in carnotite and 
its associated minerals, and in pitchblende. Car- 
notite is a lemon-yellow mineral, usually found in 
pockets of sandstone deposits. The mineral may 
be in the form of light yellow specks disseminated 
through the sandstone, or as yellow incrustations 
in the cracks of the sandstone; or may be more or 
less massive, associated with blue, black or brown 
vanadium ores. 

Pitchblende is a hard, blue-black ore that looks 
something like magnetite, but is heavier. It is 
found in pockets and veins in igneous rocks. This 
mineral is not nearly as widely distributed as car- 
notite. Occasionally it is found associated with an 
orange mineral called gummite. 

The best way to test these ores is to wrap, in the 
dark, a photographie plate in two thicknesses of 
black paper. On the paper lay a key and then, 
just above the key, suspend two or three ounces of 
the ore, and place the whole in a light-tight box. 
Pressure of the ore on the key and plate should be 
avoided. After three or four days, develop the 
plate in the ordinary way; and if the ore is ap- 
preciably radio-active, an image of the key will be 
found on the plate. 

The U. 8. Bureau of Mines, 502 Foster Building, 
Denver, Colorado, will be glad to receive any 
samples of ores giving promise of containing ra- 
dium and associated rare minerals, as indicated by 
the test above described. Though it can not under- 
take to make chemical analyses or assays of such 
minerals for private parties, it will indicate the 
advisability of further examination. 


The Colorado carnotite deposits were ap- 
parently first noted as far back as 1881, 
when Andrew J. Talbert mined some of the 
ore and sent it to Leadville, where it was 
reported as carrying $5 in gold per ton. 
This must have been an unusual ore, as the 
carnotite now found does not carry the 
precious metal. In 1896, Gordon Kimball 
and Thomas Logan sent specimens to the 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 
and were informed that the minerals con- 
tained uranium. Shortly thereafter they 
mined 10 tons of ore, shipped it to Denver, 
and sold it for $2,700 on account of its 
uranium content. Three years later, in 
1899, Poulot and Voilleque collected and 


SCIENCE 


615 


sent to France specimens which were exam- 
ined by Friedel and Cumonge, who recog- 
nized the existence of a new mineral and 
named it ‘‘carnotite,’’ in honor of M. Car- 
not, then President of the French Republic. 
In 1900 Poulet and Voilleque leased carno- 
tite ores at Cashin in the Paradox Valley 
to extract the uranium. They shortly after 
completed a small mill in the McIntyre 
district, south of the Paradox, and in this 
project had the cooperation of Jas. Mc- 
Bride, a mining engineer of Burton, Mich. 
Their mill ran until 1902 and during that 
time produced 15,000 pounds of uranium 
oxide. The mill was started again in 1903 
by the Western Refining Company, but ran 
only a year. Up to 1904 the mills appear to 
have been run wholly with the idea of ob- 
taining the uranium and vanadium from 
the ore, for no radium was extracted. 
Shortly afterwards the Dolores Refining 
Company built a new mill a short distance 
from the old one, but after running for 
some years, this mill, too, shut down. In 
1912 the American Rare Metals Company 
acquired the mill of the Dolores Refining 
Company and is now operating it, with the 
special purpose of obtaining radium from 
the ores. The first attempt to extract 
radium in this country appears to have 
been made by the Rare Metals Reduction 
Company, under the management of 
Stephen T. Lockwood, of Buffalo, N.Y. In 
September, 1900, Mr. Lockwood brought 
back from Richardson, Utah, samples of 
carnotite ore and in 1902 he published in 
the Engineering and Mining Journal of 
September 27 the first radiographic plate 
from products of American ecarnotite. In 
June, 1902, he received 500 pounds of spe- 
cially picked high-grade ore from Richard- 
son, Utah, and in May, 19038, as a result of 
experimental work on this ore, he incor- 
porated what was probably the first Ameri- 
can company to operate a plant to produce 


616 SCIENCE 


radium as one of its products. In October, 


1903, the first experimental plant was con-' 


structed and in April, 1904, the first 17-ton 
ear of ore reached Buffalo from Richardson, 
Utah. The company obtained a fair per- 
centage of extraction, but the ore proved to 
be too low grade and the Richardson de- 
posits were abandoned. No radium in con- 
centrated form was put upon the market, 
although barium sulphate concentrates were 
produced. 

The General Vanadium Company, which, 
with the Radium Extraction Company, is a 
subsidiary of the International Vanadium 
Company of Liverpool, England, was 
formed in 1909 and began work in 1910, 
the same year that the Standard Chemical 
Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., entered the 
field. Since that time these two companies 
have been engaged in mining carnotite. The 
ores from the General Vanadium Company 
have been shipped almost entirely abroad, 
while the Standard Chemical Company has 
shipped several hundreds of tons of carno- 
tite to its works at Canonsburg, Pa. While 
it was stated at the time of the advance 
announcement of the bulletin to be issued 
by the Bureau of Mines, that one American 
company had actively entered into the pro- 
duction of radium, no actual sale of Ameri- 
can-produced radium could be authenti- 
cated. Since that time, however, the Stand- 
ard Chemical Company has entered the 
American markets. 

Besides the American Rare Metals Com- 
pany and the Standard Chemical Company, 
a third company—the Radium Company of 
America, with mines near Green River, 
Utah—has undertaken the production of 
radium in its plant at Sellersville, Pa. 
There is, therefore, every reason to hope 
that more and more of our ores will be 
worked up at home. 

Besides the companies already men- 
tioned, a number of independent operators 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


mine and ship carnotite from the Paradox 
region and for the main part send their 
ores to Hamburg. Among the more promi- 
nent of these may be mentioned: 

T. V. Curren, Placerville, Colo. 

W. L. Cummings, Placerville, Colo. 

O. B. Wilsmarth, Montrose, Colo. 

David Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The costs of mining, and especially of 

transportation, are an important factor in 
the marketing of carnotite. The Green 
River deposits have a distinct advantage 
over the Colorado deposits in this respect, 
as they are nearer the railroad, but, as their 
ores do not average so high in uranium, this 
advantage is more apparent than real. The 
present cost of mining, sorting and sacking 
in the Paradox apparently vary from about 
$28 to $40 per ton. To this must be added 
an $18 to $20 hauling charge to Placer- 
ville, and, in most instances, an additional 
charge for burros from the mines to points 
that can be reached by wagon. The freight 
rate from Placerville to Hamburg, via 
Galveston, is $14.50 per ton so that the 
average cost at present to the miner laying 
down his ore at the European markets 
approximates $70 per ton. The selling 
price varies with the uranium content, but 
is by no means proportional thereto, since a 
premium is always paid for rich ores. Very 
recently, however, a decided improvement 
has taken place and for 2 per cent. ore, the 
price is now around $2.50 per pound for the 
contained uranium oxide, with an allowance 
of about 13 cents per pound for the vana- 
dium oxide content, so that the 2 per cent. 
ore will now bring in Hamburg about $95 
per ton. One per cent. ore is now salable, 
but unless this ore is taken from the dump, 
so that the mining cost may be disregarded, 
it will scarcely bear transportation charges 
from the Paradox, although it is more than 
probable that it will be soon shipped regu- 
larly from the Utah field. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


A price of $95 at Hamburg for 2 per 
cent. ore leaves a fair margin of profit to 
the miner, as mining profits go, but when it 
is considered that this price represents only 
a little over one tenth of the value of the 
radium content of the ore and that from 
this fraction of the value the American 
miner has to meet the outlay represented 
by the investment, by mining costs, trans- 
portation and assay costs and by losses in 
transit, it seems scarcely just that nearly 
nine tenths of the value should go to for- 
eign manufacturers of radium, especially 
when the fact is considered that radium can 
be produced much more readily from car- 
notite than from pitchblende. There are 
two ways of reducing this difference be- 
tween the actual value of the ore and the 
price that the miner receives. One is to 
hold our American ores for a higher price, 
and the second is to manufacture radium at 
home. 

Large wastes are still taking place in the 
mining of carnotite, owing to the inability 
of the low-grade ores to bear transportation 
charges. As has already been pointed out, 
however, a distinct improvement in this 
respect has taken place within the last few 
months. The miners are beginning to 
realize the value of their old dumps and are 
attempting to save the low-grade, non-ship- 
ping ore in such ways as will render its 
marketing possible when prices advance. 
The Bureau of Mines has done everything 
it can to impress the necessity of this truest 
kind of conservation upon the mine 
operator. 

In addition, there is prospect that most 
of the low-grade ores can be successfully 
concentrated by mechanical methods and 
experiments at the Denver office of the 
Bureau of Mines indicate that a concen- 
tration of four to one can be obtained. In 
this concentration, however, there are losses 
which could be prevented by chemical con- 


SCIENCE 


617 


centration, but at the present time it costs 
more to ship the necessary chemicals to the 
mines than it does to ship the ores to places 
where these chemicals can be cheaply ob- 
tained. It would appear, however, that 
mechanical concentration can save at least 
one half of the material that is now going 
to waste. 

Although, until recently, the manufac- 
ture of radium has been carried on almost 
wholly in France and Germany, there ap- 
pears to be no good reason why our Ameri- 
can carnotite should not be treated at home. 
Carnotite is much more easily treated than 
pitchblende and the essential features of 
methods for its chemical treatment are well 
known, although much of the mechanical 
detail of operation has been kept secret. 
As the mechanical requirements, however, 
are those which any well-grounded chemical 
engineer should be able to solve, there seems 
to be no good reason why any of our carno- 
tite ores should be shipped abroad, even at 
two or three times the present market price 
of the material. As before stated, the 
essential features of chemical methods of 
extracting radium from its ores are well 
known. As regards the principles involved, 
the methods have advanced little beyond 
the original method published by Debierne. 

The methods for carnotite may be de- 
seribed best in the words of Soddy, in an 
extract from ‘‘The Chemistry of the Radio 
Elements,’’ by Frederick Soddy, page 55, 
published in 1911 by Longmans, Green & 
Co. 

The most important operations in the working 
up of radium-containing materials are the solution 
of the materials, consisting usually of insoluble 
sulphates and the separation of the halogen salts 
of the alkaline-earth group in a pure state, fol- 
lowed by their fractional crystallization. The first 
operation is usually effected by vigorous boiling 
with sodium carbonate solution, filtering and wash- 
ing free from sulphate. This is the well-known 
reaction studied dynamically by Guldberg and 
Waage, whereby an equilibrium is attained be- 


618 SCIENCE 


tween the two pairs of soluble and insoluble sul- 
phates and carbonates. Naturally the greater the 
excess of sodium carbonate the larger the propor- 
tion of insoluble sulphate converted into insoluble 
carbonate. In this operation it is advisable not to 
wash at once with water, but with sodium carbon- 
ate solution until most of the sulphates are re- 
moved, as thereby the reconversion of the carbon- 
ates back into insoluble sulphates is largely pre- 
vented. In dealing with crude materials—for ex- 
ample, the radium-containing residues from pitch- 
blende—it is often advantageous to precede this 
operation by a similar one, using a sodium hydrate 
solution containing a little carbonate, which dis- 
solves part of the lead and silica present. The 
carbonates, washed free from sulphates, are 
treated with pure hydrochloric acid, which dis- 
solves the alkaline-earths, including radium. From 
the solution the latter may be precipitated as sul- 
phates by sulphuric acid and reconverted back 
into carbonates as before, or sometimes more con- 
‘veniently they may be precipitated directly as 
chlorides by saturating the solution with hydrogen 
chloride. This is a very elegant method of great 
utility in the laboratory, for the most probable im- 
purities, chlorides of lead, iron, calcium, etc., re- 
main in solution and only the barium and radium 
chloride are precipitated, practically in the pure 
state, ready for fractionation. 


The price of radium appears for some 
time to have been holding steady at about 
$120 per milligram of radium metal. This 
does not mean that the material is bought in 
the elementary condition, but that the 
radium chloride and radium bromide, which 
are on the market, are paid for on the basis 
of the metallic radium they contain. This 
method of payment is a distinct advance 
over the old method of paying the same 
price indiscriminately for the chloride or 
bromide. This price of $120 per milligram 
of the metal is equivalent to approximately 
$91,000 per gram of radium chloride 
‘(RaCl,), or $70,000 per gram of anhydrous 
radium bromide (RaBr,). Whether this 
price will rise, fall or remain stationary 
can not be predicted. There is no question 
that there is to be an increased radium 
production and that meso-thorium is also 
coming upon the markets in increasing 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


quantity, but the uses of and demand for 
radium are apparently developing at an 
even greater rate. Furthermore, the supply 
of the material is limited and no large re- 
sources are in sight. Only one estimate has 
been published of the total quantity of 
radium in the Colorado carnotite deposits, 
and that was 900 grams. This estimate is 
at least five times as large as has been made 
by any employee of the Bureau of Mines, 
reckoning all known deposits in the whole 
American field, even including material too 
low grade to be marketable. Besides the 
radium, the uranium and the vanadium 
present in carnotite are available assets, 
and recent developments indicate that all 
the uranium produced will soon be readily 
sold, while it is well known that there is a 
ready market for vanadium for vanadium 
steel. 

The value to the public of these deposits 
is, however, not to be measured in dollars 
and cents. The value of the radium output 
of America will never compare with that of 
several of our common metals. The totai 
value of the radium in the world’s output 
of radium ores in 1912 was little more than 
$1,000,000. Accordingly, the value must 
ever be reckoned in what it can accomplish 
for the public knowledge and the public 
weal. No certain prediction can be made 
of the ultimate value of radium, or of its 
possible applications to science or medicine, 
but enough has been done to show that 
radium is worthy of the fullest investigation 
by our highest scientific and medical au- 
thorities. Developments in its application 
to medicine are coming fast. The foreign 
medical press contains many apparently 
authentic reports of cures by its use. Inter- 
esting developments are also under way in 
America, and those who have had the 
largest personal experience in its use are 
most enthusiastic over its future applica- 
tion. The public may soon look to impor- 


OctToBER 31, 1913] 


tant publications from leading American 
authorities, who have had real experience 
in radium therapy. It is to be greatly 
regretted that, owing to the high price of 
the material, only three or four American 
surgeons have, so far as the Bureau of 
Mines is informed, been able to use it in 
quantities sufficient for the drawing of 
decisive conclusions. In the progress of 
the future applications of radium to the 
curing of disease, nothing is more to be 
feared than its use in nostrums of every 
kind. The ‘‘wonders of radium’’ have been 
so extensively exploited in the public press 
that already the name is being employed as 
a psychological agent in advertisements of 
all kinds of materials, many of which con- 
tain no radium at all, or, if this element is 
indeed present, in such small quantities that 
no therapeutic value can be expected. As 
bearing on the need of further experiment, 
attention is called to the fact that the con- 
centrated action of large quantities of 
radium may effect cures that have been 
impossible with the smaller amounts here- 
tofore available to the medical profession. 
It is doubtful if there is at the present time 
in the hands of the medical profession of 
America more than a single gram of this 
rare element, and the results of investiga- 
tions soon to be published will show that 
the concentrated action of the gamma rays 
from several hundred milligrams arrest cer- 
tain forms of cancer and other malignant 
growths when smaller quantities are with- 
out beneficial effect. It is highly important 
that the medical profession should also have 
some guarantee of the material they pur- 
chase, even if it is purchased in small quan- 
tities, and I am glad to note that the U. S. 
Bureau of Standards is preparing to stand- 
ardize radium preparations. As several 
frauds in the sale of radium have already 
been perpetrated upon American physi- 
cians, they should all require that the 


SCIENCE 


619 


quality of the material purchased should 

be certified under conditions which prevent 

error. 

In closing, I take pleasure in saying that 
I am authorized by the Director of the 
Bureau of Mines to announce that a co- 
operative agreement has been entered into 
with the newly organized National Radium 
Institute, whereby the Bureau obtains the 
opportunity of a scientific and technological 
study of the mining and concentrating of 
carnotite ores and of the most efficient 
methods of obtaining radium, vanadium 
and uranium therefrom, with a view to in- 
creased efficiency of production and the 
prevention of waste. 

The National Radium Institute was re- 
cently incorporated with the following 
officers : 

Howard A. Kelly, of Baltimore, President. 

Curtis F. Burnam, of Baltimore, Vice- 
president. 

Archibald Douglas, of New York, Secretary 
and Treasurer. 

James Douglas, of New York, and E. J. 
Maloney, of Wilmington, as additional 
directors. 

The institute has no connection with the 
mining of pitchblende, details of which re- 
cently appeared in the Denver papers. It 
has, however, obtained the right to mine 27 
claims in the Paradox Valley region, among 
which are some of the best mines in this 
richest radium-bearing region of the world. 
Nearly 100 tons of high-grade carnotite 
have already been procured. Under the 
agreement with the Bureau of Mines, the 
technical operations of the mines and mill 
are to be guided by the scientific staff of the 
Bureau. Work will begin in an experimen- 
tal plant to be erected in Colorado, using 
entirely new methods developed at the Den- 
ver office of the Bureau of Mines. Concen- 
tration experiments also will be conducted 
in the Paradox, probably at the Long Park 


620 SCIENCE 


claims, and if successful will be applied to 
reducing the wastes that now take place. 
Within a year at most, the mill operations 
should make results certain and the extrac- 
tion of ore and production of radium will 
then be continued on a larger scale. The 
separation of uranium and vanadium will 
also be studied, a contract having already 
been signed for all of these by-products that 
may be produced. All processes, details of 
apparatus and plant, and general informa- 
tion gained will be published for the benefit 
of the people. 

The institute is supplied with sufficient 
funds to carry out its plans. 

The institute has been formed for the 
special purpose of procuring enough ra- 
dium to conduct extensive experiments in 
radium therapy with special reference to 
the curing of cancer. It also expects to 
carry on investigations regarding the phys- 
ical characteristics and chemical effects of 
radium rays and hopes in time to be able to 
assist or perhaps even duplicate the effects 
of these rays by physical means. 

Actual experience, especially of the insti- 
tute’s president, in the application of the 650 
milligrams of radium and 100 milligrams of 
mesothorium already in his possession, have 
led him and his associates to believe that with 
larger supplies many of the variables that 
can not now be controlled may be fully cor- 
related, and that radium may become the 
most effective agent for the treatment of 
cancer and certain other malignant diseases, 
Important results have already been ob- 
tained by using high concentration of the 
gamma rays of radium with the alpha rays 
entirely cut off and the beta rays largely 
eliminated. Hospital facilities in both Bal- 
timore and New York are already supplied. 

The activities of the institute are sure 
to be of benefit to the prospector and miner 
by providing a greater demand for his al- 
ready rare ore; to the plant operator by 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 983 


developing methods and by creating a larger 
market for his product, and to the people 
by assisting, and possibly by succeeding, in 
controlling the most malignant of diseases. 
The radium produced is intended for the 
institute’s own use and will consequently 
remain at home. 

The Bureau of Mines is especially fortu- 
nate in the opportunity to cooperate in the 
technological features of the work of the in- 
stitute. : 

Cuares L. Parsons 


DIVISION OF MINERAL TECHNOLOGY, 
BUREAU OF MINES 


THE DECENNIAL OF THE DESERT 
LABORATORY 


THE tenth anniversary of the establishment 
of the Desert Laboratory was celebrated at 
Tucson, Arizona, September 20. 

During the day demonstrations of re- 
searches in progress were made to visitors, in- 
cluding members of the International Phyto- 
geographic Society, as follows: 


10:30 a.m. Suite of Plants in Series of Environie 
Reactions. By Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 

10:45 a.M. Professor W. L. Tower’s Experiments 
on the Influence of Environic Factors in the 


Evolution of the Chrysomelid Beetles. By 
Mr. J. G. Sinclair. 
11:00 a.M. Researches on Water Relations of 


Plants. By Professor B. E. Livingston, as- 
sisted by Mr. Pulling and Mr. Shive. 

12:00 a.m. Certain Features of Correlation Be- 
tween Climate and Vegetation in the Tucson 
Region. By Dr. Forrest Shreve. 

12:30 a.M. Experimental Studies in the Root- 
habits of Desert Species. By Dr. W. A. Can- 
non. 

2:00 p.m. Calorimetrie Method of Determination 
of Leaf-temperatures. By Mrs. Edith B. 
Shreve. 

2:15 p.m. Comparative Light Measurements and 
the Chemical Effects of Radiant Energy in 
Plant Processes. By Dr. H. A. Spoehr. 

2:45 p.m. Exhibition of Progenies of Young 
Plants Affected by Ovarial Treatments. By 
Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 

3:00 p.m. Water Balance of Desert Plants. By 
Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


3:15 P.M. Ascent of Tumamoe Hill: Or Drive to 
Cactus Garden of the University of Arizona. 
Exhibition of Publications. 


In the evening forty scientific men were 
the guests of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington at dinner. Brief addresses were 
made by Geh. Professor Engler, director of 
the Royal Garden of Berlin, Professor R. H. 


Forbes, director of the U. S. Agricultural Ex- 


periment Station of Arizona, Professor B. E. 
Livingston, director of the Laboratory for 
Plant Physiology of Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity, Dr. Eduard Ruebel, of Zurich, and Dr. 
D. T. MacDougal. Congratulatory telegrams 
from President Woodward, Professor V. M. 
and Mrs. E. 8. Spaulding and others were 
read. The members of the International 
Phytogeographic Society also presented testi- 
monials of plate to Professor H. C. Cowles, 
Dr. Geo. E. Nichols and Dr. Geo. D. Fuller. 

The members of the society had been the 
guests of the Carnegie Institution during the 
previous week at the Coastal Laboratory at 
Carmel, California, and at the Salton Sea. 
During the week following the anniversary 
date, subsistence, tentage and transportation 
were furnished to a party of thirty traversing 
the desert to the base of the Santa Catalina 
Mountains, and making the ascent to the 
summit of Mt. Lemmon and the Montane 
plantation. Ample opportunity was given for 
observations and discussion of factors affect- 
ing distribution, including temperature and 
evaporation gradients, origin and develop- 
ment of formations and the physical and 
physiological facts implied in conceptions of 
chaparral, desert, steppe, forest, etc. 

The establishment of the Desert Laboratory 
was authorized by the trustees of the Car- 
negie Institution late in 1902. Messrs. F. V. 
Coville and D. T. MacDougal selected a site 
at Tucson in February, 1903, and after citi- 
zens had contributed two hundred acres of 
land and other concessions a laboratory was 
erected and Dr. W. A. Cannon as resident in- 
vestigator took over the building and began 
work in September, 1903. 

The department of botanical research was 
created by the trustees in December, 1905, and 


SCIENCE 


621 


Dr. D. T. MacDougal was appointed director 
with headquarters at the Desert Laboratory. 
The equipment has been extended to include 
the Coastal Laboratory at Carmel, Calif., ex- 
perimental plantations at various places and 
the department sustains relations with a large 
number of collaborators in various institutions. 


THE WILLIAM H. WELCH FUND OF THE 
JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL SCHOOL 


Tue General Education Board, endowed 
by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, has appropriated. 
$1,400,000 for the Johns Hopkins Medical 
School to establish an endowment to be known 
as the William H. Welch fund, in honor of 
Dr. Welch, to whom the organization and 
development of the school are in a large meas- 
ure due. The objects of the fund are described 
in a statement given out by the Rev. F. T. 
Gates, secretary of the General Education 
Board, as follows: 


Since the opening of the Johns Hopkins Med- 
ical School in the early nineties, it has been uni- 
versally conceded that the teaching of the under- 
lying medical sciences, namely, anatomy, physiol- 
ogy, pathology and pharmacology, must be placed 
in the hands of men devoting their entire time to 
teaching and research in their subjects. 

As the clinical branches are more extensive and 
more complicated than the above-mentioned under- 
lying sciences, the medical faculty of the Johns 
Hopkins University has become convinced that it 
is fully as important that the clinical subjects 
should be cultivated and taught by men freed from 
the distraction involved in earning their living 
through private practise. 

The trustees of the Johns Hopkins University 
and the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the medical 
faculty of the Johns Hopkins University united in 
requesting of the General Education Board funds 
that would enable them to reorganize the depart- 
ments of medicine, surgery and pediatrics so that 
the professors and their associates in the clinic 
and the laboratories should be able to devote their 
entire time to their work. 

In making the gift the General Education 
Board has placed absolutely no restriction upon 
the freedom of these men. They will henceforth 
be in position to do any service that either science 
or humanity demands. They are free to see and 
treat any one, whether inside or outside the hos- 


622 


pital, but they will accept no personal fee for any 
such service. 

It is not expected that this radical innovation in 
medical teaching will deprive the Johns Hopkins 
Medical School of such advantages as are still to 
be gained from the services of other men who are 
practitioners of medicine and surgery. In the 
-eonduct of the dispensary, in the teaching of stu- 
dents and in the cultivation of the specialties men 
simultaneously engaged in practise will to some ex- 
tent continue to be utilized. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Ropert Brooms, the authority on South 
African paleontology, is visiting America for 
a year of scientific research especially upon 
the ancient vertebrates of the Permian period. 
He has accepted a temporary appointment 
upon the staff of the American Museum of 
Natural History for this purpose, and has 
‘brought with him his private collection of 
South African Permian reptiles. 

Tur Hon. Bertrand Russell, who will this 
year lecture at Harvard University, and Pro- 
fessor Etienne Boutroux, of the University of 
Paris, have been appointed Woodward lecturers 
at Yale University. 

Sm WILiiaAM Curistiz, formerly astronomer- 
royal, has been elected Master of the Clock- 
makers’ Company, London. 

Proressor Raymond Dopcr, of Wesleyan 
University, Middletown, Connecticut, is spend- 
ing the current academic year in research in 
physiological psychology at the Nutrition 
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington, Boston. A special laboratory has 
been equipped with an Einthoven string gal- 
vanometer and other apparatus of a similar 
order of precision, including much apparatus 
devised by Professor Dodge. 

Dr. F. B. Sumner has been appointed biol- 
ogist in the Scripps Institution for Biological 
Research of the University of California. 

Dr. G. F. Pappock has been appointed assist- 
ant in the Lick Observatory of the University 
of California. 

Dr. Ortanp E. WHITE, recently an instructor 
in botany at South Dakota State College and 
an assistant and graduate student in the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XX XVIII. No. 983 


laboratory of genetics, Bussey Institution of 
Harvard University, has accepted the appoint- 
ment as plant breeder to the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden. 


Farner THEopor ANGEHRN, S.J., has been 
appointed director of the Haynald Observatory, 
Kaloesa. 


Dr. GiusEPPE BAsTIANELLI, Rome, is visiting 
the medical institutions of the United States. 


Proressor W. M. Hays, former assistant 
secretary of agriculture, has gone to Argentina 
as a consulting adviser to the secretary of 
agriculture of that country. His services were 
secured with a view to the inauguration of a 
plan for rural education. It is expected that 
he will be absent from this country six months 
or more. Mrs. Hays accompanied him. 


Dr. Frank E. Lutz, accompanied by Mr. 
Charles W. Leng, has been in Cuba on an 
entomological collecting trip on behalf of the 
American Museum of Natural History. After 
a period of study in Havana where facilities 
for work were accorded by Professor Carlos 
de la Torre, the expedition established field 
headquarters in Pinar del Rio. 


Wirx the sanction of the British secretary 
of state, Sir Aurel Stein has undertaken an 
expedition into Central Asia, which he expects 
to occupy him for nearly three years. Pro- 
ceeding to Chinese Turkestan by a hitherto 
unexplored route, he plans to spend the winter 
in the desert, afterwards extending his work 
further east towards the western borders of 
China. 


Dr. W. J. Humpureys, professor of physics 
in the United States Weather Bureau, lectured 
at the University of Illinois on October 23. 
His subject was “ The Temperature Effects of 
Volcanic Dust in the Atmosphere.” 


Ar a joint meeting of the Philadelphia Sec- 
tion of the Illuminating Engineering Society 
and the Philadelphia Photographic Society 
held at the Engineers Club on October 17, Dr. 
A. W. Goodspeed read a paper entitled “A 
simple unit method for measuring the actinic 
effect of illuminants both primary and sec- 
ondary.” This paper embodied an analysis of 


OcroBER 31, 1913] 


the practical photographic methods of Frank 
Morris Steadman. 


THe Gresham lecturer on astronomy, Mr. 
Arthur R. Hinks, F.R.S., delivered a course of 
four lectures on astronomy in daily use, 
on October 14, 15, 16 and 17, at the City of 
London School, Victoria Embankment. The 
subjects of the four lectures were: ‘“ The De- 
termination of Time,” “The Distribution of 
Time,” “ The Determination of Position ” and 
“Measurement of the Size and Shape of the 
Earth.” 


_ Tue first ordinary meeting of the Medical 
Society of London for the session 1913-14 was 
held on October 13, when the new president, 
Sir David Ferrier, F.R.S., delivered his in- 
augural address. The Lettsomian lectures of 
the society will be given on February 2 and 16 
-and March 2 by Dr. F. M. Sandwith, who will 
treat of the subject of dysentery. 


Dr. Puiuie Reese UHtER, since 1891 provost 
of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, known 
for his contributions to entomology and geol- 
ogy, died on October 21, aged seventy-eight 
years. 


Wituiam THEopoRE WENZELL, emeritus pro- 
fessor of chemistry in the California College 
of Pharmacy, of the University of California, 
died July 31, 1913. 


Tue thirty-first annual congress of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union will convene 
in New York City on November 10, at 8 p.m. 
The evening session will be devoted to the 
election of officers and the transaction of 
other routine business. The meetings, which 
are open to the public and devoted to the 
reading and discussion of scientific and pop- 
ular papers on ornithology, will be held at 
the American Museum of Natural History, 
November 11-13, from 10 o’clock a.m. until 
4 p.M. each day. Information regarding the 
congress can be had by addressing the secre- 
tary, Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 


Tue Rush Society for the correlation and 
support of medical and biological lectures in 
Philadelphia announces the following lec- 
tures, which will be held at the College of 


SCIENCE 


623 


Physicians or at the Medical Laboratories of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 


Samuel D. Gross Lecture of the Philadelphia 
Pathological Society, October 23, at 8:30 P.M. 
Professor E. G. Conklin, Princeton University, 
‘¢The Mechanism of Heredity and Development.’’ 

The Fifth Rush Society Lecture, November 15, 
at 8:30 P.M. Frederick L. Hoffman, The Pruden- 
tial Insurance Co. of America, ‘‘ The Incidence of 
Cancer by Organs and Parts of the Body Af- 
fected.’’ 

The Mutter Lecture, December 12, at 8:30 P.M. 
R. C. Coffey, M.D., Portland, Oregon, ‘‘The Surg- 
ical Treatment of Chronic Constipation.’’ 

The Sixth Rush Society Lecture, January 27, at 
8:30 P.M. Professor Sven G. Hedin, M.D., Univer- 
sity of Upsala, ‘‘Colloidal Reactions and their 
Relations to Biology.’’ 

The Weir Mitchell Lecture, February 25, at 
8:30 P.M. Harvey Cushing, M.D., Harvard Univer- 
sity, ‘‘Clinical Types of Dyspituitarism.’’ 

The Seventh Rush Society Lecture, March 11, at 
8:30 P.M. John Howland, M.D., Johns Hopkins 
Hospital, ‘‘A Consideration of Certain Aspects of 
Rachitis.’’? (This lecture is also the annual ad- 
dress before the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary 
Medical Society.) 

The Highth Rush Society Lecture, April 1, at 
3:30 P.M. Alexis Carrel, M.D., The Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, ‘‘ Permanent Active 
Life of Tissues Outside of the Organism.’’ (This 
lecture is also the annual address before the 
Undergraduate Medical Society of the University 
of Pennsylvania.) 

Annual Address of the Philadelphia Patholog- 
ical Society, April 23, at 8:30 P.M Richard P. 
Strong, M.D., Harvard University, ‘‘Bubonic 
Plague. ’’ 

Tue fifteenth annual conference of the As- 
sociation of American Universities will be held 
at the University of Llinois, on November 6, 
4% and 8. The session of the first day will be 
given to a meeting of the executive committee 
and meetings of the conference of deans and 
similar officers of graduate schools. The pro- 
gram thus far announced for the other two days 
is as follows: “ The Type of Graduate Scholar,” 
by President John Grier Hibben, of Prince- 
ton University; “The Library as University 
Factor,” two papers, one by Mr. Guy Statton 
¥ord, University of Minnesota, and the other 
by Wm. D. Johnson, librarian, Columbia 


624 SCIENCE 


University; Bureau of Education paper by 
Professor Kendric C. Babcock, University of 
Tilinois. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tur General Education Board, in addition 
to the gift of $1,400,000 to the Johns Hopkins 
Medical School, has made conditional appro- 
priations of $200,000 for Barnard College, 
Columbia University; $200,000 for Wellesley 
College, and $50,000 for Ripon College. 

Two gifts have been made to the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology from anonymous 
donors, sums of half a million and one hun- 
dred thousand dollars respectively. There is 
an understanding that the larger gift is to be 
used for the buildings, while the other has no 
restrictions. 

By the will of the late Simeon Smith, of 
Indiana, DePauw University has recently 
added $80,000 to her productive endowment. 
By the terms of the will, $50,000 of this 
amount has been set aside specifically as an 
endowment of the department of chemistry. 
Professor W. M. Blanchard, head of the de- 
partment, has just returned from his sabbatical 
year in Europe. 

A grt of ten lakhs of rupees for the pro- 
motion of scientific technical knowledge has 
been made by Dr. Rash Bahari Ghosh to the 
University of Calcutta. 

Fritz WILHELM WOLL, since 1906 professor 
of agricultural chemistry in the University of 
Wisconsin, has been appointed professor of 
animal nutrition in the University of Cali- 
fornia. 

Dr. Max Morse has become a member of the 
depart of physiology, division of biochemistry, 
of the University of Wisconsin. 


Tue following new appointments to the 
faculty of the school of medicine, University 
of Pittsburgh, have been made this fall: Dr. 
W. E. Gardner, assistant demonstrator in 
anatomy; Dr. J. W. McMeans, assistant in 
clinical pathology and demonstrator in pathol- 
ogy; Dr. A. H. McCreery, R. B. Mellow fellow 
in pathology; Dr. J. C. Irwin, instructor in 
obstetrics; Dr. R. J. Cary, demonstrator in 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 983 


medicine; Dr. Arthur Miltenberger, assistant 
demonstrator in obstetrics; Dr. J. H. Seipel, 
assistant demonstrator in obstetrics; Mr. Or- 
ville J. Walker, assistant in physiology and 
pharmacology. The following increases in 
rank have likewise been provided for: Dr. 
Chris Gardner, from assistant demonstrator to 
demonstrator in anatomy; Dr. W. L. Croll, 
from instructor to assistant professor in 
obstetrics. 

Dr. Orren Lioyp-Jones, formerly assistant 
in the department of experimental breeding of 
the College of Agriculture, University of Wis- 
consin, has gone to the Iowa Agricultural Col- 
lege as assistant professor of animal husbandry. 
He will have charge of the work in genetics in 
that department. 


Proressor Orro WiILCKENS, professor at 
Jena, has been called to the chair of geology 
and paleontology at Strasburg, to succeed 
Professor EK. Holtzapfel. 


Dr. Gustav STorrine, of Strasburg, has been 
ealled to Bonn, to fill the chair of philosophy 
vacant by the removal of Professor Oswald 
Kiilpe to Munich. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A PROBABLE NEW 
MINERAL? 


During the investigations of the carnotite 
and vanadium deposits of Colorado and Utah, 
which were carried on last winter for the 
United States Bureau of Mines by Professor 
R. B. Moore and myself, a small deposit of 
what is apparently a new mineral was found. 
This mineral was located about sixteen miles 
southeast of Thompsons, Utah, and later on in 
the workings of a drift near the rim-rocks on 
the north side of East Paradox Valley, Colo- 
rado. A very similar material was also found 
near Green River, Utah. The mineral is a 
black carbonaceous material which shows a 
high activity in the electroscope. It occurs in 
sandstone of Jurassic Age and is found im- 
bedded in the carnotite. At Thompsons the 
ore was located at the outcrop on the surface 


1 Published by the permission of the Director of 
the Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. 


OcTOBER 31, 1913] 


of a steep wall and there was one pocket of a 
lenticular form containing the mineral, with 
a cross-section of about 3 by 10 inches. A 
few feet away there was an imbedded layer of 
the material showing at the surface for a dis- 
tance of about eight feet. This layer was 
sloping down at an angle of about 10 degrees, 
measuring at the upper end about 14 inches 
and thickening out toward its lower end to 
about 8 inches. At a deposit in the Paradox 
‘Valley, Colorado, the same mineral occurred in 
small pockets imbedded in and lying between 
the carnotite and high-grade vanadium sand- 
stone. At Green River, Utah, there was a 
considerable amount of associated gypsum. 

The cracks, interstices, and part of the ex- 
posed surface of the mineral are partly coated 
with carnotite. The carnotite can be easily 
removed from the black mineral by sliming the 
crushed carbonaceous material. The black 
mineral on being dried shows a high activity, 
somewhat higher than would be expected from 
the uranium content. 

The mineral burns with a feeble flame and 
on ignition leaves a light brown ash. 

As already stated, the mineral is intimately 
associated with carnotite, so much so that it 
would appear that the carnotite may be a 
secondary transformation product of this min- 
eral. The structure is massive and brittle; 
the luster metallic, dull to shiny and sub- 
metallic; the color black; fracture uneven; 
specific gravity 1.972 to 1.984; hardness 3 to 
3.2; and streak black to brownish black. 

A typical preliminary analysis of the min- 
eral made by C. F. Whittemore, of the Denver 
office of the Bureau of Mines, after the car- 
notite had been removed and its absence con- 
firmed by careful examination with a micro- 
scope is as follows: 


Per Cent 

IWVIALETS warstaeeNahatehrvebater a eretee 7.45 
Carbonaceous material ....... 74.30 
Sillicaly wt sredarstoreeere the ee .07 
WO sonsvecgousoasnaocasaas 1.62 
WO) scaccogagvasanaancsecce 9.43 
TROL Oi techie Upstate ct ME ee 382 Oe 

278 J 
AOE ee EMEA ates 1.174 


Several analyses appear to show that the 
uranium content is fairly constant, but the 


SCIENCE 


625 


vanadium varies, one result being as low as 
0.88 per cent. This would seem to indicate 
that a part, if not all, of the vanadium is in 
the form of roscoelite or some similar mineral 
which was not completely removed by the 
mechanical treatment. 

Further work is being done on this mineral, 
which will be published later, and we desire to 
reserve priority rights for the completion of 
the work, and the naming of the mineral. 


Kart L, Kiram 
U. S. Bureav or MINES 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


School Hygiene. By Firtcuer B. Dressvar, 
Specialist in School Hygiene, United States 
Bureau of Education. The Macmillan Com- 
pany. 1913. Pp. 369. 

Educational hygiene has four leading and 
interrelated divisions: (1) the hygiene of 
physical and mental growth; (2) health and 
medical supervision of schools; (3) the hygiene 
of instruction, and (4) the hygiene of the 
school plant. 

Dr. Dresslar’s book deals mainly with the 
last division. Of the twenty-six chapters, 
eighteen deal chiefly with the school plant, 
eight with problems relating to the hygiene of 
growth, two with the hygiene of instruction, 
and one with medical inspection. 

According to the preface, “It is the pur- 
pose of this book to set forth in a simple and 
untechnical way some of the hygienic re- 
quirements of school life, and to suggest, when- 
ever it seems necessary, how these require- 
ments may be put into practise. No attempt 
has been made to treat any phase of the sub- 
ject exhaustively. The purpose has been to se- 
lect the most important topics, and to deal with 
them in a manner as simple as is consistent 
with the truth. It has not been written for 
the specialists in school hygiene, but for busy 
teachers.” 

The volume is a much-needed and extremely 
valuable addition to our literature on school 
hygiene. The author’s extensive first-hand ac- 
quaintance with the problems of schoolhouse 
construction and equipment adds very greatly 


626 


to the practical value of the book. Such top- 
ies as location and construction of school 
buildings, schoolhouse lighting, school desks, 
school baths, water supply, drinking fountains, 
toilet arrangements, ventilation, heating, 
schoolroom cleaning, janitor service, disinfec- 
tants, ete., have here the best treatment that 
they have received in any English text. In 
general, the book presents just those facts 
about school buildings which every person 
needs to know who has anything to do with 
their construction or care, and it is certain to 
become an indispensable handbook for school 
officers of every class. 

It would be unfair to criticize the author 
for the brevity with which he treats the prob- 
lems relating to the hygiene of growth, school 
medical inspection and the hygiene of instruc- 
tion. The field of school hygiene has become 
too broad to permit adequate treatment of all 
the above-named divisions in a single volume. 
The division chosen for treatment in this book 
is one on which America had produced no first- 
class text in more than a decade, and the au- 
thor has done his work well. The chapters on 
location and construction of school buildings, 
schoolhouse lighting, school desks, heating and 
janitor service are especially valuable. 

Here and there the critical reader will find 
statements with which he may be inclined to 
disagree. Many will probably think the author’s 
position on some of the problems of ventila- 
tion somewhat conservative, particularly in 
the scant consideration which is given to the 
experiments by Leonard Hill and others on the 
relative effects of humidity, temperature, move- 
ments and chemical composition of the air on 
physical efficiency. In all of these newer ex- 
periments the author declines to see anything 
revolutionary as regards the practical prob- 
lems of ventilation, and the three main ref- 
erences cited on this chapter bear the dates 
1893, 1896 and 1897, respectively. 

Among the statements open to question are 
the following: “The results of careful exami- 
nations made in all progressive countries prove 
conclusively that the school conditions are re- 
sponsible for a large part of the near-sighted- 
ness prevalent among children of the higher 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


school grades ”; “myopia is not often, if ever, 
inherited,” ete. (p. 221). Kotelmann is 
quoted approvingly to the effect that myopia 
is never found among primitive races. In re- 
gard to stuttering, the author states that 
“many, perhaps most, cases find an immedi- 
ate cause in imitation” (p. 265). In speaking 
of the rapid progress made by Filipino 
school children in learning a foreign language 
the author states (p. 296) that it would be 
“utterly impossible to make the same progress 
with ignorant adults.” That myopia is school- 
caused and never hereditary, that stuttering 
usually results from imitation, that children 
have greater learning capacity than adults 
are views which tradition has long sanctioned, 
but which recent investigations have thrown 
much doubt upon. 

Certain other passages are, perhaps, open 
to question in the same way, and objection 
might be taken in a few cases to the author’s 
selection of references. But to dwell on such 
minor points of criticism would be unfair, so 
carefully has the work in general been per- 
tormed. The treatment is authoritative and 
comprehensive, yet the style is easy, stimu- 
lating and interesting. The book will long 
remain a standard treatise, especially on the 
construction and equipment of school build- 
ings. 

Lewis M. TERMAN 


The Geology of Soils and Substrata with Spe- 
cial Reference to Agriculture, Estates and 
Sanitation. By Horace B. Woopwarp, 
F.R.S. London, Edward Arnold; New 
York, Longmans, Green & Co. 1913. 

The intent of the writer of this work, as 
noted in his preface, is “to provide such infor- 
mation relating to the land surface as will be 
useful to students and teachers of agriculture, 
to those occupied in the management of es- 
tates and farms, or in sanitary engineering 
works.” To do all this within a small octavo 
volume of but 366 pages is no small task and 
one that would be well-nigh if not quite im- 
possible for any but a restricted area such as 
is comprised within the limits of Great 
Britain. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


The author begins with a brief account of 
the aims and purposes of geology and the prep- 
aration of geological maps and soil surveys. 
He then passes to a discussion of the soils, 
their origin and fertility; the climatic condi- 
tions affecting them; their mineral and chem- 
ical composition and physical characteristics; 
drainage and irrigation; mineral fertilizers; 
forests and woodlands and the associated geo- 
logical features; orchards, gardens and vine- 
yards; geological considerations concerning 
estates; mineral rights; house sites with refer- 
ence to drainage and water supply; closing 
with a series of eleven chapters on the geo- 
logical formations of the various ages as oc- 
curring in England, with especial reference to 
the subjects previously treated. It is remarked 
that a map of the surface soil alone gives but a 
very imperfect idea of the capabilities of the 
land. Further, that no actual map showing 
the distribution in detail of the surface soils 
over any extended area has as yet been pub- 
lished, the so-called soil maps of the United 
States and Germany being in reality subsoil 
maps with indications of the nature and depth 
of the soil at particular spots. A good subsoil 
map, showing the variations in the strata, 
“whether drifts or the more regularly strati- 
fied formations, will always indicate the gen- 
eral distribution of the surface soils.” 

The most original portion of the book is that 
contained in the closing eleven chapters, in 
which all the principal geological formations 
of the kingdom are considered with reference 
to their soils, mineral resources, drainage and 
general availability for economic purposes. In 
this respect the work is quite unique, and, 
though local in its application, contains mat- 
ter of value to the general reader. Tlustra- 
tions are numerous, although, as is customary 
in works from the English press, line sketches 
preponderate over the half-tone reproductions 
from photographs, such as are so pronounced 
a feature of American works. 

Mr. Woodward, it will be recalled, is also 
the author of the “ History of the Geological 
Society of London,” and “The Geology of 
Water Supply.” 

George P. Merrinu 


SCIENCE 


627 
NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 
EUROPEAN METEOROLOGY 
European meteorologists have recently 


given much attention to aeronautical, dynam- 
ical and mountain meteorology and to atmos- 
pheric electricity. In aeronautical meteorol- 
ogy greatest attention is being given to wind 
structure and to detailed forecasts for aviators. 
Research in dynamical meteorology is now 
particularly directed towards finding the laws 
governing the connection between upper-air 
processes and the weather at the earth’s sur- 
face, with a view toward increased accuracy 
and range of weather forecasts. 

An important institution for the study of 
dynamic meteorology is the set of synoptic 
charts of the atmospheric conditions over 
Europe, prepared under the direction of Pro- 
fessor V. Bjerknes, of Leipzig, from the 
monthly international aerological observa- 
tions. Professor Bjerknes is the author of the 
still unfinished great work on “ Dynamic 
Meteorology and Hydrography ” which is be- 
ing prepared under the auspices of the Car- 
negie Institution of Washington. The vol- 
umes on statics and kinematics have already 
appeared; and two more on dynamics and 
thermodynamics are yet to come. 

In mountain meteorology, the fohn, local 
whirls and the difference in temperature be- 
tween mountains and the free air at equal 
elevations have recently been studied. 

Concerning atmospheric electricity, Mr. F. 
Schindelhauer in a thorough work entitled, 
“Uber die Electrizitiit der Niederschlige,” * 
has discussed the results of the registration of 
the electricity of precipitation at Potsdam, 
1909 to 1911. The electricity of precipitation 
is thought to be from the splitting up of large 
drops (Lenard waterfall effect), from the in- 
fluence of the charge of the air, or the result 
of friction with the electrified air (dirigible 
balloons are sometimes ignited from electricity 
thus generated). Dr. K. Kahler in an article 
entitled “Der Einfluss des Wetters auf die 


1Veréffentlichungen des Kon. Preussischen Met. 
Inst., 1913, No. 263. 


628 


Atmosphirische Electricitat,”* has pointed 
out that although weather affects atmospheric 
electricity the effects of the latter on the 
former are unknown. Mr. Carl Stérmer’s ex- 
pedition to Bossekop, February 28 to April 1, 
1913, secured 636 pairs of simultaneous photo- 
graphs of the aurora from points 27 kilometers 
apart, most of which are very satisfactory for 
computing with a large degree of accuracy the 
form, position and altitude of all the prin- 
cipal kinds of aurora. Prismatic and kine- 
matic photographs were also taken. The full 
results will be published in considerable detail 
later. 


SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE SEASONAL CORRELATIONS 


A CONTINUED article on this subject by Mr. 
R. C. Mossman, of the Argentine Meteorolog- 
ical Office, is now appearing in Symons’s 
Meteorological Magazine* Abnormal condi- 
tions in one “center of action” * are accom- 
panied by abnormal weather in others, and 
often indicate future conditions at distant 
points—a fact now used successfully in sea- 
sonal forecasts in India. A pronounced fea- 
ture of many correlations is their temporary 
character, this applying more particularly to 
pairs of stations not located in action centers. 
For instance, from 1876 to 1894 an excess of 
rainfall at Trinidad from April to September 
was generally followed by a deficiency in rain- 
fall during the next six months at Azo, Argen- 
tine Republic. Little correlation is shown 
before or after the above period. Java rain- 
fall from October to March, 1880 to 1909, was 
generally the reverse of Trinidad rainfall for 
the following six months. Thus an excess of 
rainfall at Java for the months October to 

2 Das Wetter, Berlin, 1913, pp. 49-56, 128-133, 
173-178. « 

*From Nature, London, 1913, Vol. 91, pp. 584- 
585 (with reproductions of some of the photo- 
graphs). Also Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 1913, 
pp. 410-412. 


“Vol. 48, pp. 2-6, 44-47, 82-85, 104-106, 119- 
124. 

° By ‘‘center of action’? is meant one of the 
more or less permanent cyclones or anticyclones in 
control of the atmospheric circulation over a large 
area—e. g., the Iceland cyclone, the Azores anti- 
cyclone. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


March gave indication of an excess to follow 
at Azo one year later. 


CHANGES OF CLIMATE IN THE SOUTHWEST 


Suc changes during historical time as in- 
dicated by tree rings and “ climatic terraces ” 
have recently received the attention of Messrs. 
A. E. Douglass’ and Ellsworth Huntington." 
Mr. Douglass found by a test extending over 
forty-three years that the radial thickness of 
the rings of the yellow pine of northern Ari- 
zona gives a measure of the rainfall in that 
region with an average accuracy of over 70 
per cent. Through examination of the rings 
of 100 trees, of which five were measured to 
the number of 400 rings and two to 500, a 
A-year and a 11.4-year variation, each 
amounting to 16 per cent. of the mean were 
found. Its plot derived from 492 years shows. 
two maxima which correspond in time with 
two maxima of rainfall in the 50 years of 
records on the south California coast. These 
in turn match with the major and minor 
maxima in the temperature of that region for 
the same period. The larger maximum of 
the latter occurs at the time of the sun-spot 
minimum as averaged for 125 years. Mr. 
Huntington supports these and his own results. 
from studies of tree rings with evidences from 
alluvial terraces (5 to 1,000 feet high) of the- 
rather dry mountainous regions of the south- 
west. These terraces are ascribed to varia- 
tions in stream erosion or lake level due to: 
variations in rainfall. Mr. Huntington has: 
discussed this subject fully in previous works 
(“Explorations in Turkestan” and “The: 
Pulse of Asia”) and intends soon to discuss: 
it with regard to America. 


®‘¢Pine Trees as Recorders of Variations in 
Rainfall,’’ Astron. and Astrophys. Soc. of Amer- 
ica. Abstract in Bull. Int. Inst. of Agric. and in 
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorologicat 
Society, 1913, pp. 244-245. 

7<The Shifting of the Climatic Zones as Ilus- 
trated in Mexico,’’ Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc., 1913,. 
pp. 1-12; Geogr. Journ., June, 1913; Quarterly: 
Journ. of the Roy. Met. Soc., 1913, pp. 245-246. 
“‘Secret of the Big Trees, Yosemite, Sequoia and 
General Grant National Parks,’’ Pub. U. S. Dept. 
of the Interior, 1913, 24 pp., 14 figs. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


CORONIUM 


THE discovery of the new gas “ coronium ” 


in the solar atmosphere from observations 
taken during the total solar eclipse of April 
17, 1912, as announced in the London Daily 
Citizen, August 5, 1918, marks a turning 
point in the search for this long-suspected gas. 
The periodic law of chemical elements, enun- 
ciated by Mendeléeff more than forty years 
ago, calls for this gas, giving it an atomic 
weight much less than that of hydrogen. 
From a study of the spectra of meteors and 
the aurora Dr. A. Wegener® has attempted to 
prove the existence of this gas (which he calls 
“geocoronium”) in the earth’s atmosphere. 
He concluded that at a height of about 70 
kilometers, this gas becomes an appreciable 
percentage of the atmosphere; that it increases 
to equality with hydrogen at about 200 kilo- 
meters, and eventually becomes practically 100 
per cent. at 400 or 500 kilometers altitude.’ 
Beyond this he considers interplanetary and 
interstellar space filled with this light-trans- 
mitting gas, inconceivably thin, but thicken- 
ing locally around the planets, stars and sun 
(solar corona). The actual chemical deter- 
mination of the presence of this gas in our 
atmosphere will be difficult, for at sea-level it 
is present (hypothetically, after Wegener) in 
but 0.00058 volume per cent. 


EXPLORATION OF THE INTERIOR OF GREENLAND 


Caprain Kocu and his three companions, 
who have just returned to Denmark from 
Greenland, were the first to accomplish the 
difficult feat of traversing Greenland at its 
widest part (lat. 72°). The head-blizzards 
first encountered and later the dazzling sun- 
light of the interior plateau correspond closely 
with the meteorological conditions encoun- 
tered on the rather similar antarctic continent. 
Greenland was first crossed in 1888 by Nansen 
at latitude 64°; Captain Peary crossed the 

®<<Untersuchungen tiber die Nature der obersten 
Atmosphiirenschichten,’’ Physikalische Zeitschrift, 
Leipzig, 1911, pp. 170-178, 214-222. 

°Cf. W. J. Humphreys, ‘‘Distribution of the 
Gases in the Atmosphere,’’ Bull. Mt. Weather Obs., 
1909, IL, 2. 


SCIENCE 


629 


northwestern end three times, 1892-1895, and 
A. de Quervain crossed at latitude 68° in 
1912. Long trips into the interior from the 
west coast were made in 1883 by Baron Nor- 
denskiédld at 68°, and in 1886 by Captain 
Peary at 69°. 


EARTHQUAKES AND RAINFALL 


AuTHoucH Ferdinand de Montessus de Bal- 
lore after a study of the rainfall conditions 
preceding 4,136 earthquakes, was unable to 
find any connection, Professor Omori has 
found an apparent relationship between the 
annual frequency of earthquakes at Tokyo 
and the amount of rainfall in northwestern 
Japan. The periods when earthquakes were 
infrequent but severe correspond in a striking 
manner with those when rainfall was deficient 
at Niigata and Akita on the Japan seacoast, 
while in years of maximum earthquake fre- 
quency at Tokyo, the amount of rain and 
snow falling in the north was much above the 
average.” 


NOTES 


Tue great heat in the middle west this 
summer broke all previous records for that 
section, both in duration and degree. For in- 
stance, the temperature at St. Joseph, Mo., 
from June 14 until September 9 exceeded 90 
degrees on all but fifteen days; on twenty-six 
days it exceeded 100 degrees and on ten 
days reached 104. The injurious effect of 
this heat spell was greatly accentuated by the 
general drought prevailing throughout the 
period. 


Datty wireless weather reports are being 
received at Melbourne from Dr. Mawson, in 
charge of the Australian Antarctic Expedition 
now exploring the coast of Antarctica. 

Prince GaLitzInge on July 18 became di- 
rector of the Nicholas Central Physical Ob- 
servatory, St. Petersburg, succeeding General 
M. Rykatchew, who retired. 

Dr. H. Moun, director of the Meteorological 
Institute of Norway since its foundation in 
1866, and professor of meteorology in the Uni- 

2 Nature, London, Vol. 91, p. 65. 


630 


versity of Christiania, has retired. Mr. Askel 
S. Steen succeeds him in these capacities. 
Cuartes F, Brooks 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
RELIABILITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES 


Ir we consider grades scientifically as a 
scale of measurements, two important ques- 
tions arise: (1) How fine a scale of units is 
distinguishable, and (2) What proportion of 
persons will ordinarily fall under each unit? 

First, let us examine the question as to the 
size of distinguishable steps. The answer to 
this question can be determined by the relia- 
bility with which marks can be assigned. Re- 
cent studies have revealed an exceedingly wide 
divergence in the grades assigned by different 
teachers to the same papers. Starch and 
Elliott’ found that the grades assigned to two 
English papers by 142 teachers of English 
ranged in the case of one paper from 64 to 98 
with a probable error of 4.0, and in the case 
of the other paper from 50 to 98, with a prob- 
able error of 4.8. This wide range is not due 
to the fact that these were language papers, 
since the grades of a mathematics paper as- 
signed by 118 teachers of mathematics ranged 
from 28 to 92, with a probable error of 7.5 
points.” 

What bearing do these facts have upon the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


such wide ranges of differences? Four major 
factors enter into the problem which, I believe, 
fully account for the situation: (1) Differ- 
ences among the standards of different schools, 
(2) Differences among the standards of differ- 
ent teachers, (3) Differences in the relative 
values placed by different teachers upon vari- 
ous elements in a paper, and (4) Differences 
due to the pure inability to distinguish be- 
tween closely allied degrees of merit. 

How much of the variation is due to each 
factor? To determine the strength of the first 
factor we must find out the range of variation 
in the grades assigned by teachers in the same 
institution and departments instead of differ- 
ent institutions. To this end I obtained ten 
papers written in the final examination in 
freshman English at the University of Wis- 
consin, and had them graded independently 
by ten instructors of the various sections of 
freshman English. An effort is made by co- 
operation among the instructors concerned to 
have as much uniformity as possible in the 
conduct of these sections. The same final ex- 
amination is given to all. 

Table I. gives the marks assigned by each 
instructor to each paper. The first column 
contains the grades assigned by the teachers 
under whom the students took the course. 
Papers 6 and 10 were obtained from the class 
of one instructor and all the other papers from 


reliability of marks and how are we to explain the class of another instructor. These ten 
TABLE I 
Instructors Coefficient 
Papers Average Mean of Varia- 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 bility 
1 85 86 88 85 75 80 88 87 85 87 84.6 2.8 -084 
2 77 80 87 80 62 82 82 87 85 87 80.0 4.6 057 
3 74 78 78 75 69 84 91 83 79 80 79.1 4.4 -056 
4 |\65 65 62 20 26 60 55 68 55 50 52.6 12.3 233 
5 ‘68 82 78 82 64 88 85 86 78 80 79.1 5.7 .070 
6 94 87 93 87 83 77 89 88 88 89 87.5 3.2 .036 
ak 88 90 95 87 79 85 96 91 87 89 88.7 2.6 .029 
8 80 84 73 79 72 83 85 91 UU. 76 80.0 4.6 -058 
9 70 70 68 50 44 65 75 81 79 79 68.1 9.1 SUES: 
10 93 92 85 92 81 83 92 89 84 85 87.6 4.0 .045 
Av. 79.4 | 81.4 | 79.8 | 73.7 | 65.5 | 78.7 | 83.8] 85.1 | 79.7 | 80.2 5.3 074 


General average 78.7. 


1D. Starch and KE. C. Elliott, School Review, 20: 
442-457, 


2D. Starch and EH. C, Elliott, School Review, 21: 
254-259, 


OctToBER 31, 1913] 


papers were graded after each instructor had 
graded the papers from his own sections. 

(1) The table reveals an exceedingly wide 
range of marks, a range just as large as that 
of the English and mathematics papers re- 
ferred to above. The average of the mean 
variations is 5.8 as compared with an average 
of 5.4 of the English and mathematics papers. 
(2) The mean variations are fairly uniform 
for all papers except 4 and 9. These two, no 
doubt, vary so much more widely than the 
others because both have an average below the 
passing grade. Judgments of such papers are 
more apt to be haphazard since, from the prac- 
tical point of view, it makes no difference what 
the grade is, so long as the paper is consid- 
ered a failure. But the matter is quite serious 
in case of a paper like number 9 which is con- 
sidered above passing by six and below pass- 
ing by four instructors. (3) A third point of 
interest is the fact that the teachers under 
whom the students took the course grades in 
column 1, did not succeed in grading the 
papers any more accurately than the other in- 
structors who did not know the students at all. 
The mean variation of the grades in column 1 
from the average of each paper is practically 
as large, 4.7, as the mean variation of all to- 
gether, 5.8. (4) There is a very noticeable 
difference in the standard of grading. Two 
instructors, 4 and 5, graded on the whole very 
much lower than the average and Nos. 7 and 
8 graded higher than the average. These 
deviations can be found readily by comparing 
each instructor’s average with the general 
average. 

In order to eliminate the variation in the 
marks due to this difference in standards 
among the instructors, all the marks in Table 
I. were weighted by the amount that each in- 
structor’s average differed from the general 
average. The weighted values thus obtained 
are presented in Table IJ. The decimals were 
dropped in the transposition. 

The differences in Table IJ. therefore repre- 
sent the differences in the relative evaluation 
of the papers themselves irrespective of 
whether an instructor marks severely or leni- 
ently. It will be noticed that the mean varia- 


SCIENCE 


631 


tion is smaller, though not as much smaller as 
one might anticipate, being 4.3 as compared 
with 5.3 in Table I. 


TABLE II 

rs Instructors aa lic 
e | f 3s 

a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 10 < |4 
1 | 85 | 84] 87] 90/89 | 80} 83 | 81 | 86 | 86 | 85.1 | 2.5 
2 |77|78)|77 | 85 | 76 | 82 | 77 | 81 | 86 | 86 | 80.5 | 3.5 
3 |741761|77 | 80 | 83 | 84 | 86 | 85 | 80 | 79 | 80.4 | 3.3 
4 |65| 63 | 61 | 25 | 40 | 60 | 50 | 49 | 56 | 49 | 51.8 | 9.2 
5 |68|801|77 |87|78 | 88 | 80 | 79 | 79 | 79 | 79.5 | 2.9 
6 194/85 | 92 | 92 | 97 | 77 | 84 | 83 | 89 | 88 | 88.1 | 4.7 
7 |88|88|94 | 92 | 93 | 85 | 81 | 85 | 88 | 88 | 89.2 | 2.6 
8 | 80 | 82 | 72 | 84 | 86 | 83 | 80 | 85 | 78 | 75 | 80.5 | 3.5 
9 |70 | 68 | 67 | 55 | 58 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 | 78 | 68.5 | 6.0 
10 | 93 | 90 | 84 | 97 | 95 | 83 | 87 | 83 | 85 | 84 88.1 | 4.5 
Av. 4.3 


The next step is to separate the third and 
fourth factors, z. e., how much of the variation 
is due to the inability to distinguish between 
closely allied degrees of merit, and how much 
is due to differences in relative value placed 
by different instructors upon various aspects 
of a given paper, such as form, neatness, 
clearness, etc. 

The accuracy of the ability to distinguish 
between various shades of merit may be ascer- 
tained by having the same person give two or 
more evaluations of the same papers sepa- 
rated by sufficiently long intervals of time, so 
that the details and identity of the papers have 
been forgotten. I have tested this point by 
determining how closely an instructor is able 
to agree with his own grades. Table III. gives 
pairs of grades assigned at different intervals 
to the same papers by the same instructor. In 
each case the papers were from the instructors’ 
own classes. The aim was to have ten papers 
re-graded, but in some instances not that many 
were available. 

Table III. shows that the difference in the 
marks assigned to the same papers by the same 
instructor is on the average 4.4 points, or in 
terms of mean variation 2.2 points. This dif- 
ference is as large in one sort of papers as in 
another. It is as large in mathematics as in 
language or in science. This was to be ex- 


632 


pected in view of the fact stated at the begin- 
ning that mathematical grades are no more 
accurate than any other grades. The marks 
of the second mathematics instructor are so 
close, not because it was mathematics that he 
was grading, but because this instructor had a 
purely mechanical method of grading, of de- 
ducting so many points for each kind of error. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


weighting the second set of marks by the dif- 
ference between the averages of the two mark- 
ings. Without giving these weighted values 
in a separate table it will be sufficient to say 
that the average difference thus computed is 
8.5 as compared with the average difference 
of 4.4 in Table III., or in terms of mean varia- 
tion, 1.75 and 2.2, respectively. 


TABLE III 
Advanced Psychol- | Elem. Psychol- | yfath , Interval | Math., Interval | English, Inter- | German, Interval | Elem. Psychol- 
ogy, Interval 2 Yrs.| °8Y, Interval 9 Mos. 9 Mos. val 6 Mos. 6 Mos. ogy, Interval 
2 Weeks 4 Yrs. 
1st 2d |Dif.| 1st 2d |Dif.| 1st | 2d | Dif.) ist 2d |Dif.) Ist 2d |Dif.) 1st 2d | Dif. | 1st | 2d | Dif. 
85 |87 | 2/85 |79 | 6/36 |51 15 |56 |60 |4 |70 |75 |5 |79 | 70 9 |70 |80 |10 
76 |80 | 4)87 |83 | 4/61 |67 |6 |70 |73 |3 |}80 |}86 |6 |90 |77 |13 |93 |91 | 2 
83 |80 | 3/90 |93 | 3 | 77 \75 |2 |88 |88 |0 | 77.5) 73 4.5|)82 |84 | 2 
89 | 90 LONE 92s 2G Li Gam Gh al SSeai SOR 2a kon On |P2ne Sonne Roo 4 |75 |82 | 7 
84 | 83 1/83 |88 | 5/73 |79 | 6 |62 |62 |0 |77 |76 |1 |78 | 80 2 (75 |86 /11 
93 |88 | 5|78 |79 1/81 |86 | 5 |89 |87 |2 |85 |86 |1 | 70 | 61 9 |78 |81 | 3 
84 |75 |9/93 |89 | 4)|71 |63 | 8 |82 |80 |2 |65 |65 |0 |72.5)58 |14.5)88 190 | 2 
93/88 |5/88 |88 |0]|71 |79 | 8 |53 |56 13 |68 |75 |7 |91 |86 5 |83 |78 | 5 
89 |85 | 4/78 |76 | 2/96 |87 |9 |75 |75 |0 62.5 | 60 2.5) 93 |93 | 0 
92. |86 | 6/83 |80 | 3/83 |90 | 7 |67 |64 |38 66 | 65 1 |83 |87 | 4 
Av. 86.8] 84.2] 4 185.5 | 84.7| 3 ! 70.3! 74.3| 7.8! 71.9 | 72.2 | 2.1! 76.0 | 78.4 | 2.8: 77.1| 71.1) 6.5! 82.0/85.2] 4.6 
Average of all the differences 4.4 points. @ 


But this does not mean that his grades were 
more accurate or just. Another instructor 
might with perfect justice deduct either more 
or less for the same kind of error. All that it 
means is that this instructor was able by 
means of his mechanical method to match his 
own marks fairly closely. Furthermore, we 
must not infer that the other instructors had 
graded their papers carelessly either the first 
or the second time, or both times. As a mat- 
ter of fact, each question had been graded in 
both markings of all papers except the second 
and third group of psychology papers and the 
English papers. And these are not essentially 
different from the rest. The results, while ob- 
tained from only seven instructors (more were 
not available for the purpose) are quite repre- 
sentative and reliable as any one familiar with 
statistical methods can determine from the 
above data. Results from twice or three 
times as many persons would not be materially 
different. 

We may eliminate one further factor from 
Table III., namely, the difference due to a 
change in an instructor’s standard after an 
interval of time. This may be eliminated by 


Of the four factors stated at the outset, each 
contributes the following amount to the total 
variation: The general mean variation or 
probable error of grades assigned by teachers 
in different schools is 5.4 points. The mean 
variation of grades assigned by teachers in 
the same department and institution is 5.3. 
The mean variation of the latter, after elimi- 
nating the effect of high or low personal stand- 
ards, is 4.8. The mean variation of grades as- 
signed at different times by the same teachers 
to their own papers is 2.2. Hence the largest 
factors are the second, third and fourth. The 
fourth contributes 2.2 points, the third 2.1 
points, the second 1.0 point and the first prac- 
tically nothing toward the total of 5.4 points 
of mean variation. 

Now what do all these results mean? How 
small divisions on our scale are practically 
usable? As a question of psychological meth- 
odology the units of any scale of measure- 
ments, if a single measurement with the scale 
is to have objective validity, should be of such 
a size that three fourths of all the measure- 
ments of the same quantity shall fall within 
the limits of one division of the scale. For 


‘OOTOBER 31, 1913] 


example, if the marks assigned by 75 out of 
100 teachers to a given paper lie between 80 
and 90, then the unit of our scale should be 
ten points. Any smaller division would have 
little or no objective significance. Of course, 
almost indefinitely small differences in merit 
can be measured if an indefinite number of 
independent estimates is made. 

Now what are the actual facts with regard 
to the size of distinguishable steps in the 
marking scale? We have seen above that the 
mean variation of the estimates of a teacher 
in matching his own marks, after eliminating 
his own change in standard, is 1.75 points. 
According to our principle that if a unit is to 
‘be large enough in range to include three 
fourths of all his estimates of the same quan- 
tity, then the smallest distinguishable step 
that can be used with reasonable validity is 
‘23 times the mean variation (1.75) or prob- 
cable error, which would be 4.8, or roughly 5 
points.” 

Hence our marking scale, instead of being 
100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, etc., should be 100, 95, 
90, 85, 80, etc. These are the smallest divi- 
‘sions that can be used with reasonable confi- 
‘dence by a teacher in grading his own pupils. 
This means that on a scale of passing grades 
of 70 to 100 only seven division points are dis- 
tinguishable. This substantially confirms the 
‘scheme followed in many institutions that the 
marking scale should be A+, A—, B+, B—, 
C+, C—, D+, D— and failure. No 
medium A, B,C or D may be used. Letters or 
symbols are perhaps preferable to such desig- 
nations as Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor be- 
cause of the moral implication in the latter. 

Even as fine a scale as this might perhaps 
‘better be replaced by a coarser one computed 
on the mean variation of 4.3 points, which is 


®To those who may be interested in the basis of 
this computation I may say that a range twice the 
size of the probable error includes one half of the 
‘series of estimates, and a range 23 times the mean 
variation or 3 times the probable error includes 
‘approximately three fourths of the series of esti- 
mates. In practise the mean variation and the 
probable error are used interchangeably, but the 
former is usually a trifle larger than the latter. 


SCIENCE 


633 


the mean variation of different teachers in the 
same department and institution after the ef- 
fect of the personal standard has been elimi- 
nated. See Table II. On this basis the range 
of a division on the scale should be 4.3 times 
22 or approximately 12 points. The reason 
for this larger step would be that this is as 
closely as different competent teachers agree 
on the evaluation of the same papers. One 
teacher may be as much in the right for grad- 
ing a paper 80 as another for prading it 90. 
The only ultimate criterion is the consensus 
or average of estimates. This coarser scale 
would allow for only three divisions of pass- 
able grades, A, B and C. But the finer scale 
proposed above can be used with reasonable 
accuracy by a teacher in grading his own 
pupils in the light of his own viewpoint. 

Of course, any one may use as fine a scale as 
he pleases provided one recognizes the range 
of the probable error of the scale used. The 
fine scale, if conscientiously used, probably 
tends to stimulate the making of finer distinc- 
tions than a coarse scale does. However, the 
chief objections to a very fine scale are: (1) 
An illusion of accuracy, (2) injustice to the 
student of supposed differences where there is 
no appreciable difference or where the relative 
merit might be just reversed, (3) embarrass- 
ment to the teacher due to this injustice. 

If we admit the soundness of our reasoning 
it may seem to many teachers that even the 
finer scale of five point steps is rather crude 
and that the evaluation of a pupil’s attain- 
ment is very coarse. But not so. As a matter 
of fact, the steps of the proposed scale are very 
fine and the measurement of achievement 
would be fairly accurate. 

Apropos of this point we may compare the 
accuracy of making measurements of a similar 
type in an entirely different field. A mechanic 
through constant use has acquired a fairly 
definite mental image of an inch or a foot. 
Yet a mechanic’s estimate of the length of a 
rod is not an iota more accurate than a 
teacher’s estimate of an examination paper. 
I tested this problem by having eleven experi- 
enced carpenters estimate in inches as closely 
as they could the length of five rods varying 


634 


in length from ten inches to twenty-three 
inches. These ‘‘ measurements” based on 
visual impressions are given in Table IV. 
The validity of these measurements can be 
readily compared with the validity of the 
grades in Table I. by means of the coefficient 
of variability which is computed by dividing 
the mean variation by the average. The aver- 
age coefficient of variability of the grades (last 
column in Table I.) is almost identical with 
that of the rods, .07 and .06, respectively. 
Hence measurements made by means of a 
mental scale are subject to the same amount 
of inaccuracy in one field as in another. It 
simply means that the mind can not discrimi- 
nate any more accurately. If we are attempt- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


simply using the same scale for measuring 
something of similar nature. 

Then it has been suggested that the grades 
in Table I. must necessarily be inaccurate be- 
cause these instructors did not know the stu- 
dents who wrote the papers. But just on that 
account they would be all the more able to 
give an unprejudiced evaluation of the papers 
as papers. Many teachers have the practise 
of placing the papers so that when they pick 
one up for grading they do not know whose 
paper it is. If then the teacher wishes to raise 
or lower the mark according to the diligence 
or negligence of the student, well and good, 
but that does not mean that the grade of the 
paper will be any more accurate. 


TABLE IV 
Length Carpenters Mean |Coefficient 
of Ay. | Varia-| of Varis- 
Rods 1 2 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 tion bility 
10 11 10 10 10 8 9 9 9 8.5 9 8.5 hil -66 -07 
15 14 14 12 13.5 | 12.5 14 13 14 13 13 14 13.4 6 -05 
17 17 16 15 14 14 16 15 15 17.5 15 17 15.6 | 1.1 -07 
20 20 21 18 22 18 20 19 17.5 | 20 18 19 19.3 | 1.2 -06 
23 24 24 21 21 20 22 21 22 24.5 24 22 22.3 | 1.3 -06 
Ay. | | |.062 


ing to evaluate a paper by a scale of 100, 99, 
98, 97, 96, 95, etc., we are attempting the im- 
possible. The mind simply can not discrimi- 
nate between a paper of grade 85 and another 
one of grade 86. If the second is appreciably 
better it more likely ought to have a grade of 
90. The situation is analogous to asking a 
person to estimate the width of a room in 
inches when you should ask him to estimate it 
in yards. Estimates in terms of large units, 
of course, do not have greater absolute ac- 
curacy, but they are more apt to be uniform. 

Several criticisms have been suggested to 
me in discussing the results presented in this 
paper. For example, some teachers state that 
they do not attach much importance to the 
final examination, but grade the student largely 
by his other work, such as themes, daily reci- 
tations, etc., and that the situation is very dif- 
ferent in those matters. This objection is be- 
side the point because you are simply shifting 
the responsibility to something else. You are 


A third suggestion is that with a fine scale 
of marking the teacher is able to impose a 
penalty for shiftless work and indifferent atti- 
tude. But with a coarser scale on which the 
steps really mean something it is: possible to 
attach a penalty of real significance. 

The second part of this paper relates to the 
distribution of grades. How frequently should 
each division of the scale be used when as- 
signing marks to large groups of pupils? By 
various psychological reasons, which J shall 
not state here,* it can be shown that the dis- 
tribution of grades among large groups of stu- 
dents who have not been subject to special se- 
lection, should follow the probability curve. 
Thus the distribution of marks of college 
freshmen, who, strictly speaking, are a more 
or less select group, should, and in fact does, 
conform to the probability curve. Fig. 1 


*See Dearborn, W. F., ‘‘School and University 
Grades,’’ Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, 
No. 368. 


OcToBER 31, 1913] 


shows how closely the two agree. The curve 
representing the distribution of marks is based 
on approximately 5,000 grades assigned to 
freshmen in the college of letters and science 
in the University of Wisconsin.” 

Theoretically, then, on the basis of the prob- 
ability curve, 3 per cent. of the students 
should receive A + (97-100), 7 per cent. A — 
(93-96), 16 per cent. B+ (89-92), 23 per 
cent. B — (85-88), 23 per cent. C+ (81-84), 
16 per cent. C —(77-80), 5 per cent. D+ 
(73-76), 3 per cent. D— (70-72) and 4 per 
cent. failure. The percentage of failures is 
largely arbitrary and should perhaps be higher 
than here indicated. 

The problem of distribution, however, is 
more complex in the upper classes after con- 
siderable elimination has occurred during the 
freshman and sophomore years. Two extreme 
positions have been held. Professor Meyer* 
holds that the nature of the distribution in 
upper classes is the same in spite of the elimi- 
nation, that although the curve becomes con- 
tracted at the base it remains the same in 
shape. President Foster,’ on the other hand, 
holds that the curve should have a very abrupt 
drop from the middle toward the lower end, 
on the belief that the university rigorously se- 
lects only those in the upper half of the curve. 
Neither position is entirely justifiable, for the 
reason that there is elimination during the 
freshman and sophomore years largely on the 
basis of intellectual fitness, and that this elim- 
ination is not exclusively from the lower half 
or from the lowest quarter, but is distributed 
over a large portion of the curve. The only 
way to determine the form of the curve is by 
finding the actual facts in the case. That is, 
in what part of the curve does the elimination 
occur, and how many are eliminated at each 
point? 

I have computed this on the basis of the 
curve in Fig. 1 by taking the group of stu- 


‘Dearborn, W. F., ‘‘The Relative Standing of 
Pupils in the High School and in the University,’’ 
Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 312, 
plate I. 

° Meyer, M., Scrmncz, N. 8., 28: 246-250. 

™Foster, W. T., SCIENCE, N. S., 35: 887-889. 


SCIENCE 


635 


dents there represented and finding out which 
ones dropped out and what their average 
grades were. Fig. 2 starts with the probabil- 


65-68 69-72 


73-78 7880 GB B88 BIL TK MO 


Fie. 1 


ity curve and shows what the shape of it is 
after the elimination in the first two years. 
The curve shows that elimination is greatest 
at the lower extreme and gradually becomes 
less up to the grade of 93, above which there 
is almost no elimination. 


6568 695727976 77-80 81-84 B89 BFL «—«T-H—*F7-/00 


Fie. 2 


Theoretically, on the basis of this modified 
curve, the distribution of grades in the upper 
two years should be as follows: 4 per cent. of 
the students should receive A +, 10 per cent. 
A—, 20 per cent. B+, 24 per cent. B—, 22 


636 


per cent. O-+, 11 per cent. C—, 4 per cent. 
D-+-, 2.5 per cent. D— and 2.5 per cent. fail- 
ure; or using only the four large steps, 14 per 
cent. should receive A, 44 per cent. B, 33 per 
cent. C, 6.5 per cent. D and 2.5 per cent. 
failure. 

Fig. 8 shows how closely the actual distribu- 
tion of the grades of upper classmen coincides 
with the theoretical distribution here com- 
puted. The continuous line is the theoretical 
distribution and the broken line is the actual 
distribution of 5,404 grades assigned to upper 
classmen in the college of letters and science 
in the University of Wisconsin. The latter 
are taken by permission from the unpublished 
report of Dean Birge. 

The adoption of a uniform scale of grades 
as well as a uniform standard in the frequency 
with which the different grades are assigned 
is a pressing need among colleges and secon- 
dary schools. These ends could be attained 
by adopting the scale of eight passing grades, 
or the coarser one, for reasons given in the 
earlier part of this paper, and by having each 
teacher and each institution compare the fre- 
quency of the various grades assigned with 
the theoretical frequency. Then an A+ ora 
B— would have more nearly the same signifi- 
cance under different teachers and in different 
institutions than they have at the present time. 

Daniet STARCH 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
ROCHESTER MEETING 


THE forty-eighth annual meeting of the Amer- 
ican Chemical Society was held at Rochester, New 
York, September 8 to 12. This is the first meet- 
ing held in September under the newly adopted 
constitution, and the large number present and 
the enthusiasm of the meeting amply justify the 
change in date from the Christmas holidays to the 
fall of the year. 

Below will be found titles of the papers given 
at the meeting, with such abstracts as could be 
obtained. A study of the list shows a number of 
valuable contributions in both theoretical and ap- 
plied chemistry. Most of these papers will be 
published in full in the journals of the society. 

A complimentary dinner was given by the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


Rochester Section to the council on the evening of 
September 8, and following this dinner was held 
the annual council meeting of the society. Charles 
L. Parsons was elected secretary of the society, 
and Dr. A. P. Hallock, treasurer, for a period of 
three years, under the revised constitution. W. A. 
Noyes was elected editor of the Journal of the 
American Chemical Society, and the board of as- 
sociate editors was continued, with the exception 
of H. P. Talbot and A. A. Noyes, who asked to 
be relieved of this duty. W. Lash Miller, of the 
University of Toronto, was elected to the board 
with special reference to physical chemistry. M. 
C. Whitaker was elected editor of the Journal of 
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, and the 
board of associate editors was continued and the 
editorial staff strengthened by the addition of two 
assistant editors. A. M. Patterson was reelected 
editor of Chemical Abstracts, and J. J. Miller and 
KE. J. Crane associate editors. 

The first general session was held in the as- 
sembly hall of the Eastman Kodak Company, Ko- 
dak Park, on Tuesday morning, and was opened by 
a cordial address of welcome by Mayor Edgerton, 
and replied to by President Little. Papers were 
presented as indicated below. 

At the conclusion of the morning session the 
members and their guests were entertained at 
luncheon by the Eastman Kodak Company. After 
luncheon the manufacturing department of the 
Kodak Company was inspected by the members 
present, who were divided into groups of fourteen 
for the purpose and placed under the guidance of 
members of the Eastman Company’s technical 
staff. This opportunity to see one of the most 
highly developed chemical industries in America 
was thoroughly appreciated. On Tuesday eve- 
ning, the members were entertained by the Roch- 
ester Section at a smoker, the program for which 
had been prepared under the able direction of M. 
H. Hisenhart, assisted by other members of the 
local section, who provided an extensive program 
and elaborate feast for the occasion. Each guest 
was decked out in a commodious white apron, on 
which was inscribed in bold letters his name and 
address, and also wore a yellow Chinese mandarin 
cap with pigtail. The hall was decorated with 
flags, and contained many small balloons filled with 
hydrogen, which, as their buoyancy diminished, af- 
forded special opportunities for amusement of the 
guests. Unusually attractive songbooks had been 
printed in the works of the Kodak Company, bear- 
ing the pin of the society in colors. Three other 
attractive souvenirs were distributed to each guest. 


OcTOBER 31, 1913] 


The smoker program was arranged with great care 
and consisted of solos by both local and profes- 
sional talent, interspersed with music from an 
orchestra, songs from a membership quartette, in- 
teresting and instructive moving pictures, and sev- 
eral_impromptu parades by guests. The entire 
function was most thoroughly organized and exe- 
euted and will stand as a monument to the skill of 
the Rochester Section. On Wednesday night, 
President Little’s address was given in the East 
High School, which was thrown open to the public. 
The President’s address was a most authentic and 
comprehensive treatment of the subject of re- 
search in America, and its statements of the ex- 
tent and thoroughness of this development in our 
more progressive industries will be an enlighten- 
ment to all who read it. The address is printed in 
the October number of the Journal of Industrial 
and Engineering Chemistry, and a careful reading 
will undoubtedly suggest to delinquent American 
manufacturers that serious and genuine industrial 
research will offer the only means to overcome 
foreign competition and antiquated methods and 
products. 

The annual banquet was held on Thursday night 
at the Powers Hotel. Dr. L. H. Baekeland acted 
as toastmaster, and the principal speakers were 
President Rees, of the University of Rochester, 
Edward W. Morley, honorary president of the 
eighth International Congress, President A. D. 
Little, C. H. Herty, of the University of North 
Carolina, H. E. Howe, of Bausch and Lomb Op- 
tical Company, S. L. Bigelow, of Ann Arbor, and 
Secretary C. L. Parsons. A delightful feature of 
the banquet was the orchestra music and a num- 
ber of soprano solos. With the menu was distri- 
buted to each member present an engraving en- 
titled ‘‘The Alchemist,’’ which will long be a re- 
minder of the Rochester meeting. 

The excursions to the plants of the Bausch and 
Lomb Optical Company, Taylor Instrument Com- 
pany, Curtice Brothers Company, J. Hungerford 
Smith Company, Moerlback Brewery, German-Amer- 
ican Button Company, Genesee Reduction Company, 
Municipal Incinerator, Stecker Lithographic Com- 
pany, and others, under the general direction of 
Mr, J. E. Woodland, chairman of the factory ex- 
cursions committee, proved to be one of the most 
important features of the annual meeting. Roch- 
ester, being an industrial center, is admirably sit- 
uated to provide this interesting and instructive 
feature of the program. 

The Entertainment Committee had also made 
ample provision for the entertainment of the lady 


SCIENCE 


637 


members and visitors in the form of a reception at 
the University Club, a card party at the Century 
Club, an excursion to Irondequoit Bay with lunch- 
eon at the Newport House, and numerous automo- 
bile excursions through the city and neighborhood 
of Rochester. 

The success of the meeting is due to the work of 
the local committees and it was the unanimous 
opinion of the visiting members that to the Roch- 
ester Section belongs the credit of organizing and 
administering to the minutest detail the innumer- 
able features which contributed to the complete 
success of the forty-eighth annual meeting. 

The papers presented follow. 


GENERAL PROGRAM 


General meeting of all divisions and sections 
was held in Assembly Hall, Kodak Park. 
The following papers were presented: 


JAMES OTIS HANDY: Copper-covered or Copper-clad 
Steel. The Manufacture, Properties and Uses of 
Composite Metal made by Alloying or Welding 
Copper and Steel. 

Copper is known to resist atmospheric corrosion 
better than zine, tin or tin and lead alloyed. Not- 
withstanding this, copper has been very little used 
as a protective coating for iron or steel. Processes 
have been recently perfected for making copper- 
clad steel. In one process the copper is alloyed to 
the steel and in the other it is welded. The ad- 
vantages of the welded process are: great uniform- 
ity, high conductivity and a perfect union without 
loss of the characteristic properties of electro- 
lytic copper or of high-grade soft steel. 

Microphotographs show clearly the difference be- 
tween an alloy union of copper and iron and a 
weld. The line of contrast in the latter case is 
very sharply defined, while in the former there is a 
gradation or shading of one metal into the other. 

Alloys of copper and iron have lower conduc- 
tivity than either copper or iron, therefore welded 
copper and iron which contains no alloy is superior 
for electrical purposes and for other uses as well 
because of its uniformity. 

The use of this material for roofing, for culverts 
and other sheet-metal products is sure to greatly 
increase. 

When exposed in the Pittsburgh atmosphere a 
sheet of copper .04 inch thick lost less than .1. 
per cent. in 21 months and a copper-clad steel 
sheet .06 inch thick lost less than .05 per cent. 
There was no excessive rusting of steel at the 
sheared edges of the copper-clad sheet. 


638 


Potassium cyanide solution is a solvent for 
copper and was used as such and as an etching 
medium in the study of copper-clad steels. 


C. E. KENNETH MEES, D.Se.: The Physical Chem- 
istry of Photographic Development. 
Photographie development depends on the fact 

that certain reducing agents can reduce grains of 

emulsified silver bromide which have been exposed 
to light, but not grains which have not been exposed 
to light. 

The function of exposure is to produce a nucleus 
which enables silver to be precipitated with a lower 
reduction potential of the developer than would 
be necessary if no nucleus were present. 

The energy required to produce this nucleus is 
so small that only one or two molecules per grain 
ean be affected by the exposure. 

The velocity of development follows the com- 
mon type of equation for a monomolecular reac- 
tion, derived from the surface as the variable; it is 
conditioned chiefly by diffusion processes. 


BERNARD C. HESSE: The Patent Expert and the 

Chemical Manufacturer. 

Comparison of the general practise of Ameri- 
can chemical manufacturers, in regard to patent- 
able inventions, with European practise, shows 
that the latter provides for more care in exami- 
nation of the prior art, in the preparation and 
prosecution of the specification and in the pro- 
tection of rights under a granted patent than 
does the former. 

The manifold advantages of having a patent 
expert, better called a patent chemist, primarily 
charged with the responsibility of attending to 
the above important details as well as in acting 
as a connecting link between the principal, the 
inventor, the counsel and the patent office are par- 
ticularly emphasized and their advantages illus- 
trated by reference to some actual cases; further 
duties, such as systematic watch over progress in 
the art, in general, as well as in the particular 
field of the principal and for his benefit, are also 
pointed out. The patent chemist may or may not 
be an integral part of the working staff, but he 
should be called upon at every new manufactur- 
ing or other step on the part of the principal. 


Henry LErrMan: In Commemoration of the Cen- 
tennial of the Publication of the Berzelian 
System of Symbols. Will be published in 
Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc. 


Grorce A. Soper: The Utilization of Sewage. 
The authorities charged with the making of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 983 


plans for the disposal of sewage are frequently 
met by a public demand that the sewage shall be 
used as fertilizer. The belief that a large manur- 
ial value can be recovered is based upon the 
former belief of scientists and has been kept 
alive by novelists and other misguided persons. 
The fact is that the manurial value of sewage has 
been greatly overestimated. Sewage contains use- 
ful fertilizing ingredients, but experience shows 
that, like the gold in sea water, it costs more to 
extract them than they are worth. 

Sewage works which are capable of utilizing 
the manurial ingredients are of two classes: 
First, those in which the sewage is applied di- 
rectly to land, as in agriculture, and, second, 
those in which the utilizable ingredients are ex- 
tracted by mechanical means, such as screening 
and sedimentation. Neither process has thus far 
proved profitable. 

In the sanitary disposal of sewage, the manage- 
ment of the settleable impurities termed sludge is 
considered to be the point of central difficulty. 
In order to extract the manurial ingredients in 
sewage, it will be necessary to devise some method 
for the production of denser sludge than is now 
obtainable and a satisfactory process for the 
further concentration of the solid matters in the 
sludge should be looked for. 

All recent contributions of science to the art of 
sewage disposal have been directed almost exclu- 
sively to the disposal of the wastes without of- 
fense and as little expense as possible, the idea 
being to get rid of the sewage and not to attempt 
to make use of its manurial value. 


DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 


H. E. Barnard, Chairman 
Glen F. Mason, Secretary 
H. E. Barnarp: Laboratory Control of the Food 

Industry. 

The chemist is the technical adviser of the food 
manufacturer, both on practical questions that 
come up in the course of daily operations and on 
all points having to do with food laws. The 
canner and packer are just realizing that their in- 
dustry is a technical, not a rule-of-thumb business 
and are establishing central laboratories in which 
much of the construction work in industry is being 
done. 


F. C. Coox: Bowillon Cubes. 

Ten samples of cubes collected on the New York 
market in the summer of 1912 were analyzed, with 
the following results: 


OctToBER 31, 1913] 


The water averaged 5 per cent., the fat 1-4.5 
per cent., the ash 50-74 per cent., which is prac- 
tically all sodium chloride. The nitrogen bodies 
and undetermined material amount to 20-40 per 
cent. The P.O, varied from .4 to 1.8 per cent., 
the nitrogen from 2.1 to 3.6 per cent., and the 
total creatinin from .49 to 1.67 per cent. The 
cubes consist of two thirds salt, the rest being 
meat extract and plant extract. A cube prepared 
largely from meat extract with little plant ex- 
tract gives high P,O., total nitrogen and total 
ereatinin figures. 

Bouillon cubes are extensively advertised and 
are sold on account of their flavoring and stimu- 
lating properties, rather than for any slight food 
value they may possess. The large per cent. of 
sodium chloride which need not exceed 65 per cent. 
is used to furnish body to the cube and to give a 
salty taste to the cup of water in which the cube 
is dissolved. 

Bouillon is a clear broth, the basis of which is 
meat, consequently a true bouillon cube should 
show high creatinin and total nitrogen figures 
and should be prepared entirely or largely from 
meat stock in addition to the fat and salt pres- 
ent. Several of the cubes on the market contain 
much more plant than meat extract, and are not 
entitled to the name ‘‘bouillon’’ unless modified. 


H. E. Howe: A Refractometer for Sugar De- 
terminations. 


EDWARD GUDEMAN: Hydrolyses of Starch. 


W. EH. Rute: Chemical Studies on the Lime-Sul- 
phur-Lead-Arsenate Spray Mixture. 

The color changes resulting from mixing lime 
sulphur and lead arsenate are closely analogous to 
the color changes involved in the precipitation of 
lead thioarsenate. 

Analyses of the resulting mixture showed that 
free sulphur was precipitated. The results led 
the writer to look for the presence of oxygen 
compounds of sulphur in the mixture and thio- 
sulphate was found to be present. There was 
some evidence for supposing that a thioarsenate 
was also formed in a small quantity. 

The analyses of lime sulphur showed an in- 
crease in the quantity of thiosulphate and sulfites 
resulting from the mixing with lead arsenate, 
which probably explains the claim that mixing 
with lead arsenate increases the fungicidal value 
of lime sulphur. 


O. G. MarckwortH: The Commercial Utilization 
of Glucose and Glycerine in Modern Breads. 


SCIENCE 639 


PavuL POETSCHKE: Sulphur Dioxide in Gelatine. 

An investigation of the quantitative determi- 
nation of sulphur dioxide in gelatine, giving an 
account of the sources of error to be avoided, to- 
gether with a detailed description of a method 
designed to eliminate the errors described and to 
secure uniformity of analytical results. 

Sulphur dioxide is found in gelatine, even if 
prepared from selected stock and without its di- 
tect addition, as shown by analyses of such prep- 
arations made in the laboratory. Absorption of 
sulphur dioxide takes place from the air during 
the drying of the gelatine. 

A summary of 1,060 analyses of commercial 
gelatine and 36 analyses of stock used in gela- 
tine manufacture is given. 


Lucius L. VAN SLYKE and ORRIN B. WINTER: 

Solubility of Casein in Dilute Acids. 

Casein, freshly prepared by precipitating skim- 
milk with acetic acid and washing free from 
acid, was treated with 100 ¢.c. of different acids 
of known strength for given periods of time at 
definite temperatures and the undissolved residue 
determined. The acids used were hydrochloric, 
sulphuric, lactic and acetic; strength of solutions, 
N/10, N/100, N/500; time of contact, 1, 5 and 
15 minutes; temperatures, 15°, 25° and 42°. In 
general, the amount of dissolved casein increases 
with increase of temperature, time of contact, 
and concentration of acid. Hydrochlorie acid 
dissolves most, and then come in order lactic, sul- 
phurie and acetic. 


J. A. LECLERC and L. H. Battery: The Effect of 

Rain on the Value of Hay. 

Experiments were conducted with seven kinds of 
hay. One thousand grams of each kind was di- 
vided into two equal portions, 4 and B. Portion 
A was dried, weighed, ground and analyzed. Por- 
tion B was similarly dried, then leached with 
water for 5 minutes, and then again dried, 
weighed, ground and analyzed. The results, based 
on one ton of freshly-cut hay, show a considerable 
loss in dry matter, protein, sugars, ash, phosphoric 
acid, potash and a somewhat lesser loss of fat 
(ether extract), pentosans, lime and magnesia. 


P. B. DUNBAR and W. D. BigELow: The Acid Con- 
tent of Fruits. 

The characteristic acids of a large number of 
the common fruits have been identified and de- 
termined. 

The acidity of plums, apples and cherries ap- 
pears to be due entirely to malic acid which is 


640 


probably present, for the most part, in the free 
state. Currants always contain citric acid, and 
may or may not contain malic acid. Gooseberries 
contain large amounts of both malic and citric 
acids. In persimmons and bananas, malice acid 
probably occursalone. The pomegranate and canta- 
loupe contain citric acid, probably without malic 
acid. In the watermelon, quince and peach, malic 
acid predominates, and citric acid is probably ab- 
sent. Cranberries contain both malice and citric 
acid. Red raspberries contain citric acid, with 
malie acid present in traces, if at all. Blackber- 
ries contain citric acid in some cases, while some 
samples contain traces of malice acid without citric 
and in others neither malic or citric acids could be 
identified. The acid of the apricot has not been 
positively identified. There is present some dextro- 
rotatory acid whose rotation is increased by the addi- 
tion of uranyl acetate—possibly tartaric or dextro- 
malic acid. The acid of the huckleberry has not 
been positively identified. Traces of malie acid 
without citrie appear to be present. Tartarie acid 
was not found in any of the fruits examined, 
with the possible exception of apricots. In the 
case of pears, Kieffer, Le Conte, Idaho and Bart- 
lett contain little or no malic, while citric acid ap- 
pears to predominate. In all other varieties the 
acidity appears to be due mostly or entirely to 
malic acid. 

The paper also includes a review of the litera- 
ture on the acidity of fruits, with the results off 
various writers presented in tabular form. 


J. A. BizzELL and T. L. Lyon: Estimation of the 

Lime Requirement of Soils. 

The authors propose a modification of the 
method described by R. Alberti for estimating the 
lime requirement of soils. The modified method 
is as follows: 

Place 25 grams of the air-dried soil in a Jena 
kjeldahl flask. Cover with 50 e.c. boiled distilled 
water and add 50 ¢.c. tenth normal barium hydrox- 
ide solution. Digest in a briskly boiling water 
bath for one hour with occasional shaking. Re- 
move from the water bath, add 150 «c.c. distilled 
water and.5 grams solid ammonium chloride. Con- 
nect the flask with a nitrogen distillation apparatus 
and distill. Collect the distillate (150 ¢.c.) in 
tenth normal acid, and titrate, using methyl-orange 
as indicator. The strength of the barium hydrox- 
ide is determined by titrating directly 50 cc. of 
the solution, using methyl-orange as indicator. 
The difference between the two titrations, there- 


1 Zeit. f. Angewandte Chem., I., p. 533. 


SCIENCE 


[N.8S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


fore, represents the amount of barium hydroxide 
absorbed by the soil. A correction is made for the 
slight decomposition of ammonium chloride when 
heated with soil. 

The results obtained on 22 samples of soil accord 
fairly well with those obtained by the Veitch lime- 
water method. 


H. V. Tartar: The Valuation of the Lime-sulphur 
Spray as an Insecticide. 


L. M. Totman and J. G. Riney: The Effects of 
Raw Materials on the Chemical Composition of 
American Beer. 


Fioyp W. Rospinson: Food Standards and their 
Effect upon Food Law Enforcement. 


J. F. SNELL and J. M. Scorr: The Analysis of 
Maple Products. II.: A Comparative Study of 
the Delicacy of Methods. 

The authors compare the range of variation of 
conductivity value, ash data and Winton, Ross and 
Canadian lead values in genuine maple syrup and 
the rates at which these data diminish as sucrose 
syrup is admixed. - 

Conductivity value shows narrowest range, Ca- 
nadian lead value most rapid diminution. Winton 
value has much narrower range than Canadian and 
gives closer duplicates. In Canadian method 
wash water may be indifferently 80° or 100° C. 
and 100 or 150 c.c. Lead values on basis of fixed 
quantity dry matter by (1) caleulation, (2) di- 
rect determination do not accord. 


DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
Treat B. Johnson, Chairman 
William J. Hale, Vice-chairman and Secretary 


E. KoHMANN and Treat B. JoHNSON: The Struc- 
ture of Urushiol, a Component of Japanese Lac. 


S. F. AcrEE: The Reactions of Both the Ions and 
the Non-ionized Forms of Acids, Bases and 
Salts. 


Wm. Luoyp Evans and CHARLES R. PARKINSON: 
The Existence of Mandelic Aldehyde in Aqueous 
Solution. 

Mandelie aldehyde acetal was prepared by the 
reduction of benzoylformaldehyde acetal, which in 
turn was made by the interaction of dibromaceta- 
phenone and sodium ethylate. Mandelie aldehyde 
acetal hydrolyzes in the presence of sulfuric acid, 
both at ordinary temperature and at 0°, the inter- 
mediate compound formed undergoing a rear- 
rangement to benzoyl carbinol. This hydrolysis 
takes place also by means of the water vapor of 
the atmosphere. The same rearrangement was ob- 


OcroBER 31, 1913] 


_ served by Nef, with lactic aldehyde acetate and 
mandelic aldehyde acetate at 100°. On the other 
hand, Wohl and Lange, and Kranz have shown 
that lactie aldehyde is capable of existence at ordi- 
nary temperature. 


CO. G. DrrIcK and O. Kamm: The Mechanism of the 
Rearrangements of Dihydro-B-Napthoic Acids. 
Car O. JOHNS and Emin J. BAUMANN: Researches 
on Purines awit.: 2-Oxy-6-Methyl-9-Ethylpurine ; 
2-Oxy-6,  8-Dimethyl-9-Ethylpurine; 2-Oxy-6- 

Methyl-8-Thio-9-Ethylpurine; 2-Methylmercapto- 

6-Oxy-8-Thiopurine; 2-Oxy-6-Methyl-9-Ethylpu- 

rine-8-Thioglycollic Acid. 

CaRL O,. JoHNS and Emin G. BAUMANN: Researches 
on Purines aiti.: 2, 8-Dioxy-1, 6-Dimethylpu- 
rine; 2, 6-Diozy-3, 4-Dimethyl-5-Nitropyrimidine 
(a-Dimethyl-Nitrouracil). 

J. H. RANSoM and R. E. NELson: Acyl Derivatwes 
of o-Aminophenol. 

The work covered by this report is a continua- 
tion of that of the senior author on the molecular 
rearrangement of the acyl derivatives of o-amino- 
phenol.2 The hydrochloride of the isoamyl car- 
bonate was prepared and identified by its proper- 
ties. On warming its solution it quickly changed 
to the corresponding urethane. Diacyl derivatives 
were prepared coupling the isoamyl carbonate both 
with the ethyl carbonate and with the benzoyl 
group, and introducing these groups in reverse 
order. Identical diacyl derivatives resulted in 
both cases, without the isolation of any intermedi- 
ate products. Rearrangement proceeded in the di- 
rection to leave the carbonate radical attached to 
the nitrogen, its weight relative to the other acyl 
exerting no influence on its position. In the case 
of both acyls being carbonates (isoamyl and ethyl) 
the lighter of the two is attached to nitrogen. 


W. M. BuancHarD: Diacetyl: A Study in Struc- 
tural Chemistry. 


L. V. RepMAN, A. J. WEITH and F. P. Brock: The 
Determination of Phenol in the Presence of 
Formaldehyde and Hexamethylenetetramine. 

In the regular determination of phenols by 
bromine or iodine the presence of hexamethylenete- 
tramine does not interfere. Formaldehyde does 
interfere with the determination. If a few c.c.’s 
of strong ammonia be added to the mixture of 
phenol and formaldehyde and the solution then 
acidified the formaldehyde is changed to hexa- 
methylenetetramine and the determination of the 
phenol may be made accurately. 


2 Am. Chem. Journ., Vol. XXIII., p. 1. 


SCIENCE 


641 


L. V. Repman, A. J. WeiTH and F. P. Brock: 
Synthetic Resins Produced by the Anhydrous 
Reaction between Phenols and Hexamethylene 
Tetramine. 

A historical review is given of the reaction 
which takes place in a water solution between 
phenol and active methylene groups. 

A new reaction is presented, the anhydrous re- 
action between dry phenols and hexamethylenete- 
tramine in which synthetic resins are formed and 
NH, eliminated as a by-product. 

Resins of variable properties are produced, de- 
pending upon the proportions of phenol to hexa. 
Some resins with excess phenol are liquid at all 
temperatures above 30° C., others are solid at all 
temperatures to the point of charring. 

The resins are solid or spongy, depending on 
the rate and degree of heating. 

The last intermediate product formed before 
the resin becomes insoluble is endeka-saligeno- 
saligenin with a formula CyH Ou. 


L. V. RepMAN, A. J. WEITH and F. P. Brock: 
Varnishes and Lacquers Made from Synthetic 
Resins. 

A comparison is made between synthetic resins 
made from phenol_t formaldehyde with conden- 
sing agent and phenol hexamethylenetetramine. 
The advantage of the latter process is uniformity 
of product. Both classes are soluble in caustic. 
The introduction of an inert group anisol, phenetol, 
ete., to block the free hydroxyl of the phenol, pro- 
duces resins which satisfactorily resist the action 
of caustic alkalies and also show an improvement 
in lightness and permanency of color. The uses 
of varnishes and lacquers made from the resin are 
given. 


L. V. RepMan, A. J. WeITH and F, P. Brocr: 

A New Synthetic Resin. 

This resin is formed by the anhydrous reaction 
between phenol, four parts, and hexamethylene- 
tetramine, one part. Article gives description of 
reaction, uses, physical properties and a compari- 
son with similar substances. Its properties, which 
depend upon the treatment given, are: Sp. gr. 1.2— 
1.3; fusibility 100° C. to infusible; hardness 2.5—- 
4; solubility, soluble to insoluble; toughness, from 
that of glass to wood; tensile strength, 4,500 
pounds per square inch; crushing strength, 32,000 
pounds per square inch; dielectric strength, 80,000 
volts per mm.; specific electrical resistance 28 X 
108 megohms per em. This resin is easily molda- 
ble in almost endless variety. 


642 SCIENCE 


L. V. RepmMan, A. J. WerrH and F. P. Brock: 
The Rate of Reaction Between Hexamethylene- 
tetramine and Phenol. 

The rate of reaction before the insoluble stage 
is reached is followed by measuring the ammonia 
evolved. Intermediate products are formed. 
Amino-saligeno-saligenin, 


NH,-CH, OH 


Cae ws 


WZ 


was isolated and identified. 

The rate of transformation into the insoluble 
stage is followed by separating the resin into (1) 
alkali insoluble, (2) alkali soluble and acid insolu- 
ble, (3) alkali, acid and water soluble. 


Treat B. JoHNSON: Chairman’s Address. The 
Practical Utility of Hinsberg’s Reaction. 


Epwin F. Hicks: An Anomalous Reaction of Re- 
sorcinol. 


F. B. ALLAN and OC. R. Rupipce: The Action of 
Phthalic Anhydride on Benzene in Presence of 
Aluminium Chloride. 


F, B. ALLAN and H. C. Martin: o-Benzoyl-Benzoyl 
Chloride and o-Benzoyl-Benzoyl Cyanide. 


A. W. ScHorcer: The Oleoresins of Jeffrey and 

Singleleaf Pines. 

The oleoresin of singleleaf pine (P. monophylla) 
contains 19.00 per cent. of volatile oil; 79.63 per 
cent. colophony; trash 0.11 per cent.; water 1.26 
per cent. The volatile oil, do 0.8721—.8733, 
Apo50 + 14.41° to + 17.26° contains 80-85 per cent. 
d-a-pinene; 4-5 per cent. I- or i-limonene, 4-6 per 
cent. d-cadinene; losses 4.5 per cent. The colo- 
phony contains 7.22 per cent. resene and resin 
acids isomeric with abietie acid. 

The oleoresin of Jeffrey pine (P. Jeffrey’) has 
an average content of 9.96 per cent. volatile oil, 
87.88 per cent. colophony, 1.69 per cent. water and 
0.47 per cent. trash. The volatile oil, dso .6951— 
.7110, contains about 95 per cent. n-heptane and 
5 per cent. of an aldehyde apparently citronellal. 
The colophony contains 12.5 per cent. resene and 
resin acids isomeric with abietie acid. 


A. W. ScHorcrer: The Leaf Oil of Douglas Fir. 

The oils distilled from the Douglas fir (Pseudo- 
tsuga taxifolia) in California had: dys .8727— 
87793 @p200— 17.02° to —22.17°; ester No. after 
acetylation 27.50-51.78; they contained: 1-a-pinene 
25 per cent.; 1-8-pinene 48 per cent.; ¢- or /-limo- 
nene 6 per cent.; furfurol; bornyl acetate 6.1 per 
cent.; free alcohol as borneol 6.5 per cent.; ‘‘ green 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 983 


oil’? 3 per cent.; losses by polymerization, etc., 
5 per cent. 


WILLIAM J. Hate: The Condensation of Thiourea 
with Acetylacetone. 


NELLIE WAKEMAN and EDWARD KREMERS: The 
Water and Volatile Oil Content By the Leaves of 
Monarda fistulosa. 

Although the oil of Monarda fistulosa had been 
distilled frequently, no systematic study of the 
exact oil content of the plant has been made thus 
far. Inasmuch as the leaves contain by far the 
largest portion of the oil that is obtained when 
the flowering herb is distilled, these organs were 
separated from the stems and distilled in the 
fresh condition. In order that the percentage 
might be computed with reference to the dry 
material, moisture determinations were also made. 
Since the oil content of the dried leaves is not 
inappreciable, the moisture determinations were 
made by the xylene method. The series of experi- 
ments here referred to were made during the 
spring and summer of 1911. The early material 
was obtained from wild plants, the later material 
from the medicinal herb garden, a cooperative 
experiment between the Bureau of Plant Industry 
and the University of Wisconsin. From the tabu- 
lated data it became apparent that the oil content 
increased with the advance of the season whether 
computed for the fresh or dry herb. 


E. N. Doanr and Epwarp Kremers: The Phys- 
ical and Chemical Constants of a Number of 
Monarda fistulosa, Oil. 

Comparatively early in the study of the Monarda 
oils efforts were made to ascertain the several 
changes in the oil as expressed by the physical 
constants and phenol content. In connection with 
the cultivation of the wild bergamot in the medi- 
cinal herb garden, a cooperative experiment be- 
tween the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, at Madison, it seemed highly 
desirable to ascertain what changes might be 
noted in connection with the oils distilled each 
year. For this purpose the chemical constants of 
the dephenolated oil (acid number, saponification 
number, saponification number after acetylation) 
as well as the physical constants of the original 
and dephenolated oils were ascertained. The con- 
clusion arrived at thus far is that the metabolic 
processes of the plant, so far as its volatile prod- 
uets are concerned, appear to be subject to but 
slight changes in different years. 


CHARLES L. PARSONS 
(To be continued.) 


ape 1289 39 Sa 


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SCIENCE 


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CONTENTS 


Industrial Research in America: ArtHUR D. 


IDM 4's boda dododgoobbobodasodndogdoN 643 
Some Paleontological Results of the Swedish 

South Polar Expedition under Nordenskiold: 

Dr. EDWARD W. BERRY ................- 656 
Scientific Notes and News .......++....+-. 661 
University and Educational News .......... 664 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Labeling Microscopic Slides: DR. FRANK E. 

BLAISDELL. A Northerly Record for the 

Freetailed Bat: JoHN T, ZIMMER ........ 665 
Scientific Books :— 

Hartog on Problems of Life and Reproduc- 

tion: Proressor C. E. McCuune. F. G. 

Pope’s Modern Research in Organic Chem- 

istry: PROFESSOR W. R. ORNDORFF ........ 666 
Scientific Journals and Articles ............ 668 

Penfold’s Modification of Bacillus coli com- 

munis: WM. MANSFIELD CLARK ........... 669 
Special Articles :-— 

A New Means of Transmitting the Fowl 

Nematode, Heterakis perspicillum: Dr. JOHN 

W. Scorr. A New Species of Moropus (M. 

Hollandi): Dr. O. A. PETERSON .......... 672 
The American Chemical Society: DR. CHARLES 

Ih, TPAAIOMS Se sacosedasudgaoeaudoacaygno 673 
Societies and Academies :— 

The American Mathematical Society: PrRo- 

RES SORMH ENED COLMA aieyepytareyarielstial etoraateloteys 680 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN AMERICA1 


GERMANY has long been recognized as 
preeminently the country of organized re- 
search. The spirit of research is there 
imminent throughout the entire social struc- 
ture. This is not the time nor place, how- 
ever, nor is it necessary before this audi- 
ence, to refer in any detail to the long 
record of splendid achievement made by 
German research during the last fifty years. 
It is inscribed in luminous letters around 
the rock upon which Germany now stands 
secure among the nations of the world. 

The virility and range of German re- 
search were never greater than they are 
to-day. Never before have the superb 
energy and calculated audacity of German 
technical directors and German financiers 
transformed so quickly and so surely the 
triumphs of the laboratory into industrial 
conquests. Never has the future held richer 
promise of orderly and sustained progress, 
and yet the preeminence of Germany in 
industrial research is by no means indefi- 
nitely assured. A new competitor is even 
now girding up his loins and training for 
the race, and that competitor is strangely 
enough the United States—that prodigal 
among nations, still justly stigmatized as 
the most wasteful, careless and improvident 
of them all. 

To one at all familiar with the disdain of 
scientific teaching which has characterized 
our industry, and which still persists in 
many quarters, this statement is so contrary 
to the current estimate that its general 
acceptance can not be expected. It will 

1 Presidential address at the forty-eighth meet- 


ing of the American Chemical Society, Rochester, 
N. Y. 


644 


have served its purpose if it leads to a con- 
sideration of the facts which prove the 
thesis. 

The country of Franklin, Morse and 
Rumford; of McCormick, Howe and Whit- 
ney; of Edison, Thomson, Westinghouse 
and Bell; and of Wilbur and Orville 
Wright, is obviously a country not wholly 
hostile to industrial research or unable to 
apply it to good purpose. It is, however, 
not surprising that with vast areas of vir- 
gin soil of which a share might be had for 
the asking; with interminable stretches of 
stately forest; with coal and oil and gas, the 
ores of metals and countless other gifts of 
nature scattered broadcast by her lavish 
hand, our people entered upon this rich 
inheritance with the spirit of the spend- 
thrift, and gave little heed to refinements in 
methods of production and less to minimiz- 
ing waste. That day and generation is 
gone. To-day, their children, partly 
through better recognition of potential 
values, but mainly by the pressure of a 
greatly increased population and the stress 
of competition among themselves and in the 
markets of the world, are rapidly acquiring 
the knowledge that efficiency of production 
is a sounder basis for prosperity than mere 
volume of product, however great. Many 
of them have already learned that the most 
profitable output of their plant is that re- 
sulting from the catalysis of raw materials 
by brains. A far larger number are still 
ignorant of fhese fundamental truths, and 
so it happens that most of our industrial 
effort still proceeds under the guidance of 
empiricism with a happy disregard of basic 
principles. A native ingenuity often brings 
it to a surprising success and seems to sup- 
port the aphorism ‘‘Where ignorance is 
profitable, ’tis folly to be wise.’? Whatever 
may be said, therefore, of industrial re- 
search in America at this time is said of a 
babe still in the cradle but which has never- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 984 


theless, like the infant Hercules, already 
destroyed its serpents and given promise of 
its performance at man’s estate. 

The long-continued and highly organized 
research which resulted in the development 
of American agricultural machinery has led 
to the general introduction of machines 
which reduce the labor cost of seven crops 
$681,000,000 as measured by the methods 
of only fifty years ago. 

The superhuman dexterity and precision 
of American shoe machinery, which has 
revolutionized a basic industry and reduced 
competition to the status of an academic 
question, present American industrial re- 
search at its best. They are not the result 
of the individual inspiration of a few 
inventors as is commonly supposed. They 
represent years of coordinated effort by 
many minds directed and sustained by con- 
stant and refined experimental research. 

You need not be reminded that the ubi- 
quitous telephone is wholly a product of 
American research. Munchausen’s story of 
the frozen conversation which afterward 
thawed out is a clumsy fable. Think of the 
Niagaras of speech pouring silently through 
the New York telephone exchanges where 
they are sorted out, given a new direction 
and delivered audibly perhaps a thousand 
miles away. New York has 450,000 instru- 
ments—twice the number of those in Lon- 
don. Los Angeles has a telephone to every 
four inhabitants. Why should one care to 
project one’s astral body when he can eall 
up from the club in fifteen seconds? Our 
whole social structure has been reorganized, 
we have been brought together in a single 
parlor for conversation and to conduct 
affairs because the American Telephone and 
Telegraph Company spends annually for 
research, the results of which are all about 
us, a sum greater than the total income of 
many universities. 

The name of Edison is a household word 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


in every language. The Edison method is 
a synonym for specialized, intense research 
which knows no rest until everything has 
been tried. Because of that method and the 
unique genius which directs its application, 
Italian operas are heard amid Alaskan 
snows and in the depths of African forests; 
every phase of life and movement of inter- 
est throughout the world is caught, regis- 
tered, transported and reproduced that we 
may have lion hunts in our drawing-rooms 
and the coronation in a five-cent theater. 
From his laboratory have come the incan- 
descent lamp, multiple telegraphy, new 
methods of treating ores and a thousand 
other diverse inventions, the development 
of a single one of which has sometimes 
involved millions. 

The development of the automobile, and 
especially of the low-priced American car, 
is a thing of yesterday. To-day a single 
manufacturer turns out two cars a minute, 
while another is expanding his output to 500 
ears a day. Every 23 days the total engine 
horse-power of new cars of one small type 
equals the energy of the entire Mississippi 
river development at Keokuk. Every 46 
days this engine output rises to the total 
energy development at Niagara Falls. The 
amount of gasoline consumed upon our 
roads is equal to the water supply of a 
town of 40,000 inhabitants, and its cost on 
Sundays and holidays is $1,000,000. 

It goes without saying that any such 
development as that of the automobile in- 
dustry in America has been based upon and 
vitalized by an immeasurable amount of re- 
search, the range and influence of which 
extends through many other industries. It 
has accelerated the application of heat 
treatment more than any other agency. 
One tire manufacturer spends $100,000 a 
year upon his laboratory. The research de- 
partment organized by my associates for 
one automobile company comprised within 


SCIENCE 


645 


its staff experts in automobile design, 
mathematics, metallography and heat treat- 
ments, lubrication, gaseous fuels, steel and 
alloys, paints and painting practise, in 
addition to the chemists, physicists and as- 
sistants for routine or special work. 

The beautiful city whose hospitality has 
so greatly added to the pleasure and suc- 
cess of the present meeting of our society is 
the home of two highly scientific industries 
of which any community may well be 
proud. The Bausch & Lomb Optical Com- 
pany, through its close affiliation with the 
world-famed Zeiss works at Jena, renders 
immediately available in this country the 
latest results of German optical research. 
The Eastman Kodak Company is perhaps 
more generally and widely known than even 
the Zeiss works, and in capital, organiza- 
tion, value of product and profit’ of opera- 
tion will bear comparison with the great 
German companies whose business is ap- 
plied science. Like them, it spends money 
with a lavish hand for the promotion of 
technical research and for the fundamental 
investigation of the scientific bases on which 
its industry rests. As you have happily 
been made aware, this work is carried on in 
the superb new research laboratories of the 
company with an equipment which is prob- 
ably unrivalled anywhere for its special 
purposes. The laboratory exemplifies a 
notable feature in American industrial re- 
search laboratories in that it makes provi- 
sion for developing new processes first on 
the laboratory scale and then on the minia- 
ture factory scale. 

To no chapter in the history of industrial 
research can Americans turn with greater 
pride than to the one which contains the 
epic of the electrochemical development at 
Niagara Falls. It starts with the wonderful 
story of aluminum. Discovered in Ger- 
many in 1828 by Wohler, it cost in 1855, 
$90 a pound. In 1886, it had fallen to $12. 


646 


The American Castner process brought the 
price in 1889 to $4. Even at this figure it 
was obviously still a metal of luxury with 
few industrial applications. Hall in Amer- 
ica and Héroult simultaneously in Europe 
discovered that cryolite, a double fluoride 
of sodium and aluminum, fused readily at 
a moderate temperature, and when so fused 
dissolved alumina as boiling water dissolves 
sugar or salt, and to the extent of more than 
25 per cent. By electrolyzing the fused 
solution aluminum is obtained. On August 
26, 1895, the Niagara works of the Pitts- 
burgh Reduction Co., started at Niagara 
Falls the manufacture of aluminum under 
the Hall patents. In 1911, the market price 
of the metal was 22 cents and the total 
annual production 40,000,000 pounds. 

A chance remark of Dr. George F. Kunz, 
in 1880, on the industrial value of abrasives, 
turned the thoughts of Acheson to the prob- 
lem of their artificial production and led to 
the discovery, in 1891, of carborundum and 
its subsequent manufacture on a small scale 
at Monongahela City, Pennsylvania. In 
1894, Acheson laid before his directors a 
scheme for moving to Niagara Falls, when 
to quote his own words: 

To build a plant for one thousand horse-power, 
in view of the fact that we were selling only one 
half of the output from a one hundred and thirty- 
four horse-power plant, was a trifle too much for 
my conservative directors, and they, one and 
all, resigned. Fortunately, I was in control of 
the destiny of the Carborundum Company. I or- 
ganized a new board, proceeded with my plans, 
and in the year 1904, the thirteenth from the date 
of the discovery, had a plant equipped with a five- 
thousand electrical horse-power and produced over 
7,000,000, pounds of those specks I had picked off 


the end of the electric light carbon in the spring 
of 1891. 


The commercial development of carbo- 
rundum had not proceeded far before Ache- 
son brought out his process for the electric 
furnace production of artificial graphite 
and another great Niagara industry was 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


founded. In quick succession came the 
Willson process for calcium carbide and the 
industrial applications of acetylene; phos- 
phorus; ferro-alloys made in the electric 
furnace; metallic sodium, chlorine and 
caustic soda first by the Castner process, 
later by the extraordinarily efficient Town- 
send cell; electrolytic chlorates and 
alundum. 

Perhaps even more significant than any of 
these great industrial successes was the 
Lovejoy & Bradley plant for the fixation of 
atmospheric nitrogen which was perforce 
abandoned. It is well to recall, in view of 
that reputed failure, that the present-day 
processes for fixing nitrogen have made 
little if any improvement in yields of fixed 
nitrogen per kilowatt hour over those ob- 
tained in this pioneer Niagara plant. 

In the year 1800, a young assistant of 
Lavoisier, E. I. du Pont by name, emi- 
grated to this country with others of his 
family and settled on the banks of the 
Brandywine, near Wilmington, Del. He 
engaged in the manufacture of gunpowder. 
To-day the du Pont Company employs 
about 250 trained chemists. Its chemical 
department comprises three divisions: the 
field division for the study of problems 
which must be investigated outside the 
laboratory and which maintains upon its 
staff experts for each manufacturing activ- 
ity, together with a force of chemists at 
each plant for routine laboratory work; 
second, the experimental station which com- 
prises a group of laboratories for research 
work on the problems arising in connection 
with the manufacture of black and smoke- 
less powder, and the investigation of prob- 
lems or new processes originating outside 
the company; third, the eastern laboratory 
which confines itself to research concerned 
with high explosives; its equipment is 
housed in 76 buildings, the majority being 
of considerable size, spread over 50 acres. 


— 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


Since no industrial research laboratory can 
be called successful which does not in due 
time pay its way, it is pleasant to record 
that the eastern laboratory is estimated to 
yield a profit to its company of $1,000,000 
ayear. In addition to the generous salaries 
paid for the high-class service demanded by 
the company, conspicuous success in re- 
search is awarded by bonus payments of 
stock. 

In Acheson and Hall have been already 
named two recipients of the Perkin medal, 
the badge of knighthood in American indus- 
trial research. The distinguished and 
thoroughly representative juries which 
award the medal annually had previously 
bestowed it upon Herreshoff for his work 
in electrolytic copper refining, the contact 
process for sulphuric acid and the invention 
of his well-known roasting furnace, and 
upon Behr for creative industrial research 
in the great glucose industry. In 1912, it 
was received by Frasch, and this year it 
was awarded Gayley. 

The Gayley invention of the dry air blast 
in the manufacture of iron involves a sav- 
ing to the American people of from $15,- 
000,000 to $29,000,000 annually. A mod- 
ern furnace consumes about 40,000 cubic 
feet of air per minute. Each grain of 
moisture per cubic foot represents one gal- 
lon of water per hour for each 1,000 cubic 
feet entering per minute. In the Pitts- 
burgh district the moisture varies from 1.83 
grains in February to 5.94 grains in June, 
and the water per hour entering a furnace 
varies accordingly from 73 to 237 gallons. 
In a month a furnace using natural air 
received 164,500 gallons of water, whereas 
with the dry blast it received only 25,524 
gallons. A conservative statement accord- 
ing to Professor Chandler is that the inven- 
tion results in a 10 per cent. increase in out- 
put and a 10 per cent. saving in fuel. 

Especially notable and picturesque among 


SCIENCE 


647 


the triumphs of American industrial re- 
search is that by means of which Frasch 
gave to this country potential control of the 
sulphur industry of the world. There is 
in Caleasieu Parish, La., a great deposit of 
sulphur 1,000 feet below the surface under 
a layer of quicksand 500 feet in thickness. 
An Austrian company, a French company 
and numerous American companies had 
tried in many ingenious ways to work this 
deposit, but had invariably failed. Misfor- 
tune and disaster to all connected with it 
had been the record of the deposit to the 
time when Frasch approached its problem 
in 1890. He conceived the idea of melting 
the sulphur in place by superheated water 
forced down a boring, and pumping the 
sulphur up through an inner tube. In his 
first trial he made use of twenty 150 h.-p. 
boilers grouped around the well, and the 
titanie experiment was successful. The 
pumps are now discarded and the sulphur 
brought to the surface by compressed air. 
A single well produces about 450 tons a 
day, and their combined capacity exceeds 
the sulphur consumption of the world. 

An equally notable solution of ‘a tech- 
nical problem which had long baffled other 
investigators is the Frasch process for refin- 
ing the crude, sulphur-bearing, Canadian 
and Ohio oils. The essence of the invention 
consists in distilling the different products 
of the fractional distillation of the crude 
oil with metallic oxides, especially oxide of 
copper, by which the sulphur is completely 
removed while the oils distill over as odor- 
less and sweet as if from the best Pennsyl- 
vania oil. The copper sulphide is roasted to 
regenerate the copper. The invention had 
immense pecuniary value. It sent the pro- 
duction of the Ohio fields to 90,000 barrels 
a day and the price of crude Ohio oil from 
14 cents a barrel to $1.00. 

Turning from these examples of indi- 
vidual achievement so strongly character- 


648 


istic of the genius of our people in one 
aspect, let us again consider for a moment 
that other and even more significant phase 
of our industrial research, namely, that 
which involves the coordinated and long- 
continued effort of many chemists along 
related lines. 

Chemistry in America is essentially re- 
publican and pragmatic. Most of us believe 
that the doctrine science for science’s sake 
is as meaningless and mischievous as that 
of art for art’s sake, or literature for litera- 
ture’s sake. These things were made for 
man, not for themselves, nor was man made 
for them. Most of us are beginning to real- 
ize that the major problems of applied 
chemistry are incomparably harder of solu- 
tion than the problems of pure chemistry, 
and the attack, moreover, must often be 
carried to conclusion at close quarters 
under the stress and strain induced by time 
and money factors. Under these cireum- 
stances it should not excite surprise that a 
constantly rising proportion of our best 
research is carried on in the laboratories of 
our great industrial corporations, and no- 
where more effectively than in the research 
laboratory of the General Electric Com- 
pany under the guidance of your past 
president, Dr. Whitney. As to the labora- 
tory method Dr. Whitney says in a per- 
sonal letter: 

We see a field where it seems as though experi- 
mental work ought to put us ahead. We believe 
that we need to get into the water to learn to 
swim, so we go in. We start back at the academic 
end as far as possible, and count on knowing what 
to do with what we find when we find it. Suppose 
that we ‘surmise that, in general, combustible in- 
sulation material could be improved upon. We 
try to get some work started on an artificial mica. 
May be we try to synthesize it and soon come to a 
purely theoretical question; e. g., is it possible to 
erystallize such stuff under pressure in equilibrium 
with water vapor corresponding to the composition 
of real mica? This may lead a long way and call 
in a lot of pure chemistry and physical chemistry. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


Usually we just keep at it, so that if you haven’t 
seen it on the market we’re probably at it yet. 

In striking contrast to the secrecy main- 
tained between individual workers in large 
German research laboratories, is the almost 
universal custom in America to encourage 
staff discussion. In the General Electric 
Laboratory, as in many others, the weekly 
seminars and constant helpful interchange 
of information has developed a staff unity 
and spirit which greatly increases the effi- 
ciency of the organization and raises that of 
the individual to a higher power. 

Many evenings could profitably be spent 
in discussing the achievements of this labo- 
ratory. Their quality is well indicated by 
the new nitrogen tungsten lamp, with its 
one half watt per candle, which combines the 
great work of Dr. Coolidge on ductile tung- 
sten with the studies of Langmuir and 
others of the staff on the particular glass 
and gas and metal which are brought to- 
gether in this lamp. 

Any attempt to adequately present the 
enormous volume of research work, much 
of which is of the highest grade, constantly 
in progress in the many scientific bureaus 
and special laboratories of the general 
government or even to indicate its actual 
extent and range, is of course utterly be- 
yond the limits of my attainments or of 
your patience. The generous policy of the 
government toward research is unique in 
this, that the results are immediately made 
available to the whole people. Heavy as 
some of the government reports are, they 
can not be expected to weigh more than 
the men who write them. Some, like the 
“‘Geochemistry’’ of F. W. Clarke, are of 
monumental character. A vast number are 
monographs embodying real and important 
contributions to scientific knowledge or in- 
dustrial practise. Some, as would be ex- 
pected, are little more than compilations or 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


present the results of trivial or ill-con- 
sidered research. 

The United States is still essentially an 
agricultural country and agriculture is, in 
its ultimate terms, applied photo-chemistry. 
The value of our farm property is already 
over $42,000,000,000, and each sunrise sees 
an added increment of millions. Even 
small advances in agricultural practise 
bring enormous monetary returns. The 
greatest problem before the country is that 
of developing rural life. While our people 
still crowd into already congested cities, 
some are beginning to realize that Long 
Acre Square is not a wholly satisfying sub- 
stitute for Long Acre Farm, and to question 
whether the winding, fern-fringed country 
roads of Vermont may not be a better 
national asset than the Great White Way. 

Chief, therefore, among the government 
departments, in the volume of industrial 
research is of course the Department of 
Agriculture, which includes within its or- 
ganization ten great scientific bureaus, each 
inspired by an intense pragmatism and 
ageressively prosecuting research in its 
allotted field. The magnitude of these 
operations of the department may be in- 
ferred from the fact that it spent for print- 
ing alone during the fiscal year just ended 
$490,000. The activities of its army of 
agents literally cover the earth, and its 
annual expenditure runs to many millions. 
The Bureau of Soils, the Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry, the Bureau of Animal Industry and 
the Forest Service have to do with the very 
foundations of our national existence and 
prosperity, and their researches have added 
billions to the national wealth. The Bureau 
of Chemistry, through its relation to the en- 
forcement of the pure food law and the in- 
spection of meats before interstate ship- 
ment, is as ubiquitous in its influence as the 
morning newspaper and touches the daily 
life of the people almost as closely. The 


SCIENCE 


649 


consumer is by no means the only one bene- 
fited by its activities. Manufacturers are 
protected from the unfair competition of 
less scrupulous producers. The progress of 
research is stimulated not only by investi- 
gations within the bureau, but by their re- 
action upon the manufacturers of food pro- 
ducts who are rapidly being brought to 
establish laboratories of their own. The 
food work of the bureau is supplemented 
and extended by the laboratories of the 
state and city boards of health, of which 
that of Massachusetts has been notable for 
productive research. Special laboratories 
within the bureau earry its influence and 
investigations into other fields as in case of 
the paper and leather laboratory. 

The office of Public Roads of the depart- 
ment, mindful of the fact that less than tem 
per cent. of the total road mileage of the: 
country has ever been improved, maintains: 
a large organization of engineers, chemists 
and other scientists to conduct investiga- 
tions and compile data, the ultimate pur- 
pose of which is to secure efficiency and 
economy in the location, construction and 
maintenance of country roads, highways 
and bridges. 

The research work of the Department of 
Agriculture is greatly augmented and 
given local application through the agency 
of 64 state agricultural experiment sta- 
tions established for the scientific investi- 
gation of problems relating to agriculture. 
These stations are supported, in part, by 
federal grants, as from the Hatch and 
Adams funds, and for the rest by state ap- 
propriations. Their present income ex- 
ceeds $3,000,000. All are well equipped; 
one of them, California, includes within its 
plant a superb estate of 5,400 acres with 
buildings worth $1,000,000. 

The station work is organized upon a na- 
tional basis but deals primarily with the 
problems of the individual states. The effi- 


650 


ciency of their work is stimulated by the 
requirement of the Adams Fund that ap- 
propriation shall be confined to definite 
projects. The number of such projects dur- 
ing 1910 was 335 and during 1911, 290. 
The reduction in number in no way implies 
diminished activity, and is due to more 
eareful selection and preparation, with 
elimination of trivial and merely demon- 
strational projects. While the work of the 
stations necessarily covers a wide range of 
subjects, many of which would not be re- 
garded as chemical in nature, a notable 
proportion has to do directly with chemical 
projects. Only the briefest reference can 
be made to a few of these: 

At Connecticut, Osborne’s studies of pro- 
teins and their feeding values have devel- 
oped differences as great in their assimila- 
bility as those existing between the differ- 
ent carbohydrates. 

Kansas has a department for the study 
of problems in handling and milling grain 
with an experimental baking plant for test- 
ing the bread-making capacity of flours. 
The millers are actively cooperating. 

Minnesota has a similar thoroughly mod- 
ern baking and testing laboratory for stud- 
ies in wheat and flour chemistry and tech- 
nology. 

Arizona finds that date ripening may be 
so hastened by spraying the immature fruit 
with acetic acid that choice varieties are 
caused to ripen in that region. 

The Cornell Station has demonstrated 
that the growth of a legume with a non- 
legume gives the latter a greater protein 
content than when grown alone. 

Wisconsin has established the significance 
of sulphur as a plant food; grain crops, for 
example, remove nearly as much sulphur 
as they do phosphoric acid, whereas the soil 
supply of sulphur is far less. 

Vermont is studying the forcing of plants 
by means of carbonic acid gas. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


Idaho has raised the protein content of 
wheat by 50 per cent. Kentucky has de- 
veloped a method for the detection of Ba- 
cillus typhosus in water, and North Da- 
kota is conducting very extensive field tests 
on the durability of paints and oils. 

These are, of course, mere surface refer- 
ences which hardly touch the real work of 
the stations. An enormous amount of re- 
search and routine work on fertilizers is 
constantly carried on by methods standard- 
ized by the Association of Official Agricul- 
tural Chemists. The theory of the action 
of fertilizers engages the effort of many re- 
search workers who find the problem far 
more complex than the old plant food 
theory assumed. 

It may be said without fear of contradic- 
tion that through the combined efforts of 
the Department of Agriculture, the ex- 
periment stations, the agricultural colleges 
and our manufacturers of agricultural ma- 
chinery there is devoted to American agri- 
culture a far greater amount of scientific 
research and effort than is at the service of 
any other business in the world. 

No other organic substance occurs in 
such abundance as wood, and few, if any, 
are more generally useful. About 150,000,- 
000 tons of wood are still wasted annually 
in the United States. The Forest Products 
Laboratory which is maintained by the 
Forest Service in cooperation with the 
University of Wisconsin has for its pur- 
pose the development and promulgation of 
methods for securing a better utilization of 
the forest and its products, and its research 
work is directed to that end. The labora- 
tory is splendidly equipped with appa- 
ratus of semi-commercial size for work in 
timber physics, timber tests, wood preser- 
vation, wood pulp and paper and wood dis- 
tillation and chemistry. 

In the United States Patent Office, Dr. 
Hall has developed a remarkably compre- 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


hensive index to chemical literature which 
now contains 1,250,000 cards and which is 
open to every worker. The Bureau of 
Fisheries devotes $40,000 to a single study 
and the Geological Survey, $100,000 to 
the investigation of the mineral resources 
of Alaska. It spent, in 1913, $175,000 for 
engraving and printing alone. The superb 
Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington is also con- 
stantly engaged in the most refined re- 
searches into the composition, properties 
and mode of genesis of the earth’s crust. 
The Smithsonian Institution is honored 
throughout the world for the efficiency of 
its effort to increase and diffuse useful 
knowledge among men. 

The Bureau of Mines of the Department 
of the Interior was established to conduct in 
behalf of the public welfare fundamental 
inquiries and investigations into the min- 
ing, metallurgical and mineral industries. 
Its appropriation for the current fiscal year 
is $662,000, of which $347,000 is to be de- 
voted to technical research pertinent to the 
mining industry. The bureau has revolu- 
tionized the use of explosives in mines. 
Over $8,000,000 worth of coal is now 
bought on the specification and advice of 
the bureau while more than 50 of the larger 
cities, a number of states and many corpo- 
rations have adopted the bureau plan of 
purchase. Our own Dr. Parsons, as chief 
mineral chemist of the bureau, is carrying 
its researches into new and interesting 
fields. 

Perhaps no better evidence could be ad- 
duced of the present range and volume of 
industrial research in America than the 
necessity, imposed upon the author of such 
a general survey as I am attempting, of 
condensing within a paragraph his refer- 
ence to the Bureau of Standards of the 
Department of Commerce. Its purpose is 
the investigation and testing of standards 


SCIENCE 


651 


and measuring instruments and the deter- 
mination of physical constants and the 
properties of materials. To these objects it 
devotes about $700,000 a year to such good 
effect that in equipment and in the high 
quality and output of its work it has in ten 
years taken rank with the foremost scien- 
tific institutions in the world for the pro- 
motion of industrial research and the de- 
velopment and standardization of the in- 
struments, materials and methods therein 
employed. Its influence upon American 
research and industry is already profound 
and rapidly extending. The bureau co- 
operates with foreign governments and in- 
stitutions, and is constantly consulted by 
state and municipal officials, technical bod- 
ies, commissions and industrial laboratories 
as a court of highest appeal. 

I can not better conclude this cursory 
and fragmentary reference to govern- 
mental work in applied science than with 
the words of the distinguished Director of 
the Bureau of Standards: 

If there is one thing above all others for which 
the activities of our government during the past 
two or three decades will be marked it is its orig- 
inal work along scientific lines, and I venture to 
state that this work is just in its infancy. 

In view of the evidence offered by Ger- 
many of the far-reaching benefits resulting 
from the close cooperation which there ob- 
tains between the university laboratory 
and the industrial plant, it must be ad- 
mitted with regret that our own institu- 
tions of learning have, speaking generally, 
failed to seize or realize the great oppor- 
tunity confronting them. They have, al- 
most universally, neglected to provide ade- 
quate equipment for industrial research, 
and, what is more to be deplored since the 
first would otherwise quickly follow, have 
rarely acquired that close touch with in- 
dustry essential for familiarity and appre- 
ciation of its immediate and pressing needs. 


652 


There are happily some notable exceptions. 
Perhaps foremost among them stands the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 
its superb engineering and testing equip- 
ment, its Research Laboratory of Appled 
Chemistry and the meritorious thesis work 
of its students in all departments. The bio- 
logical department has been especially ac- 
tive and successful in extending its influ- 
ence into industrial and sanitary fields, while 
unusual significance attaches to the motor 
vehicle studies just concluded and the more 
recently inaugurated special investiga- 
tions in electricity, since both were initi- 
ated and supported by external interests. 
About two years ago the institute brought 
vividly before the community the variety 
and extent of its wide-spread service to in- 
dustry by holding a Congress of Technol- 
ogy, at which all of the many papers pre- 
sented recorded the achievements of insti- 
tute alumni. 

The Colorado School of Mines, recognizing 
that $100,000,000 a year is lost through in- 
efficient methods of ore treatment, has re- 
cently equipped an experimental ore dress- 
ing and metallurgical plant in which prob- 
lems of treatment applicable to ores of 
wide occurrence will be investigated. The 
Ohio State University has established an 
enviable reputation for its researches in 
fuel engineering. Cornell has been espe- 
cially alive to the scientific needs of indus- 
trial practise, and a long experience with 
technical assistants enables me to say that I 
have found none better equipped to cope 
with the miscellaneous problems of indus- 
rial research than the graduates of Cornell. 
It may in fact be stated generally that the 
quality of advanced chemical training now 
afforded in this country is on a par with 
the best obtainable in Germany, and that 
home-trained American youth adapt them- 
selves far more efficiently to the require- 
ments and conditions of our industries than 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


do all but the most exceptional German doc- 
tors of philosophy who find employment 
here. 

Several of the great universities of the 
middle west, notably those of Wisconsin 
and Illinois, have placed themselves closely 
in touch with the industrial and other needs 
of their communities and are exerting a 
fundamental and growing influence upon 
affairs. In the east, Columbia has recently 
established a particularly well equipped 
laboratory for industrial chemistry and is 
broadening its work in this department. 

The universities of Kansas and of Pitts- 
burgh are carrying forward an especially 
interesting experiment in the operation of 
industrial research fellowships supported 
by the special interests directly concerned. 
These fellowships endow workers for the at- 
tack of such diverse subjects as the chemis- 
try of laundering, the chemistry of bread 
and baking, that of lime, cement and vege- 
table ivory, the extractive principles from 
the ductless glands of whales, the abate- 
ment of the smoke nuisance, the technology 
of glass, and many others. ‘The results ob- 
tained are intended primarily for the bene- 
fit of the supporters of the individual fel- 
lowships but may be published after three 
years. The holder of the fellowship re- 
ceives a proportion of the financial benefits 
resulting from the research, and the scale 
of sums allotted has progressively risen 
from $500 a year to $2,500 and even to 
$5,000. While some doubt may reasonably 
be expressed as. to the possibility of close 
individual supervision of so many widely 
varying projects, the results obtained thus 
far seem entirely satisfactory to those be- 
hind the movement, which has further 
served to strongly emphasize the willing- 
ness of our manufacturers to subsidize re- 
search. 

The present vitality and rate of progress 
in American industrial research is strik- 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


ingly illustrated by its very recent develop- 
ment in special industries. It has been 
said that our best research is carried on in 
those laboratories which have one client, 
and that one themselves. 

Twenty-five years ago the number of in- 
dustrial concerns employing even a single 
chemist was very small, and even he was 
usually engaged almost wholly upon rou- 
tine work. Many concerns engaged in 
business of a distinctly chemical nature had 
no chemist at all, and such a thing as in- 
dustrial research in any proper sense hardly 
came within the field of vision of our manu- 
facturers. Many of them have not yet 
emerged from the penumbra of that eclipse 
and our industrial foremen, as a class, are 
still within the deeper shadow. Meantime, 
however, research has firmly established 
itself among the foundation stones of our 
industrial system, and the question is no 
longer ‘‘What will become of the chem- 
ists?’’ It is now, ‘‘What will become of 
the manufacturers without them?”’ 

In the United States to-day, the micro- 
scope is in daily use in the examination of 
metals and alloys in more than 200 labora- 
tories of large industrial concerns. 

An indeterminate but very great amount 
of segregated research is constantly carried 
forward in small laboratories which are 
either an element in some industrial organ- 
ization or under individual control. An ex- 
cellent example of the quality of work to be 
eredited to the former is found in the de- 
velopment of cellulose acetate by Mork in 
the laboratory of the Chemical Products 
Company, while a classic instance of what 
may be accomplished by an aggressive indi- 
vidualism plus genius in research is fa- 
miliar to most of you through the myriad 
and protean applications of bakelite. The 
rapidity of the reduction to practise of 
Baekeland’s research results is the more 
amazing when one considers that the dis- 


SCIENCE 


653 


tances to be traveled between the labora- 
tory and the plant are often, in case of 
new processes and products, of almost as- 
tronomical dimensions. 

Reference has already been made to the 
highly organized, munificently equipped 
and splendidly manned laboratories of the 
du Pont Company, the General Electric 
Company and the Eastman Kodak Com- 
pany. There are in the country at least 
fifty other notable laboratories engaged in 
industrial research in special industries. 
The expenditure of several of them is over 
$300,000 each a year; the United States 
Steel Corporation has not hesitated to spend 
that amount upon a single research; the 
expenses of a dozen or more probably ex- 
ceed $100,000 annually. The limits of any 
address delivered outside a jail unfortu- 
nately preclude more than the merest refer- 
ence to a very few. One of the finest iron 
research laboratories in the world is that 
of the American Rolling Mills Co. Equally 
deserving mention from one aspect or 
another are the laboratories of the Fire 
Underwriters, the National Carbon Co., the 
Solvay Process Co., the General Bakelite 
Co., Parke, Davis & Co., the Berlin Mills 
Co., the United Gas Improvement Co., the 
National Electric Lamp Association, Swift 
& Co., the Pennsylvania Railroad and many 
others. 

Research in the textile industries has 
been greatly stimulated by the various tex- 
tile schools throughout the country, of 
which the Lowell Textile School with its 
superb equipment is perhaps best known. 
The fermentation industries have been 
brought upon a scientific basis largely 
through the efforts of the Wahl-Henius In- 
stitute at Chicago and other special schools. 
In the paper industry, general research is 
mainly confined to the Forest Products 
Laboratory at Madison, its branch labora- 
tory for wood pulp at Wausau, the Bureau 


654 


of Standards, the Paper and Leather Lab- 
oratory of the Agricultural Department, 
and the laboratory of Arthur D. Little, Inc., 
at Boston. Our own special equipment for 
this purpose includes, as does that of some 
of the other laboratories named, a complete 
model paper mill of semi-commercial size. 

There is no school of paper-making in 
the country, and one of our most urgent in- 
dustrial needs is the establishment of spe- 
cial schools in this and other industries for 
the adequate training of foremen who shall 
possess a sufficient knowledge of funda- 
mental scientific principles and method to 
appreciate the helpfulness of technical re- 
search. The Pratt Institute at Brooklyn is 
fully alive to this demand and has shaped 
its courses admirably to meet it. 

The steel industry in its many ramifica- 
tions promotes an immense amount of re- 
search ranging from the most refined stud- 
ies in metallography to experimentation 
upon the gigantic scale required for the de- 
velopment of the Gayley dry blast; the 
Whiting process for slag-cement; or the 
South Chicago electric furnace. This fur- 
nace has probably operated upon a greater 
variety of products than any other electric 
furnace in the world. Regarding the steel 
for rails produced therein, it is gratifying to 
note that after two and a half years or more 
no reports of breakage have been received 
from the 5,600 tons of standard rails made 
from its output. The significance of this 
statement will be better appreciated when 
we consider that in 1885 the average total 
weight on drivers was 69,000 pounds. It 
had risen to over 180,000 pounds in 1907, 
and reached a maximum of 316,000 pounds 
in that year. The weight of rails during 
the same period had increased from 65-75 
pounds to 85-100 pounds. In 1905, condi- 
tions were so bad that out of a lot of 10,000 
tons, 22 per cent. were removed the first 
year because of depressions in the head. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


In 1900, the American Railway Engineer- 
ing Association took the matter in hand 
and studied the influence and extent of seg- 
regation of specific impurities. The work 
was at first confined to phosphorus but has 
been extended to other constituents. Fay 
called attention to the highly deleterious in- 
fluence of sulphide of manganese. 

The great railway systems have been 
quick to cooperate in these researches which 
with others of fundamental importance 
have been extended by the American So- 
ciety for Testing Materials, the Master Car 
Builders’ Association, and other organiza- 
tions. Materials of construction have con- 
stituted a fertile subject of inquiry in the 
Structural Materials Testing Laboratory of 
the United States Geological Survey. 

There could well be a further great en- 
largement of the field of industrial research 
in special industries through the initiative 
and support of national trade associations, to 
the great benefit of their membership. The 
American Paper and Pulp Association, for 
example, should subsidize studies in the 
utilization of waste sulphite liquors, the 
paper-making qualities of unused woods 
and fibers, the hydration of cellulose, new 
methods of beating the yields from rags, 
the proper use of alum and so on. The 
American Brass Founders’ Association could 
not do better than initiate investigations 
into zine losses, the physical properties of 
alloys, and the production of alloys to speci- 
fications defining the properties desired, the 
application of the electric furnace to the 
industry and the preparation of new alloys 
by electric or other methods. A similar op- 
portunity knocks at the door of the Ameri- 
can Foundrymen’s Association. Some few 
associations like those of the bakers and 
the laundrymen are already active to good 
purpose; others, lke the Yellow Pine 
Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, are 
aroused, but to the great majority of those 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


powerful organizations, research is still an 
academic question to be discussed by their 
members individually if they so choose. 
Every industry has, however, its broad re- 
search problems, and its points especially 
vulnerable to research attack, among which 
it should be easy to select those of general 
interest to the industry as a whole. 

There are inthe country many analytical, 
testing and commercial laboratories, and, 
in most of these, special researches are con- 
ducted for clients, often with gratifying 
results. It is to be regretted, however, that 
there is not a more general appreciation 
among commercial chemists of the scale 
and quality of equipment and organization 
essential for really effective industrial re- 
search. As this broader viewpoint is at- 
tained, and the engineer’s habit of mind ac- 
quired, we may expect a great extension of 
independent research, and the cessation of 
complaint regarding the trend of prices for 
analysis. 

Among the relatively few private or in- 
corporated laboratories with highly organ- 
ized staff, and adequate special equipment, 
should be mentioned those of the Institute 
of Industrial Research at Washington, 
which has done notable work on the corro- 
sion of metals, paint technology, canning, 
road material, cement and special mill 
problems; the electrochemical laboratories 
of FitzGerald and Bennie at Niagara Falls, 
which have so successfully specialized on 
the construction and operation of electric 
furnaces to meet the requirements of spe- 
cial processes and products; the ore samp- 
ling and treating plant of Ricketts and 
Banks, and the Pittsburgh Testing Labo- 
ratory. 

Industrial research is applied idealism: 
it expects rebuffs, it learns from every 
stumble and turns the stumbling block into 
a stepping stone. It knows that it must 
pay its way. It contends that theory 


SCIENCE 


655 


springs from practise. It trusts the scien- 
tific imagination, knowing it to be simply 
logic in flight. It believes with F. P. Fish, 
that, “‘during the next generation—the 
next two generations—there is going to be 
a development in chemistry which will far 
surpass in its importance and value to the 
human race, that of electricity in the last 
few years. A development which is going 
to revolutionize methods of manufacture, 
and more than that, is going to revolution- 
ize methods of agriculture,’’ and it be- 
lieves with Sir William Ramsay that ‘‘The 
country which is in advance in chemistry 
will also be foremost in wealth and general 
prosperity.”’ 

With these articles of faith established in 
our thought, let us consider where they lead 
us. Within the last few days Frank A. 
Vanderlip, than whom no one speaks with 
more authority upon financial matters, has 
told the assembled representatives of the 
electrical industries that they are facing a 
capital requirement of $8,000,000 a week 
for the next five years—a total within that 
period of $2,000,000,000. As chemists, we 
are ourselves entering upon an era in which 
the capital demands of industries now em- 
bryonic or not yet conceived will in the not 
distant future be equally insistent and even 
more insatiable. Have we as chemists given 
a thought to this aspect of the development 
of our science, or planted the seeds of the 
organization which may some day cope with 
it? In the electrical and other established 
engineering professions, it is significant 
that the great industrial applications of the 
sciences involved have been in large part 
due to the activities of firms and organiza- 
tions like Stone and Webster, J. G. White 
& Co., Blackwell, Viehle & Buck and the 
United Gas Improvement Co., which, by an 
orderly but inexorable evolution, passed 
from the status of engineers to that of engi- 
neers and bankers. Our own profession has 


656 


not yet evolved the chemist and banker, but 
such an evolution, or at least the close 
alliance of chemistry and banking is a 
fundamental prerequisite if the results of 
industrial research are to find their full 
fruition in America. Let me add that no 
field within the purview of the banker is 
more ripe for tillage or capable of yielding 
a richer harvest. 

We need, however, to lead the banker to 
the chemical point of view, and even more 
do we ourselves require to be taught the 
financial principles involved in the broad 
application of chemistry to industry. To 
the ideals of service which inspire our pro- 
fession, and which are so finely exemplified 
in Cottrell and made effective in the re- 
search corporation, we should add a 
stronger impulse to direct personal initia- 
tive in affairs. We shall need for years to 
prosecute a vigorous campaign for a better 
understanding by the general public of 
what chemistry is and what research is. 
The popular imagination is ready to accept 
any marvel which claims the laboratory as 
its birthplace, but the man in the works still 
disbelieves that two and two in chemical 
nomenclature make four. We need a multi- 
plication of research laboratories in special 
industries, each with an adequate staff of 
the best men obtainable and an equipment 
which gives full range to their abilities. In 
nearly every case this equipment should 
include apparatus of semi-commercial size 
in which to reduce to practise the labora- 
tory findings. Nothing is more demoraliz- 
ing to an industrial organization, and few 
things are more expensive, than full-scale 
experimentation in the plant. 

These laboratories should each be devel- 
oped around a special library, the business 
of which should be to collect, compile and 
classify in a way to make all instantly avail- 
able, every scrap of information bearing 
upon the materials, methods, products and 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


requirements of the industry concerned. 
Modern progress can no longer depend 
upon accidental discoveries. Hach advance 
in industrial science must be studied, organ- 
ized and fought like a military campaign. 
Or, to change the figure, in the early days 
of our science, chemists patrolled the shores 
of the great ocean of the unknown, and 
seizing upon such fragments of truth as 
drifted within their reach, turned them to 
the enrichment of the intellectual and mate- 
rial life of the community. Later they ven- 
tured timidly to launch the frail and often 
leaky canoe of hypothesis and returned 
with richer treasures. To-day, confident 
and resourceful, as the result of many 
argosies, and having learned to read the 
stars, organized, equipped, they set sail 
boldly on a charted sea in staunch ships 
with tiering canvas bound for new El 
Dorados. 
ArtTHuR D. LITTLE 


SOME PALEONTOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE 
SWEDISH SOUTH POLAR EXPEDITION 
UNDER NORDENSKIOLD 

Since the days of Sir Joseph Hooker’s art- 
iclet on southern pines which was published in 
1845 there has been much speculation regard- 
ing Antarctica as a center of evolution and 
radiation of both floras and faunas and 
as affording a theater for the interchange 
of floras and faunas between South Amer- 
ica, Africa and Australia.2 Outside of 
the deductions based on the geographical 
distribution of the existing biota of these 
three regions practically no facts have been 
available from Antarctica itself, particularly 
regarding the extinct forms of this great ice- 
covered land-mass. 

Antarctic exploration has been very active 
during the past decade and popular as well as 
scientific interest has been greatly heightened 


1 Jour. Bot., Vol. 4, 1845, p. 137. 

2See recent summary by Hedley in Proc. Linn. 
Soc. Lond., reprinted in Smithsonian Report for 
1912, pp. 443-453, 1913. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


of late by Captain Amundsen’s discovery of 
the South Pole and by the tragic fate of Cap- 
tain Scott and his little band of heroes after 
they too had penetrated to the pole. It has, 
therefore, seemed worth while to bring to- 
gether a brief account of the recently de- 
scribed paleontological discoveries, naturally 
laying particular emphasis on those of a 
paleobotanical nature. 

The hardship under which Gunnar Ander- 
sson collected the splendid Mesozoic flora of 
Graham Land and the bag of geological speci- 
mens which Scott’s party dragged along to 
their last camp bear eloquent testimony to a 
devotion not only to the ideal of science, but 
also to that of manhood that should be an in- 
spiration alike to scientist and to layman. 

Ten years ago not a single fossil plant was 
known from the 14% million square miles of 
the earth’s surface south of latitude 60° 
which roughly marks the boundary of the 
Antarctic continent, in fact it was not cer- 
tainly known that Antarctica was really a con- 
tinent and not merely an archipelago. 

The paleobotanical results to be noted pres- 
ently are due almost entirely to the expedi- 
tion led by Dr. Otto Nordenskidld,? nephew of 
the discoverer of the Northeast passage, and 
to Captain Larsen of his ship the Antarctic. 
They reached the South Shetlands in January, 
1902, and the party spent two winters on Snow 
Hill Island, 64° 25’ S. Petrified wood and 
Cretaceous and Tertiary plants were collected 
on Seymour and Snow Hill Islands while J. 
Gunnar Andersson who with Lieutenant Duse 
was forced to pass an unprepared-for winter at 
Hope Bay, collected the fine series of Jurassic 
plants that form the basis for Halle’s memoir 
to be discussed presently. 

Captain Larsen* during his voyages with the 
Jason in 1892-1894 had found fossil mollusca 
and petrified wood on Seymour Island, as had 
also the English expedition, and this was one 


3 See article in Geogr. Jour. Lond., Vol. 23, Feb- 
tuary, 1904, by Nordenskidld and others, giving a 
general account of the expedition. Reprinted in 
Smithsonian Report for 1903, pp. 467-479, pl. 1, 
1904. 

4Larsen, Geogr. Jour., Vol. 4, 1894, p. 333. 


SCIENCE 


657 


of the principal factors in deciding upon the 
itinerary of Nordenskidld’s expedition. The 
results more than justified the expectations of 
the explorers, for in addition to the collection 
of Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary plants 
they have brought back extensive collections 
of Upper Cretaceous invertebrates, of Ter- 
tiary invertebrates and vertebrates, the latter 
including the remains of five new genera of 
birds and a species of Zeuglodon.® 

The paleobotanical materials were turned 
over to Professor Nathorst, the veteran stu- 
dent of Arctic fossil floras, who published two 
preliminary announcements, the first in the 
Comptes rendus of the French Academy for 
June 6, 1904, entitled Sur la flore fossile des 
regions antarctiques and the second before the 
International Geologic Congress at Mexico 
City in 1906, entitled “On the Upper Jurassic 
Flora of Hope Bay, Graham Land.” 

Pressure of other work entailed his turning 
over the materials to other specialists for final 
elaboration and we now have a memoir by 
Dusén on the Tertiary floras, one by Gothan 
on the fossil woods, some of which are of Upper 
Cretaceous age, anda third by Halle on the 
Mesozoic flora. 

The Jurassic flora from Hope Bay is the 
most extensive of these three floras and in 
some respects the most interesting. 

Halle’s memoir of the latter flora® is one of 
the most careful examples of systematic paleo- 
botanical work that has appeared in recent 
years, maintaining an eminently sane point of 
view, and occupying middle ground between 
the pronounced conservatism of the English 
students of Mesozoic floras and the unduly 
sanguine work of some of the older paleo- 
botanists, such as Saporta or Heer. 

Although the method has been criticized,? 
Halle maintains, quite rightly it seems to me, 
that it is better to describe new species than 


5A summary of the results and a preliminary 
account of the geology is given by J. Gunnar 
Andersson, Bull. Geol. Inst., Upsala, Band 7, 1906, 
pp. 19-71, Pl. 1-6. 

8A brief review by F. H. Knowlton appeared 
in SCIENCE, Vol. 37, pp. 763-764, May 16, 1913. 

7 Seward, New Phyt., Vol. 12, 1913, p. 188. 


658 


to identify doubtful material with previously 
described forms, especially when widely sepa- 
rated either geologically or geographically, 
since it is subsequently much easier to reduce 
a hew name to synonymy than to disentangle 
a complex agglomeration that gets distributed 
through the literature under a single name. 
The Jurassic flora was found in a hard 
slaty matrix preserving large-sized and clearly 
outlined specimens, but ‘not showing the vena- 
tion characters especially well. The collection 
embraces over sixty forms, of which, however, 
nearly a score have not been given specific 
names. The Equisetales are represented by 
Equisetites approximatus sp. noy., a form 
closely resembling H. rajmahalensis Schimper 
from the Indian Jurassic as well as H. Duvalit 
Saporta. The Hydropteridee are represented 
by well-preserved specimens of the wide-spread 
Jurassic species Sagenopteris pauctfolia 
(Phillips) Ward. Fern fronds are abundant, 
twenty-five different species being represented. 
These include a Dictyophyllum; the wide- 
ranging Jurassic Todites Williamsoni (Brong- 
niart) Seward; seven forms referred to Clado- 
phlebis, four being wide-ranging Jurassic 
forms and two being new. Three fern spe- 
cies are identified with well-known forms of 
Coniopteris; eight are referred to the form- 
genus Sphenopteris, four of these being new; 
two new species are described in Scleropteris; 
and the doubtful genera Pachypteris and 
Thinnfeldia are retained with the ferns. The 
Pachypteris is considered to be identical with 
P. dalmatica F. vy. Kerner, a European Ceno- 
manian species. The Thinnfeldia, which is 
described as new and compared with T. 
rhomboidalis Ettings., T. indica Feistm., and 
T. speciosa (Ettings.), Seward, is not unlike 
T. granulata Fontaine from the Patuxent 
formation (Lower Oretaceous) of Virginia. 
Fronds of the Cycadales, which are not espe- 
cially common in the Arctic Jurassic, consti- 
tute a prominent element in the Hope Bay 
flora, some nineteen species being represented. 
These include a large and abundant entire 
type of Nilsonia which Halle described as a 
new species. Except for the fact that our east 
American Nilsonia densinerve (Font.) Berry 
seems to have been rarely entire and the Ant- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


arctic form constantly so, there is a similarity, 
almost amounting to identity, between the 
two, a fact which Halle has not failed to no- 
tice. Three forms are referred to Seward’s 
new genus Pseudoctenis, which is close to the 
American Lower Cretaceous genus Ctenopsis 
Berry. Four new species are instituted in 
Zamites for types of fronds often referred to 
the genus Ptilophyllum. Six forms are re- 
ferred to Otozamztes and there is a new species 
of Wailliamsonia, a form identified as Ptilo- 
phyllum, and an unnamed species of Cycado- 
lepis. 

The coniferous remains are abundant and 
include representatives of fifteen species re- 
ferred to the genera Araucarites, Pagiophyl- 
lum, Brachyphyllum, Sphenolepidium, Conites, 
Stachyopitys and Elatocladus. This is the 
least satisfactory part of the memoir, but as 
the genera of fossil coniferophyta are in an 
almost hopelessly tangled state the author can 
not be blamed for any shortcomings in this 
respect. The genus Hlatocladus with four 
species is proposed as a convenient term for 
sterile shoots of the radial or dorsiventral 
type, which are not certainly referrable to es- 
tablished genera with known fruiting charac- 
ters. Like all form-genera this is confessedly 
artificial and it may well be doubted if in a 
world where all generic and specific determi- 
nations of recent as well as fossil forms con- 
tain a more or less varying personal equation 
whether it helps to clarify a complex situa- 
tion. 

Forms conspicuously wanting are Podoza- 
mites and all traces of Ginkgoales represented 
in northern floras by several genera such as 
Ginkgo, Baiera, Phenicopsis, Czekanowskia, 
ete. These are also wanting or only doubt- 
fully represented in the fossil floras of India. 
The abundant Zamites and Otozamites 
fronds are also consistently smaller types 
than in northern floras. There are absolutely 
no traces of Angiosperms. 

Hope Bay is in latitude 63° 15’ S. and it is, 
therefore, the most southerly point furnishing 
a flora of Jurassic age.8 It is, therefore, re- 

8 Members of the Shackleton Expedition col- 
lected petrified wood and recorded the occurrence 
of a coal seam in latitude 80° S. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


markable, considering its remoteness, that the 
flora should show so great a resemblance to 
that of the English Oolitic flora or the Upper 
Gondwana flora of India. It contains a num- 
ber of forms identical with Arctic, Eurasiatic 
and North American Jurassic plants and adds 
another link in the chain of facts showing 
the cosmopolitan character of Jurassic floras. 
As regards the exact age of the Hope Bay 
flora Halle concludes that there is no reason 
to believe that it is in any considerable de- 
gree older or younger than other floras known 
to be of Middle Jurassic age. It seems to me 
that if anything it is younger, especially if 
the identification of Pachypteris dalmatica is 
certain. The resemblance of some of the Ant- 
arctic forms to American Lower Cretaceous 
species and the identification of Wealden 
forms, even if somewhat uncertain, is en- 
titled to the weight which should always be 
given to new as against surviving types. 

Regarding Jurassic climatic conditions the 
present contribution is of vast importance. 
Collected in a glaciated region where there 
are only two existing species of vascular 
plants, it presents no intrinsic evidence that 
would have prevented it having come from 
England, Italy or India. There is no dwin- 
dling of the forms or reduction of certain 
groups as some authors have maintained to be 
the case in high northern latitudes. This is 
all the more interesting since the recent dis- 
covery of the Glossopteris flora in the geo- 
graphically near Falkland Islands shows that 
the two floral and climatic provinces of the 
closing Paleozoic—the northern or cosmopoli- 
tan and the Glossopteris-Gangamopteris type, 
found expression in the far south, but in terms 
of geologic time were of short duration. 

All of Snow Hill Island and the larger 
southwestern part of Seymour Island, as well 
as a considerable area of the eastern part of 
Ross Island around Cape Hamilton, which is 
just across Admiralty Sound from Snow Hill 
Island, is made up of Upper Cretaceous 
strata, mostly sandstones. These contain rich 
faunas of which the ammonites, abounding in 
individuals and species, have been described 


SCIENCE 


659 


by Professor Kilian of Grenoble.® The 
Pelecypoda, Gastropoda and Annelida have 
been described by Wilckens;® the Brachio- 
poda by Buckman;?° the Echinoidea by Lam- 
bert ;11 the corals by Felix;!2 the Foramini- 
fera by Holland,?* and the fishes by Smith 
Woodward.1* Altogether these contributions 
add an imposing array of Cretaceous fossils 
to Antarctica. The faunas indicate an older 
and a younger Cretaceous series of which the 
latter is much the richer in both species and 
individuals. The older is considered to corre- 
spond approximately to the Ootator group of 
India of lower Cenomanian age, while the 
younger is Senonian and shows considerable 
resemblance to the fauna of the Quiriquina 
beds of southern Chile, and to marine beds in 
southern Patagonia!® made known by Stein- 
mann and Wilckens. 

Impressions of a single Cretaceous plant 
were found in a Nunatak group near the mid- 
dle of Snow Hill Island. This has been de- 
termined by Professor Nathorst to be close to 
Sequoia fastigiata (Sternb.) Heer, a species 
of conifer that is not uncommon in the 
Cenomanian of Europe, occurring also from 
the Cenomanian upward into the Senonian of 
Greenland and also present in the. Tusca- 
loosa formation of Alabama. It is described 
and figured in Halle’s memoir on the Jurassic 
flora. 

Some of the petrified woods described by 
Gotham come from the Upper Cretaceous, but 
as there is some doubt as to the horizons from 
which the specimens came the Cretaceous and 
Tertiary woods may be considered together. 

Fossil wood was found on both Seymour 


8 Kilian and Reboul, ‘‘Les Céphalopodes Néo- 
erétacés,’’? Wissen. Ergeb., Band 3, Lief 6. 

9 Tbid., Lief 12. 

10 Lief 7. 

11 Lief 11. 

12 Lief 5. 

13 Lief 9. 

14 Lief 4. 

15 Wilckens has proved that the southern Pata- 
gonian beds are synchronous with the Rosa and 
Salamanca beds of central and northern Pata- 
gonia and included them all in what he calls the 
San Jorge formation. 


660 


and Snow Hill Islands. Gothan, who has de- 
scribed the fossil woods, has differentiated six 
forms, all new. Five of these are given spe- 
cific names and all of the determinable forms 
are from Seymour Island. They are as fol- 
lows: Phyllocladoxylon antarcticum, Podo- 
carpoxylon aparenchymatosum, Dadoxylon 
(Araucaria) pseudoparenchymatosum, Lauri- 
noxylon uniseriatum, Laurinoxylon?  sp., 
Nothofagoxylon scalariforme. As I have al- 
ready mentioned, there is, unfortunately, 
some uncertainty as to their exact age. Part 
of the specimens representing the Phylloclad- 
oxylon are Tertiary and the balance are 
Upper Cretaceous or Tertiary. The Podo- 
carpoxylon is given as Tertiary and the bal- 
ance may be either Upper Cretaceous or Ter- 
tiary. In either case they show that types 
now regarded as South American or Austral- 
asian were much more wide-spread in the early 
‘Tertiary or late Cretaceous. It is of some 
‘interest to find structural remains of Arau- 
eeariee, Lauracee and Nothofagus, since these 
three types are also represented in the leaf 
impressions studied by Dusén. 

The northeastern portion of Seymour Is- 
land is made up of Tertiary beds. These are 
mostly marine calcareous sandstones, but with 
some tuffs containing augite-porphyrite. In 
these sandstones Nordenskiéld discovered leaf 
impressions which Nathorst reported upon in 
his brief paper of 1904.16 They have been 
monographed by Dusén.17 The material is 
abundant but very fragmentary. Dusén rec- 
ognizes 87 different forms, of which only 25 
receive specific names. Both the results and 
their method of presentation are open to criti- 
eism. While Dusén has brought to the work 
an extensive acquaintance with the existing 
flora of South America, it does not appear 
that he has an equal knowledge of paleobotan- 
jeal literature and there is a tendency to see 
an undue resemblance to the existing flora he 
seems to know best. 

There are 26 different Phyllites sp., some of 
which are Angiosperms and some Gymno- 
sperms. Of the 37 different ferns only nine 

16 Comptes rendus, loc. cit. 

17 Lief 3, 1908. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


are identified and we are treated to the abom- 
inable array of 10 Sphenopteris sp. and 18 
Pecopteris sp., both form-genera that should 
really be reserved for Paleozoic fern-like re- 
mains, Sphenopteris being partly, and pre- 
sumably wholly, Pteridospermic and Pecop- 
teris being filicalean. With the exception of a 
Fagus previously described by Dusén from 
the Straits of Magellan and a Nothofagus de- 
scribed by Engelhardt from the same region, 
all of the named species are new to science. 
They include forms in the following genera: 
Miconiiphyllum, Lauriphyllum, Mollinedia, 
Araucaria, Polypodium, Asplenium, Alsophila, 
Dryopteris, Caldcluvia, Laurelia, Drimys, 
Lomatia, Knightia, Fagus, Nothofagus and 
Myrica. 

The first eight of these have their closest 
affinities with forms in the existing subtrop- 
jeal flora of southern Brazil, while the bal- 
ance resemble existing species of West Pata- 
gonia and southern Chili. Dusén concludes 
that this mixed character is due to differences 
in altitude at which the Seymour Island 
plants grew. This may well be the case, but on 
the other hand the author is apparently un- 
aware of the polar extension of more equato- 
rial climates with a mixing of types since as- 
sociated with temperate or tropical conditions 
that occurs in the early Tertiary, or to the 
general lack of well-defined climatic zones in 
the history of the earth throughout geological 
times. Many attempts have been made to 
emphasize the fact that climates like that of 
the present or the Pleistocene, of which the 
present is really a part, or of Glossopteris 
time, or of earlier glacial periods, were the 
exception and not the rule when all geological 
time is considered. The consequent lack of 
extreme cold in the Tertiary when accom- 
panied by sufficiently humid conditions would 
answer for the Seymour Island Tertiary flora 
equally as well as an altitudinal zonation. 

According to Dusén this flora is typically 
South American, with only slight relationships 
to the flora of New Zealand (cf. Laurelia) 
and Australia (cf. Knightia). This is per- 
haps what would be expected since both tec- 
tonically and petrographically Graham Land 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


seems to represent a southward extension of 
the Andean axis. At the same time, it seems 
to me that a more critical analysis of the 
flora by a student qualified to compare it with 
the living and fossil floras of Australia, New 
Zealand and with more northern Tertiary 
floras, would bring out a good many signifi- 
cant features that remain hidden in Dusén’s 
work, 

Regarding the age of the Seymour Island 
Tertiary, Dusén, relying on comparisons with 
the fossil floras from the Straits of Magellan 
and Chili and on the affinities of the associ- 
ated Mollusca, as communicated by Wilckens, 
concludes that it is late Oligocene or early 
Miocene. I would be much more inclined to 
consider its age as somewhat older and cor- 
responding roughly to that of the Arctic Ter- 
tiary floras, which in turn are contemporane- 
ous or slightly younger than those in lower 
latitudes that are marked by that northward 
extension of tropical climates which com- 
mences in the early Eocene and culminates in 
this country in the Vicksburg and Apalachi- 
cola groups. Epwarp W. Berry 

JoHNS HopKINS UNIVERSITY, 

BALTIMORE 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Sir WinL1AM Oster has accepted an invita- 
tion to deliver the principal address at the 
opening of the James Buchanan Brady Uro- 
logical Clinic of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

THE annual Huxley Memorial Lecture of 
the Royal Anthropological Institute will be 
delivered on November 14, by Professor W. J. 
Sollas, F.R.S., who will take as his subject 
“Paviland Cave.” 

Tue council of the Royal Meteorological 
Society has awarded the Symons gold medal 
to Mr. W. H. Dines, F.R.S. The medal will 
be presented at the annual meeting of the 
society on January 21. 


Tur Baly medal of the Royal College of 
Physicians of London has been presented to 
Dr. John Scott Haldane, F.R.S., reader in 
physiology in the University of Oxford. The 
medal was founded by Dr. Frederic Daniel 
Dyster in 1866 in memory of William Harvey, 


SCIENCE 


661 


and is awarded every alternate year. The last 
five recipients have been Professor J. N. 
Langley, F.R.S. (1908), Professor Pawlow, 
of St. Petersburg (1905), Professor E. H. 
Starling, F.R.S. (1907), Professor Emil 
Fischer, of Berlin (1909), and Professor W. D. 
Halliburton, F.R.S. (1911). 


On the recommendation of the committee 
on the award of the Hodgkins prize of $1,500 
for the best treatise “On the Relation of 
Atmospheric Air to Tuberculosis,” which was 
offered by the Smithsonian Institution in con- 
nection with the International Congress on 
Tuberculosis held in Washington in 1908, the 
institution announces that the prize has been 
equally divided between Dr. Guy Hinsdale, 
of Hot Springs, Virginia, for his paper on 
“Tuberculosis in Relation to Atmospheric 
Air,” and Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, of New 
York City, for his treatise on the “ Relation 
of Atmospheric Air to Tuberculosis.” The 
members’ of the committee on award were: 
Dr. William H. Welch, John Hopkins Univer- 
sity, Baltimore, Md., chairman; Dr. Hermann 
M. Biggs, New York City; Professor W. M. 
Davis, Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. G. Dock, Wash- 
ington University Medical School, St. Louis, 
Mo.; Dr. Simon Flexner, Rockefeller Institute 
for Medical Research, New York City; Dr. 
John §S. Fulton, Baltimore, Md., and Brig. 
Gen. George M. Sternberg, U. S. A. (retired), 
Washington, D. C. 


Proressor R. Burton-Opirz, of the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer- 
sity, has been elected president of Alpha 
Omega Alpha, the honorary medical society, 
which now has chapters in the seventeen most 
representative medical colleges. 


Mr. H. N. Baker, assistant superintendent 
of the National Zoological Park at Washing- 
ton, has resigned to become superintendent of 
the Boston Zoological Garden. 


Dr. Ropert Matueson, formerly provincial 
entomologist of the Province of Nova Scotia, 
has recently resigned to accept the position of 
investigator in entomology in Cornell Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 


662 


Mr. Bascompe Brirr Hicers, Ph.D. (Cor- 
nell, ’13), has been appointed botanist and plant 
pathologist of the Georgia Experiment Sta- 
tion. Dr. Higgins began his work in Georgia 
early in October. 

Proressor Grorce V. N. Drarporn, of the 
Tufts College Medical and Dental School, has 
been appointed consulting physiologist to the 
Forsyth Dental Infirmary, Boston. 

W. J. WINTEMBERG has been appointed pre- 
parator in archeology in the Geological Sur- 
vey Branch of the Department of Mines, by 
the Civil Service Commission of Canada. 


Tue council of the Victoria Institute has 
appointed Mr. KE. Walter Maunder to the 
secretaryship of the institute, vacant by the 
death of Mr. F. 8. Bishop. Mr. Maunder 
will retire on November 4 from the Royal 
Observatory, Greenwich, where he has been 
superintendent of the Solar Department for 
40 years. 


Proressor C. G. Barxkua, recently elected to 
the chair of natural philosophy in the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, gave his inaugural lecture 
on October 16, Principal Sir William Turner 
presiding. The subject of the address was, 
“What we know of Electricity.” 


Tue Bradshaw Lecture before the Royal 
College of Physicians of London was delivered 
on November 4 by Dr. T. R. Glynn, professor 
of medicine in the University of Liverpool, 
whose subject was “ Hysteria in some of its 
aspects.” Two Fitz-Patrick Lectures were 
announced to be delivered on November 6 and 
11 by Dr. C. A. Mercier, on “ Astrology in 
medicine.” 

Dr. Hermann Aron, who made important 
contributions to electrial engineering, has died 
at the age of sixty-eight years. 


M. Cuartes TELiier, the inventor of the 
cold storage system, has died at eighty-six 
years of age. 

Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for assistant in agri- 
cultural technology, for men only, on Decem- 
ber 3, to fill vacancies in the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Department of Agriculture, at 
salaries of from $1,250 to $2,250. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 984 


In connection with the sixth international 
congress of mathematicians, to be held in 
Stockholm in 1916, King Gustav V. of Sweden 
has founded a prize, consisting of a gold medal 
bearing a portrait of Weierstrass and a cash 
sum of 3,000 crowns, for the best contribution 
to the theory of analytic functions. 


THE annual joint meeting of the American 
Anthropological Association and the American 
Folk-lore Society will be held in the American 
Museum of Natural History, New York City, 
December 29-31. Titles of papers and ab- 
stracts should be sent not later than December 
1 to Professor George Grant MacCurdy, Yale 
University Museum, New Haven, Conn., who 
is responsible for the joint program. The 
program will be mailed to members about the 
tenth of December. 


Tue American Mathematical Society has 
accepted the invitation of Brown University, 
extended through the committee on the cele- 
bration of her one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary to hold its fall meeting at Brown Uni- 
versity in September, 1914. 


Tue London Times says that Dr. Mawson 
and his comrades, who were practically ma- 
rooned in the Antarctic by the sudden onset of 
winter last year, are still stranded. Like 
nearly every other polar expedition of recent 
years, this exploration party started south 
without having the definite assurance that it 
would receive sufficient financial support to 
enable it to complete its undertaking. The 
Australian state governments voted Dr. Maw- 
son £20,000 and the commonwealth govern- 
ment £5,000, but these amounts, together with 
other public and private donations, have not 
covered the cost of the expedition. At the 
present moment its liabilities amount to about 
£11,000 and its assets total some £5,000. It 
requires the difference, £6,000, to bring the 
members of the expedition back to Australia, 
when the relief ship Aurora can reach them. 
Appeal has been made to the commonwealth 
government by Professor David, of Sydney, for 
a further vote of £5,000, and it is hoped that 
the extra £1,000 will be raised by private sub- 
scriptions. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


Tue Philadelphia Pathological Society will 
hold at the College of Physicians, on Novem- 
ber 20, at 8:15 P.M., a symposium on the sub- 
ject of “ Physical Growth and Mental Devel- 
opment.” The speakers will be Dr. H. H. 
Donaldson, of the Wistar Institute, ‘ Studies 
on the Growth of the Central Nervous Sys- 
tem”; Professor Bird T. Baldwin, of Swarth- 
more College, “ The Normal Child; Its Phys- 
ical Growth and Mental Maturity,” and Pro- 
fessor Lightner Witmer, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, “ Children with Mental Defects 
Distinguished from Mentally Defective Chil- 
dren.” The discussion to be opened by Dr. 
H. H. Goddard, of the New Jersey Training 
School, Vineland, N. J., Dr. Charles Burr, of 
Philadelphia, and Professor J. H. Leuba, of 
Bryn Mawr College. 


We learn from the report in the London 
Times that the International Tuberculosis 
Conference held its first meeting in the Lower 
House of the Prussian Diet, Berlin, on October 
93. Dr. Franz Bumm presided in the absence 
of M. Léon Bourgeois. The conference was 
welcomed by the secretary of state for the 
Imperial Ministry of the interior, Dr. Del- 
briick, who observed that the conference was 
meeting at the place where the international 
organization was founded eleven years ago 
under the patronage of the German empress. 
It now embraced the whole world and united 
the nations in a common labor for humanity. 
Speaking of the fight against tuberculosis in 
Germany, Dr. Delbriick said that there were 
now 147 sanatoria, with 15,278 beds. There 
were 103 institutions, with more than 9,000 
beds, for children threatened with tuberculosis, 
114 forest sanatoria, and 17 forest schools. 
Dr. Delbriick called special attention to the 
movement for the addition of wings to hos- 
pitals rather than for the building of sanatoria, 
and said that there were now more than 200 
tuberculosis wings of general hospitals in 
Germany. He observed that England held the 
lead in the matter of notification, and referred 
to the new movement in Germany for the iso- 
lation of cases in an advanced stage of the 
disease. This point was endorsed by the medi- 
cal officer of health for Berlin, who announced 


SCIENCE 


663 


that a special tuberculosis hospital, with 1,000 
beds, is to be built here. Dr. Delbriick said 
that within about fifteen years the mortality 
due to tuberculosis had declined by one third 
in England, Germany, France, Belgium and 
the United States, and by one fifth in Austria, 
Switzerland and the Netherlands. 


Nature states that in his evening lecture to 
the British Association at Birmingham on 
September 16, Dr. Smith Woodward took the 
opportunity of replying to Professor Arthur 
Keith’s recent criticisms on his reconstruc- 
tion of the Piltdown skull. It will be re- 
membered that Dr. Woodward regarded the 
mandible as essentially that of an ape, and 
restored it with ape-like front teeth, while he 
determined the brain-capacity of the skull to 
approach closely the lowest human limit. 
Professor Keith, on the other hand, modified 
the curves of the mandible to accommodate 
typically human teeth, and reconstructed the 
skull with a brain-capacity exceeding that of 
the average civilized European. Fortunately, 
Mr. Charles Dawson has continued his dig- 
gings at Piltdown this summer with some 
suecess, and on August 30, Father P. Teil- 
hard, who was working with him, picked up 
the canine tooth which obviously belongs to 
the half of the mandible originally discov- 
ered. This tooth corresponds exactly in 
shape with the lower canine of an ape, and its 
worn face shows that it worked upon the 
upper canine in true ape fashion. It only 
differs from the canine of Dr. Woodward’s 
published restoration in being slightly 
smaller, more pointed and a little more up- 
right in the mouth. Hence, there seems now 
to be definite proof that the front teeth of 
Hoanthropus resembled those of an ape, and 
its recognition as a genus distinct from 
Homo is apparently justified. The associa- 
tion of such a mandible with a skull of large 
brain-capacity is considered by Dr. Wood- 
ward most improbable, and he has made 
further studies of the brain-case with the 
help of Mr. W. P. Pycraft, who has attempted 
a careful reconstruction of the missing base. 
Dr. Woodward now concludes that the only 
alteration necessary in his original model is 


664 


a very slight widening of the back of the 
parietal region to remedy a defect which was 
pointed out to him by Professor Elliot Smith 
when he first studied the brain-cast. The ca- 
pacity of the brain-case thus remains much 
the same as he originally stated, and he main- 
tains that Professor Keith has arrived at a 
different result by failing to recognize the 
mark of the superior longitudinal sinus on 
the frontal region and by unduly widening 
that on the parietal region. It is understood 
that Mr. Dawson and Dr. Woodward will 
offer an account of the season’s work to the 
Geological Society at an early meeting, and 
Professor Elliot Smith will include a de- 
tailed study of the brain-cast of Hoanthropus 
in a memoir on primitive human brains which 
he is preparing for the Royal Society. 
Leonarpo DA Vinct left a number of anat- 
omical drawings with descriptions which are 
now in the Royal Library at Windsor, after 
lying hidden in the Ambrosia Library, Milan, 
for centuries. The British Medical Journal 
states that photographs of these, with English 
and German translations of the descriptions, 
have been prepared by Ove C. L. Vangensten, 
A. Fonahn and H. Hopstock, and published 
by Jacob Dybwad, of Christiania. Dr. Hop- 
stock is prosector of anatomy in the Univer- 
sity of Christiania, where Dr. Fonahn is pro- 
fessor of the history of medicine, and Mr. 
Vangensten, professor of Italian. The first 
volume (“Quaderni d’Anatomia,” I.), pub- 
lished in 1911, contains 13 folios, 22 pages in 
facsimile (collotype), and 70 designs. The 
subjects illustrated are respiration, the alter- 
nating motions of the diaphragm and the 
muscles of the abdomen, together with the 
passage of the food through the alimentary 
canal, and the heart. A special volume on the 
heart (“Quaderni d’Anatomia,” II.), con- 
taining 24 folios, 33 pages in facsimile (collo- 
type) and 240 designs, was published in 1912. 
The third volume, which appeared in Septem- 
ber of the present year, consists of 12 folios, 
20 pages in facsimile (collotype), dealing with 
the organs of generation. The remainder of 
the hitherto unpublished Windsor papers will 
follow, one volume appearing annually in Sep- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 984 


tember. The whole work will comprise six 
volumes. The Professor Voss prize has been 
awarded to the editors by the University of 
Christiania. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THERE is under construction at Smith Col- 
lege a biological hall for which the trustees 
have appropriated $140,000. Hitherto the de- 
partments of physics, zoology and botany have 
done most of their work in Lilly Hall. With 
the completion of the new building this hall 
will be left entirely to physics. 

A sEconpD gift of $10,000 from Mr. Melville 
H. Hanna, to Union College, is announced. 

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE has received $90,000 for 
a chapel from a donor whose name is withheld. 

AN anonymous friend has presented to the 
University of Leeds £10,000 for the erection of 
a school of agriculture. 

By the will of the late Henry Follett Osler 
the University of Birmingham is to receive 
the sum of £10,000, with a prospective share 
in the residuary estate. 

CornELL Uwniversiry Mepican OoLLEGE 
opened on October 1, with an enrollment as 
follows: For the degree of M.D.: first year, 36; 
second year, 32; third year, 20; fourth year, 
20; special students (work not leading to the 
degree M.D.), 5; for the degree of Ph.D., 2; 
for the degree of M.A., 2; making a total of 117. 
All students now registered, with the excep- 
tion of those pursuing the combined seven 
years course leading to the degrees of A.B. and 
M.D., are graduates of arts or science, or 
doctors of medicine doing advanced work. 

Proressor WILLARD C. FisHErR, whose forced 
resignation from the chair of economics and 
sociology at Wesleyan on the alleged ground 
of his views on Sabbath observance will be 
remembered, has been appointed lecturer on 
economics at Harvard University for the cur- 
rent academic year. 

Tue trustees of The Ohio State University 
have made the following promotions: Charles 
St. John Chubb, Jr., O.E., to be professor of 
architecture; Dana James Demorest, B.S.C., 
to be professor of metallurgy; Harry Clifford 
Ramsower, B.S.C., to be professor of rural 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


engineering; Carl Bertram Harrop, E.M., to 
be assistant professor of ceramic engineering; 
Aubrey Ingerson Brown, M.E., to be instructor 
in mechanical engineering. Mr. Franklin 
Wales Marquis, M.E., of the University of 
Illinois, has been appointed professor of steam 
engineering to succeed Mr. E. A. Hitchcock, 
M.E., who resigned last spring to accept a 
position as sales engineer with E. W. Clark 


& Co. 


Mr. G. D. Horton, M.S. (Yale, 713), has . 


been appointed instructor in bacteriology in 
the Oregon Agricultural College. 


Miss E. M. Pryney, formerly instructor in 
zoology, at the University of Kansas, has been 
appointed demonstrator in biology in Bryn 
Mawr College, to succeed Dr. Harriet Ran- 
dolph, who is at present in Europe. 


Tue following appointments have been made 
at the University of Birmingham: Mr. L. J. 
Wills, assistant lecturer in geology and geog- 
raphy; Mr. David Brunt, lecturer in mathe- 
matics (to succeed Mr. S. B. McLaren); Dr. 
C. L. Boulenger, reader in helminthology; Mr. 
H. G. Jackson, assistant lecturer in zoology. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
LABELING MICROSCOPIC SLIDES 


To tHe Epitor or ScreNcE: Two things are 
absolutely essential to properly prepared 
microscopic slides; these are permanent labels 
and cleanliness. I have been interested in two 
notes that have recently appeared in ScrENcE, 
namely, one by Zea Northrup in the July 25 
issue and, the other, by Ernest S. Reynolds, in 
the September 12 number. The paper labels 
usually affixed to the slides of a study or loan 
collection soon become soiled and the data 
more or less effaced. To obviate this, several 
years ago I commenced to use small and very 
thin paper slips upon which the data were 
written in “Higgin’s Waterproof (Black) 
India Ink,” placed under the cover-glass at 
one of the angles and in this way mounted 
with the specimens. J have observed this 
method in use at several institutions. This 
technical procedure permits dipping of the 
slides into water and their subsequent clean- 


SCIENCE 


665 


ing and polishing with a soft cotton cloth. 
The covering of the India ink label with 
balsam and cover-glass, as recommended by 
Reynolds, is an excellent method. I do not 
think it wise to trust to “merely printing or 
writing the necessary description upon the 
slide with India ink” as recommended by 
Northrup. A person can not always be sure 
that the writing surface is free from oily mat- 
ter. Disappointment frequently attends this 
procedure. For some time I have used the 
following method: The ‘essential data are 
neatly written or printed across one end of 
the slide as close as possible to the cover- 
glass and, after the ink has dried, a thin layer 
of Canada balsam in xylol—two to one—is 
painted with a camel’s hair brush across the 
slide over the label. After the balsam has be- 
come thoroughly hardened the slide can be 
dipped into cold water and cleaned with a 
soft cotton cloth, as above. Care should at 
all times be taken to avoid having the slides 
come in contact with alcohol or xylol. Should 
such a thing happen the surface of the bal- 
sam can be restored by reapplication of the 
thin balsam. The first: slide of a series or set 
should bear a paper label as well as the ink 
inscription. 
Frank E. BuatsDELL 
SuRGIcAL PATHOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 
San FRANcIscO, CAL. 


A NORTHERLY RECORD FOR THE FREE-TAILED BAT 


On the morning of August 15, 1913, I picked 
up a live male free-tailed bat (Nyctinomus 
meaxicanus Saussure) on the pavement on the 
main business street of Lincoln, Nebraska. It 
was huddled against the wall at the corner of 
what is probably the most brilliantly lighted 
building on the street where it was presumably 
attracted by the illumination the previous 
night. The specimen is now in the author’s 
collection where it has been seen by Mr. 
Vernon Bailey, of the U. S. Biological Survey, 
who has verified the determination. 

This bat normally occurs in the United 
States in the Lower Sonoran fauna of Texas, 


666 


Arizona and California. Four specimens were 
taken at Newcastle, Colorado, on July 16, 1907, 
by E. R. Warren, 2 the locality being situated 
on a narrow tongue of Upper Sonoran almost 
surrounded by Transition but connected by a 
belt of the Upper Sonoran across Utah with 
the Lower Sonoran in Arizona, part of the 
regular habitat of the species.2 A free-tailed 
bat, referred to this form, was collected at 
Manhattan, Kansas, in 1884, by Dr. C. P. 
Blachly.2 This latter locality is Carolinean, 
but is not decidedly distant from the Austro- 
riparian of the Lower Austral zone of southern 
Kansas and is connected by this with the lower 
Sonoran fauna in Oklahoma (and possibly in 
south central Kansas, locally), which latter 
area is an unbroken northward extension of 
the Lower Sonoran of Texas where the free- 
tailed bat is abundant. It seems likely that 
the Manhattan individual reached Kansas from 
Texas by this course across Oklahoma and the 
Lincoln occurrence is probably due to a still 
more northward extension of the same route, 
although Lincoln is about two hundred and 
fifty miles from the boundary of the Lower 
Austral zone. Possibly the excessive heat and 
dryness of the past summer in Kansas and 
southern Nebraska had something to do with 
the appearance of this bat of the far southwest 
at a locality so distant from its normal range. 
Joun T. ZIMMER 
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 
LINCOLN, NEBR., 
September 12, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Problems of Life and Reproduction. By 
Marcus Hartoc. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
1913. Pp. 382, 41 text figures. 

This volume consists of a series of eleven 
chapters dealing for the most part with cytolog- 
1. R. Warren, ‘‘Further Notes on the Mam- 

mals of Colorado,’’ p. 85, 1908. 

2 Merritt Cary, ‘‘A Biological Survey of Colo- 

rado,’’ N. A. Fauna, No. 33, pp. 204-205, 1911. 
3D. E. Lantz, ‘‘Additions and Corrections to 

the List of Kansas Mammals,’’ Trans. Kansas 

Acad. Sci., XX., Part II., p. 216, 1907. 

4 Vernon Bailey, ‘‘ Biological Survey of Texas,’’ 

N. A. Fauna, No. 25, pp. 215-216, 1905. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 984 


ical questions relating to the mechanism of he- 
redity, but in part also with general subjects, 
such as the teaching of nature study. It is, 
indeed, a collection of biological and philo- 
sophical essays published during the period 
from 1892 to 1910 and here reworked and 
modernized, to a degree, by interpolation or 
rewriting. There is lacking any sustained 
theme except such as is furnished by the con- 
sideration of vital processes in some form. 

The work was first conceived as a general 
treatise on reproduction for the non-scientific 
public, but in its present form, although a re- 
print of articles already published, is evidently 
again addressed largely to scientists. If this 
were not so it would be little read, for there is 
no lack of technical expressions and the au- 
thor rarely resists the temptation to increase 
the number of these by the transformation of 
common terms into Latin forms. 

The attitude of the author is controversial 
and he announces in the preface that he has 
“not hesitated to use all the legitimate arms 
of scientific controversy in assailing certain 
views.” He inveighs strongly against the 
practise of those writers who present the opin- 
ions of any one school as the verdict of biol- 
ogists in general, but is himself not entirely 
guiltless of such emphasis on his own conclu- 
sions. There appear frequent claims for prior- 
ity of observation—and especially of theories, 
not a few of which are the common property 
of all who generalize. There is apparent the 
customary European lack of information con- 
cerning biological America, the result of 
which in this case has led the author to ex- 
plain the processes of fertilization as one 
bringing about “ rejuvenescence.” As proof 
of this he advances the questionable work of 
Maupas upon the Protozoa in apparent igno- 
rance of the convincing work of Jennings to 
the contrary. Since some of the essays were 
written a decade or two ago, there is some- 
times lacking a modern viewpoint in the dis- 
cussion, and even modern evidence is some- 
times wanting. The search for ultimate 
explanations also leads to the assignment of 
mames to conditions or relations which are 
then regarded as having been explained. Aside 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


from these lapses the author shows strength, 
vigor and clearness in his method, and how- 
ever much one may differ from him regard- 
ing facts or theories there can be no denial 
of the individuality or consistency of his 
views. 

Among the diversity of subjects consid- 
ered certain themes stand out because of em- 
phasis and repetition. Briefly these may be 
stated as follows: Sexual reproduction is a 
process for securing rejuvenescence; fertiliza- 
tion effects a cellular reorganization by bring- 
ing nuclear material into new cytoplasmic 
surroundings; reduction is a process to check 
the indefinite multiplication of chromosomes 
whose important constituent, the linin, is me- 
chanically divided by the splitting of the 
chromatin granules; cell division is due to a 
“new force, mitokinetism,” confined to living 
matter; heredity is not to be explained through 
the action of any germ plasm, but “can only 
be elucidated by the light of mental, not ma- 
terial processes”’; acquired characters are in- 
herited; such collateral inheritance receives an 
explanation through the operation of “ uncon- 
scious memory ” according to the theories of 
Hering and Butler; chemical and physical 
laws are not sufficient to account for the ac- 
tivities of organisms and we must assume a 
“vital behavior.” 

From all of which it is easily seen that Pro- 
fessor Hartog may be classed, philosophically, 
as a vitalistic Lamarckian. While he strikes 
vigorous blows in defense of his faith, it must 
be admitted that he brings little that is new or 
convineing in proof. It seems impossible not 
to believe that the reproductive elements are 
in some way and to some degree affected by 
conditions external to them, but it brings 
slight comfort and mental satisfaction to have 
offered as proof of such a fundamentally im- 
portant principle the case of two normal chil- 
dren who are supposed to inherit a peculiar 
habit of writing because a myopic-astigmatic 
father has developed this as a result of his de- 
fective sight. Although the children fail to 
inherit the structural defect, and the father 
under corrected vision spontaneously loses the 
habit at the age of fifteen, they are reported to 


SCIENCE 


667 


have it so firmly engrafted upon them as to 
make its eradication almost impossible. While 
the writer considers lLankester’s logical 
presumption against the sudden fixation of 
slight influences through the soma upon the 
germ cells—in the face of a long adverse phy- 
logenetic history, he does not make a satis- 
factory answer to it. Much more probable 
seems the gradual, cumulative effect of a per- 
sistent, long-continued influence upon succes- 
sive generations which finally is able to over- 
balance the weight of the racial inertia. This 
would seem to account for the universal fail- 
ure of experimental proof in support of the 
theory of inheritance of acquired characters— 
a theory which seems to be logically correct 
and which makes such a strong appeal to those 
who study extensive racial histories. 

More scientific is the author’s treatment of 
the problems of maturation and fertilization, 
although to many there will occur objections 
that weigh strongly against some of his con- 
clusions. Why so general and apparently im- 
portant a process as the reduction division 
should have become established merely to pre- 
vent indefinite multiplication of the chromo- 
somes does not receive adequate explanation. 
Likewise there is no convincing evidence for 
the conclusion that the linin is the important 
part of the nuclear substance, for which the 
chromatin plays merely the mechanical réle of 
a dividing agent. Surely Professor Hartog 
can not have made a careful study of the nu- 
cleus during the long and significant growth 
period preceding the first maturation divi- 
sion or he would not say (p. 138) “ what- 
ever be the function of the chromatin in the 
‘working’ cell, as we may term it, it is evi- 
dently less important than its function in the 
dividing cell.” 

The striking character of the fully estab- 
lished mitotic figure evidently makes a strong 
appeal to the author, for besides the conclu- 
sion just quoted he is led, from the conditions 
of the bipolar figure, to postulate an entirely 
new force, mitokinetism, to account for cell 
division. The whole argument for the new 
foree is based upon the bipolar spindle, yet 
nothing is more evident than the fact that this 


668 


is but the culmination of a long series of 
changes which have been taking place both 
within and without the nucleus. All of these 
changes are ascribed by Professor Hartog to 
the operation of other physical and vital forces 
which are finally succeeded by the “new 
force” which comes into operation upon the 
establishment of the spindle-shaped figure. The 
efforts of many who would explain the process 
of mitosis through the action of various chem- 
ical and physical laws have failed through in- 
adequacy of the explanations to meet all the 
conditions of the process. It does not seem 
that the author has been more successful by 
first proclaiming an absolute divorce between 
nuclear division and cell division and then 
invoking a new force to complete the broken 
contract. 

For those who enjoy philosophical debate 
and formal explanations there will be much of 
interest in Professor Hartog’s discussion of 
vitalism and of heredity through the operation 
of universal and unconscious memory. Very 
readable is his appreciation of the work of 
Samuel Butler. The teacher will find sound 
argument for natural as opposed to strictly 
logical methods of teaching in the chapter on 
“Tnterpolation in Memory.” In the final 
chapter on “The Teaching of Nature Study ” 
there is much sound pedagogical wisdom and 
moral support for those who would have such 
work taught in a way to make it worth the 
while of the student. 

C. E. McCiune 


Modern Research in Organic Chemistry. By 
F. G. Popr, B.Se. (Lond.), F.C.S., Lecturer 
on Organic Chemistry, East London College. 
New York, D. Van Nostrand Company. 
19138. 53X73, Cloth. Pp. xi+ 324. 
With 261 diagrams. Price $2.25 net. 

This book is an attempt to bring before the 
student of chemistry a brief account of the 
development of some of the more important 
chapters of organic chemistry. It is the Amer- 
ican reprint of the English book with the same 
title published by Methuen and Co. in Lon- 
don in 1912. It contains an introduction by 
Professor J. T. Hewitt and nine chapters which 


SCIENCE 


desires to do so. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


have no connection with each other. These 
chapters are: I., The Polymethylenes; II., The 
Terpenes and Camphors; III., The Urie Acid 
or Purine Group; IV., The Alkaloids; V., The 
Relation between the Color and Constitution 
of Chemical Compounds; VI., Salt Forma- 
tion, Pseudo-acids and Bases; VII., The 
Pyrones; VIII., Ketenes, Ozonides, Triphenyl- 
methyl; IX., The Grignard Reaction. 

In each chapter methods of preparation, for 
the most part synthetical, are given and the 
reactions of some of the best known represent- 
atives of the different classes of compounds. 
are discussed, especially those which are used 
to determine the structural formulas of the 
compounds. Throughout the book structural 
formulas are used almost exclusively. At the 
end of each chapter there is a bibliography 
containing a list of the more important papers 
on the subject matter of the text, so that the: 
student may consult the original articles if he 
The book is very difficult 
reading, but for those to whom the original 
papers are not available and who wish a brief 
résumé of the researches on which the struc- 
ture of these compounds is based, it will prob-: 
ably prove useful. 

In a book with such a title we should natu- 
rally expect something to be said of the 
researches on the carbohydrates, on the syn- 
thesis of indigo and of india-rubber, but no 
mention is made of these very important 
chapters of organic chemistry. 

W. R. OrnpdorFr 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


Tue October number (Vol. 14, No. 4) of the: 
Transactions of the American Mathematical 
Society contains the following papers: 

Maxime Bécher: ‘‘ Applications and generaliza- 
tions of the conception of adjoint systems.’’ 

E. J. Wilezynski: ‘‘On a certain class of self- 
projective surfaces.’ 

G. A. Miller: ‘‘On the representation groups 
of given abstract groups.’’ 

Dunham Jackson: ‘‘On the accuracy of trigo- 
nometric interpolation.’’ 

G. D. Birkhoff: ‘‘On a simple type of irregular 
singular point.’’ 

John McDonnell: ‘‘On quadratic residues. ’’ 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


H, M. Sheffer: ‘‘A set of five independent postu- 
lates for Boolean algebras, with application to 
logical constants.’’ 

Mildred Sanderson: ‘‘Formal modular invari- 
ants with application to binary modular covari- 
ants.’? 


THE opening (October) number of Vol. 20 
of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical 
Society contains: “ Note on the gamma func- 
tion,” by G. D. Birkhoff; “Some properties of 
space curves minimizing a definite integral 
with discontinuous integrand,” by E. J. 
Miles; “ The degree of a cartesian multiplier,” 
by D. R. Curtiss; “On closed continuous 
curves,” by Arnold Emch; “Let us have our 
calculus early ” (review of Mercer’s “ Calculus 
for Beginners”), by E. B. Wilson; “ Shorter 
Notice”: Ziwet and Field’s “ Introduction to 
Analytical Mechanics,” by Kurt Laves; 
“ Notes”; and “ New Publications.” 


Tur November number of the Bulletin con- 
tains: Report of the twentieth summer meet- 
ing of the society, by H. E. Slaught; “ Intui- 
tionism and formalism,” by L. E. J. Brouwer; 
“Shorter Notices”: Arnoux’s “Essai de 
Géométrie analytique modulaire 4 deux Di- 
mensions,” by L. E. Dickson; Padoa’s “La 
Logique déductive dans sa derniére Phase de 
Développement,” by J. B. Shaw; Hun and 
MacInnes’s “ Elements of Plane and Spherical 
Trigonometry,” by Cora B. Hennel; “‘ Notes”; 
and “ New Publications.” 


Tue articles in The American Journal of 
Science for November are as follows: 

‘“‘Upper Devonian Delta of the Appalachian 
Geosyncline,’’ by J. Barrell. 

‘¢Optical Bench for Elementary Work,’’ by H. 
W. Farwell. ‘ 

‘¢Voleanie Research at Kilauea in the Summer 
of 1911,’’ by F. A. Perret; with Report by A. 
Brun. 

‘Observations on the Stem Structure of Psaro- 
nius Brasiliensis,’’ by O. A. Derby. 

‘¢Wauna of the Florissant (Colorado) Shales,’’ 
by T. D. A. Cockerell. 

“¢The Photoelectric Effect,’’ by L. Page. 

‘¢Graphical Methods in Microscopical Petrog- 
raphy,’’? by F. E. Wright. (With Plates II. to 
IX.) 

‘*A Graphical Plot for Use in the Microscopical 


SCIENCE 


669 


Determination of the Plagioclase Feldspars,’’ by 
F. E. Wright. 

‘¢On the Influence of Alcohol and of Cane Sugar 
upon the Rate of Solution of Cadmium in Dis- 
solved Iodine,’’ by R. G. Van Name and D. U. 
Hill. 

““Comparative Studies of Magnetic Phenomena. 
IV. Twist in Steel and Nickel Rods due to a 
Longitudinal Magnetic Field,’’ by S. R. Williams. 


A NOTE ON PENFOLD’S MODIFICATION OF 
BACILLUS COLI COMMUNIS1 


PENFOLD’s? observation, that the cultivation 
of Bacillus coli communis upon monochlor- 
acetic acid media permits the selection of 
strains whose power to produce gas from cer- 
tain sugars is permanently lost, has an impor- 
tant bearing not only upon mutation, but upon 
the mechanism of the carbohydrate metabolism 
of coliform organisms. 

Through the work of Scruel,? Frankland and 
Frew,t Pakes and Jollyman,®> Harden® and 
others, there has been gathered considerable 
evidence that the hydrogen and carbon dioxide, 
liberated in the fermentation of various sugars 
and allied compounds by coliform organisms, 
are the products of the decomposition of 
formic acid in accordance with the equation: 


HCO, = H, + CO,. 


This decomposition has been attributed to 
the activity of a specific enzyme for which 


1From the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Animal Industry, Dairy Division. 

2 Penfold, W. J., Proceedings of the Royal So- 
ciety of Medicine, Pathological Section, Vol. 4, 
Part 3, p. 97, 1910-11; Journal of Hygiene, Vol. 
IL, p. 487, 1911. 

8 Scruel, Arch. med. Belges, ser. 3, t. 42, p. 362, 
1892; ser. 4, t. 1, pp. 9 and 83, 1893. 

4Frankland, Perey F., and Frew, William, 
Journal of Chemical Society Transactions, Vol. 
61, p. 254, 1892, London. 

5 Pakes, Walter Charles Cross, and Jollyman, 
Walter Henry, Journal of Chemical Society 
Transactions, Vol. 79, Part 1, p. 386, 1901, Lon- 
don. 

6 Harden, Arthur, Journal Chemical Society 
Transactions, Vol. 79, Part 1, p. 610, 1901, Lon- 
don. 


670 


Franzen and Stuppuhn? have proposed the 
name formiase. 

The important point in Harden’s compari- 
son of the products of fermentation of Bacillus 
coli and Bacillus typhosus lies in the fact that 
the products are very similar, with the excep- 
tion that typhosus leaves considerable formic 
acid and no gas, while colt leaves little formic 
acid and produces considerable hydrogen and 
carbon dioxid. This suggests that an essential 
characteristic of coli and of similar gas-pro- 
ducing bacteria is their ability to elaborate 
the enzyme formiase. This enzyme was sup- 
posed to be active both in the gaseous fermen- 
tation of sugars and of the related alcohols. 

Penfold’s observation that by artificial selec- 
tion a strain of coli may be isolated which 
retains its power to produce gas from certain 
alcohols while it has lost this power in its 
attack upon sugars, has therefore a profound 
theoretical significance. 

In addition to this Penfold seems to have 
arrived at the conclusion that, if strains with- 
out the power to produce gas from sugars may 
be selected by artificial means, there is no 
certainty that they may not arise either in 
nature, or during ordinary laboratory culti- 
vation, and so lessen the reliance which is to 
be placed upon the gas test in diagnosis. In- 
deed, if Penfold’s conclusions are strictly 
interpreted, we are no longer able to attribute 
to an organism of the colon group, any charac- 
teristic which may be called a fundamental and 
immutable physiological function. 

If the theory of natural selection in any of 
its original or modern forms is held applicable 
to bacteria, we must perhaps admit the prob- 
ability that bacteria are subject to variation. 
That they do vary we will not dispute. That 
they may be made to undergo mutations, or 
that conditions may be imposed upon their 
growth in such a way that selection takes 
place in certain directions, we will not debate. 
We do insist, however, that before it is con- 
cluded that such mutations or selections have 
occurred in any specific instance, the analytical 
methods used to demonstrate these phenomena 


7 Franzen and Stuppuhn, Zt. f. Physiol. Chem., 
Wol. 77, p. 129, 1912: 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 984 


be methods of sufficient accuracy to establish 
confidence in the data. 

While Penfold’s conclusions may be in the 
main correct, there appear certain inaccur- 
acies in his methods which detract from the 
confidence such important deductions should 
carry with them. We wish to call attention to 
these inaccuracies not so much as a polemic 
against Penfold, as a plea for greater care in 
the analytical procedures of bacteriological 
chemistry. 

Penfold in his tests of gas production used 
the Durham tube. The Durham tube, while 
useful as a preliminary qualitative test for 
gas, is otherwise worthless. It is more inaccu- 
rate than the Smith tube, whose shortcomings 
were not only recognized by the originator, but 
more fully pointed out by Keyes.§ 

The gravest fault of each is the retention of 
a large proportion of CO, by the medium. 
Keyes’s method of cultivating colon in vacuo, 
and pumping out the gas for careful analysis 
over mercury, seemed so promising that it was 
employed with certain modifications by Rogers, 
Clark and Davis® in their study of the gases 
produced by over 200 cultures of bacteria, 
among which those which we are justified in 
calling typical colons were abundant. 

A remarkable constancy both in total amount 
of gas and in the ratio of the constituent gases 
produced by colon was demonstrated. Incident 
to this research, the gas production of a 
typical colon when grown on various media 
was studied. It was found that while the 
total amount of gas obtained after 7 days’ incu- 
bation from 5 ¢.c. of a broth containing 3 per 
cent. K,HPO, and 1 per cent. of sugar, was 
quite uniformly about 8 c.c., whether the 
sugar was dextrose or galactose, the total 
amount of gas obtainable from the same 
medium rose to 12 c.c. when dulcite or mannite 
was substituted for a hexose. 

Tf we compare these results with the graphic 
representation of Penfold’s determinations, on 
page 489 of his second article, we shall find 


8 Keyes, Journal of Medical Research, Vol. 21, 
No. 1, p. 69, 1909. 

9 Rogers, L. A., Clark, Wm. Mansfield, and 
Davis, Brooke, paper about to be published. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


some suggestive comparisons. In each set of 
results, the total gas produced by a normal 
colon from dextrose equals that from galac- 
tose, and the total gas from dulcite equals that 
from mannite. In each set, the total gas from 
dulcite and mannite exceeds that from galac- 
tose and dextrose. In our results, the total 
gas from the alcohols is one and one half 
times that from the sugars. 

We have also found that the total gas pro- 
duced by colon in a peptone water medium, 
such as Penfold used, is but little more than 
half that produced in our broth with phosphate. 

With these facts in mind let us assume that 
we have to cultivate in peptone water a colon 
whose physiological powers are identical with 
those of a normal organism except that its 
activity has been greatly weakened. If it 
produces only enough gas from dextrose or 
galactose to saturate the medium, none will 
appear in a Durham tube, and it might be 
said that the gas-producing power was nil. 
Tf the same relative power to ferment alcohols 
that a normal organism possesses, is still pre- 
served, the weakened organism might show 
some gas in a Durham tube in dulcite or 
mannite medium. 

When grown in Durham tubes, Penfold’s 
selected strain showed no gas in dextrose or 
galactose media, while it did in mannite and 
dulcite media. Our results show that a normal 
colon produces much more gas from these 
alcohols, and it may therefore be suspected 
that Penfold’s strain shows gas from these 
alcohols and not from the sugars simply be- 
cause it produces from the alcohols a suffi- 
ciently greater volume of gas to become mani- 
fest. 

It is significant that Harden and Penfold?° 
by applying the more exact method of 
Harden,1! found that the selected organism 
instead of producing no gas from dextrose, as 
Penfold found by the Durham tube method, 
does produce both hydrogen and carbon dioxid. 
The ratio of these gases was not accurately 


10 Harden, Arthur, and Penford, W. J., Pro- 
ceedings Royal Society, B. 85, p. 415, 1912. 

11 Harden, Arthur, London Journ. Chem. Soc., 
1901, p. 610. 


SCIENCE 


671 


determined, but the amount of hydrogen was 
found to be only 15 per cent. of that obtained 
from a normal colon. The other products, 
with the exception of lactic acid, were also 
greatly reduced. 

Consequently, instead of concluding, as Pen- 
fold did, that his selected organism has had 
its power to produce gas from dextrose de- 
stroyed, and that its physiological character- 
istics have been qualitatively altered, we may 
just as reasonably conclude, so far as Pen- 
fold’s original data are concerned, that the 
selected organism has merely been weakened. 
In addition to this it should be noted that Pen- 
fold has had difficulty in producing with B. 
lactis aerogenes modification similar to that 
obtained with B. coli communis. In view of 
this fect it may be illuminating to recall that 
Harden and Walpole!? found that B. lactis 
aerogenes furnishes much more gas than does 
B. coli on the same medium. 

If Penfold’s culture is in this essential 
identical with that of Harden and Walpole, or 
with one of those organisms which Rogers, 
Clark and Davis have described as producing 
both more gas and a higher gas ratio than 
B. coli, then it may be that Penfold could not 
“suppress” the evolution of gas from his 
lactis aerogenes cultures, simply because he 
could not weaken it enough to prevent the 
formation of sufficient gas to more than satu- 
rate the medium; and not because it refused to 
undergo that fundamental “variation ” which 
Penfold ascribes to coli. 

It is of course impossible to make any accu- 
rate comparisons between our own exact deter- 
minations and those of Penfold, for the pur- 
pose of estimating the extent of his error. 
The unreliability and general inconstancy of 
gas determinations made with the Durham or 
Smith tubes is, or should be, universally recog- 
nized. Of special significance is the more 
recent work of Keyes and Gillespie? in demon- 
strating that in contrast to anaerobic growths 
there is a marked variation in the gas ratio of 


12 Harden, Arthur, and Walpole, Proceedings 
Royal Soctety, B. 77, p. 399, 1906. 

13 Keyes and Gillepsie, Journal Biological Chem- 
istry, Vol. 13, No. 3, p. 305, 1912. 


672 


aerobic cultures of Bacillus coli. This throws 
additional doubt upon the reliability of gas 
determinations made by the methods in com- 
mon use. 

Based largely upon his results with the Dur- 
ham tube, Penfold at one time or another has 
come to the following conclusions: 


It may be suggested, therefore, that ... the 
selective process has caused the removal of the 
formic-acid-forming ferment, but apparently has 
not interfered with the formic-acid splitting fer- 
ment.14 

The power of gas formation from sugars (always 
excepting isodulcite) may be lost when gas forma- 
tion from alcohols is retained. It is probable, 
therefore, that two different ferments are engaged 
in the respective processes.15 

The research raises the question as to the weight 
to be attached to the power of fermenting glucose 
and lactose with gas formation in recognizing B. 
coli in routine examinations of pathological ma- 
terial, water, foods, ete. Hitherto, in all authorita- 
tive catalogues of the necessary properties of this 
organism, this has been included, but it probably 
ought not to be regarded as absolutely essential.16 


Perhaps more exact work will demonstrate 
the essential truths there may be in these 
statements. If so, it will in no wise alter the 
contention of this article, which is that con- 
clusions of such profound importance are 
worthy of being established by methods of 
reasonable accuracy. 

It is gratifying to learn that Harden and 
Penfold have set out to do so. Pending the 
fuller publication of their results this article 
would not have been written but for the fact 
that Penfold since the publication of the pre- 
liminary report of Harden and Penfold, has 
published another paper,1? in which he seems 
to have missed the significance of the discrep- 
ancy between his earlier statement that the 
variant colon produces no gas from dextrose, 
and Harden and Penfold’s later statement that 
it does. 


14 Penfold, W. T., Proceedings Royal Society of 
Medicine, Pathological Section, Vol. 4, Part 3, p. 
106. 

15 Penfold, W. T., Journal of Hygiene, Vol. II., 
p. 502. 

16 Penfold, W. T., ibid. 

17 Journal of Hygiene, April, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


Unfortunately Penfold is not alone in the 
false confidence he has placed in the reliability 
of the Smith and Durham tube methods of 
bacterial gas determination. These instru- 
ments, which are useful only in the routine 
laboratory, are still being widely used in ela- 
borate researches; and the time, therefore, 
seems ripe to emphasize the errors to which 
their use may lead, and to plead for greater 
accuracy in this important test of bacterio- 


logical chemistry. WM. MANSFIELD CLARK 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A NEW MEANS OF TRANSMITTING THE FOWL 
NEMATODE, HETERAKIS PERSPICILLUM 


It has been found that Heterakis perspi- 
cillum may be transmitted to young chicks by 
a dung earthworm found in horse manure. 
The earthworm in question is probably Helo- 
drilus parvus (Hisen).1 The experiment 
demonstrating this relationship was per- 
formed during the past summer at the Kansas 
State Agricultural College. Eleven chicks, as 
soon as hatched, were placed in a fly-proof 
field cage and kept there until the close of the 
experiment. The cage was so constructed that 
the chicks could not reach chance insects that 
happened to light upon the outside sereen. It 
had two fly-proof doors enclosing an entry 
way and the outer door was kept locked. When 
entering the cage the outer door was closed 
and the entry inspected for chance flies be- 
fore opening the inner door. On leaving the 
pen the same care was taken. All chicks were 
thrifty and were fed upon the same ration of 
dry food to which was added twice per day 
some green alfalfa. It is needless to say that 
the alfalfa was always examined to prevent 
any insects from entering the pen. The 
earthworms were fed to three of the chicks. 
To the first chick a total of 78 worms was fed 
in lots of six to twelve each day between July 
17 and July 26, inclusive. To the second 
chick 64 were fed, July 18 to July 29. The 

1 The earthworm mentioned has been referred to 
Professor Frank Smith, University of Illinois, for 
identification, and the nematode has been verified 
by Dr. Albert Hassell, Division of Zoology, B.A.I., 
Washington, D. C. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


third chick received 58 worms between July 
19 and July 28. When these chicks were 
killed September 5, twenty adult Heterakis 
were found in the first, six in the second and 
two in the third. Eight other chicks, from 
the same cage and killed at the same time, 
which had been kept under identical condi- 
tions, except that no earthworms were fed to 
them, did not show a single Heterakis present. 
There appears to be no escape from the con- 
clusion that Helodrilus in some way may 
‘serve as an intermediate host for this nema- 
tode. The experiment does not show the na- 
ture of the transmission. Whether it is a case 
of true parasitism or is simply an association 
remains to be proved. It may be that the eggs 
of Heterakis simply cling to the more or less 
slimy surface of the earthworm and are trans- 
mitted in this way. Favoring this view is the 
probability that young chicks can become in- 
fected through eating eggs scattered in the 
feces of older chickens. However, the fact that 
small nematodes are frequently found in the 
nephridia of certain earthworms might fur- 
nish another suggestive hypothesis. What- 
ever the exact nature of transmission, the 
results are interesting. A hen and four 
young fowls, taken at random from the barn- 
yard where the earthworms were found, were 
killed and examined for Heterakis. Nema- 
todes were present in only two of these. Some 
of the fowls had the habit of going to the 
field instead of scratching and wallowing 
‘around the manure heap and this perhaps ex- 
plains why more were not infected. Then the 
‘chances are small that any one chick would 
obtain a large number of earthworms, though 
the latter were only a short distance below the 
surface. In any case feeding Helodrilus 
under the conditions described was an efficient 
means of transmitting the Heterakis to young 
‘chicks. Joun W. Scott 
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, 
September 25, 1913 


‘A NEW SPECIES OF MOROPUS (M. HOLLANDI) FROM 
THE BASE OF THE MIDDLE MIOCENE OF 
WESTERN NEBRASKA 


WHILE studying the material representing 


SCIENCE 


678 


the Chalicotheres in the Carnegie Museum in 
connection with the revision of the super- 
family Chalicotheroidea, which is about to be 
published, the writer has found that a quantity 
of material representing a specimen from the 
Upper Harrison Beds of western Nebraska 
(Middle Miocene) is undoubtedly referable to a 
new species, which he desires to name in honor 
of Dr. W. J. Holland, the Director of the 
Carnegie Museum. 


Moropus Hollandi sp. nov. 

Type Specimen.—Radius, ulna, and portion 
of fore foot, femur, tibia, fragment of fibula, 
and portions of both hind feet. No. 1424, 
Carnegie Museum Collection. This material 
was discovered in 1901 and partially described 
by O. A. Peterson (Ann. Car. Mus., Vol. IV., 
pp. 60-61, 1906) as M. elatus. 

Specific Characters—Limbs slenderer than 
in M. elatus Marsh or M. peterson Holland. 
Third trochanter of femur somewhat less 
developed than in the latter species; facet for 
the trapezium on the scaphoid much reduced, 
or wanting; facet for trapezium on Mc. II 
wanting; metacarpals proportionally long and 
slender; proximal and median phalanges of 
second digit of manus more compressed later- 
ally than in M. elatus or M. petersont. The 
animal was larger than a tapir, but consider- 
ably smaller than M. elatus Marsh, which was 
as large as a rhinoceros. 

A more detailed description of this species 
will appear in the work to which reference has 
been made, the first part of which has gone to 


the printer. O. A, PETERSON 
CARNEGIE MUSEUM, 
October 8, 1913. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
ROCHESTER MEETING 
II 
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY SECTION 
Carl L. Alsberg, Chairman 
I. K. Phelps, Secretary 

T. B. AupRicH: On the Presence of Histidine-like 

Bodies in the Pituitary Gland (Posterior Lobe). 

(Preliminary communication.) 

From the Research Laboratory of Parke, Davis 
& Co., Detroit, Mich. Employing Pauly’s diazo- 


674 


benzene sulphonie acid reaction for the detection 
of histidine it seems probable that histidine or 
some form of it in a free state is contained in the 
desiccated posterior lobe of the pituitary gland, 
since by benzoylating direct, using Inouye’s 
method Pauly’s reaction was positive and that the 
body (or bodies) giving Pauly’s reaction after 
hydrolysis by means of mineral acids or digesting 
with pancreatin is not tyrosine (which gives a 
similar reaction) since after benzoylating the 
histidine reaction still persists. Furthermore, the 
histidine-like body (or bodies) is probably not 
histidine, since it does not give Weidel’s reaction 
as modified by Fischer or Knopp’s reaction with 
bromine. 

It would seem probable also that Pauly’s re- 
action is not a specific reaction for histidine, but a 
reaction for certain bodies yet to be positively 
determined. 


J. H. Lone: The Mutual Action of Pepsin and 

Trypsin. 

The older physiologists seem to have considered 
this a comparatively simple question, but their 
findings were not in agreement. Kitihne was one 
of the first to discuss the problem and he concluded 
that pepsin destroys trypsin. This is probably 
correct, but his experimental evidence does not 
warrant the statement. In all such experiments 
the reaction of the medium must be pretty defi- 
nitely known, as the content of hydrogen or 
hydroxyl ions is often the determining factor. In 
most of the older work these points were almost 
wholly overlooked, as the combining power of 
protein for acid or alkali was not known or not 
recognized. Making a due allowance for the re- 
action of the medium, the present experiments show 
that within the practical limits of body behavior 
trypsin has no important action on pepsin, while 
the action of pepsin on trypsin is markedly de- 
structive, while an acid medium weakens the 
trypsin, pepsin plus acid seems to destroy it 
rather rapidly. 


G. O. Hictry: A Further Study on the Well Water 
of Delaware, Ohio. 

The purpose of this study was to supplement 
that reported on at the spring meeting—to trace 
the relation between well water and an outbreak of 
typhoid. The city water had been examined and 
found safe. The water of about 100 wells has 
been analyzed and much of it found polluted. 
Five vaults were now selected in various parts of 
the city and in widely different soils: these were 
heavily salted and a weekly test for chlorides 
made during a period of nearly two months of the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


water of thirteen wells located from 58 to 118 
feet from the vaults. Comparison of results of 
analyses made before and after the salting proc- 
ess, showed a decided increase in chlorides in well 
water at four of the five centers and in seven of 
the thirteen wells. 

H. P. ArmsBy: Comparison of the Observed and 
Computed Heat Production of Cattle. 

JACOB ROSENBLOOM and 8S. Roy MiLus: The Non- 
interference of Ptomaines with Certain Tests 
for Morphine. 

We have determined experimentally that bacte- 
rial products formed during aerobic and anaerobic 
putrefaction of various human organs do not give 
reactions simulating those due to the presence of 
morphine and in no way do they interfere with the 
detection of morphine when added to these putre- 
factive products. 

JACOB ROSENBLOOM: On the Distribution of Mer- 
cury Following Acute Bichloride of Mercury 
Poisoning. 

The writer has estimated the amount of mercury 
in the organs of a woman who died eight days 
after ingestion of bichloride of mercury. 

JAMES P. ATKINSON: The Effect of Electrolysis on 
Whole Proteins, Witte’s Peptone, and some of 
their Decomposition Products. 

Whole protein (egg white), Witte’s peptone 
and protein (horse serum), hydrolyzed by hydro- 
chlorie acid, yield approximately 50 per cent. of 
the total nitrogen as ammonia when electrolyzed in 
a sulphuric-acid solution. The amino acids tested, 
glyeylglycine, urie acid and urea, do not yield as 
much nitrogen as ammonia under the same condi- 
tions, while ammonium sulphate is unaffected. 

A. F, BLAKESLEE and R. A. GortTNER: The Non- 
development of Cytolytic Sera following the 
Intravenous Injection of Mould Spores. 
Intravenous injections of the spores of each race 

of Mucor ‘‘V’’ were given to rabbits, rabbit No. 

5 receiving 30 injections of the # race and rabbit 

No. 55 receiving 29 injections of the 2 race. Hach 

injection would average about 500,000,000 spores. 

Following the last injection of approximately 

800,000,000 spores a loop of blood was taken at 

intervals of 30 minutes for 6 hours, then every 

hour for 4 hours more, then every two hours for 

16 hours more and later at less frequent intervals. 

Separation cultures were made of agar which con- 

tained the loop of blood taken and the number of 

mould colonies which developed were counted. A 

similar test was made at the same time, using 

rabbits which had received their first injection of 
the spores. In each case the disappearance of the 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


spores occurred after about 43 hours, the immunized 
rabbits retaining the viable spores as long as the 
check rabbits. 


R. A. GortNer and A. F. BLAKESLEE: The Occur- 
rence of a Toxin in the Bread Mould, Rhizopus 
nigricans. 

We have found that there is a toxin in the 
bread mould which, when administered intraven- 
ously to rabbits, causes their death with all of the 
symptoms of anaphylaxis. The toxin is stable to 
peptic digestion and to heating at 100° for five 
minutes. The toxin, as prepared, is present in the 
mould to about 4 per cent., is soluble in water, 
from which solution it may be precipitated by 
aleohol, and is non-dialyzable. The lethal dose for 
rabbits, when given intravenously, is about 1: 225,- 
000 parts of body weight. 


Ray E. Neiwie: Effect of Acids Upon the Catalase 
of Taka-diastase. 

Data were presented showing the inhibiting 
effect of several of the important inorganic and 
organic acids toward catalase of taka-diastase. 
Curves were plotted for different acid concentra- 
tions which show the quantity of oxygen liberated 
at stated intervals. The acids, arranged in order 
of the magnitude of their inhibiting effect for equi- 
normal solutions, are as follows: sulphuric, hydro- 
chloric, oxalic, tartaric, citrie and acetic. The in- 
hibiting effect of the first three was much more 
pronounced than that of the others. Neutralization 
of the acid solution usually restored some of the 
activity, the amount of increase depending upon 
the particular acid used. Van Slyke’s amino- 
nitrogen apparatus was used in these experiments 
for measuring the amount of oxygen liberated. 


Ray E. Nemwie: Polyatomic Alcohols as Sources of 

Carbon for Molds. 

A comparison of some of the polyatomic alcohols 
occurring in nature was undertaken in order to 
determine the degree of their utilization by molds 
as sole sources of carbon. The alcohols used were 
methyl aleohol, glycol, glycerol, erythrite, adonite, 
mannite, dulecite and sorbite. Light species of 
molds representing four genera were cultivated in 
media containing these alcohols. 

It was found that methyl alcohol produced no 
growth, glycol induced germination only, glycerol 
produced strong cultures, erythrite could be used 
by the majority of molds and adonite by only a 
few, while all three of the hexatomie alcohols may 
be regarded as good sources of carbon. These re- 
sults indicate that molds are able to use both 
optically active and inactive compounds as sources 
of carbon. If viewed from the standpoint of their 


SCIENCE 


675 


oxidation products it is possible that active com- 
pounds are first formed and these are then utilized 
in the development of the molds. 


ArtHuUR W. Dox and W. E. RurH: Cleavage of 

Benzoylalanine by Mold Enzymes. 

Continuing our studies on the enzymic cleavage 
of glycocoll derivatives by means of the formol- 
titrimetric method, a homologue of hippuric acid, 
viz., benzoylalanine, was tested. Seven species of 
the lower fungi were found to produce an enzyme 
capable of decomposing dl-benzoylalanine to the 
extent of 12.8 per cent. to 24.5 per cent. in two 
weeks. 


F. C. Cook: The Importance of Food Accessories as 
shown by Rat-feeding Experiments. 

Most of the twelve white rats fed on a basal 
diet of protein, fat, carbohydrates and salts for 
eighty days lost weight during the last three 
weeks. For thirty-five days immediately follow- 
ing, 5 ¢.¢c. of meat extract, plant extract solution 
or milk were alternately added to the basal diet, 
the nitrogen and sodium chloride being equal. 
Milk and meat extract stimulated growth, plant 
extract showed little stimulating power. Eleven 
young white rats fed for thirty-five days on the 
basal diet, plus one of the three accessories, showed 
similar results. Milk, also meat extract, gave the 
biuret reaction and precipitates with phospho- 
tungstie acid. Plant extract gave neither. Meat 
extract is a hydrolyzed product practically free 
from fat and carbohydrates. The rats gained 
more on a smaller number of calories when milk 
or meat extract was ingested than when fed on the 
basal diet alone. 


CHRISTINE CHAPMAN and W. C. ETHERIDGE: In- 
fluence of Certain Organic Substances Upon the 
Secretion of Diastase by Various Fungi. 

In this work the influence of varying concentra- 
tion of cane sugar, glucose, peptone and tannic 
acid upon the secretion of diastase by Aspergillus 
niger, Aspergillus Oryze, Penicillium expansum, 
Penicillium camembertii, Mucor Rowxti and Cepha- 
lothecium roseuwm has been investigated. Czapek’s 
solution was employed with the sugar replaced by 
0.4 per cent. soluble starch. To this was added 
the quantity substance whose influence was to be 
determined. It was found in general that the 
presence of any of the above organic substances 
retarded the secretion of diastase by the fungi 
mentioned. The higher the concentration the 
greater the retardation. 


H. H. Bunzet: The Role of Oxidases in the 
Curly Dwarf Disease of Potatoes. 


676 


OuiveR E. Crosson: A Time Recorder for Kymo- 
graph Tracings. 

Tt is at best a tedious operation to find the pro- 
jection of the time record on the different graphs 
as ordinarily traced upon smoked paper. 

By the following simple device the time inter- 
val can easily be recorded by a fine line, entirely 
across the paper. 

A fine spring wire stretched two to three milli- 
meters from the smoked surface will, when picked 
by the armature of the time signal magnet, strike 
the smoked paper on the rebound and remove a 
fine line of soot. 

By a little adjusting a single distinct line is re- 
corded at each closure of the circuit. If it is in- 
convenient to adjust any recorder to write perpen- 
dicular to the base line it is a simple matter to ad- 
just so that the time line is parallel to any such 
line. 

OLIVER E. CLtosson: Apparatus for Studying Oxi- 
dases. 

The reaction of oxidases with hydrogen peroxide 
liberates heat, and the temperature factor being 
large as well as the expansion of the gas, all ne- 
cessitate a thermostat control and continued agi- 
tation of the mixture for comparative studies. 

To obtain uniform temperature and continuous 
record of the liberated gas the following appa- 
ratus was devised. 

A shaking member with two compartments, one 
for holding the hydrogen peroxide and the other 
for the enzyme solution, is connected by a tube 
with ground joint to a large cylindrical container 
with center at the axis of motion so that liquid in 
this container is not agitated by motion around 
the axis. This arrangement allows the shaking of 
the reacting solution and the measure of the lib- 
erated oxygen by the water displaced. 

The large container has a tube extending along 
the axis to the outside of the thermostat, which 
allows the discharge of the displaced water into a 
vessel suspended by a spring, so that a writing 
arm can be made to record the volume, giving on 
a rotating drum a curve, which can be analyzed at 
one’s leisure. 


Amos W. Perers and Mary E. TURNBULL: A 
Method for Studying Slight Degrees of Glyco- 
suria, Adapted from Macleod and S. B. Bene- 
dict. 

Urine is clarified by the method of Macleod, i. e., 
urine + concentrated acetic acid-{ Merck’s blood 
charcoal. No sugar is lost by this procedure, the 
urine is diluted to only 7/5 original volume, the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


filtrate is water-clear for polarization. Five e¢.c. 
of the filtrate, contained in a 100 cc. Kjeldahl 
flask, is neutralized with saturated solution of 
Na,CO,, using alizarine, and 5 ¢.c. of a modified 
Benedict reagent is added. After placing a pebble 
in the liquid and fixing the flask in an inclined 
position directly over a small Bunsen flame the 
whole is boiled for 23 minutes. The resulting 
small volume is transferred to a centrifuge tube 
and made to 10 e.c. Examined under a shaded 
electric light and against a dark background even 
a trace of dextrose shows turbidity, and after cen- 
trifugation so little as 0.0035 per cent. shows a 
film of red precipitate. Quantitative estimations 
are made by comparison with standards based 
upon a normal urine obtained under normal diet 
and showing zero rotation, or nearly so, after 
clarification, and to which dextrose is added in 
steps of 0.01 per cent. The sensitivity is such that 
pronounced differences result with these small in- 
tervals. 

Composition of the above reagent: Sod. citrate 
100 gm.; sod. acetate 100 gm.; sod. carb. anhyd. 
50 gm.; eryst. copper sulph. (Kahlbaum) 12.5 
gm.; dist. water add 500 e.c. 


W. S. Hupparp and D. M. Cowl: A Method of 
Estimating Fat in Infant Stools. 

S. L. Jopwi: Nature of Humus and its Relation to 
Plant Life. 

PHILIP ADOLPH KosBer: The Estimation of Pro- 
tein, Animo and Nucleic Acids im Potable 
Waters. 

Wi~uiaAM N. Bere: Surface Tension in Muscle 
Contraction. 

Macallum quotes Jensen to the effect that ‘‘a 
thread measuring 1 millimeter in diameter formed 
of the plasmodium of Chondrioderma, a Myxomy- 
cete, may, when it is in the dense condition, bear 
up a weight of nearly a gram. If the force en- 
gaged is surface tension it would amount to about 
6,000 dynes per centimeter.’’ 

At the same time Macallum does not quote 
Pfeffer, who says that in the case of the plas- 
modium of Chondrioderma, the outer membrane 
may vary reversibly, in its consistency, from that 
of the fluid protoplasm in the interior of the cell 
to that of solid gelatinous masses. 

Jensen obtained the figure of 6,000 dynes per 
centimeter by dividing the weight sustained by the 
plasmodium thread by the circumference of the 
thread. It would have been just as logical to di- 
vide the weight sustained by a steel wire by the 
circumference of the wire and call the equipment 
the surface tension of steel. 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


C. S. Hupson and T. S. Harpine: The Estimation 
of Rajfinose by a Modified Biological Method. 

WILLIAM SaLAnT and J. B. Riecrr: The Elimina- 
tion of Zine. 

The experiments were made on rabbits. Zine 
was given intravenously and zine acetate subcu- 
taneously. The urine collected for period of 24- 
48 hours showed the presence of 1-2 milligrams of 
zine. Much larger amounts were found in the 
feces and contents of the gastro-intestinal canal 
after the subcutaneous injections. The quantities 
of zine varied between 8.5 and 17.1 milligrams in 
24-48 hours, which represented 10-34 per cent. of 
the amounts introduced. The amounts of zine 
eliminated by this channel were greater after in- 
travenous injection, being 17-20 milligrams, or 40 
per cent. of the quantity administered. 

WILLIAM Salant and L. P. TREuTHARDT: The Ab- 
sorption and Fate of Tin in the Body. 

Tin in the form of a double salt was given sub- 
cutaneously and by mouth to different animals. 
Analyses of the urine and feces, contents of the 
stomach and intestines, which were made gravi- 
metrically and volumetrically, gave the following 
results: After the subcutaneous administration 
5-15 per cent. was eliminated in the urine in 24— 
48 hours. The feces of the corresponding period 
contained much smaller amounts. The contents of 
the stomach and intestines and the feces contained 
as much or more tin than the urine. In some ani- 
mals the amount of tin eliminated by the kidneys 
was smaller than that recovered from the gastro- 
intestinal contents and feces. 

Analysis of the skin indicated the presence of 
20-25 per cent. of the amount of tin injected. 

When double salts of tin were given by mouth, 
small quantities of it were found in the tissues and 
in the urine, indicating that absorption from the 
gastrointestinal canal takes place to a very small 
extent only and may be insignificant in some ani- 
mals. 

The amount of tin found in the liver of rabbits 
at the end of 48 hours varied between 0.6 per cent. 
and 10.8 per cent. The kidneys of such animals 
contained quantities varying between 1.6 and 8.2 
per cent. of the amount of tin injected. Experi- 
ments on the absorption of salt from the blood 
indicate that 85-95 per cent. may disappear in 
2-3 hours after the intravenous injection of 70- 
200 milligrams tin. 

Donaup D. VAN SLYKE and GUSTAVE M. MEYER: 
The Fate of Protein Digestion Products in the 
Body. 

Previous work by the authors has shown that 


SCIENCE 


677 


during digestion amino acids are absorbed into 
the blood, as the amino acid nitrogen of the latter 
per 100 c.c. rises, in a dog, from 4-5 mg. before 
feeding to 10-12 mg. after a meal of meat. The 
low concentration of amino acids in the blood even 
at its maximum indicates that the digestive prod- 
ucts must be removed rapidly from the circula- 
tion. This is found to be the case after the injec- 
tion of amino acids directly into the circulation. 
They disappear from the blood almost as fast as 
they enter it. Analysis of the tissue shows that 
these have absorbed the amino acids from the 
blood, without subjecting them to any immediate 
chemical change. This apparently follows later, 
but in the muscles is so slow that no decrease in 
amino acid nitrogen can be determined within the 
first 3-4 hours after the injection. In the liver, 
on the other hand, the amino acids absorbed as the 
result of the injection have entirely disappeared in 
this time, indicating that the metabolism of these 
products is particularly rapid in the liver. It is 
less so in the other organs, but whether as slug- 
gish as in the muscles is not yet certain. During 
starvation the amino nitrogen of the tissues, which 
amounts to 40-80 mg. per 100 gm. of fresh tissue, 
tends to increase rather than disappear, indi- 
cating that the amino acids of the tissues can 
originate. from autolysis of the tissues themselves 
as well as from digestion of food proteins. 


GEORGE PEIRCE: The Configuration of Some Hep- 

toses. 

d-a-mannohexahydroxyheptorie acid and d-a- 
galahexahydroxyheptoric acid yield on oxidation 
two pentahydroxykinetic acids that are optical 
antipodes of each other. The configuration of four 
of the asymmetric carbon atoms in each mono- 
basic acid is known and the configuration of the 
fifth is given by the above fact. The correspond- 
ing heptites are also optical antipodes. 


CO,H CO,H CO, CO, 
HCOH HOCH HOCH HCOH 
HOCH HOCH HOCH HOCH 
HOCH HOCH HCOH HCOOH 
HCOH HCOOH HCOOH HCOOH 
HCOH HCOH HOCH HOCH 
CHOH CHOH CHOH CH,OH 
I. II. TIL. IV. 


From d-mannose. From d-galactose. 


Of the following four configurations I. and IIT. 
are seen to be the two that give optical antipodes 
on oxidation or reduction of the end carbon atoms. 
These two are, therefore, the formule for the 
a compounds. The 8 galactose compounds of 


678 SCIENCE 


formula IV. have been synthetized. The 8 man- 
nose compounds of formula II. have not yet been 
prepared. 


M. X. Sutnivan: Some Organic Constituents of 
the Culture Solution and the Mycelium of Molds 
from Soil. 

Examination was made of the dried mycelium 
of mixed mold cultures from soil and of Penicil- 
lium glaucum grown on Raulin’s solution and of 
the filtered solution after mold growth for organic 
constituents. In the mixed molds was found a 
large number of organic substances, many of 
which were subsequently found in Penicillium 
glaucum. In the aleoholie soda extract of Penicil- 
lium glaucum were found oleic and palmitic acids, 
a fatty acid melting at 54° C., a fatty acid which 
appears to be elaidie acid, hypoxanthine, guanine 
and adenine, histidine, thymine and chlorine. In 
the direct alcohol extract was found mannite, 
cholesterol bodies, hypoxanthine and cerebrosides. 
From mold grown on Raulin’s solution plus pep- 
tone a small amount of guanidine was found. In 
the culture solution after a number of weeks’ 
growth were found fatty acids, purine bases, a 
small quantity of a histidine-like body, pentose 
sugar, unidentified aldehydes, etc. Many of these 
compounds have been found in soil and the con- 
clusion is drawn that microorganisms, such as 
yeasts, bacteria and molds, play an important 
part in their formation. 


M. X. SULLIVAN: Vanillin in Wheat and its Re- 
lation to Soil. 

By means of the sodium bisulphite aldehyde 
method, an aldehyde smelling like vanillin and 
giving vanillin color reactions was found in the 
alcohol and ether extracts of ungerminated wheat 
seeds, in the roots, seeds and tops, respectively, of 
young wheat seedlings in rotten wood, and in the 
water in which wheat had germinated and grown. 
Estimated quantitatively by Folin and Denis’s 
colorimetric method, the amount in the ungermi- 
nated seed is small, several parts per million, but 
is considerably increased during germination and 
the early stages of growth. Treating the seed 
with 5 per cent. sulphuric acid also increased the 
amount of vanillin extractable. The presence of 
vanillin in other plants was indicated. The va- 
nillin of soil undoubtedly has its origin in part in 
vegetable débris and plant. 

W. R. Buoor: A Method for the Determination of 
Small Amounts of Fat. (Preliminary report.) 
The method consists essentially in extracting the 

fat from the tissue or liquid with an excess of alco- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


hol-ether (25 per cent. ether), measuring an aliquot 
portion of the filtered extract into distilled water 
and determining the amount of fat by comparison 
of the cloudy suspension so obtained with a 
standard fat solution by the use of the nephelom- 
eter. The method has given good results with 
blood and milk. 


C. G. MacArTHuR and G. NorBury: Nitrogenous 
Hydrolysis Products of Several Phosphatids. 
Sheep brain kephalin, sheep brain lecithin, ox 

heart cuorin and ox heart lecithin were prepared, 
purified and then hydrolyzed in a dilute hydrochloric 
acid solution. In each case the fatty acid residue 
contained nitrogen, usually about one sixth of the 
total. The filtrate nitrogen was separated by a 
special method into four fractions, representing 
(1) ammonia, (2) chlorine or other basie com- 
pound, (3) amino acid, or compounds not precipi- 
tated by platinum chloride but precipitated by 
mercuric acetate in a sodium carbonate solution, 
and (4) the filtrate from (3). The two lecithins 
contain about two fifths of the nitrogen in the 
form (2), while kephalin and cuorin contain prac- 
tically none. In all of them, fraction (3) is large, 
varying from one third to one half. 


L. V. Burton and C. G. MacArtruur: Fatty Acids 
from Kephalin. 

The fatty acids obtained from hydrolyzing 
purified kephalin in a dilute hydrochloric acid so- 
lution were separated by the lead acetate method 
into the saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. 
The saturated acid fraction represented about one 
third of the total and was found to contain stearic 
and palmitic in the ratio of three to one. The un- 
saturated fatty acids were separated by the 
bromination method into clupanodenie acid, lino- 
lic acid and oleic acid. The amount of clupano- 
denie acid present was small, less than 2 per cent. 
The linolie acid was found to represent about one 
sixth of the total fatty acids. Oleic acid com: 
prised about one third of the total. 


E. B. Forbes: A Metabolism Experiment with 

Swine. 

The usual practical rations for swine contain 
an excess of acid over basic mineral elements. 
Urinary ammonia varies directly with this excess 
of mineral acid, provided the protein intake re- 
mains the same. Increased protein intake in- 
creases urinary ammonia. This excess of mineral 
acid in practical swine rations seems not to affect 
calcium retention. 

Water-drinking caused the elimination of so- 
dium and chlorine; abstinence from drinking leads 


SP ee eS 


NOVEMBER 7, 1913] 


to their retention. The feces may contain an 

abundance of sodium, but are nearly free from 

chlorine. 

Potassium, magnesium and chlorine balances 
were usually positive, but were negative during 
periods of maximum intake, apparently through 
over-response in the way of protective elimination 
of excess ingested. 

Calcium retention was satisfactory only on ra- 
tions containing meat meal containing considerable 
bone and skim milk. Neither cereals nor soy 
beans furnish the calcium requisite for growth. 

An excess of magnesium to calcium caused loss 
of calcium with a ration of rice polish and wheat; 
bran. The excess of magnesium to calcium in 
corn and in other practical rations does not ap- 
preciably restrict calcium retention. : 

The important deficiencies of corn are, in order 
of magnitude, first, calcium; second, phosphorus; 
third, nitrogen. 

Creatinin elimination was entirely independent 
of food, but varied in the same order as live 
weight, weight of dressed carcass, of flesh, of 
bones and of blood. 

Soy beans, meat meal and skim milk increase 
the digestibility of the carbohydrates of the corn 
with which they are fed. Meat meal and skim 
milk increase the apparent digestibility of the fat, 
and decrease the digestibility of the crude fiber 
of the corn with which they are fed, the results 
being digestion coefficients of more than 100 and 
less than nothing. 

V. C. Myrrs and M. S. Fine: The Fate of Crea- 
tine and Creatinine when Administered to Rab- 
bits. 

When creatine is administered subcutaneously 
to rabbits in amounts varying between 50 and 100 
mgm. per kgm. of body weight per day, 25-80! 
per cent., depending upon the amount given, re- 
appears in the urine unchanged, 2-10 per cent. is 
eliminated as creatinine, about 15 per cent. is re- 
tained by the muscle, while, if introduced in small 
amounts, as much as 50 per cent. may be metab- 
olized. We are inclined to attach considerable 
significance to the slightly increased excretion of 
creatinine as indicating the metabolic relationship 
between these two substances. The creatine con- 
tent of the muscle was raised from the normal of 
0.52 per cent. to 0.55 per cent. (5 expts.) after the 
administration of creatine, and to 0.56 per cent. 
(3 expts.) after the administration of creatinine. 
ANDREW HuntTER, M. H. GIvENS and C. M. Guion: 

Studies in the Comparatwe Physiology of 

Purine Metabolism. 


SCIENCE 


679 


Puinie ApotpH Koper: The Estimation of Pro- 
tein, Amino and Nuclete Acids in Potable 
Waters. 

Experiments show that by using the right pre- 


_cipitants and evaporating to one tenth of the 


original volume proteins and nucleic acids can be 
estimated in potable waters by the author’s 
nephelometric method. This method will easily 
reveal the presence of one part of substance in one 
million parts of water. 

By using the copper method (to be described by 
the author in the next number of the Journal of 
the American Chemical Society) potable waters 
may be analyzed for amino acid nitrogen before 
or after hydrolysis. This method will reveal one 
part of amino acid nitrogen in one million of 
water, without difficulty. 


Howarp D. HAsKINs: 

Urine. 

Certain modifications of MHenderson’s method 
were suggested. Permanent color standards were 
proposed for the range of acidity determined by 
paranitrophenol. A report was made of a study 
of variations of acidity in 24-hour samples and 
in fractional samples, 7%. e., the day’s urine col- 
lected in five periods. No relation of concentra- 
tion of urine to acidity was found. The effect of 
diet was slight. Night urine was distinctly acid 
in 50 per cent. of the cases, and morning urine 
(breakfast to 11) was of very low acidity in 50 
per cent. of the cases. Sweating seemed to have 
a marked effect in causing higher acidity. 

Max Kaun: Metabolism Studies of Five Cases of 

Endarteritis obliterans. 

Five patients suffering from obliterating endar- 
teritis were fed on a Folin diet and their metab- 
olism Studied. It was found that the nitrogen 
metabolism was normal but that the calcium and 
ethereal sulfates were increased in the urine. 


Max Kaun: Calcium Content of Tuberculous 

Areas in Lung Tissue. 

Wherever the tubercle bacillus lodges it induces 
a deposition of calcium salts which hinders the 
ingress of more tubercle bacilli. The body in gen- 
eral becomes poorer in lime salts. It was found 
that tubercular areas in the lungs contained two 
to three times as much calcium as normal lung 
tissue. The work is in progress. 


The Acidity of Normal 


Max KauHN and A. HyManson: Metabolism 
Studies of Two Cases of Amaurotic Idiocy. 
Two cases of amaurotic family idiocy were kept 

under observation until death. The metabolism of 

nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus was carefully 


680 SCIENCE 


studied. It was found that both retention and 

absorption were normal or above normal. The 

digestive system does not seem to be at all deranged 
in this fatal disease. 

T. L. Harkey: Further Studies of Edema. 

OLIvE G. PATTERSON: A Study of the Influence of 
External Hemorrhages on the Partition of Uri- 
nary Nitrogen. 

Victor E. LEVINE: Biochemical Studies of Sele- 
nium. 

BENJAMIN Horowitz and W. J. Gres: Pigments 
Produced from Thymol by Ammonium Hydroa- 
ide. 

Louis BerMAN and W. J. Girs: A Differential 
Stain for Mucine and Mucoids. 

Max Kaun and W. J. Gres: The Origin and Sig- 
nificance of Salivary Sulfocyanate. 

A. P. LotHrop and W. J. Girs: Biochemical 
Studies of Dental Caries. 

W. J. Gims: Further Studies of the Permeability 
of Lipin-Collodion Membranes. 

W. D. Bancrort: Light and Health. 

(Lo be concluded.) 
CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 


THE one hundred and sixty-fifth regular meet- 
ing of the society was held at Columbia Univer- 
sity on Saturday, October 25, extending through 
the usual morning and afternoon sessions. 
Thirty-three members were in attendance. Presi- 
dent E. B. Van Vleck occupied the chair, being 
relieved by Professor H. S. White. The following 
new members were elected: R. W. Burgess, Cornell 
University; Tomlinson Fort, University of Michi- 
gan; Cora B. Hennel, Indiana University; Arthur 
Korn, Charlottenburg, Germany; J. H. Kindle, 
University of Cincinnati; M. A. Linton, Provident 
Life and Trust Company, Philadelphia; John Me- 
Donnell, Geodetic Survey of Canada; J. Q. Me- 
Natt, Colorado Fuel and Iron Company; T. E. 
Mason, Indiana University; B. E. Mitchell, Co- 
lumbia University; George Paaswell, New York 
City; D. M. Smith, Georgia School of Technology; 
Panaiotis Zervos, University of Athens. Twelve 
applications for membership were received. 

The meetings of the Chicago Section having 
been for some years of equal importance with the 
meetings held in New York and technically de- 
scribed as meetings of the society, it has been de- 
cided to obliterate this outgrown distinction by 
making the Chicago meetings also regular meet- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 984 


ings of the society, so far as the presentation of 
scientific papers is concerned. The society will 
hereafter enjoy a possibly unique distinction, in 
that it will hold practically simultaneous meetings 
in two cities. : 

Following closely on the volume of the Prince- 
ton Colloquium Lectures, the society will shortly 
publish the Madison Colloquium Lectures of Pro- 
fessors L. E. Dickson and W. F. Osgood. This 
will be Volume IV. of the series of Colloquium vol- 
umes, its predecessors being the Boston, New 
Haven and Princeton Lectures. 

It was decided to hold the summer meeting of 
1914 at Brown University, in acceptance of the 
invitation by that university to participate in the 
celebration of its one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary. 

The following papers were read at the October 
meeting: 

G. M. Green: ‘‘Projective differential geometry 
of one-parameter families of space curves, and 
conjugate nets on a curved surface.’’ 

G. M. Green: ‘‘One-parameter families of 
curves in the plane.’’ 

Edward Kasner: ‘‘ The classification of analytic 
curves in conformal geometry.’’ 

G. H. Graves: ‘‘Systems of algebraic curves of 
least order for genera 3 and 4.’’ 

A. A. Bennett: ‘‘Quadri-quadrie transforma- 
tions.’? 

A. A. Bennett: ‘‘A set of postulates for a gen- 
eral field admitting addition, multiplication, and 
an operation of the third grade.’’ 

T. H. Gronwall: ‘‘On analytic functions of 
several variables.’’ 

H. Galajikian: ‘‘Concerning the continuity and 
derivatives of the solution of a certain non-linear 
integral equation. ’’ 

G. M. Green: ‘‘On the limit of the ratio of are 
to chord at a point of a real curve.’’ 

W. H. Roever: ‘‘Geometric derivation of a 
formula for the southerly deviation of falling 
bodies. ’’ 

The San Francisco Section held a meeting also 
on October 25. The Southwestern Section will 
meet at the University of Missouri on November 
29. The society will meet in Chicago on Decem- 
ber 26-27, and will hold its annual meeting in 
New York on December 30-31. At the latter 
meeting Professor H. B. Fine will deliver his 
presidential address on ‘‘An unpublished theorem 
of Kronecker respecting numerical equations.’’ 

F. N. Coz, 
Secretary 


a>, 


New SERIES Yf INGLE Copirs; 15 Crs. 
VoL, XXXVIII. No. 985 FRIDAY, NovVEMBER 14, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.0 


Dr. Charles 8S. Minot’s 


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| Lectures at the University of Jena | 
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PRINCIPEES Ol 
STRATIGRAPHY 


BY 


AMADEUS W. GRABAU, 3.M., S.D.4 


PROFESSOR OF PALZZONTOLOGY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


EXRA CHW ERONM: Ei Se Rn ACE 


HIS book is written for the student and for the professional geologist. 

It aims to bring together those facts and principles which lie at 

the foundation of all our attempts to interpret the history of the 

earth from the records left in the rocks. Many of these facts have been 

the common heritage of the rising generation of geologists but many more 

have been buried in the literature of the science—especially the works of 

foreign investigators—and so have generally escaped the attention of the 

student, though familiar to the specialist. There has been heretofore no 

satisfactory comprehensive treatise on lithogenesis in the English language, 

and we have had to rely upon books in foreign languages for such sum- 

maries. It is the hope of the author that the present work may in a 
measure supply this need. 

The book deals with the successive spheres in detail. Chapter II is 
devoted to the atmosphere; Chapters III—-V to the hydrosphere; Chapters 
VI-XXI to the lithosphere; Chapter XXII to the pyrosphere; Chapter 
XXIII to the barysphere and Chapters XXIV—XXX to the biosphere. 
The last two chapters are devoted to a consideration of the principles of 
classification and correlation. Each chapter is provided with a bibliog- 
raphy, this for some of the chapters including more than a hundred titles 
each. Throughout the discussion the central idea has been the interpreta- 
tion of structures in terms of genesis. 

Large Octavo, 1150 pages, with 264 illustrations in the text. Cloth bound, price $6.00. 


A. G. SEILER & CO., Publishers 


1224 Amsterdam Avenue NEW YORK, N. Y. 


SCIENCE 


a 


Fripay, NoveMBer 14, 1913 


CONTENTS 


National Academies and the Progress of Re- 
search: Dr. GEORGE EH. HALE ............ 
The Baltimore Meeting of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences 


Scientific Notes and News 


Unwersity and Educational News 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Absorption of the Sun’s Energy by Lakes: 
Proressor EH. A. BIRGE 


Quotations :— 
Special Training for Health Officers; Pen- 


sions at Brown University 


Scientific Books :— 


Allen’s Commercial Organic Analysis: PRo- 
Talbot’s House Sani- 
tation: PROFESSOR C.-E. A. WINSLOW .... 


FESSOR OTTO FOLIN. 
705 


Cooperative Investigation of the Mississippian 
Formations: F. W. Dr WoLF ............ 706 


Special Articles :— 


On the Acoustic Efficiency of a Sounding 
Board: PROFESSOR FRANK P, WHITMAN ... 707 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 

L. Parsons 


MSS. intended for publication and books, ete., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


NATIONAL ACADEMIES AND THE PROG- 
RESS OF RESEARCH 


I. THE WORK OF EUROPEAN ACADEMIES 


THE Academy of Plato, who bequeathed 
to his followers the walled garden and ap- 
pointments in the place named after the 
hero Hekademus, was at once a school of 
instruction and a society for the develop- 
ment of new knowledge. Here he discussed 
his philosophy with associates and students, 
while it was still in the making, thus bring- 
ing them under the stimulating influence of 
fresh thought, developing and expanding 
from day to day. Writing of the Old Acad- 
emy, which included the schools of Plato 
and his immediate successors, Cicero re- 
marks: : 

Their writings and method contain all liberal 
learning, all history, all polite discourse; and be- 
sides they embrace such a variety of arts, that no 
one can undertake any noble career without their 
aid... . In a word the academy is, as it were, 
the workshop of every artist.1 

The Old Academy was thus the prede- 
cessor of our modern academies of science 
and of our universities as well. Its world- 
wide influence, while of course primarily 
due to the brilliant thinkers of the day, may 
certainly be ascribed in part to the fact that 
its instruction was given in an atmosphere 
charged with the stimulus of original 
thought and constantly broadening ideas. 
The great success of the German univer- 
sities, and the outflow from them of the 
spirit of research into every phase of Ger- 
man life and thought, is undoubtedly due 
in the largest measure to the application of 
this principle. Fortunately for the intel- 

1 Cicero, ‘‘De Fin.,’’ Vol. 3, as quoted in the 


Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. 1, p. 
106. 


682 SCIENCE 


lectual advancement of the United States, 
the recognition of its importance has al- 
ready permeated most of our advanced 
schools, and is rapidly gaining ground in 
the minds of their governing boards of 
trustees. 

Aristotle, called by Plato ‘‘the mind of 
my school,’’ came from a family of physi- 
cians, and thus inherited a taste for experi- 
mental knowledge. To him we owe the 
beginnings of exact science and the organi- 
zation of research on a large scale. Thanks 
to his influence with his pupil Alexander 
the Great, he was able to command the 
immense sum of eight hundred talents for 
the purchase of books and other expenses 
involved in the preparation of his treatise 
on zoology. More than this, a thousand men 
throughout Asia and Greece studied under 
his direction the life and habits of birds and 
beasts, fishes and insects.2 The territories 
conquered by Alexander were carefully 
surveyed, by measuring the position of 
terrestrial objects with respect to stars.® 
Although Aristotle maintained the fixity of 
the earth, and supposed comets and the 
Milky Way to be in its higher atmosphere, 
his reasoning in many astronomical prob- 
lems was sound, as when he concluded that 
the earth must be spherical because its 
shadow on the eclipsed moon is always 
curved. Thus his studies of natural science 
foreshadowed the work of the present-day 
investigator and led to the most far-reach- 
ing results. 

2 Wheeler, ‘‘ Alexander the Great,’’ p. 37. The 
strict accuracy of these assertions, which were 
made by‘several classical authors, is questioned by 
Grote and also by Humboldt, who nevertheless 
concede that Aristotle received from both Philip 
and Alexander the most liberal support in pro- 
curing immense zoological material from Grecian 
territories and in the collection of books. ‘‘Cos- 
mos,’’ Sabine’s trans., Vol. II., p. 158. 

3 Bossut, ‘‘ Histoire des Mathématiques,’’ Vol. 


1, p. 116. 
4 Ibid., p. 117. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


After his time a gradual division of labor 
ultimately separated investigations in natu- 
ral science from the speculations of the 
philosophers. In Sicily, Egypt and the 
islands of the Mediterranean true scientific 
research, in the strictly modern sense, devel- 
oped with remarkable rapidity, while in the 
old Lyceum at Athens the philosophy of 
reasoning and dialectics, caring little for 
physical causes, was devoted exclusively to 
the soul. 

A deep-seated belief that the senses are 
deceptive, and the natural impatience of the 
Greeks, inclining them toward reasoning 
and speculation rather than the slow and 
laborious processes of observation and ex- 
periment, had first to be overcome.’ But in 
the third century B.c. the greatest geometer 
of antiquity, Archimedes, taught at Syra- 
cuse a system of astronomy closely resem- 
bling that of Copernicus, founded the 
science of mechanics in his treatise ‘‘De 
AXquiponderantibus,’’ and devised some of 
the fundamental experimental methods of 
modern physics. At the same period Aris- 
tarchus of Samos made a first determination 
of the distance of the sun from the earth 
and held that ‘‘the center of the universe 
was occupied by the sun, which was im- 
movable, like other stars, while the earth 
revolved around it.’’® This view was also 
taught by Seleucus the Babylonian, but it 
was rejected by Ptolemy, the most cele- 
brated astronomer of his day. 

Of all the ancient prototypes of the 
modern academy, the great Museum of 
Alexandria holds the first place. Founded 
by Ptolemy Soter, whose preference would 
have confined its work to the moral and 
political sciences, its scope soon expanded 
under the influence of Ptolemy Phila- 

5 Weber, ‘‘History of Philosophy,’’ Thilly’s 
trans., p. 133 et seq. 


6 See Humboldt, ‘‘Cosmos,’’ Vol. II., p. 309, and 
notes, p. Cix. 


ee 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


delphus and the pressure of circumstances, 
until it embraced the whole field of knowl- 
edge.? Here almost all of the important 
results of Greek science were obtained in a 
period covering nine centuries. The 
museum established by Ptolemy was an 
extensive palace, housing the brilliant com- 
pany of scholars and investigators gathered 
together from all parts of Greece. As a 
state institution, endowed with special 
revenues, it was under the direction of the 
government, which appointed its head. 
This, in accordance with the traditions of 
the day, was a priest, whose ecclesiastical 
office, and even the name of the museum 
itself, gave a kind of religious character to 
the institution,’ though it subsequently be- 
came purely secular. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus collected strange 
animals from many lands, and sent Diony- 
sius on exploring expeditions to the most 
remote regions.® But while the investi- 
gators of the museum doubtless profited by 
these collections and explorations for their 
studies in natural history and geography, 
Matter finds no evidence that at this period 
the museum possessed either a distinct 
natural history collection or a zoological 
park,’® though the study of medicine was 
encouraged, and a great art collection was 
developed. 

The rising tide of science soon brought 
all the material requisites of research, sup- 
plementing the great library of 700,000 
volumes by the instruments, laboratories 
and collections demanded by the astron- 
omer, the physicist and the student of 
biology. A botanical garden, a zoological 
menagerie, an anatomical laboratory and 
an astronomical observatory in the Square 


7 Matter, ‘‘ Histoire de 1’Ecole d’Alexandrie,’’ 
2d ed., Vol. II., Introduction, p. v. 

8 Op. cit., Vol. I., pp. 87 and 96. 

9 Ibid., p. 158. 

10 Tbid., p. 159. 


SCIENCE 


683 


Porch, provided by Ptolemy Huergetes 
with an equinoctial and a solstitial armil- 
lary, stone quadrants, astrolabes and other 
instruments, illustrate the nature of the 
extensive equipment provided. The work 
of the Alexandrian school thus continued 
to grow, until it embraced all of natural 
and physical science, medicine, mathe- 
matics, astronomy and geography, history, 
philosophy, religion, morals and _ politics. 
It is significant that an institution which in 
many respects would be regarded as a 
model to be striven for to-day, should have 
developed at so early a period in the history 
of civilization.1+ 

To the Alexandrian school we owe the 
““Geometry’’ of Euclid, and his treatises 
on ‘‘Harmony,’’ ‘‘Optics’’ and ‘‘Catop- 
tries’’; the hydraulic screw and some of the 
mathematical and physical discoveries of 
Archimedes of Syracuse, who spent part 
of his time in Egypt; the mathematical, 
astronomical, geographical and _ historical 
investigations of Hratosthenes, who first 
endeavored to determine the circumference 
of the earth by measuring the difference of 
latitude and the distance between Alexan- 
dria and Syene, and wrote on such subjects 
as the geological submersion of lands, the 
elevation of ancient sea-beds, and the open- 
ing of the Dardanelles and the Straits of 
Gibraltar; the ‘‘Conie Sections’’ of Apol- 
lonius; the mathematical and astronomical 
researches of Hipparchus, whose discovery 
of the precession of the equinoxes was 
based on observations made five hundred 
years previously by Timochares at Alexan- 
dria; and the great ‘‘Syntaxis’’ of Ptolemy, 
translated as the ‘‘Almagest’’ by the 
Arabians, which stood as a commanding 
authority in Europe for nearly fifteen hun- 
dred years. Founded on the geocentric 
hypothesis, the ‘‘ Almagest’’ is nevertheless 


11 Draper, ‘‘Intellectual Development of Eu- 
rope,’’ Vol. I., p. 188. 


684 


replete with astronomical methods and 
observations of the widest range and signifi- 
cance, and includes Ptolemy’s discovery of 
the lunar evection, a rough determination 
of the distance from the earth to the sun, a 
masterly discussion of the motions of the 
planets, and a catalogue of 1,022 stars. 
These remarkable advances, which include 
only a fraction of the enormous scientific 
product of the Alexandrian school, were 
supplemented by equally striking contribu- 
tions to literature and art. Philology, criti- 
cism and the history of literature became 
sciences, while the coming together of Budd- 
hists, Jews, Greeks and Egyptians, with 
the most diverse beliefs, led to the develop- 
ment of comparative theology. Of the 
literary works of the Alexandrian school 
the Septuagint and the poems of Theocritus 
are perhaps the most widely known.” 
The rising power of Rome, which finally 
made of Alexandria a mere provincial 
town, was coincident with the decline of 
Greek intellectual life. In this paper only 
the more significant epochs in the develop- 
ment of academies can be mentioned, and 
we must pass over the work of the imme- 
diate successors of the Alexandrian school 
in Rome and Byzantium, and the achieve- 
ments of Arabian science in Africa, Spain 
and Persia. In 1453, by the fall of Con- 
stantinople, where Greek scholars had pre- 
served, in antiquated and pedantic form, 
the literary and philosophical traditions of 
the Alexandrian age, Italy was once more 
raised to its old position of ‘‘Magna 
Grecia.’? Some years earlier the scholar 
and ambassador Pletho, aided by Cosimo 
de Medici, had established a Platonic acad- 
emy in Florence. Under this stimulus, and 
the influence of the Greek refugees, philos- 
ophy became popular, and Greek was 
widely studied. The voyages of Columbus, 


12 See the works of Matter, Montucla, Bossut, 
Whewell, Draper and Weber. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


Da Gama and Magellan, and the astro- 
nomical achievements of Tycho Brahe, 
Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo reawak- 
ened the appreciation of scientific research 
and its possibilities. Leonardo da Vinci 
continued the work of Archimedes and the 
Alexandrian school in optics, mechanics 
and other branches of physics, Vesalius 
established human anatomy on a firm 
foundation, and Harvey proved the theory 
of the circulation of the blood. It is not 
surprising that under such conditions acad- 
emies of literature and science should 
multiply in Europe. 

Among the earliest Italian academies 
were the academy of history, philology and 
archeology, founded in Rome by Pomponio 
Leto in 1457; the Accademia di S. Luca, 
devoted to the fine arts, established in 1577; 
and the Accademia della Crusca, founded 
in 1582, which has published several edi- 
tions of its great Italian dictionary.‘ In 
addition to these organizations seriously 
devoted to the encouragement of literature 
and the arts, a host of imitations sprang up 
all over Italy during the sixteenth century. 
Perhaps the gaiety of their proceedings was. 
considered to find sufficient warrant in the 
splendid suppers offered to the academy of 
Pomponio by the wealthy German Goritz, 
regarding which Ginguéné* quotes the 
remarks of an earlier authority: 

Ainsi, dit avec un juste sentiment de regret, le 
bon Tiraboschi, ainsi parmi les verres et les jeux 
d’esprit, on cultivait joyeusement les lettres, et 
les plaisirs mémes servaient & en encourager et & 
en ranimer 1’étude. 

According to Libri,!® Leonardo da Vinci 
founded and directed the first scientific and 
experimental academy established in Italy. 

13 Carutti, ‘‘Breve storia dell’Accademia dei 
Lineei,’’ p. 157. 

14 Ginguéné, ‘‘ Histoire literaire d’Italie,’’ Vol. 
7, p. 353. 


16‘‘Histoire des sciences mathématiques en 
Italie,’’ Vol. 3, p. 30.’ 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


Another early academy devoted to the pur- 
suit of science was the Academia Secre- 
torum Nature of Naples, which dates from 
1560. 

Of special interest to the modern inves- 
tigator is the Accademia del Cimento, which 
possessed a large collection of physical in- 
struments, many of which are now pre- 
served in the Galileo Museum at Florence. 
The ‘‘Sagei di Naturali Esperienze’’ made 
in the laboratories of this institution is an 
admirably illustrated account of early 
academic activities. The experiments, 
which are described in great detail, with 
the aid of excellent woodcuts of instru- 
ments, are in some cases attributed to 
Galileo, Torricelli and other investigators, 
and in other cases are said to have been 
first performed in France. They include a 
wide variety of subjects, such as the effects 
of artificial freezing on various waters, 
wines, acids and oils, the compression of 
liquids, various phenomena in a vacuum, 
the electrical properties of amber, and the 
motion of projectiles. 

This important volume was published in 
1666, ten years after the establishment of 
the Academy, which lasted only during 
this period. The one great Italian acad- 
emy of science which still survives is the 
Accademia dei Lincei, founded by Federico 
Cesi in 1603. His vast plans of organiza- 
tion for the Academy, resembling those of 
the religious and military orders of the day, 
are described in an unpublished work en- 
titled the ‘‘Linceografo.’’ The Academy 
was to comprise establishments in the four 
quarters of the world, where the members 
would lead a common life in the midst of 
libraries, museums, observatories, labora- 
tories and botanic gardens, provided with 
every requisite means of research, and in 
constant communication with the other con- 
stituent bodies of the organization. The 
name Dincei, or Lynx-eyed, was taken in 


SCIENCE 


685 


recognition of the reputation of the lynx 
for extreme penetration of vision, ‘‘vedendo 
non solo quello che é di fuori, ma anche cio 
che dentro si asconde.’’'® 

After a stormy period of youth, during 
which Cesi and his three fellow organizers 
underwent many vicissitudes, the Academy 
was vigorously revived in 1609. Two years 
later, to its lasting renown, it was joined 
by Galileo, whose earliest telescopic dis- 
coveries had just been made. Under this 
stimulus, and aided by the widespread 
interest in Galileo’s work, the Academy 
now advanced rapidly. While devoting 
special attention to the mathematical and 
physical sciences, it did not neglect the 
cultivation of literature, counting among: 
its members historians, poets, antiquarians; 
and philologists. Its cosmopolitan char- 
acter is indicated by the diverse nationality 
of its membership, which was drawn from 
many of the nations of Europe. An Eng- 
lish member of this period was Francis 
Bacon.” 

In November, 1612, Galileo communi- 
cated his discovery and observations of sun- 
spots, which were published by the Acad- 
emy under the title ‘‘Istoria e Dimostra- 
zioni intorno alle Macchie Solari.’? The 
manuscript of this epoch-making discovery 
is still preserved by the Academy. This 
was followed in 1622 by his ‘‘Saggiatore,’’ 
published in great haste, to avoid interfer- 
ence from the Church. Two years later 
he demonstrated at Rome the use of the 
microscope, so named by Fabri, a member 
of the Lincei. In 1629 Galileo completed 
his dialogue on ‘‘Due massimi sistemi del 
Mondo,’’ and proposed to go to Rome to see 
it through the press. 

Limitations of space forbid mention of 

16 Carutti, ‘‘Breve storia dell’Accademia dei 
Lincei,’’ p. 8. 

17 Carutti, op. cit., p. 26. 

18 Ibid., p. 28. 


686 


the memorable events of this period, in 
which the Academy supported Galileo in 
his difficulties with the Inquisition, and 
accepted the resignation of Valerio, who 
had attacked his doctrines. It was a stir- 
ring period, full of new and vigorous 
thought, which sharply conflicted with the 
traditions of a vanishing age. Led by such 
men as Cesi, Porta, Galileo and Colonna, 
the Lincei played a prominent part in the 
development of the scientific advance of 
Italy and in the cultivation of the growing 
love of truth which spread throughout the 
civilized world. But in 1830 the Academy 
came to a sudden end, attributed by Carutti 
to the withdrawal of the patronage of 
Cardinal Barberini.’® 

Since that date it has seen several re- 
vivals, which are described in the history 
from which the present notice is derived. 
Reconstituted under Victor Emmanuel II. 
in 1875 as the Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 
it now flourishes as the national academy 
of Italy. The class of physical, mathe- 
matical and natural sciences has 55 mem- 
bers, 55 national correspondents, and 110 
foreign members. The class of moral, his- 
torical and philological sciences has 45 
members, 45 national correspondents and 
45 foreign members. The president belongs 
to one class, the vice-president to the other, 
and each has a secretary and an assistant 
secretary.”° 

The home of the Lincei in the Palazzo 
Corsini is admirably adapted for the pur- 
poses of an academy. The collections in- 
clude an extensive library, rich in rare 
books and manuscripts, and a large gallery 
‘of paintings, most of which is open to the 
public. The annual meeting, held in the 
great hall of the palace, is a very impressive 
funetion, attended by the King and Queen 
and other members of the royal family, 


19 Op. cit., p. 97. 
20 See revised statutes, Carutti, op. cit., p. 245. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


whose keen and intelligent interest in the 
work of the Academy is a powerful incen- 
tive to inereased effort and broader useful- 
ness. 

A brilliant and inspiring picture of the 
Paris Academy of Sciences at the zenith of 
its development and fame may be found in 
the opening chapter of Merz’s ‘‘ History of 
European Thought.’’ This Academy or- 
ganized through the efforts of the far-seeing 
statesman Colbert, at the period when New- 
ton was engaged in the composition of his 
‘*Principia,’’ has probably exerted a more 
favorable influence on the progress of sci- 
ence than any other similar institution in 
Europe. Enjoying both the moral and 
financial support of the French govern- 
ment, and permeated by an enthusiasm for 
scientific research which led its members 
to develop the most extensive cooperative 
projects, it offers a pattern which other 
academies may well seek to imitate. Great 
as it remains to-day, the period in its his- 
tory which deserves our most careful con- 
sideration is that brilliant epoch, at the end 
of the eighteenth century, when France 
was everywhere recognized as the leader of 
the scientific world. 

The academicians named by Colbert held 
their first informal meeting in the library 
of the Hotel Colbert in June, 1666. In the 
words of Fontenelle, heaven seemed to 
favor the rising company, which was for- 
tunately able to observe two eclipses 
within the short interval of fifteen days. 
The second of these was observed with the 
aid of an instrument devised by Huygens 
(who was one of the members), and per- 
fected later by Auzout and Picart—the 
well-known micrometer of the astronomer. 

The original group, composed wholly of 
mathematicians and astronomers, was soon 
enlarged to sixteen, through the addition 
of Claude Perrault, Mariotte and other 
well-known chemists, physicians and anato- 
mists. Laboratories and collections were 


NovEMBER 14, 1913] 


established in the Bibliothéque du Roi, and 
the astronomical instruments were mounted 
in the garden, awaiting the completion of 
the great observatory designed by Perrault, 
where some of the meetings were subse- 
quently held. Picart undertook the meas- 
urement of an are of the meridian which, 
when completed by Cassini, removed the 
last doubt of Newton as to the theory of 
eravitation. He was also sent to Denmark 
to determine the position of the ancient 
observatory of Tycho Brahe. Geographical 
maps were corrected and the latitudes and 
longitudes of a great number of points were 
measured. Richer went to Cayenne to 
determine the length of the pendulum and 
to make other observations. In short, the 
ereatest activity reigned under the personal 
stimulus of Colbert, whose correspondence 
shows how large an amount of time he de- 
voted to the interests of the Academy. 
Well-known names were added to the list 
of members, including those of Roemer, 
who determined the velocity of light from 
the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites; Cassini, 
the first of a remarkable lineage of astron- 
omers; the anatomist du Verney; and the 
great Leibnitz. 

Under Louvois, the successor of Colbert, 
the Academy languished, but Bignon’s plan 
of reorganization, adopted in 1699, inaugu- 
rated a new period of progress. The Acad- 
emy was provided with quarters in the 
Louvre, where it remained until Napoleon 
assigned to the Institute the former College 
Mazarin which it still oceupies. Its unpub- 
lished memoirs were promptly printed, and 
were so favorably received by the public 
that as many as three editions were some- 
times demanded. At this period a class of 
‘“associés libres’’ was established, to which 
such men as Turgot, the engineers Perronet 
and Belidor and Bougainville the explorer 
have since belonged. 

_ During the eighteenth century the Acad- 


SCIENCE 


637 


emy attained a height only surpassed dur- 
ing the brilliant epoch following the Revo- 
lution. Among the important events of this 
century were the mathematical researches 
of Clairaut and d’Alembert; the expedi- 
tions of Clairaut and Maupertuis to Lap- 
land and of Godin, Bouguer and La Con- 
damine to Peru, for the measurement of 
ares of the meridian; the similar under- 
taking of La Caille at the Cape, where he 
also determined the lunar parallax in co- 
operation with astronomers in the northern 
hemisphere; and the observations of the 
transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 by 
Pineré at Rodrigues’ Island, LeGentil in 
India, and Chappe in Siberia and Cali- 
fornia. The Cassinis continued their exten- 
sive astronomical and geodetic investiga- 
tions in France, where the activity of 
astronomical research is illustrated by the 
fact that when Bernouilli came to Paris in 
1760 he found, in addition to the original 
observatory, eight or ten other observatories 
engaged in investigation under the direc- 
tion of academicians. Lalande, known as 
a severe critic, wrote in 1766: 

The collection of Memoirs of the Academy of 
Sciences is the richest storehouse of astronomical 
knowledge which we possess. 

But the work of the Academy was by no 
means confined to astronomy and its sister 
sciences. Through the investigations of its 
chemists, the way was prepared for the 
creation of modern chemistry by Lavoisier. 
Réaumur, Buffon and their contemporaries 
were making extensive contributions to 
natural history, while Hatiy was laying the 
foundations of mineralogy. At the same 
time Geoffroy and the three Jussieus shared 
with Linneus the honor of creating the 
science of botany. 

Under such conditions it is not surpris- 
ing that the nation should turn to the Acad- 
emy for assistance and guidance in many 
of its enterprises. Ministers, parliaments, 


688 


administrators and state assemblies often 
sought its aid and accepted its decisions. 
So commanding was its position that when 
all the academies were suppressed under the 
Revolution, it was stipulated that the Acad- 
emy of Sciences should provisionally con- 
tinue its functions and receive its annual 
revenues from the state. 

As there are still those who see in a 
national academy a menace to true democ- 
racy, and who criticize our own National 
Academy on this score, the attitude of the 
revolutionists toward the Paris Academy is 
not without interest. In the report on 
public instruction made by Talleyrand to 
the National Assembly in 1791, on behalf 
of the committee, it was proposed to estab- 
lish a national institute, to continue and 
extend the functions of the various exist- 
ing academies.” In a later report on behalf 
of the Committee on Public Instruction, 
Condoreet showed that the only satisfactory 
method of determining the membership of 
such an academy is to leave the elections to 
the members themselves.2? Article 298 of 
the Constitution, adopted August 22, 1795, 
declares : 

Tl y a pour toute la République un Institut na- 
tional chargé de recueillir les découvertes, de per- 
fectionner les arts et les sciences.28 

This differed from the former group of 
academies mainly in the unity of the aca- 
demic body, which covered the whole range 
of knowledge (though the Académie Fran- 
caise was not represented), and the equality 
in number and privilege of the members 
resident in Paris and the non-resident 
members ‘of the provinces.24 Far from 
losing its prestige through the effects of the 
Revolution, the Academy of Sciences rose 

21 Hippeau, ‘‘L’instruction publique en France 
pendant la révolution,’’ Vol. I., p. 102. 

22 Ibid., p. 327. 

23 Simon, ‘‘Une Académie sous le Directoire,’’ 


p. 39. 
24 Simon, op. cit., pp. 44, 46, 50. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


to its greatest success in the years follow- 
ing the Terror, and formed, with its sister 
academies, the chief connecting link be- 
tween the modern democracy and the old 
régime.”® 

The National Institute, as thus consti- 
tuted, lasted until 1803, when Napoleon 
Bonaparte again reorganized it. The mem- 
bers of the first class (Academy of Sci- 
ences) were grouped in two divisions, con- 
taining eleven sections in all. The two 
secretaries, no longer connected with any 
section, were made permanent. This or- 
ganization, with no essential change, still 
remains in force. The law of 1803 sup- 
pressed the national associates, replacing 
them in the case of the Academy of Sci- 
ences by 100 correspondents (national and 
foreign), increased to 116 in 1899. 

It is interesting to remember that Napo- 
leon took an active part in the Academy of 
Sciences, of which he was elected a member 
in 1797. During the expedition to Egypt 
he invariably signed himself ‘‘Le membre 
de 1’Institut, général en chef.’”° His 
appreciation of the importance of scientific 
research is amply illustrated by the dis- 
tinguished company of investigators which 
he took with him on this expedition, where 
he organized the Institute of Egypt in 
Cairo, and proposed to establish an astro- 
nomical observatory.27 The extensive and 
superbly illustrated report of his investi- 
gators on the antiquities of Egypt was the 
first great step in Egyptian archeology, 
leading to the brilliant labors of Champol- 
lion, Mariette and Maspero, and the domi- 
nance of the French school in Egypt even 
under British control. 

In the great days of the First Empire 
began the brilliant period in the history of 


25 Maury, ‘‘L’ancienne Académie des Sciences,’’ 
p. 1. 

26 Simon, op. cit., p. 40. 

27 ‘Mémoires sur 1’Egypte,’’ Paris, An. VIII. 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


the Academy which Merz so justly empha- 
sizes. With such members as Lagrange, 
Laplace, Legendre and Cauchy in mathe- 
matics; Messier, Arago, Lalande and Del- 
ambre in astronomy; Biot, Ampére, 
Fourier, Fresnel, Becquerel and Regnault 
in physies; Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Dulong, 
Dumas and Chevreul in chemistry ; Cuvier, 
de Jussieu, Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint- 
Hilaire in biology, and with others equally 
celebrated in other fields, it is not sur- 
prising that the Academy commanded the 
respect and the admiration of the civilized 
world. 

Some of the elements which have entered 
into the success of the Paris Academy are 
not difficult to recognize: The sympathy 
and support of such statesmen as Colbert 
and Napoleon, who appreciated the funda- 
mental importance of science to the nation, 
as Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies 
had done before them; the cooperative 
spirit which led the members to work to- 
gether for a common cause; the perfection 
in the hands of the academicians of the 
powerful mathematical methods which con- 
tributed so largely to the application and 
widespread usefulness of Newton’s dis- 
coveries; and the popularization of science 
and the diffusion of the scientific spirit 
through the brilliant writings of Cuvier, 
Laplace, Buffon, Fontenelle and many 
others. Far from disdaining the transla- 
tion of technical papers into attractive 
literature, these great leaders set an exam- 
ple which was followed hardly less effec- 
tively, though in a different manner, by 
Davy and Faraday at the Royal Institu- 
tion. Cuvier, above all others, represented 
the academic system at its best. In his 
eloquent Eloges on the most eminent scien- 
tific men of the day, he paints a picture of 
scientific investigation and progress with 
the hand of a practised artist. The wide 
field of science, and the rich results flowing 


SCIENCE 


689 


from the labors of investigators skilled in 
many departments of knowledge, has never 
been more admirably depicted than in the 
discourses of this distinguished perpetual 
secretary.”® 

In Germany, the division of the empire 
into many kingdoms, preventing the cen- 
tralization which has been so important a 
factor in France and England, and the pre- 
vailing influence of the universities as re- 
search laboratories, where every teacher is 
not only a scholar but a productive inves- 
tigator, have stood in the way of the devel- 
opment of any such national institution as 
the Paris Academy of Sciences. 

During the eighteenth century the great 
men of science, including Leibnitz, Euler, 
Haller, Tobias Mayer, Lambert, Olbers and 
Alexander von Humboldt, were widely 
scattered, and in most cases had little to do 
with the universities, although these were 
already distinguished for classical scholar- 
ship. But by the publication of his ‘‘Dis- 
quisitiones Arithmetice,’’ and the inven- 
tion of his improved method of caleulating 
planetary orbits, Gauss, of the University 
of Gottingen, placed himself on a level 
with the great French mathematicians and 
inaugurated a new era in German science. 
By the use of this method, von Zach and 
Olbers were enabled to recover the first of 
the minor planets, Ceres, which had been 
lost on its approach to the sun. Gauss also 
introduced exact science into the university 
curriculum, but it was through the work of 
Jacobi that the great school of German 
mathematicians was set on foot a quarter 
of a century later. The contemporary 


28 For the data used in this account of the 
Paris Academy I am largely indebted to the 
work of Maury, Simon, Merz and Hippeau, al- 
ready cited, and especially to the article by Dar- 
boux in ‘‘L’Institut de France,’’ Vol. 2 (Paris, 
1907). See also the useful series of articles by 
Dr. E. F. Williams on the Paris, Berlin and 
Vienna Academies in the Popular Science Monthly. 


690 


establishment of chemical laboratories by 
the universities, and the widespread influ- 
ence of Liebig, Mitscherlich and Wohler, in 
chemistry, and of Schleiden and Schwann 
in botany and zoology, determined for all 
time the place of the German university in 
science. Schleiden’s cell theory of plant 
structure and growth was the source of a 
long series of discoveries, which established 
the supremacy of Germany in physiology.” 

In spite of the unfavorable conditions 
already mentioned, four great academies 
have nevertheless arisen in Germany, those 
of Berlin, Munich, Leipzig and Gottingen. 
Among these, partly because of the leader- 
ship of Prussia in the German empire and 
partly from other causes, the Berlin Acad- 
emy stands foremost. Founded in 1700 as 
the Societas Regia Scientarium, through 
the influence of Leibnitz and in accordance 
with his plans, it has contributed in the 
highest degree to the advancement of Ger- 
man scholarship. Its present designation 
as ‘‘Akademie der Wissenschaften’’ indi- 
cates the broad scope of its activities. The 
fifty regular members are divided into two 
classes, each of which consists of two sec- 
tions, presided over by a permanent secre- 
tary. The first class comprises the sections 
of physics and mathematics, the second 
those of philosophy and history. The secre- 
taries preside in turn at the meetings of the 
separate classes, and at the general meet- 
ings, which are held monthly. Each mem- 
ber receives an annual stipend of 900 
marks, while the secretaries are paid larger 
salaries. There are also two positions 
carrying salaries of 12,000 marks each, 
filled by the astronomer and the chemist of 
the academy, and a dozen similar pensions 
which may be distributed at discretion. 

In the early days of its history, the 
Berlin Academy devoted most of its 


29 See Merz’s ‘‘ History of European Thought,’’ 
Vol. 1, Chap. 2. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


resources to the establishment and main- 
tenance of research laboratories and mu- 
seums. Its headquarters were originally 
in the Berlin Observatory, which was con- 
ducted under the direction of the Academy, 
and it also brought together an anatomical 
collection, a mineralogical museum, and a 
zoological garden. Furthermore, the chem- 
ist of the Academy conducted his researches 
in a chemical laboratory provided for the 
purpose.*® In 1809, when the University of 
Berlin was established to compensate for 
the loss of Halle by the treaty of Tilsit, 
these functions of the Academy were trans- 
ferred to the university and have since re- 
mained under its direction. In an inter- 
esting and important manuscript by Wil- 
helm von Humboldt, entitled ‘‘Ueber die 
innere und dussere Organization der wissen- 
schaftlichen héheren Anstalten in Berlin,”’ 
his ideas on the relationship between the 
academy and the newly organized univer- 
sity are fully set forth. Schleiermacher had 
defined the university as a group of stu- 
dents, the academy as a group of investi- 
gators: the former concerned with the 
diffusion of knowledge, and the stimulation 
of scientific research, the latter with the 
development of scientific problems them- 
selves. Humboldt believed the main dis- 
tinction between the two bodies to lie in 
their form and their relationships rather 
than in their work. The university always 
remains in close relationship with practical 
life and the necessities of the state, since it 
is engaged in the practical task of educating 
the youth of the nation, while the academy 
is concerned solely with knowledge. 

When only the function of teaching and dis- 
seminating knowledge is assigned to the univer- 


sity and its promotion to the academy, injustice 
is manifestly done the former.31 


30See Harnack’s great ‘‘Geschichte der Ber- 
liner Akademie der Wissenschaften.’’ 

31 Paulsen, ‘‘The German Universities,’’ trans. 
by Thilly and Elwang, p. 53. 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


_ Whereas the university teachers are 
under common bonds only in the matter of 
discipline, and are quite independent of 
one another in other respects, the academy 
is a society each member of which must 
submit his work to the judgment of all. 
Hence, he insists, the idea of an academy 
as the highest and ultimate freehold of 
knowledge, and as a corporation which is 
more independent than any other of the 
state, must be maintained. 

In Humboldt’s view, a close interchange 
of activities between academy and univer- 
sity should be provided for. Hach aca- 
demican must have the right to lecture at 
the university without going through the 
ordinary preliminaries, and without in- 
volving any direct connection with it. 
Many scholars should be both university 
professors and academicians, but both in- 
stitutions should have other members who 
belong to it alone. The academy must be 
free to choose its own members, subject 
only to the approval of the government, 
while professors in the university should 
be appointed exclusively by the state.*? 

In spite of the transfer of some of its 
principal departments to the University of 
Berlin, the Berlin Academy has by no 
means relinquished its important object of 
carrying on large research projects. As al- 
ready stated, it still has an endowed pro- 
fessorship of chemistry, recently held by 
van’t Hoff, and now by Fischer, and a pro- 
fessorship of astronomy, held by Auwers. 
Both of these investigators pursue their re- 
searches under the auspices of the Acad- 
emy. The great work upon which Professor 
Auwers is engaged is characteristic of 
many of the larger undertakings of the 
German academies, to which they devote 
nearly half of their available funds. This 
is the ‘‘Geschichte des Fixsternhimmels,’’ 


32 Lenz, ‘‘Geschichte der Universitat Berlin,’’ 
Bd. I., pp. 186-188. 


SCIENCE 


691 


an immense catalogue of star positions based 
upon the observations of many astrono- 
mers. Similar undertakings by the Berlin 
Academy in other fields are the ‘‘Corpus 
inseriptorum grecarum’’ and the ‘‘Corpus 
inseriptorum latinarum.’’ The prepara- 
tion of a great edition of Aristotle’s works, 
begun by the Berlin Academy in 1821 and 
finished in 1909, is cited by Diels as a most 
striking illustration of the advantage of 
academic continuity, with which no individ- 
ual can hope to compete.** For such an 
undertaking, which we have come to regard 
as characteristically German, an organ- 
ized body like an academy of sciences pos- 
sesses, not merely the advantage of con- 
tinuity, but that which results from the 
eombined experience and the wide range 
of vision brought to bear through the co- 
operation of many eminent authorities. An 
academy may also command far more ex- 
tensive material than would fall within 
the reach of the individual worker. This 
phase of academic activity, practised 
in different forms in the Museum of Alex- 
andria and, in the preparation of national 
dictionaries, by the Académie Francaise 
and the Accademia della Crusea, is also il- 
lustrated in England by the Royal Society’s 
“‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers.’? Our 
own National Academy has yet to take any 
steps in this direction. 

The importance attached to this form 
of academic work in Berlin is clearly 
illustrated in the plans of the new acad- 
emy building, for a set of which I am 
indebted to the kindness of Professor Diels. 
This building, which is being constructed 
in connection with the new Royal Library, 
is probably more perfectly adapted for aca- 
demic purposes than any other building 
now in use, as it was especially designed 


33 Diels, ‘‘Die organisation der Wissenschaft,’’ 
in ‘‘Die Allegemeinen Grundlagen der Kultur der 
Gegenwart,’’ 2d ed., p. 667. 


692 


for the work to be carried on in it.®* 
The plans show that one room each is 
to be devoted to the Corpus medicorum 
Grecorum, the Acta Borussia, and the 
Plant Kingdom, three rooms to the Corpus 
inscriptorum Latinarum, four to the Orien- 
tal Commission, four to the Egyptian Dic- 
tionary, eleven to the Inscriptiones Grece, 
eleven to the German Commission, two to 
the edition of Leibnitz’s collected works, 
seven to the History of the Fixed Stars. 
In addition to all of these rooms for spe- 
cial research, there are the great ‘‘Fest 
Saal,’’ separate meeting rooms for the two 
classes of the Academy, a general meeting 
room for both classes together, a large ante- 
room, a demonstration room, seven editorial 
rooms, four secretaries’ offices, offices for 
the registrar, the recorder and the chan- 
cellor, a reading-room and large library 
and stack room, a correspondence room, an 
instrument room, a photographie labora- 
tory, and various other offices, kitchens, 
servants’ rooms, ete. 

It is a significant fact that Merz, after 
devoting an eloquent chapter to the evolu- 
tion of science in France under the stimu- 
lus of the Paris Academy, barely mentions 
the German academies when discussing the 
progress of science in that country. The 
reason, as we have already seen, lies in the 
predominating influence of the universities 
in the development of German scientific 
life and thought. With every teacher an 
investigator, every university a laboratory 
of research, and with the powerful aid of 
the state encouraging in every possible way 
the prosecution of investigation no less 
than the instruction of students, it is easy 
to see how the universities obtained their 
ascendancy in the field of science, or rather 
in the broad field of Wissenschaft, for in 

84 Most of the European academies are housed 


in palaces or similar buildings formerly used for 
other purposes. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


Germany the same spirit of research has 
permeated every department of knowledge. 
The wide distribution of the universities 
and their considerable number, together 
with the free interchange of professors and 
students, have worked against centraliza- 
tion, and have served to create a cosmopoli- 
tan spirit in striking contrast with that 
which obtains in France. One can hardly 
fail to believe that no single influence could 
be more effective than the universities for 
the development of the latent capacity of a 
nation for scientific research. But while 
the German academies have doubtless suf- 
fered by contrast with the universities, a 
survey of the intellectual progress of Ger- 
many should by no means overlook the in- 
valuable services they have rendered. 

It would seem, however, that these serv- 
ices might have been even greater if a larger 
number of the scientific men of the na- 
tion could have taken an active part in the 
work of the academies. As at present con- 
stituted, the membership of these bodies is 
extremely limited, and the requirement that 
each member must reside within a very 
short distance of the seat of the academy, so 
that he may be able to attend the meetings 
regularly, is in striking contrast with the 
wider membership and freer interchange 
which seem to have been essential elements 
in the extraordinary development of the 
university system. 

When we pass to England, and examine 
into the conditions of intellectual progress, 
we find a fundamentally different condition 
of affairs. This reflects the natural char- 
acteristics of the English people, just as the 
university system of Germany and the aca- 
demic activities of France illustrate the 
essential qualities of these nations. Merz’s 
picture of the growth of scientific research 
in England is in some respects a somber 
one. In his view the Royal Society appears 
to have played no part in advancing the 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


intellectual life of the nation and the Royal 
Institution, as well as Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, fare little better at his hands. 
Now no one will attempt to deny that 
the characteristic quality of British science 
has always rested in the individual, and 
that organized efforts there have played a 
less conspicuous part than in France or in 
Germany. During a large part of their 
history, Oxford and Cambridge have done 
little for research, though the past half 
century has seen an extraordinary change 
in this respect, particularly in the case of 
the Cavendish laboratory, whose succession 
of brilliant leaders can hardly be matched 
in the history of any other university lab- 
oratory. Men whose names are famous in 
science have sprung up in the most unex- 
pected places, without ancestry, training 
or encouragement to account for the domi- 
nant influence they have exerted on the 
scientific thought of the world. A notable 
illustration of this kind is afforded by 
Faraday, whose obscure origin, extreme 
poverty, and lack of the assistance of 
schools, were most fortunately offset by his 
transcendent genius and by the influence 
of Davy, whose lectures at the Royal Insti- 
tution soon transformed the bookbinder’s 
apprentice into Davy’s brilliant successor. 
Darwin, though of distinguished ancestry, 
was another Hnglish ‘‘amateur’’ whose 
work was done apart from the universities. 
A host of others might be mentioned, whose 
extraordinarily original contributions to 
scientific thought have found few equals in 
other lands. For the most part, they have 
worked alone and sometimes unaided, and 
their great results have been achieved in 
spite of conditions which may appear un- 
favorable and discouraging. But in my 
opinion the Royal Society and the Royal 
Institution, not to speak of other important 
agencies, such as the societies devoted to 
special branches of science, have exercised 


SCIENCE 


693 


in England a profoundly favorable influ- 
ence which can not be ignored. 

In failing to take note of this in his 
classic work, Merz seems to exhibit some 
traces of that pessimistic quality which is 
not infrequently encountered in English 
life. It is to short-sightedness of the gov- 
ernment and to individual conservatism, 
tinectured with pessimism, that I should be 
inclined to charge that lack of support of 
scientific men of which Merz so feelingly 
complains, rather than to the Royal So- 
ciety and other organized bodies for the 
promotion of science. As a matter of fact, 
it is easy to show that these institutions 
have exerted a powerful stimulus, without 
which the progress of science in England 
undoubtedly would have been delayed. 

In the first place, the Royal Society has 
extended the distinction and privileges of 
its fellowship to a much larger number of 
investigators than have been similarly hon- 
ored by the continental academies.*® Every 
investigator in science will understand and 
appreciate the benefit which such recogni- 
tion entails. Most of all the obscure indi- 
vidual worker, unnoticed and unsupported 
by the universities, but wholly devoted to 
the pursuit of science, must benefit by 
such moral support. On the continent I 
have known investigators of this type, not 
connected with a university, and receiving 
no aid or encouragement from neighboring 
university men, who could not be recog- 
nized by election to the academies because 
of their limited membership or their fixed 
traditions. In England such men would 
have been received into the Royal Society, 
which would have been glad to publish their 
papers as Fellows and to aid them in other 
ways. 

A notable illustration is afforded by the 
case of Newton, elected a fellow of the 


35 Fifteen new members are elected annually, 
making a total membership of 477 (Jan. 1, 1913). 


694 


Royal Society on January 11, 1671, and 
subsequently its president for the long 
period of twenty-four years. A month 
following his election, Newton communi- 
cated to the Society his discovery of the 
composite nature of white light, which, 
when published in the Philosophical Trans- 
actions, was the first of his productions to 
appear in print. In expressing his thanks 
to the Society, Newton remarked :°° 


It was an esteem of the Royal Society for most 
candid and able judges in philosophical matters, 
that encouraged me to present them with that dis- 
course of light and colors, which since they have 
so favorably accepted of, I do earnestly desire you 
to return them my most cordial thanks. I before 
thought it a great favor to be made a member of 
that honorable body, but I am now more sensible 
of the advantage: for believe me, Sir, I not only 
esteem it a duty to concur with them in the promo- 
tion of real knowledge, but a great privilege, 
that, instead of exposing discourses to a preju- 
diced and censorious multitude (by which means 
many truths have been baffled and lost), I may, 
‘with freedom, apply myself to so judicious and 
impartial an assembly. 


Leuwenhoeck, ‘‘the father of microscop- 
ical discoveries,’’ who communicated no less 
than 375 papers and letters to the Society 
during a period of fifty years, bequeathed 
a collection of microscopes ‘‘as a mark of 
my gratitude, and acknowledgment of the 
great honor which I have received from the 
Royal Society.’’ *7 

When the Royal Observatory was estab- 
lished at Greenwich, the government failed 
for a period of nearly fifteen years to fur- 
nish it with a single instrument. In this 
extremity Flamsteed appealed to the Royal 
Society, with the following result recorded 
in the minutes: 


36 Weld, ‘‘History of the Royal Society,’’ Vol. 
1, p. 237. Brewster’s ‘‘Life of Newton’’ gives 
an interesting account of Newton’s relations with 
the Royal Society and his plan for its improve- 
ment (Vol. I., p. 102). 

37 Weld, ibid., p. 245. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITI. No. 985 


It was ordered that the astronomical instru- 
ments belonging to the Society be lent to the 
Observatory at Greenwich, and that Mr. Hooke’s 
new quadrant be forthwith finished at the charges 
of the Society.3s 

Examples of this nature might be 
multiplied indefinitely, but a single case 
will suffice, since no more striking instance 
of the splendid results directly due to the 
encouragement and aid of the Royal So- 
ciety could be asked than that illustrated 
in the life and work of Sir William Hug- 
gins, one of the founders of astrophysics, 
and a typical example of the English 
‘‘amateur’’ investigator.2® Sir William, to 
whose addresses as president of the Royal 
Society we shall have occasion to refer 
later, was not a university man. With his 
accomplished wife as his only assistant, 
he lived and did all his work at Upper 
Tulse Hill, well removed from the bustle of 
Piccadilly on the Surrey side of the 
Thames. It is more than probable that 
without the stimulus and aid of the Royal 
Society much of his great work could not 
have been done. For it was on returning 
home from a Royal Society meeting in com- 
pany with his friend Miller that he first 
conceived the idea of observing the spectra 
of stars, and it was with telescopes and 
other instruments loaned to him by the So- 
ciety that his classic observations were 
made. In spite of fogs and clouds of Lon- 
don smoke, he continued his work up to the 
very end of his long life, dividing his al- 
legiance to science only between his astro- 
physical investigations and the develop- 
ment of the Royal Society, of which he was 
for forty years a leading Fellow. 

Thus, in spite of that early poverty which 
prevented the Royal Society from publish- 

38 Weld, ibid., p. 255. 

39It is hardly necessary to say that the term 
‘Camateur’’ is used here to denote one who works 


in science for the pure love of the subject, and 
not in the sense of dilettante. 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


ing the ‘‘Principia’’ of Newton, it has lent 
its powerful aid and support to many a 
British investigator, who without it would 
have been absolutely isolated. Its large 
collection of instruments, the accumula- 
tion of more than two centuries, is freely 
placed at the disposal of those who need 
them. Its Philosophical Transactions and 
Proceedings have furnished the most de- 
sirable means of publication for an enor- 
mous mass of scientific literature. Its 
meetings bring together every Thursday at 
Burlington House the leading scientific 
men of the kingdom, and furnish an oppor- 
tunity for stimulating interchanges of view 
which have played a great part in scien- 
tific progress. Its various gold medals, im- 
partially bestowed at home and abroad, in 
recognition of advances in science, have 
been powerfully supplemented by financial 
assistance to investigators from the Govern- 
ment Grant Fund of £4,000 per annum, 
which is administered by the Society. To 
its influence is largely due the high stand- 
ard of efficiency maintained by the govern- 
ment in its appointment of astronomers 
royal and other directors of the scientific 
research of the nation. When the govern- 
ment decided to establish a national phys- 
ical laboratory it turned at once to the 
Royal Society, to which it delegated the 
planning and control of this great institu- 
tion. Its Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 
continued as the International Catalogue 
of Scientific Literature, has contributed 
in a most important way to the accessibil- 
ity and usefulness of the literature of sci- 
ence, and is indispensable to every investi- 
gator. It has supplied both money and in- 
struments to scientific expeditions sent to 
all parts of the globe, and provided for the 
suitable reduction and discussion of the 
observations obtained. It has aided the 
government of India in the work of the 
Indian Meteorological Department and 


SCIENCE 


695 


participated with the meteorological office 
in the direction of the work of the Kew 
and its sister observatories. The reports of 
the Sleeping Sickness Commission have 
advanced in an important degree our 
knowledge of tropical diseases. In fact, 
one could point to an almost unlimited 
number of illustrations of the beneficent 
activities of the Royal Society as the lead- 
ing representative of British research, and 
as one of the most powerful factors in 
broad projects of cooperation, such as those 
of the International Association of Acad- 
emies. 

Unlike the academies of St. Petersburg, 
Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm, which 
maintain large research laboratories or sup- 
port research professorships, the Royal 
Society has no laboratories of its own. 
Closely allied with it, however, is the Royal 
Institution, formerly known as “‘the work- 
shop of the Royal Society.’’ No labora- 
tory in existence can match its extraordi- 
nary record, accomplished at an almost in- 
credibly small cost.*° When one recalls 
Young’s great work in laying the founda- 
tion of the wave-theory of light, not to 
speak of his success in discovering the first 
elue to the translation of Egyptian hiero- 
elyphies; Davy’s long series of discoveries 
in chemistry, and his brilliant lectures 
and demonstrations; Faraday’s unparal- 
leled achievements in physical and chemical 
research, and the dignity and luster he 
imparted to the popular presentation of 
scientific results to a general audience; 
Tyndall’s success in the same lecture-hall, 
and his services in popularizing science in 
the United States; and the long series of 
important investigations, especially in the 
fruitful field of low temperature phenom- 
ena, which we owe to Dewar, who has now 
occupied the chair of chemistry even 


40 Dewar, address as president of the British 
Association, Belfast, 1902, p. 11. 


696 


longer than Faraday: these form a record 
remarkable in the annals of science, with 
returns so rich as to be worthy of the ex- 
penditure of almost any sum. But even 
this long list does not represent the total 
product of the laboratory, where such emi- 
nent leaders as Lord Rayleigh and Sir 
Joseph Thomson have also conducted in- 
vestigations of the first importance. So 
far as my own observations have gone, no 
other laboratory holds such an atmosphere 
of research or stimulates so powerfully the 
imagination of the investigator. I shall 
have occasion later to refer to the equally 
remarkable success of the Royal Institution 
in diffusing and popularizing knowledge 
through its course of experimental lectures. 

Academies of the first class are so nu- 
merous that only a few of the oldest or- 
ganizations, whose work bears directly 
upon the problems of our own National 
Academy, can be mentioned in this paper. 
I hope to have opportunity at some future 
‘time to describe the work of such influen- 
tial bodies as the Vienna Academy, which 
has founded a Radium Institute and taken 
steps which should result in the establish- 
ment of a Solar Observatory; the Stock- 
holm Academy, entrusted with the respon- 
sibility of awarding the Nobel Prizes in 
physics and chemistry; the Amsterdam 
Academy, focus of the great research work 
of Holland; and many other academies of 
the highest rank representing the various 
nations of Europe. For the present I must 
limit attention to a group of institutions 
which are sufficient to typify the wide 
range of academic activities. However, a 
word must be added regarding the St. 
Petersburg Academy, established by Cath- 
erine I. on the plans of Peter the Great in 
1725, because of its special plan of organi- 
zation. The president, director and fifteen 
‘members are paid annual stipends ranging 
‘from one thousand to three thousand dol- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


lars, and provided with dwelling houses. 
The great academy building, with its li- 
brary of over 36,000 books and manuscripts, 
contains large laboratories in which in- 
vestigations are constantly in progress. 
The extensive publications include re- 
searches in every field of knowledge and 
exhaustive memoirs on the topography, 
geography and history of Russia and the 
manners, customs and languages of its 
various peoples. 

From this survey of the work of a few 
of the leading academies and allied institu- 
tions, we see that original investigations 
have played a large part in their activities, 
from the days of the great museum at 
Alexandria to the present time. In certain 
instances, illustrated in the history of the 
University of Berlin, some of the work of 
investigation has been transferred from 
the academies to the universities, but 
without interrupting the larger activities 
of the academies in the same field. Again, 
in eases like that of the Royal Society, the 
development of a closely allied laboratory 
of research, such as that of the Royal Insti- 
tution has partially supplied the place which 
a laboratory under the exclusive control of 
the Society might have held. The essential 
thing to note is the advantage which re- 
sults from the organic relationship of an 
academy with a laboratory for the produc- 
tion of new knowledge. An academy will 
reach its greatest influence, and serve its 
most useful purpose in stimulating the 
work of its members, when it is recognized 
as an institution primarily ‘‘for the in- 
erease’’ rather than ‘‘for the diffusion of 
knowledge among men.”’ 

In the field of publication, the great 
academies of former times were predomi- 
nant factors, so much so that we owe to 
their printed pages the great volume of the 
original contributions of the earlier days 
of science. With the rapid extension of 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


the facilities for research, and the exten- 
sive ramifications of science into special 
fields, the societies and journals devoted 
to particular lines of research naturally 
arose and multiplied. The prestige of such 
publications as the Proceedings and Trans- 
actions of the Royal Society fortunately 
enables them to hold their own, in spite of 
the competition of so many journals de- 
voted to special subjects. And the oppor- 
tunity afforded by academies for the pub- 
lication of extended memoirs beyond the 
range of ordinary periodicals, is univer- 
sally appreciated. As regards shorter com- 
munications, the peculiar claims of the 
special journals, which have been proved 
by time to serve the purposes for which 
they were designed, would naturally re- 
ceive consideration in elaborating any new 
plan of academic publication to meet ex- 
isting needs. This subject will be more 
fully considered in a later paper. 

In the management and distribution of 
trust funds for research, the loan of instru- 
ments, the award of prizes, and especially 
in the advice of governments and individ- 
uals as to the best means of initiating and 
conducting scientific enterprises, national 
academies occupy a position which private 
foundations can hardly hope to rival. 
The value of advice received from a body 
of the highest reputation and prestige is 
greatly enhanced, because of the increased 
probability that it will be heeded and 
earried into effect. For a similar reason, 
recognition of individual achievement 
through the award of prizes or election to 
membership acquires its greatest weight 
when received from such a body. 

After reviewing all of the activities 
which we see so diversely exemplified by 
the national academies of different coun- 
tries, the conviction is forced upon one 
that the first and best object of these bod- 
ies must always be to uphold the dignity 


SCIENCE 


697 


and importance of scientific research, and 
to diffuse throughout the nation a true ap- 
preciation of the intellectual and practical 
benefits which will inevitably result from 
its support and encouragement. But to ac- 
complish great results in this field, an 
academy must enjoy the active cooperation 
of the leaders of the state. To appreciate 
this, we have only to remember the many 
striking illustrations afforded in the his- 
tory of civilization. What was done by 
Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies 
for Egypt, by the house of Medici for 
Italy, by Richelieu, Colbert and Napoleon 
for France, can be done for other nations 
by living statesmen to-day. In the midst 
of his campaigns Napoleon never forgot 
the paramount claims of science and the 
arts. Writing to the astronomer Oriani 
from Milan, which he had entered in 
triumph, Napoleon said: 

The sciences which do honor to the human mind 
and the arts which embellish life and perpetuate 
great achievements for posterity, should be espe- 
cially honored under free governments. 

. .. I invite the scholars to meet and to give 
me their opinions as to the means that should be 
taken, and the needs to be fulfilled, in order to 
bring new life and activity into the sciences and 
the fine arts. Those who wish to go to France 
will be received with distinction by the govern- 
ment. The French people set a higher value on 
the acquisition of a skilled mathematician, a cele- 
brated painter or a distinguished man of any 
profession, than upon the possession of the larg- 
est and richest city.41 


That such views are still shared by mod- 
ern rulers is illustrated by the recent es- 
tablishment of a great institution for sci- 
entific research by the Emperor of Ger- 
many. 

This article can not be better closed 
than by a quotation from Laplace, the 
most distinguished member of the Paris 


41 Maindron, ‘‘Li’Académie des Sciences,’’ p. 
205. 


698 


Academy in its brilliant days under the 
first empire. 


Nature is so varied in her manifestations and 
phenomena, and the difficulty of elucidating their 
causes is so great, that many must unite their 
knowledge and efforts in order to comprehend 
her and force her to reveal her laws. This union 
becomes indispensable when the progress of the 
sciences, multiplying their points of contact, and 
no longer permitting a single individual to under- 
stand them all, throws upon a group of investiga- 
tors the task of furnishing the mutual aid which 
they demand. Thus the physicist appeals to the 
mathematician in his efforts to arrive at the gen- 
eral causes of observed phenomena, and the 
mathematician in his turn consults the physicist, 
in order to render his investigations useful by 
practical applications, and in the hope of opening 
up new possibilities in mathematics. But the 
chief advantage of academies is the philosophic 
spirit which must develop within them, thence dif- 
fusing itself throughout the nation and permeating 
every interest. The isolated scholar may yield 
with impunity to the tendencies of the systema- 
tist, since he hears only from afar the criticism 
that he arouses. But in an academy the impact 
of such tendencies ends in their destruction, and 
the desire for mutual conviction necessarily es- 
tablishes the rule of admitting only the results of 
observation and caleulation. Furthermore, ex- 
perience has shown that since the origin of acad- 
emies the true spirit of philosophy has prevailed. 
By setting the example of submitting everything 
to the test of severe logic, they have overthrown 
the preconceived notions which too long domi- 
nated science, and were shared by the ablest 
minds of previous centuries. Their useful influ- 
ence on public opinion has dissipated errors 
greeted in our own time with an enthusiasm 
which would have perpetuated them in earlier 
days. Equally removed from the credulity which 
denies nothing and the conservatism which would 
reject everything that departs from accepted 
ideas, they ,have at all times wisely awaited the 
result of observation and experiment on difficult 
questions and unusual phenomena, promoting 
them by prizes and by their own researches. 
Measuring their approval no less by the greatness 
and difficulty of a discovery than by its immediate 
utility, and convineed, by many examples, that 
what appears to be least fruitful may ultimately 
yield important consequences, they have encour- 
aged the pursuit of truth in all fields, excluding 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVITT. No. 985 


only those which the limitations of the human 
understanding render forever inaccessible. 
Finally, we owe to them those great theories, ele- 
vated by their generality above the comprehen- 
sion of the layman, which through numerous ap- 
plications to natural phenomena and the arts, 
have become inexhaustible sources of happiness 
and enlightenment. Wise governments, convinced 
of the usefulness of scientific societies, and re- 
garding them as one of the principal causes of 
the glory and prosperity of empires, have estab- 
lished such bodies in their very midst, in order 
to profit by their counsel, which has often 
brought lasting benefits.42 


GrorGE HuLERY HALE 


THE BALTIMORE MEETING OF THE NA- 
TIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
THe National Academy of Sciences will 
meet November 18 and 19 at the Johns Hop- 
kins University, Baltimore. The council will 
meet the evening before; and on these two 
dates there will be public sessions with papers 
by members of the academy and others. 
A preliminary program of these papers is 
as follows: 


Henry Fatrrietp Ossorn: Final Results on 
the Phylogeny or Lines of Descent in the 
Titanotheres. 

Tuomas H. Morcan: The Constitution of the 
Chromosomes as Indicated by the Heredity 
of Linked Characters. 

The paper is a discussion of recent dis- 
coveries in sex-linked inheritance and their 
bearing on the mechanism of heredity and the 
constitution of the chromosomes. Starting 
with the assumption that Mendel’s law of 
segregation finds a plausible explanation in 
the processes known to occur in the ripening 
of the egg and sperm, an attempt is made to 
analyze the ratios that appear in sex-linked 
inheritance—ratios that depart from those that 
rest on the assumption of independent assort-~ 
ment of pairs of characters. It is shown how ° 
these departures find a reasonable explanation 
on the assumption that interchange takes 
place between members of the same pair of 
chromosomes. The Mendelian ratios, on the 

42 ‘‘Hxposition du Systéme du Monde,’’ Oeuvres, 
Vol. VI., p. 418. 


> 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


other hand, occur when the pairs of factors 

involved lie in different chromosomes. The 

method by which the location of loci (factors) 
in the chromosomes is calculated will be ex- 
plained. 

H. McL. Evans: The Action of Vital Stains 
Belonging to the Benzidine Group. 

S. O. Mast: Changes in Pattern and Color in 
Fishes, with Special Reference to Flounders. 
The flounders ordinarily lie on the bottom 

and the skin assumes a color and pattern so 

nearly like that of their environment that it 
is frequently difficult to see them. On a black 
bottom they become black, on a white bottom 
white, on a yellow bottom yellow, on a blue 
bottom bluish, on a red bottom reddish, ete. 

All of these changes in the skin are regulated 

through the eyes. This indicates color vision. 

If the bottom is finely mottled the pattern in 

the skin assumes a fine grain; if coarsely 

mottled, it assumes a coarse grain. But there 
is no evidence indicating an actual reproduc- 
tion of the configuration of the background. 

If, after the skin has become adapted to a 

given bottom, the fish are moved to a different 

bottom they tend to return to the original. 

That is, they tend to select a bottom which 

harmonizes with their skin. 

D. S. Jounson: The Perennating Fruits of 
the Prickly Pears. 

The fleshy fruits of certain prickly pears are 
not shed, as most fruits are, but remain 
attached for ten years or more. These fruits 
continue to grow by a cambium and, while 
they remain attached, their axillary buds give 
rise to flowers only. If, however, the chains of 
fruits thus formed are separated from the plant 
their buds give rise only to roots and vegeta- 
tive joints. The plants are propagated in this 
way. Seeds, though sometimes formed, have 
never been seen to germinate. 


B. F. Lovenace: A Static Method for the 

Measurement of Vapor-pressures of Solutions. 

The method is based upon the principle of 
the Rayleigh manometer. Vapor from solvent, 
carefully freed from air, is admitted to one 
limb of the manometer and vapor from solu- 
tion to the other limb. The manometer is con- 
structed to give a sensibility of 0.0005 milli- 


SCIENCE 


699 


meter and readings are made in the usual way 
by means of a telescope and scale. Provision 
is made for stirring the solution, also for re- 
moving air to less than 0.0004 millimeter 
pressure, the pressure in system due to air 
being measurable at any time during the prog- 
ress of an experiment. 

H. C. Jones: The Absorption of Light by 
Water Containing Strongly Hydrated Salts. 
Salts, such as magnesium and calcium 

chlorides, which, in aqueous solution combine 

with a large amount of the solvent, diminish 
the power of water to absorb light. Unhy- 
drated salts, such as potassium and ammonium 
chlorides, produce no such effect. This would 
indicate that water combined with a dissolved 
substance has less power to absorb light than 

free water. This fact is in keeping with a 

number of others which have recently been 

brought to light; and they all seem to point to 
the general correctness of the solvate theory 
of solution. 

Simon Fiexner: Some Factors in the Epi- 
demiology of Infection. 

Kyicut Dunuap: The Fusion of Successive 
Flashes of Light. 

The least perceptible interval between two 
light stimuli is dependent on several factors, 
among which is the relative duration of the 
stimuli and the dark interval. As determined 
in extensive preliminary experiments with a 
beam of light interrupted at its focus by a 
properly sectored rotating disc, the least per- 
ceptible interval ranges from approximately 
20 o when the two stimuli are equal in length 
to the dark interval, down to 4 o when the 
stimuli are 18 times the length of the inter- 
vening interval. This variation is principally 
a function of the length of the first stimulus, 
the length of the second stimulus having a 
slight effect of different character. Oorre- 
sponding measurements for flicker give some- 
what lower results, namely, from approximately 
11 ¢ to 2c. The difference in these measure- 
ments is readily explained. 

J. J. Aspen: Demonstration of an Artificial 
Kidney. 

Howarp A. KeEtty: 


Radio-therapeutics in 
Surgical Affections. 


700 


A. H. Prunp: Measurement of Stellar Radia- 
tion. 

Using a compensating vacuum-thermo- 
couple with evacuator—both of new design— 
in conjunction with the 30-inch Keeler Mem- 
orial Reflector at the Allegheny Observatory, 
the radiation from Vega, Jupiter and Altair 
was observed. The sensibility of the apparatus 
corresponded to a deflection of 2,400 mm. for 
a meter—Hefner. The results for the evening 
of September 22, 1913, were: 


Source Detection: Magnitude Remarks 
m. 
WE Pexéooen 7.5 0.19 | Sky clear; no wind 
Jupiter..... 3.0 —2.0 Sky clear; no wind 
Altair....... 2.0 0.96 |Sky hazy ; no wind 


(The smallness of the deflection occasioned 
by Jupiter is due to the circumstance that the 
image had more than seven times the area of 
the blackened dise of the thermo-junction.) 


J. A. Anperson: A Method for Testing Screws. 

The instrument used is the Fabry and Perot 
interferometer, and the method is applicable 
to any screw which has been ground. Periodic 
errors, errors of run, straightness of the axis, 
and coincidence of the axis of the screw 
with that of its pivots can all be determined 
with a high degree of accuracy. The method 
has been used in testing the screws for Row- 
land’s ruling machines with success. 


J. B. Watson: An Experimental Study of 

Homing. 

This report will discuss briefly four of the 
more important theories of homing, viz., the 
“law of counter return”; the theory of return 
by the aid of “visual land-marks”; the theory 
of “direct perception of goal” (by the aid of 
infra-red rays); and the “ Spiirsinn ” of Cyon. 
The result of three years of experimental 
work in the Dry Tortugas on homing in the 
noddy and sooty terns will be given; special 
emphasis was placed upon the results obtained 
during the past spring. In brief, the experi- 
menters were able to obtain thirteen returns 
over open water from distances ranging from 
five hundred to approximately one thousand 
miles. 

On the afternoons of both the days of the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 985 


meeting opportunity will be given for visits to 
several of the laboratories of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, besides the Physical Labora- 
tory in which the meetings will be held. 

In the laboratories of anatomy, plant physi- 
ology, zoology and chemistry special demon- 
strations will be given of the researches in 
progress. 

There will be the usual social functions, 
including a reception by Dr. and Mrs. Remsen 
and a dinner at the Maryland Club to which 
the Academy is invited by the members resi- 
dent in Baltimore. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


ALFRED RussEL WALLACE, the great English 
man of science, author of works on natural se- 
lection, geographical distribution and a wide 
range of biological and social subjects, died 
on November 7, in his ninety-first year. 


Sir Witu1aM Preece, the distinguished Brit- 
ish electrical engineer, died on November 6, at 
the age of seventy-nine years. 


Dr. CHartEs McBurney, formerly demon- 
strator of anatomy and professor of surgery in 
the College of Physicians of Columbia Uni- 
versity, died on November 6, aged sixty-eight 
years. ; 


A MARBLE bust of Lord Kelvin by Mr. Shan- 
non, A.R.S.A., the gift of Lady Kelvin, was 
presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh 
on October 28, by Professor Crum Brown, on 
her behalf. Principal Sir William Turner, 
who presided over a large gathering, said Lord 
Kelvin had been sixty years a fellow of the so- 
ciety, and was occupying the post of president 
for a third term of five years when he died in 
1907. 


At the annual meeting of the American 
Mathematical Society, to be held at Columbia 
University on December 30-31, Dean H. B. 
Fine, of Princeton University, will deliver his 
presidential address on “An Unpublished 
Theorem of Kronecker Respecting Numerical 
Equations.” 


_ Ar the dedicatory exercises of the new $100,- 
000 laboratory building of the college of medi- 
cine of the University of Nebraska, held in 


‘NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


Omaha on October 16, the two principal 
speakers were Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of the 
Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Henry B. 
Ward, of the University of Illinois. 


Sir RickMan JoHN GoDLEE, president of the 
Royal College of Surgeons, England, had the 
honorary degree of doctor of laws conferred on 
him at a special convocation of the University 
of Toronto, November 5. At the Academy of 
Medicine on the evening of the 4th, Sir Rick- 
man delivered an address on foreign bodies in 
the air passages. ‘ 

Dr. Lupwic RaDLKoFEr, professor of botany 
at Munich, has been permitted to retire from 
the active duties of his chair. 


THE special board for biology and geology 
of Cambridge University has approved a grant 
of £30 from the Balfour Fund to Mr. George 
Matthai, B.A., research student of Emmanuel 
College, in aid of his research on the compar- 
ative morphology of the madreporaria. 

Tue address by Professor G. A. Miller en- 
titled “Some Thoughts on Modern Mathe- 
matical Research,” which appeared in ScrENncE, 
June 7, 1912, has been reprinted in the Oc- 
tober, 19138, number of The Journal of the 
Indian Mathematical Society, Madras, India. 
It has also been reprinted in the “ Annual 
Report of the Smithsonian Institution of 
Washington ” for 1912. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


CoMPLETE plans for the new home of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology have 
been made public. There are to be nine con- 
tiguous buildings, each devoted to a separate 
department. Construction has already been 
started on the Cambridge side of the Charles 
River, east of Harvard Bridge. The principal 
buildings are expected to be ready for occu- 
pancy in two years. Of the $10,000,000 neces- 
sary, $7,300,000 has already been pledged. 

THe Chamber of Commerce of New York 
City announces a gift from a donor whose 
name is withheld of $500,000 for a building for 
a college of commerce. Gifts have also been 
received of $50,000 from four other subscrib- 
ers. The Chamber of Commerce proposes to 


SCIENCE 


701 


provide a building and to install a commercial 
and civic museum on condition that the City 
of New York provides the running expenses. 


THe University of California announces 
that the income of the $120,000 given by Mrs. 
Jane K. Sather to endow the Sather professor- 
ship in classical literature is to be used for a 
visiting Sather professor. Annually some.dis- 
tinguished scholar, from Europe or from 
America, will be called to Berkeley to spend a 
half year or a year teaching in the University 
of California. The first incumbent is to be 
Professor John L. Myres, of Oxford University, 
who will come from his present work of exca- 
vation in the island of Cyprus. Besides liberally 
endowing the Sather professorship in classical 
literature, Mrs. Jane K. Sather, of Oakland, 
gave a like amount to endow the Sather pro- 
fessorship of history, now held by Professor 
H. Morse Stephens; endowed the three Sather 
book funds, to purchase works in classics, his- 
tory and law; built the Sather Gate, in mem- 
ory of her husband, at a cost of $37,000, and 
gave $200,000 for the three-hundred-foot white 
granite Sather campanile, now being built on 
the campus, and $25,000 for the Sather bells, a 
set of chimes which are to be placed in the 
open belvedere of the campanile, 250 feet above 
the level of the campus. 


Tue University of Florida will use two new 
buildings for the first time at the coming ses- 
sion: the Language Hall, costing $45,000, will 
house departments of law, languages, English 
history, mathematics and administrative offices ; 
the George Peabody Hall, for the teachers col- 
lege and normal school, costing $40,000, the 
gift of the General Education Board, will 
house the general library, departments of edu- 
cation and philosophy, normal school and prac- 
tise high schools. 


THE president of the Ohio State University 
and a group of members of the legislature 
have visited the universities of Wisconsin, 
Michigan and Illinois to obtain information 
for the development of the Ohio State Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. Houiis Goprrey, an engineer of Phila- 
delphia, the author of contributions to chem- 


702 


istry and sanitary engineering, has been 
elected president of the Drexel Institute of 
Art, Science and Industry. 


Joun EuuswortH Harrztrr, the newly 
elected president of Goshen College, was in- 
augurated on November 7. President Win- 
throp E. Stone, of Purdue University, and 
President Robert L. Kelly, of Earlham OCol- 
lege, represented the universities and colleges 
on the program on this occasion. 


Tue following appointments have been made 
in the school of civil engineering, Purdue Uni- 
versity: H. B. Smith, instructor in railway 
engineering; A. L. Dierstein, instructor in 
structural engineering; W. E. Stanley, assist- 
ant in surveying. 


RECENT appointments in science in West 
Virginia University are as follows: Wm. 
Henry Schultz, Ph.D., professor of pharma- 
ecology and materia medica; Aaron Arkin, 
M.D., Ph.D., professor of bacteriology and pa- 
thology; A. H. Foreman, E.E., M.E., Ph.D., as- 
sistant professor of electrical and experimental 
engineering; L. I. Knight, Ph.D., plant physi- 
ologist in the experiment station, in coopera- 
tion with the University of Chicago; E. L. 
Andrews, assistant professor of poultry hus- 
bandry; Isaac B. Johnson, B.S.Agr., instruc- 
tor in animal husbandry; Oliver Smith, B.S.- 
Agr., instructor in agronomy; W. B. Kemp, 
B.S.Agr., instructor in agronomy; O. M. Kile, 
B.S.Agr., agricultural editor; John Heron I- 
lick, M.S., instructor in zoology; Joseph W. 
Hake, M.S., instructor in physics; Hubert 
Hill, B.S., instructor in chemistry; W. A. 
Price, Ph.D., instructor in geology; Edward 
F. Woodcock, M.A., instructor in botany. 


RECENT appointments at the University of 
Florida include: L. W. Buchholz, A.M., and 
W. S. Cawthon, A.M., as professors of educa- 
tion in the newly organized teacher’s college; 
R. R. Sellars, B.S. (Bucknell), instructor in 
civil engineering; A. J. Strong, B.S. (Mich. 
Agr.), instructor in mechanic arts, both in 
college of engineering; Ira D. Odle, B.S. (Pur- 
due), instructor in botany and bacteriology; 
J. F. Duggar, Jr., M.S. (Ala. Poly.), instruc- 
tor in agronomy, in the College of Agriculture. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITL. No. 985 


In the Agricultural Experiment Station, lab- 
oratory assistants have been appointed as fol- 
lows: A. C. Mason, B.S. (Mich. Agr.), in ento- 
mology, J. Matz, B.S. (Amherst), in plant 
pathology. O. F. Burger, assistant plant 
pathologist, has been granted leave of absence 
for study at Harvard University. 

Tue extension division of the University of 
Florida was made a separate and independent 
portion of the university organization, with 
P. H. Rolfs, as director, and A. P. Spencer, as 
vice-director. All extension service will be 
concentrated in this division, including farm- 
ers’ institutes; farmers’ demonstration and 
boys’ and girls’ club work, in cooperation with 
the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United 
States Department of Agriculture; literary 
and scientific lecture bureau; instruction for 
teachers and county institutes; correspond- 
ence courses, etc. 

Mr. A. G. Sreete has been appointed head 
of the department of psychology in Temple 
University, Philadelphia, Pa. 


Proressor Franz CosMat, of Gratz, has been 
called to the chair of geology at Leipzig. 

Dr. ApotF Winpaus, of Freibourg, has ac- 
cepted the chair of chemistry at Innsbruck. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
ABSORPTION OF THE SUN’S ENERGY BY LAKES 


To THE Epiror oF Sctence: The Wisconsin 
Geological and Natural History Survey has 
been making a study of the rate at which the 
energy of the sun’s rays is absorbed as they 
penetrate the water of lakes. Two instruments 
have been used for this purpose. The first is a 
black-bulb thermometer in vacuo; a so-called 
solar thermometer. The instrument is exposed 
to the action of the sun at different depths, 
say 1 m. and 2 m. from the surface. The rate 
of rise of the mercury is noted and from the 
relation of the rates at the two depths can be 
computed the amount of absorption of heat in 
the stratum between them. The second in- 
strument is a thermopile and galvanometer, 
designed for the purpose by Professor C. E. 
Mendenhall, of the department of physics, 
University of Wisconsin, and constructed in 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


the university shops. The method of observa- 
tion is much the same as with the solar ther- 
mometer, but the instrument is much more 
sensitive and rapid in its action. Readings 
are made in a few seconds and the instrument 
will easily record an amount of heat as small 
as 1 per cent. of that present at the surface. 
The results obtained by the two instruments 
are in substantial agreement. Observations 
have been made on a stratum of water of con- 
siderable thickness (1 m. or 0.5 m.) and have 
usually dealt with strata beginning at 0.5 m. 
or 1 m. below the surface—a depth at which 
all, or nearly all, of the invisible part of the 
spectrum has been absorbed. 

It has long been known that a stratum of 
optically pure water 1 m. thick absorbs about 
60 per cent. of the sun’s energy, including 
nearly all of that below the A line. In pure 
water the absorption below one meter would 
amount to less than 12 per cent. of the energy 
present at a given depth in the 1 m. stratum 
immediately subjacent. These figures are sub- 
ject to variation, depending on the altitude 
of the sun and the form of the energy spec- 
trum. 

Lake water is optically very different from 
pure water. The inland lakes of Wisconsin 
are not very transparent; the transparency, as 
shown by Secchi’s disk, varying from less than 
1m. to about 7 m. The transparency is af- 
fected both by turbidity, due to suspended 
matter, and to stain, occasioned by matters ex- 
tracted from peat, ete. 

Observations made on more than twenty-five 
lakes showed that not more than 20 per cent. 
of the sun’s energy present at the surface is 
found at a depth of 1 m., and the amount is 
usually much less; sometimes as low as 2 per 
cent. or 2.5 per cent. Not less than 30 per 
cent. of the energy present at 1 m. is absorbed 
by the stratum of water between 1 m. and 2 
m.; usually as much as 40 per cent. to 50 per 
cent. is absorbed; and the amount may be as 
great as 85 per cent. to 95 per cent. The rate 
of absorption per meter is substantially the 


same in subjacent meters as it is between 1 m. 


and 2 m. No readings have been made at a 
greater depth than 6 m., since at greater 


SCIENCE 


703 


depths the energy was always too small for 
accurate measurement. 

From these observations it follows that the 
heat of the sun’s rays is practically absorbed 
entirely by the upper meters of the lake. So 
much as 1 per cent. of the energy present at 
the surface is rarely found at a depth so great 
as 5 m., and usually the 1 per cent. point is 
reached between 3 m. and 4 m., or even higher. 
It is quite impossible that an appreciable diur- 
nal rise in temperature should be found in these 
lakes at the depth of 5 m., and practically the 
entire seasonal rise of temperature at 5 m. 
and below is due to mechanical agencies— 
chiefly, if not wholly, wind—rather than to 
insolation. It follows also that there is in 
general no relation between the depth to 
which the heating of the sun’s rays penetrates 
and the thickness of the epilimnion. 

An interesting and (to me) unexpected re- 
sult of these observations is the not uncommon 
absence of correlation between the transpar- 
ency of the water, as shown by Secchi’s disk, 
and the rate of absorption of energy. Stained 
water may be much more transparent, as meas- 
ured by the disk, than turbid water which is 
not stained, but in such cases the rate of ab- 
sorption of energy may be relatively, or abso- 
lutely, greater in the stained water. For in- 
stance, Marl lake, whose water is clear but 
turbid with marl, had on August 21, 1912, a 
transparency of 1.8 m. and a rate of absorp- 
tion of the sun’s energy below 1 m. of about 
55 per cent. per m. On August 17, 1912, Otter 
lake, a near neighbor, whose water is stained 
but not turbid, had a transparency of 5.2 m. 
and an absorption of about 54 per cent. Nu- 
merous observations have been made, which 
give similar results. It may be noted also that 
bottom growing plants were found abundant 
to substantially the same depth in these two 
types of lakes. 

This work is still in progress and when 
completed will be incorporated in a general 
report on the temperatures of Wisconsin 
lakes. 

I may add that for three years past the 
heat delivered by sun and sky at Madison has 
been recorded at the United States Weather 


704 


Bureau by a Callendar sunshine receiver and 
recorder. The temperature of Lake Mendota, 
on whose shore is situated the station of the 
Weather Bureau, is ascertained by daily series 
of observations, taken in the deepest part of 
the lake. In this way are determined not only 
the amount and rate of the gain and loss of 
heat by the lake, but also the relation between 
the heat absorbed by the lake and that fur- 
nished to its surface by the sun. 


E. A. Birce 
Manpison, N. J., 
October 3. 


QUOTATIONS 
SPECIAL TRAINING FOR HEALTH OFFICERS 


A Lone step forward in the special training 
of health officers has just been taken in the 
organization of the “school for health officers ” 
of Harvard University and the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. 

By cooperation, especially arranged between 
the two institutions, it now becomes possible 
for properly qualified persons on payment of 
an annual fee of $250 to obtain access to the 
remarkable resources of the Harvard Medical 
School and other departments of our oldest 
university, as well as to the chemical, biolog- 
ical, sanitary and engineering opportunities 
offered by a great modern technical school. 
How remarkable these opportunities offered 
are can only be appreciated by an examination 
of the announcement itself, copies of which 
may be obtained on application to the director, 
Professor M. J. Rosenau, of the Harvard 
Medical School. 

No single curriculum is laid down which 
all must follow, but from the many courses 
offered members of the school will be expected 
to choose such as their preparation warrants 
or their needs indicate. No degree of any 
kind is required for admission, and no degree 
will be awarded for the completion of the 
course but, instead, a certificate to be known 
as the certificate of public health (C.P.H.) will 
be given to all who complete satisfactory 
courses and requirements. In order to obtain 
the certificate in one year it will in general be 
required that the candidate shall be either a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985. 


graduate in medicine, or in biology and public: 
health, or be otherwise highly qualified. Fail- 
ing these special qualifications, two or more: 
years will ordinarily be necessary in order to: 
obtain the certificate. 

No one will be admitted to the school who: 
has not completed at least two years of ordi- 
nary college work including chemistry, physics,. 
biology and French and German, or who is. 
not otherwise specially qualified. 

Persons already engaged in public health 
work will be admitted under certain condi- 
tions to special courses, and every facility will 
be offered for obtaining equipment in public 
health administration and other aspects of the 
health officers’ profession. 

It is hardly necessary to say that the organi- 
zation of this high-grade school marks a dis- 
tinct epoch in the American public health 
service. It still remains, however, for the 
public, which is interested in the success of 
schools of this sort, to make sure that a rea- 
sonable tenure of office and proper salaries: 
shall await those who are ready to devote their 
lives to the new profession, and much popular: 
education along this line needs to be done. 

The actual conduct of the affairs of the 
school has been placed by Harvard University 
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
in the hands of an administrative board, com- 
posed of Professor W. T. Sedgwick, Se.D., of 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
chairman; Professor M. J. Rosenau, M.D., of 
the Harvard Medical School, director, and 
Professor George C. Whipple, S.B., member of 
the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
secretary.—Journal of the American Public: 
Health Association. 


PENSIONS AT BROWN UNIVERSITY 


AN announcement of the new pension rules: 
for members of the faculty of Brown Univer- 
sity was made yesterday at the annual meet- 
ing of the corporation. That is about the only 
one of the great institutions in this part of 
the country that is not eligible to the benefits: 
of the Carnegie Foundation, and while that 
might seem to place it at a disadvantage in 
general competition, its alumni and friends 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


have shown their willingness to overcome the 
handicap. The spirit of this university is as 
liberal as in any other, but some ancient 
special requirements have been interpreted as 
placing it outside the prescribed list of bene- 
ficiaries. An attempt has been made to revise 
the charter so as to put it into conformity with 
the conditions of the foundations, and while 
that might have been a properly expedient 
step to take, there may be a feeling of larger 
satisfaction in attaining the same results 
through its own efforts. After twenty-five 
years of service in some cases and fifteen in 
others, any one connected with the active work 
of the university is entitled, after the age of 
sixty-five, to a pension of four hundred dollars, 
plus fifty dollars for each hundred dollars of 
active pay. Retirement at seventy is manda- 
tory. This overcomes what otherwise might 
prove a disadvantage and puts the institution 
on both a strong and an independent basis.— 
Boston Hvening Transcript. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Allen’s Commercial Organic Analysis. Fourth 
edition, Volume VII. Philadelphia, P. 
Blackiston’s Son and Co. 1913. $5.00 net. 
Volume VII. of this comprehensive and 

useful work deals with vegetable alkaloids, 

glucosides and other “bitter” principles, ani- 
mal bases, putrefaction bases, animal acids, 
lactic acid and cyanogen and its derivatives. 

Like nearly all such extensive compilations 

representing the joint work of many authors 

there are to be noted considerable variations 
in the excellence and value of the different 
chapters. Hundreds of different compounds 
of animal and vegetable origin are described. 

Their formule when known are given to- 

gether with their medicinal value and chem- 

ical properties including characteristic tests 
used for their detection and estimation. 

It would be easy to pick flaws in a book of 
that kind, since much of the material repre- 
sents compilations of variable value from 
other books. The individual contributors 
have evidently been hampered more or less by 
the decision of the general editors to preserve 
the classifications of the older editions. Thus 


SCIENCE 


705 


the purines are discussed in Taylor’s excellent 
chapter on the animal bases, but uric acid, 
the most important of the purines, is not in- 
eluded. It is discussed in the chapter on 
animal acids. Urinary calculi and bile pig- 
ments, but not lactic acid, are included in the 
latter chapter. i 

To the commercial chemist who has to an- 
alyze many different substances and to con- 
tinually turn from subject to subject, in many 
instances to subjects with which he has had 
no experience, this volume of Allen’s “ Com- 
mercial Organic Analysis” will prove a val- 
uable source of information. 


Orto Fon 
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL 


House Sanitation. By Marton Tausot. Bos- 

ton, Whitcomb & Barrows. 1913. 

In view of the rapidly growing conviction 
that home-making is a science as well as an art, 
and the increasing purposefulness with which 
women are preparing themselves for-this func- 
tion, there is no more important need in public 
health than for authoritative manuals of home 
sanitation. It was one of the most substantial 
achievements of the late Mrs. Richards that 
she saw the need before it was generally recog- 
nized and met it by the preparation of a series 
of books which will always remain as inspiring 
models for workers in this field. Public health 
science has developed with such rapidity, how- 
ever, that every few years makes necessary a 
revision of the older viewpoints. The reviewer 
has of late frequently been puzzled when asked 
to recommend a good book on home sanitation. 
The Sanitary Science Club of the Associa- 
tion of Collegiate Alumnz, under the guidance 
of Mrs. Richards herself, published a book 
upon this subject twenty-five years ago. It 
has naturally become in many respects out of 
date; and the new work just published by one 
of Mrs. Richards’s most distinguished pupils 
has been so completely rewritten as to con- 
stitute an entirely new contribution, and one 
which shows that the mantle of the pioneer in 
scientific home-making has fallen on no un- 
worthy shoulders. 

It. is, indeed, refreshing, to one familiar with 


706 


the ordinary type of pseudo-sanitation con- 
tained in current literature for the housewife, 
to find that Dean Talbot in her first chapter 
quotes as a text Dr. H. W. Hill’s statement 
that “The old sanitation was concerned with 
the environment, the new is concerned with 
the individual, and finds the sources of infec- 
tious disease in man himself rather than in 
his surroundings.” The following principles 
of “the new sanitation” immediately follow 
as illustrations which “ show changes in sani- 
tary theory which have been abundantly and 
conclusively proved.” 

“ Night air is purer than day air, and should 
be admitted freely to the house. 

“Gases from marshes do not cause malaria. 

“The quality of the air in the breathing 
zone is more important than the general air 
of the room. 

“The quantity of carbon dioxide or ‘ car- 
bonie acid’ is not a measure of the unhealth- 
fulness of air. 

“ Ordinary variations in the normal gaseous 
constituents of air produce no apparent effects. 

“ High humidity, combined with high tem- 
perature, produces the discomfort ordinarily 
attributed to ‘bad air,’ and is unhealthful. 

“Ordinary buildings and rooms ventilate 
themselves to a considerable extent. A small 
house needs comparatively less provision for 
change of air than a large building. 

“ Air from properly constructed sewers is 
not harmful. 

“ Sunlight can not be depended on for dis- 
infection or as a substitute for cleanliness. 
Its value is physiological, psychical, and chiefly 
moral. 

“ Actual light rather than window area 
should be the measure of the efficiency of 
room-lighting. 

“Odors. are not harmful physically, but 
when unpleasant should be eliminated by 
cleansing methods rather than by ventilation. 
. “Disinfection as ordinarily practised, espe- 
cially by amateurs, is practically valueless.” 

‘These brief statements, which so well pre- 
sent some of the chief conclusions of recent 
public health science, almost constitute a 
syllabus of the book. They are elaborated in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vor. XXXVIII. No. 985 


eight chapters, dealing with the situation of 
the House and Care of the Cellar, Plumbing, 
Air and Ventilation, Heating, Lighting and 
Light, Furnishing, The Country House and 
Household Control of Infection, and each 
chapter is followed by some twenty direct prac- 
tical questions intended to focus the attention 
of the housewife on the immediate problems of 
her own dwelling which fall under the general 
subject discussed. The viewpoint is through- 
out thoroughly sound and up-to-date and this 
little book of 116 pages ought to do notable 
service in the cause of public health education. 
C.-E. A. WInsLow 


COOPERATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE 
MISSISSIPPIAN FORMATIONS 
Tue Mississippian formations of the Missis- 
sippi valley states will be studied in coopera- 
tion as a result of an important field confer- 
ence held during October in Missouri. The 
following states were represented: 


INPENEES Booapaucoooo0c Purdue. 

IDIOMS coceauoGoUde Sone DeWolf, 

IGNGLEME, Cooabasadaceoeo Barrett, Beede. 
IED ooo vag edaaouuaedon Kay. 

Missouri .............. Buehler, Hughes. 
OM sooscoconscccdnaes Prosser. 
Oklahoma .............. Ohern, Snider. 
Tennessee ............- Purdue. 


U.S. Geological Survey..W. H. Herron. 


These formations measure approximately 
2,000. feet, and they have been described at 
various times in the past without much regard 
for previous usage of stratigraphic units or 
names. Thus in a single state the same rocks 
are represented under three distinct names, 
even in comparatively recent literature. 

Since considerable work on the Mississippian 
formations is now being done, it is important 
that cooperation be established between the 
several states concerned, and the U. S. Geolog- 
ical Survey. A permanent committee in 
charge of this matter on behalf of the states 
includes H. A. Buehler, of Missouri, G. F. 
Kay, of Iowa, and A. H. Purdue, of Tennessee. 
The chief geologist of the U. S. Geological 
Survey will cooperate with this committee in 
order to give future work suitable oversight, 
and in order to prevent friction. 

The significance of this cooperative move- 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


ment will be apparent to all geologists and 
mining engineers, and it is to be hoped that 
similar cooperation on work relating to other 
state problems will be effective in the near 
future. F. W. DeWotr, 
Secretary 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ON THE ACOUSTIC EFFICIENCY OF A SOUNDING 
BOARD 


THE experiments described below appeared 
to yield such a variety of information, of so 
definite a character, that it seemed worth 
while to record them, in spite of their simplic- 
ity. 

The chapel of Adelbert College, built in 
1910, had proved unsatisfactory in its acoustic 
properties. The architect prescribed a sound- 
ing board, as likely to remedy the defect, and 
sent a sketch embodying his suggestion. It 
was thought worth while to make a prelimi- 
nary test before erecting a permanent sound- 
ing board, and the writer was asked to take 
charge of the matter. 

The chapel is a building of late English 
Gothie type. The nave is 104 feet long, with 
narrow and low side aisles, barely 6 feet wide, 
including the massive piers. The width of 
the nave, not including the aisles, is 30 feet. 
The chancel is 34 feet long and 30 feet wide, 
without aisles. The chancel floor is raised 
about 16 inches above that of the nave. Thus 
the general shape of the building is a long and 
narrow rectangle, 140 feet by 30, with no im- 
portant recesses or irregularities. The ceiling 
is arched, about 48 feet high to the top of the 
arch. Its curvature is such that any focal line 
which might be formed by reflection would be 
not near the floor, but high up in the audi- 
torium. 

Experiments gave little evidence of local 
echo or interference. The acoustic difficulties 
arise chiefly from general reverberation. The 
problem was then to determine by direct com- 
parison the value of a sounding board as a 
corrective of general reverberation. 

It is evident that the experiments must be 
of such a kind as would appeal not merely to a 
physicist, but to any intelligent person. 


SCIENCE 


707 


This means that they must be comparable 
with the ordinary use of the chapel, and must 
involve the hearing of ordinary speech. Yet 
it was of course desirable that they should 
have some quantitative character, and that the 
individual and personal characteristics of the 
hearers should be so far as possible eliminated 
or averaged. 

Several members of the college faculty and 
two or three advanced students gave their cor- 
dial assistance. To their patience and careful- 
ness is due whatever of value these experi- 
ments may have. 

Three speakers took part, differing greatly 
in characteristics and in quality of voice, but 
all accustomed to public speaking. 

It is a commonplace that ordinary speech is 
understood largely by context and association 
throughout a whole sentence rather than by 
actual hearing of the individual words. To 
eliminate this factor, lists of unconnected 
words were read from a spelling book, at a 
rate and with intonation similar to that used 
in a connected passage. One who has not tried 
this can hardly realize how much we rely on 
association in listening to an address. In 
order that this association-factor might not 
be left entirely out of account, a passage from 
some oration (always the same oration in any 
one set of experiments) was read in addition 
to the spelling-book list. 

Three rows of seats on the floor, and the 
front row of the gallery at the back of the 
house, were selected as representative of the 
whole auditorium. The seats on the floor 
were the seventh, fourteenth and twenty-first 
from the front, and were called in the tests 
G, N and U, respectively. The position of the 
listener in any one row of seats, whether in 
the middle or on either side of the chapel made 
no apparent difference in the ease of hearing. 
The speaker was equally well heard from any 
part of the row, whether he stood in the pul- 
pit, or in the middle of the front edge of the 
chancel floor. These facts were established 
by experiment before the sounding board was 
put in place. 

The sounding board, made after the design 
of the architect, was of the horizontal type 


708 


now generally considered most effective. The 
horizontal board was hexagonal, six feet in 
diameter (radius of the inscribed circle), sur- 
rounded by a vertical rim which extended six 
inches below the plane of the board. It was 
supported at a height of a little more than two 
feet above the head of the speaker. 

After a considerable number of preliminary 
trials, all of the same general character, a 
final comparative test was conducted as fol- 
lows: 

Hight hearers assisted, distributed through 
seats G, N, U, and the gallery. The speaker 
stood in his appointed place, and read a list of 
disconnected words from a spelling book, while 
each hearer noted down the number of words 
not understood. The speaker then read a 
short passage, of a known number of words, 
from the chosen oration, the hearers noting, as 
before, the words missed. The hearers then 
changed places, those in G going to N, those 
in N to U, ete., and again a list of words was 
read from the spelling book, and a passage from 
the oration. This was continued until each of 
the eight hearers had sat in each of the as- 
signed seats. The number of words under- 
stood by a hearer in a given seat in any one 
trial was expressed as a percentage of the 
whole number read during that trial. The 
average of the percentage numbers for all the 
eight hearers was taken as the acoustic effi- 
ciency of the seat. : 

Two such sets of experiments were made, 
the speaker standing, in experiment I., at 
the front edge of the chancel floor, in the 
middle; in experiment II., in the pulpit, under 
the sounding board. 


G N U0 Gallery 


Unconnected words: 
I. On chancel floor..| 96 89 80 66 
II. In pulpit............ 98 91 82 62 

Connected discourse : 
I, On chancel floor..| 99+] 98+] 95 80 
Il. In pulpit............ 100 99 96 80 


The two sets of experiments should be 
strictly comparable, as they were made in the 
same afternoon, and involved the same speak- 
ers and the same hearers in the same places. 
The results follow. The figures represent in 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


each case the average percentage of words 
understood by the eight hearers. 

These results seem to show that the bene- 
ficial effect of a sounding board in this place 
is very small or inappreciable. This is per- 
haps no more than was to be expected, for it is 
difficult to give any reason why a sounding 
board should greatly diminish the reverbera- 
tion in an auditorium. 

The experiments described afforded a con- 
siderable amount of other information, with 
regard to the most advantageous pitch of the 
speaker’s voice, the rate of speaking, and 
other phases of the subject, but as such results 
would apply only to the auditorium studied 
and would have no general value, they have 
not been discussed. 

Frank P, WHITMAN 

WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, 

October 25, 1913 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
ROCHESTER MEETING 


III 

DIVISION OF PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY 
B. L. Murray, Chairman 
F. R. Elred, Secretary 


B. L. Murray: Chairman’s Address. 

Affecting Pharmaceutical Chemistry. 
A. W. BrenpeR: The Determination of Mercuric 

Iodide in Tablets. 

Several methods and modifications of methods 
were tried on the tablets with very unsatisfactory 
results. The difficulty experienced was due in a 
large measure to the other ingredients in the 
tablets, namely, terra alba, potato starch, tale and 
gelatine. The method which was finally found to 
give satisfactory results is a modification of the 
sulphide method. 

The method consists in dissolving the mercuric 
iodide by the use of HCl and KCIO,, filtering, 
making the filtrate alkaline with ammonia, and 
precipitating with H,S. 

The method was also found to be useful for the 
assay of mercuric iodide and oleate of mercury. 


J. B. Witt1ams: The Insecticidal Value of Fluid 

Extract of Larkspur Seed. 

Fluid extracts of larkspur seed on the market at 
the present time show great variation in physical, 
chemical and insecticidal properties. 

Fluid extracts obtained by extracting the seed 


Legislation 


NOVEMBER 14, 1913] 


with various menstrua, assaying for fixed content 
and alkaloidal strength and testing insecticidal 
value on bed-bugs indicate that this preparation 
owes its insecticidal value more to the fixed oil 
content than to its alkaloidal strength. 


H. V. Agny and H. H. ScHarrer: The Ferric 
Alum Estimation of Casein. 

‘CHARLES BASKERVILLE: Some Physico-chemical 
Considerations in Reference to Inhalation Anes- 
thetics. 

¥. O. Taytor: Amyl Nitrite, Its Preparation, 
Purity and Tests. 

Louis Hocrere: The Chemico-legal Interpretation 
of United States Pharmacopexa. 

Deals with the interpretation of the National 
Pure-food Law, wherever it is based on the United 
States Pbharmacopeia, especially with the inter- 
pretation of the term ‘‘drug’’ as defined by the 
Jaw, and as understood by the U. S. P. Also the 
interpretation of ‘‘adulteration’’ as defined by the 
law. The paper also considers the tests laid down 
by U. 8S. P., and their interpretation according to 
law. Taken as a whole the paper is a brief of 
sec. 6 and sec. 7 of the pure-food law, as con- 
strued by the writer, alike a member of the legal 
profession and the profession of chemistry. 


Gaston DuBois: The Chemistry and Properties 
of Glycerophosphates. 

A. R. L. DoHME and H. ENGELHARDT: Purity of 
Chemicals and Quality of Vegetable Drugs during 
1912. 

H. ENcELHarpt and O. HE. Winters: Spirit of 
Nitrous Ether. 

‘Gro. O. Brat and Epw. A. GLENZ: The Composi- 
tion of the Fruit of the Virginia Creeper, 
Ampelopsis quinquifolia. 


‘DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTS AND CHEMICAL 
ENGINEERS 
G. D. Rosengarten, Chairman 
Geo. P. Adamson, Vice-chairman Presiding 
8. H. Salisbury, Jr., Secretary 
Norman A, DuBois: The Protection of Iron and 

Steel by Paint Films. 

The theories of corrosion of iron and steel are 
noted and briefly considered from the standpoint 
of the paint technologist. 

Experiments are described to illustrate the 
greater protecting qualities of paint films ren- 
dered less permeable to the corrosion accelerating 
gases of the atmosphere. Photographs are shown 
of exposure tests illustrating the relative increased 
protection of films containing diffusion retarders. 


SCIENCE 


709 


Percy H. Watker and 8. S. VoorHnes: Some 
Tests of Paints for Steel Subjected to Alternate 
Exposure to Air and Fresh Water. 

Fifteen paints were included in this series of 
tests. The tests being designed to compare pig- 
ments, the same oil and drier were used through- 
out. The paints were made up to a definite vis- 
cosity and applied to cleaned steel at definite 
spreading rates. After thorough drying the plates 
were placed in tanks which were filled with water 
each afternoon and emptied each morning. Tests 
were all in triplicate and all represented one, two 
and three coat work. Details of method of prep- 
aration of paints and plates, of painting, exposing 
and of inspection are given. 

CHarLtes H. Herty and C. W. WiLiiarD: The 
Effect of Resene on Soap Solutions. 

CHARLES H. Herty and J. O. GRAHAM: Isoprene 
from Commercial Turpentine. 

Harry McCormack: The Milling of Wheat and 
Testing of Flour. 

Harry McCorMack: A New Design of Coke Oven 
and a New Method of Coking. 

H. C. ALLEN: The Electrolytic Reduction of Iron 
for Permanganate Titration. 

J. C. Hosterrer: A Method for the Determination 
of Magnesium in Calcium Salts. 

The essential part of this method is the concen- 
trating of the Mg into a precipitate which contains 
but a small amount of Ca; after this, the ordinary 
methods of separation may be employed. This 
concentrating is effected by precipitating the Mg 
as Mg(OH), with excess of solid Ca(OH). The 
neutral chloride solution of the Ca salt (10 g. to 
100 per cent.) is treated with the CaO made by 
igniting 0.5 gram CaCO;; the solution is heated to 
boiling and then filtered. The precipitate is dis- 
solved in HCl; the Ca, ete., removed by a double 
precipitation with NH,OH and (NH,).C.0,; and 
the Mg determined in the filtrate by precipitating 
ag ammonium magnesium phosphate. Determina- 
tions of Mg in some 30 highest grade Ca salts are 
given. 

E. S. Merriam: Methods for the Examination of 
Natural Gas for the Production of Gasoline. 
The natural gas used for the production of 

gasoline is a mixture of the first 5 or 6 hydro- 

carbons of the paraffine series. The exact analysis 
of such a mixture seems possible only by fractional 
distillation at very low temperatures. 

By determining the solubility of the gas in 
kerosene empirical relations between solubility and 
actual yield can be established. 

By use of a weighed absorption vessel filled with 


710 


olive oil, the mean molecular weight of part of the 
condensible hydrocarbons can be calculated. 

Chemical methods are not wholly satisfactory. A 
small laboratory compressor holding 4 liters of 
gas and capable of withstanding pressures up to 
500 lbs. is described. By its use the yield of 
liquid gasoline obtainable from any gas under any 
working conditions of temperature and pressure 
can be determined quite accurately. 

GrorcE A. BURRELL and FRANK M. SEIBertT: The 
Condensation of Gasoline from Natural Gas. 
Sipngey D. Weis: Some Experiments on the 

Conversion of Long-leaf Pine to Paper Pulp by 

the Soda and Sulphate Processes. 

One hundred and fifty small autoclave cooks were 
made to study the influence of various factors in 
the cooking operation of the sulphate process. It 
was found that the more caustie soda or sodium 
sulphide, in use, the greater the concentration, the 
higher the temperature and the longer the time of 
cooking, the lower the yields of pulp and the lighter 
and easier to bleach. Caustic soda had twice the 
reducing power possessed by sodium sulphid. 

Nineteen larger semicommercial cooks were made 
and with a yield of pulp of 49 per cent. of the 
dry weight of the wood a kraft paper was made 
stronger and tougher than the usual imported 
kraft papers. Paper could be made from soda 
pulps of the same wood as strong but not as tough 
and the yields of pulp were much less. 

Cuas. P. Fox: Syrian Autoburning Limestone. 

Examination of a sample of Syrian self-burning 
limestone, obtained from U. S. Consul Whiting at 
Jerusalem, Palestine, and described by him in 
Daily Consular Report of July 21, 1911. 

This rock belongs to the fossiliferous bituminous 
limestone formation of the Hauran district in the 
upper Jordan Valley. 

In this section lime burning, on account of the 
quantity of raw material, quality of product and 
low cost of production, is an important industry. 

Analysis of sample shows calcium carbonate, 
phosphorie acid, nitrogen, sulphur and organic 
matter, a portion of which is of asphaltie nature. 

The original limestone has a fuel value equal 
to one fourth that of good coal. When properly 
prepared it forms a compounding material suitable 
for use in the production of black rubber goods. 

The presence of notable quantities of plant food 
associated with the physical characters of the rock 
classifies it as an important soil maker, a fact 
proven by the rich grain fields of Syria. 

Cuas. F. Fox: An Improved Laboratory Burner. 

A description, illustrated by photograph, of a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 985 


useful attachment (combined wind shield and 
crucible support) for laboratory burners. 


J. CULVER HartzeLL: The Correlation of Chemical, 

Structural and Thermal Analyses of Steels. 

In this paper the author presents the subject 
from the viewpoints of pure and applied science. 
In a recent trip which occupied several weeks, the 
author made a study of testing laboratories and 
heat-treatment plants and was impressed with the 
necessity of a better correlation of laboratory re- 
sults with works results. Refinement of laboratory 
technie must be maintained; but there is need of 
better recognition of the limits of refinement in 
the hardening-room and high-speed-steel furnaces. 
While the latter should be brought up to and 
maintained at their highest efficiency, the refine- 
ment of the laboratory should not be expected; 
but the instructions sent down from the laboratory 
should contain reasonable working limits compati- 
ble with the best practical results obtainable. 


E. LEHMAN JoHNSON: If the Chemists Manufac- 
tured Cotton-seed Meal. 

If chemists, familiar with the need of balancing 
rations, had the exclusive manufacture of cotton- 
seed meal, instead of turning out a product al- 
together too rich, too concentrated, for ordinary 
feeding of any kind, as the southern cotton-oil 
mills are doing, they would make it in more sen- 
sible, more scientific fashion, more nearly like the 
cereals, corn and oats. 

To insist, as some states already do and the 
national government is trying to do, upon compel- 
ling a high protein or nitrogen content of cotton- 
seed meal (higher than linseed meal, for instance) 
is an arbitrary abuse of power, good for neither 
producer, manufacturer or consumer. All three of 
these classes should look to the chemist for guid- 
ance in this matter, not to old habit or prejudice. 


IrvING C. ALLEN: The American Petrolewm Society. 
Irvine C. ALLEN: Flash Testing. 


Horace C. Porter and O. C. Ratston: A Study 
of the Oxidation of Coal and of the Process of 
Combustion. 

The rate of oxidation was studied for different 
kinds of coal at temperatures from 40° to 200° C. 
Large differences in rate were found which are in 
general parallel to the differences in inflammability 
and ease of ignition. The rapid increase of rate 
with rising temperature was shown. A study was 
made also of the products of oxidation, and evi- 
dence obtained which strongly supports the theory 
of the preliminary formation, in the early stage 
of combustion, of an addition complex of coal 


NovEMBER 14, 1913] 


with oxygen. This complex is unstable and decom- 
poses by rise of temperature so as to form water, 
CO, and CO. Below 200° C. water is the principal 
product of the oxidation of coal. Carbon dioxide 
and carbon monoxide are formed in increasing 
amounts at 110° C. and above, by decomposition of 
the intermediate complex. 

The bearing of the results on deterioration and 
spontaneous combustion, inflammability of coal 
dust, methods of analysis of coal, and problems of 
mine ventilation and mine fires is brought out. 


DIVISION OF PHYSICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
8. L. Bigelow, Chairman 
R. C. Wells, Secretary 

R. OC. WELLS: Observations on the Electrochemical 

Behavior of Minerals. 

It has been found that pyrite, which is a com- 
mon constituent of most ore deposits, is capable of 
functioning to some extent as an unattackable 
electrode, so that chemical differences between solu- 
tions in ore deposits may be equalized through 
electrical action over appreciable distances as well 
as by direct mingling of the solutions. Such action 
would, however, require some sort of a liquid circuit 
in addition to the conducting mineral. A solution 
of sodium sulphide in contact with pyrite consti- 
tutes an anode combination of sufficient power to 
precipitate gold, silver, mercury and copper from 
their soluble salts upon a cathode of pyrite in an 
arrangement like a ‘‘chemometer.’’ In fact, 
pyrrhotite and chaleocite in water alone suffice as 
anodes for the same purpose. The action of the 
more attackable minerals is due principally to their 
own solution-products so that the additional effects 
possible with unattackable electrodes are less 
marked. 


EUGENE C. BincHAM: Fluidity and van der Waats’s 

Equation. : 

Batschinski3 has proved that the fluidity ¢ of an 
unassociated liquid is a linear function of its 
volume (v) only, up to the critical temperature, 
i. €., V=w-+ cd, where w is a constant which is 
the sum of the atomie constants, and c is a con- 
stant which may he calculated. Substituting this 
value into the equation of van der Waals we obtain 
a relation between the fluidity of a liquid and the 
temperature and pressure 


__a/Re at ab 
$+ule' R(w+cp)? 
and all of these constants may be obtained without 


3 Ann. Soc. d’encourag. sciences exper., Supple- 
ment, 3, 1913. 


1 
TT 6+ (o—S) 


SCIENCE 


711 


further viscosity measurements. Hence it is theo- 
retically possible to calculate the fluidity of any 
non-associated liquid as soon as its expansion 
coefficients are sufficiently well known. 

It can be shown that the above formula works 
out admirably in practise. Since in ordinary viscos- 
ity measurements, the pressure is constant and the 
last term of the equation may be neglected, we have 


B 
where A, B, C and D are constants. An equation 
of this form will reproduce the observed fluidities 
of the &5 substances measured by Thorpe and 
Rodger with a mean deviation for no substance 
equal to 0.1 per cent. In fact for most substances 
D may be made equal to zero, and satisfactory 
results obtained with the simple formula 
T=A¢+ C—B/¢. 

The measurements of Phillips confirm the view 
that the ¢, p, T eurves are similar to the familiar 
v, p, T curves up to the critical temperature. 
Beyond the critical temperature ¢ does not increase 
as the pressure is lowered, as is true of the volume. 
This leads to interesting and hitherto unnoticed 
relations between ‘‘collisional’’ and ‘‘ diffusional’? 
viscosity. 

E. C. McKetvy and F. A. WERTZ: The Solubility 
of Water in Hydrocarbons. 

The critical solution temperature in certain 
systems of two liquids varies greatly with small 
additions of moisture. Solubility curves were 
determined for the systems methyl alcohol-turpen- 
tine, methyl aleohol-ligroin and ethyl aleohol- 
kerosene, with the dry hydrocarbons. The curves 
showing the variation of the maximum with small 
additions of water were then plotted. The hydro- 
carbons being saturated with water at any given 
temperature, the critical solution temperature found 
gives from these curves the amount of water dis- 
solved in the oil. Caleium chloride was found to 
be most effective in drying the oils without other- 
wise changing their composition. 

L. M. Dennis and B. J. Lemon: Electrolysis of 

Solutions of the Rare Earths. (Uantern.) 
Witper D. Bancrort: Action of Light on Copper 

Sulphate Solution. 

WILDER D. BaNncrort: Catalysis of Acetic Acid. 
E.-C. McKetvy: The Critical Solution Tempera- 
ture and Its Use in the Estimation of Moisture. 

The variation of the critical solution temperature 
of two liquids on the addition of a third com- 


4 Zeitschr. f. phys. chem., 66, 238 (1909). 
5 Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 87A, 56 (1912). 


712 


ponent has had very little application in analytical 
chemistry. The solubility curve of the system 
ethyl aleohol-kerosene has been determined and the 
curve, showing the variation of the maximum with 
small additions of water, plotted. The change for 
1 per cent. is 17.05°, but the variation is not quite 
linear. With careful manipulation the critical 
solution temperature can be determined repeatedly 
to 0.01° and so may be used to indicate a change 
of less than 0.001 per cent. in the water content of 
the alcohol. If the moisture in the substance to 
be examined can be transferred to anhydrous ethyl 
aleohol by some suitable means, a very delicate 
quantitative method is at hand. Since ethyl alco- 
hol forms a mixture of minimum boiling point 
containing about 5.5 per cent. water, all alcohols, 
containing less than this amount of water, will 
tend to distil off between 78.0° and 78.3°. Dis- 
tillation of the moist substance with anhydrous 
aleohol would be effective for the transfer of the 
moisture. Standing with the aleohol at room or 
higher temperatures might answer with certain 
substances. The method has been used in moisture 
determination in coal, wool, cotton, starch, sugar 
and offers possibilities in the examination of food 
products, soap, gelatin, shellac, oils, various tex- 
tiles, ete. 


GrorcE A, PERLEY and G. F, Lane: The Analysis 
of Basic Lead Sulphates. 

Epecar T. WHERRY: Variations in the Compositions 
of Minerals. 

The old definition of a mineral species as a defi- 
nite chemical compound is, in the light of recent 
work, no longer tenable. Instead it should be: a 
natural substance whose chemical and physical 
properties are constant within certain limits which 
vary considerably from one case to another. Col- 
loid minerals may vary by reason of adsorption; 
meta-colloids (colloids which have become crystal- 
loidal) and crystalline ones by isomorphous re- 
placement, solid solution and sub-microscopic inter- 
growth. The group of ferric phosphate minerals is 
discussed as an illustration. 

Payson BartLettT: The Increase in the Oxidizing 
Potential of Dichromate Ion on Platinum Caused 
by Certain Reducing Agents. An Improved 
Method for the LElectrometric Titration of 
Ferrous Salts. 

Certain reducing agents increase the oxidizing 
potential of the dichromate ion on platinum by 
amounts up to two tenths of a volt. No other 
oxidizing agent was found which would give a 
similar effect. 

The potential continues to increase up to the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


very endpoint of the reaction and is highest when 
the dichromate concentration is least. A final 
drop of 0.1 normal reducing agent often depresses 
the potential by half a volt. 

The duration of the effect varies with the re- 
ducing agent used from a few seconds to many 
hours. Chlorides are fatal to the permanency owing 
apparently to a side reaction. 

The phenomenon may be plausibly explained by 
assumptions of catalytic action. 

An improved apparatus and method for titrating 
dichromate and ferrous salts, based on the phe- 
nomenon, is suggested. 

When the endpoint of this reaction is determined 
with a ferricyanide indicator, 0.0003 gram excess 
of ferrous iron in each hundred cubic centimeters 
of solution is present when the blue color barely 
develops within thirty seconds. 


W. 8S. Hupparp: Equilibrium between Pyridine, 

Silver Nitrate and Water. 

While working on a silver-plating bath where 
pyridine was used instead of cyanide, it was noticed 
that under certain conditions of concentration and 
temperature long silky, needle-shaped crystals 
separated out. Breweré found that there were 
three well-defined compounds formed with pure 
pryidine and silver nitrate, but their description 
in no way resembles the one found in this case. 

With 3 ¢¢. pyridine, 5 gm. silver nitrate and 
made up to 100 ¢.c. with water, the crystals form 
at 19.70° C. Using 4 cc. of pyridine, they form 
at 25.35°, with 5 ¢.c. they separate at 27.35° and 
with 6 ¢.c. pyridine at 27.75°. 

The exact composition has not been determined, 
but the method will be to determine the total nitro- 
gen and nitrate nitrogen and then determine the 
silver electrolytically. The water can then be deter- 
mined by difference or by drying in a desiccator 
since it thus loses its water of erystallization and 
becomes a fine powder. However, some of the 
pyridine might thus be lost. 


PHILIP ADOLPH KOBER: 

Copper. 

Two new precipitants for copper are proposed 
which form very insoluble compounds of copper 
(less than .6 part in one million remain unpre- 
cipitated). These are amino acids, phenylglycin 
and normal amino ecaproic acid which may be 
useful in estimating Fehling’s and other solutions 
for unreduced copper and in removing copper 
quantitatively from substances which interfere 
with its idiometric titration. 


6 J. Phys. Chem., 12, 283. 


New Precipitants for 


NovEMBER 14, 1913] 


E. W. WASHBURN and S. J. Bates: The Electro- 
chemical Equivalent of Iodine and the Value of 
the Faraday. 

H. C. P. WeEBER: The Reduction of Chromium 
Chloride. 

T. W. B. WELSH and H. J. BropERson: Anhy- 
drous Hydrazine as a Solvent. (Presented by 
A. W. BROWNE.) 

The solubility of 120 elements and compounds 
in anhydrous hydrazine was studied. Of the me- 
tallic elements employed, the alkali metals are 
the only ones appreciably acted upon and dis- 
solved. The solubility of the halogen compounds 
increases with increase in the atomic weight of the 
halogen. The chlorides of the alkali metals are the 
least soluble. Carbonates and oxides are, as a 
tule, insoluble. Nitrates are generally soluble. 
Sulphates and sulphides are insoluble. Ammonium 
compounds are soluble with the exception of the 
tertiary phosphate. The solution of ammonium 
salts is accompanied by hydrazinolysis with evolu- 
tion of ammonia. A large number of compounds 
dissolve, and at the same time react with the sol- 
vent. 


T. W. B. WELSH and H. J. BropERsoN: Chemical 
Reactions in Anhydrous Hydrazine. (Presented 
by A. W. BROWNE.) 

Metathetical reactions take place between sol- 
uble salts of zinc, or cadmium, and hydrazine sul- 
phide, with formation of the metallic sulphides. 
In fact, solutions of these salts in anhydrous hy- 
drazine may be titrated with solutions of hydra- 
zine sulphide, using the brownish-yellow color of 
the latter as indicator. By the action of the 
hydrazo-base, sodium hydrazide, upon zine chloride 
in hydrazine solution, a solid which is in all prob- 
ability zine hydrazide, is precipitated. Hydrazo- 
bases are neutralized in hydrazine solution by 
hydrazine salts, which under these conditions act 
as acids. For example, sodium hydrazide reacts 
with hydrazine chloride, yielding sodium chloride 
and hydrazine. Metallic sodium will precipitate 
metallic cadmium, zine and iron, from solutions of 
their salts. 


T. W. B. WELSH: Electrolysis of Solutions of 
Sodium Hydrazide in Anhydrous Hydrazine. 
(Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

Solutions of sodium hydrazide (prepared by the 
action of either sodium amide or metallic sodium 
upon hydrazine) in anhydrous hydrazine have 
been electrolyzed, in absence of air and moisture, 
under such conditions as to permit measurement 


SCIENCE 


713 


and analysis of the gases evolved at the electrodes. 
In general nitrogen and hydrogen were obtained 
at both electrodes. For each gram atom of copper 
deposited on the coulometer cathode, from 1.1 to 
1.5 gram atoms of nitrogen were liberated at the 
anode when the electrolyte was dilute, and from 
2.1 to 2.6 when the concentration was higher. A 
blue color due to metallic sodium was in some ex- 
periments transitorily observed at the cathode. A 
characteristic yellow coloration was (reversibly) 
obtained in the neighborhood of the cathode. 


A. R. Hircu: Electrolysis of Silver Trinitride in 
Liquid Ammonia. 

A. R. HitcH: Thermal Decomposition of Various 
Trinitrides. 

HAROLD HEATON RiecceR: The System Hydrazine 
Trinitride, Hydrazine. (Presented by A. W. 
BROWNE. ) 

It has been found possible to prepare hydrazine 
trinitride (first prepared by Curtius) by each of 
three methods: (a) Interaction of anhydrous hy- 
drazine and ammonium trinitride, (b) interaction 
of anhydrous hydrazine and anhydrous hydrogen 
trinitride, and (c) interaction of alcoholic hydra- 
zine and ethereal hydronitrie acid. A eonvenient 
method for the analysis of the compound has been 
formulated, and certain of its properties and re- 
actions have been studied, including the behavior 
of the substance when heated in a sealed tube to 
100°. The substance is very soluble in anhydrous 
hydrazine, and soon deliquesces when exposed to 
hydrazine vapor. A study of the solubility 
(2, X) eurve for the system hydrazine trinitride; 
hydrazine yielded results that point toward the 
existence of a monohydrazinate of the formula 
NHN, -N,H,, and to the probable existence of 
at least one higher hydrazinate. 

W. J. MarsH: Action of Various Osxidizing 
Agents upon Hydrazine in Liquid Ammonia 
Solution. 

The behavior of free hydrazine in liquid am- 
monia at —33° toward potassium permanganate, 
manganese dioxide, mercuric oxide (yellow), am- 
monium persulphate, sodium peroxide, ferric ox- 
ide, potassium chlorate, potassium iodate and am- 
monium perchlorate, respectively, has been studied 
with the aid of a modified nitrometer. All but the 
last three of these substances oxidize the hydra- 
zine more or less rapidly, with formation of nitro- 
gen and water as the oxidation products. Po- 
tassium permanganate is quantitatively reduced 
to manganous hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. 
In several cases the gas was evolved in two distinct 


714 


stages, the second stage occurring at a tempera- 

ture somewhat above — 33°. This may be attrib- 

utable to the decomposition in successive stages of 

the oxidizing agent used, or possibly to the for- 

mation and subsequent decomposition of certain 

complex hydronitrogens as unstable intermediate 

products. 

Fritz FRIEDRICHS: Critical Phenomena in Binary 
Systems. (Presented by A. W. BRowNE.) 

Fritz FriepricHs, A. E. HouLEHAN and L. J. 
UuricH: The System Ammonium Sulphate, Am- 
monia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

Fritz FriepRicHs: The System Mercurie Chloride, 
Ammonia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

L. J. Utrico: The System Ammonium Iodide, 
Ammonia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

G. J. Fink: The System Ammonium Chloride, 
Ammonia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

G. J. Fring: The System Copper Sulphate, Am- 
monia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

A. 8S. Yount: The System Silver Trinitride, Am- 
monia. (Presented by A. W. BROWNE.) 

J. W. TURRENTINE: The Structure of the Trinitride 
Radicle. 


SYMPOSIUM ON PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMISTRY 


This symposium was held at Kodak Park. 
Papers were presented as follows: 

Gro. A. PERLEY: The Production of Direct Photo- 
graphic Positions. 
P. G. Nurrine: Practical Sensitometry. 

Photography sensitometry is the determination 
of the relation between blackening and exposure. 
Blackening is measured as density D——log 
transmission. Exposure is properly in ergs per 
sq. em. of a specific wave-length but in meter- 
candle-seconds involving properties of the eye. 
The Hurter and Driffield curve, density against 
log exposure gives the two chief characteristics— 
speed and contrast sensibility. Plates are fast or 
slow, hard or soft working according to the shape 
of this curve. 

Works tests are made by printing through a 
tablet of gray and colored squares of graduated 
density. Laboratory tests are made by exposure 
to a standard white light behind a rotating sec- 
tored disk giving exposures of 1, 2, 4,8... 
256, M-C-S. Densities are measured on a special 
photometer. High precision sensitometry requires 
many refinements of coating, exposure, develop- 
ment, ete. 

S. E. SHEPPARD: Some Applications of Quantita- 
tive Absorption Spectroscopy in Chemistry. 

Making use of the relations: 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 985 


(i) I~=T,acd (Beer-Lambert law), where I ,=in- 
tensity of monochromatic light wave- 
length \ transmitted by an absorbing layer 
of thickness d cm., and of concentration ¢ 
in grammes per liter, J, = intensity of light 
incident on same, a—a constant, the trans- 
mission-coefficient. 

(ii) M=C/a (Vierodt’s equation), where M= 

molecular absorption ratio, 
C=concentration in gram-molecules 
liter, 
a= transmission-coefficient of (i). 

Then the absorption of light can be determined 
quantitatively in regard to both color (wave-length 
of light waves) and concentration of reacting 
molecules. The principal applications considered 
were as under: 

(a) Analytical determination of amounts of dye- 
stuffs and colored salts in solutions. 

(b) Technical: adjustment of ray-filters. 

(c) Theoretical: application to problems of mo- 
lecular constitution, of ‘‘solutions’’ and of 
photo-chemical change. 

L. A. Jones: Some Notes on the Cylindrical 

Acetylene Flame as a Standard of Light. 

A good reliable standard light source is a ne- 
cessity in photographic sensitometry. The old- 
style acetylene flame is not very satisfactory for 
this purpose, on account of its sensitiveness to air 
currents and the liability to parallax errors. A 
newer type of standard acetylene burner designed 
by Dr. Mees and Dr. Sheppard gives a cylindrical 
flame much more steady and reliable than the flat 
flame. 

Careful photometric measurements made on this 
improved burner show that when properly adjusted 
the intensity of light is constant even when the 
gas pressure varies considerably. The results indi- 
cate also that with proper care in construction, 
especially in the width of slit used as screening dia- 
phragm, different burners can be made that will 
give the same light intensities to within 3 or 4 
per cent. 

The investigation is not complete as yet, but un- 
less unexpected difficulties arise, this form of 
burner will undoubtedly be found very satisfactory 
as a standard light source for sensitometric work. 
Or1M TUGMAN: The Sensitiveness Curves of Photo- 

graphic Plates Exposed to X-Rays. 

According to the equation given by Hurter and 
Driffield for the relation between the exposure and 
the development density in photographie plates the 
density of a plate exposed to X-rays should be 
directly proportional to exposure because the ca- 


per 


NovEMBER 14, 1913] 


pacity of the film to X-rays is negligibly small. 
A series of exposures of three kinds of plates 

(Seed 23, 30 and X-ray) to light and X-rays have 

been made to determine this point. In all the 

fifteen exposures to X-rays the curves showing den- 
sity against log exposure were practically similar 
to the curves obtained by light exposure. The 
equation 

D=vy (log H —log t) 

was found to fit the straight part of the curves as 

well as for light curves. 

A. 8. McDanteL: The Theory of the Acid Fiaing 
Bath. 

The amount and nature of free acid which can 
be added to a thiosulphate fixing bath is shown to 
be dependent upon the equilibrium conditions of 
either or both of the following reversible reactions, 
one of which takes place between ionized, the 
other between undissociated molecules: 

(1) 8/0, +H. HSO’ +8, 

(2) Na,S,0, + 2HX <= 2NaX + N|SO, + S. 
According to equation (1) the absolute concen- 

tration of the hydrogen ions can be increased only 
by increasing the concentration of the HSO,; ions 
at the same rate. Similarly, according to equa- 
tion (2) the absolute concentration of acid can be 
increased only by keeping the ratio of the con- 
centration of H,SO, to HX above a certain definite 
limit, depending upon the solubility of sulphur. 

In practise these conditions are fulfilled by add- 
ing sulphurous acid or a mixture acid or a mixture 
of sulphite and acid to the bath. 

Witper D. BANcRorT: The Latent Image. 

Wiuper D, BAancrorr: Theory of Developer. 

G. B. FRANKFoRTER and W. KritcHEvsKy: The 
Action of Chloral and Bromal on the Polycyclic 
Hydrocarbons in the Presence of Aluminium 
Chloride. 

G. B. FRANKFoRTER and E. B. DANIELS: The Ac- 
tion of Aluminium Chloride on Aliphatic Ethers. 

DIVISION OF FERTILIZER CHEMISTRY 
Paul Rudnick, Chairman 
J. EH. Breckenbridge, Secretary 

PauLt RupNIcK: Chairman’s Address. 
Chemistry. A Report of Progress. 

L. A. Warr and W. T. LatsHaw: On the Use of 
Alundum Crucibles in the Determination of 


Fertilizer 


Phosphoric Acid. 

H. W. Hi and W. S. Lanpis: The Analysis of 
Complete Fertilizers Containing Cyanamid. 

PavuL RUDNICK and W. L. LatsHaw: On the Prep- 
aration of Neutral Ammonium Citrate Solution. 


SCIENCE 


715 


SECTION OF INDIA RUBBER CHEMISTRY 
D. A. Cutler, Chatrman 
Dorris Whipple, Secretary 
D. A. CuTLER: Chairman’s Address. 
ber. 
G. H. Savage: Some Refinements of the Ignition 
Method for the Determination of Rubber in Vul- 
canized Goods. 


Crude Rub- 


WATER SEWAGE AND SANITATION SECTION 
Edward Bartow, Chairman 
Harry P. Corson, Secretary 

Epwarp Barrow and H. P. Corson: Manganese 
in Illinois Waters. 

The city supplies of Mt. Vernon and Peoria, IIl., 
contain manganese which has caused serious in- 
erustation in pipes. The Mt. Vernon supply con- 
tains .5 part per million of the element while the 
wells of the Peoria supply contain from .02 to 1.2 
parts per million of the element. Samples of in- 
crustation examined contain as high as 38 per cent. 
of manganese. 

EpwarD Bartow and CLARENCE ScHOooL: A Com- 
parison of a Calcium Lime with a Calcium-Mag- 
nesium Lime for Water Softening. 

Experiments show that during the various stages 
of water softening there is a difference in the ac- 
tion of a calcium lime and a magnesium-caleium 
lime. Complete softening depends upon the amount. 
of available caleium oxide which the lime contains. 
EpwarD Bartow and CLARENCE ScHooL: The 

Order of Reactions during the Softening of 

Water with Lime. 

CHARLES BASKERVILLE: Ventilation of the Schools 
of New York City. (Illustrated.) 

Frank E. Hate and W. MELIA: Winkler’s Method 
for the Determination of Oxygen in Water; the 
Effect of Nitrite and its Prevention. 

H. W. REDFIELD and C. HuckuE: A Comparative 
Study of Methods fer Determining Sulphur in 
Peptone. 

Various methods for determining the total sul- 
phur in peptone and for determining a part of the 
sulphur only have been compared. 

For total sulphur the Liebig-Koch method has 
been found to give the most accurate and most 
consistent results in peptone; while for determin- 
ing the easily oxidized part of the sulphur, diges- 
tion with a saturated solution of potassium 
chlorate in nitric acid has proved most valuable. 
H. W. REDFIELD and C, HuckLe: The Determina- 

tion of Sulphur in Certain Culture Media. 

A study has been made of the amount of total 


716 


sulphur broken down in simple peptone media by 
the so-called putrefactive bacteria, of the forms of 
sulphur most readily used by them and of the forms 
in which the sulphur exists after the action of the 
bacteria, whether as fixed sulphur, or as loosely 
bound sulphur, or as easily oxidized sulphur, or as 
a volatile sulphur compound such as hydrogen sul- 
phide, when culture flasks of different size and 
shape were used and when air or carbon dioxide 
was passed over the cultures. 


E. M. Cuamor: The Value of Testing for Hydro- 
gen Sulphide Production in the Bacteriological 
Ezamination of Potable Waters. 

E. M. Cuamor and H. W. RepFietD: A Study of 
the Best Conditions for Hydrogen Sulphide 
Production in Peptone Media. 

The method for the detection in water of the 
bacteria producing hydrogen sulphide has been 
studied in a systematic manner as regards the con- 
centration of possible ingredients, and a culture 
medium has been devised by the use of which the 
time required in which to get evidence of the 
presence of these organisms has been greatly 
reduced. 

The method furnishes a means of detecting cer- 
tain organisms which do not produce gas in lactose 
media, but which are found in sewage-polluted 
water. 


E. M. CHamot and R. C. Lowary: The Influence 
of the Composition of Carbohydrate Culture 
Media on the Amount and Character of the Gases 
formed by Fecal Organisms. 

E. M. CuHamot and C. M, SHERWOOD: A Study 
of the Stokes Neutral Red Reaction. 

J. CULVER HARTZELL: Further Notes on Standards 
of Potable Waters. 

In this paper the author states that he has col- 
lected further data on the necessity for regional 
standards of potable waters, and that the feeling 
is growing that standards are not only possible and 
desirable, but necessary. 


ATHERTON SEIDELL and PHILIP W. MESERVE: The 
Determination of Minute Amounts of Sulphur 
Dioxide*in Air. 

The amounts of sulphur dioxide which it was 
desired to determine varied from about 1 to 15 
parts per million, which is about the concentration 
just detectible by the odor. Experiments showed 
that at this dilution, various modifications of the 
iodine titration methods, involving the use of an 
excess of iodine and back titration directly or with 
an excess of thiosulphate and then to appearance 
of the blue starch color with iodine, were imprac- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 985 


tical on account of the variability of the end point 
when approached in opposite directions. It was 
found that satisfactory results could be obtained by 
adding about 5 c¢.c. of water containing starch 
paste to the 2,500 c.e. bottle containing the sample 
and titrating to appearance of the blue starch color 
with N/1,000 iodine. A correction for the blank 
determination in the bottle containing air free from 
sulphur dioxide, and one for the apparent incom- 
pleteness of the reaction at this dilution must be 
applied. With these corrections for a 2,500 ¢.¢c, 
bottle, 1 ¢.c. of N/1,000 iodine corresponds to 4.1 
parts SO. per million. On account of the rapid 
oxidation of SO, to SOs, even in bottles as dry as 
can conveniently be obtained, it is necessary to 
make the titrations within a short time after col- 
lecting the samples. When relatively minute 
amounts of SO, are liberated in rooms and the air 
actively stirred, less than one half the calculated 
percentage in the air has so far been found. The 
complete disappearance of the liberated SO, may 
occur in less than one half hour, depending upon 
the amount of moisture, nature of walls, ete. 

J. W. SALE and W. W. SKINNER: Comparison of 
Methods for the Determination of Dissolved 
Oxygen. 

A comparison of the Winkler and modified Levy 
methods with the gasometric method for the deter- 
mination of dissolved oxygen indicates that in pure 
and moderately polluted saline waters the Winkler 
method gives accurate results while the Levy 
method gives results that are too low. The Winkler 
method also gives closely agreeing results in dupli- 
cate and triplicate determinations on such waters, 
for the most part within .02 ¢.c. oxygen per liter. 
Only that modification of the Levy method in 
which sodium carbonate is used to precipitate the 
jron salts was compared. 

W. D. Contins and W. W. SKINNER: The Quanti- 
tative Use of the Spectroscope in Water Analyses. 
By careful attention to details of manipulation 

described in the paper quantitative results for 
lithium and potassium may be obtained by use of 
the spectroscope in very much less time than is 
required for separation of the alkalies in a water 
analysis. The errors may be 5-10 per cent. of the 
amounts determined. The results in connection 
with other quickly made determinations make pos- 
sible the furnishing of a fairly complete water 
analysis with a comparatively small amount of 
work. 

F, L. Recror: Longevity of B. Typhosus in Water. 

CHARLES L. PARSONS, 
Secretary 


fF oCIENCE 


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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


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PRINCIPEES OF 
STRATIGRAPHY 


BY 


AMADEUS W. GRABAU, 3S.M., S.D. 


PROFESSOR OF PALAZZXONTOLOGY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE 


HIS book is written for the student and for the professional geologist. 

It aims to bring together those facts and principles which lie at 

the foundation of all our attempts to interpret the history of the 

earth from the records left in the rocks. Many of these facts have been 

the common heritage of the rising generation of geologists but many more 

have been buried in the literature of the science—especially the works of 

foreign investigators—and so have generally escaped the attention of the 

student, though familiar to the specialist. There has been heretofore no 

satisfactory comprehensive treatise on lithogenesis in the English language, 

and we have had to rely upon books in foreign languages for such sum- 

maries. It is the hope of the author that the present work may in a 
measure supply this need. 

The book deals with the successive spheres in detail. Chapter II is 
devoted to the atmosphere; Chapters III-V to the hydrosphere; Chapters 
VI-XXI to the lithosphere; Chapter XXII to the pyrosphere; Chapter 
XXIII to the barysphere and Chapters XXIV—XXX to the biosphere. 
The last two chapters are devoted to a consideration of the principles of 
classification and correlation. Each chapter is provided with a bibliog- 
raphy, this for some of the chapters including more than a hundred titles 
each. Throughout the discussion the central idea has been the interpreta- 
tion of structures in terms of genesis. 


Large Octavo, 1150 pages, with 264 illustrations in the text. Cloth bound, price $6.00. 


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SCIENCE 


—————————— 


Fripay, NovEMBER 21, 1913 


CONTENTS 
The Structure of the Universe: Dr. J. C. 


LGNEMONAN “Geieosuaos ooo dn conddd005n00000 T17 
Blood Parasites: Dr. HENRY GEORGE PLUM- 

MD pogooounsddsocanod coud GDOUODOD ON GES 724 
Some Educational Problems in Kansas: CHAN- 

CELLOR FRANK STRONG ..........---seee- 730 
The American Society of Naturalists: Dr. 

BRAM Wi IDA saoocasnocepcopaaoouS 734 
The American Psychological Association: 

PROFESSOR W. V. BINGHAM .........-.... 735 
Ine Jie CARYL) Sao khankacocoosousueon 736 
Scientific Notes and News ............+++.- 736 
University and Educational News ........... 740 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Atomic Ionization and Atomic Charges: 

PROFESSOR FERNANDO SANFORD. ...... 741 
Scientific Books :— 

The Maryland Devonian Books: Dr. JOHN 

M. CuarKke. White’s Technical Gas and 

Fuel Analysis: PRorEessor R. P. ANDERSON. 742 
Professor Noguchi’s Researches on Infective 

Diseases: SIR STEPHEN PAGET ............ 746 
Diatom Collection of the United States Na- 

tional Museum: DR, FREDERICK V. CovILLE. 748 
Special Articles :— 

Reversibility in Artificial Parthenogenesis: 

PROFESSOR JACQUES LOEB ............... 749 
Societies and Academies :— 

The Biological Society of Washington: D. 

HE. LANTZ. The Anthropological Society of 

Washington: DANIEL FOLKMAR .......... 751 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE1 


I HAVE been asked to address you on the 
structure of the universe. The title is am- 
bitious, and I fear that what I have to say 
on the subject will be sadly in dispropor- 
tion with what some of you will be led to 
expect by this title. 

It will, however, I hope, give you a 
glimpse of what astronomers now-a-days 
are attempting to do, in order to penetrate 
somewhat into the mystery of the starry 
sky. 

The problem, as I take it, is a double one. 
We have, first, the structure of the uni- 
verse as it is at the present moment; and 
this problem is, in the main, no other than 
finding the star distances, because the star 
directions we can readily ascertain. 

We have, second, the problem of the his- 
tory and evolution of the system. 

The time at my disposal being so short, 
I must confine myself to one of the two. 
At the present moment, undoubtedly, the 
first is the more promising one, owing to 
the recent discovery of star-streaming. 
Furthermore the history of the system 
during the past ages, ages to be counted 
by millions, probably hundreds of millions 
of years, is and perhaps forever will re- 
main enshrouded in much mystery. Still I 
have thought that the second problem, that 
of the evolution of the system, may, per- 
haps, be the more suitable subject for the 
present lecture. 

You will all, of course, understand, with- 
out my saying anything to the purpose, 
that what we have to expect can not well 
be anything else than a few more or less 


1 Address delivered before the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences, April, 1913. 


718 


probable inferences about the course of 
events that have made our system what 
it is. 

Some additional considerations might 
easily have been added, but as I have had to 
give up the idea of giving a general re- 
view of what has been done, I thought it 
might be as well to confine myself to just 
a few illustrations of the kind of specula- 
tions that we are being at present led to; 
and as these speculations, mainly or 
wholly, depend on the theory of star- 
streaming, it may be well to begin by say- 
ing a few words about that theory. 

In order to get a clear idea of what is 
understood by the phenomenon of star- 
streaming: Imagine two clouds or swarms 
of stars, at first wide apart in space; 
imagine that the stars within each cloud 
move in all directions, indiscriminately, 
pretty much as do the molecules of a gas, 
and let us call this motion in the cloud the 
‘“internal motion.’’ In fact, imagine two 
immense gas bubbles, the molecules of 
which will be our stars. 

Now, imagine these two clouds or bubbles 
to be moving in space, and let that motion 
bring the two gas bubbles together, so that 
they will penetrate each other. Then 
imagine that we, the spectators, are in that 
part of the universe where the two bubbles 
have intermixed, and finally imagine that 
we, the spectators, have a motion of our 
own. 

What we shall see of the motion of the 
individual gas molecules will very nearly 
correspond to what we see of the motion 
of thé stars actually going on in the sky. 

Now, what is the appearance of such a 
motion? Had the molecules in each gas 
bubble no internal motion, that is, had 
they no other motion than the common 
cloud-motion of all the molecules together, 
as a whole, then of course what we would 
see would be this: We would see two im- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


mense streams of stars, all moving in per- 
fectly parallel lines, with what, linearly, 
must be perfectly equal velocity. If, how- 
ever, the internal motion is not zero, then, 
of course, what we shall see will be more 
or less different. The internal motion gives 
to each molecule, besides the motion 
which is common to the whole of the 
bubble, an additional individual motion, 
which will make the total motion of the 
several molecules diverge more or less from 
perfect parallelism and perfect equality. 
Instead of seeing two streams with per- 
fectly parallel motions, we must now see 
the stars in the main parallel to two direc- 
tions, but there will be deviations—small 
deviations will be frequent, greater devia- 
tions will be rare, and very great devia- 
tions will be decidedly exceptional. The 
motion of the two individual bubbles will 
still be clearly discernible. 

Now this is indeed what we observe in 
the sky. We recognize in the star motions 
two clearly defined preferential motions. 
These directions make an angle of about 
one hundred degrees. The stars are not 
moving all in these directions. Small de- 
viations are frequent; greater deviations 
are somewhat rare; very great deviations 
are decidedly exceptional. 

We may say that all investigations made 
since the first announcement of star-stream- 
ing in 1904—investigations based on very 
different materials—all agree in the estab- 
lishment of these two preferential directions 
of motion among the stars. We find them 
in the brighter stars; we find them in the 
fainter stars; they show in the swift-moy- 
ing stars; they show in the slow-moving 
stars. They betray their existence in the 
radial motions as well as in the motion at 
right angles to the visual ray. é 

In the interpretation of the facts, how- 


1 Throughout the address the motions are to be 
understood as relative to the sun. 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


ever, there is a difference. Own represen- 
tation by the two independent star clouds 
is one of them. Whether this interpretation 
is the correct one, is a question of evolu- 
tion of the system and will have to be con- 
sidered presently. 

Our conclusion will then be in favor of 
the two-cloud theory; and so, for the sake 
of greater clearness, I will provisionally 
continue to use this representation. In 
reality what will be advanced will not be 
changed, or but slightly, if we simply start 
from the observed facts. 

In the study of the history of the sys- 

tem, we start from what we know, or think 
we know, about the evolution of the sepa- 
rate stars. 
- The stars have been classified by Secchi 
into four spectral classes. We have at 
present far more elaborate classifications, 
but for the present purpose Secchi’s classi- 
fication will do. The stars of the fourth 
type are so few in number that we may, for 
the present, neglect them. Part of the first 
type has later on been separated from the 
rest; they show the helium lines in their 
spectrum and are now generally brought 
to a separate class, the class of the helium 
stars. 

‘We will thus consider the four classes: 
the helium stars, those of the first, second 
and third types—helium, first, second and 
third—in which the bulk of all the stars 
with known spectrum are contained. 

Now, there is much evidence to show that 
this classification is a natural one. I mean 
that this order is really an order of evo- 
lution; the helium stars being the stars of 
recent birth; while we get to older and 
older stars as we pass from the helium stars 
to the first, from the first to the second, and 
from the second to the third type. I will 
adopt this order of evolution in what fol- 
lows, although well aware of the fact that 
all astronomers do not agree with me. I 
feel justified in this course, not only because 


SCIENCE 


719 


I think it is the opinion of the great major- 
ity of our eminent spectroscopists, but also 
because the very facts which I wish to put 
before you about star streaming strongly 
confirm it. 

When we wish to penetrate into the his- 
tory of the system, it seems natural to in- 
vestigate the problem of star streaming 
separately for those four classes of stars in 
the order of their evolution. There are 
some difficulties, mainly the consequence 
of scantiness of material. Still, however, 
even now it has been possible to carry the 
investigation through in such a way as to 
establish a couple of facts, and to give clear 
indications of others. Of these I will con- 
sider only the two following, about the 
reality of which I think there can hardly 
be left any doubt. 

First, the older the stars, the greater the 
internal velocity, and 

Second, the older the stars, the richer 
the second stream, at least in comparison 
with the first stream. 

I wish to consider some of the inferences 
to which these facts lead us. And in the 
first place, these facts at once lead us back 
to the question just now mentioned, about 
the order of evolution of the individual 
stars. For this regularity in the increase 
both of the internal velocity and of the 
richness of the second stream exist only if 
we adopt for the order of evolution either 
the order, helium, first, second and third, or 
the exact verse order, third, second, first, 
helium, and in no other arrangement. 

Therefore, with the same right that we 
expect that all the properties of the stars 
will change with age, gradually, and not 
per saltum, with that same right, I think, 
we conclude that the order of evolution 
must be helium, first, second, third, or the 
exact reverse. That it is not just the re- 
verse is proved by other facts we can not 
now consider. 


720 


We thus have strong confirmation here of 
what, on totally different grounds, is 
pretty generally considered as the order of 
the different ages in a star’s life. 

But to proceed: As the younger the stars, 
the smaller their internal motion, it follows 
at once that from whatever matter our 
youngest stars—the helium stars—may 
have been evolved, that matter must, in all 
probability, have still smaller internal mo- 
tion. Let us call this matter primordial 
matter. As the internal velocity of the 
helium stars is already so very small we 
come to the conclusion that primordial 
matter must practically have hardly any 
other motion than the motion of the cloud 
to which it belongs. 

There is more. According to the second 
of the observed facts, the second stream, 
which is rich for the older stars, is much 
poorer for the younger ones; it almost dies 
out in the helium type stars. We must ex- 
pect, therefore, that for primordial matter 
there will practically be no second stream 
or second star cloud. 

Therefore, finally, we must expect that 
the particles of primordial matter will all 
move in practically parallel lines, and that 
in the direction in which all but a very few 
of the helium stars move, and with the 
same velocity. 

Now it is a very general notion that it is 
from the nebule that the stars are formed. 
Therefore that what we called primordial 
matter would be nothing else than the 
matter of the nebula. What precedes gives 
us the means of testing the notion by ob- 
servation. What then does observation 
show ? 

The number of available data is as yet 
extremely small. The determination of 
what we call astronomical proper motion 
of these very ill-defined objects is extremely 
difficult, and has been up to the present 
time invariably unsuccessful. For the de- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


termination of the radial velocity by the 
spectroscope, the faintness of the nebule 
is a serious obstacle. The consequence is 
that, as yet, we know the radial velocity of 
only fourteen of these objects in all. Still, 
even this limited number is decisive in 
showing that there can be no question that 
the real motions of these objects are ap- 
proximately parallel to the motion of the 
helium stars, or even parallel to any fixed 
direction whatever. Their velocity, more- 
over, is exceedingly unequal. Must we con- 
clude that the nebule are not the birth- 
place of the stars? It may seem so. 

Meanwhile let us not go too fast. There 
are nebule and nebule. Itso happens—and 
there is ample practical reason for it—that 
with one exception observation of radial ve- 
locity has, up to the present time, been con- 
fined to what we call the planetary nebulea— 
elliptical or round nebule—which show an 
appearance remotely like that of a plane- 
tary disc. Herschel saw in them a likeness 
to what, according to Laplace’s cosmog- 
ony, must have been the primitive stage of 
our own planetary system and so imagined 
that these planetary nebule must be the 
birthplace of the stars. 

According to what precedes, this view 
seems now untenable. The planetary neb- 
ule can not be the birthplace of the stars. 
If they were, they would show the parallel 
and equal motion of practically all the 
helium stars. Their motions, on the con- 
trary, are extremely unparallel and un- 
equal, and we must rather assign these ob- 
jects a place at the end of the order of evo- 
lution than at the beginning. 

We may, perhaps, see an independent 
confirmation of this view in the stars called 
temporary stars, but time will not permit 
me to pursue the argument further. 

As I said just now, there is one nebula 
for which the radial velocity has been de- 
termined which is not a planetary. This 


NovemBer 21, 1913] 


exception is the well-known Orion nebula, 
which is classified under the irregular 
nebule. May not then these irregular neb- 
ulz give birth to the stars? 

It turns out that this one object has ex- 
actly the radial velocity of the first stream 
helium stars; that is, we find exactly the 
motion we must expect in this nebula, if it 
were the birthplace of stars. We shall not, 
of course, on this single fact base far-reach- 
ing conclusions; but we have a right, in 
my opinion, to say that here is a fact that 
singularly strengthens what had already 
been concluded from other facts. 

We see, moreover, that the observation of 
the radial velocity of other irregular neb- 
ule must, ere long, furnish us with a 
crucial test of the theory. 

There is another problem involved in our 
observations which might seem to be of no 
less importance than the one just men- 
tioned. How have we to explain the fact 
that the internal velocity of the stars grad- 
ually increases with age? The astronomer 
who, in the study of the motion of the 
heavenly bodies, has found hardly a trace 
of any other force than gravitation will 
naturally turn to gravitation for such an 
‘explanation. It really seems a necessity 
that, under the influence of their mutual 
gravitation, bodies, which at the outset 
-have little or no relative motion, must get 
such a motion; they must come to fall 
toward each other, and this velocity, up to 
a certain limit at least, must increase with 
time. 

Thus far, there isno great difficulty. But 
now let us look farther back in time, back 
to the time in which the stars had not yet 
been formed, in which matter was still in 
its primordial state. If it be true that mu- 
tual attraction of the stars has generated 
such an enormous amount of internal mo- 
tion in the time needed by the stars to 
develop from the helium type to the second 


SCIENCE 


721 


and third type, how have we to explain the 
fact that we find that same matter nearly 
at rest at the first stage of evolution at 
which we meet it? How have we to explain 
that in pre-helium ages gravitation has 
produced no effect? 

He who believes in the creation of mat- 
ter at a finitely remote epoch may find no 
difficulty in the question; but to him who 
does not, it is simply astonishing to see 
matter behaving as if there were no gravi- 
tation at all. What may be the explana- 
tion? Is there no gravitation in primordial 
matter, or is there another force exactly 
counterbalancing its effects? 

I shall offer no solution. I simply wish 
to point out that here is a problem which 
must be interesting to the physicist no less 
than to the astronomer. 

Passing now to other inferences, I wish to 
draw your attention to a question already 
alluded to: does the observed fact of the 
preference of the star motions for two defi- 
nite directions lead us with necessity to the 
assumption that our system has been 
formed by the meeting of two independent 
star clouds? Or is it still possible, and in 
that case more plausible, to explain it with- 
out sacrificing the unity of the system? In 
other words, is our universe a dual system, 
or is it one unit? 

Suppose? a very elongated system of 
stars which are originally at rest; now let 
these be left to their mutual attraction. It 
is evident that the stars, in opposite parts 
of the cloud, will begin to fall towards each 
other. Two streams will be set up, opposite 
in direction, approximately parallel to the 
axis of the cloud, though in no wise abso- 
lutely and exclusively so. In other words, 
we get two preferential directions of mo- 
tion. There is no real difficulty in the fact 

2The following supposition was first. considered 


in a lecture held at Harlem in 1906 (‘‘ Programme 
de la Soe. Holl. des Se. pour 1906,’’ p. liv). 


722 


that they are exactly opposite, whereas the 
streams observed in the sky make an angle 
of about a hundred degrees. For opposite 
streams, viewed from a self-moving body, 
as in our earth, will appear to make an 
angle and we can readily determine the 
earth’s motion in such a way as to bring us 
in perfect harmony with observation. Thus 
far no objection. But there are further 
consequences. 

In an elongated universe, as here sup- 
posed, both the mean longitudinal motion 
(what in this lecture was called the stream 
motion) and the deviations therefrom (the 
internal motion) must gradually increase, 
beginning with velocity zero. 

Now as to the internal velocities, this is 
exactly what we find by observation. Do 
we find the same for the stream motion? 
By no means. 

Recent Mt. Wilson observations have 
enabled us to derive at least a pretty re- 
liable value of the relative stream velocity 
for the first type stars. For the helium 
stars we can as yet only assign a limit 
which the relative velocity of the two 
streams must exceed. For the older stars 
we have had reliable information for some 
time. 

All these determinations show, contrary 
to what takes place with the internal mo- 
tion, that the relative velocity of the two 
streams or clouds does not change, or does 
not change very much, with age. It cer- 
tainly is not nearly vanishing for the 
helium stars. It seems to me that this con- 
sideration is fatal to the present explana- 
tion. © 

Professor Schwarzschild has developed 
a different theory, which also leaves the 
universe a unit; but this theory too, elegant 
though it be, can not, I think, be main- 
tained. Among other things, we have, as a 
main objection, the fact—which was not 
known at the time Professor Schwarzschild 


SCIENCE 


number of stars. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


proposed his theory—that the richness of 


‘the two streams is not the same for stars of 


different age. The tacit assumption is 
made, and must be made, in Schwarzschild’s 
theory, that the two streams have the same 
Now, this may be more 
or less approximately true of the stars of 
the second and third types, for the first type 
the number of stars in the second stream 
can not be much different from one third 
of that in the first stream. For the helium 
stars it must not be a tenth. The second 
stream is so poor here that it has been alto- 
gether overlooked till quite recently. 

The conclusion to be drawn from all 
this seems obvious. It would seem that we 
are driven to the theory assumed here, from 
the first, the theory of the two-star clouds, 
which, owing to their initial velocity, have 
come to meet and intermingle in space. It 
must be confessed, however, that in this 
theory also there remain some hard nuts 
to erack. Until we succeed in this it seems 
unsafe to claim any great certainty for the 
theory, and it seems preferable to put it 
forward as the hypothesis which, for the 
time being, best fits the observed facts. 

There remains to be considered the ques- 
tion how to explain that the second stream 
or cloud hardly contains any helium stars. 

There is something in the small local 
star-groups which may help us. Every- 
body knows the group of the Pleiades. 
There can be no doubt that the bright and 
many of the faint stars that we see in this 
part of the sky are really near together in 
space and not merely near the same visual 
line, the one far behind the other. They 
undoubtedly form a physical system, and 
must have had a common origin. At pres- 
ent we know several of such local. groups, 
among them the Hyades, the Ursa Major 
group, and we may perhaps add the great 
Scorpius-Centaur group. 

Now, in these local groups, we find, 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


amongst others, two very remarkable facts. 
The first is that, ignoring a few, though 
significant exceptions, if the stars of such 
groups are arranged in the order of their 
brightness, we find that they are at the 
same time approximately arranged in the 
order of the spectral classes. As an in- 
stance, take the Scorpius-Centaur group. 
We find that the very brightest stars are of 
the earliest helium type; the somewhat 
fainter ones are of the older helium type; 
the next fainter ones are of the next stage 
in the stellar life, or the first type. If we 
can not follow the series further on to the 
second and perhaps the third type, this is 
probably due to our lack of knowledge of 
the fainter stars belonging to the group. 
In the Pleiades, where we have a somewhat 
more extensive knowledge of the fainter 
stars, we can follow the series at least until 
in the middle of the second type stars. It 
follows from this that in all these groups, 
what there is of helium stars can not be 
overlooked, for they all are of the very 
brightest stars, and our knowledge of the 
brightest stars is pretty complete. 

Notwithstanding this—and this is the 
second remarkable fact, the fact that bears 
directly on the question in hand—we find 
not a single helium star, neither in the 
Hyades nor in the Ursa Major group. The 
stars in these groups show the same grad- 
ual change of spectrum with the brightness, 
but instead of beginning with the earliest 
helium stars, the series ‘begins abruptly 
with the second stages of a star’s life. In 
the Pleiades the series begins somewhat 
earlier; still here too there is not a single 
star of the earliest helium type. It is only 
in the Scorpius-Centaur group that we find 
the complete series. 

Our second stream, therefore, behaves 
much as do the local groups of the Hyades 
and Ursa Major. The explanation must, in 
all likelihood, be the same in both eases, 


SCIENCE 


723 


How, therefore, does it come to pass that 
in such groups as those of the Hyades and 
the Ursa Major, the helium stars are abso- 
lutely wanting? 

For those who, as I did in this lecture, 
adopt the view of the order of evolution as 
helium, first, second, third type, there ean 
be no question but that the stars which we 
now see are first type stars, must in past 
ages have been helium stars. 

Therefore, such a group as the Hyades, 
which now-a-days does not contain any 
helium stars, but which contains first type 
stars, must in past ages have contained the 
helium stars in great numbers. Going 
back in time still further, these helium 
stars must have been evolved from some 
primordial matter, probably some nebulous 
matter. Therefore, in a remote past the 
groups of the Hyades and Ursa Major 
must have been full of nebula. As far as I 
know there is no trace of nebulosity now. 

There thus must have been an epoch in 
the past that nebulous matter was ex- 
hausted, had probably all gone into the 
formation of stars. Since that time evi- 
dently there could be formed no more 
helium stars; and as the helium stars that 
had been formed developed gradually into 
first type stars we see the necessity of a 
time in which the groups must not contain 
any more helium stars. 

Therefore, finally, our answer to the 
question: how does it come to pass that in 
the second stream or cloud we find hardly 
any helium stars, would be: because since 
some time nebulous matter must have been 
exhausted in this cloud. 

As to the first stream or star cloud, we 
similarly conclude that the nebulous matter 
must not yet have been exhausted, or if so, 
only at a very recent period. 

It has been my aim to show, not that 
much has been done, but that there is a be- 
ginning; not that we have entered far into 


724 


the promised land, the land lying open to 
the human view, so temptingly since the 
first man looked up to the sky, but that a 
few pathways are being mapped out, along 
which we may direct a hopeful attack. 
Our problems take a more definite form, 
and even though we were never to solve 
them completely, let us remember the words 
of the poet: 

If God held in His right hand all truth, and in 
His left nothing but the ever ardent desire for 
truth, even with the condition that I should err 
forever, and bade me choose, I would bow down 
to his left, saying, ‘‘Oh, Father, give; pure truth 
ean be but for Thee alone.’’ 


J. C. Kapreyn 


BLOOD PARASITES? 

You will remember that Mephistopheles, 
when he insists upon the bond with Faust 
being signed with blood, says, ‘‘ Blut ist ein 
ganz besondrer Saft’’ (Blood is a quite 
special kind of juice). Goethe would prob- 
ably not have used the word ‘‘Saft’’ had 
he been writing ‘‘Faust’’ to-day instead of 
in 1808, for at that time the cellular ele- 
ments of the blood—although they had 

“been seen and described by Leeuwenhoek 
in 1686—were believed to be optical illu- 
sions, even by so distinguished a person as 
the professor of medicine of that time at 
the Sorbonne. The incredulity of scien- 
tific men as to what they see is proverbial 
and astounding, fortunately ; but it is prob- 
ably because science is really quite sure of 
nothing that it is always advancing. 

I have the privilege this evening of try- 
ing to show you the barest outlines of our 
present: knowledge of the parasitology of 
the blood. It is a subject of great prac- 
tical and economic importance, as many 
grave diseases of man and beast are caused 
by these parasites, which, on account of 
their minuteness, enormous numbers and 


1 Abstract of a lecture before the Royal Institu- 
tion of Great Britain, May 2, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


very complex life-histories, are very diffi- 
cult to eradicate or to deal with prac- 
tically. On this account there is a good 
deal of the enthusiasm of the market-place 
mixed up with this subject, which, al- 
though a new one, has advanced with great 
rapidity, and has revolutionized pathology 
and medicine as far as possible. From our 
point of view it began in 1880 with the 
discovery by Laveran, in the military hos- 
pital of Constantine, of the parasite which 
causes malaria. This caused the protozoa, 
to which order most of these parasites be- 
long, to oust bacteria from the proud posi- 
tion they then occupied of being the cause 
of all the ills we have to bear, and to reign 
in their stead; not an altogether desirable 
change; for when you have seen what I 
shall show you, you will agree with me 
that sufficient unto life is the evil thereof. 
It has had all the disadvantages of a new 
subject, and since that time floods of work 
have been poured into journals, annals, 
proceedings, ete., some of it of the best, 
with much of it that is indifferent, tem- 
porary and bad; so that at times it seems 
as if this branch of science were in danger 
of being smothered in the dust of its own 
workshop, or drowned in the waters of its 
own activity. We do not, nowadays, keep 
our ideas and scraps of work to ourselves 
until they are either established, or, as is 
more likely, dissipated, so we have a huge 
mass of what is called ‘‘literature,’’ filled 
with many trivial, fragmentary and doubt- 
ful generalizations, many of which we have 
with pain and trouble to sweep into the 
dustbin: nature’s blessed mortmain law 
taking too long to act. You remember 
Carlyle complained—to use a mild term— 
of Poggendorff’s ‘‘Annalen,’’ and I feel 
sure that, if he had had to study blood 
parasites now, he would have said that it 
was a much over-be-Poggendorffed subject. 
Blood parasites are afflicted, too, with ter- 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


rible names, and with large numbers of 
them; some have as many as ten or even 
fifteen different names, perhaps on the 
Soeratiec principle, that naming saves so 
much thinking. And they are in Latin, 
too, so that the terminology of this subject 
is a perfect museum of long Latin and 
hybrid-Latin names. The terminology 
generally of our later biology is, as one has 
_ said, ‘‘the Seylla’s cave which men of sci- 
ence are preparing for themselves, to be 
able to pounce out upon us from it, and 
into which we can not enter.’’ This will 
be my excuse if I should use words you do 
not understand. 

I will just remind you-of the structure 
of the blood, that it consists of an extraor- 
dinarily complex fluid—the plasma—which 
holds in suspension living cellular bodies, 
called cells or corpuscles. These are of two 
kinds, red and white corpuscles. The red 
are by far the more numerous, and in man 
there are about 5,000,000 of them to a cubic 
millimeter of blood, but this number varies 
enormously under the influence of para- 
sites. To these red corpuscles is due the 
red color of the blood, and they are the 
carriers of oxygen, acquired by the aera- 
tion of the blood in the lungs, to the tis- 
sues. We breathe in order that they may 
breathe, for we only care about oxygen in 
so far as they care about it. 

The other kind of corpuscles are the 
white, or leucocytes, and of these, in health, 
there are about 7,500 per cubic millimeter. 
A few years ago it was enough to know 
that there were red and white corpuscles, 
but now we have to know more. Through 
the work of Ehrlich we know that there are 
at least five different kinds of leucocytes in 
normal blood, which I will just indicate to 
you. 

1. Lymphocytes.—These are the smallest 
cells, and contain a relatively very large 
nucleus. 


SCIENCE 


725 


2. Large Mononuclears.—These are large, 
and are called macrophages, as they possess 
the power of being able to absorb and 
digest parasites and other foreign bodies. 

3. Polynuclears.—These are character- 
ized by the irregular, moniliform aspect of 
their nucleus, and they are called micro- 
phages for the same reason that the large 
mononuclears are called macrophages. 
Both of these are also called, generally, 
phagocytes, on account of their power of 
ingesting and digesting foreign bodies. 

4, Hosinophiles—These are character- 
ized by a bilobed nucleus, and by granula- 
tions which color deeply with eosin and 
other acid colors. 

5. Labrocytes or Mastzellen.—These are 
rare, and are characterized by large granu- 
lations which stain with basic colors. 

In parasitic diseases these corpuscles are 
profoundly modified and altered, numer- 
ically and morphologically, and other new 
elements may make their appearance in the 
blood. mY 

The blood is essentially the same in all 
animals, but it varies within certain limits. 
For instance, the red corpuscles are not of 
the same size and shape in every animal, 
and in birds and fishes they are nucleated ; 
in us they are only nucleated in feetal life 
and in disease. The mononuclear and 
polynuclear leucocytes are really separate 
organisms living in us, and they have 
qualities which it is very difficult to call 
anything else but consciousness; so that it 
is a subtle distinction to draw the line be- 
tween the parasites—which these leuco- 
eytes are, in a way—which are part of us, 
and those that are not. When the balance 
of power is well preserved amongst our 
leucocytes, when they are working well 
together, then all & well with us; if we 
are ill, it is because they are quarreling 
with themselves or with an invader, and 


726 


we send for Sir Almroth Wright to pacify 
or chastize them with his vaccines. 

So that, as Darwin said, ‘‘An organic 
being is a microcosm, a little universe, 
formed of a host of self-propagating organ- 
isms, inconceivably minute and numerous 
as the stars in heaven’’—as we ourselves 
are but parts of life at large. 

The three main functions of blood are: 
that it is a means of respiration, a means 
of nutrition and a defense against invading 
organisms. 

And now to these latter. A blood para- 
site proper is a living being, vegetable or 
animal, passing part or the whole of its 
existence in the blood of another living 
being, upon which it lives, this being ob- 
ligatory and necessary to its life-cycle. 

It was in 1841 that the first blood para- 
site was seen by Valentin in the blood of a 
fish, and two years later Gruby gave the 
name Trypanosoma to an organism he 
found in the blood of a frog. But since 
Laveran’s discovery of the malarial para- 
site in 1880, we have learned to differen- 
tiate many other parasites as causal agents 
of such diseases as I shall mention later in 
connection with the various parasites. But 
we know as yet dangerously little about 
most of them, so that we have strenuously 
to resist the temptation to make our ac- 
count of them sound too harmonious, be- 
fore we have found half the notes of the 
chord we are trying to play. We speak, as 
it were, with authorized uncertainty, and 
there are parts of our science which, after 
all, are only expressions for our ignorance 
of our. own ignorance. These parasites 
have a very complicated life-history; part 
of their life-cycle is passed in the blood of 
man or beast, and part in various parts of 
the body of some blood-sucking inverte- 
brate, such as a fly, mosquito or tick, which 
transfers the parasite to another animal 
whilst feeding from him, It was thought 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


formerly that blood parasites would be a 
restricted order, but the work of recent 
years has shown that they have an enor- 
mous distribution both geographically and 
as regards their hosts. For instance, dur- 
ing the last five years I have had the op- 
portunity of examining all the animals (in 
the large sense of the word) which have 
died in the Zoological Gardens. I have 
examined the blood of over 8,000 animals, — 
coming from all parts of the world, and I 
have found parasites in the blood of 587 
of them, that is, in about 7 per cent., and 
in 295 species of animals I have found 
them for the first time. -I mention this 
just to give you some numerical idea of 
their occurrence and distribution. 

It will: be better to take first those para- 
sites which live in the plasma, and then 
those that live in the corpuscles, rather 
than to attempt to take them in their, at 
present rather uncertain, biological order; 
and I will begin at the bottom, biologically 
speaking, that is, with the bacteria which 
are plants. These only require mention, 
since they do not live in the blood as para- 
sites proper, but only as accidental para- 
sites—that is, parasitism is not necessary 
to their life-cycle; they get into the blood 
in the later, or in certain, stages of certain 
diseases. 

An example is the blood of a Senegal 
turtle-dove which died in twenty-six hours 
from fowl cholera. This bacillus was dis- 
covered by Pasteur, and is interesting, as 
it was his work upon it which led to his 
discovery of the attenuation of a virus, and 
of its transformation thereby into a pro- 
tective vaccine. 

The first parasites proper I shall men- 
tion are the spirochetes. These have at 
present rather an insecure position in our 
idea of nature; they were formerly classed 
close to the bacteria, but now they are 
placed tentatively among animals, and 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


they are not yet quite sure of their place. 
But they, nevertheless, although insecure 
of their place in the books, produce grave 
diseases, such as relapsing fever, tick fever 
of man, the spirochetoses of horses, oxen 
and birds, syphilis and yaws. They, with 
the exception of the last two, are carried 
by, and developed in, ticks and bugs; and 
in tick fever the parasite is also found in 
the nymph form of the tick, and this is 
one of the rare instances of heredity of a 
parasite, 

The spirochete of relapsing fever in man 
was discovered by Obermeier in 1868, and 
he died from inoculating himself with the 
blood of a patient with the disease. He 
was one of the first scientific martyrs; he 
established our knowledge of the cause of 
this disease at the expense of his own life. 

We will now take a long jump to the 
filarie. These are nematode worms, the 
embryo forms of which live in the blood, 
the parent forms, being too large to get 
through the capillaries, live in many other 
parts of the body. The larval form lives 
in the body of some invertebrate—in a few 
known eases in a mosquito, or in a crusta- 
cean. The microfilarise were discovered by 
Demarquay in 1863. Many of them show 
a remarkable periodicity, some appearing 
in the blood at an exact hour at night, and 
some in the day, for which phenomenon 
there is at present no satisfactory expla- 
nation. 

Some are short, and some long, and some 
are encapsuled, others not. Filariz cause 
various diseases, probably elephantiasis, 
and certainly enormous varicosities of the 
lymphaties, chyluria, chylous dropsy, Cala- 
bar swelling and certain tumors. 

We now come to the trypanosomes. 
They are flagellated organisms, which are 
the cause of many deadly diseases in men 
and animals; such as sleeping sickness, 
nagana (or tsetse-fly disease), surra, mal- 


SCIENCE 


727 


de-caderas, dourine and others. ‘They are 
transferred from animal to animal by 
biting flies, fleas, lice and leeches, in which 
the sexual part of their life-cycle takes 
place. The first one was seen in the blood 
of a frog by Gluge in 1842. 

A type example is 7. Lewisi in the blood 
of arat. This was discovered by Lewis in 
1878, and is found in about 25 to 29 per 
cent. of wild rats. Some die, but most 
recover and become immune; it is a very 
specific parasite, and can not be trans- 
ferred to any other kind of animal. 

The 7. Bruce, causing nagana or tsetse- 
fly disease, probably exists in the wild 
game of South Africa, much as the T. 
Lewisi does in the wild rats, but when it 
is carried by the tsetse-fly to domesticated 
animals it kills them one and all in enor- 
mous numbers. 

The T. Gambiense, which causes sleeping 
sickness, was first seen by Dutton in 1902, 
and is carried by another species of tsetse- 
fly. 

Nature attempts to fight against these 
invaders by phagocytosis. The parasites, 
however, multiply so rapidly that this 
method of attack is not very effectual; it 
ean only be so in very early infections, and 
probably it then often is, that is, before the 
parasite has had time to start dividing. 
At the present time the question of try- 
panosomosis amongst man and animals is, 
for many countries which have colonies, of 
the greatest economic importance, so that 
a great deal of work has been done in the 
attempt to find a cure. A great many 
drugs, new and old, have been tried, and 
some good has been done. The first drug 
which was found to be of service was ar- 
senic, first in simple and then in complex 
combination, and the sub-committee of the 
Royal Society, formed for the purpose of 
supervising experiments in this direction, 
suggested the trial of antimony in these 


728 


diseases, on account of its near chemical 
relationship to arsenic. 

This has given better results than 
arsenic, and a commission is at present at 
work in Africa, in the Lado district, trying 
its effects on a large scale. We found that 
the salts of antimony were too rapidly elim- 
inated from the body to be successful in 
the larger animals and man, and so we de- 
vised a very finely divided form of the 
metal itself which we put directly into the 
circulation, and this has given, so far, the 
best results. The leucocytes eat it up and 
transform it slowly into some soluble form, 
taking, in a horse, for instance, four days 
to dispose of one dose, and the effect of this 
is much more profound and lasting than 
that of the salts. But some trypanosomes 
always escape, since one dose is never suffi- 
cient for cure. In rats with nagana, in 
which the trypanosomes by the fifth or 
sixth day may number 3,000,000 per cubic 
millimeter of blood, the minimum number 
of doses for cure has been found to be four, 
and with this dosage it is possible to cure 
100 per cent. of rats. So there is still some 
hope. 

It is interesting in this connection to re- 
member what Bacon, whose death, you 
know, was due to an experiment he under- 
took to prove the preservative action of 
intense cold upon animal bodies, says, 
‘‘Taying aside, therefore, all fantastic no- 
tions concerning them, I fully believe, that 
if something could be infused in very small 
portions into the whole substance of blood 

. it would stop not only all putrefac- 
tion, but arefaction likewise, and be very 
effectual in prolonging life.’’ His vision 
was prophetic! 

The bird trypanosomes are very much 
larger than the mammalian variety, are 
very dense and move much more slowly. 

An example of an organism very closely 
allied to the trypanosomes which is only 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


found in fishes’ blood, and is called a Try- 
panoplasma, has two flagella, and the 
micro-nucleus is very large. They are 
probably transferred by leeches, but very 
little is yet known of them. 

There are other flagellated organisms 
which may appear in the blood and live 
there as accidental parasites. There is a 
kind of inflammation of the intestines in 
reptiles (in the large sense) which causes 
the mucosa of the intestine to become per- 
meable, so that some of the organisms which 
live in the intestine are able to zet into the 
blood and live there. The only mention of 
these organisms in the blood is by Dani- 
lewsky, who in 1889 found hexamitus in the 
blood of a frog and tortoise. When in the 
blood they appear to excite a general 
cedema and ascites. I have found them 
now in nine cases. These are interesting as 
showing the power of adaptation to new 
surroundings possessed by these parasites. 

I now come to the intracellular parasites. 

Schaudinn thought that the bird try- 
panosomes had an intracellular stage, and 
if this were so they would form a bridge 
between the extracellular parasites, of 
which I have shown you types, and the 
intracellular parasites we are about to con- 
sider. But Schaudinn seemed, with his 
very brilliant attainments, to want a little 
more ballast of medical earth-knowledge. 
His work on this point has not been con- 
firmed, and he was probably misled by a 
double, or even treble infection, so that we 
must think of these intracellular parasites 
as quite distinct from the others. 

I will take first the Plasmodium precoz, 
the cause of the malaria in birds, as this 
parasite is of great historical interest; for 
it was Ross’s work on this organism and 
his discovery of the rest of its life-cycle in 
the mosquito, which enabled him—on ac- 
count of the great likeness between this and 
the parasite causing human malaria—to 


NoveMBer 21, 1913] 


deduce from the one the etiology of the 
other, which was confirmed by Grassi and 
others. The Plasmodium precox is, in 
many stages, so like human malaria that it 
can only be differentiated by the presence 
of the oval nucleus of the bird’s red cor- 
puseles. The life-cycle is very complex, 
part taking place in the blood of the bird, 
and another part (sexual reproduction) in 
the body of a mosquito. This parasite was 
first seen by Grassi in 1890; it is very 
widely distributed, and is very deadly to 
birds. 

Human malaria has been known for cen- 
turies. Varro, who knew a good deal 
about what we should now call hygiene, 
more than a century B.Cc., thought that ma- 
larial fevers were due to invisible animals, 
which entered the body with the air in 
breathing, and Vitruvius, Columellus and 
Paladius were of the same opinion. Now 
we know that the mosquito is again the car- 
rier, and that the sexual part of the para- 
site’s cycle takes place in it, but whether 
the mosquito alone can account for all the 
phenomena of malaria is not yet quite cer- 
tain. 

There are three varieties of malaria in 
man—the tertian, quartan, and quotidian; 
in the tertian the eycle of the parasite in 
the body takes forty-eight hours, and in 
quartan seventy-two hours, and in perni- 
cious malaria the fever is very irregular, 
but continuous. Whether there are three 
different parasites, or only one, which is 
altered according to its environment of 
host, climate, etc., is still apparently uncer- 
tain. Javeran and Metchnikoff believe in 
the specific unity of the parasite, whereas 
some observers want as many as five differ- 
ent species. 

Just as in human malaria the pernicious 
form is distinguished by the elongated form 
of its gametes, so in birds there is a para- 
site which is distinguished, in the same 


SCIENCE 


729 


way, from Plasmodium precox by its very 
elongated gametes. This parasite is called 
Hemoproteus Danilewski. Its development 
is unknown; it begins as a tiny irregular 
body in the red corpuscles of the bird, then 
it grows in the long axis of the cell and 
turns round the end of the nucleus. It is 
possible in these parasites to follow the 
process of impregnation, which normally 
takes place in some insect. By taking the 
blood when full of the long, fully-grown 
gametocytes, and keeping it for a time out- 
side the body, this process can be followed. 

First of all, the gametocytes escape from 
the blood-corpuscles and roll themselves up 
into a ball. Some of these remain quiet— 
the females, curiously, the macrogameto- 
eytes—whilst in the microgametocytes ac- 
tive movements are seen; then tailed proc- 
esses are seen projecting from its surface, 
which at last get free and wander about in 
the blood, this constituting the origin of 
the microgametes from the microgameto- 
eyte. They then find a macrogamete, and 
penetrate into it and fertilize it. This fer- 
tilized macrogamete then alters its shape 
and becomes an ookinete, with the remains 
attached containing the pigment. It may 
enter a red corpuscle, but it usually breaks 
up, because it finds it is not in the stomach 
of the insect it intended to be in, but be- 
tween two pieces of glass. 

From Hemoproteus it is easy to pass to 
a rare and undetermined parasite of the 
blood of birds called a Leucocytozoon. It 
occurs in the blood in the form of a long, 
spindle-shaped, unpigmented body. Very 
little is known of it except that it is found 
in its sexual forms. The earliest observers 
of this parasite—Danilewsky and Ziemann 
—helieved the host-cell to be a leucocyte 
(hence the name), but Laveran has shown 
that it is a red corpuscle. 

We now come to a group of parasites of 


great practical importance, the Babesias, 


730 


‘formerly called Piroplasma, which are the 
cause of Texas fever or red-water fever, 
malignant jaundice, Hast Coast fever, and 
biliary fever amongst domestic animals. 
We know, again, little that is certain con- 
cerning this group, except that they are 
unpigmented parasites of the red cor- 
puscles, and are carried by ticks. They are 
the most destructive to the blood of any we 
know. In an ox, I have seen the red cor- 
puscles decrease from 8,000,000—the nor- 
mal—to 56,000 per cubie millimeter in two 
days. 

Another important group, the Levsh- 
mania, is still uncertain of its exact posi- 
tion. In the body they occur as small 
bodies with a nucleus and micro-nucleus, 
but when cultivated on artificial media 
they become flagellated organisms of a 
herpetotomas type. It is not quite certain 
what insect plays the part of carrier, but 
‘the different varieties of this group cause 
the diseases known as Kala Azar or trop- 
ical splenomegaly, Oriental sore, Delhi boil, 
Biskra boil, ete., and also infantile splenic 
anemia. 

The last class are the Heemogregarines. 
These are parasites of the red corpuscles 
of reptiles principally, but they have been 
described in mammals and birds. We only 
know certain stages of the greater part of 
them; they are large, sausage-shaped bodies, 
not pigmented, and they are supposed to be 
-earried by leeches, ticks, lice and fleas. 
They generally have a capsule. In some 
instances the host-cell is enormously en- 
larged,and entirely dehemoglobinized, but 
in most eases the host-cell is not enlarged. 

I have now taken you over some ex- 
amples of all the known types of blood- 
parasites, but, at best, the picture in your 
minds must be like that of a landscape 
taken from a railway carriage at full 
speed; and the result, I fear, only a kind 
of clarified confusion, but it will be some- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


thing if I have succeeded in making it 
transparent at the edges. What must have 
struck you most is the smallness of our ex- 
act knowledge of many of these extraor- 
dinary organisms and the gaps that there 
are even in this. But the incitement to 
future work lies in this fact, for 

Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing. 


HENRY GEORGE PLUMMER 


SOME EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS IN 
KANSAS1 

Kansas partakes of the general educa- 
tional life of our country and confronts in 
a large measure the problems presented in 
all other parts of the United States. Much 
criticism has been directed against public 
schools, whether common schools, high 
schools or colleges and universities. Part 
of this criticism has been constructive in 
its aim and founded upon a conscientious 
loyal purpose. Some of its has been de- 
structive, without adequate basis, and 
founded upon ignorance or unworthy mo- 
tives. The conditions that subject the 
schools to reasonable criticism have been 
found after investigation to be due not so 
much to the schools or institutions them- 
selves as to the character of our community 
life quite beyond the sole control of schools 
and colleges. This has been true of Kansas 
and of its institutions of higher education; 
and the most searching criticism has shown 
them to be on the whole sound, economical 
in their management, praiseworthy in their 
motives and purposes. That there has been 
waste in education of all degrees there is no 
doubt, but if we set up the rule that those 
agencies of life that present waste must be 
abolished or their fundamental organiza- 
tion and purpose changed, then all the 
agencies of life must be abolished or their 
fundamental purpose and organization 


1 Semi-centennial of Kansas State Agricultural 
College, October 29, 1913. 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


changed for there is no perfection in any 
human agency and all are subject to the 
charge of waste. I believe that the 
charge of waste, so far as money waste 
is concerned, has less foundation in con- 
nection with education than in connection 
with most other agencies of our American 
life. This I believe to be true of Kan- 
sas also. Waste in education does not 
necessarily arise through a large expendi- 
ture of money. It arises much more from 
the lack of large expenditures of money, 
for all those who are acquainted with 
the great problems of education will 
probably agree that there is no waste so 
great, no extravagance so unjustifiable 
as a false economy in education and there 
is no use of funds so truly economical, so 
immensely efficient as an expenditure of 
public funds upon education as large as 
the demands of our time and the outlook 
for the future makes necessary. Therefore, 
as I view it, the problem with us is not the 
reduction in the expenditures by the state 
for education but a large increase in the 
expenditures of the state, and a most care- 
ful and efficient administration of those 
expenditures on the basis of the most ex- 
pert and experienced advice that our most 
expert and experienced administrators can 
give. 

2. That there has been a change in the 
general purpose of education there can be 
little doubt. This was inevitable in con- 
nection with the movement toward the 
democratization of American life. It is 
another aspect of the movement, whether 
we like it or not, to achieve a real democ- 
racy in the United States. To accomplish 
this without the aid of the schools would be 
most difficult for the schools are the main 
agency by which the achievements of the 
past are handed down to succeeding gen- 
erations and by which fundamental changes 
in the general operations of our life must be 


SCIENCE 


731 


maintained. If the purpose of education 
remained the same, if the intellectual dis- 
cipline of our schools remained absolutely 
rigid, progress would be almost if not quite 
impossible. Every decade brings its new 
discoveries. All of these accretions must be 
added to what we are to hand down to the 
rising generation. The modern public 
high school, the modern public university, 
bringing as they do within their sphere of 
influence a vast throng of boys and girls 
from every walk of life had to be adjusted 
to the needs of this heterogeneous mass 
and the institutions that were originally 
planned for the development of a profes- 
sion or for a few callings in life or for the 
more fortunate classes in our country have 
been obliged to adapt themselves to the new 
aspect of our national life. No change so 
great as this may ever go on without its 
accompanying dangers. This change has 
been so rapid and so revolutionary as to 
make permanent adjustment difficult. The 
danger here lies in the possibility that the 
basis of education may become the purpose 
solely or largely to train for the ability to 
accumulate wealth. In other words it may 
become materialistic. Whatever defects 
the old training had it was free from mate- 
rialism. Therefore, as I view it, the prob- 
lem in Kansas is by far-sighted wisdom to 
secure such permanent adjustment as shall 
make our institutions of learning hospitable 
to all the permanent shiftings of our com- 
munity life and at the same time to avoid 
a materialistic purpose and basis of educa- 
tion. 

3. Vocational education has been a nec- 
essary outcome of the general industrial 
development in our American life, and of 
the change in the purpose of our education. 
In 1889-90 there were only 203,000 pupils 
in the public high schools in America. 
There were in 1911-12, 1,105,000. In 1889- 
1890 there were in colleges, universities 


732 


and schools of technology, 66,000. In 
1912 there were 198,000. That this great 
multitude of boys and girls crowding into 
our colleges and universities should not be 
shunted off from the trades and industries, 
from a contact with and a knowledge of 
hand labor, that they should be able to earn 
a competent living, vocational training 
was inevitable. In this connection there 
are at least two things that ought by all 
means to be considered. In the first place 
any arrangement of American education 
that shall lead to stratification of our pop- 
ulation by which one class is turned per- 
force in one direction and another in 
another would be a national calamity. No 
such stratification as has occurred in Ger- 
many could be tolerated in America. No 
teacher or administrator must ever have 
tthe authority to say to one boy that he may 
‘go on into the high school and prepare for 
‘college and issue with all that the college 
‘or university can give him, and to another 
boy that he must go into a trade school 
and issue as a hand laborer. There must 
be absolute freedom for the choice of the 
individual and the road must be open from 
the kindergarten to the university for every 
boy or girl that has any aspirations for the 
highest training. Then again, if we are 
to have vocational training and if we are 
to deal with this great multitude in an 
adequate fashion, vocational guidance must 
go with vocational training. There must 
be adequate supervision, adequate sugges- 
tion and guidance by which boys and girls 
may be made acquainted with the different 
trades, ‘industries and professions; given 
some adequate insight into the purposes 
and requirements of each so that they may 
have not coercion but assistance in arriv- 
ing at the task in life that each desires to 
perform. I hope to see in the university 
over which I preside the development of 
competent agencies for investigation into 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


the individual aptitude of students and 
the introduction of courses and other 
means for vocational guidance and infor- 
mation concerning trades, industries, pro- 
fessions and business callings. 

4. There is no aspect of our education 
whether in the United States or in our 
own state that is more disheartening or 
that raises more questions of doubt than 
the adequate supply and the adequate qual- 
ity of teachers for our schools of every 
grade. To overcome this, undoubtedly two 
things are absolutely necessary. First, the 
independence of the teacher, permanency 
of tenure, the respect that is due to a great 
and dignified calling. No class of men or 
women of any spirit or ability will enter 
a profession, or having entered long re- 
main in it, if their independence, their 
right of initiative and free speech as Amer- 
ican citizens is in any way in question. 
Nor will they enter a profession or long 
remain in it if their tenure of office is 
lacking in permanency or subject to any 
uneertainty arising from the exigencies of 
polities or too frequent changes in admin- 
istrative policy. Unless these evils are 
remedied I fear, from many evidences dur- 
ing the last few years, that we must look 
for a decrease rather than an increase in 
the number and quality of our teachers. 

But perhaps the most vital considera- 
tion in this respect is the condition of teach- 
ers’ salaries. I refer here to the salaries 
in all grades of schools, including colleges 
and universities. The salaries in our col- 
leges and universities are, so far as rela- 
tion to purchasing power and living con- 
ditions is concerned, lower I believe than 
they have ever been in the history of the 
institutions. The report of the commis- 
sioner of education for 1912, page 29, has 
a section dealing with this point. It gives 
a summary of the report of a committee of 
the National Education Association on 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


teachers’ salaries and the high cost of liv- 
ing. Taking it as the basis of authority we 
may note that 

The United States Bureau of Labor found that 
in 1911 wholesale prices were 44.1 per cent. 
higher than in 1897. Measured by wholesale 
prices a teacher whose salary had remained fixed 
at $1,000 since 1897 would have no greater pur- 
chasing power in 1911 than $693 possessed in 
the earlier year. 

The increase of wholesale prices has, of course, 
been reflected to a greater or less degree in retail 
prices generally. . . . In June, 1912, retail food 
prices were 61.7 per cent. higher than the average 
for 1896. 

In any college or university, therefore, 
where the salaries of professors have re- 
mained at from $2,000 to $2,500 the 
teacher has found a tremendous decrease in 
the actual value of what he received. The 
result has been, as the Carnegie Founda- 
tion reports so ably show, a drawing off 
from the teaching profession on the part of 
many able men and women who for the 
good of our education ought to have re- 
mained. A further continuance of this 
condition will draw off a still greater 
number and make it more and more diffi- 
cult to persuade men especially to enter 
the teaching profession. 

5. One of the great problems confronting 
education in Kansas as elsewhere is still 
the moral and religious problem. If any 
were misled years ago into the belief that 
intellectual training provided sufficient, 
safeguards and moral standards, certainly 
our experience in the last decade must 
have disillusioned him. There is nothing 
so futile as the attempt to make intellec- 
tual training take the place of moral and 
religious training and no man is so dan- 
gerous as the educated man gone wrong. 
In my judgment the grave point of danger 
in our schools is not the college or univer- 
sity. Long experience leads to this conclu- 
sion and statistics and general observation 


SCIENCE 


733 


point inevitably to the same conclusion. 
The grave point of danger is the home and 
high school and here must the great work 
be done, for after all ours with all its de- 
fects is a Christian civilization. Historical 
Christianity is the basis of our whole life 
and we, as a nation, shall stand or fall 
with it. 

6. One of the problems confronting all 
states having several institutions of higher 
education is their proper correlation. The 
demand for such correlation in Kansas has 
come about to some extent from the belief 
that large duplication exists which might 
easily be eliminated by an arbitrary decree 
fixing the field of each institution. It has 
been thought by some that it would be 
feasible to define precise and narrow limits 
for the institutions and to confine them 
strictly within such limits. As soon as 
one considers this problem carefully with 
a full understanding of practical condi- 
tions it becomes evident that such a nar- 
row delimitation is impossible and if it 
should be undertaken upon any precise 
theory it might result in disastrous dis- 
memberment of our institutions and great 
harm to our education. No one, so far as I 
know, would undertake to defend duplica- 
tion which is artificial and gratuitous, 
which has no substantial basis and is not 
a necessary concomitant of the genius of 
the institution itself. But every institu- 
tion must round out its life and do what 
necessarily arises in its field of operation. 

The demand for correlation has arisen 
in the second place from a belief that 
large duplication exists, necessarily giving 
rise to an unusual and useless cost of edu- 
cation. The total cost of higher education 
in Kansas is large and at this point it is 
commonly assumed that the cost per insti- 
tution and per student must be excessive 
and that duplication must be the cause of 
it. This belief is unwarranted. Now, there 


134 


is one infallible test of whether or not edu- 
cation in our Agricultural College or Uni- 
versity is costing too much and that is a 
comparison of our per capita cost with that 
of other like institutions in other states, for 
taking a long series of years together 
there is no standard of the necessary cost 
of education so accurate as the average cost 
in institutions of practically the same 
grade. Indeed it would be impossible for 
any considerable duplication of effort to ex- 
ist in Kansas without largely increasing 
the cost per student. To show that the 
cost per institution and per student in 
Kansas is not large one has only to com- 
pare the average cost of other institutions 
and their cost per student with our own. 
Such a comparison will show in practically 
every case that without question the cost 
of education in the Kansas Agricultural 
College and the University of Kansas, both 
as to the institutions themselves and as to 
their cost per capita, is below the average 
of other institutions of like rank. The 
large cost of education in Kansas arises 
rather from the unprecedented number of 
young people that Kansas undertakes to 
educate. There were students, residents 
of Kansas, in the University and Agricul- 
tural College in 1911-12, to the number of 
4594. If Iowa had educated as many ac- 
cording to population as Kansas, instead 
of 4,163 resident students in its University 
and Agricultural College it would have 
had 6,317; Wisconsin, instead of having 
3,945 would have had 6,341; Indiana, in- 
stead of 3,889 would have had 7,339; 
Michigan instead of 4,509 would have had 
7,636; Missouri instead of 2,740 would 
have had 8,949, and Illinois instead of 
38,504 would have had 15,322. The ques- 
tion that arises, therefore, is not excessive 
cost per student but shall Kansas continue 
to educate its young people in unusual and 
ever increasing numbers and pay the neces- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


sary cost? I believe that most of us would 
answer most emphatically in the affirma- 
tive. 

The question of coordination of institu- 
tions suggests another danger that might 
arise through an attempt to standardize in- 
stitutions within a given state and make 
them uniform in their purpose, their spirit 
and their outlook. I believe that nothing 
worse could happen in Kansas education. 
The value of our institutions lies largely 
in their being different, in having different 
problems to solve, in having a different 
life, a different point of view. A college 
or a university has a soul as has a man and 
the personality of an institution and the 
integrity of its life at all hazards must be 
maintained. It must be held to its primary 
purpose and acquit itself valiantly in its 
own domain. It seems to me, therefore, 
that the watchword in Kansas must be co- 
operation; that the teaching bodies of each 
institution must have and exercise powers 
of initiative and internal control-in order 
to visualize and develop their own prob- 
lems and maintain their own integrity and 
independence; that at the same time they 
must cooperate most fully with the board 
of administration and every other proper 
agency of education in their every endeavor 
to secure a true and fundamental coopera- 
tion to the end that our education, while as 
diverse as the different agencies connected 
with it, shall after all have a true and 
noble unity. 

FRANK STRONG, 


Chancellor 
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 


THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS 


Tue American Society of Naturalists in 
affiliation with the American Society of Zoolo- 
gists, the American Association of Anatomists, 
and the Federation of American Societies for 
Experimental Biology, will hold its thirty-first 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


meeting at Philadelphia, under the auspices of 
the University of Pennsylvania, on Wednes- 
day, December 31, 1913. 

The morning session will be open for papers 
on evolution, genetics and related subjects 
from members or invited guests, titles of 
which with estimated length of delivery must 
be in the hands of the secretary by December 1. 
Requests for microscopes or for space for 
demonstrations should also be sent to the sec- 
retary. 

The program of the afternoon will be a 
symposium on “The Scope of Biological 
Teaching in relation to New Fields of Dis- 
covery.” The annual dinner will be held in 
the evening of the same day. 

Headquarters of the affiliated societies will 
be at the Hotel Walton, Broad and Locust 
Streets. Brapury M. Davis, 


Secretary 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIA- 
TION 


Monpay, Tuesday and Wednesday, Decem- 
ber 29, 30 and 31, have been selected as the 
dates for the twenty-second annual meeting of 
the American Psychological Association. At 
the invitation of the psychologists at Yale 
University, the sessions will be held in New 
Haven, in affiliation with the American Philo- 
sophical Association. 

One joint session of the two societies will be 
arranged. At the present time it is still un- 
certain whether this session will be devoted 
wholly to discussion of the theme, “ The Stand- 
point of Psychology,” or whether a varied pro- 
gram will be made by selecting from among 
the papers offered, a few of those that promise 
to be of greatest interest to the membership 
of both associations. 

Round Tables—It has been proposed 
to provide time on the program for infor- 
mal round-table conferences of small groups 
of psychologists who are particularly inter- 
ested in some more or less specialized subject. 
“Psychological Tests of College Freshmen,” 
for example, is one of the topics in which sey- 
eral laboratories seem to have a waxing inter- 


SCIENCE 


735 


est just now, and doubtless an informal inter- 
change of ideas and experience would have 
some value. More or less related themes are 
“Psychological Tests and Vocational Guid- 
ance”; “ Graded Measurements of Adult Intel- 
ligence”; “Problems of Psychological Re- 
search among Defectives and Delinquents.” A 
timely topic, sure to call out a clash of ideas, 
has been suggested to the secretary from differ- 
ent quarters, “ The Movement toward Divorce 
of Philosophy and Psychology.” Is psychology, 
more than any of the other natural sciences, 
dependent on philosophy? In how far are 
the two disciplines being benefited by the 
rapidly spreading tendency toward separation 
of the two departments in university organi- 
zation ? 

This year, as usual, the main portion of the 
program will be reserved for reports of experi- 
mental research. The experience of recent 
meetings has convinced the committee that 
these reports are of the greatest value when 
they do not undertake to go into detail, but 
aim instead to state clearly, but briefly, the 
nature of the problem and the method of 
attack, and then pass at once to the general 
summary of the results and a discussion of the 
conclusions reached, leaving the mass of de- 
tailed results to be presented when the re- 
search is published in full. It is impossible 
to compact an effective report of research into 
the ten or fifteen minutes allowed, when an 
effort is made to include in it a bulk of de- 
tailed information which is beyond the maxi- 
mal span of the attention of an average 
psychologist. 

Cards for use in sending in the titles of re- 
ports will be mailed to all members shortly. 

The Yale laboratory affords excellent 
quarters for the display of apparatus. Mem- 
bers are asked to inform the secretary of any 
new form of apparatus or any useful demon- 
stration device which has not already been 
brought to the notice of this society. Im- 
provements on standard appliances are often 
quite as worthy of attention as entirely new 
forms. The expense of transportation will, up 
to a certain limit, be assumed by the Asso- 
ciation. 


736 


The secretary wishes this year to gather 
together a varied assortment of printed and 
mimeographed syllabi, outlines, laboratory 
directions, charts, blanks, bibliographies of 
supplementary and suggested readings, review 
questions, examination questions and the like, 
so that we may all see something of the minor 
aids to instruction which our colleagues are 
employing. He begs that each one who reads 
this announcement will take the few moments 
of time necessary to mail to him at once a 
packet containing samples of all material of 
this sort which happens to be accessible. 

W. V. Brnenam, 


Secretary 
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 


THE DANA CENTENARY 


In commemoration of the great geologic 
work of James Dwight Dana, Yale University 
will hold a centenary celebration next Decem- 
ber, to consist of a series of lectures, culmi- 
nating in a Dana Memorial volume on “ Prob- 
lems of American Geology.” The lectures 
will be given on the Silliman Foundation, and 
are open to all interested persons. The speak- 
ers and their respective subjects are as 
follows: 


PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN GEOLOGY 
Introduction 
““The Geology of James Dwight Dana,’’ Pro- 
fessor William North Rice, of Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, Tuesday, December 2, 8 P.M. 


I. Problems of the Canadian Shield 


“«The Archeozoic and its Problems,’’ Professor 
Frank Dawson Adams, of McGill University, 
Thursday and Friday, December 4 and 5, 5 P.M. 

“«The Proterozoic and its Problems,’’ Professor 
Arthur Philemon Coleman, of the University of 
Toronto, Wednesday and Thursday, December 10 
and 11, 5 P.M, 


II. Problems of the Cordilleras 


‘“The Cambrian and its Problems,’’ Dr. Charles 
Doolittle Walcott, of the Smithsonian Institution, 
Monday, December 15, 5 P.M. 

“«The Igneous Geology and its Problems,’’ Pro- 
fessor Waldemar Lindgren, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, Tuesday, December 16, 
5 P.M. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou, XXXVIIT. No. 986 


“‘The Tertiary Structural Evolution and its 
Problems,’’ Dr. Frederick Leslie Ransome, of the 
United States Geological Survey, Wednesday, De- 
cember 17, 5 P.M. 

‘“The Tertiary Sedimentary Record and its 
Problems,’’ Dr. William Diller Matthew, of the 
American Museum of Natural History, Thursday 
and Friday, December 18 and 19, 5 P.M. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Ir is announced that M. Charles Richet, pro- 
fessor of physiology in the University of 
Paris, has been awarded the Nobel prize for 
medicine. 


THE Royal Society of Edinburgh has 
elected honorary fellows as follows: Professor 
Horace Lamb, F.R.S., professor of mathe- 
matics in the University of Manchester; Sir 
W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., 
formerly director of the Royal Botanic Gar- 
dens, Kew; Dr. G. E. Hale, director of the 
Mount Wilson Solar Observatory (Carnegie 
Institution of Washington); Professor Emil 
C. Jungfleisch, professor of organic chemistry 
in the College of France, Paris; Professor S. 
Raymén y Cajal, professor of histology and 
pathological anatomy in the University of 
Madrid; Professor V. Volterra, professor of 
mathematics and physics in the University of 
Rome; Professor C. R. Zeiller, professor of 
plant paleontology in the National Superior 
School of Mines, Paris. 

Proressor W. M. Davis, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, has been granted an appropriation 
from the Shaler Memorial Fund to defray in 
part the expense of his trip to the South Pa- 
cific to study the physiographic evidence re- 
lating to the problem of coral reefs. 

AT its last meeting held on November 12, 
1913, the Rumford committee of the Ameri- 
can Academy appropriated the sum of $250 to 
Professor Louis V. King, of McGill Univer- 
sity, to defray the expenses of computation 
for his research on “ The Scattering and Ab- 
sorption of Solar Radiation in the Earth’s At- 
mosphere.” 


Tue council of the Royal Meteorological 
Society has awarded the Symons Gold Medal 
to Mr. W. H. Dines, F.R.S., in recognition of 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


the valuable work which he has done in con- 
nection with meteorological science. The 
medal will be presented at the annual meet- 
ing of the society on January 21, 1914. 

Proressor JuLIus StTimEcuitz, of the depart- 
ment of chemistry in the University of Chi- 
cago, is a member of the committee appointed 
by the Chicago section of the American Chem- 
ical Society to cooperate, if desired, with the 
mayor of Chicago in the solution of the city’s 
waste problem. Other members of the com- 
mittee are Professor John H. Long, of North- 
western University, and Professor Harry 
McCormack, of the department of chemical 
engineering in the Armour Institute of Tech- 
nology. 

Proressorn E. E. SoutrHarp, of Harvard 
University, has been made a member of the 
board of scientific directors of the Eugenics 
Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 
Professor Southard has also been made a mem- 
ber of the consulting board for the laboratory 
erected by the Bureau of Social Hygiene in 
connection with the State Reformatory for 
Women at Bedford Hills, N. Y. 


WE learn from The Observatory that owing 
to the continued illness of Professor Sir Rob- 
ert Ball, Professor Newall has been made dep- 
uty director of the Cambridge Observatory. 

Mr. H. Knox SHaw has been appointed 
superintendent of the Helwan Observatory, 
‘Egypt. 

Epear T. Wuerry, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania, 
09), lately assistant professor of mineralogy 
at Lehigh University, has been appointed as- 
sistant curator of mineralogy and petrology 
in the department of geology, United States Na- 
tional Museum, succeeding Mr. Joseph E. 
Pogue, transferred to the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, and James C. Martin, Ph.D. 
(Princeton, 713), has been appointed assistant 
curator of physical and chemical geology, suc- 
ceeding Mr. Chester G. Gilbert, now curator of 
mineral technology. 

Mr. THomas LaNncasTER WRrEN, who took a 
first class in the mathematical tripos in 1909 
and 1911, and Mr. Franklin Kidd, son of Ben- 
jamin Kidd, the author of “ Social Evolution,” 


SCIENCE 


137 


who took a first class in the natural science 
tripos in 1912, have been elected to fellowships 
in St. John’s College, Cambridge. 

Dr. S. Carman, chief assistant at the 
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, has been 
elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 

Tue clinical congress of surgeons of North 
America was held in Chicago last week. In 
addition to the clinical demonstrations held 
in the various hospitals of the city, eight even- 
ing sessions were devoted to the reading and 
discussion of papers. Among those who made 
addresses before the congress were Dr. Edward 
Martin, Philadelphia; the retiring presi- 
dent, Dr. George E. Brewer, of New York; 
the incoming president, Sir W. Arbuthnot 
Lane, London; Dr. Carl Beck, Chicago; Dr. 
John B. Deaver, Philadelphia; Dr. Howard 
Kelly, Baltimore; Dr. C. J. Gauss, Freiburg; 
Dr. Roswell Park, Buffalo; Dr. James Ewing, 
New York, and Dr. Charles Mayo, Rochester. 


Proressor H. MonmoutH Smiru, of Syra- 
cuse University, who has for several years been 
a volunteer investigator in the nutrition lab- 
oratory of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, Boston, has recently accepted a posi- 
tion on the laboratory staff in connection with 
the respiration calorimeters. 


Dr. Atots Riut, professor of philosophy at 
the University of Berlin, and formerly rector 
of the university, will give two lectures, in 
German, in Emerson Hall, Harvard Univer- 
sity, on the afternoons of November 17 and 18. 
The topics are “ Nietzsche” and “ Nietzsche 
and Bergson.” 

Av the regular monthly meeting of the 
Cosmos Club on November 10, Dr. Bailey 
Willis gave an address on “ Present Day Con- 
ditions in Argentina.” 

Tue eighty-eighth Christmas course of juve- 
nile lectures, founded at the Royal Institution 
in 1826 by Michael Faraday, will be delivered 
this year by Professor H. H. Turner, F.R.S., 
Savilian professor of astronomy in the Univer- 
sity of Oxford, his title being, “ A Voyage in 
Space.” The lectures will be experimentally 
illustrated, and the subjects are as follows: 
The Starting Point—Our Earth, The Start 


738 


through the Air, Journeying by Telescope, 
Visit to the Moon and Planets, Our Sun, The 
Stars. 

Arruur J. Friru, professor of engineering 
in the Armour Institute, Chicago, died on No- 
vember 10. 

Tue death is announced of Dr. Arthur Kd- 
gar, instructor in chemistry at Columbia Uni- 
versity. 

Dr. Epwin Kuess, the well-known patholo- 
gist and bacteriologist, died at Dortmund, on 
October 21, aged seventy-nine years. 

Sir Joun Barry Tuxe, M.D., member of 
parliament for the universities of Edinburgh 
and St. Andrews, and Morison lecturer on in- 
sanity and mental diseases in the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians of Edinburgh, died on Oc- 
tober 31, aged seventy-eight years. 

Dr. Avotr HorrMan, professor of geology 
in the mining school at Przibram, has died at 
the age of sixty years. 

Dr. Simon von Naruusius, professor of 
agriculture at Halle, has died at the age of 
forty-eight years. 

Tue death is also announced of Dr. Ferdi- 
nand Blumentritt, of lLeitmeritz, in Bo- 
hemia, known for his scientific work in the 
Philippine Islands. 

Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for assistant in agri- 
cultural technology, for men only, on Decem- 
ber 38, 1913, to fill vacancies in this position in 
the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C. The eligibles 
obtained from this examination will be classi- 
fied in two groups, with salaries ranging as 
follows: Group A, $1,600 to $2,250 per annum; 
group B, $1,200 to $1,440 per annum. The 
services of the eligibles to be selected from 
Group A are desired in the laboratory of agri- 
cultural technology in the preparation of the 
official cotton grades, their work requiring an 
intimate knowledge of cotton grading and the 
various processes of cotton manufacture. 

M. Duranpeau, of Angouléme, has _be- 
queathed £2,000 to the Pasteur Institute, 
Paris, for the foundation of a prize for re- 
searches on the cure of meningitis. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


Tue International Congress of Hydrology 
just held at Madrid decided that the next 
meeting should take place two years hence at 
Lyons. 

At the twenty-third annual meeting of the 
Ohio Academy of Science, which will take 
place at Oberlin College on November 27, 28 
and 29, in addition to the reading of papers, 
an address will be given by Professor L. B. 
Walton, the president of the academy, on 
“The Evolutionary Control of Organisms and 
Its Significance” and an illustrated lecture 
on “Sound,” by Professor Dayton C. Miller, 
of the Case School of Applied Science. 


A REGULAR meeting of the American Phys- 
ical Society will be held in Chicago on Friday 
and Saturday, November 28 and 29. On Fri- 
day afternoon there will be a special session 
to discuss “The Photoelectric Effect and 
Quantum Theory.” 

A MEMORIAL meeting to the late Reginald 
Heber Fitz, Hersey professor of the theory and 
practise of physic, emeritus, was held in the 
Harvard Medical School, November 17. Ad- 
dresses were made by Dr. W. W. Keen, of the 
Jefferson Medical College; President Charles 
W. Eliot; Dr. Henry P. Walcott, chairman of 
the Board of Health of the State of Massachu- 
setts; Dr. William Sydney Thayer, of Johns 
Hopkins University, and Dr. William T. 
Councilman, of the Medical School. 


Tue faculty and the graduate students of 
the department of botany in the University of 
Illinois have recently organized a_ society 
known as “Silphium.” The purpose of the 
organization is the presentation of original 
articles by the members, the review of recent 
literature, and also to obtain a better ac- 
quaintance with the flora of the immediate 
region. Dr. T. J. Burrill, professor emeritus 
of botany, has been chosen its honorary chair- 
man. 

Tue Physical Science Club of Oberlin Col- 
lege has organized for the year with Dr. 
Moore, associate professor of physics, as presi- 
dent, and Professor Hubbard, head of the de- 
partment of geology, as secretary and treas- 
urer. The opening meeting was addressed by 
Dr. Stetson, head of the department of psy- 


‘NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


chology, who spoke on “The Introduction to 
Science.” The Physical Science Club is com- 
posed of members of the teaching staff, grad- 
uate students and qualified undergraduates in 
the physical sciences. The members meet 
each week for the presentation of research 
work, special papers and general discussion. 
At the completion of its fiftieth volume, 
The American Chemical Journal, founded 
and edited by Dr. Ira Remsen, will be dis- 
continued as a separate publication and will 
be incorporated, from January, 1914, with the 
Journal of the American Chemical Society. 
Pursuant to arrangements made at the 
Eighteenth International Congress of Ameri- 
canists, in London, 1912, the Nineteenth Con- 
gress will meet in America in 1914 in two 
sessions, the first at Washington, from October 
5 to 10, and the second at La Paz, Bolivia. 
The session at Washington will be held 
under the auspices of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, in cooperation with the George Wash- 
ington University, Georgetown University, 
the Catholic University of America, the An- 
thropological Society of Washington, and the 
Washington Society of the Archeological 
Institute of America. During the session an 
excursion will be made to the highly interest- 
ing aboriginal quarry and workshop at Piney 
Branch, District of Columbia; and following 
the congress it is expected that two excursions 
will be arranged, one to Ohio for the exami- 
nation of ancient mounds, the other to New 
Mexico for the study of ancient ruined pueblos 
and cliff-dwellings, as well as of the present 
Pueblo Indians in their native environment. 
The officers of the organizing committee are: 
President—William H. Holmes; Secretary— 
Ales Urdlicka; Treasurer—Clarence F. Nor- 


ment. 


Worp has been received in Cambridge that 
the collection of Egyptian objects made by 
Professor Reisner for the Harvard University 
Museum has been partially destroyed on the 
way to America. The ship which was bring- 
ing it caught fire and was forced to return to 
a German port. The extent of the damage has 
not yet been determined. The collection con- 
sisted of prehistoric skeletons, pottery, flints 


SCIENCE 


739 


and a series of Egyptian anatomical remains. 

We learn from the Electrical World that at 
a meeting in Brussels on October 13 a “ Com- 
mission Internationale Scientifique de Télé- 
graphie sans Fil” was established for the 
scientific study of radio-telegraphic waves and 
their phenomena. The president is Mr. W. 
Duddell, of London; the secretary, M. Robert 
Goldschmidt, of Brussels; the vice-president, 
Professor W. Wien, of Jena. On and after 
January 1, 1914, at least until March 1, 1914, 
certain test messages will be sent from a sta- 
tion in Brussels at hourly intervals, on a wave- 
length of 8,800 in. Check measurements of 
the wave frequency, group frequency, power 
and other details will be made and recorded at 
Brussels. Observers are invited to measure 
these signals, as often, and at as many differ- 
ent places, as possible. It is hoped that na- 
tional committees may be regularly appointed 
to cooperate in the movement, the objects of 
which are to increase the knowledge of elec- 
tric radiation and meteorology. The distance 
from Brussels to New York is in the neighbor- 
hood of 4,000 statute miles, and to Chicago 
about 5,000; so that the signals which one can 
hope to receive in this country from Brussels 
are likely to be very weak. However, if the 
limiting distance at which these signals can 
be detected is determined in America, that 
fact will have significance and utility. 


Tue Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation states that an attempt is being made 
to establish, at the Army Medical Museum, 
Washington, D. C., an extensive library and 
lantern and stereoscopic slides of radiographs, 
representing the work of radiographers who 
have done particularly notable work along cer- 
tain lines. Enough slides have already been 
received to make the collection of value for 
reference and for teaching purposes at the 
Army Medical School. Those who have al- 
ready contributed to the collections are Dr. 
Lewis Gregory Cole, New York City, slides of 
stomach, lung and kidneys; Dr. William H. 
Dieffenbach, New York City, slides of diseases 
of bones; Dr. Kennon Dunham, Cincinnati, 
Ohio, stereoscopic slides of the lungs; Dr. 
Walter C. Hill, Cleveland, Ohio, slides of dis- 


740 


eases of bone, and Dr. James T. Case, Battle 
Creek, Mich., slides of the alimentary tract. 
Others have promised to send slides, and it is 
the intention to add to the collection from 
time to time as important work is done. The 
collection is available for study by any civilian 
practitioner on application to the curator, 
Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. 


WE learn from the Journal of the American 
Medical Association that acting under aus- 
pices of the commission appointed by the 
Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania 
for the Conservation of Vision that an active 
campaign is under way against ophthalmia 
neonatorum, needless eye injuries in the 
trades, trachoma, wood alcohol, wrong light- 
ing of buildings and like causes of blindness. 
In addition to a large number of distinguished 
laymen, acting as advisory members, the Com- 
mission on Conservation of Vision includes 
Dr. Wm. Campbell Posey, Wills Eye Hospital, 
Philadelphia, chairman; Dr. Wm. W. Blair, 
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.; 
Dr. Clarence P. Franklin, Philadelphia; Dr. 
C. M. Harris, Johnstown, Pa.; Dr. Edw. B. 
Heckel, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Dr. T. B. Holloway, 
University Hospital, Philadelphia, secretary ; 
Dr. Wendell Reber, Temple University, Phila- 
delphia; Dr. Edward Stieren, Pittsburgh, Pa.; 
Dr. Lewis H. Taylor, president of State So- 
ciety, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Dr. Wm. Zentmayer, 
Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia; Dr. Sam- 
uel G. Dixon, commissioner of health of the 
state of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pa., hon- 
orary chairman. 


ALASKA coal fields continue to be undevel- 
oped, according to the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey. The only coal being mined is 
some lignite coal taken out for local use at 
Cook Inlet, on Seward Peninsula, and at sev- 
eral other localities. The total production in 
1912 did not exceed 100 or 200 tons. One oil 
company continued operations in the Katalla 
petroleum field in 1912, as in 1911. One of 
the two producing wells is said to have been 
sunk to a depth of about 800 feet. The oil is 
procured by pumping and is refined in a small 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


plant located near Katalla, and the gasoline 
finds a ready sale in the coastal settlements 
of this part of Alaska. There are several 
other oil companies which control property in 
this field, but these seem to have done little in 
the way of development during 1912. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

A cirt of $4,350,000 to the Cornell Medical 
School is now officially announced. The name 
of the donor is withheld but he is believed to 
be Col. Oliver H. Payne, of New York City. 


At the conference of the Association of 
American Universities, held November 6, at 
the University of Illinois, eighteen of the 
twenty-two institutions admitted to member- 
ship were represented as follows: University 
of California, Dean A. O. Leuschner; Catho- 
lic University of America, Professor D. W. 
Shea; University of Chicago, Dean Rollin D. 
Salisbury and Dean Albion W. Small; Clark 
University, Professor J. W. Baird; Cornell 
University, Dean E. Merritt; University of 
Tilinois, Dean D. Kinley and Dean K. C. Bab- 
cock; State University of Iowa, Dean C. E. 
Seashore; Leland Stanford Junior University, 
Professor W. W. Willoughby; University of 
Kansas, Professor F. H. Hodder; University 
of Michigan, Dean K. Guthe; University of 
Minnesota, Dean G. S. Ford; University of 
Missouri, Dean I. Loeb; University of Ne- 
braska, Dean L. A. Sherman; University of 
Pennsylvania, Dean H. V. Ames and Dean J. 
C. Rolfe; University of Wisconsin, Director 
G. C. Comstock. 


THE non-resident lectures in the graduate 
course in Highway Engineering at Columbia 
University appointed for the 1913-1914 ses- 
sion are as follows: John A. Bensel, New York 
State Engineer; William H. Connell, chief, 
Bureau of Highways and Street Cleaning, 
Philadelphia; C. A. Crane, secretary, the Gen- 
eral Contractors Association; W. W. Crosby, 
chief engineer, Maryland Geological and Eco- 
nomic Survey, and consulting engineer; 
Charles Henry Davis, president, National 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


Highways Association; John H. Delaney, com- 
missioner, New York State Department of 
Efficiency and Economy; A. W. Dow, chem- 
ical and consulting paving engineer; H. W. 
Durham, chief engineer of highways, Bor- 
ough of Manhattan, New York City; C. N. 
Forrest, chief chemist, New York Testing 
Laboratory; Walter H. Fulweiler, chief chem- 
ist, United Gas Improvement Company; 
Frank B. Gilbreth, consulting engineer; 
George P. Hemstreet, superintendent, The 
Hastings Pavement Company; Samuel Hill, 
president, American Road Builders’ Associa- 
tion; D. L. Hough, president, the United 
Engineering and Contracting Company; J. 
W. Howard, consulting engineer; Arthur N. 
Johnson, state highway engineer of Illinois; 
William H. Kershaw, manager, Paving and 
Roads Division, the Texas Company; Nelson 
P. Lewis, chief engineer, Board of Estimate 
and Apportionment, New York City; Harold 
Parker, first vice-president, Hassam Paving 
Company; Paul D. Sargent, chief engineer, 
Maine State Highway Commission; Philip P. 
Sharples, chief chemist, Barrett Manufactur- 
ing Company; Francis P. Smith, chemical 
and consulting paving engineer; Albert Som- 
mer, consulting chemist; George W. Tillson, 
consulting engineer to the president of the 
Borough of Brooklyn. 

Dr. O. W. RicHarpson, F.R.S., professor of 
physics in Princeton University, has been ap- 
pointed to the Wheatstone chair of physics at 
King’s College, London, in succession to Pro- 


fessor C. G. Barkla, F.R.S. 


Dr. Kart Boru, of Heidelberg, has been 
appointed professor of mathematics in the 


University of Kénigsberg as successor to Pro- 
fessor G. Faber. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

ATOMIC IONIZATION AND ATOMIC CHARGES 

In a discussion of “ The Rutherford Atom ” 
in Somnce for August 22 Mr. Fulcher gives 
Kleeman’s table of the relative ionization of 
different elements by the 8 and y radiation 
and concludes that “atomic ionization seems 
to depend primarily upon the atomic weight, 


SCIENCE 


741 


which is probably proportional to the number 
of electrons in the atom.” 

Whatever theory of atomic structure we may 
adopt, it seems certain that electrons are held 
to their atoms by electrical forces in which 
the mass of the atom can play no part. If a 
relation exists between the mass of an atom 
and its electrical charge, then a corresponding 
relation should exist between its mass and its 
attraction for electrons. Since the ionization 
investigated by Kleeman consisted in the sep- 
aration of electrons from their atoms by the 
discharge of a, 8 and y radiation through the 
substance, it seems probable that the weaker 
the hold of the atoms upon their electrons the 
greater would be their ionization. 

Elsewhere I have tried to show that it is 
possible to calculate the electrical charges of 
a number of free atoms from their atomic 
mass and their velocity in electrolysis. If 
the above reasoning is correct, the charges cal- 
culated in this way should bear a definite re- 
lation to the ionization in Kleeman’s investi- 
gation. 

Unfortunately, the atomic charges can be 
calculated in this way for only four of the ele- 
ments in Kleeman’s table, but the indications 
given by these four seem so conclusive that I 
have thought it worth while to present them 
here. The four elements referred to are hydro- 
gen, chlorine, bromine and iodine. Their 
relative ionization by the different rays and 
their charges as electrolytic ions are given in 
the table below. 


Ionization 
Element Charge 
aRays-| B Rays | y Rays 
eh yeaa 175 | 18 18 | eM 
(Nescocsecasdsesac00 1.16 1.44 1.44 — 36.5 
Breese see 1.72 | 2.76 | 2.81 | — 84.9 
MR eesceacectcreee sees 2.26 4.10 4.50 —132.5 


It will be seen that while the ionization pro- 
duced by the 8 and y rays is practically the 
same, that produced by the a rays is much 
less. In either case, however, there is a con- 
stant relation between the ionic charges and 
the amount of ionization, showing that the 
greater the negative charge of the atom the 


742 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


No.1, 


IONIZATION. 


(0) 0 


greater the ionization. This relation is shown 
graphically in the following curves, where No. 
I. shows the mean ionization produced by the 
B and y rays as compared with the ionic 
charges and No. II. shows the same relation 
for the a radiation. 
FERNANDO SANFORD 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 
September 30, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


THE MARYLAND DEVONIAN BOOKS 

Tue fine series of volumes issued by the 
Maryland Geological Survey (Professor Wm. 
Bullock Clark, state geologist) has recently 
_1Maryland Geological Survey: Lower Devo- 
nian. Text, 560 p.; Middle and Upper Devonian. 
Text, 719 p.; Plates (Lower Devonian, 1-98; 
Middle Devonian, 7-44; Upper Devonian, 45-73). 
Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1913. 


IONIC CHARGES. 


been substantially supplemented in number and 
enhanced in worth by the publication of what 
may, for brevity, be styled the “ Maryland 
Devonian Books.” 

Following the tasteful pattern and admira- 
ble mechanical execution of the previous 
members of the series, the Devonian books 
constitute a graceful and enduring monument 
to the scientific vigor of the State of Maryland 
in which His Excellency, The Honorable 
Phillips Lee Goldsborough, and his distin- 
guished colleagues of the Geological Survey 
Commission may take a just and satisfying 
pride. These books are three stout volumes 
and the golden device of the state which they 
carry on their covers declares that good men 
have done this work at the command of the 
presiding genius of Maryland. The accom- 
plishment of this undertaking is the fulfilment 


‘NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


of a long promise and there need be no re- 
serve in saying that the result is destined to 
be of great value and durable service to geo- 
logical science. 

Amid the diversified output of official re- 
ports on American geology there has been 
nothing like this before—a monograph of a 
single geological system and its component 
faunas, wherein is given in detail all that is 
known of the local development of the system 
within definite, if artificial, boundaries. The 
very expression of this fact, the realization 
that here is a work of ultimate reference in this 
field, brings with it the wish that other states 
might have done like this for their own do- 
main and to the great advantage of those who 
seek to interpret the causes and sequences of 
geology along the broader lines. Many ex- 
pert men have participated in the creation of 
this work; and here again, as so often, our 
venerable adages break down, for many cooks 
have neither spoiled the broth nor have many 
hands made light work; for first, the collabo- 
rators speak with reasonable finality, and 
again, the conception of the state geologist 
has labored long and hard, through many 
years, to this successful parturition. 

The writer, having played a certain réle in 
the rendering of this composition, must re- 
frain from any exuberant notice of it. Nor 
would a critical review of the contents of the 
work be appropriate to these columns. All in 
due time the geological coroner with his hy- 
potheses will be along to hold his inquest over 
the corpus delicti. 

Volume 1 is devoted to the Lower Devonian, 
volume 2 to the Middle and Upper Devonian, 
and volume 8 consists of 165 plates, including 
9,500-8,000 figures of fossils. The text 
volumes are embellished with many half-tones 
of geological scenery and accompanied by sec- 
tion sheets in cover pockets, and volume 1 
carries a map of Maryland with the Appala- 
chian distribution of the Devonian members 
accurately colored. 

The introductory chapter on the general 
relations of the Devonian by Dr. Swartz 
points out succinctly the correlation of the 
formation in its various aspects, laying special 


SCIENCE 


743 


emphasis on the discrimination of shore-line 
and subcontinental deposits at the east from 
contemporaneous marine deposits toward the 
west, in correspondence with later Devonian 
conditions northward in Appalachia. Pro- 
fessor Schuchert has presented the paleogeog- 
raphy of the Devonian with the aid of a 
series of paleogeographic maps of North Amer- 
ica, which illuminate the procession of geo- 
graphical changes and are serviceable for dog- 
matic purposes, even though recent blows of 
the hammer have torn some cavernous rents 
in them. 

Dr. Prosser contributes 
Review and Bibliography. 

The lengthy chapter on the Lower Devonian 
Deposits is the work of Messrs. Schuchert, 
Swartz, Maynard and the late R. B. Rowe, 
each responsible for a special section, Mr. 
Schuchert for the general introduction, Messrs. 
Swartz, Maynard and Rowe for the determina- 
tive stratigraphy, Dr. Swartz for the forma- 
tional correlation. All four have shared in the 
“Local Sections,” a chapter with which the 
geological portion of the volume closes. 

In the descriptive paleontology which fol- 
lows, the chapters and their authors are these: 
Celenterata, by Dr. Swartz; Oystidea, by 
Professor Schuchert; Crinoidea and Vermes, 
by D. W. Ohern; Bryozoa, by Drs. Ulrich and 
Bassler; Brachiopoda, by Professor Schuchert 
and Mr. Maynard; Mollusea and Trilobites, 
by Messrs. Ohern and Maynard; Ostracoda, 
by Drs. Ulrich and Bassler. 

Thus briefly are the contents of this vol- 
ume 1 indicated, but only the stratigrapher 
and paleontologist will appreciate the pene- 
tration of these analytical studies. Perhaps 
a leading feature of the stratigraphy is that 
expressed by the authors of their conception 
of the “Keyser member” of the series and 
the discussion of its correlation value with 
contemporaneous Appalachian deposits else- 
where. This is a succession of homogeneous 
limey sediments with a thickness of several 
hundred feet which are assigned a place at 
the base of the Devonian system. The de 
posits are continuous into Pennsylvania, but 
their equivalents northward in New Jersey 


the Historical 


744 


and New York are known by other names, 
and the discussion of their correlation raises 
delicate questions of fact and interpretation. 

A very distinctive part of the paleontolog- 
ical chapters is Professor Schuchert’s treatise 
on the cystids, a somewhat expanded account 
of his earlier descriptions and illustrations 
of these genera and species which attained a 
noteworthy development in the “ Keyser mem- 
ber.” There are attractive novelties among 
the crinoids, fine Bassler-photos appear among 
the Bryozoa, familiar drawings among the 
profusion of brachiopods and Mollusca, very 
interesting trilobites, regarding which the 
writer ventures to intimate (by way of neutral- 
izing too much blandiloquence) that Homa- 
lonotus swartzt Ohern (Pl. 90) is H. vanuz- 
emt Hall (vanuxemi-major-perceensis type), 
that Dalmanites keyserensis Swartz (Pl. 91, 
Figs. 5, 8, 9) is D. micrurus Green and that 
the object figured on Pl. 92 (Fig. 3) as the 
hypostoma of D. multiannulatus Ohern is not 
an hypostoma, but the very interesting bifur- 
cate anterior limb of the cephalon. 

Volume 2 opens with a discussion of the 
Middle Devonian, its subdivision and corre- 
lation, the major part of which is by Dr. 
Prosser, who has, with his usual perspicacity 
and justness, discussed the characters of these 
sediments and their correlation values. The 
Maryland geologists have felt impelled to fol- 
low the usage of the U. S. Geological Survey 
in adopting the term “ Romney” (West Vir- 
ginia place-name) to embrace the members 
which in New York are known as the Onon- 
daga, Marcellus and Hamilton. Each of these 
is a recognizable factor in the composition of 
the Romney although the Onondaga has a 
distinctly peculiar development in lithology. 
And, says Dr. Prosser, “there are obstacles in 
the way of attempting to map these divisions 
separately due largely to the gradual change 
from the lithological characters of one- mem- 
ber to another. . .. It was thought best to 
regard the stages as constituting one forma- 
tion.” The distinctive character of the 
Onondaga member is a matter of much in- 
terest because of its essential departure from 
its calcareous expression at the north. Lime- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


stone deposition is largely replaced by black 
shales of the type of the Marcellus, and would, 
in the opinion of Dr. Swartz, who has con- 
tributed the special section on this forma- 
tion, indicate the increase southward of the 
replacement which is already evident in west- 
ern New York. 

Dr. Kindle contributes a concluding and 
philosophical chapter on the relations of the 
faunas to the sediments. 

The systematic paleontology of the Middle 
Devonian has been prepared chiefly by Drs. 
Prosser and Kindle, the Bryozoa by Drs. Ul- 
rich and Bassler. 

Thereupon follows a treatise on the Upper 
Devonian deposits by Drs. Prosser and 
Swartz, with the correlation essay and the 
local sections by Swartz, and finally the de- 
scriptive paleontology by Clarke and Swartz. 
The entire Upper Devonian series in Mary- 
land is divided into a lower marine—the Jen- 
nings formation—and an upper non-marine— 
the Catskill. In the matter of stratigraphy 
and faunal succession the Maryland Upper 
Devonian shows a closer relationship with the 
carefully elaborated Upper Devonian of New 
York than is as yet known from any other 
region outside the latter. But even with this 
close affiliation it has seemed necessary to 
meet present requirements by interposing 
new stratigraphic terms. The black shale 
and peculiar fauna of the Genesee member at 
the base of this series stand confirmed, but 
above it the Portage beds with the Naples 
fauna and the higher Ithaca fauna are em- 
braced by the term “ Woodmont shale mem- 
ber.” Overlying is the “ Parkhead sandstone 
member” which seems, in place and fauna, 
to be equivalent to the Enfield member or 
Unadilla terrane of New York (/thaca in its 
old and broader sense). The “Chemung 
sandstone member” has effectively the place 
and value of the Chemung in New York. 

What has been thus said may serve to indi- 
cate in small part the purport and present- 
ments of this work. Its collaborators have 
done honorably and with credit to them- 
selves and their themes in perfecting an en- 
eyclopedia of a great geological system in an 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


important Appalachian field; by means of it 
correspondences and contrasts with the de- 
velopments elsewhere of the Appalachian 
Devonian trough-seas- are made more lucid. 
The writer feels at liberty to speak thus, as 
he frankly concedes that his part of the book, 
done ten years ago and laid aside, has been 
more appropriately attired by the generous 
labors of Dr. Swartz. 

Though the writer’s appearance in SCIENCE 
as reviewer of these volumes is due to the 
solicitation of its editor, he may take ad- 
vantage of that fact to express the conviction, 
which will be shared by all students of the 
Devonian, that this work is a distinct credit 
to the science and its accomplishment an 
added honor to the distinguished head of the 
Maryland Geological Survey. 

JoHN M. CiarKE 


Technical Gas and Fuel Analysis. By ALFRED 
H. Wuirt, Professor of Chemical Engineer- 
ing, University of Michigan. Published by 
McGraw-Hill Book Company as one of the 
International Chemical Series. 1913. Pp. 
255. $2.00 net. 

The book contains seventeen chapters, the 
first twelve of which deal with gas analysis, 
the thirteenth with the amalysis of liquid 
fuels, and the remaining four with the analy- 
sis of coal. 

The methods described in the chapter on the 
‘sampling and storage of gases are open to 
objection in that water is used as the confining 
liquid. The author carefully emphasizes the 
fact that the water to be used must be satu- 
rated with the gas in question; but changes in 
temperature and changes in the composition 
of the gas are sufficient to change the amounts 
of the various constituents dissolved in the 
confining liquid. Such changes are to be ex- 
pected when the gas sampling extends over an 
appreciable time interval, and render worth- 
less the results of the analysis in the case of 
certain gas mixtures. There is no objection to 
using water in sampling gases of low solubility 
where extremely accurate results are not re- 
quired, but such a condition does not fre- 
quently arise. 


SCIENCE 


745 


No description is given of the apparatus 
most commonly employed in technical gas 
analysis at the present time, 7. e., the original 
Hempel apparatus, the author’s modification 
of both the burette and the pipettes being 
offered in its place. In the opinion of the re- 
viewer, the Hempel apparatus deserves a 
prominent place in any text-book on gas analy- 
sis because of the simplicity of its manipulation 
and the rapidity with which results that are 
sufficiently accurate for most technical pur- 
poses may be obtained. The slightly greater 
accuracy obtainable with the White apparatus 
does not seem to warrant its general use when 
the longer time and greater inconvenience that 
are considered. 

In the chapter on methods of explosion 
and combustion, emphasis should have been 
laid upon the necessity of employing mercury 
in the burettes that are used with the explo- 
sion and combustion pipettes, and in the com- 
bustion of methane over copper oxide, on ac- 
count of the solubility in water of the carbon 
dioxide that is formed. In this connection, 
the statement on page 57 concerning the com- 
bustion of methane over copper oxide needs 
revision: “If the gas had been passed back and 
forth into a pipette filled with water during 
the combustion there would have been no 
change in volume, but since the gas was 
passed into the caustic pipette during the com- 
bustion process and the CO, was absorbed the 
contraction equals the methane.” A similar 
sentence also occurs later on the same page. 

In the discussion (p. 85) on the combustion 
of hydrogen, the author criticizes the method 
of Dennis and Hopkins on the basis of the 
formation of oxides of nitrogen, on what seems 
to the reviewer insufficient evidence that was 
published twelve years ago. He seems to have 
overlooked the results obtained by Rhodes.1 
These results show that the volume of the 
oxides of nitrogen that are formed when the 
combustion is properly performed is always 
less than .01 c.c., a figure so small as to be 
negligible. 

The author dismisses the subject of the 
various improved forms of the Orsat apparatus 
recently placed on the market with a short 


1 Dennis’s ‘‘Gas Analysis,’’ page 153. 


746 


paragraph which closes with the following 
sentence: “There are decided objections to 
complication in any form of apparatus which 
may receive rough treatment in transportation 
and which is frequently handled carelessly by 
its operators.” It is surprising to note that 
the author gives preference to a form of appa- 
ratus because it is able to withstand “rough 
treatment” and “ careless handling,’ when it 
has repeatedly been shown that the apparatus 
gives erroneous results. 

The chapter on exact gas analysis contains a 
description of two burettes designed by the 
author. The bulbed gas burette is an improve- 
ment over the Pettersson-Hempel gas burette 
for exact gas analysis with respect to the accu- 
racy with which gas volumes may be read. 

Under the methods for the determination 
of the heating value of a gas, the Junkers 
calorimeter is taken up in detail, brief men- 
tion is made of the Hempel, Graefe, Parr, and 
Doherty calorimeters, and one paragraph is 
devoted to the discussion of automatic and 
recording gas calorimeters. The material in 
this chapter is excellent. The use of the defi- 
nition of what is known usually as “total” 
heating value to define the “gross” heating 
value is confusing, especially since later in 
the chapter there is given a. table of correc- 
tions to obtain the “ total” heating value from 
the observed or “gross” heating value. This 
ehapter also includes a description of the sling 
psychrometer for determining moisture in air, 
since the moisture content is one of the vari- 
ables upon which the value of the above correc- 
tion depends. The whirling psychrometer is 
not mentioned. 

There is a short chapter on the determina- 
tion of suspended particles in gas, a subject 
which has hitherto not been given the promi- 
nence it deserves in books of this character. 
In the words of the author, this is a subject 
which “is daily becoming of greater impor- 
tance on account of legal restrictions on pollu- 
tion of the air and on account of insistence on 
closer control of industrial operations by 
manufacturers.” 

The remainder of the twelve chapters on gas 
analysis is devoted to a discussion of chimney 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


gas, producer gas, illuminating gas and natu- 
ral gas, including methods of analysis and the 
application and interpretation of the results. 

The chapter on liquid fuels is short and not 
so comprehensive as one would expect from 
the title of the book. 

Under coal analysis, there is one chapter on 
sampling, one on the chemical analysis and 
two on the determination of the heating value 
by various methods. Frequent references are 
made in these chapters to the results of the 
investigations of the Joint Committee on Coal 
Analysis of the American Chemical Society 
and the Society for Testing Materials, of the 


Bureau of Mines and of the Bureau of 
Standards. 
Typographical errors occur occasionally, 


e. g., Ernshaw for Earnshaw, page 81, naptha- 
lene for naphthalene, pages 164 and 169, and 
Kjehldahl for Kjeldahl, page 210; there is a 
lack of punctuation, especially of commas, 
which renders some of the sentences ambiguous; 
peculiar constructions are present, 6. 4g., 
“Chapter II. describes the apparatus which 
the author believes best adapted to technical 
gas analysis and gives detailed directions for 
its manipulation,” page 61, and “ These gases 
(sulphur dioxide and sulphur trioxide) are 
absorbed, oxidized to sulphuric acid and 
weighed as barium sulphate,” page 162; and 
finally, “estimation” is used throughout the 
book in place of “ determination.” 

The book is well illustrated; all determina- 
tions that involve computations are clearly 
explained by the aid of concrete examples; 
and eight useful tables are appended at the 
close. 

R. P. ANDERSON 

CoRNELL UNIVERSITY, 

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, 
October 24, 1913 


PROFESSOR NOGUCHI’S RESEARCHES ON 
INFECTIVE DISEASES1 

Tue Royal Society of Medicine mostly 

limits the record of its work to its own Pro- 

ceedings and the medical journals; and it 

does well to observe this wise rule. But from 


1 From Nature. 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


time to time it receives some communication 
of the highest importance to the general wel- 
fare, and on such occasions it is mindful of 
its immediate duty to the public. It lately 
held a special meeting, at which Professor 
Noguchi, of the Rockefeller Institute, demon- 
strated the results of his researches into syph- 
ilis, general paralysis of the insane, epidemic 
infantile paralysis and rabies. None who 
heard Professor Noguchi and saw the great 
crowd of physicians and surgeons listening to 
him could ffail to recognize the profound 
significance of this occasion 

No man of science works alone or in iso- 
lation: and a vast amount of cooperative 
work is being done in diverse parts of the 
world on what may be called the “higher 
types” of germs. Let us note the develop- 
ment of the work. Let us go back half a ccn- 
tury, to the earliest methods of Pasteur. We 
may take 1855 as an approximate date for 
the beginning of the founding of “the germ- 
theory.” For many years the only method 
which Pasteur had for the growth of germs 
in pure culture was the use of fluid media, 
such as broth; and, under the conditions of 
bacteriology fifty years ago, the use of these 
fluid media was full of difficulties. He had to 
wait until 1872 for the discovery that germs 
could be grown on solid media, such as gela- 
tine or slices of potato. He had to wait until 
1875 for the discovery that germs could be 
stained with aniline dyes so as to distinguish 
them, under the microscope, from their sur- 
roundings. 

Pasteur lived until 1895—that is, ten years 
after the first use of his protective treatment 
against rabies, and two years after the first 
use in practise of diphtheria antitoxin—but 
he did not live to see more than the beginning 
of the study of the higher types of germs. At 
the time when he died, many of the lower 
types—the bacilli and the micrococci—had 
been discovered, isolated, grown in pure cul- 
ture on solid media, and proven, by the inocu- 
lation of test animals, to be the very cause of 
this or that infective disease. But the higher 
types, such as the plasmodium of malaria, 
were still waiting to be worked out. Then, 


SCIENCE 


747 


after Pasteur’s death, came Ross’s fine work 
on malaria; and then came two discoveries of 
no less importance—the discovery (Schaudinn, 
Hoffmann) of Spirocheta pallida in cases of 
syphilis, and the discovery (Forde, Dutton) of 
Trypanosoma gambiense in a case of sleeping 
sickness. These two discoveries brought syph- 
ilis and sleeping sickness, at last, within the 
range of practical bacteriology. Long ago, 
Moxon had said of syphilis that it was “a 
fever cooled and slowed by time”; but the 
cause of that fever was unknown until the 
Spirocheta pallida was discovered. 

But to prove that it does not merely accom- 
pany, but actually causes the disease, it had to 
be grown in pure culture, and inoculated into 
test animals, producing in them some charac- 
teristic sign. Syphilis must be studied as 
diphtheria, tetanus, typhoid fever and tubercle 
had been studied. That is the meaning of all 
the work done by Ehrlich and his school upon 
salvarsan—that, in particles of tissue from a 
rabbit in which the disease has been produced, 
the Spirocheta pallida is present, under the 
microscope, before a dose of salvarsan, and 
is absent after it. 

The work has been of immeasurable com- 
plexity, and there is much still to be done. 
There are many species of spirochetes dis- 
coverable in this or that condition of bodily 
life, besides Spirocheta pallida; indeed, Pro- 
fessor Noguchi demonstrated seven species. 
But he has cleared the way in this field of 
bacteriology. He has distinguished those 
which need some air for their growth from 
those which can not grow in air; he has dis- 
covered the method of adding a fragment of 
sterilized animal substance to each tube of 


pure culture: and these methods are of great 


value. 

But that is not all. For he hag detected 
Spirocheta pallida in the brain, in general 
paralysis of the insane. He has found it in 
twelve out of seventy specimens. There is 
no need to underline the importance of that 
statement. 

Also, Professor Noguchi has obtained in pure 
culture the germs of anterior poliomyelitis 
(epidemic infantile paralysis). Of all the 


748 


many diseases of childhood in which the art 
of medicine, apart from its science, is of no 
great use, few are more unkind than infantile 
paralysis. It is the Rockefeller Institute that 
we must thank here. First came Flexner’s 
magnificent work on epidemic cerebrospinal 
meningitis, and his discovery (1908) of the 
special antitoxin for that disease; then came 
the study of epidemic infantile paralysis. To 
have in one’s hands, in a test-tube, infantile 
paralysis, is a grand experience for a man who 
has attended a children’s hospital, year in 
year out, long before the Rockefeller Institute 
was born or thought of. It is enough to make 
him believe that the doctors some years hence 
may be able to stop the disease before it can 
inflict irremediable injury on the nerve cells 
of the spinal cord. 

Finally, Professor Noguchi spoke of rabies 
(hydrophobia). He has been able to obtain, 
in pure culture, the microscopic bodies which 
Negri discovered in the brain in that disease. 
He demonstrated to the Royal Society of 
Medicine, on the lantern-screen, photographs 
showing the cycle—not unlike that of the 
Plasmodium malarie—through which these 
bodies pass until, like miniature shrapnell, 
they break, setting free their constituent 
granules; and each granule becomes a “ Negri 
body,” and starts the cycle again. Happily, 
the protective treatment against rabies did not 
have to wait for the discovery of these Negri 
bodies. Pasteur worked at rabies, as Reed 
and Lazear worked at yellow fever, knowing 
that the virus was there, and able to control, 
fight and beat it, without seeing it under the 
microscope. 

The Royal Society of Medicine deserves the 
thanks of the public for inviting Professor 
Noguchi to give this demonstration in Lon- 
don. He:is indeed, in width and originality 
of work, equal to his fellow-countryman, Pro- 
fessor Kitasato. He has helped to make it 
possible for men of science to extend to other 
diseases those methods of study which brought 
about the discovery of diphtheria. antitoxin 
and the protective treatments against cholera, 
typhoid fever and plague. 
: STEPHEN PaGetT 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


DIATOM COLLECTION OF THE UNITED 
STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 


Dr. ALBERT MANN, author of the “ Report 
on the Diatoms of the Albatross Voyages in 
the Pacific Ocean” and many other diatom 
papers, has recently been appointed custodian 
of the diatom collection of the United States 
National Museum. This collection already 
contains much valuable material, including 
the types of species accumulated by the late 
Professor H. L. Smith, of Geneva, New York, 
the specimens of all the species of the Albatross 
diatoms, and the extensive collection of diatom 
material of the late Professor C. Henry Kain, 
of Philadelphia, representing the principal 
fossil deposits throughout the world as well as 
a large number of recent gatherings made in 
this country and abroad. To the large amount 
of material thus brought together, there are 
being added the marine diatoms of the 
Shackleton Expedition to the South Pole, 
diatoms recently secured in the Panama Canal 
Zone by the Smithsonian Institution, and the 
pelagic coastal diatoms of the Atlantic sea- 
board now being collected under the auspices 
of the Cambridge Zoological Laboratory and 
the United States Bureau of Fisheries. 

For the accommodation of the extensive 
series of specimens thus assembled a separate 
room in the National Herbarium has been 
fitted up with cases, microscope accessories, and 
other necessary apparatus. The action of the 
National Museum in thus affording proper 
facilities for diatom study is in accordance 
with a growing realization of the importance 
of these organisms in modern science. Until 
recently they were appreciated mainly because 
of their artistic beauty and their interesting 
microscopical structure. They are now com- 
ing to be recognized as constituting one of the 
fundamental food supplies of the marine 
world and as having an important bearing on 
oceanography and recent geology. 

Collectors who donate diatom specimens to 
the National Museum may be assured that 
their collections will be carefully preserved 
and made available to diatom students. The 
number of types already brought together is 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


sufficiently large to insure a permanent value 
to this collection, and to warrant an attempt 
to make it as complete and comprehensive as 
may be practicable. 
FREDERICK V. CovILLE, 
Curator of Botany 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
REVERSIBILITY IN ARTIFICIAL PARTHENOGENESIS 
I 


In 1900 the writer pointed out that in 
Campanularia a highly differentiated organ 
like the polyp may be transformed into the less 
differentiated material of the stem, which in 
turn may form anew polyp. Since then, rever- 
sibility of certain phenomena of differentiation 
has been observed by Driesch, Child, F. Lillie, 
Schultz and others. 

The writer has repeatedly tried to reverse 
the phenomena of development in the egg of 
Strongylocentrotus fertilized with sperm but 
thus far without success. Experiments on 
artificial parthenogenesis, however, gave posi- 
tive results. 

It is difficult to cause artificial partheno- 
genesis in the eggs of the Californian sea 
urchin with hypertonic sea water. If we treat 
these eggs for about 2 or 24 hours with such a 
solution (50 ¢.c. sea water + 8 c.c. 24 m NaCl 
+ CaCl,-++ KCl) it often happens that a cer- 
tain percentage of eggs, after they have been 
returned to normal sea water, begin to seg- 
ment regularly in 2, 4 or even 8 or 16 cells. 
They then stop developing and go into the 
condition resembling that of a resting egg. If 
such blastomeres are at any time fertilized 
with sperm they will develop into larve in a 
perfectly normal way.2 These observations 
show incidentally that it is not the lack of the 
organs of cell division which prevents the un- 
fertilized eggs from developing, since these 
eggs had been in possession of these organs. 

The writer has shown that the induction of 
development in the egg is due to a combina- 
tion of at least two agencies. The one causes 


1Am. Jour. Physiol., IV., 60, 1900. 


2 Arch. f. Entwicklgsmech., XXIII., 479, 1907; 
Jour. Exper. Zool., XV., 201, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


749 


an alteration of the surface (which may or 
may not be followed by a membrane forma- 
tion) and this alteration starts the develop- 
ment of the egg, but leaves it, in many cases 
at least, in a sickly condition from which it 
can be freed by the application of the second, 
corrective agency. The alteration of the sur- 
face may be caused by any of those substances 
or conditions which cause hemolysis: acids, 
bases, hydrocarbons, hypertonic and hypo- 
tonic salt solutions, foreign blood, ete. The 
second, curative effect may be produced. by a 
short treatment of the egg with a hypertonic 
solution or by a suppression of the develop- 
ment of the egg for a somewhat longer period 
by lack of oxygen or by KCN. One method 
of causing artificial parthenogenesis in the 
eggs of Arbacia consists in putting them for 
about 20 minutes into a mixture of 50 e.c. 
m/2 (NaC1+ KCl-+ CaCl,) + 0.3 ec. N/10 
NH,OH and subsequently into a neutral 
hypertonic solution for from 15 to 20 minutes 
(the figures are given for about 22° C.). A 
varying percentage of eggs treated this way 
will develop into embryos and the rest will 
perish very rapidly. If the eggs are treated 
with the alkaline solution alone without sub- 
sequent treatment with the hypertonic solu- 
tion they will begin to segment, but they will 
perish rapidly. The alkaline treatment alone 
induces the change in the surface of the egg 
required to start the development, but this, 
without the corrective treatment, leads only 
to the first segmentations followed by a rapid 
disintegration. 

The writer found last summer that these 
effects are reversible in the eggs of Arbacia. 
If, after the treatment with alkaline solution 
alone or with alkaline and hypertonic solution, 
the eggs of Arbacia are put for a sufficient 
length of time into sea water containing a 
certain amount of NaCN or of chloralhydrate, 
they go back into the resting stage and behave 
in appearance and reaction like unfertilized 
eggs. Both the NaCN and the chloralhydrate 
prevent the developmental processes in the 
egg. The suppression of these processes of 
development reverses the changes induced in 
the egg by the treatment with alkali. If after 


750 


a sufficient length of time such eggs are re- 
moved from the sea water containing NaCN 
to normal sea water they neither segment nor 
disintegrate, and if sperm is added they will 
develop into normal blastulae. If the eggs re- 
main only 20 minutes in the alkaline solution 
a very short exposure to the NaCN solution 
suffices. The longer the eggs remain in the 
alkaline solution the longer they must also 
remain in the cyanide solution if the effect of 
the alkaline solution is to be reversed. If 
they remain too long in the alkaline solution 
a subsequent treatment of the eggs with NaCN 
will only temporarily suppress the effects of 
the alkali, but as soon as they are put back 
into normal sea water they will disintegrate or 
develop. In this case the effects of alkali 
become irreversible. 

What has been said for the effects of the 
alkali is also true for the effects of acid. If 
we cause artificial membrane formation by 
butyric acid in the eggs of Arbacia (without 
submitting them to the second treatment) 
they will begin to develop, but will disintegrate 
very rapidly. If they are put after the mem- 
brane formation for some hours into a cyanide 
solution they will go back into a resting stage. 
When transferred to sea water they will 
neither segment nor disintegrate, and when 
fertilized by sperm they will develop into 
normal larve. 

It is therefore obvious that the induction of 
development in the egg of Arbacia by acid 
or by alkali is a reversible process. 


I 


The question arises: Which of the two 
factors is reversible, the surface change (or 
its effect in inducing development) or the 
corrective factor, or both? The experiments 
show plainly that the first factor is reversible. 
In this respect the eggs of Arbacia differ 
from those of Strongylocentrotus. In the 
latter the writer succeeded in suppressing tem- 
porarily the disintegration following artificial 
membrane formation by the suppression of 
development with KCN, but the eggs when put 
back into normal sea water either developed or 
perished. There was no such reversion of the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


induction to development as we find in the 
egg of Arbacia. This difference in the be- 
havior of both kinds of eggs is possibly con- 
nected with a difference in the degree and pos- 
sibly also the character of the alteration of 
the cortical layer under the influence of 
butyric acid. This is indicated externally by 
the difference of the membrane to which the 
writer had called attention in previous publi- 
cations. While both types of alterations of the 
cortical layer induce development, in the egg 
of Arbacia this change is of a degree or char- 
acter so as to be reversible, while in the egg of 
Strongylocentrotus it is irreversible as far as 
my present experience goes. When the eggs 
of Arbacia are exposed too long to the alkaline 
solution the change induced becomes also 
irreversible. 

In the egg of Strongylocentrotus the correc- 
tive factor is, as the writer has recently shown, 
irreversible. When eggs, once treated with a 
hypertonic solution which does not alter them 
visibly and which leaves them intact, are at 
any time after one or two days treated with 
butyric acid, they will not disintegrate, but 
develop in the same way as if the hypertonic 
treatment had been applied after the mem- 
brane formation. I have not yet tried whether 
or not the same is true for the egg of Arbacza. 


m 


It is impossible to state at present what the 
nature of the reversible change is. The idea 
has been expressed by R. Lillie that the induce- 
ment of development (membrane formation) 
consists in a rapid increase of permeability 
and that the action of the hypertonic solution 
is to restore a normal condition of permeabil- 
ity in the egg.2 If this were the case, the 
simultaneous application of the alkaline and 
hypertonic solution should leave the egg 
wholly or nearly intact, while in fact it is 
just as effective as if we treat the egg first 
with an alkaline solution and then with a 
hypertonic solution. Moreover, the hyper- 
tonic solution itself induces an alteration of 
the surface of the egg (membrane formation) 
which in the terms of this hypothesis would 

3 Lillie, Jour. of Morphol., XXII., 695, 1911. 


NOVEMBER 21, 1913] 


be interpreted to mean an increase in perme- 
ability. Finally, the treatment of the egg of 
purpuratus with a hypertonic solution may 
precede the artificial membrane formation by 
one or two days. According to Lillie’s hypoth- 
esis, NaCN should diminish the permeability 
of the egg. Direct observations by Wasteneys 
and myself have shown that NaCN does not 
influence its permeability. 

The reversion of the induction of develop- 
ment is clearly the outcome of the suppression: 
of the developmental changes in the egg by 
NaCN or by chloralhydrate. During this 
period of rest the cortical layer may return 
permanently to a condition resembling that of 
the normal resting egg. Since fertilization 
by sperm, artificial membrane formation, and 
destruction of the egg by cytolysis, all raise 
the rate of the oxidations in the egg of pur- 
puratus by the same amount, the clue to the 
explanation of the phenomena of reversibility 
may possibly be found in those conditions of 
the cortical layer which have to do with the 
increase in the rate of oxidations after mem- 


brane formation. Jacques Lops 


THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 
FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH, 
NEw YorK 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 

THE 414th regular meeting was held in the as- 
sembly hall of the Cosmos Club, October 18, 1913, 
with former President L. O. Howard in the chair 
and 61 persons present. 

The program consisted of three communications: 
I. The Federal Migratory Bird Regulations and 

their Assistance in the Conservation of Bird 

Life in America: T. S. PALMER. 

The speaker outlined briefly the history of the 
Weeks-McLean bill, approved March 4, 1913, and 
of the adoption of regulations for its enforcement 
which have been promulgated by the Department 
of Agriculture under proclamation of the Presi- 
dent dated October 1,1913. Maps of the winter and 
breeding ranges of some of the species of birds 
affected were shown, together with another show- 
ing the division of the country into two zones. 
Reasons were given for the exceptions in certain 
states to the general closed season. In general the 


SCIENCE 


751 


beneficial effects upon the bird life of the country 
expected as a result of the enforcement of the 
federal law were pointed out. 

Hugh Smith and Col. Joseph H. Acklen took 
part in the discussion which followed. 


II. The Breeding of the Loggerhead Turtle: W. 

P. Hay, 

The communication was accompanied by lantern 
slides. It was an account of observations of the 
habits and reproduction of the diamond-backed 
terrapin and the loggerhead turtle made at Beau- 
fort, North Carolina. This place is near the north- 
ern limit of the distribution of the loggerhead 
turtle and the speaker was of the opinion that 
normally in this latitude few of the eggs of the 
species are left to hatch and that the young from 
those that may hatch all perish with the first cold 
weather. 


Ill. The First Year’s Results in Breeding Some 
Bahama Shells (Certon) on the Florida Keys: 
PAUL BARTSCH. 

A former communication by the speaker gave an 
account of the transfer of two races of Cerion from 
the Bahamas to various Florida Keys. The pres- 
ent paper was an account of observations of the 
condition of the new colonies at the end of the first 
year. In general they have prospered and in sev- 
eral localities have reproduced young. 

The 515th meeting was held in the hall of the 
Cosmos Club, November 1, 1913, with President E. 
W. Nelson in the chair and about 50 members 
present. 

Under the heading ‘‘ Brief Notes and Exhibition 
of Specimens,’’ C. Dwight Marsh related an ob- 
servation in Montana of a noise made by a bull 
snake (Pituophis sayi) which was in close imita- 
tion of that made by a rattlesnake. The sounds 
were made by the respiratory organs and were ob- 
served by a number of persons. 

The regular program follows. 

A. D. Hopkins spoke of Depredations by Forest 
Insects and their Control. He gave a brief histor- 
ieal sketch of early insect invasions of forests and 
of the means adopted to combat the pests. The 
greater part of the paper was devoted to depreda- 
tions of which the author had personal knowledge. 
The efficacy of modern methods was pointed out, 
especially the control work undertaken by the 
Bureau of Entomology in collaboration with the 
United States Forest Service. These have been 
generally adopted by large private holders of 
timber lands and much saving of valuable timber 
has resulted. 


7152 


Paul Bartsch gave an account of the results of 
dredging for mollusks at Chincoteague, Virginia. 
In two days collecting eleven new species were 
found. The speaker gave an account of some per- 
sonal experiences and observations on the island. 
He was followed by W. P. Hay, who also spoke of 
his experiences during a visit to Chincoteague and 
gave some interesting historical notes of the place. 

D. E. Lantz, 
Recording Secretary 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


A SPECIAL meeting of the society was held, Oc- 
tober 28, in the National Museum building at 4:30 
o’clock. , 

Dr, Ales Hrdlitéka addressed the Society, his 
subject being ‘‘The Results of the Speaker’s Re- 
cent Trip to Peru; with Remarks on the Anthro- 
pological Problems of Peru’’; illustrated with 
lantern slides. In 1910 Dr. Hrdlitka made a brief 
exploratory trip in Peru, which resulted in the ac- 
quisition of some valuable data and of important 
skeletal collections. The opportunity to extend the 
investigations came during the early part of the 
current year, in connection with the preparation of 
the anthropological exhibits for the Panama-Cali- 
fornia Exposition at San Diego; and as a con- 
sequence three busy months were spent on the 
Peruvian coast and in certain parts of the moun- 
tain region of Peru, in exploration of the ruined 
cities and ancient cemeteries. The principal ob- 
jects of the trip were, first, the mapping out as far 
as possible of the anthropological distribution of 
the prehistoric Peruvian, more particularly the 
coast people; second, the determination of the 
physical type of the important Nasca group of 
people, which represent one of the highest Amer- 
ican cultures; third, further inquiry as to man’s 
antiquity on the west coast of South America, and 
fourth, the extension of the speaker’s researches 
on pre-Columbian pathology. The conclusions to 
which the speaker was formerly led were in the 
main corroborated. In regard to the mountain 
regions much remains to be determined in the fu- 
ture. As to the pathology of the native Peruvian 
before contact with whites, the main work can per- 
haps be now regarded as done, or nearly so, al- 
though individual variation in different morbid 
processes seems inexhaustible, and much in this line 
remains to be secured by future exploration. The 
ground covered was extensive and the skeletal ma- 
terial examined was enormous, the selections alone 
filling over thirty boxes. No excavation was prac- 
tised, attention being restricted, on the coast, to 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 986 


the bones covering the surface of ancient ceme- 
teries, exploited by the peons, and to burial caves 
and houses in the mountains. 

Since the speaker’s trip to Peru three years ago, 
a change for the worse was observed in the state 
of preservation of the ancient remains. Also, 
where formerly there were seemingly inexhaustible 
quantities of skeletal material there is now a 
dearth of it. No such collection as that made in 
1910, when the speaker gathered 3,400 important 
crania, will ever again be possible from these re- 
gions. The major part of the old population of 
the coast region belongs to the brachycephalic type 
intimately related to the Maya-Zapotee type in the 
north. Wherever they lived, these people of the 
Peruvian coast were wont to practise, more or less, 
the antero-posterior head deformation. Every- 
where along the coast there are evidences of more 
or less admixture with a more oblong-headed ele- 
ment closely related to the Aztec and Algonquin 
types of North America. As among the North 
American Pueblos, nowhere was the aboriginal 
Peruvian population at any time as great as the 
relatively numerous cemeteries or ruins might lead 
one at first to suppose, for these burial grounds 
and ruins date from different, although not far 
distant, periods. 

The work now done, while to some extent estab- 
lishing a foundation, is merely a fair beginning. 
Similar investigations and collections by the an- 
thropologist are urgently needed in the important 
districts of Piura, Eten and Moquegua, on the 
coast; in the western sierras from the neighborhood 
and latitude of Quito to those of Arequipa; and in 
the eastern highlands from Tiahuanaco to Moyo- 
bamba. The most important problems that await 
solution are (1) the derivation of the Peruvians; 
(2) the time of their advent into the country; (3) 
the extension and exact physical characteristics of 
the Aymara and Quechua, and (4) the genetic rela- 
tions of the Peruvian to the Argentinan and 
Chilean aborigines. Besides this there remains to 
be established in many places the correlation of 
culture with the physical type of the people. The 
speaker repeats what he said in a former report, 
that, due to the lack of scientific supervision of a 
great majority of the excavations practised in 
Peru to the present time, the archeological collec- 
tions from that country are made up of little 
more than curiosities which it is in most instances 
impossible to refer either to any definite tribe or 
period. 

DANIEL FOLKMAR, 
Secretary 


PoCIENCE 


NEw SERIES ; SINGLE Corrs, 15 Crs. 
Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


A New Fine Focusing 
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tion as does the coarse adjustment 
head turned the same way, with 
positive stops at upper and lower 
limits of motion ; has automatic take- 
up for wear; ceases to act- when ob- 
jective touches the slide. 


Microscope FFSS8 is first of new 
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i SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


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Bees and Wasps—By O. H. Larrer, M.A., F.E.S. 
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Submerged Forests—By CiemMenT Rein, F.R.S. 
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AND Titi Gimp nem, uy, SLY The Fertility of the Soil—Ep. J. Russptu, D.Sc. 

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G. P. PUTNAN’S SONS 
e ) 
American Representatives 

NEW YORK ame LONDON 
2-4-6 West 45th Street 24 Bedford Street 
27-29 West 23d Street CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Strand 


SCIENCE 


Fripay, NovEMBER 28, 1913 


CONTENTS 


Federal Forestry: PRoFressorR HeEnry S. 


GRAVES 


‘The Essentials of an Education: Dr. STEWART 


PEVATON IM Tse i rater ovate ever revoke ieveteveiersienevensveneisverensksce 758 


Address before the Biological Division of the 
American Chemical Society: Dr. Cart L. 


ALSBERG 7163 


The Meeting of the Committee on Policy of 
the American Association for the Advance- 


Ment Of SCUENCE ....... ccc cccerecccccenss 764 
The New York State Musewm .............. 765 
Scientific Notes and News ...........+2.+0. 766 
Uniwersity and Educational News ........... 770 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Mathematical Definitions in the New Stand- 

ard Dictionary: PRoressor G. A. MILLER. 

A Keply to Dr. Heron’s Strictures: Dr. 

CHAS, B DAVENPORT o7\¢)ere dcisle cias)s c/o seers + 772 


Scientific Books :— 
Lindgren’s Mineral Deposits: PRroressor J. 
F. Kemp. Obermaier’s ‘‘Der Mensch der 
Vorzett’’: PROFESSOR GEORGE GRANT Mac- 
Curpy. Schmucker on the Meaning of Evo- 
lution: PRorEssor H. E. Water. Lucas’s 
Animals of the Past: Prorrssor R. S. Luu. 

 Brown’s History of Chemistry: Dr. C. A. 


US ROWING Mi evayavenettltel vector eicieeielsie eis ohio oes 774 
China’s Foreign Trade in Medieval Times: 

Dr. GORGE F. KUNZ ................00- 782 
Special Articles :— 

Ovarian Transplantation in Guinea-pigs: 

Proressor W. E. Caste, JOHN C. PHILLIPS. 

Nutrition and Sex-determination in Rotifers: 

Dr. A. FRANKLIN SHULL ................ 783 


The American Physical Society: PROFESSOR 
PAT EREDED a OOLEMS saeco eee 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeon Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


FEDERAL FORESTRY1 


THE part played by the nation in for- 
estry must always be large. Here as in all 
other countries, the real development of 
forestry began when the government took 
up its practise. Even to-day some persons 
would leave the forests entirely to private 
owners; others insist that the public phases 
of forestry are altogether a state function 
and federal activities in this field uncalled 
for. Those who hold this view are usually 
either lukewarm concerning the need for 
forest conservation or opposed to restrict- 
ing private activities. 

National responsibility in forestry is 
perfectly clear-cut. There need be no con- 
fusion with an equally clear-cut responsi- 
bility of the states. And as to private for- 
estry little of value has so far been done 
that has not been an outcome of public ac- 
tion through state or federal agencies, or 
both. It was the work of the federal gov- 
ernment in placing its own forests under 
administration, its demonstration of fire 
protection and of conservative lumbering, 
its experimental and educational work, and 
its stimulus to our educational institutions 
to train and turn out a large body of for- 
esters, which created the present wide in- 
terest in forestry and brought the efforts 
of other agencies into successful play. I 
do not mean in any way to overlook the 
splendid work of certain individual states 
like Pennsylvania and New York, which 
dates back many years. But that was lo- 
calized in a few states. It required the na- 
tion itself to set in motion a national move- 


1 Address delivered at the Fifth National Con- 
servation Congress, Washington, D. C., November 
19, 1913. 


154 


ment. The national work will always be 
the backbone of American forestry, not 
trenching on or interfering with state 
work or individual efforts but serving as a 
demonstration of forest management on its 
own lands, a center of leadership, coopera- 
tion and assistance to state and private 
work, a means to handle interstate prob- 
lems and coordinate the work of neighbor- 
ing states, a guarantee that national needs 
which individual states can not meet will 
be provided for on a national scale. 

Underlying the forestry problem are two 
fundamental considerations which should 
be emphasized and reiterated until thor- 
oughly driven home. One is the public 
character of forestry. The public has a pe- 
culiar interest in the benefits of forestry. 
Both in the matter of a continued supply 
of forest products and in that of the con- 
servation of water resources the public 
welfare is at stake. In each case purposes 
vital to the prosperity of the country can be 
accomplished only with the direct participa- 
tion of the public. Private owners will se- 
eure results only on a limited scale in the 
long run on their own initiative. It takes too 
long, 50 to 200 years, to grow a crop of 
timber trees. Most private owners in face 
of fire risk, bad tax laws and uncertain fu- 
ture markets will not make the necessary 
investments. Most lumbermen have bought 
their lands either to log or to speculate in 
the standing timber, not to grow trees for 
later generations. Nor will private owners 
make investments for general public bene- 
fits, as in watershed protection. If the 
public ‘is to secure the benefits of forestry 
it must take the measures necessary to 
guarantee these results, and it must bear 
the cost of what it receives. 

Closely related to the fact that forestry 
is in many aspects a public problem is the 
second of the fundamental considerations 
I wish to emphasize. Forestry requires 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


stability of administrative policy and such 
permanence of ownership as will ensure 
it. Herein lies the difficulty of private for- 
estry on a large scale. Timberland owners 
are interested in the protection of their 
standing timber merely as insurance. Most 
of them are not interested in forest pro- 
duction, or in protecting cut-over lands if 
that involves substantial annual charges and 
is not necessary in order to protect their re- 
maining standing timber. As yet the prob- 
lem of cut-over private lands is unsolved. 
It is now devolving on the state to aid in 
their protection from fire in the interest of 
its own citizens. It will require the utmost 
resources of state and federal government 
together to handle this problem of getting 
reasonable protection of private forests 
and permanent production of timber on 
cut-over lands. Stability of policy and 
permanence of ownership are essential to 
any successful attack on this great conser- 
vation problem. 

This principle of stability of policy of 
administration is a large factor in success- 
ful handling of public property and has 
been consistently considered in the national 
forest work. I am frequently asked as I 
travel about the country whether I am 
going to make important changes in the 
forestry policy. I was asked that very 
often in 1910, when I first took office. I 
am asked it often this year. My answer is 
that what we are seeking is not changes but 
the development of a permanent public 
enterprise with consistent and stable pol- 
icies. The national forests were set aside 
in the recognition that the bulk of these 
lands should be handled permanently 
under public protection and control. Pro- 
vision was made for the acquisition of agri- 
cultural lands that might best be devel- 
oped under private ownership, and such 
areas are now being classified and segre- 
gated from the forests very rapidly. The 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


successful handling of the national forests 
requires annual expenditures in adminis- 
tration and protection and in development 
of roads, trails, telephones, buildings and 
other improvements necessary for proper 
administration. We seek, therefore, as 
fast as possible to develop through classifi- 
cation the permanent boundaries of the 
forest land, and the management of it ac- 
cording to definite far-sighted plans that 
will make for the best results of all expend- 
itures in the long run. The result sought 
is an efficient business administration, a 
proper and adequate forestry practise, and 
development of the public property in the 
interests of the people who own it. These 
simple principles have been kept in mind 
since the first organization of the work by 
Mr. Pinchot, who was more than any other 
one man responsible for what has been ac- 
complished in forestry in this country. 

The national forests have now been under 
administration fifteen years, and under the 
Forest Service for eight years. The aim of 
the present administration is not to over- 
turn, but to take every possible step to in- 
crease efficiency of the organization, to ad- 
just difficulties, and advance as fast as pos- 
sible the purposes for which the national 
forests were established. Secretary Hous- 
ton recently said to me regarding the 
national forests: 

““Hstablish permanent boundaries. Clas- 
sify your lands; segregate the agricultural 
land and fix right limits for what is needed 
as protective and productive forests. 
Develop permanent policies based on full 
recognition of lasting public interests, and 
settled forestry practise fitted to the indi- 
vidual needs of each forest and locality. 
Study efficiency; make any changes neces- 
sary for this purpose, but make no changes 
that are not clearly called for in the public 
interest. Carry out your plans for the 
development and imcreasing use of the 


SCIENCE 


755 


forests; but above all, make each forest 
work for community upbuilding and local 
as well as general welfare. We must al- 
ways have in mind the men and women who 
are building up a new country and laying 
the foundations for prosperous, thriving 
commonwealths. We must try to study 
their needs and see where and how the 
forests can help them. But we must not 
cease to guard effectively against the evils 
of private privilege and monopolistic con- 
trol of resources now the property of the 
publie.’’ 

The first important result of national 
forestry is a demonstration that the forests 
can be protected from fire. It was only a 
few years ago that many asserted this to be 
impossible. In the northwest the smoke 
season was aS inevitable as the rainy sea- 
son of winter, and this was not merely the 
result of clearing land but from forest fires. 
It is only recently that our own forest 
officers have regarded lookout stations as 
feasible in certain places; for lookout sta- 
tions are useless if smoke hides the view. 
This year has been the worst in many 
respects of all years in California because 
of the frequency of lightning fires. Yet 
the lookout stations on only two forests, and 
then only for a short time, were out of com- 
mission because of smoke; and the smoke 
came from fires on private lands. This 
year in California there were over 1,100 
fires on the timbered areas. These were 
kept down to an average of a little over 20 
acres per fire. This was done by an effec- 
tive fire organization and through the 
means of the trails, telephones and lookout 
system. In one storm lightning set over 
20 fires on one forest. It takes swift and 
efficient work to handle such a situation. 
The results so far attained show that fires 
can be mastered. But it is necessary first 
to put the forest in a condition to enable 


756 


the force to prevent fires, to detect promptly 
those which start, and to reach them 
quickly. The Forest Service is developing 
a system of lookout stations, fire lines, trails, 
and telephone lines that ultimately will 
make the forests secure. Already the force 
is able to save every year property valued 
at many million dollars through the im- 
provements so far built, although as yet 
only a beginning has been made. This 
work is carried on according to a definite 
plan, already projected in detail. Hach 
year’s work adds 2,500 miles of trails, 3,500 
miles of telephones, and many lookouts and 
other improvements, progressing toward 
the final scheme. Until that is completed 
the forests can not be made entirely secure. 
With that development, the forest fires can 
be handled even in that exceptionally dry 
year that occasionally comes to every region. 

This protection not only saves the trees 
from destruction or injury, but already 
the effect is shown in the restocking of 
many areas where the old fires had pre- 
vented reproduction. Personally, I had 
hardly expected that there would be so 
quick a response. But the results are now 
apparent to even a casual observer. More 
specifically, while previously the forests 
were going backward because of fires, there 
is now an annual gain through growth. 
This increase translated into dollars and 
cents is much greater than the total cost 
of protection and all other expenses of the 
forests. 

The necessity to take immediate steps to 
prevent'the public forests from being de- 
stroyed by fire has placed a large empha- 
sis on the protective feature of the adminis- 
tration. The wise use of the forest re- 
sources in the development of industries 
and in building up the country is essentially 
the real aim of maintaining the forests. 
Protection from destruction is a first 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


essential; otherwise there would be no re- 
sources to use. But the purpose of the ad- 
ministration is not merely protective, but 
constructive. It is a favorite theme of the 
opponents of the national forest system to 
represent the forests as a separate federal 
domain, held for the use of future genera- 
tions or for persons other than those now 
living in the region in which the forests are 
situated. Such statements are not only con- 
trary to the spirit of the administration of 
the forests, but are disproved by the results 
already being secured. The aim is to make 
the forests count in the highest possible 
measure in the industrial upbuilding of the 
local communities, at the same time that 
they serve their broader public functions. 
In classifying the agricultural lands the 
aim is to get people to make permanent 
homes in the forests. Every consideration 
in the development of the states and in the 
upbuilding of the forests themselves makes 
for the encouragement of a greater local 
population. When there are people to 
ereate a demand for the timber and other 
resources, the real development of the for- 
est becomes possible, and the forest begins 
to render its greatest service. 

To encourage this development the For- 
est Service is promoting the sale of its ripe 
timber to build up local lumber industries. 
of a permanent character; it is opening to. 
entry land chiefly adapted to agriculture; 
it is further helping the settler by provid- 
ing free such timber as he needs and protect- 
ing him in the use of the range needed for 
his stock; and in every way it undertakes. 
to make the forests of public service and 
the country in the long run a better place. 
for men and women to live in. 

That a long step has already been taken 
toward this end is indicated by the very 
extraordinary change in sentiment in the 
west in the last few years. I have this year 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


been able to analyze in detail the sentiment 
on the individual forests and now know just 
where opposition in each case exists and the 
extent to which the work of the federal 
government is valued. I have been aston- 
ished at the overwhelming preponderance 
of sentiment among the local communities 
in favor of the forest system. Frequently 
there are objections to certain regulations, 
or difficulty and friction in specific transac- 
tions. But every year these local troubles 
are being adjusted on the ground. There 
is still definite opposition to the forest sys- 
tem and the principles of our administra- 
tion from certain groups, and certain 
interests. There are still certain water 
power interests which are carrying on a 
fight against the Forest Service. Many 
speculative interests oppose the forest sys- 
tem because the resources are not open to 
private acquisition under the general land 
laws. Certain men are opposed to the na- 
tional forests because they can not secure 
privileges that would be possible if the 
forests were unprotected. For example, in 
the southwest I find a well defined opposi- 
tion among those who desire to run herds of 
goats on the forests without restriction. 
The desire to secure valuable timber for 
speculation is now, and always will be, a 
source of opposition to the public control 
of our forests. 

One proof of the present favorable senti- 
ment is the fact that there are now rela- 
tively few breaches of the regulations. For 
example, in the fourth administrative dis- 
trict, which includes Utah, Nevada, north- 
ern Arizona, southern Idaho and south- 
western Wyoming, over 11,000 permits 
were issued last year, each involving some 
regulation. There were only 35 cases of 
trespass, about half of which were innocent 
and the majority of the remainder not 
very important. Such a record would be 
absolutely impossible if the people them- 


SCIENCE 


7157 


selves were not right behind the regula- 
tions. In other words, it was public senti- 
ment that made it possible to carry out the 
procedure with such success. 

In the national forest districts it is now 
seen that the aim is to make the national 
forests serviceable at present as well as in 
the future, and people are cooperating 
more and more with the government to 
make the local administration successful. 

In the east the work of the federal gov- 
ernment is to-day far more effective than 
ever before. The establishment of national 
forests under the provisions of the Weeks 
law is accomplishing many results not an- 
ticipated even by its most earnest advo- 
cates. The purchase of lands on impor- 
tant watersheds in the White Mountains 
and southern Appalachians is steadily 
progressing. Already contracts for over 
700,000 acres have been approved by the 
National Forest Reservation Commission. 
These lands are located on the most im- 
portant watersheds and have been secured 
at prices representing their actual value, 
the average being $5.07 per acre. It has 
already been demonstrated that the build- 
ing up of national forests by purchase and 
at reasonable prices is practicable. 

The first effect of these purchases has 
been an educational one. The wide inter- 
est in the work has resulted in an awak- 
ened appreciation of forest protection and 
forestry wherever the government has been 
examining land for purchase. Coopera- 
tion in forestry between the government 
and the states has received a great stimu- 
lus. The actual annual saving from loss 
on areas protected from fire directly as a 
result of the Weeks law, on private as well 
as public property, would amount to a 
very large aggregate sum. In short, the 
Weeks law is now yielding results which 
fully justify the new policy which it estab- 
lished. 


758 


The nation’s interest in the success of 
‘the forestry movement is very great; the 
‘contribution of the nation through federal 
agencies should be correspondingly liberal. 
Let the federal government assume its full 
responsibilities of leadership, assistance 
and cooperation, and our forest problem 
will be on the way to certain solution. 

Henry 8. GRAVES 


FEDERAL FOREST SERVICE, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


THE ESSENTIALS OF AN EDUCATION1 


ne official recognition of the subject of 
mental hygiene by the International Con- 
«gress on School Hygiene is an important 
revent, indicating formal assent to the prin- 
‘ciple that thought and conduct can only be 
‘intelligently discussed when considered in 
relation to all other forms of human activ- 
ity. After having been perpetuated for 
centuries by mechanical repetition, the 
phrase ‘‘a sound mind in a sound body”’ 
has suddenly acquired a vital meaning for 
our civilization. 

Although the honor of presiding at this 
symposium upon mental hygiene is deeply 
appreciated by me, I am keenly alive to the 
fact that the force and set of the currents 
in this movement are already so strong that 
the question of merit in the selection of 
your chairman is almost a negligible factor. 

The common elementary truths of daily 
life are frequently either ignored or for- 
gotten. ‘‘We go to Switzerland,”’ said 
Lowell, ‘‘to learn the sun rises and to Italy 
to find out the sky is blue.’’ In considering 
what the aims and methods of obtaining an 
education should be, our attention is so 
often fixed upon remote unattainable ideals 
that the really essential factors in the prob- 

1Chairman’s address, ‘‘Symposium on Mental 


Tygiene,’? Fourth International Congress on 
School Hygiene, Buffalo, August 25 to 30, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


lem are overlooked. The cause of idealism 
in education, as well as in other matters, is 
often best served by those who take a direct 
practical interest in the problems of every- 
day life. It is an exceedingly dangerous 
form of sophistry which has recently been 
promulgated that tends to cast suspicions 
upon any system of education reflecting 
either utility of purpose or immediate prac- 
ticability of application. The value of 
ideals is commensurate with their practical 
usefulness, unless we assume with the 
Buddhist that the swummum bonum of hu- 
man existence is found in passive contem- 
plation. Mr, Snedden, the Massachusetts 
commissioner of education, in his recent 
book? affirms that many of our academic 
studies are organized and presented too 
much with reference to their pure aspects 
—that is, without regard to their applica- 
tion in contemporary life and activity. 

Clear ideas in regard to some of the chief 
characteristics of the educational process 
will be of material assistance in restating 
the entire problem of educational reform in 
terms that shall be favorable, and not an- 
tagonistic to a rational solution. The suc- 
cessful execution of this plan will ensure 
the perpetuation of popular government. 
A distinguished writer recently indicated 
the direction in which all our hopes for the 
improvement of political and social condi- 
tions lie by affirming ‘‘the most important 
problem of democracy is the education of 
the citizen.’’ 

No intelligent person would dissent from 
the view that the process of education is in- 
tended to direct or shape the activities of 
living beings. Unfortunately, the tendency 
of the human mind either to contemplate 
events in the past or to speculate about the 
future has hitherto left man little time or 
opportunity to study his own activities or 


2¢‘Hducation Readjustment,’’? Houghton, Mif- 
flin Co., 1913. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


to think about his immediate needs. Hven 
in our universities comparatively little in- 
terest is given to the study of man as he 
lives, moves and has his being to-day. 

The process of education should prepare 
students for life and not convert them into 
receptacles for storing up miscellaneous 
forms of information. If we succeed in 
grasping the vital principle concerned in 
this distinction, we see that the discussion 
of such questions as whether science or the 
humanities have the greater educational 
value are as absurd and futile as Don 
Quixote’s attacks upon the windmills. The 
problems of ‘‘ living ’’ ean not be expressed 
in pedagogical phraseology. An intelligent 
discussion of the activities of living beings 
and the methods to be used in directing 
them is only possible in terms of biology. 

Edueation or, as it has often been defined, 
the intelligent direction of human activities, 
is a process, the successful adaptation of 
which to human needs should be measured 
by the effects on the entire life of the indi- 
vidual, and not merely by results observed 
during the very restricted period beginning 
with the entrance into school and ending 
upon graduation from college. 

When judged from this standpoint, edu- 
cation is the intelligent assistance given to 
an individual to estimate his own capacity 
to adjust life at the level within which he 
may live happily and successfully. 

As a corollary to these premises, it be- 
comes obvious that those deserving the title 
of educators should have some knowledge of 
the fundamental characteristics of living 
beings. Man, as we all know, is an exceed- 
ingly complex organism, made up of many 
different parts or organs adapted for special 
vital functions. The harmonious interaction 
of all these organs, and the contact of the 
individual with his environment, are estab- 
lished and maintained by the sense-organs, 
as well as the brain and nervous system. 


SCIENCE 


759 


Interference with the function of a sense 
organ, the internal viscera, or the brain 
and nervous system, causes an imperfect 
adjustment of the individual’s life and a 
condition called disease is the result. 

The brain and nervous system are impor- 
tant parts in the mechanism of adjustment, 
but the trends given to our activities are 
largely determined by other organs. The 
distinctive mental qualities of men and wo- 
men, as reflected in the personality, are 
therefore not only due to differences in the 
brain and nervous system, but depend upon 
the influence exerted upon the processes of 
adjustment by internal organs. This fact 
has recently received striking experimental 
confirmation. Without entering further 
into the discussion of this interesting ques- 
tion, we merely wish to emphasize the neces- 
sity of considering all questions relating to 
the education of the personality from the 
broad biological standpoint. The person- 
ality represents the focus of all our activ- 
ities and therefore if we desire to study its 
genesis and to direct its development we 
should not restrict our view of education to 
a psychologic basis. It is one task, and a 
very important one, to attempt to analyze 
mental traits, but it is quite another to 
determine whether specific personal char- 
acteristics are not due to excessive secretion 
of the thyroid gland, a dilated heart, ade- 
noids, defective vision, et cetera. The edu- 
eator should be quick to avail himself of 
every advance made in psychology, but 
these facts must be supplemented by a still 
broader knowledge of living beings. 

The biological conception of education 
simplifies nomenclature. We have only two. 
conditions to consider: first, that of rela- 
tively perfect adjustment of the individual, 
or health, and defective adaptation, or dis- 
ease. Incidentally this has a great advan- 
tage, as the word insanity at once drops out 
of use, and the problem of ‘‘mental defi- 


760 


ciency’’ to which so much attention is now 
being directed is correctly valued, becoming 
merely one phase of the great problem of 
““ansuccessful life-adjustments.’’ 

It would be impossible, within reasonable 
limits, to discuss all the factors which deter- 
mine successful or unsuccessful adjustment, 
and we shall at once dismiss from consid- 
eration those commonly designated as 
hereditary, but we can not refrain from ex- 
pressing the hope that the discussions upon 
this important point should not be ex- 
pressed in terms of such apodictic certitude 
as to lead a more or less credulous public to 
believe it is futile to attempt to make the 
lives of those whose ancestry has not re- 
ceived eugenic sanction happier and more 
effective. 

Successful adjustment in life depends 
upon the character of the habit-reactions. 
The formation of good habits predicates the 
existence of a sound mind and sound body. 
If an individual does not possess the latter, 
it is the duty of the educator to give assist- 
ance in the effort made to compensate for 
defective reactions, the result of physical 
deformities, by compensatory mechanisms. 
Our sympathy is quickly aroused and we 
readily give assistance to the cripple who 
tries to cross a crowded thoroughfare, but 
how little effort do we take to prevent the 
tragedies occurring as the result of the en- 
couragement given to the motley throngs 
driven helter-skelter through schools, col- 
leges and universities, stimulated by false 
hopes and ambitions to adjust their activ- 
ities at levels which are sure to precipitate 
disaster. 

A recent writer in the Atlantic Monthly 
has called attention to the enormous waste 
of time and energy, as well as of money, due 
to sentimentality. A large part of the 
present educational curriculum shows 
plainly the dangers to our national life and 
the economic loss entailed by the perpetua- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


tion of a curriculum in schools and colleges 
which is an expression of sentiment rather 
than of reason. Ignorance, as well as pride 
in our creations have led us to count the 
successes and to disregard the failures of 
the system. In round numbers there are 
187,000 patients in hospitals for the insane 
and 183,000 students in colleges and univer- 
sities. It is known that there are a large 
number in every community suffering from 
well-marked psychoses. In the state of New 
York the estimate has been made that at 
least 1,800 or 2,000 patients afflicted with 
alienation should, if provisions existed, be 
brought under supervision in hospitals. 

In other states the proportion of those in 
need of hospital treatment is greater, so 
that if adequate provision existed through- 
out the country the numbers of this army 
would be increased probably to 250,000. 
The patients in institutions, as a rule, repre- 
sent the severe or later stages of imperfect 
life-adjustments. If we add to this num- 
ber the list of those suffering from nervous 
and mental breakdowns in incipient stages, 
the so-called ‘‘failures’’ in life, and the im- 
perfect adjustments grouped together in 
the criminal classes, it is evident the suc- 
cesses of our present educational system, as 
compared with its failures, represent rela- 
tively a very small number. In general, 
we recognize the principle that those are 
the best guardians of the body in health 
who have some understanding of the nature 
of disease. One of the chief aims of the 
educator should be to assist students in 
their efforts to become the possessors of 
sound minds, in sound bodies, and therefore 
a comprehensive understanding of the bio- 
logical laws determining human thought 
and behavior is necessary for every teacher. 

Progress in educational, as in all other 
reforms, is necessarily slow, but the pro- 
eram may be made a practical one from 
which definite results shall be expected. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


1. In the first place it is desirable that 
the public should be accustomed to the dis- 
cussion of educational problems in terms 
adapted to the description of the activities 
of human beings. With the more general 
acceptance of the biological view of the 
subject and the consequent elevation of the 
teacher from pedagogue to become an ad- 
viser and director in all questions relating 
to the art of living successfully, there would 
be increased appreciation of the honor and 
dignity of this profession, and greater pos- 
sibility of obtaining financial recompense in 
proportion to the value of service rendered 
to the community. 

2. There should be as rapid an extension 
as possible of special classes and schools for 
those whose capacity to adjust at the higher 
levels of activity is impaired. Provision 
should also be made, not only for the cases 
of imperfect intellectual adaptation, but for 
those in whom the emotional life abnormally 
dominates reason. 

3. The insistence in schools, as well as in 
the higher institutions of learning, upon the 
cardinal principle that the acquisition of 
good habits, and not of information, should 
be the final test of a successful education. 
Think of the remarkable gain to our civili- 
zation if children were taught fewer sub- 
jects, but were given assistance in acquir- 
ing good postural habits, were taught to 
breathe deeply, to speak without a nasal 
twang, to eat slowly, and were not allowed 
to imitate the nervous habits of parents or 
teachers, or to crystallize into permanent 
form the undesirable reactions induced by 
fatigue or protracted study in poorly venti- 
lated rooms. Good as well as bad habits 
are generally cumulative. Training the eye 
to see, the ear to hear, and the hands to 
perform the coordinated movements essen- 
tial in the manual arts will lead to the 
formation of many of the mental mechan- 
isms characteristic of the man of culture. 


SCIENCE 761 


Greater freedom from prejudice of creed 
and race, more rapid progress in the search 
for truth, would result if care were taken 
in the homes and schools to prevent the 
formation of those habit-reactions which 
give an abnormal degree of fixity to ideas 
and produces a state of mind described as 
stereophronesis.2 The prophylactic treat- 
ment consists in an avoidance of intense 
emotional reactions, the cultivation of sense- 
perceptions, and the capacity to obey the 
three cardinal impulses essential for 
genuine temperance reform, ‘‘Stop, Look, 
Listen.’’ 

If attention should be placed upon the 
importance of habit-formation and directed 
away from futile academic discussion relat- 
ing to the introduction of this or that varia- 
tion in the curriculum of study, a great 
saving of time to students and teachers, 
and of money to the nation, would be the 
result. The American university to-day, in 
certain aspects, suggests a hospital to which 
students are sent in large numbers with the 
double purpose of correcting the bad mental 
habits acquired in homes or schools and of 
inoculating the undergraduates with the 
germs of culture. 

The task is an impossible one and entails 
an enormous annual sacrifice of the best 
brains of the nation. Habits of work and 
the mental trends leading to the develop- 
ment of intellectual interests are formed 
during the school period and not later. If 
students were trained at home and at school 
to acquire good habits of work, they should 
pass directly from the high school to real 
university work, so that much work of the 
college could be readily eliminated. This 
change would at once set free the men now 
in our universities who, under the present 
archaic system, have become slaves to teach- 

3 This term was suggested by Professor Edward 


Capps as descriptive of the mechanisms underlying 
the ‘‘idée fixe.’’ 


762 


ing, to prosecute research and to add to the 
store of our knowledge. The present tend- 
ency to ruthlessly sacrifice sums of money, 
as well as the energies of members of a uni- 
versity faculty in performing tasks which 
should be assigned to teachers in the ele- 
mentary and primary schools, is a serious 
menace not only to the intellectual life, but 
to the mental health of the nation. The 
absurd pedagogical tasks imposed upon uni- 
versity professors of attempting to give to 
mature students the mental mechanisms 
characteristic of men of culture, which 
should have been acquired either at home 
or in the kindergarten, represent forms of 
servitude that should not be tolerated in 
these institutions. 

4. As regards the actual training of 
teachers competent to approach the study 
of educational problems from the biological 
point of view, much can be accomplished by 
creating in the universities increased facil- 
ities for study in this direction. 

The establishment of departments of bio- 
logical psychology, independent of any 
direct affiliation with those of philosophy, 
is desirable. At present, philosophy and 
psychology suffer from the effects of an 
unnatural union continued merely out of 
respect for tradition, and a disinclination 
to do that which is right in the face of 
adverse criticism. 

If the universities intend to become 
centers for the study of human activities 
with a view to making life pleasanter and 
more effective, they should renounce any 
half-hearted interest in the development of 
biological psychology as indicative of a lack 
of intelligent sympathetic appreciation in- 
terest in the solution of problems having a 
vital bearing upon the progress of our 
civilization. In universities where this di- 
vision has already been accomplished by 
which philosophy and psychology have 
been set free to develop normally, it is to 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


be hoped ample provision will soon be made 
for the establishment of biological psychol- 
ogy upon a basis indicating that at last hu- 
man intelligence has awakened to appreci- 
ate “‘the true study of mankind is man.”’ 

In addition to the extension of present 
courses and facilities for training teachers, 
ample provision should be made for instruc- 
tion along special lines in our medical 
schools, as has been suggested by Professor 
David Spence Hill; particularly in connec- 
tion with the work in the psychiatric clinics. 
Instruction in this particular field should 
be directed to the demonstration of meth- 
ods for studying the human individual and 
for giving teachers an opportunity to be- 
come familiar with the early symptoms of 
imperfect adjustment, and the treatment 
applicable to individual cases. 

I have attempted to indicate a few of the 
essentials of an education when the process 
is considered as a means of directing the 
activities of living beings. Education is 
one of the youngest of all the arts. Its 
renaissance followed the birth of the bio- 
logical sciences. Long held in bondage by 
those afflicted with an hypertrophied his- 
torical sense or cultural mysticism, its 
growth was retarded by man’s whimsical 
and inconstant interest in the study of his 
own activities. If teachers and students 
were compelled to walk backwards with 
their gaze constantly fixed upon the monu- 
ments of the past it was no wonder they 
stumbled and often fell while climbing the 
mountains. The struggle to become free 
from the paralyzing influences of tradition 
and superstition continues, but hopes for 
progress and for the reduction of human 
inefficiency, waste and suffering depend 
primarily for their realization upon the 
recognition of the general biological prin- 
ciples which actually determine human life 


and human ideals. STEWART PATON 
PRINCETON, N. J. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


ADDRESS BEFORE THE BIOLOGICAL DI- 
VISION OF THE AMERICAN CHEM-— 
ICAL SOCIETY1 
GENTLEMEN, I did not come to Rochester 
with the intention of making a speech, but 
find—I am sorry to say—that Professor 
Chambers expects me to talk. He made the 
request—or, shall I say, demand—as we came 
into this room. I find that I am driven to 
the usual refuge of those who have to speak 
when they would rather be silent—that is, I 
will take refuge in the history of my subject. 
This subject has, I think, some general in- 
terest because originally no very definite dis- 
tinction was made between biochemistry and 
any other kind of chemistry. One of the first 
real biochemists was Lavoisier, whom all 
matter, whether living or dead, interested. He 
performed the first calorimetric experiments. 
He was the inventor of the ice calorimeter, 
and showed that animal heat was the result of 
oxidation. All the chemists of that genera- 
tion and the immediately succeeding one did 
biochemical work. I need only cite Liebig, 
who is perhaps in some ways the greatest of 
all biochemists. Unfortunately, about the 
latter part of Liebig’s life chemists lost inter- 
est in biochemistry. This was due very largely 
to the sudden and tremendous development of 
organic chemistry, which was brought about by 
the discoveries of men like Hofmann and 
Kekulé. It was so easy to make new synthetic 
substances and thereby gain a sort of immor- 
tality, even though the main result of putting 
a chlorine atom here and a bromine atom 
there was to fill up Beilstein. In consequence, 
thoroughly trained chemists did not busy them- 
selves with subjects that were really important 
in the elucidation of that matter which is 
found in living organisms, and which forms 
the physiological basis of life. The scientists 
in biology, and medicine needed such informa- 
tion. The chemists did not give it to them. 
Consequently, physicians and _ physiologists 
who were ill-equipped for chemical research 
were forced to carry forward the work of bio- 
chemistry. Though the net result of their 


1Given by the chairman, Rochester, N. Y., Sep- 
tember 12, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


763 


work made decidedly for progress, only too 
often it created confusion and artificial diff- 
culties. Even the best biochemists of those 
days make us wonder why they did not pursue 
their chemical investigations as far as the 
chemical methods of that day would permit. 
The answer is, I think in many eases, that 
they were not real chemists but physiologists 
with a chemical veneer. Fortunately, this has 
been changing during the past decade, largely 
owing to the work of Emil Fischer. While we 
recognize in him a master of chemical tech- 
nique, we may be certain that in a measure, at 
any rate, the preeminent position which he 
occupies among the chemists of his time is 
due to his clear conception of the really most 
important work in organic chemistry along 
biochemical lines. Fortunately, more and 
more organic chemists are following in his 
footsteps, and are devoting their attention to 
substances which occur in living things. I 
wish here to make a plea for more of this 
sort of work in America. I believe that the 
rewards and recognition for knowledge of 
chemistry applied in biochemistry are great, 
because the work of the biochemist will be ap- 
plauded not merely by chemists, but also by 
zoologists, botanists and physicians. A bio- 
chemist has a wider audience because his work 
presents a more general appeal than the work 
of organic chemists upon such subjects as dye- 
stuffs and the like. Further, I wish to point 
out the value of instruction in allied subjects. 
Not every organic chemist can successfully 
attack all biochemical problems. Because his 
organic chemistry, other experience in physiol- 
ogy, and above all, experience in dealing with 
substances which do not erystallize, are neces- 
sary. In many cases it is difficult to conduct 
biochemical research because the biochemist 
must very frequently begin with the smears, 
which the organic chemist consigns preferably 
to the slop jar. While the things which will 
not crystallize interest less the organic chem- 
ist, they are the very classes of substances 
with which the biochemist must deal. Great 
care, great patience and a knowledge of col- 
loids are required of the organic chemist who 
wishes to work in biochemistry, but I feel 


764 


confident that the reward for such men is 
great, not merely in pure science, but also in 
industries and in the arts. 

The history of biochemistry in America is 
similar to that abroad. In America it de- 
veloped first in the seventies and eighties in 
the medical schools of the country; and, at 
that time, it was controlled by physicians and 
physiologists abroad. The subject was nar- 
rowed to the consideration of biochemistry as 
affecting the life of man. That is to say, the 
chemical side of physiological processes of 
the human body together with such consider- 
ations of bacteriological chemistry as affect 
man in health and in disease. This phase of 
biochemistry is cared for very adequately and 
acceptably by the American Society of Bio- 
logical Chemists, the first biochemical society 
to be formed in America. 

The phase of biochemistry which the Amer- 
ican Chemical Society can very naturally ex- 
pect to encourage are quite distinct from the 
aims of the American Society of Biological 
Chemists. Our usefulness will include the 
biochemistry affecting agriculture, phytochem- 
istry in particular, and such industrial proc- 
esses as are based upon biochemical reactions. 
For example, the more exact study of the chem- 
ical composition of fruits, grains and food 
products. It must be admitted that, at pres- 
ent, we know only those chemical substances 
occurring in considerable amounts in such 
important grains as wheat and corn. The 
minor constituents in grains of much im- 
portance have not been identified with exact- 
ness. If we consider grains of less importance 
even this degree of knowledge can not be 
claimed. 

Some of our most important modern indus- 
tries, like those dealing with starch, artificial 
fabrics, leather tanning materials, glue and 
gelatin, meat packing and the flour-milling 
industry require biochemists, and we are now 
training men to deal with such practical 
problems. 

If our society confines itself to the activities 
already mentioned, there still remains a wide 
field of biochemistry uncared for, the bio- 
chemistry of the lower animals. This part of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


the biochemical work will become a part of the 
work in the zoological societies of the country. 
My view is that three societies of biological 
chemistry can well exist in America without 
competing in any way and each one caring 
for a specific need. These would include the 
biochemistry of the higher animals and its 
application to medicine; the biochemistry of 
the lower animals, and biochemistry in its 
application to plants, agriculture and the in- 
dustries. 
Cart L. ALsBERG 


MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLICY 
OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIENCE 

THE committee on policy met at the Cosmos 
Club, Washington, on November 17, 1913, at 
8 p.m., Chairman Minot presiding. Messrs. 
Fairchild, Nichols, Humphreys, Cattell and 
Howard were also present. 

The permanent secretary made an ad interim 
report of progress, stating that, unexpectedly, 
news from the Pacific Coast Division had 
been delayed by reason of floods and that his 
office was not definitely informed of action 
taken by that committee. He stated that the 
committee having power to appoint the tem- 
porary secretary for the South had selected 
Dr. Robert M. Odgen, of the University of 
Tennessee, and that he had been actively en- 
gaged in the work since October 1, and a 
letter which he sent out to southern members 
was read. The report on membership showed 
a satisfactory increase. With regard to the 
Atlanta meeting, the permanent secretary 
stated that, owing to delay upon the part of 
the Atlanta local committee, the preliminary 
announcement was not yet in type but that he 
expected to be ready to mail it before the end 
of the month. ’ 

The arrangements for the Atlanta meeting 
were discussed and it was decided to have two 
evening lectures, complimentary to the citizens 
of Atlanta, one by Dr. C. W. Stiles, of the 
Public Health Service, on the Health of the 
Mother in the South, and one by Professor 
Charles E. Munroe, of the George Washington 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


University, on Explosives Made and Used in 
the South during the Civil War. It was de- 


cided to hold the retiring presidential address" 


on Monday night, December 29. 

A discussion as to the future meetings of 
the association was taken up and, on motion, 
it was resolved to recommend to the next 
general committee that Toronto be selected 
for the convocation week meeting of 1915- 
1916. 

It was resolved that efforts be made to hold 
large representative convocation week meet- 
ings at four-year intervals, the first to be held 
in New York in 1916-1917 and the second in 
Chicago in 1920-1921. 

The permanent secretary was ordered to 
report to the affiliated societies that the com- 
mittee on policy has under consideration the 
advisability of meeting in 1917-1918 at 
Columbus, Urbana or Cincinnati, in 1918-1919 
at Boston, and in 1919-1920 at St. Louis or 
Nashville. 

On motion, the permanent secretary was 
instructed to inform the affiliated societies 
that the committee on policy has reeommended 
that efforts be made to hold large convocation 
week meetings in New York in 1916-1917 and 
in Chicago in 1920-1921, and to inform the 
affiliated societies that he has been instructed 
to forward this information that the societies 
may plan accordingly. 

On motion, the committee on organization 
and membership was authorized to examine 
into the desirability and feasibility of organiz- 
ing local branches of the association. 

On motion, it was resolved that the treas- 
urer, in making re-investment of $20,000 of 
the permanent funds of the association under 
the authority of the resolution of the council 
of December 30, 1911, be authorized by the 
committee on policy to invest in the best 
interest-bearing securities permitted by the 
Massachusetts laws regulating the invest- 
ment of trust funds and, further, in order to 
simplify the approval of the committee on 
policy, as provided for in the resolution, it was 
resolved that Messrs. Humphreys and Howard 
be appointed a sub-committee with power to 
act in approval for the committee on policy on 


SCIENCE 


765 


the investments selected by the treasurer and 
to assist him in making the selections. 


THE NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 


Ture New York State Museum has recently 
acquired by gift and purchase a noteworthy 
series of collections representing the Iroquois 
and pre-Iroquois cultural relics from within 
the state. The O. ©. Auringer collection 
from northeastern New York is especially 
interesting for its many ancient relics of 
Eskimauian type and early Algonkian occu- 
pation. These are principally from Glen Lake, 
Saratoga county. 

The Raymond G. Dann collection is almost 
entirely from the historic Seneca village of 
Totiacton, in Monroe county. It is an inter- 
esting illustration of the articles used at the 
early contact period. Clay vessels and copper 
pots were found side by side together with 
very elaborate articles in bone and shell. 

The R. D. Loveland and Charles P. Oatman 
collections from Jefferson county comprise 
extraordinary series of clay and stone pipes, 
and a large variety of bone implements and 
polished stone ceremonials. The collections 
contain objects from the Eskimauian and early 
Algonkian cultures, and of equal if not greater 
interest is the fine series illustrating the cul- 
ture of the early Onondaga-Iroquois. 

The Frederick H. Crofoot collection is from 
the Genesee valley and represents the various 
occupations of the middle portion of the 
valley. Many crude objects show an early 
and transient occupation, but in the collec- 
tion are some remarkable specimens from the 
Iroquois and from the earlier mound-building 
people. 

The Alva S. Reed collection, brought to- 
gether from a site near Richmond Mills, 
Ontario county, represents the culture of a 
prehistoric Seneca village, one of the few 
found in that region. 

The extensive series brought together by 
Professor Dwinel F. Thompson, of the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, is a typical assem- 
blage of the cultural relics of the upper waters 
of the Hudson. It contains many valuable 


766 


specimens also from the lower Mohawk, in- 
eluding pipes and earthy vessels. 


Other acquisitions in archeology and ethnol- 
ogy are under present consideration by the 
Museum, the plan being to illustrate as fully 
as practicable the aboriginal history of New 
York, the culture of the Iroquois and the peo- 
ples who preceded them. 


The Museum has also acquired the very un- 
usual collection of minerals from Orange 
eounty, N. Y., made by the late Silas A. 
Young from localities which are, for the most 
part, no longer productive; and also the last of 
the great collections of paleozoic fossils 
brought together by the Gebhard family 
through three generations from the classic 
Schoharie valley, a region which might appro- 
priately be called the cradle of American 
stratigraphy. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tur Hughes medal has been awarded by 
the Royal Society to Dr. Alexander Graham 
Bell. 


Dr. AvuBREY STRAHAN has been appointed 
director of the British Geological Survey and 
Museum in succession to Dr. J. J. H. Teall, 
who will retire on January 5. 


Provost Epaar F. Smiru, of the University 
of Pennsylvania, has been elected a member of 
the board of trustees of the Carnegie Founda- 
tion for the Advancement of Teaching to suc- 
ceed Dr. Ira Remsen, recently president of the 
Johns Hopkins University. 


RECENTLY a movement was set on foot for 
the presentation to the Royal Society of a por- 
trait of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, to be 
painted by Mr. J. Seymour Lucas, R.A. 
Professor Raphael Meldola, 6 Brunswick- 
square, W.C., and Professor E. B. Poulton, 
Wykeham House, Oxford, had undertaken to 
receive subscriptions. The proposal will not 
be abandoned in consequence of Dr. Wallace’s 
death, though it will be necessary to have a 
posthumous portrait painted from a photo- 
graph. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


Tue following is a list of those who have 
been recommended by the council of the Royal 
Society for election into the council at the 
anniversary meeting on December 1: Presi- 
dent—Sir William Crookes; Treasurer—Sir 
Alfred Kempe; Secretaries—Sir John Brad- 
ford and Professor Arthur Schuster; Foreign 
Secretary—Dukinfield Henry Scott; Other 
members of the council—The Right Hon. 
Arthur James Balfour, Professor William 
Maddock Bayliss, Frank Watson Dyson, Henry 
J. H. Fenton, Professor William Gowland, 
Frederick Gowland Hopkins, Sir Joseph Lar- 
mor, Professor Charles H. Lees, Professor 
Ernest William MacBride, Professor Grafton 
Elliot Smith, Professor James Lorrain Smith, 
Sir John Thornycroft, Professor William 
Whitehead Watts, Alfred North Whitehead, 
Charles T. R. Wilson and Arthur Smith 
Woodward. 


Dr. Finirrr is to lead an Italian expedition 
to the Himalayas next summer. The explorer 
intends to spend the present autumn in Chin- 
ese Turkestan, carry on observations into 
Russian Turkestan, winter in Scardo in Bal- 
tistan, and early next spring travel to Leh by 
the inner Indus valley. From Leh the expedi- 
tion will travel to the Karakoram to survey 
and map the unknown portion of the range 
between the Karakoram Pass and the Siachen 
glacier. The Government of India has sub- 
scribed £1,000 to the funds, and Major Woods 
of the Trigonometrical Survey will accompany 
the expedition. 


Mr. F. T. Brooks, of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, is leaving England for the Fed- 
erated Malay States in order to report to the 
government on fungoid diseases and whether 
anything can be done to arrest them. Mr. 
Brooks has received one year’s leave of ab- 
sence from the university. 


ProFEssoR JOSEPHINE TILDEN, of the depart- 
ment of botany, University of Minnesota, has 
returned from Australia and New Zealand, 
where she spent the past year in botanical re- 
search in the field and in collecting material 
in algology. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


Tue fourth lecture before the Harvey So- 
ciety will be given at the New York Academy 
of Medicine, on Saturday evening, November 
29, by Professor G. H. Parker, of Harvard 
University, on “The Nervous System, its 
Origin and Evolution.” 

Proressor ELLSwortH HuntineTon, of Yale 
University, delivered an illustrated lecture on 
“Changes of Climate during Historical 
Times,” on November 3, before the New York 
Academy of Sciences, at the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History. 


Proressor SHEPHERD Ivory FRANZ, scientific 
director and psychologist of the Government 
Hospital for the Insane, Washington, D. C., 
on November 15 addressed the Medical So- 
ciety of St. Louis, on the subject of “ Psycho- 
logical Factors in Medical Practise.” 


RemuHarp A. WETZEL was the guest of the 
research department of the General Electric 
Company, at Schenectady, on November 8. 
The subject of his address before the collo- 
quium ‘was “ Einstein’s Relativity Concepts 
as Interpreted by a Physical Model.” 


Four lectures on the “Aspects of Islamism ” 
will be delivered at the University of Chicago 
near the end of the winter quarter by the pro- 
fessor of Arabic at the University of Leiden, 
Dr. Christian Snoucke Hurgronje. 


A MEETING of the Pathological Society of 
Philadelphia was held on Thursday evening, 
November 20, at the College of Physicians, 
when there was a symposium on the subject of 
“Physical Growth and Mental Development.” 
‘The speakers were as follows: Dr. H. H. Don- 
aldson, of the Wistar Institute, “Studies on 
the Growth of the Central Nervous System”; 
Professor Bird T. Baldwin, of Swarthmore 
College, “The Normal Child; Its Physical 
Growth and Mental Development”; Professor 
Lightner Witmer, of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, “ Children with Mental Defects Distin- 
guished from Mentally Defective Children.” 
The discussion was opened by Professor James 
H. Leuba, of Bryn Mawr College, Dr. H. H. 
Goddard, of New Jersey Training School, 
Vineland, N. J., and Dr. Charles W. Burr, of 
Philadelphia. 


SCIENCE 


7167 


Tur Hermann Knapp Memorial Eye Hos- 
pital has opened its new building at the cor- 
ner of Fifty-seventh Street and Tenth Avenue, 
New York. It was founded in 1869 by the late 
Dr. Hermann Knapp under the name of the 
New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, and 
for forty-four years it has been in uninter- 
rupted activity at 44 and 46 Hast Twelfth 
Street. On the occasion of its removal to a 
new building in a new location, the board of 
trustees decided to change the name of the 
institution in honor of its founder. The new 
building is seven stories in height, fireproof 
throughout, and is equipped with all modern 
appliances for the treatment and study of dis- 
eases of the eye. 


THE trustees of the American Medical As- 
sociation have made a new appropriation for 
the Committee on Scientific Research. The 
committee has decided to use this money as 
far as possible to promote work in medical re- 
search where suitable conditions exist but 
where such work suffers for the lack of rela- 
tively small sums of money. Applications for 
grants are invited and may be sent to any 
member of the committee which consists of L. 
Hektoen, 1743 W. Harrison Street, Chicago; 
S. Flexner, Rockefeller Institute for Medical 
Research, New York, and Wm. Litterer, Van- 
derbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 


THE surgeon general of the army announces 
that preliminary examinations for appoint- 
ment of first lieutenants in the Army Medical 
Corps will be held on January 19, 1914. Full 
information concerning these examinations 
can be procured upon application to the “ Sur- 
geon General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.” 
The essential requirements to secure an invi- 
tation are that the applicant shall be a citizen 
of the United States, shall be between 22 and 
30 years of age, a graduate of a medical school 
legally authorized to confer the degree of 
doctor of medicine, shall be of good moral 
character and habits, and shall have’\had at, 
least one year’s hospital training as an in- 
terne, after graduation. The examinations 
will be held simultaneously throughout the 
country at points where boards can be con- 


768 


vened. Due consideration will be given to lo- 
ealities from which applications are received, 
in order to lessen the traveling expenses of 
applicants as much as possible. In order to 
perfect all necessary arrangements for the ex- 
aminations, applications must be completed 
and in possession of the adjutant general at 
least three weeks before the date of examina- 
tion. Early attention is therefore enjoined 
upon all intending applicants. There are at 
present twenty-six vacancies in the medical 
corps of the army. 


By invitation of the Comité des Forges de 
France, the autumn meeting next year of the 
British Iron and Steel Institute will be held 
in Paris, the dates of Friday and Saturday, 
September 18 and 19, having been provision- 
ally fixed for the business sessions. The first 
half of the following week will be devoted to 
excursions to the chief iron-mining and manu- 
facturing districts of France. 


On November 24 the Portland Society of 
Natural History held a public meeting de- 
voted to an informal observance of the seven- 
tieth anniversary of the day of its founding. 
The principal feature of the meeting was a 
historical address by the recording secretary, 
Major John M. Gould. Mr. Gould’s term of 
life accords almost exactly with that of the 
existence of the society and its museum. He 
was a constant and interested visitor at the 
museum through his childhood and youth. In 
early manhood he became officially connected 
with the organization and has been actively 
connected with it to the present time. The 
society was founded during that period which 
brought forth numerous organizations of a 
similar nature, when Maine was a young 
state, recovering from the disadvantages of 
having, long been a hostile frontier. In the 
outskirts of population, the society has lived 
through years of activity, and periods of ad- 
versity, twice having had its museum and its 
contents swept out of existence by fire. It 
still stands, true to the objects of its found- 
ers, “for the promotion of the study of nat- 
ural history,” with a substantial building for 
*ts museum and library. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 987 


Dr. J. M. G. Carter, of Los Angeles, Ohh, 
has given his medical library and part of his 


scientific library to the University of Southern 
California. 


Proressor JULIUS. HANN, the eminent clima- 
tologist of Vienna, wishes to find a purchaser 
for his meteorological library which has ac- 
cumulated on his hands far beyond his power 
to take care of it properly. Owing to the fact 
that he has to live on a pension, since he was 
retired from active government service and 
is obliged to live in small quarters, the greater 
part of his library is already packed away in 
boxes. His great collection of books and 
separates will be a fine addition to the library 
of any institution that desires to complete its 
collection of books bearing on meteorology 
and climatology. 


Proressor Ernst Harcket has written from 
Jena under the date of October 12, 1913, the 
following letter: 

To My FRIENDS, PUPILS AND DISCIPLES: 


I have from several sides been informed that a 
number of my friends, pupils and disciples intend 
to celebrate my eightieth birthday on the sixteenth 
of February, 1914, by presenting me with gifts 
about the form and nature of which different pro- 
posals have been made. Having repeatedly been 
honored on former occasions by such gifts, I beg 
to abstain this time from all personal donations, 
and to convey the amount of the means, destined 
for this purpose, to a foundation, which I should 
be glad to put to the disposal of the German Mon- 
ists’ Union. The wonderful development, which 
this modern union of culture has attained since 
its foundation seven years ago, the high impor- 
tance which it has acquired for the promotion of 
a free and rational conception of life as well as 
for its practical application to a conduct of life 
of superior morals render its financial support by 
ampler means most desirable. The intended new 
‘¢Hrnst-Haeckel-Fund for Monism’’ shall inces- 
santly further this work of culture of the free 
thought on the positive basis of natural science 
and furnish the necessary means to carry practi- 
cally on its numerous important tasks. I antici- 
pate my heartiest thanks to all my friends and 
comrades, who, by participation, will support the 
work of my long life. 

On the first International Monists’ Congress, 
whieh took place in September, 1911, in Ham- 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


burg, and which was such a splendid success, also 
because foreign countries took so numerously part 
in it—it became the principal aim to extend the 
German Monists’ Union, and to make it an In- 
ternational Union. This Universal Monists’ 
Union, representing an immense promotion of our 
high tasks of culture by uniting the free-thinkers 
of all countries, will be the more able to prove its 
importance practically, the more liberal also my 
friends abroad in all the continents will partake 
of the gifts for the new foundation. 


THE new seven and one half-inch photo- 
graphic telescope was placed in position in the 
Memorial Observatory of the Nantucket Maria 
Mitchell Association on November 15, the 
mounting and final adjustment by Alvan Clark 
and Son’s Corporation, completing the work. 
The lens was made by T. Cooke & Sons, York, 
England. It has been subjected to various 
tests at Harvard College Observatory by the 
director, Dr. Edward C. Pickering, personally, 
and by his several assistants who have given 
it careful attention. Rev. Joel H. Metcalf, 
whose astronomical discoveries by means of 
photographs are well known, has also carefully 
examined its work. By all of these it is pro- 
nounced good. The Nantucket Observatory 
is now well equipped for photographic study 
of asteroids or other heavenly bodies. 


Tue London Astronomical Society opened 
on November 7 at Alton, Hants, a new observ- 
tory erected by one of its members, Mr. 
James H. Worthington. The site selected is 
‘over 600 feet above sea level, near the Melstead 
Station. Here Mr. Worthington has erected 
‘what, both in finish of instruments and in 
general facilities, is said to be the finest pri- 
vate observatory in England. It is more than 
20 miles from any manufacturing town, and 
‘the atmosphere is not affected by any strong 
artificial lighting. There are altogether six 
telescopes. The two largest are under domes 
24 feet and 22 feet in diameter, respectively, 
and are a 20 inch reflector and a 10 inch re- 
fractor. 


Sratistics of the fertilizer industry in the 
United States for 1909 are presented in detail 
in a bulletin soon to be issued by the Bureau 
cof the Census. It was prepared under the 


SCIENCE 769 


direction of W. M. Steuart, chief statistician 
for manufactures. The report covers estab- 
lishments making artificial fertilizers, the 
products being ordinarily ready for use with- 
out being subjected to further treatment. The 
production of certain kinds of products which 
are used more or less exclusively for fertilizing 
without further manufacture is not covered by 
this report. The raw materials used by fer- 
tilizer factories include animal, vegetable and 
mineral products, while sulphuric and other 
acids are employed extensively in the treat- 
ment of the basic materials. The finished 
products include a variety of classes, such as 
“complete” fertilizers, which consist of a 
mixture of superphosphates with both potash 
and ammoniates, superphosphates with or with- 
out ammoniates, concentrated phosphates, and 
other minor classes. The total number of 
establishments reported as engaged primarily 
in the manufacture of fertilizers in 1909 was 
550, with a capital of $121,537,451. The num- 
ber of persons engaged in the industry was 
21,950, of whom 18,310 were wage earners. The 
total value of all products of the 550 establish- 
ments amounted to $103,960,213, of which 
$92,369,631 was the value of fertilizers proper, 
the amount of which was 5,240,164 tons. The 
sum of $11,882,815 was paid out for services, 
of which $7,477,179 was for wages. As judged 
by the amount expended for them, ammoniates, 
animal and vegetable, were the most important 
materials, followed by phosphate rock, potash 
salts, superphosphates, nitrate of soda, ammo- 
nium sulphates, sulphuric acid, fish, pyrites, 
and kainit in the order named. The cost of 
materials aggregated $55,360,423 in 1909, 
$28,975,713 in 1904, and $23,454,126 in 1899. 
Of these respective totals, the cost of ammo- 
niates formed 42.4 per cent. in 1899 as com- 
pared with 34.2 per cent. in 1904 and 29 per 
cent. in 1909. The cost of phosphate rock 
shows only slight proportionate changes; it 
constituted 15.2 per cent. of the total of the 
specific materials in 1899, 14.6 per cent. in 
1904, and 15.6 per cent. in 1909. The cost of 
potash salts represented 13.2 per cent., 12.4 
per cent. and 13.2 per cent. of the total for the 


770 


respective years; and the aggregate cost of sul- 
phuric acid and pyrites and sulphur consti- 
tuted 13.2 per cent. of the total in 1899, 11 per 
cent. in 1904, and 11.2 per cent. in 1909. All 
fertilizer establishments manufacturing sul- 
phuric acid employed the chamber process, 
sixteen using the Hoffman intensifier system, 
eleven the Pratt, nine the Gilchrist, three the 
Meyer tangential system, and one the Luney. 
The manufacture, for consumption in their 
own works, of 1,826,358 tons of acid phosphate 
was reported by establishments engaged pri- 
marily in the fertilizer industry, and 12,507 
tons were made and consumed by establish- 
ments manufacturing fertilizers as a subsi- 
diary product. 


ALL records have been broken in the great 
mineral production of the United States for 
the year 1912. The year 1907 has heretofore 
been the banner year of American mineral 
output, with a total value of $2,072,666,639, but 
even this great figure was exceeded in 1912 by 
over $170,000,000. As compared with 1911, 
the increase in 1912 is $316,098,198, or 16.40 
per cent. These figures are shown in a sum- 
mary of the mineral production of the United 
States for 1912, compiled by W. T. Thom, of 
the United States Geological Survey, now in 
press. As heretofore, iron and coal are the 
most important of our mineral products. The 
value of iron (pig iron being the basis of 
valuation) in 1912 was $420,563,388; the value 
of coal was $695,606,071. The value of the 
fuels—coal, natural gas and petroleum—in- 
creased from $835,231,497 in 1911 to $9438,972,- 
862 in 1912, a gain of $108,740,865. Coal 
showed an increase in value of $60,040,860, 
from $626,565,211 in 1911 to $695,606,071 in 
1912. The production of metals increased in 
value $186,571,303, from $680,531,782 in 1911 
to $867,103,085 in 1912. The nonmetals in- 
creased $129,276,895, from $1,246,750,346 in 
1911 to $1,376,027,241 in 1912. The unspeci- 
fied products, including cadmium, selenium, 
rutile, uranium, vanadium and other minerals, 
valued at $500,000, increased $250,000, bring- 
ing the total value of the mineral production 
for 1912 up to $2,243,630,326. The production 
of pig iron in 1912 gained more than $93,000,- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


000, or 28 per cent.; ferro-alloys gained nearly 
$4,000,000, or about 46 per cent.; silver gained 
more than $6,000,000, or 20 per cent.; copper 
gained about $68,000,000, or nearly 50 per 
cent.; zine gained nearly $14,000,000, or 44 
per cent., and aluminum gained nearly $4,000,- 
000, or 47 per cent. Gold, which lost about 
$3,500,000, was the only important metal to 
show a decrease. Among the nonmetals bi- 
tuminous coal gained approximately $67,000,- 
000, or about 15 per cent.; anthracite coal 
gained more than $2,000,000; natural gas 
gained almost $10,000,000, or 18 per cent.; 
petroleum gained nearly $30,000,000, or 22 
per cent.; clay products gained more than 
$10,000,000, or 6.5 per cent., and sulphuric 
acid from copper and zine smelters (a product 
mined as it were out of the air and changed 
from a destructive waste to an absolute gain) 
increased $1,500,000, or 55 per cent. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


AN anonymous gift of $100,000 has been 
made to Wellesley College. The money was 
given towards the million-dollar fund which 
the college is trying to raise as an endowment. 
The total amount obtained thus far is $453,000. 


Yate University has received a gift of $50,- 
000 from Mr. Charles H. Pine, of Ansonia, 
Conn., to be used for scholarships under terms 
to be announced later. 


Dr. Francis Gray Smart, of Tunbridge 
Wells, has left £10,000 to Gonville and Caius 
College, Cambridge, for two “Frank Smart 
Studentships” in natural history or botany, 
and if this sum shall be more than sufficient 
to provide for these studentships the balance is 
to be used to promote the study of these sub- 
jects in that college. 


Mr. Orro Beir has given £2,000 to Cam- 
bridge University for a library of German 
books, together with £1,000, of which the in- 
come is to be devoted to additions. 


THE certificated teachers of Herefordshire 
have decided to take action in a body with a 
view to compelling the education authority to 
redress the grievances from which they allege 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


they suffer. The first group of about 100 
resignations has been sent in to terminate on 
January 31, 1914, these being resignations of 
headmasters and headmistresses only. For 
various reasons the remainder of the resigna- 
tions are being delayed for consideration by 
the executive of the National Union of 
Teachers. 


At the University of Chicago, Elbert Clark 
has been appointed instructor in anatomy, and 
Cora OC. Colburn, instructor in home economics. 


Mr. J. H. Moncr, assistant pathologist at 
the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Wooster, Ohio, has been appointed assistant in 
plant pathology at the Michigan Agricultural 
College, beginning with November 17. 


At the Worcester Polytechnic Institute 
Assistant Professors D. L. Gallup and Frederic 
Bonnet, Jr., have been advanced to full pro- 
fessorships in gas engineering and chemistry, 
respectively. Dr. D. F. Calhane, instructor in 
industrial and electro-chemistry, has been ap- 
pointed assistant professor in his department. 
P. W. Brouwers, 718, returns to the institute 
as instructor in mathematics, and G. S. Simp- 
son, who graduated from the University of 
Maine last June, becomes assistant in chemis- 
try, replacing E. B. Peck, who has taken up a 
course of graduate work at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. 


Tue University of Minnesota added to its 
scientific faculties, this year, the following 
new members: Dr. E. P. Lyon as dean of the 
College of Medicine; as professors: Frederick 
J. Alway in agriculture, Josephine T. Berry 
in home economics, Arthur D. Hirschfelder in 
medicine, OC. M. Jackson in medicine, F. M. 
Mann in architectural engineering, Adolph F. 
Meyer in engineering, Roscoe W. Thatcher in 
agriculture, George T. Young in mining, and 
T. B. Hutcheson in agriculture; as assistant 
professors: Alva Hartley Benton in agricul- 
ture, W. H. Brierly in agriculture, Robert 
C. Dahlberg in agriculture, R. L. Donovan 
in agriculture, Robert A. Hall in medicine. 
Estelle L. Jensen in agriculture, Francis 
Jager in agriculture, R. S. Mackintosh in agri- 
culture, T. B. McCulloch in agriculture, Peter 


SCIENCE 


(al 


J. Olson in agriculture, C. C. Palmar in agri- 
culture, C. J. Posey in geology, Richard Well- 
ington in agriculture and George A. Works in 
agriculture; as instructors: George D. Allen 
in animal biology, W. O. Beal in astronomy, 
EK. C. Davis in agriculture, R. Dietrichson in 
chemistry, John T. E. Dinwoodie in agricul- 
ture, Albert M. Gilbertson in anthropology, 
Julian H. Gist in agriculture, Alex. R. Hall 
in medicine, Arthur T. Henrici in medicine, 
R. C. Jones in engineering, F. B. Kingsbury 
in medicine, W. Kritchevsky in chemistry, 
H. J. Leonard in dentistry, Mabel McDowell in 
agriculture, W. L. Miser in mathematics, 
Agnes Morton in agriculture, D. O. Ostergren 
in dentistry, Rollin M. Pease in agriculture, 
R. M. Peterson in agriculture, E. R. Pinney 
in dentistry, A. C. Potter in medicine, C. H. 
Rogers in pharmacy, C. O. Rost in agricul- 
ture, H. C. Samuels in dentistry, J. F. Shell- 
man in dentistry, E. K. Strachan in chemis- 
try, H. M. Sheffer in psychology, Frank 
Smithey in medicine, Mabel Barbara Trilling 
in agriculture, Grace T. Williams in agricul- 
ture, Robert Wilson in agriculture and J. J. 
Willaman in agriculture. 


Durine the past year the following appoint- 
ments have been made for persons who have 
graduated at the University of Illinois or who 
have been there within two years as graduate 
students in chemistry. 


J. E. Bell, instructor in chemistry, University of 
Washington, Seattle, Wash. 

R. A. Dutcher, instructor in agricultural chemis- 
try, Agriculture College, Corvallis, Oregon. 

J. HE, Egan, assistant professor of chemistry, 
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. 

H. B. Gordon, assistant professor, Agricultural 
and Mechanical College of Texas, College Sta- 
tion, Texas. 

L. R. Littleton, professor of chemistry, Emory 
and Henry College, Emory, Virginia. 

W. S. Long, assistant professor of chemistry, in 
charge of the food laboratory, Lawrence, Kan- 
sas. 

C. Ferdinand Nelson, assistant professor of physi- 
ological chemistry, University of Kansas, Law- 
rence, Kansas. 

L. F. Nickell, instructor in chemistry, Washington 
University, St. Louis, Missouri. 


772 


H. L. Olin, instructor in chemistry, Vassar Col- 
lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

R. S. Potter, research assistant, Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, Iowa State College, Ames, 
Towa. 

E. K. Strachan, instructor in chemistry, Univer- 
sity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 

G. Y. Williams, associate professor of chemistry 
and acting head of the chemistry department 
in the State University of Oklahoma, Norman, 
Oklahoma. 

P. S. Woodward, instructor, Georgia School of 
Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. 

Tue electors to the Waynflete professorship 
of physiology at Oxford, vacant by the death 
of Dr. Francis Gotch, have elected Dr. Charles 
Seott Sherrington. Dr. Sherrington succeeded 
Dr. Gotch as Holt professor of physiology at 
the University of Liverpool in 1895, when Dr. 
Gotch was called to Oxford. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


MATHEMATICAL DEFINITIONS IN THE NEW 
STANDARD DICTIONARY 


Funk and Wagnalls’s “ New Standard Dic- 
tionary of the English Language,” 1913, has 
many merits and will doubtless be used very 
extensively. It is, therefore, of special impor- 
tance to direct public attention to the fact that 
this dictionary is not reliable as regards defini- 
tions of mathematical terms. Some of these 
definitions will doubtless interest even those who 
remember only a little of their mathematics, 
as they relate to elementary matters and are so 
evidently incorrect. The following list of ex- 
amples could easily have been extended, but 
it is believed that it will not require many 
examples of this type to convinee the reader. 

Under the term algebra it is stated that the 
infinitesimal calculus and the theory of func- 
tions may be classed among “the principal 
branches of algebra.” A hundred years ago 
such a statement might have appeared proper, 
but it is not in accord with any of the classifi- 
cations which have been extensively adopted 
in recent years, such as those employed in the 
International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 
ture and in the large mathematical encyclo- 
pedias which are in the course of publication. 
In fact, the infinitesimal caleulus and the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


theory of functions are generally regarded as 
branches of analysis. 

The explanations which follow the term 
arithmetic include the statement that the 
early Pythagoreans first studied arithmetic. 
On the contrary, it is well known that the an- 
cient Babylonians and Egyptians made con- 
siderable use of elementary arithmetic, as may 
be seen from the extensive mathematical 
tables of the ancient Babylonians and the 
large collection of examples by the Egyptian 
scribe Ahmes. Possibly the early Pythago- 
reans might be regarded as the first workers in 
higher arithmetic or the theory of numbers. 

An instance of a statement which is more 
evidently incorrect appears under the term 
dimension. It is here stated that four-dimen- 
sional space may be regarded as a hypothetical 
conception to explain equations of the fourth 
degree in analytical geometry. As a matter 
of fact an equation of any degree in two 
variables may be represented geometrically in 
the plane. It is the number of the variables 
and not the degree of an equation which corre- 
sponds to the number of dimensions required 
for its representation. 

Under the term equation it is stated that an 
abelian equation is an equation “all of whose 
roots are rational functions of one or more of 
the roots.” It is well known that the roots of 
non-abelian equations may also be rational 
functions of each other. In an abelian equa- 
tion we must have the additional condition 
that its group is commutative. 

A. fractional function is defined, under the 
term function, as one whose variable appears 
only in its denominator; and a Galois resol- 
vent is said to be “that resolvent of an equa- 
tion whose roots remain the same when the 
group of the equation is permuted in any way 
whatever.” It would be interesting to know 
something about the new theory of permuting 
the group of an equation. Unfortunately 
there seems to be no clue in this dictionary as 
regards the possible meaning of this term. 

The most original definitions seem to ap- 
pear under the term group. A complete 
eroup is defined as one in which no self-con- 
jugate operations are possible besides the iden- 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


tity. According to this definition every alter- 
nating group whose degree exceeds 3 is 
complete, while none of these groups is com- 
plete according to the definitions of this term 
given elsewhere. A still more original and 
more mysterious definition under this term 
relates to the regular group. It is stated that 
this is “a transitive group whose order is the 
same as that of the letter on which it is made.” 

It is very difficult to see how any one can 
discover any meaning whatever in such a defi- 
nition. To make a group on a letter is a 
process which seems to have been foreign to 
the literature of this subject. A large num- 
ber of almost equally vague statements occur 
under other terms. For instance, under the 
term number it is stated that an irrational 
number is “a definite number not expressible 
in a definite number of digits,” and a congru- 
ence group is defined as a group made up of 
replacements. 

It may probably be assumed that all mathe- 
maticians who read these few citations will 
agree that American mathematicians have 
good reason to protest against such a butchery 
of their subject in a popular work of refer- 
ence. Those who desire more evidence can 
easily obtain it by consulting this dictionary 
for the definitions of the following terms: 
analogy, angle—especially angle of elevation 
and angle of depression, automorphic, frac- 
tion, matrix, mathematical and variable. 

G. A. Minter 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


A REPLY TO DR. HERON’S STRICTURES 


Tue all-too-familiar “blessings” of Pro- 
fessor Karl Pearson upon “ Mendelians” have 
recently been continued by his understudy, 
Dr. David Heron, and directed toward Ameri- 
can work in eugenics in general and that of 
the undersigned in particular. Like my col- 
leagues in this country I should have re- 
mained silent under the attacks, knowing that 
discriminating men of science in this coun- 
try as well as in England recognize their 
true animus and that they lie outside the pale 
of science. But the notoriety given in a daily 
paper to the publication of Heron and to a 


SCIENCE 


773 


“defence”? based upon an interview with me 
by a reporter of the paper lead me to make a 
brief reply. 

I shall not attempt now to answer all the 
scores of trivial points of criticism made by 
Dr. Heron, but shall consider only the paper on 
heredity of epilepsy by Dr. David F. Weeks 
and myself, which he singles out for special at- 
tack. The numerous “errors” to which he 
calls attention fall for the most part into three 
categories, based on misunderstanding so gross 
on the critic’s part as to render it difficult to 
believe that they are not intentional. First, 
Dr. Heron seems to assume that whenever a 
symbol in a pedigree chart is not accompanied 
on the chart by some special description it 
stands for a person about whom nothing is 
known. He calls attention to numerous cases 
where, notwithstanding, the corresponding 
individual is described in the text. The as- 
sumption is a gross error. The chart shows 
mainly the interrelationship of individuals 
and indicates only certain traits. Second, Dr. 
Heron catalogues, with infinite pains, “ errors ” 
in citing the case number. Here he has fallen 
into a trap which the authors unconsciously 
prepared for him. To avoid the possibility that 
a person who is not authorized should con- 
nect an individual at the institution with his 
family history it was decided to apply altera- 
tions to the case numbers which enable the 
authors, but not the ordinary reader, to iden- 
tify the case. None of the “errors” are such 
as would prevent the use of the numbers by 
the authors and they could be of no scientific 
use to others. Dr. Heron used them merely 
for criticism. Had we anticipated that there 
was anywhere a man of science with such 
abundant leisure, we should have published a 
warning that the reference numbers were for 
the sake of identification by the authors and 
not for scientific study. Third, in our tables 
we analyzed the traits of the “children” into 
ten columns, but condensed those of the fath- 
er’s sibs, ete., into 5 columns to save space; in 
some cases father and father’s sibs, etc., ap- 
pear as “ children ” and the classification is ac- 
cordingly expanded from 5 to 10 categories. 
This, of course, is obvious to any intelligent 


774 


reader; but it serves our critic to swell the ac- 
cumulation of details for his contention that 
our work is careless because the same frater- 
nity is described by the use of different words 
in different parts of the paper. 

A critic who is guilty of such extensive 
stupid, captious and misleading criticism can 
hardly expect a scientific consideration of 
other points he raises of a more general sort. 
I fear it will be futile for a biologist to attempt 
to show to the “applied statistician” his 
errors. Genuine, scientific criticism has al- 
ways been useful in the advancement of sci- 
ence, but friends of Galton must regard it as 
a tragedy that the fortune of one of the largest- 
minded and most fertile-minded men of sci- 
ence should be supporting a laboratory one of 
whose leading members spends much time 
making elaborate researches into his delusions 
concerning the blunders of others instead of 
making positive discoveries in a field where so 
little is known and where the need of utilizable 
knowledge is so great. 

Cuas. B. Davenport 

Cotp Sprine Harzor, N. Y., 

November 10, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Mineral Deposits. By WaAtDEMAR LINDGREN. 
New York, McGraw-Hill Co. Pp. v-+ 883, 
Figs. 257. Svo. $5.00. 

In the preparation of this invaluable trea- 
tise a great boon has been conferred by Pro- 
fessor Lindgren upon all geologists. The 
work is of interest not alone to those immedi- 
ately engaged in mining, but to all who are 
concerned with the processes of mineral solu- 
tion and deposition in the earth’s crust. For 
those who have not followed from year to year 
the advances of observation and interpretation, 
many new and striking results will appear. 

The author has brought exceptional prepa- 
ration and experience to the task. An old 
Freiberger, he was grounded by one of the 
best of teachers, the late Professor A. W. 
Stelzner, in the “ Lehre” or “lore” of ore-de- 
posits, and learned of the applications of geol- 
ogy in the steadying atmosphere of an engi- 
neering school. Beginning in 1883 on the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


Transcontinental Survey of the Northern Pa- 
cific railroad, Mr. Lindgren entered the U. S. 
Geological Survey the next year, and has thus 
had nearly thirty years of study in the mining 
districts of America. Journeys in Australia 
and Europe have further amplified experience, 
and courses of instruction given by him at 
Stanford University and in the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology have served to sys- 
tematize and formulate conclusions. To all 
has been added a thorough scholarship and 
spirit of fairness, such that the resulting work 
is marked by all these characteristics. It is 
also the ripe fruition of a little school of 
American observers, whose views have found 
special expression in the magazine Economic 
Geology. 

The book is divisible into two parts. An 
introductory one of about one fifth the total 
embraces the general chemical and structural 
principles on which the remainder is based. 
The major portion is thus devoted to a review 
and discussion of the types of mineral deposits 
whose scheme of classification is at once the 
climax of the first part and the skeleton of the 
second. As the title implies, the work takes 
up “mineral deposits” rather than “ore de- 
posits.” The title makes logical and consistent 
the treatment both of the deposits with the 
distinctive metals and those with non-metals. 
It enables the author to have freer scope in 
that questions of profitable working are less 
involved. The title is a little over-inclusive 
for the subject-matter, because coal, our most 
important mineral deposit, is not mentioned, 
although a place for it is provided in the 
scheme of classification. Old associations 
were probably so strong with our author that 
coal, petroleum and natural gas faded from 
the field of view when actually writing. 

In the introduction, water necessarily plays 
a very important part. Six extremely interest- 
ing chapters are devoted to it. For the greater 
number of mineral deposits water is quite cor- 
rectly regarded as the all-important agent. 
Its composition, circulation, chemical reac- 
tions and amount are all reviewed. The ques- 
tion, may, however, be raised, whether, when 
the general shallow penetration of the meteoric 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


groundwaters into the crust of the earth is 
appreciated; when the great restrictions upon 
their actual amount which have been demon- 
strated in recent years are grasped in their 
full significance; and when the great depths 
to which many veins extend are kept before 
us; we may justifiably state, as on page 24: 
“However important these (z. e., magmatic 
waters) may be in the formation of certain 
kinds of ore deposits, they are insignificant 
in quantity compared to the great circulation 
of atmospheric water.” It sometimes seems to 
the reviewer that even while stating newer 
facts almost from force of habit we are in- 
clined to reiterate older doctrines from be- 
neath which the newer facts have largely re- 
moved the foundations. Had we known at the 
outset of the limited vertical distribution of 
the meteoric groundwaters and of their small 
amount, it is quite possible that we should 
have had a less firmly rooted faith in them 
as the prima facie source of deep-seated 
circulations, and would have given other 
kinds of water greater relative importance. 
The subject is, however, young, and a 
gradual modification of views may come in 
time as we escape the hypnotic influence of the 
past. Indeed, as we read Professor Lindgren’s 
subsequent pages, and especially Chapter VL., 
we feel as if, when the actual phenomena were 
reviewed, the magmatic waters seemed of 
greater and greater importance. Indeed, who 
can aftirm that the surface waters were not 
themselves once magmatic? 

The introductory portion also contains val- 
uable chapters on faults, folds,. openings in 
rocks, textures of deposits and ore-shoots, on 
almost all of which Professor Lindgren has 
previously written in a most illuminating 
way. The classification of mineral deposits, 
which is to form the framework of the later 
pages, is introduced by a condensed review of 
other schemes and of agents. 

The scheme of classification is the founda- 
tion of the treatise. It is fundamentally based 
on mechanical processes of concentration on the 
one side, and chemical, on the other. While 
these two have been emphasized in one way 
and another by earlier writers, no one else has 


SCIENCE 


775 


so logically and completely carried out the 
chemical processes in determining the sub- 
groups on the basis of temperature and pres- 
sure. The types of mineral deposits are, 
therefore, taken up in order, beginning with 
reactions at the surface at ordinary tempera- 
tures and pressures, passing to those in the 
rocks at greater and greater depths and termi- 
nating in the natural climax of those produced 
by processes of differentiation in magmas. 
Perhaps the question will arise in the minds of 
some, as to whether we are sufticiently well- 
informed regarding the temperatures and pres- 
sures at which minerals develop in order to 
make this grouping sound. The reply may be 
made, that the associations of minerals in the 
various types are in contrast; that we have 
learned much from their artificial production ; 
and that the peculiar etch-figures afforded by 
quartz, a mineral of wide occurrence, and 
differing according to its crystallization above 
or below its conversion point of 575° C., 
have all given ,critical data now of great sig- 
nificance. 

Professor Lindgren reviews practically all 
the famous mining districts of the world and 
in connection with them discusses with full- 
ness and illuminating insight the questions 
of secondary enrichment, of persistence of 
mineral characters with depth, of contact 
zones, of magmatic segregations and of peg- 
matites. Indeed, no student of the subject 
can read these pages without feeling his inter- 
est quickened and his grasp of the causes 
which have led to the formation of mineral de- 
posits greatly broadened. Professor Lindgren 
has, therefore, as stated in the opening sen- 
tence of this review, placed his colleagues and 
students everywhere under a great debt by the 
preparation of a masterly work. 

J. F. Kemp 


Der Mensch der Vorzeit. Von Dr. Huco 
OsreRMAtnR, Professor am internationalen 
“Institut de Paléontologie Humain,” Paris. 
Mit 39 Tafeln, 12 Karten und 395 Textab- 
bildungen. Allegemeine  Verlags-gesell- 
schaft, M. B. H., Berlin, Miinchen, Wien. 
1912. 


776 


“Der Mensch der Vorzeit” very appropri- 
ately constitutes Volume I of a monumental 
work in three volumes! entitled ‘ Der Mensch 
aller Zeiten Natur and Kultur der Volker der 
Erde.” 

By way of introduction the author gives a 
résumé of ancient cosmogony and archeology 
as seen through medieval eyes, and the found- 
ing of geology, paleontology and prehistoric 
archeology as exact sciences. 

The key to the Glacial period is found in the 
existing glaciers, which still cover about 10 
per cent. of the land surface of the earth. 
The author is particularly well qualified to 
treat of the geology of the Ice Age as he has 
made a special study of the glacial phenomena 
in the French Pyrenees, where he found a suc- 
cession of four terraces in the Garonne and 
Ariége valleys precisely as had been noted 
previously by Penck and Briickner in the foot- 
hills of the Alps. These he refers to the four 
glacial epochs for which he accepts Penck’s 
terminology, beginning with the oldest: Giinz, 
Mindel, Riss and Wiirm. In the Garonne 
valley the Giinz terrace is 150 meters above 
the present stream bed; while the Mindel, Riss 
and Wiirm terraces are 100, 55 and 15 meters 
respectively above the present stream. 

The great loess mantel stretching from 
southern England, Belgium and _ northern 
France across Germany to the Carpathian 
Mountains, Obermaier considers an eolian 
formation. His conclusion is based on the 
position, structure and content of the loess. 
In the Riesengebirge it reaches an elevation of 
400 meters above the sea; the lines of stratifi- 
cation are not such as would be formed in 
water; and the animal remains found in the 
loess are for the most part land shells, fresh- 
water shells being rare and fishes entirely 
wanting. 

While the great loess mantel is evidently 
eolian, there are restricted loess deposits con- 
nected with valley terraces that owe their for- 
mation to the agency of water. The loess of 

1 The authors of the other volumes are Ferdinand 


Birkner, Wilhelm Schmidt, Ferdinand Hestermann 
and Theodor Stratmann, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


western and central Europe is exclusively of 
Quaternary age, but must be considered as 
having been deposited at various epochs. The 
author believes the latest loess to be post-gla- 
cial, while Penck would place it as far back 
as the maximum extension of the Wiirm gla- 
ciation. 

The possible causes of the Ice Age may be 
classed as astronomical, geological and phys- 
ical. The basis for the astronomical theories 
is that the movement of the earth is influenced 
not only by the sun, but also by the planets; 
the latter, although much smaller than the 
sun, are nevertheless able to bring about 
periodic changes in the form of the earth’s 
orbit and the inclination of the earth’s axis to 
the ecliptic. The precision of the equinoxes 
should also be considered. No one of the 
periodic changes in the movement of the earth 
is sufficient in itself to bring about a succes- 
sion of glacial and interglacial epochs. 

From the viewpoint of geology the legends 
concerning the lost Atlantis, or those pointing 
to a possible bridge across the north Atlantic, 
must ever remain purely legends. Does the 
theory of Kreichgauer furnish a key to the Ice 
Age? The author thinks favorably of it. 
Kreichgauer supposes the earth’s axis to re- 
main fixed and the earth’s crust to move slowly 
on the molten mass within. Thus a spot on 
the equator might in the course of time find 
itself over one of the poles. Paleontology and 
the distribution of glacial phenomena are 
thought to offer evidences in support of this 
hypothesis. 

As possible physical causes there may be 
cited changes in the character of the atmos- 
phere, rendering it less penetrable by the sun’s 
rays. According to Svante Arrhenius, a 
period of high percentage of carbonic acid in 
the air would be a period of cold, and vice 
versa. Periods of great volcanic activity 
would thus correspond to periods of cold; and 
the Quaternary volcanoes of Auvergne and the 
Rhine are known to have been active during a 
cold period. Of all the theories, the author 
gives preference to Kreichgauer’s. Whether 
the glacial epochs were synchronous in the 
northern and southern hemispheres he is un- 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


able to say categorically. That there were 
four glacial epochs alternating with intergla- 
cial epochs is reflected in the changing char- 
acter of the animal and plant world. The as- 
sociation of animal and plant remains with 
human skeletal remains, and especially arti- 
facts, often serves to throw light on the age of 
the latter. 

The author divides the lower paleolithic 
into early Chellean, Chellean, Acheulian and 
Mousterian, describing in detail not only the 
well-known type specimens, but also various 
small forms only recently recognized as be- 
longing to the earlier horizons. Many im- 
portant stations are described at length; and 
ample space is given to the geographic dis- 
tribution of the successive cultures. 

The author traces diluvial man over prac- 
tically the whole earth. He sifts the evidence 
bearing on the presence of diluvial man in 
countries outside of Europe, finding indica- 
tions of a Chelleo-Mousterian industry wide- 
spread over both hemispheres. He believes it 
to be diluvial, but not necessarily everywhere 
of the same age. 

The types characterizing the various upper 
paleolithic industries are fully described and 
figured: Aurignacian, Solutrean and Magdale- 
nian, each with its subdivisions. The use of 
the Magdalenian baton de commandement re- 
mains problematic. Of the many theories 
advanced as to the purpose it served, Ober- 
maier favors Reinach’s supposition that they 
might have been magic wands, rather than 
clubs, halter pieces, tent fixtures, figule, 
hunting trophies or sceptors. Of the Azilian 
epoch, transition epoch from the paleolithic 
to the neolithic, the fauna is neolithic, but 
the culture is still paleolithic. Breuil’s con- 
clusions as to the sequence in the development 
of paleolithic parietal art are accepted. 
Quaternary art in Europe is analogous to the 
art of modern primitive man, but not to that 
of neolithic man in Europe. 

The popular interest in a definite chronol- 
ogy for man’s antiquity is perennial. Au- 
thorities still differ enough in their estimates 
to admit of being grouped into three classes; 
radicals, conservatives and a middle class. 


SCIENCE 


777 


The author would place the Magdalenian, not 
during the Achen retreat, nor after the Bihl 
stage, but during the latter because of the 
reindeer fauna. In that respect he and Penck 
are practically in accord, although Penck be- 
lieves the Magdalenians were living some- 
where also during the maximum Wiirm cold 
as well as during the Achen stage. By giving 
to the Magdalenians more latitude in point of 
time, Penck finds it convenient to push back 
the Mousterian epoch much further than 
Obermaier would have it go. Both believe 
that the Mousterians passed through a cold 
and a warm stage. Penck allows for this by 
placing the early Mousterians in the Riss 
glacial epoch and the later Mousterians in the 
first half of the succeeding Riss-Wiirm inter- 
glacial, and the upper Mousterian with the 
first advance and maximum of the Wiirm 
glaciation. Penck would have the Chellean 
and Acheulian correspond to the second inter- 
glacial epoch. Both agree in assigning the 
human lower jaw of Mauer to the Mindel-Riss 
interglacial epoch; the Mauer specimen thus 
represents for Penck Chellean man or pre- 
Chellean and for Obermaier pre-paleolithic 
man. 

The difficulty of substituting an absolute 
for a relative chronology is at once evident to 
any one familiar with the character of the 
phenomena to be dealt with. The advance 
and retreat of glaciers has been studied in 
recent times. The rate of deposition and ero- 
sion within certain limits is subject to meas- 
urement. For a continental ice sheet to form 
and push its way out of the north until it 
reaches central Europe requires a long time; 
and it was not at once evicted from the out- 
posts gained. Even after its maximum force 
was spent, it disputed stubbornly every inch 
of the territory on the retreat. This program 
with occasional halts and advances was re- 
peated four times. The Wiirm glacial de- 
posits look fresh in comparison to those of the 
Riss, for example, and still greater weather- 
ing is to be noted in the deposits left by the 
Mindel and Giinz, respectively. The size of 
the Witirm terminal moraine and the amount 
of material left as mantels on the retreat of 


173 


the ice, testify to the eroding and transport- 
ing power of the last glaciation, as well as to 
its long period of activity. The Riss termi- 
nal moraines and gravel beds are still greater; 
hence indicate a longer period of glaciation 
for the Riss epoch. If the various glacial 
epochs were of unlike duration, so also were 
the interglacial epochs. Penck finds that in 
the foothills of the Alps, where the gravel 
beds of the four glacial epochs appear as ter- 
races, those of the first two epochs lie consid- 
erably higher than those of the last two. The 
valley erosion between the Mindel and the 
Riss epoch was, therefore, greater than that 
of the Riss-Wiirm interglacial epoch. On 
the other hand, the Riss-Wiirm is longer than 
the time that has elapsed since the maximum 
Wiirm extension. The alternation of cold 
and warm faunas confirms the theory of the 
relatively great length of time required. 
Since authorities do not agree as to the geo- 
logical position of the various cultural epochs, 
it is not strange that they should also differ 
in their estimates concerning the absolute 
length of these epochs. 

Obermaier admits that his own figures are 
ultra-conservative. He places the close of the 
neolithic age at about 2000 B.c., its beginning 
some 6000 B.c. The date separating the proto- 
neolithic from the Magdalenian is 12000 B.c., 
the beginning of the Magdalenian at least 
16000 B.c. To the Solutrean and Aurigna- 
cian each he ascribes 5,000 years, and to the 
Mousterian, Acheulian and Chellean each 
10,000 years. He thus arrives at a minimum 
figure of 50,000 years for the time that has 
elapsed since the appearance of paleolithic 
man, and at least 100,000 years for the age of 
the pre-paleolithic Heidelberg jaw. 

L. Pilgrim is much more liberal in his esti- 
mates: for a chronology of the Ice Age, his 
total amounting to 1,290,000 years. Penck’s 
figures are somewhat more conservative; he al- 
lows some 30,000 years for the time that has 
elapsed since the maximum Wiirm glaciation, 
60,000 years for the Riss-Wiirm epoch, more 
than 240,000 years for the Mindel-Riss epoch, 
and for the entire duration of the Ice Age 
1,000,000 years. Hildebrandt’s estimate for the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


Quaternary is 530,000 years. Schlosser and 
Boule are inclined to regard the Giinz epoch 
as belonging to the upper Pliocene. 

Obermaier rightly rejects all human re- 
mains whose age is in doubt. After this is 
done there is still left a formidable list rep- 
resenting every culture horizon. The Tilbury 
skeleton is thought to be of Quaternary age, 
while the remains from Galley Hill, Engis, 
Furfooz, La Hastiére, Trou Magrite, Goyet, 
Trou du Chaleux, Briix and Podbaba, are set 
aside as uncertain. He believes that we must 
go back to Eocene times in order to find the 
bridge that connects man with the ancestors 
of living anthropoids and cites Pithecan- 
thropus erectus as an example of how close an 
anthropoid line can come to the human with- 
out being or becoming a part of it. Proplio- 
pithecus heckelt, a fossil ape from the Oligo- 
cene of Egypt, is probably the ancestor not 
only of Simiide, but also of Hominide. 

The eolithic question is discussed at con- 
siderable length. It is contended that on me- 
chanical grounds alone there is no way of 
distinguishing between man-made and nature- 
made eoliths. The so-called Tertiary and 
Quaternary eoliths are not accepted unless 
they are made of material foreign to the de- 
posit in which they are found, or are associ- 
ated with human bones, hearths or other in- 
dubitable evidence of man’s presence. On 
the other hand, it is admitted that some primi- 
tive races of to-day are in the eolithic stage, 
that all eoliths may not be due to natural 
causes, and that the lower jaw from Mauer 
represents eolithic man. 

In Part II. the reader has a handy résumé 
of the culture periods connecting the paleo- 
lithic with historic times; neolithic, bronze 
and iron ages. It is, however, in Part I. that 
the author speaks with special authority and 
from a wealth of first-hand knowledge. Pro- 
fessor Obermaier is to be congratulated on the 
completion of a work that will be admired 
alike for its magnitude and general excel- 
lence. 

GrorcE Grant MacCurpy 

YALE UNIVERSITY, 

NEw HAVEN, Conn. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


The Meaning of Evolution. By SaMuEL 
Curistian Scumucker, Ph.D. New York, 
The Macmillan Company. 1913. 12mo. 
Pp. 298. 

This is a very readable book upon what is 
no longer a new theme. Following a literary 
“foreword” the pre-Darwinian history of evo- 
lution is sketched as a background for Dar- 
win and Wallace. The historical chapter 
about Darwin presents the essentials of his 
career in a charmingly vivid and sympa- 
thetic manner. Then follows the “ Underly- 
ing Idea” of natural selection as the method 
of evolution illustrated largely by means of 
the English sparrow, of which the author in- 
cidentally says (p. 84): “This pestiferous 
creature should be exterminated ... but per- 
sonally I am taking no share in his destruc- 
tion ... I confess that it would be with re- 
gret that/I should see him disappear from the 
landscape.” 

Chapters IV. and V. deal with adaptation 
for the individual and for the species. The 
general attitude toward Lamarck is occasion- 
ally rather more conciliatory than the mili- 
tant Weismannian would approve of, but this 
is not to be wondered at in one who is proud 
of having been a student of Professor Cope. 
It seems to be very easy to drop into La- 
marckian explanations for adaptation. For 
instance (p. 89): “ The modern scientist feels 
sure not only that the animal is fitted to his 
work, but that he has been so fitted by the 
work.” It will probably always be a bone of 
contention whether the exercise of an organ 
determines its structure or the structure of 
an organ sets the limits to its exercise. 

With respect to protective coloration and 
sexual selection the author proposes to retain 
the Darwinian interpretation until something 
better arises in spite of the recent loss of con- 
fidence in the adequacy of these explanations. 

The three succeeding chapters upon “ Life 
in the Past,” “How the Mammals | Devel- 
oped,” and “The Story of the Horse” mar- 
shal in review some of the classified evidence 
in support of animal evolution, while Chapter 
IX. takes up “Evolutionary Theories Since 
Darwin.” 


SCIENCE 


779 


In this last chapter Weismann, whose 
name will doubtless be correctly spelled in 
subsequent editions, is justly given promi- 
nence because his “work has made us cau- 
tious and prevented our lightly accepting a 
belief in the influence of the environment.” 
Moritz Wagner and Romanes with their iso- 
lation theories and the orthogenists receive 
attention, and finally Hugo deVries with mu- 
tation closes the chapter. 

The book could have been written fifteen 
years ago so far as any analysis of the signifi- 
cant bearing which Mendelism or the pure- 
line theory of Johannsen has upon the ques- 
tion of evolution. 

Chapter X. turns optimistically to the 
“Future Evolution of Man” and is sociolog- 
ical rather than biological in its treatment, 
while the final chapter, “Science and the 
Book” gives the impression that the professor 
has stepped out of the class room and is 
speaking to a church audience and speaking 
withal extremely well. 

The word “ Evolution” has lost most of its 
incendiary character ofa generation ago yet 
there are no doubt many in whose minds it 
still stands contrasted with religion and the 
Bible as a faith-destroying invention of god- 
less scientists. To all such persons this book 
is a welcome message of reassurance and peace 
while to others who no longer need to be con- 
vinced of the essential truth of the evolution- 
ary processes, the pages will be turned with 
approving delight. 

Dr. Schmucker has stated the facts of the 
ease in clear non-technical language with 
much literary grace and with scientific ac- 
curacy, consequently the book is well adapted 
to a wide range of readers even outside the 
biologically initiated. 

H. E. Water 


Brown UNIVERSITY 


Animals of the Past. By Freprrick A. Lucas. 
American Museum of Natural History, 
Handbook series No. 4. New York. 1913. 
Pp. xx-+ 266, with a frontispiece and 50 
full-page and text figures. 

This volume is an exact reprint of Lucas’s 


780 


“ Animals of the Past,” of which the last edi- 
tion was published in 1902, with the addition 
of a prefatory note bearing a picture of the 
mounted skeleton of Allosawrus on the reverse 
side of the leaf, and a final chapter containing 
a retrospect of the last twelve years, and sum- 
marizing the latest additions to our knowledge, 
especially such as have been gained through 
the medium of exploration. 

The printing is from the original plates, 
which ultimately became the property of the 
author, and the general appearance of the book, 
the paper cover of which bears Gleeson’s 
spirited restoration of T'ylosaurus, is of the de- 
gree of excellence which one is led to expect in 
publications of the American Museum. 

Ricuarp 8. LuLu 

YALE UNIVERSITY 


A History of Chemistry from the Earliest 
Times to the Present Day. By the late 
JAMES CAMPBELL Brown, D.Sc., LL.D., Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry in the University of 
Liverpool. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s Son 
& Co. 1913. Octavo. Pp. 558, with 107 il- 
lustrations. Cloth. $3.50 postpaid. 

As stated by the editor (a cousin of the au- 
thor) the present work comprises a course of 
lectures which the late Dr. Campbell Brown 
was accustomed to deliver before the chemis- 
try students of Liverpool University. The lec- 
tures were left as manuscript notes which the 
author intended to revise for publication, but 
his sudden death in 1910 prevented the execu- 
tion of this plan. Notwithstanding the imper- 
fect shape of some of the material, the friends 
of the author considered that it would be a 
cause for regret if the information, which rep- 
resented years of patient research and study 
were not made available to former students and 
to any, others who might be interested in the 
history of chemistry. The lectures have, there- 
fore, been printed, in much the same shape as 
delivered, the editor making such changes and 
revisions as seemed necessary for proper pre- 
sentation in book form. 

Following the example of Kopp (whose 
monumental “Geschichte der Chemie” must 
form a basis for every historian of chemistry) 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 987 


the author has divided his subject into five sec- 
tions—the Prehistoric, the Alchemical, the 
Iatrochemical, the Phlogiston and the Quanti- 
tative Periods. The lectures upon the first four 
of these periods cover their ground most mi- 
nutely, and indicate that the author must have 
had a particular fondness for ancient chemical 
lore. This section of the book is profusely il- 
lustrated with old drawings of alchemical 
apparatus, mystical diagrams and specimen 
pages of Greek, Syriac and Arabian texts. 
The lists of writers and of bibliographies are 
very full, making the book of service, both to 
those who wish to consult the old authors as 
well as to the collector of rare books. For the 
abundance of material supplied in this par- 
ticular branch of chemical history, we know of 
no other book in English with which it can be 
compared. 

In discussing the work of the ancient Greek 
and early medieval alchemists the author has 
made extensive use, as every historian of chem- 
istry must, of the invaluable researches of 
Berthelot. The lecturer cautions his students 
to distinguish carefully between the genuine . 
works of Democritus, Geber, etc., and those of 
their pseudo-namesakes; it seems that the edi- 
tor has not heeded this caution in revising the 
late author’s notes. The story told on page 30 
of the miraculous opening which Democritus 
saw in the pillar of the temple at Memphis 
and the two prescriptions for making gold on 
page 31 are found in sections 3, 4 and 5, of the 
“Physica et Mystica,” a work which belongs, 
as the duthor correctly states elsewhere (pp. 
43, 182), to the pseudo-Democritus and not to 
the founder of the atomic school. 

We fear that the remarks of the author 
upon page 14 regarding the chemical knowl- 
edge of the Hebrew law-giver Moses may 
cause considerable perplexity. The statement 
that Moses comminuted the golden ealf and 
“rendered it soluble by fusion with an alka- 
line or alkaline-earthy sulphide” revives a 
strange speculation indulged in by the ancient 
alchemists. The verse in Exodus 32:20, 
which states that Moses took the golden calf 
“burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder 
and strewed it upon the water and made the 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


children of Israel drink it” stimulated the 
search for a life-giving tincture of gold (the 
aurum potabile). It was held that Moses pos- 
sessed wonderful chemical knowledge, acquired 
from the Egyptians, and theories were ad- 
vanced that he dissolved the golden image in 
aqua regia or else alloyed it with lead or mer- 
cury. Stahl in 1698 advanced the new expla- 
nation that Moses dissolved the gold by treat- 
ment with supersaturated liver of sulphur 
(hepar sulphuris supersaturatum, ex cequis 
partibus salis alcali et sulphuris citrini). 
From Stahl, evidently, the late author bor- 
rowed his own idea, which we can of course 
interpret only as a piece of lecture-room pleas- 
antry. 

The famous enigma chemicum concerning 
the nine-lettered name of the philosopher’s 
stone, which is translated in part on page 154, 
is another interesting example of the specula- 
tions in which alchemists were wont to in- 
dulge. The answer “arsenicon” which the 
author gives, is only one of many solutions 
that have been proposed; daoaddpos (phos- 
phorus), xivaBapis (cinnabar) Kacitepos (tin) 
and other Greek words have been distorted in 
a vain effort to meet the requirements of the 
riddle. 

A critical reader might object to several 
statements in the book for reasons of inaccu- 
racy. It is wrongly stated, for example, on 
page 17 that sugar was employed by the an- 
cient Egyptians. The earliest reliable infor- 
mation—that found in old Chinese writings— 
places the probable date of the earliest manu- 
facture of cane-sugar between A.D. 300 and 600. 
The odxyap of Galen and caxyapoy of Dios- 
corides and other Greek writers was not our 
modern cane-sugar, but in all probability the 
eastern tabaschir, a gummy silicious exuda- 
tion of the bamboo. 

The statement (p. 183) that Aristotle origi- 
nated the idea of a fifth element (the ether or 
quintessence) requires to be modified. The 
same conception occurs earlier in Plato, who, 
in the Timeus (end of Chap. XX.), mentions 
a fifth substance or essence (<urmrn ovoroaor), 
which included the four elements of fire, air, 
water and earth. This notion, which fore- 


SCIENCE 


781 


shadowed later assumptions concerning the 
unity of matter, is also found in the writings 
of the early Pythagoreans, from whom the idea 
was probably first borrowed. 

The fifth section of the book was not fin- 
ished by the late author and this part of the 
volume shows in consequence considerable evi- 
dences of incompleteness. Many of the chap- 
ters are in fact so fragmentary that a student 
can obtain only an imperfect and confused 
idea of modern chemistry. The chapter upon 
physiological chemistry, for example, makes no 
mention of the work of Claude Bernard and 
leaves the subject of fermentation where it was 
left by Dumas. The editor’s arrangement of 
the author’s lecture notes in this part of the 
book seems particularly unfortunate. We 
wonder, for example, in the grouping of chem- 
ists by chapters, why Wohler was not associ- 
ated with Liebig rather than with Stas, and 
why Bunsen was not placed with Kirchhoff 
rather than with Victor Meyer. There is also 
in places a lack of agreement between different 
sections. The discovery of columbium, for ex- 
ample, is credited to Wallaston in 1809 on page 
848 and to Hatchett in 1801 on page 521. In 
some ways it would have been better to have 
closed the history with the end of the life-work 
of Liebig and Dumas. This marks fairly well 
the end of an epoch and would have enabled 
the editor to eliminate fragmentary chapters 
and thus give the book a greater appearance 
of finish. 

The typography of the new book is, as a 
whole, excellent. The method of printing the 
formulas of propyl and isopropyl iodides on 
page 469 is faulty, as it gives them the appear- 
ance of being unsaturated compounds. There 
are also several cases of careless typesetting, a 
most glaring instance being the heading of 
chapter 32. 

A posthumous work published under adverse 
conditions must necessarily receive due con- 
sideration for evidences of incompleteness and 
mistakes of revision. After a careful reading 
of the book, we believe that the publication of 
Dr. Campbell Brown’s lectures upon the history 
of chemistry was well worth while. The finely 


782 


executed photograph of the author and the 
nine-page biographical sketch will be appreci- 
ated by those who knew him and to those un- 
familiar with his life will convey the pleasing 
impression of a strong unique personality. 

C. A. Browne 


CHINA’S FOREIGN TRADE IN MEDIEVAL 
TIMES 


Tue history of commercial intercourse, bound 
up as it is with the history of the origin and 
development of navigation, is a most fascina- 
ting subject, more especially the study of the 
commercial relations between the different 
Oriental peoples. A valuable contribution to 
this subject has recently been issued by Pro- 
fessor Friedrich Hirth, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, and Mr. W. W. Rockhill. This is a 
translation from the Chinese, with introduc- 
tion and commentary, of the work by Chau 
Ju-Kua, treating primarily of products, and 
incidentally of the customs of the various 
countries known to the Chinese in the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries of ourera. The intro- 
duction by the translators supplies us with 
much yaluable information on Chinese trade 
derived from a number of other sources.t 

Of the many interesting facts to be gleaned 
from a perusal of this book, we can only very 
briefly touch upon a few of the more striking. 
The work appeals especially to careful and 
thorough students of the subject. 

The trade of Canton was the object of ear- 
nest solicitude to the Chinese government, be- 
cause of the large revenue derivable from it. 
One of the port regulations implies a determi- 
nation to give all importers an equal chance, 
as far as possible, for as each ship arrived its 
cargo was discharged, and the merchandise 
placed in the government storehouses and 
kept there until the last ship of the season 


1Chau Ju-Kua=his work on the Chinese and 
Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, entitled ‘‘Chu-fan-chi.’’ Translated from 
the Chinese and annotated by Friedrich Hirth 
and W. W. Rockhill, St. Petersburg, Printing 
Office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1911. 
Pp. x + 288. 8°. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITII. No. 987 


sailed in. Only then were goods placed at the 
owners’ disposal for sale, the government re- 
taining thirty per cent. as customs duties. 
Thus the first comer was not allowed to secure 
the cream of the market to the prejudice of 
those who might have had a longer voyage, or 
else have been detained by stress of weather.” 

Toward the close of the tenth century the 
Chinese government, realizing the great value 
of its Canton trade, undertook an active prop- 
aganda to encourage its development, envoys 
being despatched with the wherewithal to se- 
cure the good-will of the South Sea traders. 
Among other inducements special trading li- 
censes were offered. The results were soon 
apparent, merchandise poured in so freely 
that the difficulty was to find a good market. 
for it. The rapid increase under this foster- 
ing care is shown by the fact that while from 
1049 to 1053, elephants’ tusks, rhinoceros 
horns, strings of pearls, aromatics, incense, 
ete., were annually imported to the value of 
58,000 “units of count,” these annual im- 
ports had risen in 1175 to over 500,000 “ units 
of count.” While the monetary equivalent is 
an unknown quantity, the figures suffice to 
show the great increase of the Canton trade.® 

The government import duties amounted to 
thirty per cent. from the middle of the ninth 
century A.D. and this rate remained practically 
unchanged for several centuries thereafter. If 
any part of a ship’s cargo was removed with- 
out the knowledge of the officials the whole 
cargo was confiscated and the offender was 
punished according to the gravity of the of- 
fense. Therefore we need not wonder that a 
Chinese authority (the Pingchou-k’o-t’an) 
should be able to state: “so it is that traders 
do not dare to violate the regulations.” 4 

The Chinese author does not confine himself 
to a description of the chief productions of 
each of the regions he passes in review, al- 
though this is the principal aim of his work, 
but he also gives many brief notes regarding 
the customs, dress, etc., of the different peoples 
and details of the court ceremonials. 


2 Op. cit., p. 15. 
3 Op. cit., p. 19. 
4 Op. cit., p. 21. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


Of the Annamese we learn that the king usu- 
ally rode on an elephant when he appeared in 
public; sometimes he was borne in a sort of 
hammock by four men. At court ceremonies 
his throne was surrounded by thirty female at- 
tendants, armed with sword and buckler. A 
curious custom in warfare was to bind five 
men together in one file; if one tried to run 
away the whole file was condemned to death. 

The implicit faith in the virtue of written 
charms is illustrated by the proceedings to be 
taken when one of the people was killed by a 
tiger or a crocodile. In this case the high 
priest was ordered to write out a number of 
charms and scatter them about at the spot 
where the person was killed. Such was be- 
lieved to be the power of the charm that the 
guilty animal would be invariably attracted 
to the place, but before he could be done away 
with, a royal order had to be secured.® 

The jewel treasures of Ceylon always ex- 
cited the wonder and admiration of the early 
travelers to that island, and Chau Ju-Kua is 
no exception to this rule. His description of 
the king’s personal appearance is scarcely 
flattering. He is black, with unkempt hair 
and bare head, his body only covered with a 
cotton cloth of various colors wound about 
him, but of his abode we read :* 

“His palace is ornamented with cat’s-eyes, 
blue and red precious stones, carnelians and 
other jewels; the very floor he walks upon is 
so ornamented. There is an eastern and west- 
ern palace, and at each there is a golden tree, 
the trunk and branches all of gold, the flow- 
ers, fruit and leaves of cat’s-eyes, blue and red 
precious stones, and such like jewels. At the 
foot of these trees are golden thrones with 
opaque glass screens. When the king holds his 
court he uses the eastern palace in the fore- 
noon and the western in the afternoon. When 
(the king) is seated, the jewels flashing in the 
sunshine, the glass (screens) and the jewel- 
trees shining on each other, make it like the 
glory of the rising sun. 

“The king holds in his hand a jewel five 


5 Op. cit., pp. 47, 48. 
6 Op. cit., pp. 72, 73. 


SCIENCE 


783 


inches in diameter, which can not be burnt by 
fire, and which shines (in the darkness of) 
night like a torch. The king rubs his face 
with it daily, and though he were passed 
ninety he would retain his youthful looks.” 

The throne of the king of Cambodia was 
made of “the seven precious substances,” with 
a jeweled dais and an ivory screen. He was 
said to have 200,000 war elephants—a glaring 
exaggeration—and four large bronze ele- 
phants, each weighing 4,000 catties, stood as 
guards about a bronze tower or temple in the 
capital. 

A strange test of true royalty is noted in 
Palembang, eastern Sumatra. Here the royal 
cap was of gold, studded with hundreds of 
precious stones, and of such crushing weight 
that few were able to wear it. On a king’s 
demise all his sons were summoned together 
and the one who proved strong enough to bear 
the weight of this cap was proclaimed as the 
new sovereign. 

The few details we have cited from this 
work will give some idea of the interest and 
value of the volume, and the full and scholarly 
notes with which it has been so liberally pro- 
vided by its translators and editors add much 
to its worth as a book of reference. 

Grorce F. Kunz 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


FURTHER EXPERIMENTS ON OVARIAN TRANSPLAN- 
TATION IN GUINEA-PIGS 


For several years we have been engaged in 
studying the effects of ovarian transplantation 
upon the inherited color characters of young 
guinea-pigs developing from eggs liberated 
by a transplanted ovary. Our method has 
been to transplant the ovary taken from an 


animal of one color variety into the body of 


an animal of a different color variety and 
then to observe whether the young showed the 
color characters of the mother which bore the 
young or of the animal which furnished the 
ovary, or of both. In 19091 we reported the 
first crucial experiment bearing on this ques- 

1‘*A Successful Ovarian Transplantation in the 
Guinea-pig and its Bearing on Problems of Genet- 
ies,’’ ScreNCE, N. S., Vol. 30, pp. 312-314. 1909. 


784 


tion, which was more fully described with il- 
lustrations in 1911.2 In a postscript to our 
1911 publication we described a second cru- 
cial case, and it is the purpose of this note to 
record a third. 

In the first case, the ovaries of a black 
guinea-pig were transplanted into the body of 
a white one, where they developed and liber- 
ated ova for a period of more than one year, 
in the course of which six young were pro- 
duced, all black-coated like the animal which 
furnished the ovary, but not like the animal 
which bore the young. The foster mother dif- 
fered from the animal which furnished the 
graft, to the best of our knowledge, by only 
a single genetic color factor. The ovarian 
tissue taken from the black animal evidently 
possessed this factor (the so-called “ color- 
factor’”’) and retained it throughout its so- 
journ in the body of the albino, for it was 
transmitted in the eggs liberated within the 
body of the albino, a thing which never oc- 
curs in normal albinos. 

In the second case, as in the first, the same 
color-factor difference existed between the 
animal which furnished the graft and the one 
which received it, the latter being an albino, 
the former colored, while as regards other 
color-factors graft and grafted were alike. 
But in Case 1, as already stated, the colored 
animal was black and the albino was a poten- 
tial black, lacking color; whereas in Case 2 
the colored animal was brown-eyed cream and 
the albino was a potential brown-eyed cream, 
lacking color. In the pair of animals used in 
Case 1 two color-factors occurred which were 
lacking (or different) in Case 2. In Case 1 
black and extension of color were present in 
graft and grafted animal alike; in Case 2 
these were replaced by brown and restriction 
respectively. Nevertheless the same negative 
result was observed in both cases as regards 
the effects of grafting. In Case 2, the grafted 
albino foster mother bore a brown-eyed cream 
young one by an albino mate. She also bore 
two albino young, but this is not to be re- 

2¢¢Qn Germinal Transplantation in Verte- 


brates,’? Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
Publ. No. 144, 26 pp., 2 pl. 1911. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


garded as evidence of somatic influence of the 
foster mother, for it is known that animals 
of the stock of guinea-pigs which furnished 
the graft were heterozygous in albinism, so 
that the ovarian tissue would be expected to 
furnish equal numbers of ova transmitting 
the brown-eyed cream character and albinism, 
respectively. As we said in 1911, “ The char- 
acter of the young obtained and their numer- 
ical proportions are exactly such as the colored 
animal herself would have been expected to 
give had she not been sacrificed to furnish 
the grafts but had been mated with the al- 
bino male.” 

The third (and new) case involves a wholly 
different factor, the agouti hair pattern, both 
animals being colored and alike, so far as 
known, in all genetic factors except the 
agouti. For both were brown pigmented (not 
black), with extended (not restricted) pigmen- 
tation, and in the families of both albinism 
occurred as a recessive character. The 
grafted animal in this case was a brown (or 
“ chocolate”) animal, No. 2,562. Her pa- 
rents were of the same color. At about six 
weeks of age, on June 9, 1910, she was cas- 
trated and then received the ovaries from fe- 
male No. 2,564, a light cinnamon guinea-pig 
about one month old, and of the same color va- 
riety as her parents. On either side of the 
body an ovary was stitched to the “horn” of 
the uterus about a centimeter from the normal 
position of the ovary. After recovery the 
grafted animal was placed in a pen with male 
9,420, an albino whose parents were brown- 
eyed cream. From a mating with this ani- 
mal the expectation would be that a brown 
mother would produce brown young (or albinos 
potentially brown), while a cinnamon mother 
would produce cinnamon young (or albinos 
potentially cinnamon). 

The grafted mother produced five young as 
follows: In November, 1910, a male albino; 
on June 25, 1911 (more than a year after the 
operation), a female light cinnamon, No. 
2,986; on September 1, 1911, a male light cin- 
namon-and-yellow, No. 3,016; on November 
10, 1911, a male albino; on January 29, 1912, 
a female albino. 


NOVEMBER 28, 1913] 


On July 15, 1912, over two years after the 
operation, the grafted mother was noted as 
still having well-developed mamme and geni- 
talia, as if she possessed functional ovarian 
tissue. On November 25, 1912, she died and 
there was found post mortem a large cyst in 
the uterus on the right side, and on the left 
side at the site of the graft a large ovarian 
mass, doubtless the source of the functional 
ova liberated during the two years previous. 
No microscopic study of this tissue was made, 
as it was already in an advanced stage of de- 
composition when observed. 

To summarize the record, two of the five 
young were colored, and three were albinos. 
Both of the colored young were cinnamon, like 
the graft producer, rather than brown like the 
foster mother. As regards the albinos, it re- 
mained to ascertain whether they were poten- 
tial cinnamons or potential browns. This re- 
quired a breeding test which we were able to 
complete in the case of one of the three only. 
This animal, a male, when mated with brown 
females, produced two brown and one cinna- 
mon young, showing that he was potentially 
a cinnamon though heterozygous for brown. 
He had accordingly inherited cinnamon from 
his foster mother, or rather from the graft 
which she contained, for his albino father did 
not transmit cinnamon. This could be in- 
ferred from the fact that the brown-eyed cream 
ancestors of the albino father were known not 
to transmit cinnamon, but it was further es- 
tablished by mating him with brown females, 
by which he produced five brown young and 
two albinos but no cinnamons. 

If, as stated, the albino father, No. 2,420, 
did not transmit cinnamon, then his cinnamon 
offspring, or potential cinnamon albino off- 
spring, by the grafted brown mother, would 
have to be merely heterozygous in cinnamon. 
Therefore, we should expect only half of their 
young to be cinnamon, when they were mated 
with brown animals. The potential cinnamon 
albino, as already noted, when so mated, had 
one cinnamon and two brown young. 

Finally, the cinnamon female, No. 2,986 
borne by the grafted mother, was mated with 


SCIENCE 


785 


her albino father (potentially a brown-eyed 
cream, since his parents were of that recessive 
variety). She produced eight young, of 
which five were brown-eyed creams, two al- 
binos and one a cinnamon; expectation 2:4: 1. 
The production of a cinnamon young one in 
this mating shows that the cinnamon animal 
not only inherited but also transmitted the 
cinnamon character, as if her mother had been 
a cinnamon animal instead of a cinnamon 
graft in a brown animal. The sojourn and 
development, in the body of a brown animal, 
of an ovary taken from a cinnamon animal 
does not seem to have altered in any respect 
the initial genetic potentialities of the germi- 
nal substance. 

These three cases form a substantial body 
of evidence in favor of the view originally ad- 
vanced by Weismann that in the higher ani- 
mals germinal substance and body are physio- 
logically distinct, and that the genetic 
potentialities of the latter are not subject to 
modification through somatic influence. 

It may be of interest to note that in our 
entire work 141 female guinea-pigs were 
grafted with foreign ovaries. Of these about 
100 were mated with males long enough to give 
d@finite indications of their ability to pro- 
duce young. Only 3, as noted, actually 
produced young, but in 7 others engrafted 
ovarian tissue persisted for many months 
and was demonstrated post mortem. In 11 
cases ovarian tissue was regenerated at the 
original ovarian site and in 3 of these cases 
young were produced having the genetic char- 
acters of the mother, but never those of the 
graft. In 87 cases no ovarian tissue what- 
ever was found post mortem, the castration 
having been completely successful but the 
transplanted ovaries having failed to persist 
for any length of time in the foreign body. 

The small percentage of successful trans- 
plantations indicates that the method is not 
likely to be useful practically in the domestic 
animals or man unless some means ean be dis- 
covered for increasing the tolerance of the 
body to foreign tissues. We have considered 
in this connection the possibility of increas- 
ing this tolerance by holding the tissue to be 


786 


transplanted for a time in an artificial nutri- 
ent medium or even in serum from the animal 
to be grafted, allowing thus a preliminary ad- 
justment to the new environment, but have 
had no opportunity to give such methods a 
trial. They are mentioned as possible sug- 
gestions for some one who may be able to at- 
tack the problem fully equipped with a knowl- 
edge of the principles governing immunity 
and anaphylaxis. 

This investigation has been carried out in 
the Bussey Institution with assistance from 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 

W. E. Caste, 
JoHN C. PHILLIPS 
THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


NUTRITION AND SEX DETERMINATION IN 
é ROTIFERS 


In an interesting paper in the August, 19138, 
number of the Journal of Haxperimental 
Zoology, Claude W. Mitchell communicates a 
series of observations and experiments upon 
the rotifer Asplanchna, from which he draws 
conclusions at variance with those hitherto 
advanced by investigators who have worked 
with Hydatina. His main conclusion, it ap- 
pears to me, is that “ qualitative and quanti- 
tative changes in nutrition will be found the 
universal sex-controlling factor in this group ” 
(rotifers). If it be granted that other factors 
than nutrition also play the same role in sex 
determination in one rotifer as in another, I 
think it may be shown that Mitchell’s experi- 
ments are not calculated to prove his conten- 
tions. 

There is, in the first place, some obscurity 
in the use of the word “nutrition.” By the 
earlier workers on life cycles in rotifers and 
daphnians, nutrition was measured by the 
quantity of available food. The rate of repro- 
duction gave a key to the degree of nutrition, 
but the rate of reproduction was supposed to 
be proportional to the amount of available 
food. It is obvious, however, that nutrition 
may be measured by the quantity of food that 
an organism can assimilate, which may be in- 
dependent of the amount available. In rotifers, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


for example, there are periods ‘in which repro- 
duction and growth are rapid, alternating with 
periods in which these processes are slow. 
Mitchell does the service to emphasize this 
“ physiological rhythm.” Rotifers in the period 
of rapid growth will live well under external 
food conditions that would reduce rotifers in 
a period of depression almost to starvation. 

When we say that nutrition determines sex, 
what meaning do we put upon nutrition? One 
might assume that Mitchell regards nutrition 
and physiological “level,” to use another term 
of his, as synonymous, were it not that in the 
seventh paragraph of his summary he lists 
them separately. To quote: 

Maximum male production is determined by 
three factors, physiological rhythm, high nutri- 
tion and starvation during the growth period. 

Tf nutrition means the quantity of food 
available, the evidence in its favor as a sex 
determinant is so small as to be negligible. 
The experiments of Mitchell do not prove its 
effectiveness in Asplanchna, as I hope to show 
below, and my own work on Hydatina is not 
only distinctly against it, but explains away 
the positive results of Nussbaum. If nutri- 
tion means the quantity of food that can be 
assimilated, then high nutrition is probably 
the result of an antecedent physiological 
change that is not nutrition at all. Rhythms 
of reproduction and growth occur in Hydatina, 
in protozoa, in Cladocera, and perhaps many 
other animals; but so far as I know, the 
physiological change preceding a wave of rapid 
growth has not been discovered. It may be a 
chromosomal change. If the wave of rapid 
reproduction is accompanied by a wave of 
many male producers, it seems to me we are 
much more justifiable in assuming that both 
high nutrition and male production are here 
the result of some other physiological factor, 
than in holding the male production to be 
a result of the nutrition. That the evidence 
of high nutrition comes earlier in a series of 
generations than does the evidence of male 
production may be due to the fact, true at 
least for Hydatina, that sex is determined a 
generation in advance without any visible sign 
of such determination. I revert to this point, 


NovEMBER 28, 1913] 


apparently overlooked by Mitchell, below in 
another connection. 

If my interpretation of physiological rhythm 
be correct, as outlined in the preceding para- 
graph, nutrition and male production stand in 
the relation, not of cause and effect, but of two 
effects of some cause. If this interpretation is 
correct, high nutrition and male production 
‘are not inseparable; and there is evidence that 
they are separable. Early in my work on 
Hydatina I noticed that periods of abundant 
male production were also periods of rapid 
growth (the fact which Mitchell emphasizes 
for Asplanchna), and I was almost convinced 
that anything which increased metabolism 
would also increase the proportion of male- 
producers.: But in healthy lines I later found 
that long periods were passed through in 
which the rate of growth and reproduction was 
very rapid, yet not a single male-producer ap- 
peared. Im one instance, there were twelve 
successive generations in which no family com- 
prised less than 46 daughters, some of them 
over fifty, which is almost the maximum of all 
my records. At the same time the females laid 
16 to 22 eggs per day, depending on tempera- 
ture, quite as rapidly as in the waves in which 
I had previously noted large numbers of male- 
producers. Yet not one male-producer ap- 
peared in these twelve generations. Hence, 
when actual counts were made from numerous 
families, for the purpose of proving that rapid 
metabolism and male production were inter- 
dependent, that thesis could not be established. 
While periods of many male-producers were 
on the whole periods of rapid metabolism, not 
‘every period of rapid metabolism was a period 
of many male-producers. Rapid metabolism 
could occur without abundant male production. 
One is driven, it seems to me, to the conclu- 
sion that when male production and rapid 
assimilation (“nutrition”) occur simultane- 
ously, both are probably effects of one cause; 


1So0 nearly convinced was I that this relation 
existed, that I expressed the idea before a public 
gathering at the laboratory of the Brooklyn Insti- 
tute of Arts and Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor, 
in the summer of 1909, but never in any pub- 
lished work. 


SCIENCE 


187 


but that rapid assimilation may have other 
causes which do not at the same time cause 
abundant male production. 

Mitchell does not, however, rely wholly upon 
the high nutrition which accompanies physio- 
logical rhythm to explain male production. 
The “nutrition” which depends upon the 
available supply of food is also held account- 
able; for the author conducts experiments in 
which the food supply is altered, and obtains 
what he believes to be positive results thereby. 
The general conclusion from these nutrition 
experiments is that “male production follows 
upon the summation of favorable external and 
internal conditions, plus a sudden interruption 
by a nutritive check.” This check is starva- 
tion. The experiments, however, appear to me, 
for reasons about to be stated, quite imade- 
quate. For example, one experiment consisted 
in isolating females from periods of rapid 
metabolism and from periods of depression, 
starving their offspring for a period after 
birth, and noting whether the daughters were 
male- or female-producers. Each part of this 
experiment involved only about ten individ- 
uals. Notwithstanding great irregularities in 
the occurrence of male-producers, irregularities 
which the author admits sufficiently to explain 
certain exceptions, the ten individuals are con- 
sidered valid evidence. The apparent lawless- 
ness of the occurrence of male-producers is 
sometimes astonishing. In Hydatina, in an 
extreme case, two sisters, the fourth and fifth, 
respectively, in their family, reared under 
what were aimed to be identical conditions, 
each produced a family of over forty. One 
family comprised over fifty per cent. of male- 
producers, the other none at all. In view of 
such irregularities, experiments including less 
than eight or ten generations have in my work 
been regarded with suspicion, unless the effects 
were quite marked. If such irregularities in 
the occurrence of male-producers are found in 
Asplanchna, ten individuals do not form a 
basis for conclusions. 

Furthermore, it is questionable whether 
starvation can have such an effect on the indi- 
vidual starved as to change a female-producer 
to a male-producer. I have shown for Hyda- 


788 


tina? that it is irrevocably decided during the 
growth period of an egg whether the female 
that hatches from that egg will be a male- 
producer or a female-producer. This is actu- 
ally proved, it is true, only so far as the effect 
of chemical substances is concerned. But I 
am unable to take comfort in the view that sex 
is determined at a given moment beyond the 
possibility of reversal by chemical substances, 
while it is still open to alteration by other 
external agents. If sex is determined thus a 
generation in advance in Asplanchna, as in 
Hydatina, the starvation experiments referred 
to above could not have produced positive 
results; the starvation should have been prac- 
tised on the mother of the desired male- 
producer. 

In another experiment Mitchell starves a 
number of young females for a few hours 
after birth. The first few daughters in each 
of nine families are used as controls (well fed) ; 
they include six male-producers out of a total 
of 39. The later daughters of the same 
families are starved; 51 out of 68 prove to be 
male-producers. The author attributes the 
higher proportion of male-producers in the 
latter lot to the check upon nutrition. But, 
waiving the objection of a rather small number 
of individuals, another explanation is at hand. 
It has been shown? from 349 families of 
Hydatina, comprising about twelve thousand 
individuals, that the first few daughters of a 
family are much less likely to be male-pro- 
ducers than are the later members. If the 
same relation holds in Asplanchna, the num- 
bers of male-producers obtained in the experi- 
ment described are about what would have 
been expected if starvation had not been prac- 
tised. 

In offering this criticism of Mitchell’s work 
I do so in no carping spirit. It is gratifying 
to find some one using the excellent material 
which Asplanchna affords in an attempt to 
solve fundamental problems. I have sought 

2Shull, A. F., ‘‘Studies, ete., III. Internal 
Factors Affecting the Proportion of Male-pro- 
ducers,’’ Jour. Exp. Zool., Vol. 12, No. 2, Feb- 
Tuary, 1912. 

3 Shull, A. F., ‘‘Studies, ete.’’? I., Jour. Exp. 
Zool., Vol. 8, No. 3, May, 1910. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 987 


only to show wherein lie the weaknesses of the 


evidence. A. Frankiin SHULL 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY 


A REGULAR meeting of the Physical Society was 
held in Fayerweather Hall, Columbia University, 
New York City, on Saturday, October 18, 1913. 
The following papers were presented: 

‘*The Vapor Pressure of Metallic Tungsten,’’ 
by Irving Langmuir. 

“The Form of the Ionization by Impact Fune- 
tion, a/p =f (a/p),’’ by Bergen Davis. 

“Change of State Solid-liquid at High Pres- 
sure,’’? by P. W. Bridgman. 

“*Notes on Some Integrating Methods in Alter- 
nating Current Testing,’’ by Frederick Bedell. 

‘«Silvered Quartz Fibers of Low Resistance 
Obtained by Cathode Spray,’’ by Horatio B. Wil- 
liams. 

‘“The Critical Ranges A, and A; of Pure 
Iron,’’ by G. K. Burgess and J. J. Crowe. 

“(A Spectrophotometric Study of the Absorp- 
tion, Fluorescence and Surface Color of Mag- 
nesium Platinum Cyanide,’’ by Frances G. Wick. 

‘‘Hxamination of the Omnicolored Sereen Plate 
by Means of Microscope and Spectroseope,’’ by 
John B. Taylor. 

‘‘Relativity Theory—General Dynamical Prin- 
ciples,’’? by Richard C. Tolman. (By title.) 

‘“‘The Hall Effect in Liquid and Solid Mer- 
eury,’’ by W. N. Fenninger. 

‘An Electrolytic Determination of the Ratio of 
Silver to Iodine and the Value of the Faraday,’’ 
by G. W. Vinal and 8S. J. Bates. 

“(Effect of Amalgamation on the 
E.M.F. of Metals,’’ by F. J. Rogers. 

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SCIENCE 


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CONTENTS 


The Human Worth of Rigorous Thinking: 


PROFESSOR CASSIUS J. KEYSER 789 


Chemistry as affecting the Profitableness of 


Industry: Dr. G. W. THOMPSON .......... 800 


The International Conference on the Structure 


of Matter: PRorEssor E. RUTHERFORD .... 806 


The Geological Society of America .......... 807 


The Society of American Bacteriologists .... 808 


The Atlanta Meeting of the American Asocia- 


tion for the Advancement of Science .... 808 


Scientific Notes and News 811 


University and Educational News ........... 815 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


A Proposed Re-arrangement of Sections for 
The American Association for the Advance- 


ment of Science: RoLAND M. Harper. .... 815 


Scientific Books :— 
The National Antarctic Expedition: GEN- 
ERAL A. W. GREELY. The Belgian Antarctic 
Expedition: Dr. W. H. Datu. Abderhalden 
on Abwehrfermente des tierischen Organis- 
mus: JOHN AUER. Moore on Bovine Tuber- 
culosis and its Control: PRoFESSoR MazY¥cK 
P. RaveNEL. Catalogue of Lepidoptera 


Phalene: Dr. Harrison G. Dyar ........ 818 


Special Articles :— 


Some Effects of the Drought upon Vegeta- 
tion: PROFESSOR RAYMOND J. Poon. An An- 
cestral Lizard from the Permian of Texas: 


PRoFESsoR S. W. WILLISTON 822 


NEers 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


THE HUMAN WORTH OF RIGOROUS 
THINKING1 


But in the strong recess of Harmony, 
Established firm abides the rounded Sphere. 
—Empedocles. 

Amone the agencies that ameliorate life, 
what is the réle of rigorous thinking? What 
is the réle of the spirit that aspires always 
to logical righteousness, seeking ‘‘to frame 
a world according to a rule of divine per- 
fection’’? 

Evidently that question is not one for 
adequate handling in an hour’s address by 
an ordinary student of mathematics. 
Rather is it a subject for a long series of 
lectures by a learned professor of the his- 
tory of civilization. Indeed so vast is the 
subject that even an ordinary student of 
mathematics can detect some of the more 
obvious tasks such a philosophic historian 
would have to perform and a few of the 
difficulties he would doubtless encounter. 
It may be worth while to mention some of 
them. 

Certainly one of the tasks, and probably 
one of the difficulties also, would be that of 
securing an audience—an audience, I mean, 
capable of understanding the lectures, for 
is not a genuine auditor a listener who 
understands? To understand the lectures 
it would seem to be necessary to know what 
that is which the lectures are about—that 
is, 1t would be necessary to know what is 
meant by rigorous thinking. To know this, 
however, one must either have consciously 
done some rigorous thinking or else, at the 
very least, have examined some specimens 

1 An address delivered before the Mathematical 


Colloquium of Columbia University, October 13, 
1913. 


790 


of it pretty carefully, just as, in order to 
know what good art is, it is, in general, 
essential either to have produced good art 
or to have attentively examined some 
specimens of it, or to have done both of 
these things. Here, then, at the outset our 
historian would meet a serious difficulty, 
unless his audience chanced to be one of 
mathematicians, which is (unfortunately) 
not likely, inasmuch as the great majority 
of mathematicians are so exclusively inter- 
ested in mathematical study or teaching or 
research as to be but little concerned with 
the philosophical question of the human 
worth of their science. It is, therefore, 
easy to see how our lecturer would have to 
begin. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have met, he 
would say, to open a course of lectures deal- 
ing with the role of rigorous thinking in 
the history of civilization. In order that 
the course may be profitable to you, in order 
that it may be a course in ideas and not 
merely or mainly a verbal course, it is 
essential that you should know what rigor- 
ous thinking is and what it is not. Even I, 
your speaker, though a historian, might 
reasonably be held to the obligation of 
knowing that. 

It is reasonable, ladies and gentlemen, it 
is reasonable to assume, he would say, that 
in the course of your education you neg- 
lected mathematics, and it is, therefore, 
probable or indeed quite certain that, not- 
withstanding your many accomplishments, 
you do not quite know, or rather, perhaps 
I should say, you are very far from know- 
ing, what rigorous thinking is or what it is 
not. Of course, as you know, it is, gener- 
ally speaking, much easier to tell what a 
thing is not than to tell what it is, and I 
might, he would say, I might proceed by 
way of a preliminary to indicate roughly 
what rigorous thinking is not. Thus I 
might explain that rigorous thinking, 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


though much of it has been done in the 
world, and though it has produced a large 
literature, is nevertheless a relatively rare 
phenomenon. I might point out that a vast 
majority of mankind, a vast majority of 
educated men and women, have not been 
disciplined to think rigorously even those 
things that are most available for such 
thinking. I might point out that, on the 
other hand, most of the ideas with which 
men and women have constantly to deal 
are as yet too nebulous and vague, too little 
advanced in the course of their evolution, 
too little refined and defined, to be avail- 
able for concatenative thinking and rigor- 
ous discourse. I should have to say, he 
would add, that, on these accounts, most of 
the thinking done in the world on a given 
day, whether done by men in the street or 
by farmers or factory-hands or merchants 
or administrators or physicians or lawyers 
or jurists or statesmen or philosophers or 
men of letters or students of natural science 
or even mathematicians (when not strictly 
employed in their own subject), comes far 
short of the demands and standards of 
rigorous thinking. 

I might go on to caution you, our 
speaker would say, against the current 
fallacy, recently advanced by eloquent 
writers to the dignity of a philosophical 
tenet, of regarding what is called success- 
ful action as the touchstone of rigorous 
thinking. For you should know that much 
of what passes in the world for successful 
action proceeds from impulse or instinct 
and not from thinking of any kind; you 
should know that no action under the con- 
trol of non-rigorous thinking can be strictly 
successful except by the favor of chance or 
through accidental compensation of errors; 
you should know that most of what passes 
for successful action, most of what the 
world applauds and even commemorates as 
successful action, so far from being really 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


successful, varies from partial failure to 
failure that, if not total, would at all 
events be fatal in any universe that had the 
economie decency to forbid, under pain of 
death, the unlimited wasting of its re- 
sources. The dominant animal of such a 
universe would be in fact a superman. In 
our world the natural resources of life are 
superabundant, and man is poor in reason 
because he has been the prodigal son of a 
too opulent mother. But, ladies and gentle- 
men, our speaker will conclude, you will 
know better what rigorous thinking is not 
when once you have learned what it is. 
This, however, can not well be learned in 
a course of lectures in which that knowl- 
edge is presumed. I have, therefore, to 
adjourn this course until such time as you 
shall have gained that knowledge. It can 
not be gained by reading about it or hear- 
ing about it. The easiest way, for some 
persons the only way, to gain it is to exam- 
ine with exceeding patience and care some 
specimens, at least one specimen, of the 
literature in which rigorous thinking is 
embodied. Such a specimen, he could say, 
is Dr. Thomas L. Heath’s magnificent edi- 
tion of Euclid where an excellent transla- 
tion of the ‘‘Elements’’ from the definitive 
text of Heiberg is set in the composite light 
of critical commentary from Aristotle down 
to the keenest logical microscopists and 
histologists of our own day. If you think 
Euclid too ancient, and too stale even when 
seasoned with the wit of more than two 
thousand years of the acutest criticism, you 
may find a shorter and possibly a fresher 
way by examining minutely such a work as 
Veronese’s ‘‘Grundziige der Geometrie’’ or 
Hilbert’s famous ‘‘Foundations of Geom- 
etry’’ or the late Pieri’s ‘‘Della Geometria 
elementare come sistemi ipotetico-dedut- 
tivo.’’? In works of this kind, of which the 
erowing number is rather large, and not 
elsewhere, you will find, in its nakedness, 


SCIENCE 


791 


purity and spirit, what you have neglected 
and what you need. You will note that in 
the beginning of such a work there is 
found a system of assumptions or postu- 
lates, discovered the Lord only and a few 
men of genius know where or how, selected 
perhaps with reference to simplicity and 
clearness, certainly selected with respect to 
their compatibility and independence, and, 
it may be, with respect also to categoricity. 
You will not fail to observe with the utmost 
minuteness, and from every possible angle, 
how it is that upon these postulates as a 
basis there is built up by a kind of divine 
masonry, little step by step, a stately struc- 
ture of ideas, an imposing edifice of 
rigorous thought, a towering architecture 
of doctrine that is at once beautiful, aus- 
tere, sublime and eternal. ladies and 
gentlemen, our speaker will say, to accom- 
plish that examination will require twelve 
months of pretty assiduous application. 
The next lecture of this course will be given 
one year from date. 

On resuming the course what will our 
philosopher and historian proceed to say? 
He will begin to say what, if he says it con- 
cisely, will make up a very large volume. 
Room is lacking here, even if competence 
were not, for so much as an adequate out- 
line of the matter. It is possible, however, 
to draw with confidence a few of the larger 
lines that would have to enter such a 
sketch. 

What is it that our speaker will be 
obliged to deal with first? & do not mean 
obliged logically or obliged by an orderly 
development of his subject. I mean 
obliged by the expectation of his hearers. 
Every one can answer that question. For 
presumably the audience represents the 
spirit of the times, and this age is, at least 
to a superficial observer, an age of engi- 
neering. Now, what is engineering? Well, 
the charter of the Institution of Civil 


792 


Engineers tells us that engineering is the 
“Cart of directing the great sources of power 
in Nature for the use and convenience of 
man.’’ By Nature here must be meant 
external or physical nature, for, if internal 
nature were also meant, every good form 
of activity would be a species of engineer- 
ing, and may be it issuch, but that isa claim 
which even engineers would hardly make 
and poets would certainly deny. Use and 
conyenience—these are the key-bearing 
words. It is perfectly evident that our 
lecturer will have to deal first of all with 
what the world would eall the ‘‘utility’’ of 
rigorous thinking, that is to say, with the 
applications of mathematics and especially 
with its applications to problems of engi- 
neering. If he really knows profoundly 
what mathematics is, he will not wish to 
begin with applications or even to make ap- 
plications a major theme of his discourse, 
but he must, and he will do so uncomplain- 
ingly as a concession to the external- 
mindedness of his time and his audience. 
He will not only desire to show his audi- 
ence applications of mathematics to engi- 
neering, but, being a historian of civiliza- 
tion, he will especially desire to show them 
the development of such applications from 
the earliest times, from the building of 
pyramids and the mensuration of land in 
ancient Egypt down to such splendid 
modern achievements as the designing and 
construction of an Hads bridge, an ocean 
Imperator or a Panama canal. The story 
will be long and difficult, but it will edify. 
The audience will be amazed at the truth 
if they understand. If they do not under- 
stand the truth fully, our speaker must at 
all events contrive that they shall see it in 
glimmers and gleams and, above all, that 
they shall acquire a feeling for it. They 
must be led to some acquaintance with the 
great engineering works of the world, past 
and present; they must be given an intelli- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


gent conception of the immeasurable con- 
tribution such works have made to the com- 
fort, convenience and power of man; and 
especially must they be convinced of the 
fact that not only would the greatest of 
such achievements have been, except for 
mathematics, utterly impossible, but that 
such of the lesser ones as could have been 
wrought without mathematical help could 
not have been thus accomplished without 
wicked and pathetic waste both of material 
resources and of human toil. In respect to 
this latter point, the relation of mathe- 
matics to practical economy in large affairs, 
our speaker will no doubt invite his hear- 
ers to read and reflect upon the ancient 
work of Frontinus on the ‘‘ Water Supply 
of the City of Rome’’ in order that thus 
they may gain a vivid idea of the fact that 
the most practical people of history, despis- 
ing mathematics and the finer intellectuali- 
zations of the Greeks, were unable to accom- 
plish their own great engineering feats 
except through appalling waste of mate- 
rials and men. Our lecturer will not be 
content, however, with showing the service 
of mathematics in the prevention of waste; 
he will show that it is indispensable to the 
productivity and trade of the modern 
world. Before quitting this division of his 
subject he will have demonstrated that, if 
all the contributions which mathematics 
has made, and which nothing else could 
make, to navigation, to the building of rail- 
ways, to the construction of ships, to the 
subjugation of wind and wave, electricity 
and heat, and many other forms and mani- 
festations of energy, he will have demon- 
strated, I say, and the audience will finally 
understand, that, if all these contributions 
were suddenly withdrawn, the life and body 
of industry and commerce would suddenly 
collapse as by a paralytic stroke, the now 
splendid outer tokens of material civiliza- 
tion would perish, and the face of our 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


planet would quickly assume the aspect of 
a ruined and bankrupt world. 

As our lecturer has been constrained by 
circumstances to back into his subject, as 
he has, that is, been compelled to treat 
first of the service that mathematics has 
rendered engineering, he will probably 
next speak of the applications of mathe- 
matics to the so-called natural sciences— 
the more properly called experimental sci- 
ences—of physics, chemistry, biology, econ- 
omics, psychology, and the like. Here his 
task, if it is to be, as it ought to be, exposi- 
tory as well as narrative, will be exceed- 
ingly hard. For how can he weave into 
his narrative an intelligible exposition of 
Newton’s ‘‘Principia,’’ Laplace’s ‘‘Méca- 
nique Céleste,’’ Lagrange’s ‘‘ Mécanique 
Analytique,’’ Gauss’s ‘‘Theoria Motus 
Corporum Ceelestium,’’ Fourier’s ‘‘ Théorie 
de la Chaleur,’’ Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity 
and Magnetism,’’ not to mention scores of 
other equally difficult and hardly less im- 
portant works of a mathematical-physical 
character? Even if our speaker knew it 
all, which no man ean, he could not tell it 
all intelligibly to his hearers. These will 
have to be content with a rather general and 
superficial view, with a somewhat vague 
intuition of the truth, with fragmentary 
and analogical insights gained through 
settings-forth of great things by small; and 
they will have to help themselves and their 
speaker, too, by much pertinent reading. 
No doubt the speaker will require his hear- 
ers, In order that they may thus gain a 
tolerable perspective, to read well not only 
the two volumes of the magnificent work of 
John Theodore Merz dealing with the his- 
tory of European thought in the nine- 
teenth century, but also many selected por- 
tions of the kindred literature there cited 
in richest profusion. The work treats 
mainly of natural science, but it deals 
with it philosophically, under the larger 


SCIENCE 


793 


aspect, that is, of science regarded as 
thought. By the help of such literature in 
the hands of his auditors, our lecturer will 
be able to give them a pretty vivid sense of 
the great and increasing réle of mathe- 
matics in suggesting, formulating and solv- 
ing problems in all branches of natural sci- 
ence. Whether it be with ‘‘the astronom- 
ical view of nature’’ that he is dealing, or 
“the atomic view’’ or ‘‘the mechanical 
view’’ or ‘‘the physical view’’ or ‘‘the 
morphological view’’ or ‘‘the genetic view”’ 
or ‘‘the vitalistie view’’ or ‘‘the psycho- 
physical view”’ or ‘‘the statistical view,’’ in 
every case, in all these great attempts of 
reason to create or to find a cosmos amid 
the chaos of the external world, the pres- 
ence of mathematics and its manifold serv- 
ice, both as instrument and as norm, illus- 
trate and confirm the Kantian and Rie- 
mannian conception of natural science as 
“the attempt to understand nature by 
means of exact concepts.’’ 

In connection with this division of his 
subject, our speaker will find it easy to 
enter more deeply into the spirit and mar- 
row of it. He will be able to make it clear 
that there is a sense, a just and important 
sense, in which all thinkers and especially 
students of natural science, though their 
thinking is for the most part not rigorous, 
are yet themselves contributors to mathe- 
matics. I do not refer to the powerful 
stimulation of mathematics by natural 
science in furnishing it with many of its 
problems and in constantly seeking its aid. 
‘What I mean is that all thinkers and espe- 
cially students of natural science are en- 
gaged, both consciously and unconsciously, 
both intentionally and unintentionally, in 
the mathematicization of concepts—that is 
to say, in so transforming and refining 
concepts as to fit them finally for the amen- 
ities of logic and the austerities of rigorous 
thinking. We are dealing here, our speaker 


794 


will say, with a process transcending con- 
scious design. We are dealing with a proc- 
ess deep in the nature and being of the 
psychic world. Like a child, an idea, once 
it is born, once it has come into the realm 
of spiritual light, possibly long before such 
birth, enters upon a career, a career, how- 
ever, that, unlike the child’s, seems to be 
immortal. In most cases and probably in 
all, an idea, on entering the world of con- 
sciousness, 1s vague, nebulous, formless, 
not at once betraying either what it is or 
what it is destined to become. Ideas, how- 
ever, are under an impulse and law of 
amelioration. The path of their upward 
striving and evolution—often a long and 
winding way—leads towards precision and 
perfection of form. The goal is mathe- 
matics. Witness, for example, our lecturer 
will say, the age-long travail and aspiration 
of the great concept now known as mathe- 
matical continuity, a concept whose inner 
structure is even now known and under- 
stood only of mathematicians, though the 
ancient Greeks helped in moulding its form 
and though it has long been, if somewhat 
blindly, yet constantly employed in natural 
science as when a physicist, for example, or 
an astronomer uses such numbers as ¢ and 7 
in computation. Witness, again, how that 
supreme concept of mathematics, the con- 
cept of function, has struggled through 
thousands of years to win at length its pres- 
ent precision of form out of the nebulous 
sense, which all minds have, of the mere 
dependence of things on other things. Wit- 
ness, too, he will say, the mathematical con- 
cept of infinity, which prior to a half- 
century ago was still too vague for logical 
discourse, though from remotest antiquity 
the great idea has played a conspicuous 
role, mainly emotional, in theology, philos- 
ophy and science. Like examples abound, 
showing that one of the most impressive 
and significant phenomena in the life of the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 988 


psychie world, if we will but discern and 
contemplate it, is the process by which 
ideas advance, often slowly indeed but 
surely, from their initial condition of 
formlessness and indetermination to the 
mathematical estate. The chemicization of 
biology, the physicization of chemistry, the 
mechanicization of physics, the mathema- 
ticization of mechanics, these well-known 
tendencies and drifts in science do but illus- 
trate on a large scale the ubiquitous proc- 
ess In question. 

At length, ladies and gentlemen, our 
speaker will say, in the light of the last 
consideration the deeper and larger aspects 
of our subject are beginning to show them- 
selves and there is dawning upon us a won- 
derful vision. The nature, function and 
life of the entire conceptual world seem to 
come within the circle and scope of our 
present enterprise. We are beginning to 
see that to challenge the human worth of 
mathematics, to challenge the worth of 
rigorous thinking, is to challenge the worth 
of all thinking, for now we see that mathe- 
matics is but the ideal to which all think- 
ing, by an inevitable process and law of the 
human spirit, constantly aspires. We see 
that to challenge the worth of that ideal is 
to arraign before the bar of values what 
seems the deepest process and inmost law 
of the universe of thought. Indeed we see 
that in defending mathematics we are really 
defending a cause yet more momentous, 
the whole cause, namely, of the conceptual 
procedure of science and the conceptual 
activity of the human mind, for mathe- 
maties is nothing but such conceptual pro- 
cedure and activity come to its maturity, 
purity and perfection. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, our lecturer 
will say, I can not in this course deal 
explicitly and fully with this larger issue. 
But, he will say, we are living in a day 
when that issue has been raised; we happen 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


to be living in a time when, under the bril- 
liant and effective leadership of such 
thinkers as Professor Bergson and the late 
Professor James, the method of concepts, 
the method of intellect, the method of sci- 
ence, is being’ powerfully assailed; and, 
whilst I heartily welcome this attack of 
criticism as causing scientific men to reflect 
more deeply on the method of science, as 
exhibiting more clearly the inherent limita- 
tions of the method, and as showing that 
life is so rich as to have many precious in- 
terests and the world much truth beyond 
the reach of that method, yet I can not re- 
frain, he will say, from attempting to point 
out rather carefully what seems to me a 
radical error of the critics, a fundamental 
error of theirs, in respect to what is the 
highest function of conception and in re- 
spect to what is the real aim and ideal of 
the life of intellect. For we shall thus be 
led to a deeper view of our subject proper. 

These critics find, as all of us find, that 
what we call mind or our minds are, in some 
mysterious way, functionally connected 
with certain living organisms known as 
human bodies; they find that these living 
bodies are constantly immersed in a uni- 
verse of matter and motion in which they 
are continually pushed and pulled, heated 
and cooled, buffeted and jostled about—a 
universe that, according to James, would, 
in the absence of concepts, reveal itself as 
‘fa big blooming buzzing confusion’’— 
though it is hard to see how such a revela- 
tion could happen to any one devoid of the 
concept ‘‘confusion,’’ but let that pass; 
they find that our minds get into some 
initial sort of knowing connection with that 
external blooming confusion through what 
they call the sensibility of our bodies, yield- 
ing all manner of sensations as of weights, 
pressures, pushes and pulls, of intensities 
and extensities of brightness, sound, time, 
colors, space, odors, tastes, and so on; they 


SCIENCE 


795 


find that we must, on pain of organic ex- 
tinction, take some account of these ele- 
ments of the material world; they find that, 
as a fact, we human beings constantly deal 
with these elements through the instrumen- 
tality of concepts; they find that the effec- 
tiveness of our dealing with the material 
world is precisely due to our dealing with it 
conceptually: they infer that, therefore, 
dealing with matter is exactly what con- 
cepts are for, saying with Ostwald, for 
example, that the goal of natural science, 
the goal of the conceptual method of mind, 
“is the domination of nature by man;’’ not. 
only, our speaker will say, do our critics: 
find that we deal with the material world 
conceptually, and effectively because con- 
ceptually, but they find also that life has 
interests and the world values not acces- 
sible to the conceptual method, and as this 
method is the method of the intellect, they 
conelude, not only that the intellect can not 
grasp life, but that the aim and ideal of 
intellect is the understanding and subjuga- 
tion of matter, saying with Professor Berg- 
son ‘‘that our intellect is intended to think 
matter,’’ ‘‘that our concepts have been 
formed on the model of solids,’’ ‘‘that\the 
essential function of our intellect... is 
to be a light for our conduct, to make ready 
for our action on things,’’ that ‘‘the intel- 
lect is characterized by a natural inability 
to understand life,’’ that ‘‘intellect always 
behaves as if it were fascinated by the 
contemplation of inert matter,’’ that ‘‘in- 
telligence . . . aims at a practically use- 
ful end,’’ that ‘‘the intellect is never quite 
at its ease, . . . except when it is working 
upon inert matter, more particularly upon 
solids,’’ and much more to the same effect. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, our speaker 
will ask, what are we to think of this? 
What are we to think of this valuation of 
the science-making method of concepts? 
What are we to think of the aim and ideal 


796 


here ascribed to the intellect and of the 
station assigned it among the faculties of 
the human mind? In the first place, he 
will say, it ought to be evident to the critics 
themselves, and evident to them even in 
what they esteem the poor light of intel- 
lect, that the above-sketched movement of 
their minds is a logically unsound move- 
ment. They do not indeed contend that, 
because a living being in order to live must 
deal with the material world, it must, there- 
fore, do so by means of concepts. The 
lower animals have taught them better. 
But neither does it follow that, because 
certain bipeds in dealing with the mate- 
rial world deal with it conceptually, the 
essential function of concepts is just to 
deal with matter. Nor does such an in- 
ference respecting the essential function 
of concepts follow from the fact that the 
superior effectiveness of man’s dealing 
with the physical world is due to his 
dealing with it conceptually. For it is 
obviously conceivable and supposable that 
such conceptual dealing with matter is 
only an incident or byplay or subordinate 
interest in the career of concepts. It is 
conceivably possible that such employment 
is only an avocation, more or less serious 
indeed and more or less advantageous, 
yet an avocation, and not the vocation, 
of intellect. Is it not evidently possible 
to go even further? Is it not logically 
possible to admit or to contend that, inas- 
much as the human intellect is functionally 
attached to a living body which is itself 
plunged in a physical universe, it is abso- 
lutely necessary for the intellect to concern 
itself with matter in order to preserve, not 
indeed the animal life of man, but his 
intellectual life—is it not allowable, he will 
say, to admit or to maintain that and at 
the same time to deny that such concern- 
ment with matter is the intellect’s chief or 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


essential function and that the subjugation 
of matter is its ideal and aim? 

Of course, our lecturer will say, our erit- 
ics might be wrong in their logic and right 
in their opinion, just as they might be 
wrong in their opinion and right in their 
logic, for opinion is often a matter, not of 
logic or proof, but of temperament, taste 
and insight. But, he will say, if the issue 
as to the chief function of concepts and 
the ideal of the intellect is to be decided in 
accordance with temperament, taste and 
insight, then there is room for exercise of 
the preferential faculty, and alternatives 
far superior to the choice of our critics are 
easy enough to find. It may accord better 
with our insight and taste to agree with 
Aristotle that ‘‘It is owing,’’ not to the 
necessity of maintaining animal life or the 
desire of subjugating matter, but ‘‘it is 
owing to their wonder that men both now 
begin and at first began to philosophize; 
they wondered originally at the obvious 
difficulties, then advanced little by little 
and stated the difficulties about the greater 
matters.’’ The striking contrast of this 
with the deliverances of Bergson is not sur- 
prising, for Aristotle was a pupil of Plato 
and the doctrine of Bergson is that of 
Plato completely inverted. It may accord 
better with our insight and taste to agree 
with the great C. G. I. Jacobi, who, when 
he had been reproached by Fourier for not 
devoting his splendid genius to physical 
investigations, replied that a philosopher 
like his eritic ‘‘ought to know that the 
unique end of science is,’’ not public utility 
and applications to natural phenomena, but 
‘“is the honor of the human spirit.’”’ It 
may accord better with our temperament 
and insight to agree with the sentiment of 
Diotima: ‘‘I am persuaded that all men do 
all things, and the better they are the 
better they do them, in the hope,’’ not of 
subjugating matter, but ‘‘in the hope of 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


the glorious fame of immortal virtue.’’ 

But it is unnecessary, ladies and gentle- 
men, it is unnecessary, our speaker will say, 
to bring the issue to final trial in the court 
of temperaments and tastes. We should 
have there a too easy victory. The critics 
are psychologists, some of them eminent 
psychologists. Let the issue be tried in the 
court of psychology, for it is there that of 
right it belongs. They know the funda- 
mental and relevant facts. What is the 
verdict according to these? The critics 
know the experiments that have led to and 
confirmed the psychological law of Weber 
and Fechner and the doctrine of thresholds ; 
they know that, in accordance with that 
doctrine and that law, an appropriate 
stimulus, no matter what the department 
of sense, may be finite in amount and yet 
too small, or finite and yet too large, to 
yield a sensation ; they know that the differ- 
ence between two stimuli appropriate to a 
given sense department, no matter what 
department, may be a finite difference and 
yet too small for sensibility to detect, or to 
work a change of sensation; they ought to 
know, though they seem not to have recog- 
nized, much less to have weighed, the fact 
that, owing to the presence of thresholds, 
the greatest number of distinct sensations 
possible in any department of sense is a 
finite number; they ought to know that the 
number of different departments of sense 
is also a finite number; they ought to know 
that, therefore, the total number of distinct 
or different sensations of which a human 
being is capable is a finite number; they 
ought to know, though they seem not to 
have recognized the fact, that, on the other 
hand, the world of concepts is of infinite 
multiplicity, that concepts, the fruit of intel- 
lect, as distinguished from sensations, the 
fruit of sensibility, are infinite in number; 
they ought, therefore, to see, our speaker will 
say, though none of them has seen, that in 


SCIENCE 


7197 


attemping to derive intellect out of sensi- 
bility, in attempting to show that (as 
James says) ‘‘concepts flow out of per- 
cepts,’’ they are confronted with the prob- 
lem of bridging the immeasurable gulf 
between the finite and the infinite, of show- 
ing, that is, how an infinite multiplicity can 
arise from one that is finite. But even if 
they solved that apparently insoluble prob- 
lem, they would not yet be in position to 
affirm that the function of intellect and its 
concepts is, like that of sensibility, just the 
function of dealing with matter, as the 
function of teeth is biting and chewing. 
Far from it. 

Let us have another look, the lecturer 
will say, at the psychological facts of the 
case. Owing to the presence of thresholds 
in every department of sense it may happen 
and indeed it does happen constantly, in 
every department, that three different 
amounts of stimulus of a same kind give 
three sensations such that two of them are 
each indistinguishable from the third and 
yet are distinguishable from one another. 
Now, for sensibility in any department of 
sense, two magnitudes of stimulus are un- 
equal or are equal according as the sensa- 
tions given by them are or are not distin- 
guishable. Accordingly in the world of 
sensible magnitudes, in the sensible uni- 
verse, in the world, that is, of felt weights 
and thrusts and pulls and pressures, of 
felt brightnesses and warmths and lengths 
and breadths and thicknesses and so on, in 
this world, which is the world of matter, 
magnitudes are such that two of them may 
each be equal to a third without being 
equal to one another. That, our speaker 
will say, is a most significant fact and it 
means that the sensible world, the world of 
matter, is irrational, infected with contra- 
diction, contravening the essential laws of 
thought. No wonder, he will say, that old 


798 


Heraclitus declared the unaided senses 
“‘oive a fraud and a lie.’’ 

Now, our speaker will ask, what has 
been and is the behavior of intellect in the 
presence of such contradiction? Observe, 
he will say, that it is intellect, and not sen- 
sibility, that detects the contradiction. Of 
the irrationality in question sensibility re- 
mains insensible. The data among which 
the contradiction subsists are indeed rooted 
in the sensible world, they inhere in the 
world of matter, but the contradiction it- 
self is known only to the logical faculty 
called intellect. Observe also, he will say, 
and the observation is important, that such 
contradictions do not compel the intellect to 
any activity whatever intended to preserve 
the life of the living organism to which the 
intellect is functionally attached. That is 
a lesson we have from our physical kin, the 
beasts. What, then, fas the intellect done 
because of or about the contradiction? Has 
it gone on all these centuries, as our critics 
would have us believe, trying to ‘‘think 
matter,’’ as if it did not know that matter, 
being irrational, is not thinkable? Far 
from it, he will say, the intellect is no such 
ass. 

What it has done, instead of endlessly 
and stupidly besieging the illogical world of 
sensible magnitudes with the machinery of 
logic, what it has done, our lecturer will 
say, is this: it has created for itself 
another world. It has not rationalized the 
world of sensible magnitudes. That, it 
knows, can not be done. It has discerned 
the ineradicable contradictions inherent in 
them, and by means of its creative power 
of. conception it has made a new world, a 
world of conceptual magnitudes that, like 
the continua of mathematics, are so con- 
structed by the spiritual architect and so 
endowed by it as to be free alike from the 
contradictions of the sensible world and 
from all thresholds that could give them 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


birth. Indeed conception, to speak meta- 
phorically in terms borrowed from the 
realm of sense, is a kind of infinite sensi- 
bility, transcending any finite distinction, 
difference or threshold, however minute or 
fine. And, now, our speaker will say, it is 
such magnitudes, magnitudes created by 
intellect and not those discovered by sense, 
though the two varieties are frequently not 
discriminated by their names, it is such 
conceptual magnitudes that constitute the 
subject-matter of science. If the magni- 
tudes of science, apart from their rational- 
ity, often bear in conformation a kind of 
close resemblance to the magnitudes of 
sense, what is the meaning of the fact? It 
means, contrary to the view of Bergson but 
in accord with that of Poincaré, that the 
free creative artist, intellect, though it is 
not constrained, yet has chosen to be 
guided, in so far as its task allows, by facts 
of sense. Thus we have, for one example 
among many, conceptual space and sensible 
space so much alike in conformation that, 
though one of them is rational and the other 
is not, the undiscriminating hold them as 
the same. 

And now, our lecturer will ask, for we 
are nearing the goal, what then 7s the mo- 
tive and aim of this creative activity of the 
intellect? Evidently it is not to preserve 
and promote the life of the human body, 
for animals flourish without the aid of con- 
cepts and despite the contradictions in the 
world of sense. The aim is, he will say, to 
preserve and to promote the life of the in- 
tellect itself. In a realm infected with ir- 
rationality, with omnipresent contradic- 
tions of the laws of thought, intellect can 
not live, much less flourish; in the world of 
sense, it has no proper subject-matter, no 
home, no life. To live, to flourish, it must 
be able to think, to think in accordance 
with the laws of its being. It is stimulated 
and its activity sustained by two opposite 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


forces: discord and concord. By the one it 
is driven; by the other, drawn. Intellect 
is a perpetual suitor. The object of the 
suit is not the conquest of matter, it is a 
thing of mind, it is the music of the spirit, 
it is Harmonia, the beautiful daughter of 
the muses. The aim, the ideal, the beati- 
tude of intellect is harmony. That is the 
Meaning of its endless talk about compati- 
bilities, consistencies and concords, and 
that is the meaning of its endless battling 
and circumvention and transcendence of 
contradiction. But what of the applica- 
tions of science and public service? These 
are by-products of the intellect’s aim and 
of the pursuit of its ideal. Many things it 
regards as worthy, high and holy—appl- 
cations of science, public service, the 
““wonder’’ of Aristotle, Jacobi’s ‘‘honor of 
the human spirit,’’ Diotima’s ‘‘elorious 
fame of immortal virtue’’—but that which, 
by the law of its being, intellect seeks 
above all and perpetually pursues and 
loves, is harmony. It is for a home and a 
dwelling with her that intellect creates a 
world; and its admonition is: Seek ye first 
the Kingdom of Harmony, and all these 
things shall be added unto you. 

And the ideal and admonition, thus re- 
vealed in the light of analysis, are justified 
of history. Inverting the order of time, we 
have only to contemplate the great periods 
in the intellectual life of Paris, Florence 
‘and Athens. If, among these mightiest 
contributors to the spiritual wealth of man, 
Athens is supreme, she is also supreme in 
her devotion to the intellect’s ideal. It is 
of Athens that Euripides sings: 

The sons of Erectheus, the olden, 

Whom high gods planted of yore 
In an old land of heaven upholden, 

A proud land untrodden of war; 

‘They are hungered, and lo, their desire 

With wisdom is fed as with meat; 
In their skies is a shining of fire, 

A joy in the fall of their feet; 


SCIENCE 


T99 


And thither with manifold dowers, 

From the north, from the hills, from the morn, 
The Muses did gather their powers, 

That a child of the Nine should be born; 

And Harmony, sown as the flowers, 

Grew gold in the acres of corn.? 

And thus, ladies and gentlemen, our lec- 
turer will say, what I wish you to see here 
is, that Science, and especially Mathemat- 
ics, the ideal form of science, are creations 
of Intellect in its quest for Harmony. It is 
as such creations that they are to be judged 
and their human worth appraised. Of the 
applications of mathematics to engineering 
and of its service in natural science, I have 
spoken at length, he will say, in the course 
of previous lectures. Other great themes 
of our subject remain for consideration. 
To appraise the worth of mathematics as a 
discipline in the art of rigorous thinking 
and as a means of giving wing to the subt- 
ler imagination; to estimate and explain its 
value as a norm for criticism and for guid- 
ance of speculation and pioneering in fields 
not yet brought under the dominion of 
logic; to estimate its esthetic worth as show- 
ing forth in psychic light the law and order 
of the psychic world; to evaluate its ethical 
significance in rebuking by its certitude 
and eternality the facile skepticism that 
doubts all knowledge, and especially in 
serving as a retreat for the spirit when as 
at times the world of sense seems madly 
bent on heaping strange misfortunes up and 
“to and fro the chances of the years dance 
like an idiot in the wind’’; to give a sense 
of its religious value in ‘‘the contemplation 
of ideas under the form of eternity,’’ in 
disclosing a cosmos of perfect beauty and 
everlasting order and in presenting there, 
for meditation, endless consequences tra- 
versing the rational world and seeming to 
point to a mystical region above and be- 
yond: these and similar themes, our speaker 

2Translation by Professor Gilbert Murray. 


800 


will say, remain to be dealt with in subse- 
quent lectures of the course. 


Cassius J. KEYSER 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


CHEMISTRY AS AFFECTING THE PROFIT- 
ABLENESS OF INDUSTRY1 

In beginning the preparation of this 
paper I had thought of considering chem- 
ical industry as if it were distinct from 
other industries, but, as the subject devel- 
oped, it became very apparent that no such 
distinct line could be drawn. Properly 
speaking, all industries must be considered 
as chemical. It is next to impossible to 
imagine the existence of an industry in 
which chemical reactions or considerations, 
either directly or indirectly, do not enter. 
It is possible that we could define chemical 
industry in a somewhat restricted sense, 
but such a definition would hardly be other 
than arbitrary. The lines of demarcation 
would be indistinct and shadowy. The 
only basis for such a definition would be 
the attitude of the popular mind. This 
attitude of mind has been steadily growing 
towards the recognition that chemistry is 
an important factor in every industry, and 
when, in any particular case, it becomes 
popularly recognized that chemistry is a 
factor in an industry, then that industry 
becomes a chemical industry. Ultimately, 
this popular recognition will extend to all 
industries and the rapidity of the growth 
of such recognition indicates that the time 
is not far distant when all industries will 
be generally and popularly recognized as 
chemieal. 

My plan had been to discuss the profit- 
ableness of chemical industry, but if we ac- 
cept this conception that all industries are 
chemical, it would seem better that our dis- 
cussion should be broadened so as to con- 


1Chairman’s address, N. Y. Section—Society of 
Chemical Industry, October 17, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


sider the general effect of chemistry upon 
the profitableness of industrial operations, 
using the words ‘‘industrial operations’’ 
as including all phases of the actual pro- 
duction of wealth. 

Perhaps it would be well that I should 
make clear the conception that all indus- 
tries are chemical in one or more phases. 
By way of illustration, let us consider the 
relation of chemistry to the production of 
power. I think we can show that there is 
a very close connection between chemistry 
and such production, and also that there is 
no industry which does not depend upon the 
consumption of power, and if this is the 
case, it becomes very evident that, from the 
power standpoint alone, all industries are 
chemical industries. 

Our first impressions of power are those 
which we ourselves are conscious of exer- 
cising, and, in practise, the simplest form 
of power is man power as manifested in 
manual labor. It is not customary, per- 
haps, except from the humanitarian 
standpoint, to consider the chemical 
changes in the human body, converting food 
into work, as factors in industry. Never- 
theless, they deserve serious consideration. 
It is being learned daily that properly fed 
employees are more efficient as workmen, 
and the study of food problems is surely 
a phase of the application of chemistry to 
industry. In some industries, the study of 
the food consumed by employees has a di- 
rect bearing upon the health of the em- 
ployees as affected by the industry. It is 
found that certain foods act as prophylac- 
ties towards certain industrial diseases, and 
that other foods (perhaps improperly so 
called) act in the opposite manner. The 
scientific study of foods in connection with 
efficient manual labor is a phase of welfare 
work that has not been considered to the 
extent it deserves. Take, on the other hand, 
the horse. It is true that the horse is being 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


displaced by the locomotive and automo- 
bile, and as a power factor has been almost 
completely superseded by mechanical ap- 
pliances; still, so far as the horse is used 
for the power he furnishes, his proper 
feeding is a phase of the application of 
chemistry to industry. Perhaps, it may be 
considered that these two illustrations, the 
feeding of employees and the feeding of 
horses, are trivial as compared with the 
study of the production of power through 
the use of the steam boiler, the steam en- 
gine, the gas producer, and the internal 
combustion engine. Probably this is so, 
for, in the production of power by these 
mechanical means, we have clearly recog- 
nized chemical reactions, and the under- 
standing of these chemical reactions is es- 
sential to the proper economy of fuel and 
the production of power with the least out- 
lay. In these cases, chemistry teaches us 
the need of a proper balancing of the com- 
bustible material used and the air supply, 
so that the loss of heat in effluent gases 
may be reduced to a minimum. In the 
steam boiler, chemistry has taught much 
of great value in relation to the refractory 
materials used, the utility of water con- 
sumed, and how to correct its scale-form- 
ing tendencies. In recent years, numerous 
excellent devices have been developed for 
automatically giving information as to the 
composition of flue gases, with the result 
that great savings in the cost of power 
have been made. The study of the com- 
position of coals has resulted in a better 
classification of coals, a truer connection 
between price and quality, and the pur- 
chase of coals by specifications involving 
chemical examination is becoming more 
extensive each year. The small power 
plant can not perhaps give as much atten- 
tion to chemical factors as a large plant 
ean, but in large power plants, the econ- 
omy resulting from the study of the chem- 


SCIENCE 


801 


istry of combustion has enabled such 
plants to furnish power to outsiders with 
a profit to themselves and to those to whom 
they sell it. It was chemical considera- 
tions that led to the use of blast furnace 
gases in the gas engine for the production 
of power; and if the chemist’s dream comes 
true, there will come a time when power 
will be more directly produced from coal 
than it is to-day. It is, of course, recog- 
nized that in the utilization of the energy 
in our great waterfalls, chemistry is an 
unimportant factor, but here there is the 
compensating fact that many of our great 
chemical industries have been dependent 
for their existence and growth upon the 
cheap power thus produced. 

This is as far as our time permits us to 
speak of the influence of chemistry upon 
the production of power. The scope of 
this paper will not allow a more detailed 
treatment of this subject, and what we 
have said is more as a matter of obvious il- 
lustration of one point of the dependence 
of the profitableness of industry in general 
upon chemical factors. If we have made 
this point clear, we will proceed to recount 
other phases of the relation of chemistry 
to industry. 

The simplest phase is undoubtedly that 
which relates to the purely commercial 
end of industry, wherein goods are bought 
and sold subject to analysis, the analysis 
being presumed to indicate the commercial 
value of the goods. These goods may be 
in the raw state, partially finished, or fin- 
ished and ready for consumption. The 
oldest form of this kind of analytical con- 
trol was undoubtedly for the valuation of 
precious metals and the ores containing 
them. The accuracy with which gold and 
silver can be determined by fire assay 
was recognized in the early stages of metal- 
lurgical development. The fire assay cor- 
responded on a small scale to the actual 


802 


recovery of gold and silver in smelting 
operations. It was natural, therefore, to 
assume that a similar correspondence ex- 
isted between the fire assay of other metal- 
liferous substances and the smelting oper- 
ations then practised. What could be 
done with gold and silver, however, could 
not be done with the same accuracy with 
the more readily oxidized metals, and while 
the fire assay method is still applied in some 
places to metals other than gold and silver, 
in general these methods have been super- 
seded by wet methods, which are more 
obviously chemical in their character, and 
of greater accuracy. 

The chemical testing of commodities sold 
under specifications is primarily for the 
purpose of protecting the purchaser, al- 
though accuracy of testing is necessary in 
order that justice may be done to the 
seller. Practically all raw materials dealt 
in in quantity are sold subject to chemical 
analysis. Chemical analysis may not be 
specified in the sale or made use of by the 
purchaser, but, in some form or other, the 
purchaser has the right to test out the pro- 
ducts received, to see whether the terms of 
the sale have been lived up to. Very few 
commodities are sold to-day in regard to 
which there is not some recorded informa- 
tion on which a purchaser can base claims, 
if chemical analysis shows these commod- 
ities to be different from those deseribed in 
the order or contract. 

If we consider, however, the whole ques- 
tion of the purchase of commodities on 
either tacit or openly acknowledged chem- 
ical requirements, we will see that chemis- 
try has had a great influence in determin- 
ing the profitableness of industry, in pre- 
venting the delivery of inferior raw or semi- 
raw materials, which would ultimately 
affect the yield or quality of the finished 
product. The whole operation of our pure 
food and pure commodity laws depends 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 988 


upon the availability of chemical analysis 
and testing, and it is only natural that the 
rapid growth of sentiment in favor of these 
laws should have produced some commercial 
hardships, which have led to the criticism 
of chemical control and standards as being 
too rigid and unsuited to popular require- 
ments. Nevertheless, such pure commodity 
laws have been of great profit to the pur- 
chasing public. 

But if chemistry has had a great influ- 
ence upon the profitableness of industry in 
the purchasing of commodities, what shall 
we say as to its effect on the profitableness 
of industry in the sale of commodities? In 
the popular mind, profits are made on sales, 
not on purchases, and the salesman seems: 
to be, to use the language of the streets, 
“‘the whole thing.’’ Most businesses are 
dominated by the salesman, be he proprie- 
tor, manager, or drummer. According to 
this idea, in the making of profit, the sales- 
man is a factor greater than the purchas- 
ing agent, or even the manager of the 
manufacturing department, considering 
that these are distinct from each other. 
There is undoubtedly a great deal of truth 
in this conception, and the popular idea. 
rests on fairly well established facts. Tak- 
ing this to be the case, what has been the 
influence of chemistry on the sale of com- 
modities as affecting business profits? It is 
generally admitted that the old-fashioned 
personal influence of the salesman over the 
sale of his goods is growing less year by 
year. In place of this old-fashioned per- 
sonal influence is coming a newer influence: 
in which the salesman secures his sales, not 
by debauching the purchaser, but by his 
intelligence and the helpful knowledge 
which he possesses about the goods he sells, 
and, we must add, the confidence which the 
purchaser has in the salesman because of 
his possessing that knowledge. It is no 
longer the general practise to keep sales- 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


men ignorant of processes of manufacture 
and use, but salesmen are being educated 
in many eases by technical men, often chem- 
ists, on the merits of their goods and how 
they may properly meet complaints. Then, 
too, the chemist’s influence in improving 
the quality of products assists the sales- 
man by giving him more saleable products. 
I can not take more than passing and 
regretful notice of the fact that there are 
some few chemists whose occupation ap- 
pears to be mostly that of showing how 
goods may be debased without easy detec- 
tion. The influence of the chemist in im- 
proving the quality of goods shows itself in 
the increased price which may be obtained 
for such goods. Perhaps, also, we should 
mention the general effect upon the com- 
mercial atmosphere of a business that has 
trained chemists in its employ, who give 
confidence to the general public that its 
products are made as well as can be with 
the assistance of the best that science can 
give. 

Coming now to actual manufacturing 
operations, we will consider what the chem- 
ist has done in controlling manufacturing 
processes, correcting losses in manufacture, 
assisting in the invention of new methods 
and in the development of new uses for 
regular products, waste products and by- 
products. Work along this line is partic- 
ularly attractive to the chemist, and, in 
some cases, can only be conducted profita- 
bly by the chemist. The extent to which 
chemical knowledge is necessary or desira- 
ble can, of course, be determined only by 
considering each case by itself. There are, 
in every case, practical limitations, in 
regard to which the chemist should be rea- 
sonable. Simply because, in general, chem- 
istry is helpful, it must not, therefore, be 
assumed that in every case the chemist can 
increase the profitableness of manufactur- 
ing operations, because it must be remem- 


SCIENCE 


803 


bered that the chemist is worthy of his 
hire, and that hire may more than absorb 
the value of what he may accomplish. In 
the control of manufacturing processes, if 
uniformity of product is desired, there is 
probably no one better qualified than the 
chemist to establish such control. This he 
will accomplish by the systematic study of 
all the materials entering into the process 
and the product in all stages of manu- 
facture, discovering the chemical reactions 
of the process, where these reactions occur, 
and how they can be accelerated to advan- 
tage or made more complete, if that is 
desirable. Considering in the abstract the 
manufacturing operation involving a con. 
sumption of raw materials, heat, power, and 
labor, the fundamental units of cost are 
the time consumed and the quantity of 
product made. The chemist should possess 
an analytical mind, and, in the study of a 
manufacturing process, he will endeavor to 
develop the effect of these fundamental 
factors and seek to control the other cost 
factors, keeping in mind the preservation 
of the full value of the chemical reactions: 
taking place. Chemistry has been a great 
help and profit to industry in the control of 
manufacturing losses, and the business man 
who fails to recognize its value can not be 
considered as practical. For the avoidance 
of such losses, the chemist is peculiarly 
fitted. Some industries, it is true, can be 
conducted profitably with large losses of 
some of the constituents contained in the 
raw materials, but, in the course of time, 
these losses must be controlled, for the in- 
dustry that applies the best control will 
be the most profitable and the best able to 
withstand competition. This can be done 


_ only by systematic chemical examination of 


the materials used and by systematic study 
of the chemical reactions entering into the 
processes. But the work that chemistry 
does in preventing losses in manufacture is 


804 


not merely the direct prevention of such 
losses. Chemistry impresses itself sooner 
or later upon the manufacturer if he is 
awake, even though he be not technically 
trained, and he realizes that his manufac- 
turing operations are not shrouded in mys- 
tery. The question of yield comes under 
the law of the conservation of matter. 
Matter does not disappear without going 
somewhere, and if it does disappear, it has 
been stolen, or some mistake has been made 
in accounting, or the matter has been 
changed in form, or actually lost in some of 
the refuse products. This is an exceedingly 
important subject. Many untechnical men 
think that yield, as they would express it, 
is ‘‘purely a practical question’’ and that 
losses in manufacture, like taxes and death, 
are something that we can not get away 
from. The chemist valiantly attacks this 
belief. He asserts that losses oceur for 
material reasons. This attitude of the 
chemist is simply a rational attitude which 
inereases very materially the profitable- 
ness of industry. In developing new uses 
for regular products, waste products, and 
by-products, the chemist has left his indeli- 
ble mark upon industry. Here he is in the 
lead, and his constructive mind is not satis- 
fied with announcing his immediate dis- 
coveries, but in pointing the way to the rich 
fields of possible discovery that lie before 
him. 

It is proper here to elaborate a little on 
the value of chemical societies and their 
journals. Chemical societies, seeking at all 
times to bring out the most recent informa- 
tion bearing on chemical problems, obtain 
numerous papers, which, published in their 
journals, are available, in most of our 
large public libraries, to business men 
whether technically educated or not. Fre- 
quently, the information which they may 
want is obtained in complete form in these 
journals. In other cases, the information 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


has to be interpreted by chemists, and in 
still other cases the information is so dis- 
tantly connected with the problems in- 
volved as to be available only to chemists 
who open up vast possibilities of profit to 
industry. It is hardly to be expected that 
the chemist will be acquainted with all the 
published facts relating to any problem, 
but if he knows where these facts may be 
obtained, and if he knows how to interpret 
them, they soon become available, no 
matter how long they may have remained 
buried in the literature of the subject. 
The application of such facts frequently 
develops new ones, which in their turn may 
have high potential value. So valuable are 
these chemical records that I must not lose 
this opportunity of pointing to the great 
service chemists are doing and to urge them 
to enlarge this service to the greatest prac- 
ticable degree by further contributions. 
The knowledge which we may possess is of 
value to us individually, but in the general 
service of mankind we can frequently im- 
part some of this knowledge, without hurt- 
ing ourselves, at the same time extending 
a helping hand to others. 

Much has been written upon the influence 
of the research chemical laboratory on the 
profitableness of industry. Waluable infor- 
mation is on record showing how, in numer- 
ous cases, the research laboratory has been 
a tremendous profit to industry. In some 
eases the research laboratory is devoted 
almost entirely to the development of new 
processes and products, and it would ap- 
pear that the Germans have most success- 
fully applied this method, and that their 
commercial high standing in chemical 
manufacture has been more due to this 
than to any superiority in methods or econ- 
omies in manufacturing. While this is 
true, it appears to the writer that the re- 
search laboratory has another function not 
usually recognized. If I were to try to 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


define this function of the research labora- 
tory in popular language, I would say 
that it keeps the industry ‘‘ahead in the 
game.’’ It is not only in the concrete 
things which the research laboratory does 
that its profitableness is to be measured, 
but its real value is also in the general 
advance work that it does. It gives to an 
industry a proper understanding of the 
needs of the trade. The industry that does 
not keep itself informed as to these needs 
is sure to lag behind. The fundamental 
information as to the needs of the trade 
ean only be furnished by the chemist who 
has studied the possibilities, theoretical and 
practical, of both processes and products. 
The research laboratory is destroying trade 
superstitions, which have hindered progress. 
It has furnished information to salesmen 
which they have been able to use to prac- 
tical advantage. It has been in many 
respects the reflective organ of industry. 
The research laboratory could not have 
been any of these things if it were not con- 
tinuously studying the problem presented 
directly and indirectly to it and availing 
itself of the invaluable records preserved 
in our chemical journals. 

In those industries involving the manu- 
facture of chemicals or in which chemistry 
is a predominating and obvious influence, 
the chemist is, of course, appreciated, 
although there are many such industries 
which do not utilize the chemist as fully 
and as completely as would be to their ad- 
vantage. The really successful and profit- 
able chemical manufacturing industries 
avail themselves of the services of the best 
chemists obtainable. 

The indirect influence of chemistry upon 
the profitableness of industry should not 
be overlooked. The philosopher who once 
said something to the effect that the man 
who made two blades of grass grow where 
only one grew before is a public benefactor, 


SCIENCE 


805 


stated a truth that applies with a special 
force to the chemist. The discoveries of 
chemistry which have been of no direct 
value to the discoverer, but have been of 
great indirect value to humanity, are in- 
numerable. Sometimes a chemist is looked 
upon with scorn because he has not made 
personal profit out of his discoveries, 
which he has published to the world and 
made common property. This form of com- 
munism is idealistic. The discoveries of 
Pasteur have added immense profit to the 
fermentation industries and have been the 
saving of innumerable lives. I know of no 
class which contributes, as chemists do, so 
freely to the fund of general knowledge on 
which profitable business is based. Then, 
too, there is the indirect saving which the 
chemist is responsible for in the conserva- 
tion and utilization of industrial products. 
The studies relating to the corrosion of 
iron and steel and indeed to all of the phe- 
nomena of decay have resulted in greater 
permanence and durability of the products 
of industry, the benefits of which all indus- 
tries may share. 

In arguing, as we have, in favor of the 
proposition that chemistry is a powerful 
factor in making industry profitable, we 
must not close our eyes to its limitations. 
The chemist should be a business man in 
the best sense of the words, and should 
recognize that in all successful business 
operations a proper balancing and coordi- 
nation of all its factors is necessary. The 
study of power problems should be made, 
but the extent to which expenditure for the 
study of power factors should be made de- 
pends upon the importance of the power 
factor. The testing of materials purchased 
and used should be made, but the extent to 
which such testing should be made can 
only be determined by the proper considera- 
tion of its relative importance. New proc- 
esses and products should be developed, but 


806 


there is a limit to expenditure for these 
ends, which limit is in the hope of profit 
to be derived. After all, all industry de- 
pends upon the production or exchange of 
articles that are desirable, and the desira- 
bility of an article is a determining factor 
in its value. But not merely must a prod- 
uct be desirable, it must be produced with 
proper economy, for that is a limiting 
factor affecting its marketability. 

We have discussed this subject in an ab- 
stract manner. Many illustrations could 
have been introduced of how industries 
have profited through the assistance of 
chemistry. We have thought it better, how- 
ever, to omit such illustrations but hope 
that during the coming year we shall have 
many papers practically demonstrating 
‘that what we have presented in the abstract 
ds coneretely true. When we speak of 
«chemistry as affecting the profitableness of 
‘industry, we must bear in mind that, while 
all chemical knowledge may be said to come 
from the chemist, such knowledge is often 
made use of with profit by those who are not 
chemists. This is something that is un- 
avoidable, and it seems to me no attempt 
should be made to make it avoidable. The 
benefits which chemists derive from the 
more general diffusion of chemical knowl- 
edge are very much greater than would be 
the case if chemists were successful in an 
attempt to make their profession esoteric. 
The progress of humanity can not be accom- 
plished by making the study of chemistry 
and the benefits that come from it profit- 
able only to the chemist. It is proper that 
the chemist should seek to obtain profit 
from his knowledge and ability, but he can 
not hope to do this except in some few 
cases, unless he is willing to give to others 
at least a portion of the knowledge that he 
possesses. All industries and occupations 
are interdependent. All industry depends 
upon the chemist, and the chemist depends 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


upon all industry. The more this interde- 
pendence is recognized, the greater the 
profit accruing to industry, and the greater 
the return to the chemist. 

G. W. THOMPSON 


INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE 
STRUCTURE OF MATTER} 


Tue first International Conference in Brus- 
sels on the Theory of Radiation in 1911 owed 
its inception to Mr. Ernest Solvay, and proved 
a great success. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Sol- 
vay generously gave the sum of one million 
franes to form an International Physical In- 
stitute (Nature, Vol. XC., p. 545), part of 
the proceeds to be devoted to assistance of re- 
searches in physics and chemistry, and part 
to defray the expenditure of an occasional 
scientific conference between men of all nations 
to discuss scientific problems of special inter- 
est. In pursuance of this aim the second 
International Conference or Conseil Interna- 
tional de Physique Solvay, was held in Brus- 
sels this year on October 27-31, under the able 
presidency of Professor Lorentz. On this 
occasion the general subjects of discussion 
were confined to the structure of the atom, the 
structure of crystals, and the molecular theory 
of solid bodies. 

Reports were presented by the following: 
The structure of the atom, Sir J. J. Thomson; 
Interferenzerscheinungen an Réntgenstrahlen 
hervorgerufen durch das Raumgitter der Kri- 
stalle, Professor Laue; the relation between 
erystalline structure and chemical constitution, 
W. Barlow and Professor Pope; some consider- 
ations on the structure of crystals, Professor 
Brillouin, and Molekulartheorie der Festen 
Korper, Professor Gruneisen. 

Among those present at the meeting were 
Professors Lorentz, Kamerlingh Onnes, Sir J.J. 
Thomson, Barlow, Pope, Jeans, Bragg, Ruther- 
ford, Mme. Curie, Gouy, Brillouin, Langevin, 
Voigt, Warburg, Nernst, Rubens, Wien, 
Einstein, Laue, Sommerfeld, Gruneisen, Weiss, 
Knudsen, Hasendhrl, Wood, Goldschmidt, 
Verschaffelt, Lindemann and De Broglie. 


1 From Nature. 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


An interesting and vigorous discussion fol- 
lowed on all the papers presented to the con- 
gress. Special interest was taken in the report 
of Laue on the interference phenomena ob- 
served in crystals with X-rays. A valuable 
contribution was made by Professor Bragg on 
selective reflection of X-rays by crystals, and 
on the information afforded by this new method 
of research on crystalline structure. The re- 
port of Mr. Barlow and Professor Pope on the 
relation between crystalline structure and 
chemical constitution was illustrated by a 
number of models, and was followed with much 
interest. A report on the papers and discus- 
sions at the conference will be published as 
promptly as possible. 

The arrangements for the meeting, which 
was successful in every way, were admirably 
made by Dr. Goldschmidt. All the members 
stayed at the same hotel, and thus were afforded 
the best of opportunities for social intercourse 
and for the interchange of views on scientific 
questions. 
were very hospitably entertained by Mr. Sol- 
vay and Dr. Goldschmidt, while a visit was 
made to the splendid private wireless station 
of the latter, which is one of the largest in 
the world, capable of transmitting messages to 
the Congo and Burmah. 

The committee of the International Phys- 
ical Institute, who were present at the confer- 
ence, held meetings to consider the applications 
for grants in aid of research, made possible 
by the sum set aside for this purpose by Mr. 
Solvay at the foundation of the institute. 

It was arranged that the next meeting of 
the Conseil de Physique should be held in 
three years’ time at Brussels, when there will 
be a new program of subjects for discussion. 
In order to extend the scope of the congress, 
and to make it as representative as possible, 
it has been arranged that the original members 
will retire automatically at intervals, while 
their place will be taken by new members, who 
will be specially invited to take part in discus- 
sion of definite scientific topics. 


During the meeting, the members 


EK. RuTHERFORD 


SCIENCE 


807 


THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 


THE twenty-sixth annual meeting of the 
Geological Society of America will be held in 
Princeton, N. J., on December 30, 1913, to 
January 1, 1914, inclusive. The sessions of 
the Society will be held in Guyot Hall and 
the council is going to continue the plans 
adopted for the management of last winter’s 
meeting. The morning sessions will be devoted 
to papers that promise to be of general inter- 
est; the noon recess will be long in order to 
give some time for social intercourse, group 
discussions and the examination of special ex- 
hibits; the afternoon sessions will be some- 
what short and will be given over to sectional 
meetings and to papers of less general scope. 
A special room (or more than one, if needed) 
will be provided for the display of specimens, 
the hanging of charts not needed in the public 
reading of papers, and for similar purposes. 
The smoking and general conversation room 
or rooms will be independent of the foregoing. 

The annual address of the retiring president, 
Professor E. A. Smith, will be delivered on the 
evening of Tuesday the 30th. Dr. Arthur L. 
Day, director of the Carnegie Institution’s 
geophysical laboratory has consented to give an 
illustrated lecture on “Kilauea During the 
Year 1912,” which was the most active period 
of the voleano within historic times. Dr. Day 
will include in his address a statement of the 
results of the work done at the geophysical 
laboratory on the gases and other material col- 
lected, at Kilauea. The lecture will be given 
at a time to be announced later. 

The council respectfully urges the fellows to 
consider the following points in the prepara- 
tion and presentation of their papers: 

1. Subjects selected for presentation should 
include, as far as possible, matters of general 
interest and wide application. Details of local 
problems seldom hold the attention of the audi- 
ence so closely as the new aspects of general 
considerations which such details may exem- 
plify. 

2. The time required for presenting a paper 
should be not more than twenty minutes, or at 
the outside thirty minutes. If the speakers 
will carefully estimate the time actually needed 


808 


for the completion of their papers, such time 
will, within reasonable limits, be allowed; 
the speakers will then be saved from the disap- 
pointment of being interrupted before their 
conclusions are reached, and the officers will be 
relieved from the embarrassment of enforcing 
the rule regarding the time-limit. 

3. It is particularly urged that diagrams and 
charts should be made on such a scale that 
they can be deciphered easily at a distance of 
30 or 40 feet; and that lantern slides should be 
exhibited in moderate number, only such being 
chosen as directly illustrate the subject under 
discussion. Lantern slides should, if possible, 
be introduced as the points that they illustrate 
are reached, rather than after the conclusion 
of the paper. 

By invitation of the fellows residing in 
Princeton the usual smoker or general social 
gathering will be held on Tuesday evening, 
the 30th, after the presidential address. The 
customary subscription dinner will take place 
Wednesday evening. 

A valuable feature of the regular and social 
sessions of the annual meetings has always 
been the attendance of students and other 
junior workers in geological science, as 
visitors. The council desires to increase the 
number of such attendants, and with this ob- 
ject requests each fellow to send to the secre- 
tary, not later than December 10, the names 
and addresses of persons who, whether they can 
attend the meeting or not, are seriously inter- 
ested in geology and deserving of recognition 
as visitors, although they have not yet reached 
such standing as to gain membership in the 
society. The council will then write to the 
persons thus nominated, inviting them to at- 
tend the Princeton meeting. 

The Paleontological Society will hold its 
annual meeting in connection with the meet- 
ing of the Geological Society, the sessions 
beginning on Wednesday, December 31, 1918. 
Detailed information regarding this meeting 
may be obtained from Dr. R. 8S. Bassler, U. 8. 
National Museum, Washington, D. C., Secre- 
tary of the Society. 

Epmunp Otis Hovey, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN BACTERIOL-— 
OGISTS 

THE annual meeting of the Society will be 
held in Montreal, December 31, 1913, and 
January 1 and 2, 1914 under the presidency 
of Professor C.-E. A. Winslow. The meetings 
of the society will be held in the new Medical 
Building of McGill University on December 
31 and January 2. The society will meet at 
Macdonald College on January 1, leaving 
Montreal at 9:10 a.M., and returning at 5:42 
p.M. Luncheon will be served to the members 
at Macdonald College. 

The annual dinner will be held at the Uni- 
versity Club on the evening of January 1. The 
president’s address “ The Characterization and 
Classification of Bacterial Types” will follow 
the dinner. 

The program is divided into topics each of 
which will occupy one session of the meeting. 
Titles of papers should be in the hands of the 
Program Committee not later than November 
20, 1913. 

Soil Bacteriology—Otto Rahn, University of Illi- 
nois, Urbana, Illinois. 

Sanitary Bacteriology—including Water and Dairy 
Bacteriology—H. W. Hill, Institute Public 
Health, London, Ontario, Canada. 

Systematic Bacteriology—H. J. Conn, Geneva, New 
York. 

Technic—L A. Rogers, Department of Agricul- 
ture, Washington, D. C. 

Immunity—Benjamin White, Director of Hoagland 
Laboratory, Brooklyn, New York. 

Pathology—P. F. Clark, No. 1027 N. Caroline 
Street, Baltimore, Md. 


Typewritten abstracts of papers (not more 
than 300 words) should be in the hands of the 
secretary not later than the last session. These 
abstracts last year were published in ScmncE 
and Cent. f. Bakt. 

A. Parker HItTcHENs, 


Secretary 
GLENOLDEN, PENNSYLVANIA 


THE ATLANTA MEETING OF THE AMERI- 
CAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 
VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

Tue sixty-fifth meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


and the twelfth of the “Convocation Week” 
meetings, will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, 
from December 29, 1913, to January 3, 1914. 

The council will meet Monday morning, 
December 29, and each following morning, in 
the council room, at 9 o’clock. The opening 
general session of the association will be held 
at 8 o’clock on the evening of Monday, Decem- 
ber 29. The meeting will be called to order 
by the retiring president, Dr. Edward C. 
Pickering, who will introduce the president of 
the meeting, Dr. Edmund B. Wilson. After 
addresses of welcome by Governor John M. 
Slaton and Mayor James G. Woodward and a 
reply by President Wilson, the annual address 
of the retiring president, Dr. Edward C. Pick- 
ering, will be given on “The Study of the 
Stars.” After the address there will be a 
reception to members of the association and 
affiliated societies in Taft Hall. 

The sections and the affiliated societies will 
meet daily at 10 a.M. and 2 p.M. Each section 
will offer a program of general interest at one 
or two sessions. The sections will arrange 
programs of special papers only when the 
corresponding national society does not meet 
at the same time and place. 

The address of the retiring chairmen of the 
sections will be given as follows: 


MONDAY AT 2 P.M. 


Vice-president Locy, before the Section of Zool- 
ogy. Title: ‘‘The Story of Human Lineage.’’ 


TUESDAY AT 2 P.M. 


Vice-president Van Vleck, before the Section 
of Mathematics and Astronomy. Title: ‘‘The 
Influence of Fourier’s Series upon the Development 
of Mathematics.’’ 

Vice-president Webster, before the Section of 
Physics. Title: ‘‘The Methods of Physical Sci- 
ence: to what do they Apply?’’ 

Vice-president Johnson, before the Section of 
Botany. Title: ‘‘Some Botanical Contributions to 
the Solution of an important Biological Problem.’’ 


WEDNESDAY AT 2 P.M. 


Vice-president Cattell, before the Section of Edu- 
eation. ‘Title: ‘‘Science, Education and Democ- 
racy.’ 


SCIENCE 


809 


THURSDAY AT 2 P.M. 

Vice-president Holmes, before the Section of 
Mechanical Science and LEngineering. Title: 
‘¢Safety and the Prevention of Waste in Mining 
and Metallurgical Operations.’’ 

Vice-president Todd, before the Section of Geol- 
ogy and Geography. Title: ‘‘ Pleistocene History 
of the Missouri River.’’ 


AT 4 P.M. 
Vice-president Hammond, before the Section of 
Social and Economie Science. Title: ‘‘The De- 
velopment of Our Foreign Trade.’’ 


Fripay aT 4:30 P. M. 

Vice-president Macleod, before the Section of 
Physiology and Experimental Medicine. Title: 
“‘The Physiological Instruction of Medical Stu- 
dents.’’ 


There will be two public lectures, compli- 
mentary to the citizens of Atlanta and vicin- 
ity, one on Tuesday evening by Dr. Charles 
Wardell Stiles, of the U. S. Public Health 
Service, on “ The Health of the Mother in the 
South,” and one on Wednesday evening by Pro- 
fessor Charles E. Munroe, of the George Wash- 
ington University, on “The Explosive Re- 
sources of the Confederacy during the War 
and Now: A Chapter in Chemical History.” 

It is expected that there will be a number 
of joimt meetings and the usual smokers 
and dinners. The Ladies’ Reception Com- 
mittee will arrange functions for the women 
members of the association and _ aftiliated 
societies and for the women accompanying 
members. The hotel headquarters are the 
Piedmont. A railroad rate of one fare and 
three fifths for the round trip, on the certificate 
plan, conditioned upon the presentation at the 
meeting of not less than 200 certificates, has 
been granted by the Trunk Line Association. 

The following societies have indicated their 
intention to meet in Atlanta during Convoca- 
tion Week in affiliation with the association: 


Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America.—Will meet on dates to be announced, in- 
cluding joint session with Section A. Secretary, 
Professor Philip Fox, Dearborn Observatory, 
Evanston, Ill. 

Botanical Society of America—wWill meet on 


810 


Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, De- 
cember 30 to January 2. Will hold joint sessions 
with Section G and American Phytopathological 
Association on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. 
Secretary, Dr. George T. Moore, Missouri Botanical 
Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 

American Association of Economic Entomolo- 
gists—Will meet on Thursday and Friday, Jan- 
uary 1 and 2. Secretary, Albert F. Burgess, Gipsy 
Moth Parasite Laboratory, Melrose Highlands, 
Mass. 

Entomological Society of America.—Will meet 
on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 30 and 31. 
Public address on Wednesday, December 31, at 
8 p.m. Secretary, Professor Alex. D. McGillivray, 
603 W. Michigan Avenue, Urbana, Ill. 

American Federation of Teachers of the Mathe- 
matical and the Natural Sciences——Will meet on 
Tuesday, December 30. Secretary, Dr. William A. 
Hedrick, McKinley Manual Training School, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors.—Will meet on dates to be announced. 
Secretary, Professor J. G. Sanders, University of 
Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

American Microscopical Society—Will meet on 
Tuesday and Wednesday, December 30 and 31. 
Joint sessions with Sections F and G on dates to 
be announced. Secretary, Professor T. W. Gallo- 
way, James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill. 

American Physical Society.—Will meet on Tues- 
day, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, December 
30 to January 2, in joint sessions with Section B. 
Secretary, Dr. Alfred D. Cole, Ohio State Univer- 
sity, Columbus, Ohio. 

American Phytopathological Association—Will 
meet on dates to be announced. Will hold joint 
sessions with Section G on Tuesday, December 30, 
and with Botanical Society of America on Friday, 
January 2. Secretary, Dr. C. L. Shear, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

School Garden Association of America.—Will 
meet on Wednesday, December 31. Secretary, Ed- 
win J. Brown, Dayton, Ohio. 

Society of the Sigma Xi.—Will hold its conven- 
tion on Tuesday, December 30. Corresponding Sec- 
retary, Professor H. B. Ward, University of Mli- 
nois, Urbana, Ill. 

Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. 
—Will meet on dates to be announced, including 
joint sessions with Section H. Secretary, Dr. W. 
D. Ruediger, George Washington University, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 988 


The officers for the Atlanta meeting are as 
follows: 
President 
EpMmuNpD B. Witson, Columbia University, New 
York, N. Y. 
Vice-presidents 

A.—Mathematics and Astronomy—ERANK SCHLES- 
INGER, Allegheny Observatory, Allegheny, Pa. 

B.—Physics—ALFRED D. CoLE, Ohio State Univer- 
sity, Columbus, Ohio. 

C.—Chemistry—Caru L. ALSBERG, Bureau of Chem- 
istry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

D.—WMechanical Science and Engineering—O. P. 
Hoop, U. S. Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

E.—Geology and Geography—J. S. Diner, U. 8. 
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. 

F.—Zoology—ALFreD G. MAvER, Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington, Washington, D. C. 

G.—Botany—HENry C. Cow Les, University of 
Chieago, Chicago, Ill. 

H.—Anthropology and Psychology—Wat.tER B. 
PiuusBuRY, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 
Mich. 

I—Social and Economic Science—Jupson G. 
WALL, Tax Commissioner, New York, N. Y. 

K.—Physiology and Experimental Medicine— 
THEODORE HovueH, University of Virginia, 
Charlottesville, Va. 

L.—Education—PHILANDER P, CLAXTON, Commis- 
sioner of Education, Washington, D. C. 


Permanent Secretary 


L. O. Howarp, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 
General Secretary 
Harry W. SPRINGSTEEN, Western Reserve Unt- 
versity, Cleveland, Ohio. 


Secretary of the Council 


Witntam A. WorsHAM, JR., State College of 
Agriculture, Athens, Ga. 


Secretaries of the Sections 
A—Mathematics and Astronomy—Forzest R. 
Mouton, University of Chicago, Chicago, Il. 
B.—Physics—WittiaM J. Humpureys, U. 8. 
Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C. 
C.—Chemistry—JOHN JOHNSTON, Geophysical Lab- 
oratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
Washington, D. C. 
D.—Mechanical Science and Engineering—ARTHUR 
H. BuancHarD, Columbia University, New York, 
INEpY Ss 


‘DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


E.—Geology and Geography—Grorce F. Kay, 
State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 

F.—Zoology— HERBERT V. NEAL, Tufts College, 
Mass. 

‘G.—Botany—W. J. V. OstERHOUT, Harvard Uni- 
versity, Cambridge, Mass. 

H.— Anthropology and Psychology—(Acting Secre- 
tary), E. K. Strone, JR., Columbia University, 
New York, N. Y. 

I.—Social and Economic Science—Srymour C. 
Loomis, 69 Church Street, New Haven, Conn. 
K.—Physiology and Experimental Medicine—Don- 
ALD R. HooKER, Johns Hopkins Medical School, 

Baltimore, Md. 

L.—Education—Stuart A. 

School, Detroit, Mich. 


Courtis, . Liggett 


Treasurer 


R. 8. Woopwarp, Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, Washington, D. C. 


Assistant Secretary 


F. S. Hazarp, Office of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, Smithsonian In- 
stitution, Washington, D. C. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue medals of the Royal Society have been 
awarded as follows: The Copley medal to Sir 
Ray Lankester, on the ground of the high 
scientific value of the researches in zoology 
earried out by him, and of the researches in- 
spired and suggested by him and carried out 
by his pupils; a Royal medal to Professor H. 
B. Dixon, F.R.S., for his researches in physical 
chemistry, especially in connection with explo- 
sions in gases; a Royal medal to Professor E. 
H. Starling, F.R.S., for his contributions to 
the advancement of physiology; the Davy 
medal to Professor R. Meldola, F.R.S., for his 
work in synthetic chemistry; the Hughes 
medal to Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, on the 
ground of his share in the invention of the 
telephone and more especially the construction 
of the telephone receiver; the Sylvester medal 
to Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., for his 


mathematical researches. 


Tue former pupils of Sir Henry Roscoe 
during the long period he occupied the chair of 
chemistry at Owens College, now the Univer- 
sity of Manchester, decided some time back to 


SCIENCE 


811 


commemorate the celebration of his eightieth 
birthday in January, 1913, by presenting his 
bust to the Chemical Society of London, and 
the formal presentation took place on Novem- 
ber 21 at the society’s rooms. Sir Edward 
Thorpe first presented to Sir Henry Roscoe 
an address signed by some 140 of his former 
students. He then unveiled the bust, and, on 
behalf of the subscribers, asked the president 
of the Chemical Society to accept it as a per- 
manent memorial. He extended to Mr. Albert 
Drury, R.A., the thanks of the committee for 
the excellent and striking likeness that he had 
secured. He also asked Sir Henry Roscoe to 
accept as a further memento a replica of the 
bust for himself and the members of his 
family. The gift to the Chemical Society was 
accepted by the president, Professor W. H. 
Perkin. Sir Henry Roscoe then acknowledged 
the gifts, both to himself personally and to 
the Chemical Society. 

Proressor F, Lorrrier, who since 1888 has 
occupied the chair of hygiene in the Univer- 
sity of Greifswald, has been appointed director 
of the Koch Institute of Infectious Diseases 
at Berlin in succession to Professor Gaftky. 

Dr. J. N. Lanctry, professor of physiology 
in the University of Cambridge, has been 
elected a corresponding member of the Munich 
Academy of Sciences. 

Tue Mary Kingsley medal of the Liverpool 
School of Tropical Medicine has been pre- 
sented to Professor F. V. Theobald, vice- 
principal and zoologist of the Southeastern 
Agricultural College, Wye. 

Tue Bessemer gold medal of the British 
Iron and Steel Institute for 1914 will be 
awarded to Dr. Edward Riley, F.C.S., F.C. 

AN appropriation from the Shaler Memorial 
Fund of Harvard University has been granted 
to Professor P. E. Raymond and Professor 
W. H. Twenhofel for an investigation into 
the correlation of the Ordovician and Silurian 
strata of the Baltic region with those of North 
America. 

Dr. L. W. StepHENSoN has been granted 
leave of absence by the U. S. Geological Sur- 
vey, to occupy a chair of paleontology in the 


812 


University of California for four months, from 
January first. 

Ernest DunBarR Ciark, Ph.D. (Columbia, 
710) has resigned the position of instructor in 
chemistry in the Cornell Medical School to 
accept the position of soil biochemist in the 
Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 


Dr. Bruno OrtTEeKING, who has received 
training in Germany and Switzerland, is 
working over the skull collection made in the 
course of the Jesup expedition of the American 
Museum of Natural History. The data are to 
be used in the final report on the physical 
anthropology of the expedition. 


Tuer Salt Lake City office of the mineral re- 
sources division of the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey was recently moved to new 
quarters. The addresses of the three local 
offices of this division in the west and the 
geologists in charge of them are as follows: 
Charles W. Henderson, 311 Chamber of Com- 
merce, Denver Colo. Victor C. Heikes, 312 
U. S. Post Office Building, Salt Lake City, 
Utah. Charles G. Yale, 305 U. S. Custom 
House, San Francisco, Cal. 


Sirk AvurEL STEIN, superintendent of the 
frontier circle of the archeological survey of 
India, has been deputed by the government of 
India to resume his archeological and geo- 
graphical explorations in Central Asia and 
westernmost China, in continuation of the 
work he carried out between 1906 and 1908. 
For his journey to the border of Chinese 
Turkestan on the Pamirs he is taking on this 
occasion the route which leads through the 
Darel and Tangir territories, which have not 
been previously visited by a European. 


On Friday evening, November 21, there was 
a public meeting in the large auditorium of 
the American Museum of Natural History 
under the joint auspices of the museum, the 
American Scenic and Historic Preservation 
Society and the National Committee for the 
Preservation of the Yosemite National Park, 
with the cooperation of many civic organiza- 
tions throughout the United States to protest 
against the act pending in congress proposing 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


to grant the Hetch-Hetchy Valley in the 
Yosemite National Park for water-storage 
purposes. Addresses by Professor Henry Fair- 
field Osborn, president of the museum; Dr. 
George F. Kunz, president of the Scenic 
Society; Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, 
chairman of the National Commitee; Dr. 
Douglas W. Johnson, of Columbia University, 
and others discussed the economic, geological 
and scenic features of the question. 


Proressor JOSEPH Barre.i, of Yale Univer- 
sity, gave a lecture on “ Some Physical Condi- 
tions which have Guided Evolution” before 
the Columbia Chapter of the Sigma Xi on 
November 25. 


Proressor AxeL L. MELANDER, head of the 
entomological department of the State College 
at Pullman, Washington, spoke on “ The Con- 
trol of Insect Pests,” before the Brown Uni- 
versity Chapter of the Sigma Xi on Novem- 
ber 24. 


Dr. A. S. Pearse, of the University of Wis- 
consin lectured before the students of the de- 
partment of biology at Lawrence College on 
November 21, his subject being “ Tropical Life 
in Colombia.” The lecture, which was an 
account of a recent zoological expedition of 
which Dr. Pearse was a member, was illus- 
trated by lantern slides. 


Tur Faraday Society of London devoted 
the meeting of November 12, 1913, to a general 
discussion on “The Passivity of Metals,” to 
which it invited the following investigators to 
contribute papers: from England, Dr. G. 
Senter and Mr. H. S. Allen; from Germany, 
Professor Max LeBlane (Leipzig), Professor 
G. Schmidt (Minster), Professor Giinther 
Schulze (Reichsanstalt, Charlottenburg), Dr. 
G. Grube (Dresden) ; from Switzerland, Dr. D. 
Reichinstein (Ziirich) ; from the United States, 
Professor E. P. Schoch (Austin, Texas). The 
papers and discussions will be printed under 
separate cover and also in the Transactions of 
the Faraday Society. 


A LECTURE in memory of the late Professor 
Edwin Goldman was recently delivered at 
Freiburg University, Baden, by Professor 
Ashoff, who drew attention to his eminence 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


in surgery and to his valuable experiments in 
pathological anatomy. 


Sir Rosert STaweLtL Batt, Lowndean pro- 
fessor of astronomy at Cambridge University, 
and director of the observatory, died on No- 
vember 25, at the age of seventy-three years. 
He was professor of astronomy in the Univer- 
sity of Dublin and Astronomer Royal of Ire- 
land from 1874 to 1892, when he was called to 
Cambridge. 

Dr. Henry Potonié, geologist of the Prus- 
sian Geological Survey and professor of paleo- 
botany in the Bergakademie, died on October 
28, in his fifty-sixth year. He was widely 
known for his studies of paleozoic floras and 
for his recent work on the origin of coal. 

Dr. ARMIN Bawzer, professor of geology and 
mineralogy at Berne, has died at the age of 
seventy-one years. 


Dr. Emit Ponrick, until recently professor 
of pathological anatomy at Breslau, has died 
at the age of sixty-nine years. 


Section F—Zoology—of the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science will 
hold meetings at Atlanta, Georgia, on Mon- 
day and Tuesday, December 29 and 30. As 
the American Association rarely meets in 
southern territory a large attendance of south- 
ern zoologists is expected, and all northern 
zoologists who do not expect to be present at 
the meetings of the American Society of 
Zoologists at Philadelphia are urged to sup- 
port the Atlanta meeting by presenting papers. 
The address of the retiring vice-president of 
Section F, Professor William A. Locy, of 
Northwestern University, upon “The Story 
of Human Lineage ” will be given on Monday 
afternoon, December 29, at two o’clock. Pro- 
fessor Edmund Beecher Wilson, professor of 
zoology in Columbia University, will preside 
over the general sessions of the association as 
president of the association. Titles of papers 
to be read before Section F should be in the 
hands of the secretary, Professor H. V. Neal, 
Tufts College, Mass., before December 15. 

It is said that the Paris Academy of Sci- 
ences has offered’a prize of $2,000 to the per- 
son who devises a means for domesticating 


_ SCIENCE 


813 


the heron in order to obtain aigrettes without 
killing the birds. 

Mr. AusTEN CHAMBERLAIN has received from 
the secretary of state for India a contribution 
of £500 towards the enlargement and endow- 
ment of the London School of Tropical Medi- 
cine. The fund now amounts to £71,276. 

In accordance with the provision giving 
preference to the same candidate for three 
successive years, provided said candidate 
should have proved herself efficient and fitted 
for the position, the fellowship of $1,000 of 
the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association 
for the year beginning June 15, 1914, has been 
awarded to Miss Margaret Harwood. The 
year beginning June 15, 1915, is the quadren- 
nial year provided for by vote of the board of 
managers on April 26, 1911; the appointee of 
three previous years of continuous efficiency 
is privileged on the fourth to avail herself of 
the entire year for study and research in an 
observatory of her own selection. In order 
that the Nantucket Observatory may be pro- 
vided for from June 15, 1915, to December 15, 
1915, the association offers a second fellowship 
of $500 for the quadrennial year. 


On December 10, 11 and 12 there will be a 
conference on Safety and Sanitation, which 
will mark the opening of the first Interna- 
tional Exposition of Safety and Sanitation, at 
the Grand Central Palace, New York City. 
The problems for discussion are: 


December 10, morning—Subject, ‘‘ Industrial 
Accidents.’’ ‘‘Safer Shops,’’ presented by Dr. 
William H. Tolman, director of the American Mu- 
seum of Safety; ‘‘Human Values,’’ by Don C. 
Seitz. Afternoon—Subject, ‘‘Accident Preven- 
tion and the Public.’’? ‘‘Problems of Transporta- 
tion,’’ presented by a representative of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad; ‘‘Care of the Injured,’’ by Dr. 
William O’Neill Sherman, chief surgeon of the 
Carnegie Steel Company; ‘‘Taking Chances,’’ by 
Dr. Lucian W. Chaney, of the United States De- 
partment of Labor. 

December 11, morning—Subject, ‘‘ Industrial 
Hygiene.’’ ‘‘Sanitary Welfare of Workers,’’ by 
Dr. Thomas Darlington; ‘‘ Physical Examination of 
Employees,’’ by Dr. J. B. Hileman; ‘‘ Industrial 
Plants, their Equipment and Surroundings,’’ by 
Frank A. Wallis; ‘‘ Proper Food for Workers,’’ by 


814 


L. H. Brittain. Afternoon—Subject, ‘‘ Industrial 
Hygiene.’’ Chairman, Surgeon-General Charles 
Francis Stokes, U. 8S. N. ‘‘Occupational Dis- 
eases,’’ presented by Dr. Alice Hamilton, of Hull 
House, Chicago; ‘‘ Factory Lighting,’’? by G. H. 
Stickney; ‘‘ Ventilation,’’ by Dr. D. C. Graham- 
Rogers; ‘‘Dental Hygiene,’’ by Dr. Homer C. 
Brown. 

December 12, morning—Subject, ‘‘ Employer and 
Employee.’’ Chairman, George B. Cortelyou. 
‘«Employer, Employee, and the Public,’’ ‘‘ What 
Accident Prevention means to the Worker’s Fam- 
ily.’’ Afternoon—Subject, ‘‘The Coming Genera- 
tion.’’ Chairman, William B. Wilson, United 
States Secretary of Labor. ‘‘Teaching a Child to 
Avoid Danger,’’ presented by Dr. Gustave Strau- 
benmuller, associate superintendent of New York 
city schools; ‘‘Changing Conditions in Municipali- 
ties,’’ by Henry Bruere, director of the Bureau of 
Municipal Research. 


Tue second annual meeting of the Associa- 
tion of Alumni Secretaries was held in Chi- 
cago on November 21 and 22 with E. B. John- 
son, secretary of the Alumni Association of 
the University of Minnesota, as president and 
Wilfred B. Shaw, secretary of the Alumni 
Association of the University of Michigan, as 
secretary. Representatives were present from 
some fifty universities and colleges. Many 
subjects were discussed concerned with alumni 
associations and the relations of alumni to 
their institutions. The next meeting will be 
held at Columbia and Yale universities in 
November, 1914. 


THE proceedings of the eighteenth session 
of the International Congress of American- 
ists, held in London, May 27-June 1, 1912, 
are now ready, and will be sent to members 
immediately. Changes of address should be 
reported at once to the secretary, 50 Great 
Russell St., London, W. C. The work con- 
tains 566 pages of text, 50 plates, 236 illustra- 
tions im the text and 88 pages of preliminary 
matter, including an account of the meetings 
and a number of subjects of importance for 
the ethnography and archeology of the Amer- 
icas. 


AN animal reserve is to be established in 
Tunisia for the wild animals which are being 
rapidly exterminated there. For this purpose 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988: 


a mountainous stretch of 4,000 acres, with an 
adjoining marsh of 5,000 acres, has been se- 
cured near Bizerta and offers peculiarly ad- 
vantageous conditions. There are already 
inhabiting this virgin district wild boar, 
hyenas, jackals, foxes, lynx, civet cat, porcu-- 
pines, eagles, vultures, etc., besides many kinds 
of waterfowl, including a number of migra-- 
tory species. The object is to isolate, so far 
as possible, this area, and reintroduce those: 
species of animals which, through the spread 
of European civilization, has either been ex-- 
terminated or driven beyond the frontier. 


AN achievement of more than usual impor- 
tance has been the crossing of the continent 
of Greenland at its widest section, which has: 
been accomplished by the Danish expedition 
under Koch and Wegener last July. It will 
be remembered that Captain Koch commanded 
a division of the Danish expedition to north- 
east Greenland in 1906-8 and was in charge: 
of the party which carried the exploration of 
the coast to the extreme northwest where a. 
cairn left by Commander Peary was found 
and the eastern surveys thus connected with 
the western. A valuable report by Koch and 
Wegener upon the scientific results and espe-- 
cially the glaciers of that district has recently 
appeared and is a model of thorough and 
painstaking scholarship. The expedition for 
the crossing of Greenland was landed upon 
the ice of the northeast coast in July, 1912, 
and after an unsuccessful attempt to reach 
Queen Louise Land, Captain Koch decided to: 
winter upon the inland ice. During a sledge 
expedition to Queen Louise Land at the end’ 
of October, the leader had the misfortune to 
break his leg through falling into a crevasse,. 
and was in consequence laid up for three 
months. During the winter the temperature 
was generally fifty degrees below the freezing: 
point and only in March could sledge work be 
resumed. On April 20, 1918, the expeditiom 
started to cross the continent with five sledges. 
and five horses. During the first forty days 
the weather was extremely bad. On July 11 
the last horse but one had to be killed, but on 
the next day the land of the west coast was: 
sighted. Food now having given out and the: 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


weather being. extremely bad, the party re- 
mained for thirty-five hours without food 
under the shelter of a rock. Too exhausted to 
proceed, the explorers killed their dog and 
were about to eat the flesh when they saw a 
sailing boat on the fiord east of Proeven (near 
Upernivik in latitude 72° N.). By means of 
shots and signals they were able to attract the 
attention of those on board, by whom they 
were taken to Proeven. The expedition met 
one misfortune after another, and that the 
leaders under all discouragements pushed the 
undertaking through along original lines sup- 
plies a most remarkable record of courage, 
persistence and endurance. Some of their 
horses escaped, Dr. Wegener had the misfor- 
tune to break a rib and Captain Koch a leg 
which kept him in bed for three months. They 
started out upon the crossing on April 20, but 
their progress was much impeded by powerful 
westerly winds and driven snow which caused 
the pack horses much suffering. The last 
nunatak (rock island within the ice) of the 
group on the east coast was passed in longi- 
tude 27° west. The greatest altitude of the 
ice dome was met in longitude 42° west or on 
the western side of the medial line of the conti- 
nent whereas all crossings hithertofore have 
shown the highest point of the ice dome to be 
to the eastward of the medial line. The land 
of the west coast was first sighted on July 2, 
but the surface streams and morasses of thaw- 
water offered such difficulties that two weeks 
longer were required to make the coast, the 
last horse and the last dog being killed for 
food. The junior leader of the expedition, 
Dr. Wegener, is a meteorologist of reputa- 
tion and has published many monographs 
and a general text upon the free atmo- 
sphere. According to the Geographical 
Journal, from which many of these data are 
gleaned, the highest point along the route of 
the expedition was about 9,000 feet above 
sea level. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tue Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
will receive about $100,000 as the residuary 


SCIENCE 


815 


legatee of the late Frederick W. Emory, of 
Boston. 


A BEQUEST of approximately £250,000, is 
made in the will of the late Mr. W. Gibson, 
of London and Belfast, to institute a scheme 
for providing sons of farmers of counties Down 
and Antrim with educational advantages. 


Proressor JOHN Perry, of the Royal Col- 
lege of Science, South Kensington, has been 
appointed a member of the South African 
University Commission which is to investigate 
matters connected with higher education and 
to consider the conditions under which the 
Wernher and Beit donations and bequests for 
the purposes of the proposed University of 
South Africa may best be utilized. The other 
members of the Commission are Sir Percival 
Maitland Laurence, formerly judge president 
of the Supreme Court of South Africa, who is 
the chairman, ex-Justice Melius de Villiers 
and the Rev. Mr. Bosman. 

Mr. Atan G. Harper, of Magdalen College, 
Oxford, demonstrator to the Sibthorpian pro- 
fessor of rural economy, has been appointed to 
the Indian Education Service as professor of 
botany at the Presidency College, Madras, dur- 
ing the absence on leave of Professor Fyson. 

Mr. Avexanper McKenzin, head of the chem- 
istry department of Birkbeck College, London, 
has been appointed professor of chemistry in 
University College, Dundee, in succession to 
the late Professor Hugh Marshall. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A PROPOSED RE-ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS FOR 
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


One feature of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science meetings which 
causes some inconvenience, to say the least, 
especially in recent years since the average 
attendance has passed the thousand mark, is 
the congested and heterogeneous character of 
the sectional programs. In some of the sec- 
tions, as at present constituted, the large num- 
ber of papers offered makes it necessary to re- 
strict or eliminate discussions, thus defeating 
the main object of reading a scientific paper 


816 


to a critical audience before publishing it. 
Worse still, science is now so diversified and 
specialized that with only a dozen sections to 
cover the whole field no one person can ap- 
preciate all the papers read in any of the more 
populous sections, so that one who wants to be 
sure to hear a certain paper must often sit 
through several others which mean nothing to 
him. 

For this state of affairs there are several 
possible remedies, each of which, of course, 
has some disadvantages. The one which seems 
most promising is to increase the number of 
sections. The organization of the Association 
to-day is not very different from what it was 
thirty years ago, although since that time sev- 
eral essentially new sciences have claimed 
recognition and some of the older ones have 
developed wonderfully. Incidentally the pres- 
ent sectional classification does not discrimi- 
nate clearly enough between the true or pure 
sciences and the applied sciences or arts. 

Some of the sections already divide into two 
or more groups with simultaneous programs 
at the annual meetings, and it is but a step 
farther to make the separation final, as was 
done, for example, when the biological section 
was divided into zoology and botany about 
twenty years ago. The council of the associa- 
tion at the Cleveland meeting last winter took 
steps in the right direction by establishing 
one new section, and proposing an amendment 
which when adopted will give them the power 
to create additional sections when desired. 

The sections as they will be at the Atlanta 
meeting are as follows: 

. Mathematics and Astronomy, 

Physics, 

. Chemistry, 

. Engineering, 

. Geology and Geography, 

: Zoology, 

Botany, 

. Anthropology and Psychology, 

I. Social and Economie Science, 

K. Physiology and Experimental Medicine, 
L. Education, 

M. Agriculture. 

Some of the apparent defects of this ar- 


Hertha 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


rangement may be pointed out before a new 
one is proposed. 

Comparatively few purely mathematical 
papers have been presented at recent meet- 
ings; but mathematics, if included in the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science at all, should theoretically have a 
separate section, for it is the foundation of all 
the exact sciences, and apparently no more 
closely connected with astronomy than with 
physics, engineering or logic. Astronomy too 
should be independent, unless its followers are 
too few to constitute a separate section. (Pos- 
sibly some papers on optics and spectrum 
analysis could be diverted to it from Sections 
B and C to make up the deficiency, if neces- 
sary.) In the smaller colleges it is usually 
combined with physics rather than with 
mathematics. 

Engineering is not a science in the same 
sense that physics, geology, etc., are, but 
rather a group of arts, based mainly on mathe- 
matics and physics. Such engineering papers 
as do not embody distinct contributions to the 
laws of physics or some other science might 
well be diverted to the programs of the various 
engineering societies. An engineer’s specialty, 
like that of any other artisan, is knowing how, 
rather than why; and probably most engineers 
do not regard themselves as scientists at all. 

Combining geology and geography in one 
section is convenient for those geologists who 
are interested in some phase of geography, 
and for those geographers whose chief inter- 
est is that phase of ecology which deals with the 
influence of land forms on human activities, 
but is hardly fair to the explorers, teachers 
of elementary geography, phytogeographers, 
zoogeographers and anthropogeographers, who 
are becoming more numerous every year, and 
sume of whom are doing excellent work with- 
out making much, if any, use of geology. 
Geography certainly now deserves a separate 
section, as it has had in the British Associa- 
tion for over forty years. Some may still con- 
tend that it is not an independent science; 
but the same could be charged to chemistry, 
which is analogous to geography in some re- 
spects. For chemistry considers the chemical 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


composition of everything, and the properties 
of the elements and compounds, while geog- 
raphy in the strictest sense considers the areal 
distribution of everything on the earth’s sur- 
face, and the properties—so to speak—of all 
the natural divisions of the earth. 

Although it has been but a score of years 
since the zoological and botanical sections 
were separated, present conditions seem to 
call for further subdivision of each. Botany, 
for example—and a similar statement could be 
made with respect to zoology—is not a single 
science, but a group of sciences (plant taxon- 
omy, physiology, geography, etc.), differing 
widely in point of view, method of treatment 
and personnel of followers, and having in com- 
mon only the fact that they all deal with the 
vegetable kingdom, just as the distinct sciences 
psychology, anthropology, ethnology, sociology 
and economics all pertain to the human race. 

At the same time an additional section ought 
to be provided for a class of investigations 
which has come into prominence since the 
beginning of the present century, namely, those 
dealing with mutation, Mendelism and other 
evolutionary problems. Some papers in this 
category have been presented to Section F, 
some to Section G, and some to joint meetings 
of the two. To a new section for this group 
might be assigned the much-abused term 
“biology.” Biology was for a long time, and 
is still in some quarters, regarded as merely 
the sum of zoology and botany or, worse still, 
a mixture of a large amount of zoology with 
a small amount of botany.1 Some also have 
treated it as practically synonymous with ecol- 
ogy, particularly animal ecology. But every 
science is known by its laws, and if biology is 
defined as the science of life its laws are those 
which apply to all forms of life and not to 


1 At this point some readers might be interested 
to turn back twenty years and read the discussion 
on ‘‘the emergence of a sham biology in Amer- 
ica,’? begun by Professor MacMillan in ScrENcE 
for April 7, 1893, and continued by others in later 
numbers of the same volume. Dr. Ramaley’s note 
on ‘‘What is Biology?’’ in ScreNcE for January 
12, 1912, is also of interest in this connection. 


SCIENCE 


817 


inanimate matter, namely, the laws of evolu- 
tion and heredity. 

Many if not most scientists are teachers, 
and consequently it is natural that when they 
assemble in large numbers some of them 
should wish to have formal discussions of edu- 
cational problems, professors’ salaries, uni- 
versity government, etc. But teaching is not 
a science, but an art, more closely connected 
with psychology than with any other science; 
and there are already quite a number of as- 
sociations organized for the purpose of con- 
sidering educational questions that lie out- 
side the field of science. 

Agriculture is another art, or group of arts, 
based mainly on plant physiology and ecology. 
However, the newly created section for agri- 
cultural science will be a convenient place for 
papers on fertilizers, soil toxins, etc., which in 
recent years have been offered in considerable 
numbers to Section C, the most crowded of 
all—or even to Section G—on soil formation 
and classification, a branch of geology in 
which very few geologists are interested, and 
on the physiology and ecology of cultivated 
crops, a somewhat neglected branch of botany. 

The following table is now submitted as an 
illustration of how the number of sections 
might be advantageously increased. No 
doubt it has many shortcomings, which will be 
immediately apparent to others, and criticism 
of it will be welcomed. It is divided into two 
columns, the first containing the names of the 
sciences and the second a few arts correlated 
with them, the latter being mentioned mainly 
to illustrate the contrast between science and 
art, and the kinds of papers that might be 
admitted to the sectional programs whenever 
there happened to be a dearth of genuine 
scientific material. It is scarcely necessary to 
remark that the list of arts is much less com- 
plete than that of sciences. 


SCIENCES ARTS 

Astronomy. Chronometry. Naviga- 
tion. 

Physics and mechanics. Hydraulics. Aeronaut- 
ics, Opties. Me- 
chanical and electrical 
engineering. 


818 


Inorganic chemistry. 


Organic chemistry. 


Petrography, mineral- 
ogy, crystallography. 

Dynamie geology, physi- 
ography. 

Historical geology, 
stratigraphy, paleon- 
tology. 

Agrogeology (soil sci- 
ence). 


Biology, or genetics. 


Systematic botany. Pa- 
leobotany. 

Plant morphology and 
physiology. 

Plant ecology, sociology 
and geography. 

Systematic zoology. Ani- 
mal morphology. Pa- 
leozoology. i 

Animal physiology, ecol- 
ogy and behavior. 


Human anatomy and 


physiology. 
Psychology. 


Anthropology, ethnol- 
ogy, archeology. 

Sociology, demography, 
economics. 

Geography. 


SCIENCE 


Metallurgy. Assaying. 
Water analysis. Chem- 
ical engineering. 

Pharmacology. Food 
analysis. 

Economie geology. Min- 
ing engineering. 

River and harbor im- 
provement. 

Geological mapping and 
correlation. 


Agriculture (in part). 
Soil mapping and 
classification. 

Plant and animal breed- 
ing. Eugenics. 

Economic botany. 


Plant pathology, ete. 


Agriculture 
Forestry. 

Classification. Taxi- 
dermy. Restoration of 
extinct species. 

Veterinary medicine, 
Economic entomology 
and ornithology. 

Medicine and surgery. 
Hygiene. 

Psychiatry. Pedagogy. 
Advertising. 


(in part). 


Finance. Civies. 
lation. 
Cartography. Explora- 
tion. Regional de- 
scription. 


Legis- 


Very likely it would be better to subdivide 
the physical, chemical and zoological sections 


more minutely, or at least differently. 


For 


example, it might be well to separate the elec- 
tricians from other physicists, and the verte- 
brate from the invertebrate zoologists. In 
botany, too, the mycologists and bacteriolo- 
gists have little in common with the students 
of flowering plants, and might reasonably de- 
mand separate sections, unless they are suffi- 
ciently accommodated by affiliated societies. 
Meteorology and climatology, with the re- 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


lated art of weather forecasting, have not 
been mentioned above, but they should have 
a separate section, unless their followers are 
too few, in which case it might be best to 
unite meteorology with dynamic geology, and 
climatology with geography. 

Of course the more numerous the sections 
the more papers there will be which would be 
equally appropriate for two different sections; 
but this difficulty, which is inherent in all 
classifications, will be more than offset by the 
advantages of having the sections more homo- 
geneous, and besides it can be partly over- 
come by joint meetings, as heretofore. 

Incidentally some such classification as the 
above should serve not only for the purposes 
of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, but also for the scientific 
departments of a large university. About the 
middle of the last century, when the Asso- 
ciation had only two sections, in some of our 
largest institutions of learning all or nearly 
all the sciences were taught by one or two 
men, as is done in some small schools to-day. 
Much more recently botany and zoology were 
usually included in the same department, and 
even yet few universities have more than one 
botanical or zoological department, or a sep- 
arate chair of geography; the last-named, 
where taught at all to mature students, being 
usually combined with geology or even with 
pedagogy. Rotanp M. Harper 

CoLLEGE Point, N. Y. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904. 
Meteorology Part II., comprising Daily Syn- 
chronous Charts, 1 October, 1901, to 31 
March, 1904. Prepared in the Meteorolog- 
ical Office under the superintendence of 
M. W. Camesett Hepwortu, C.B., R.D., 
Commander R.N.R. London, published by 
the Royal Society. 1913. 4to. 26 p., 1003 
charts. 

This volume completes such physical results 
of the British National Antarctic Expedition 
as were specifically taken under the supervision 
of the Royal Society. It is a monumental 
work of unusual polar value, and as such 


‘DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


marks an epoch in the meteorological history 
of the Antarctic regions. 

The meteorological conditions of the ant- 
arctic and sub-antarctic regions are shown on 
883 daily charts, which include 44,893 observa- 
tions. Cooperation was obtained from 233 
‘ships and 92 land stations, including several 
observatories. Through the courtesy of the 
leaders of the German (Professor von Dry- 
galski), Scottish (Dr. W. S. Bruce) and 
Swedish (Dr. Otto Nordenskiold) Antarctic 
Expeditions observations were used from 
Kaiser Wilhelm II. Land, Laurie Island, South 
‘Orkneys and Snow Hill Island and Palmer 
Land. 

One hundred and twenty supplementary 
-eharts exhibit for each month of the year (and 
for the year) the mean sea-level pressure and 
air temperature, with the mean temperature 
‘and the mean pressure for each month from 
October, 1901, to March, 1904. 

The wind observations are also summarized 
‘in ten tables as to direction and force, arranged 
according to seasons, to related zones and to 
oceanic divisions. 

Commander Hepworth is justified in setting 
forth the magnitude of the work, though his 
statement is questioned that the charts “ refer 
‘to an area that is far larger than that embraced 
by any similar set of charts hitherto pub- 
lished.” While true as to the Antarctic 
‘regions, he seems to have forgotten the daily 
‘charts of international meteorological observa- 
‘tions, published by the signal corps of the 
United States army from July, 1878, to June. 
1884, which covered the entire northern hemi- 
sphere and embodied observations from more 
than 1,000 regular observers. 

The results as set forth by Commander Hep- 
-worth are of interest and value. “ The average 
path of all central areas of depressions is 
found to have been in about the 52d parallel. 
Between the meridians of 20° E. and 150° E., 
it was between the 49th and 50th parallels; 
‘and between 150° E. and 70° W. in about the 
55th.” The average rate of travel is about 
300 miles per day. One storm, with an 
average rate of 355 miles daily, was charted 
itthrough a course of 2,840 miles. It may be 


SCIENCE 


819 


added that the assumption of the late Mr. 
H. C. Russell is confirmed, that to the east of 
the 30th meridian E., centers of atmospheric 
depressions usually travel on paths south of 
the 43d parallel during winter, and south of 
the 46th parallel in summer. 

Of special interest are the conclusions as to 
the general movements of the atmosphere. 
Commander Hepworth says: “ The interchange 
of air between equatorial and polar regions 
may be effected through the intermediary of 
anticyclonic circulations, albeit these high- 
pressure systems are permanent; and in my 
opinion the temperature zones are bridged in 
this manner.” 

The charts of mean pressures clearly indi- 
cate a seasonal migration of high pressure 
belts in the Antarctic regions. This action is 
evidently general. Pointed out by Buchan in 
a general way, these atmospheric phenomena 
for the northern hemisphere were definitely set 
forth by the reviewer in a series of charts, 
published in Appendix 17, Annual Report of 
the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, 1891. 

An incidental feature of this magnificent 
work requires notice. The Antarctic map of 
Volume I., 1908, omitted entirely Wilkes’s 
Antarctic discoveries. The key map of Volume 
II. contains the legend: “ Land reported by 
Commander Wilkes, U. S. N., 1840.” Twelve 
months prior to the transmittal of the proofs 
of the introductory remarks, an Australian, 
Dr. Mawson, had not only visited this “ re- 
ported ” land but had established two scientific 
stations thereon, and to-day with courage and 
energy creditable to the British empire adds to 
the world’s knowledge of this vast and ice- 
crowned continent, so long discredited. 


A. W. GREELY 


THE BELGIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 


Resultats du voyage du 8S. Y. Belgica en 
1897-8-9, sous le commandement de A. DE 
GERLACHE DE Gomery. MRapports Scien- 
tifiques. Gonocir. Petrographische unter- 
suchungen des gesteinsproben, II., von 
Dracomir SIsTeK. 1912, pp. 20, 1 pil. 
Zoouocigz. Tuniciers caducichordata (Asci- 


820 


diacés et Thaliacés) par E. Van BrneDEN 

et Marc pe Setys-Lonecoamps. 1913. Pp. 

120. 17 pl. 

The rocks reported on from the Antarctic 
are chiefly from Cape Gregory and Elisabeth 
Island. From the former locality granite 
and diorite, quartz porphyry, porphyrite, 
andesite and diabase, with a single specimen of 
basalt. Metamorphic schist and a quartz- 
feldspar conglomerate were also represented in 
the collection. 

From Elisabeth Island, diorite, andesite, 
diabase and mica schist are reported. 

The other rocks reported on are mostly from 
Punta Arenas and other points about the 
Magellan Straits and are of less interest. 

A fine plate gives microphotographs of sec- 
tions of the more interesting crystalline rocks. 

The study of the Tunicates had been nearly 
completed by Professor Van Beneden when 
his researches were interrupted by death. 
But his text was entirely completed only for 
the Salpas and the plates referring to them. 
For the rest, notes, sketches, plates, etc., much 
remained to be coordinated and the text to be 
prepared by the later editor. With the excep- 
tion of Plate VIII., all the plates are from 
figures left by Van Beneden. The classifica- 
tion adopted is that of Hartmeyer. 

The Antarctic species collected by the expe- 
dition comprise two new species of Corella 
and a single Boltenia, which have been ex- 
haustively monographed. The other species, 


also new, are from the Chilian coast. The 
Salpas are Antarctic and are the first 
brought from this distant region. They in- 


clude one new species and a new variety of 
S. fusiformis. 

The plates are of remarkable beauty and the 
work will add materially to the existing 
knowledge of the subject. 

: W. H. Dati 


Abwehrfermente des tierischen Organismus 
gegen korper-, blutplasma- und zellfremde 
Stoffe, thr Nachweis und ihre diagnostische 
Bedeutung zur Priifung der Funktion der 
einzelnen Organe. Von Emit ABDERHALDEN. 
Second edition. Published by Julius 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


Springer, Berlin. 19138. Pp. ix 199; with 
eleven text figures and one plate. Bound 
M. 6.40; paper covers M. 5.60. 

In the second edition! of this booklet, the 
first appeared about one year ago, Abderhalden 
gives a clearer and more fully developed pre- 
sentation of a defensive mechanism of the 
body which his researches have already shown 
to be of great interest and importance. Briefly 
stated, Abderhalden believes, on the basis of 
experimental work, that all soluble members 
of the proteid, fat and carbohydrate groups 
produce ferments when they come into contact 
with an organism’s cells which are unaccus- 
tomed to their presence. The foreign proteid, 
for example, may be the characteristic proteid 
of another species, as when horse serum is 
injected into a dog, or it may be a proteid 
which is a characteristic component of the 
organism itself, but which through some proc- 
ess or other is found in localities where it 
does not normally belong, as when placental 
tissue components circulate in the maternal 
organism. In either case ferments are formed 
which digest the body-alien or blood-alien pro- 
teid. These ferments moreover are not specific 
when a proteid is injected in the crude labora- 
tory experiment, but they are specific when the 
body inoculates itself, as for example during 
pregnancy. This specificity of the resultant 
ferment has made it possible for Abderhalden 
and his collaborators to make the differential 
diagnosis in hundreds of cases between preg- 
nancy and non-pregnancy, practically without 
error, although many of them were compli- 
cated with cancer, salpingitis, tuberculosis, 
ete. This part of the work has been in gen- 
eral corroborated by other and independent 
workers. Abderhalden, however, carried the 
experimental development of this view still 
further. He argues that as all diseases must 
necessarily disturb the functional activity of 
some organ or organs, it is probable that these 
structures will form abnormal products. 
These abnormal products when thrown into 
the blood and lymph stream will act as blood- 
alien or cell-alien substances and will stimulate 

1The first edition was reviewed in SCIENCE, 
1913, Vol. XXXVII., p. 837. 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


the production of ferments specifically built to 
digest these foreign bodies. The test for these 
ferments is made by permitting the serum of 
the diseased individual to act upon the tissue 
of the organ at fault and searching for diges- 
tive products. The systematic test of organ 
after organ against the specific ferments 
formed would thus show which structure or 
structures was diseased, for only the patho- 
logically altered organ or organs would undergo 
digestion. 

It also would seem possible to study the 
interrelation of organs: when one organ is 
extirpated its absence affects some other struc- 
ture or structures and causes the formation of 
abnormal metabolic products which in turn 
will betray their presence by the occurrence 
of specific ferments against themselves in the 
serum. Indeed, Abderhalden considers these 
defensive ferments, which are possibly formed 
by the leucocytes, as reagents for the detection 
of the characteristic structure of cellular con- 
stituents, and he justly points out that this 
conception opens up an enormous field for 
fruitful investigation. 

The experimental technique for the detec- 
tion of these ferments is full of difficulties. As 
the ferments themselves can not be isolated, 
their presence is proven, in the dialysis 
method, by demonstrating the occurrence of 
diffusible cleavage products after the serum 
has acted upon the prepared proteid. This 
demands a rigid asepsis to prevent bacterial 
contaminations. In addition there are numer- 
ous details upon whose observance Abderhalden 
emphatically insists. A full discussion of all 
these points, in fact a complete laboratory 
guide for the practical worker in this special 
field, forms an important part of the second 
edition of the booklet; this section will aid 
greatly in bringing about a full and rigid test. 

From the short statement given above it will 
be seen that Abderhalden’s brilliant develop- 
ment of this view concerning a defensive 
mechanism of the body has a breadth and 
promise which fully warrants the interest the 
scientific medical world has shown. 


JoHN AUER 
ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 


SCIENCE 


821 


Bovine Tuberculosis and Its Control. By 
Veranus Atva Moore, B.S., M.D., V.M.D., 
Professor of Comparative Pathology, Bac- 
teriology and Meat Inspection, New York 
State Veterinary College at Cornell Uni- 
versity, and Director of the College. Ithaca, 
N. Y., Carpenter & Company. 1913. 

The title of this book and the name of the 
author would naturally lead one to expect a 
complete treatise on this important subject. 
The book, however, is a distinct disappoint- 
ment. 

It contains 104 pages of matter by Dr. 
Moore. There is an appendix of 34 pages, 
which gives the Report of the International 
Commission on the Control of Bovine Tuber- 
culosis, and following this are 30 plates, 
which for the most part are excellent. 

The scope of the book can be understood by 
noting the space devoted to the different sub- 
jects. “The History of Tuberculosis in 
Cattle,” occupies three and three fourths 
pages; “ Distribution, Economic and Sani- 
tary Importance of Bovine Tuberculosis” 
takes up nine pages. The “Sanitary Im- 
portance,” which is included in this chapter, 
takes up one and three fourths pages. ‘“ The 
Symptoms of Tuberculosis” are given in three 
and three fourths pages, and so on. There is 
scarcely a subject which is adequately 
treated. In view of this, one would naturally 
look for a great many omissions of important 
matter, but it is hard to understand how even 
a cursory history of this subject can be given 
without referring to the work of the State 
Live Stock Sanitary Board of Pennsylvania, 
where for the first time in the world positive 
proof was given that the bovine tubercle ba- 
cillus was transmissible to human beings, this 
proof being adduced by the method laid down 
by Koch, namely, the isolation of cultures 
from persons who had died of the disease and 
the inoculation of cattle. 

In the chapter entitled “The Cause of 
Tuberculosis,” page 17, is sandwiched in some 
history and the statement that with Koch’s 
announcement in 1901 “there began one of | 
the most intense investigations into the na- 
ture of a disease that has ever been recorded.” 


822 


For the truth of history it should be stated 
once for all that many investigations on this 
subject had been under way for years before 
Koch’s announcement. At the laboratory of 
the State Live Stock Sanitary Board of Penn- 
sylvania studies had been going on for three 
years previous to this, and at the Congress 
where Koch made his announcement a paper 
was read giving the results of these investiga- 
tions, which to a large extent disproved the 
assertions of Koch. In 1902 the work from 
this same laboratory gave the final proof of 
Koch’s fallacies. It is curious that the author 
of this book should have entirely omitted all 
mention of this work which has been widely 
published and certainly is easy of access. 

The list of references is made up almost en- 
tirely of bulletins from State Agricultural Ex- 
periment Stations and the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, and no general list of useful papers 
on this subject is given. Among the refer- 
ences, Bulletin No. 75, Pennsylvania Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, 1901, is credited entirely 
to Pearson. It was a conjoint publication by 
Pearson and Ravenel. 

The book lacks sequence. For instance, 
under “ Method of Dissemination” in a sum- 
mary by Peterson “on the finding of tubercle 
bacteria in the milk and excreta,” on page 34, 
we find Abbott and Gildersleeve quoted on the 
relation between tubercle bacilli and other 
members of the acid-fast group. 

Although Bulletin No. 75; Pennsylvania De- 
partment of Agriculture, is given as a refer- 
ence, it is evident that the author gave as 
little attention to the contents as he did to the 
title. In the summary concerning the finding 
of tubercle germs in milk, which he quotes, he 
has entirely omitted the work given in that 
bulletin. This was quite an extensive piece of 
work, done with unusual care, and was among 
the first carried out in the United States on 
this point. 

In a subsection on “ Channels of Infection ” 
we find the buying in of diseased cattle and 
infection through creamery and cheese fac- 
tory by-products given—certainly not chan- 
nels of infection. 

The best chapter in the book, exclusive of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


the report of the International Commission 
on Bovine Tuberculosis, is that on Tuberculin, 
which occupies nine pages. 

These criticisms will show that the book is 
not one that can be recommended, and it 
should not be dignified with the title which it 
carries. It might pass as an experiment sta- 
tion bulletin, but nothing more. It is to be 
regretted that the “ cacoethes scribendi” will 
run away with the judgment of good men, and 
lead to the publishing of such a book as this. 

Mazycrk P, Ravenen 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalene in the 
British Museum. Vol. XII. By Sm 
Gerorce F, Hampson, Bart. London. 1913. 
Pp. xiii + 626. 

This volume contains the continuation of 
the family Noctuide, already partly treated 
in Volumes IV. to XI. of these catalogues. 
A part of the subfamily Catocaline is covered. 
A key to the genera is given, which will be 
reprinted in a more complete form in the next 
volume. Sixty-three genera with 643 species 
are fully described and a large proportion fig- 
ured in colors in the accompanying book of 
plates, numbered CXCII. to CCXXI. The 
definition of the group, based on the presence 
of spines on the mid-tibizw is somewhat arti- 
ficial, as the author admits, but will probably 
not cause confusion in many cases. Otherwise 
it would be necessary to include this group in 
the already large subfamily Noctuine. The 
treatment is similar to that already familiar 
to us in the preceding volumes and is a wel- 
come addition to this indispensable work. 

Harrison G. Dyar 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
SOME EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT UPON VEGETATION 


THE summer of 1913 was exceedingly dry 
and hot in many parts of the United States, 
but the combination of climatic and edaphic 
factors which produce that complex effect in- 
cluded under the term drought appeared to 
center in southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kan- 
sas, northwestern Missouri and southeastern 
Towa. Lines of extremely xerophilous condi- 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


tions radiated from this general axis for sev- 
eral hundred miles in nearly all directions. 

During this period there were a number of 
days when Lincoln, Nebraska, experienced the 
highest temperature recorded by the eighty or 
more stations of the U. S. Weather Bureau 
which report to the Lincoln office. The dry 
period began at Lincoln on June 8 and con- 
tinued until about September 8. According to 
the director of the Lincoln section of the 
Weather Bureau only 2.84 inches of precipita- 
tion was recorded for this period. This repre- 
sents but twenty-five per cent. of the normal 
rainfall for this time at this station. Almost 
one half of this amount fell in such small 
quantities as to be of little benefit to vegeta- 
tion. Weather records have been kept at Lin- 
coln for thirty-two years and this is the light- 
est rainfall ever recorded for ninety-two days 
at this time of year. The normal precipitation 
for this period is 11.33 inches. 

The temperature was high for the last part 
of June and the first half of July, but the first 
of the higher temperatures were recorded be- 
tween July 13 and 17. These five days were 
very hot, the maximum temperature ranging 
from 102° F. to 109° F. More moderate tem- 
perature followed these first blistering days for 
about one week and then the remarkable hot 
period began. High temperatures prevailed 
with hardly a break from July 26 to Sep- 
tember 7 or 8. During these forty-four days 
there were twenty-three days when the maxi- 
mum temperature was 100° F. or more and it 
was below 90° F. on only seven days. On an 
additional number of these days the tempera- 
ture went to 97° to 99° F. During the whole 
period from June 8 to September 8 there were 
twenty-nine days with a temperature of 100° 
F. or higher. 

The relative humidity was low at various 
times during this long-continued “hot wave” 
and the conditions favoring desiccation were 
accordingly greatly magnified. Add to all 
these rigorous climatic conditions the influence 
of a strong wind which prevailed at times dur- 
ing the heated season and this region was at 
the mercy of the most extremely dry and pro- 
tracted summer weather on record. 


SCIENCE 


823 


The most important effect of the drought is 
reflected in the greatly reduced yield of a num- 
ber of the leading field, forage and garden 
crops, the products for which the territory is 
renowned. Fortunately the yield of winter 
wheat was not seriously impaired because that 
grain was so far advanced toward maturity at 
the beginning of droughty conditions that 
there was plenty of moisture in the soil (from 
a very promising spring) to satisfy the needs of 
that particular crop. In fact it appears that 
the yield of winter wheat for the year 1913 
was considerably in excess of the average for 
practically all of the drought-stricken territory 
west of the Mississippi. 

The second and third cuttings of alfalfa 
were, however, much less than normal for the 
region as a whole. Some farmers secured a 
very low return from the third crop of this 
legume. The yield of potatoes and other less 
important garden vegetables was also greatly 
affected by the hot dry days of the latter part 
of the vegetative season, although in certain 
parts of the region potatoes are yielding 
heavily. 

Corn was the crop which suffered most, and, 
since the prosperity of the country is so often 
figured with reference to the yield of this crop, 
the effects of the drought appear unusually 
severe. Except in a few portions of this sthte 
(Nebraska) the yield of “ King Corn ” was very 
greatly diminished and in some parts, where 
at least some corn usually grows, absolutely no 
corn will be harvested. 

One of the most noticeable effects of the 
drought upon the native plant life was seen in 
the shortening of the period of vegetative 
growth and in the hastening of flowering and 
fructification. This was noted especially with 
various herbaceous plants which apparently 
completed their summer activities several days 
or weeks earlier than usual. Early leaf matur- 
ity and leaf fall was common among native and 
exotic forest trees. In some cases almost all 
of the leaves had fallen by the end of July, 
while in nearly all of our trees noticeable early 
leaf fall was characteristic. Trees especially 
conspicuous in this regard in Lincoln were the 


824 
hackberry, Celtis occidentalis; elm, Ulmus 
americana; and Carolina poplar, Populus. 


These trees also showed great variations in the 
condition of their leaves, some individuals 
being nearly leafless at the same time (August) 
that others were quite normal. Many grada- 
tions occurred between these two extremes. 
The ash, Fraxinus lanceolata, was apparently 
affected to the least degree of all of our com- 
moner tree species. Street trees in general 
suffered greatly and many such individuals 
perished during the summer. One man, the 
owner of a very attractive home and grounds in 
another city of the state, told me that he had 
kept three lines of hose constantly pouring 
water into the ground about his trees through- 
out the summer and that even then some of 
the trees were affected by the dry weather. 

Toward the close of the summer it was noted 
that a number of the trees that had lost prac- 
tically all of their earlier leaves had developed 
many new bright green leaves, which, however, 
were much smaller than the typical leaves of 
the species. The most conspicuous examples 
of this phenomenon occurred in the hackberry 
and in the Kentucky coffee tree, Gymnocladus 
dioica. Some trees of the former species put 
forth practically a full number of new leaves, 
but the small size of the late leaves made such 
trees rather noticeable. Many clusters of short 
compound leaves with very small leaflets ap- 
peared upon the almost bare, club-like branches 
of the coffee tree. In this case the new leaves 
came from dormant buds situated at some dis- 
tance below the shoot apices. 

Native woods along the streams of the east- 


ern part of Nebraska were unusually dry and. 


barren. The usual mesophytic undergrowth 
was greatly reduced in volume and few species 
of the usual summer and early autumn fungi 
were to .be seen. The rich soil of the more 
open parts of such woods became as dry and 
powdery as that of the fields and some of the 
moisture-demanding plants of such habitats 
dried up and disappeared long before the usual 
time. Many of the spring-fed streams of the 
woodlands disappeared completely and the 
Tavines became desiccated to a very unusual 
degree. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


Native pastures suffered greatly and after 
July 15 little or nothing of forage value was 
to be found in such places. The ground be- 
came very dry and in some places broke into 
great blocks of extremely hard soil with prom1- 
nent fissures between the solid masses. 

The dryness of native vegetation and fields 
along the railroads resulted in the starting of 
an unusual number of fires by sparks from 
passing locomotives. Such blazes destroyed 
considerable grain in the shock or stack and in 
at least one case resulted in the death of a 
farmer and several of his horses. During a 
trip across the state early in September it was 
noted that many fires had been kindled in this 
manner so that the railroad right-of-way and 
sometimes for considerable distances on either 
side the grass or stubble had been destroyed by 
fire for long distances. Groves of planted trees 
or rows of trees along the railroad were fre- 
quently damaged or completely killed. This 
indirect effect of the drought seemed to be un- 
usually common in many parts of the drought- 
stricken territory. 

As cooler and moister weather succeeded the 
trying drought numerous cases of renewed 
activity on the part of vegetation were evi- 
denced. The most pronounced late season re- 
action of this sort was observed in the re-green- 
ing of lawns, pastures and roadsides which had 
appeared as areas of stubble for so many weeks. 
The fresh green of early October is most wel- 
come evidence of the fact that vegetation was 
not entirely burned out under the protracted 
desiccation of the long summer weeks. 

Examples of the autumnal flowering of trees 
have been noted in greater than usual number. 
That this phenomenon is not induced in all 
cases by the succession of moist weather after 
a period of drought (as is commonly supposed) 
is shown in the case of a cherry tree on the 
campus of the University of Nebraska. This 
cherry tree, Prunus padus, came out with its 
second production of flowers early in Septem- 
ber before the drought had been “ broken.” A 
striking additional peculiarity of the serotinal 
flowers of this species was seen in the presence 
of many abnormalities or malformations. 
Phyllody of various flower parts was especially 
common. Many of the racemes were in fact 


DECEMBER 5, 1913] 


transformed into veritable museums of tera- 
tological specimens. 


Raymonp J. Poon 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 
October 10, 1913 


AN ANCESTRAL LIZARD FROM THE PERMIAN OF 
TEXAS 

THERE has been no more vexed problem in 
vertebrate paleontology than the origin of the 
sealed reptiles. The theory generally ac- 
cepted has been that the lizards arose from 
the double-arched or rhynchocephalian type by 
the loss of a primitive lower arch, a theory of 
which I have been skeptical for many years 
past. I have urged in various publications for 
the past ten years that the lizard phylum is a 
very ancient one, predicting that it would 
eventually be discovered in the Permian, a 
prediction that I am now able to verify. Three 
years ago I described briefly a peculiar reptile 
from the Lower Permian of Texas under the 
name Areoscelis. It has only been recently 
that the stress of other material has permitted 
the full preparation of the several more or less 
complete skeletons upon which the genus was 
based, a study of which has disclosed more de- 
cisively than in any other American Permian 
reptile the structure of both skull and skeleton. 
Areoscelis was an extraordinarily slender, long 
legged, cursorial and arboreal reptile of about 
eighteen inches in length. The skull is re- 
markably lizard-like in appearance and struc- 
ture, with a typical upper temporal vacuity 
bounded precisely as in the mosasaurs. The 
sides of the skull below the arch, instead of 
being open, as in the lizards, are covered over 
by a broad expansion of the squamosal bone, 
which is rather loosely united to the quad- 
rate. The quadrate is supported, as in lizards, 
by the tabulare and opisthotic; it is rather 
free and is broadly visible from behind. The 
lacrimal bone is small, as in lizards, a char- 
acter hitherto unknown among ancient rep- 
tiles; and the palate has rows of teeth on all 
the different bones. The neck has seven or 
eight more or less elongated vertebra, the dor- 
sal region twenty. The sacrum is almost 
indistinguishable from that of lizards. The 


SCIENCE 


825 


pectoral and pelvic girdles differ chiefly in 
their old-fashioned characters. The tail was 
slender and long. The feet have an elongated 
caleaneum and a reduced astragalus, unlike 
those of the known contemporary reptiles. 
Finally the attachment of the ribs, one of the 
most peculiar characters of the Squamata, is 
by a dilated head, articulating with both arch 
and centrum. 

To convert Ar@oscelis into a modern lizard 
would require the reduction of the squamosal 
bone from below to a slender bone articulating 
with the postorbital; the closer fusion of the 
postorbital with the postfrontal; the greater 
freedom of the quadrate; the loss of the pos- 
terior coracoid bone and a modernizing of the 
girdles, every one of which characters we are 
quite sure must have been present in the an- 
cestors of the Squamata. 

Areoscelis can not be placed in any known 
order of reptiles, unless it be admitted to the 
Squamata. But, I do not think that the dif- 
ferences from the Squamata will justify its 
ordinal separation, if we are to classify or- 
ganisms phylogenetically. I would rather 
modify the definition of the order Squamata 
to include the genus as the representative, 
doubtless with Kadaliosaurus also, of a dis- 
tinct suborder, the Arwascelidia. Several 
years ago I recognized in another Permian 
vertebrate a primitive salamander, bearing 
about the same relations to the modern 
Urodela that Ar@oscelis does to the modern 
lizards. The urodelan character of Lysorophus 
has now been generally accepted, and I be- 
lieve that after I have published the full de- 
tails of the structure of Ara@oscelis I shall 
find concurrence in its phylogenetic associa- 
tion with the Squamata. 

I regret much to add that Dr. Broom’s inex- 
perience with the American Permian verte- 
brates has led him into several errors in his 
recent discussion of the aflinities of Arwo- 
scelis, based upon the meager details which 
have been published. Had he heeded Dr. 
Case’s warning I do not think he would have 
so readily assumed that the skull and skeletal 
bones which he described as Ophiodeirus really 
belong together. They probably do not, for 


826 


the skeletal bones are those of Ar@oscelis, as 
he himself suspected. It is unnecessary to add 
that his conclusions, based upon erroneous 
premises, are wholly incorrect. Araoscelis is 
as widely separated from Bolosawrus as 
is any other known American Permian reptile, 
at least so far as can be judged from the 
skull as Dr. Broom has restored it. 
S. W. WILuLIston 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 
November 8, 1913 


THE CONVENTION OF GEOLOGISTS AND 
MINING ENGINEERS 


In connection with the National Conserva- 
tion Exposition conducted in Knoxville, Ten- 
nessee, during September and October, there 
was held a meeting of geologists and mining 
engineers for the purpose of discussing prob- 
lems connected with the conservation of the 
natural resources of our country and especially 
of the south. Delegates were present from 
most of the southern states and many from 
the north and west. 

The papers and discussions were of a high 
order and it is hoped that arrangements can 
be made to have these in print at an early 
date. Following are the titles of papers read: 

‘“Eeonomic Non-metallic Minerals of the South- 
ern States,’’? by Dr. J. Hyde Pratt. 

““Inventory of the Mineral 
Georgia,’’ by S. W. McCallie. 

*“Conservation as Applied to Mining Lime Phos- 
phates,’’? by E. H. Sellards. 

“«The Regulation of Oil and Gas Wells, Espe- 
cially When Drilled Through Coal Seams,’’ by 
Richard R. Hice. 

“«The Iron Resources of the World,’’ by Dr. E. 
A. Schubert. 

““Possible Dangers to Mines in Drilling for Oil 
and Gas in the Coal Measures,’’ by Edward Bar- 
rett. 

“‘The State Geologist and Conservation,’’ by 
Dr, A. H. Purdue. (Read by title.) 

“‘Oregon Problems of Resource Development,’’ 
by H. N. Lawrie. 

‘Relations of the Forest Service to the Conser- 
vation of Mineral Resources of Mineral Lands,’’ 
by Don Carlos Ellis. 

‘Soil Survey and Conservation vs. Soil Mining,’’ 
by H. A. Hard. 


Resources of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 988 


““The Conservation of Natural Gas in the Mid 
Continent Field,’’ by C. N. Gould. 

““Gypsum and Salt Deposits of Southwest Vir- 
ginia,’’? by F. A. Wilder. (Read by title.) 

“Scenic Beauty and Its Variation as Influ- 
enced by Geological Origin,’’ by George F. 
Kunz. (Read by title.) 

‘Sane Development of the Mineral Resources of 
the South,’’ by E. J. Watson. (Read by title.) 


C. H. Gordon was elected chairman of the 
convention and F. W. DeWolf, state geologist 
of Illinois, secretary. 

The following resolutions were adopted: 


WHEREAS, The burden of classification of our 
public domain rests heavily, and perhaps unjustly, 
on the applicant desiring to title such lands, and 

WHEREAS, Many conflicting interests with the 
consequent loss and embarrassment to the land and 
mineral claimant results from an absence of ade- 
quate classification of the federal domain, and 

WHEREAS, There are not sufficient funds avyail- 
able for the purpose of expediting the work of 
classifying the federal domain, and 

WHEREAS, It is recommended by this convention 
of geologists and engineers assembled at the 
National Conservation Exposition, at Knoxville, 
Tennessee, September 19, 1913, that this work be 
accelerated, and that the same should be compre- 
hensive so as to include the possibilities of agricul- 
ture, timber, hydro-electric and mineral develop- 
ment and, if practicable, simultaneously; be it 
therefore 

Resolved, That we, the members of the conven- 
tion of geologists and engineers assembled, me- 
morialize Congress of the United States to increase 
this appropriation sufficiently to enable the work 
as herein noted to be carried out efficiently by the 
Departments of the Interior and Agriculture. 

WHEREAS, There has been an extended argument 
concerning the merits of state versus federal con- 
trol of the national forests; and 

WHEREAS, The Oregon Conservation Commission 
has made an exhaustive study of this subject, 
which resulted in their conclusion in favor of fed- 
eral ownership; be it therefore 

Resolved, That we, the members of this conven- 
tion of geologists and mining engineers, assembled 
at this National Conservation Exposition at Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, September 19, 1913, do hereby en- 
dorse the findings of the Oregon Conservation Com- 
mission in favor of the federal ownership of the 
national forests. 


oa Oph oe 


NEw SERIES 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 989 


Fripay, DEcEMBER 12, 1913 


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“nomical Aspects. 


Folsom’s Entomology 


2nd Edition. 308 Illustrations. 

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SCIENCE 


Fripay, DEcEMBER 12, 1913 


CONTENTS 


Memoir of John Shaw Billings: Dr. S. WEIR 
INDILCGEIMN blogopasdoonbodobadnooUDOOOUdOD 


The Duty of the State in the Prosecution of 
Medical Research: PRoressor Henry B. 
AWARD 55 9 OB b OO ODO DORE COM ROM Og OCT OM BOOMS 


The Significance of the National Bird Law: 
RAYMOND THEODORE ZILLMER 


827 


839 


The American Philosophical Association .... 


The American Society of Zoologists 


The Sigma Xi Convention 


Delegates to the Convocation Week Meeting 
of the American Association for the Ad- 
wmancement Of SCience ... 2.25. sss cece ree 


Scventific. Notes and News ................- 
University and Educational News ........... 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
More Data on the History of the Dollar 
Mark: PrRoressoR FLORIAN CagorI. A 
- Non-chromatic Region in the Spectrum for 
Bees: CHRISTINE LADD-FRANKLIN. Notes 
on a Chestnut-tree Insect: A. G. RUGGLES. 
A Connecting Type? Proressor A. M. 
LMS oobgdsodgoaoodgaavacdauoodbooK DUS 


Scientific Books :— 
Miall on the Early Naturalists: PROFESSOR 
Wm. A. Locy. Snyder on the Chemistry of 
Plant and Animal Life: PRorEssor ANDREW 
Hunter. Buchanan’s Household Bacter- 
tology: Dr. WILLIAM W. BRowNE. Prescott 
and Winslow’s Elements of Water Bacter- 
tology: PROFESSOR GEORGE C. WHIPPLE .... 


848 


853 


Special Articles :— 
The Chestnut Bark Disease on Chestnut 
Fruits: PROFESSOR J. FRANKLIN COLLINS. 
Interglacial Mollusks from South Dakota: 
Dr. FRANK C. BAKER 


The Indiana Academy of Sciences: Dr. A. J. 
BIGNEY 


The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 
Societies 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


MEMOIR OF JOHN SHAW BILLINGS1 


Ir has been the custom of the National 
Academy of Sciences to commemorate in 
memoirs those whom death has removed 
from its ranks. Since the lives of men of 
science are little known except to those en- 
gaged in their own lines of research, some 
record is the more to be desired of one who 
illustrated the fact that scientific capacity 
may exist with varied ability for the con- 
duct of large affairs. This combination of 
talents has been often found in the ranks 
of the Academy, although in the belief of 
the public, the man of science is presumed 
to be incapable of the successful manage- 
ment of commercial business. 

The many tasks to which his life of work 
summoned the subject of this memoir have 
become, since his death, for the first time 
so widely known that it is unnecessary for 
me to do more than to put on paper a brief 
summary of his career and the reasons for 
his election to this distinguished body of 
men of science, where from 1887 to 1889 
he rendered efficient service as our treas- 
urer and served on eight important com- 
mittees or as a member of our council. The 
life of our fellow member, in fact, needs 


less restatement from us, because since he 


died at least a half dozen men of impor- 
tance have recorded their opinions of this 
attractive and much-loved man and of what 
he effected during his ever-busy existence. 
Moreover, a full and competent biography 
has been undertaken, and will, I am sure, 
do ample justice to one who owed nothing 
to newspaper notoriety. Through his mod- 


1Read before the National Academy of Sei- 
ences, Baltimore, November, 1913. 


828 


est life of the labor he loved he accepted 
grave burdens and whatever duties, official 
or other, fell to him, apparently indifferent 
to praise or popular reputation while he 
dealt victoriously with tasks so various in 
their nature that any one of them would 
have sufficed to tax the technical compe- 
tence of the most able man. 

John Shaw Billings was born in 
Switzerland County, Indiana, April 12, 
1838. From the time he went to college 
until after the end of his medical studies 
he was almost entirely without exterior 
aid. He was graduated from Miami Uni- 
versity in 1857; A.M. in 1860. His per- 
sonal struggle for a college education and 
the sacrificial privations by which he at- 
tained his medical degree in 1860 from the 
medical college of Ohio will, I trust, be 
told in full elsewhere. He won his way 
unhelped by taking charge of the dissection 
rooms and for one entire winter, as he 
assured me, lived on seventy-five cents a 
week, as he believed to the serious impair- 
ment of a constitution of singular vigor. 

Hospital service gave him what the im- 
perfect medical teaching of that day did 
not give and, as demonstrator of anatomy, 
he prepared himself for surgical practise, 
which was to find its opportunities in the 
clinics of the battlefield. 

In the year 1861 came one of the many 
periods for decisive choice he was to en- 
counter as life went on. A certain career 
as assistant to a busy surgeon was offered 
him. His strong sense of duty to his coun- 
try made him decline the tempting oppor- 
tunity and he entered the regular army 
first of his class in a competitive examina- 
tion and was commissioned assistant sur- 
geon, U.S. A., April, 1862. 

To deal briefly with his army career, he 
became surgeon captain in 1866, surgeon- 
major in 1876, and colonel and deputy 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


surgeon general in 1890. He was retired 
from active service in 1895 by President 
Cleveland at his own request and through 
the influence of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, which at this time offered him the 
place of professor of hygiene. 

During the war he was breveted major 
and lieutenant-colonel for faithful, gallant 
and meritorious service. Dr. Billings won 
in the field a high reputation as a very 
skillful and original operative surgeon, and 
a character for courage and resourceful 
administrative ability on many occasions, 
but especially when after the disastrous 
battle of Chancellorsville he conducted the 
retreat of the wounded and when later he 
was actively engaged in perilous service 
during the battle of Gettysburg. 

While in army service he began very 
early to exhibit his constructive talent in 
altering or building hospitals, and his re- 
markable power of administrative command 
in these vast homes of the sick and wounded. 

Without dwelling too much on this part 
of his career, I may say that there were 
many months of service in the field and also 
as an acting medical inspector of the Army 
of the Potomac. Dr. Billings’s war service 
with the army ended when, in December, 
1864, he was ordered to Washington, where 
he had charge of the invalid reserve corps, 
of matters relating to contract surgeons and 
a variety of other business. 

Some time in 1864 he was sent by the 
President with others to the West Indies on 
an errand connected with the futile plan 
for deporting some of our recently made 
freedmen to an island. This scheme ap- 
pears to have failed, as might have been 
expected, and probably the expedition in 
which he was included was meant to bring 
back the men previously thus deported. It 
was a somewhat fantastic scheme and I do 
not find any account of it in the histories 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


of the war. Probably Dr. Billings had an 
important share, for here, as elsewhere, no 
matter what his relation was to a body of 
“men and officers, his peculiar talents soon 
found their influential place. 

It becomes clear from what I have al- 
ready said that his capacity to turn with 
ease from one task to another must have 
become by this time very well known to 
his superiors. His own desire was to re- 
turn to the field, but the promise to so 
indulge him probably failed owing to the 
somewhat abrupt termination of the war. 
Meanwhile he was required to deal with 
the voluminous medical reports sent in by 
the medical staff of the Potomac Army. 
The records of this work and of his other 
more individual surgical contributions are 
scattered through the voluminous medical 
and surgical history of the war. Here as 
elsewhere he left in these papers his mark 
as a man of many competencies. 

Some of the duties to which he was as- 
signed before his retirement were curiously 
outside of the work of a military surgeon 
and he seems to have been lent by the War 
Department for a variety of governmental 
services. Thus while busy with the early 
work in connection with the museum and 
library, he was also occupied with the 
organization of the United States Marine 
Hospital Service in 1870. In 1872 he was 
vice-president of the brief lived National 
Bureau of Health, and was for a long 
period in charge of the division of vital 
statistics of the eleventh census of the 
United States. 

During his career as a surgeon in the 
years before 1895, he became an authority 
on military medicine and public hygiene 
and revived his interest in hospital con- 
struction to which he had given a great deal 
of thought. He was one of five who sub- 
mitted in 1875, by request, plans for the 


SCIENCE 


829 


construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 
His careful study of the conditions re- 
quired in a hospital were accepted. They 
included many things novel at that time 
which it is not needful for me to dwell 
upon here, but some of them were very 
original changes from the organization and 
construction to be found in hospitals at 
that period. 

During these years he went to Baltimore 
from time to time and lectured on the his- 
tory of medicine and on hygiene. He also 
supervised the planning and construction 
of the Barnes Hospital of the Soldiers’ 
Home, Washington, D. C., and later the 
buildings needed for the Army Medical 
Museum and the Surgeon General’s Lib- 
rary. His final constructive work late in 
life was his connection with the plans for 
the Brigham Hospital in Boston and during 
many years he was continually consulted 
by institutions or cities in regard to hos- 
pitals and hygiene questions of importance. 

The great work of John Shaw Billings 
which gave him finally a world-wide repute 
began at some time after 1864, when he 
was asked by the surgeon general to take 
charge of the army medical museum created 
under Surgeon General Hammond by the 
skillful care of Surgeon John H. Brinton. 
His formal assignment ‘‘in charge of the 
Museum Library Division and as curator of 
the Army Medical Museum’’ dates from 
December 28, 1883, but he had been infor- 
mally librarian for many years before that 
time. It is quite impossible here to enter 
into any detailed account of the ingenuity 
and power of classification which has made 
this museum the greatest presentation of 
the effects of war on the bodies of men. 
It is, however, essential to say a few words 
about the varied capacities which built up 
and made finally available to scholars the 
library of the surgeon-general, now the 


830 


most completely useful collection of medical 
works in the world. 

In some reminiscences of his younger 
days he speaks of his student aspiration ‘‘to 
try to establish for the use of American 
physicians a fairly complete library and in 
connection with this prepare a comprehen- 
sive index which should spare medical 
teachers and writers the drudgery of con- 
sulting thousands or more indexes or the 
turning over the leaves of many volumes 
to find the dozen or more references of 
which they might be in search.’’ The 
opportunity he craved when young came 
now by singular good fortune into his pos- 
session. When he took hold of this work, 
the surgeon-general’s library contained a 
little over a thousand volumes and all inter- 
est in its increase had been long at an end. 
Fortunately, as I so understand, at the 
close of the war there fell into the hands 
of the surgeon-general some eighty-five 
thousand dollars, the result of hospital sav- 
ings during the great contest. He was 
allowed to use this money for the building 
up of the museum and of the library, which 
was an essential adjunct to the collection. 
It was a vast piece of good fortune that 
this task fell to the man who had craved 
such a chance since his youth. He brought 
to it powers which are rarely united in one 
man and an amount of knowledge of books, 
medical and non-medical, which few pos- 
sess. When he was nominated for member- 
ship in the National Academy of Sciences, 
his claim to this high distinction was judi- 
ciously founded by his friends upon his 
application of skill in the scientific classi- 
fication of books and of the medical knowl- 
edge of our profession through the cen- 
turies. No medical librarian who ever 
lived had, up to that time, shown such an 
almost instinctive capacity for the scientific 
classification of knowledge so as to make 
it readily available. It was eminently a 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 989 


scientific gift and of incredible usefulness 
in its results to the scholarship of medicine 
throughout the world. 

When he gave up this charge at the time 
of his appointment to the chair of hygiene 
in the University of Pennsylvania, he re- 
ceived from the physicians of Great Britain 
and America at a dinner given in his honor 
a silver box containing a cheque for ten 
thousand dollars, as a material expression 
of gratitude for the labor-saving value of 
his catalogue. 

The surplus of this fund enabled his 
friends to present to the Surgeon-General’s 
library an admirable portrait of John 
Billings, by Cecelia Beaux. 

The library as he left it contained 307,455 
volumes and pamphlets and 4,335 portraits 
of physicians. At the present day in the 
skillful hands which took up his task, it 
has reached over half a million volumes 
and over five thousand portraits and has 
a unique collection of medical journals 
quite matchless elsewhere. 

He went about the preliminary measures. 
for the catalogue with cautious care and in 
1876 prepared a specimen fasciculus of the 
proposed catalogue of the library, consist- 
ing of a combined index of authors and 
subjects arranged in dictionary order, and 
submitted it to the profession for criticism. 
Tn this he was aided by his able assistant, 
Dr. Robert Fletcher. In the first series of 
the index catalogue, 1880-1895, the mate- 
rial was selected and a scientific classifica- 
tion made by Billings. As a monthly supple- 
ment to the index catalogue, the Index 
Medicus was begun by Dr. Billings and 
Dr. Fletcher in 1879 as an extra official 
publication. When, in 1903, the second 
series of the Index Medicus was issued, 
it was seen that there was a risk of failure 
in this invaluable publication through want 
of means, but at this time by Dr. Billings’s 
influence through the aid of the Car- 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


negie Institution of Washington, it was 
permanently established at the cost of some 
twelve thousand dollars a year and con- 
tinues to be a helpful aid to scholarly 
physicians all over the world. 

It was thus that Dr. Billings got his 
trainings for the still larger task which 
awaited him when he was chosen as libra- 
rian of the Astor-Tilden-Lenox library in 
New York. There at once this great enter- 
prise found in him all the varied qualities 
which were needed in the construction of 
the building, the classification of its con- 
tents, the efficient administrative grasp on 
the forty outlying libraries of New York 
connected with the triple library, and in 
his singular power of uniting strict disci- 
pline with a capacity to attach to him those 
under his control. 

Throughout his life he was a busy writer 
of essays on hygiene, hospital construction 
and administration, the statistics of war 
and addresses or essays such as his history 
of surgery, perhaps the best presentation 
of this subject ever made. 

To comprehend the character of a man, 
he must have been seen in his relation to 
the various duties which test the qualities 
of both heart and head. The charge of 
suffering, crippled, wounded soldiers is a 
trial to the surgeon and here he showed the 
man at his best. He was patient with the 
impatient, never irritable with the unrea- 
son of sufferers, never seeming to be in a 
hurry, and left at every bedside in the 
long sad wards the impression of being in 
earnest and honestly interested. 

It was thus I first knew John Billings 
when in the crowded wards wearied, home- 
sick men welcomed his kindly face and the 
almost womanly tenderness he brought to 
a difficult service. 

My own personal relations with John 
Billings began in the Civil War when he 
had for a time the care of my brother, a 


SCIENCE 


831 


medical cadet, during a mortal illness con- 
tracted in the Douglas Hospital, Washing- 
ton. I saw then how gentle-minded was 
this man and how he realized the pathetic 
disappointment of a highly gifted young 
life consciously drifting deathward. I saw 
thus a side of John Billings he rarely re- 
vealed in its fullness. Generally a rather 
silent man, he was capable now and then of 
expressing in eloquent brevities of speech 
the warmth of his regard for some one of 
the few he honored with his friendship. In 
the last talk I had with him, he said to me 
some things which remain as remembrances 
of this rather taciturn and reserved gentle- 
man. I had asked him how many degrees 
and like honors he had received and, con- 
sidering these notable recognitions, I re- 
marked on the failure of popular apprecia- 
tion. He replied with a jesting comment 
and then said, after a brief silence, that he 
was far more proud of his capacity to win the 
friendship of certain men and of the service 
he had been able to render to science in his 
connection with the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington. There indeed his always wise 
and broad-minded interest will be greatly 
missed. I served with him from its founda- 
tion on the distinguished executive com- 
mittee of this body. Here, among men he 
liked and trusted, we saw him at his 
familiar best. Always a patient listener, 
his decisions as chairman were expressed 
with his quiet, courteous manner, and 
many times his large knowledge of the 
science of the day left me wondering how 
it could have been attained amid the amaz- 
ing number of occupations which had filled 
his time. But in fact he was intellectually 
sympathetic with every form of scientific 
research, a somewhat rare characteristic 
among investigators. I ought also to say 
that the men of our committee and of the 
board of trustees felt at times a little sur- 
prise at the shrewdness, the common sense 


— 


832 


and the commercial insight he brought to 
the critical financial consideration of this 
immense money trust. Not elsewhere was 
he better seen or understood as conveying 
the sense of character, and nowhere else 
was he better loved. 

Numberless presidencies of societies fell 
to his share, and the list of his honorary 
titles from all of the greater academies and 
universities at home and abroad served at 
least to show in what esteem he was held 
by men of science. These recognitions 
gave, I suspect, more pleasure to his 
friends than to this retiring and singularly 
unambitious scholar. 

On public occasions, his personality 
stood for something in the estimate of the 
man. Tall and largely built, he was as a 
speaker in the after-dinner hour or when 
addressing a body of men a commanding 
presence, with flow of wholesome English, 
ready wit and humor such as rarely came 
to the surface in his ordinary talk. The 
figure of athletic build, the large blue eyes, 
a certain happy sense of easy competence, 
won regard and held the respectful atten- 
tion of those who listened. For me there 
was always some faintly felt sense of that 
expression of melancholy seen often in men 
who earry through a life of triumphant 
success the traces of too terrible battle 
with the early difficulties of their younger 
days. 

What was most exceptional in this man 
was the unfailing fund of energy on which 
he drew for every novel duty and an indus- 
try which never seemed to need the re- 
freshment of idleness. He had that rare 
cift—the industry of the minute. When 
once I spoke of the need for leisurely play 
and the exercise of open-air sports, he said 
that he obtained recreation by turning 
from one form of brain use to another. 
That was play enough. I ought to add that 
he found pleasure in reading novels, saying 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 989 


that one or two of an evening late were 
agreeable soporifics. But these, like more 
serious books, he devoured rather than 
read as most men read, and what he read 
he seemed never to forget. His memory 
was like a good index of a vast mental 
library. 

Until his later years Dr. Billings pos- ~ 
sessed the constitutional vigor which be- 
friended him earlier as he responded to the 
call of a succession of military and civic 
duties. Of late years he was obliged to 
undergo several surgical operations of 
serious nature. He went to them with 
confidence and courage, but before the last 
one he said to me, ‘‘I am for the first time 
apprehensive.’’ He went on to add, “‘It is 
a signal of age; and of late, as never be- 
fore, any new project, any need for change 
in the affairs of the library, I find arouses 
in me an unreasonable mood of opposition. 
This too is, I know, a sure evidence of my 
being too old for my work. I shall, I 
think, resign my directorship of the l-_ 
brary.’’ It was our last intimate talk. He 
died of pneumonia after the operation, on 
the eleventh of March, 1913. 

The scene at his burial in the military 
cemetery at Arlington brought together 
many men of distinction, a much moved 
group of army men and the great library 
officials. We left in the soldier burial 
ground all that was mortal of a man who 
combined qualities of head and heart such 
as none of us will see again. 

Dr. Billings married Miss Kate M. 
Stevens, in September, 1862.’ Their chil- 
dren are: Mary Clure, Kate Sherman, 
Jessie Ingram, John Sedgwick and Mar- 
garet Janeway. 

Science is forever changing. The work 
of to-day is contradicted to-morrow. Few 
indeed are so fortunate as to leave in the 
permanent remembrance of science conclu- 
sive work. The man whose loss we regret 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


left to medicine in his catalogue of the 
Surgeon General’s Library a monumental 
labor which none will ever better and to 
which he gave continuity of vigorous life. 
S. Wer MircHELn 


THE DUTY OF THE STATE IN THE PROSE- 
CUTION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH} 

Ir is an interesting manifestation of ap- 
parent humility and unwonted lack of self- 
conceit that man should have hesitated so 
long to emphasize the primary responsibil- 
ity of the state for the physical well-being 
of its citizens. Health is a fundamental re- 
source not only of the individual, but, in a 
very real sense, of the state itself. The 
happiness, the efficiency, and even the ex- 
istence of every citizen is threatened by the 
presence of disease in the individual home. 
It would be interesting to discuss why an 
educated nation has so long permitted the 
existence and even encouraged the exten- 
sion of sickness and disease among its citi- 
zens by failing to take means for the cor- 
rection of the individual evil, and for the 
prevention of its dispersal among other 
unaffected members of the community. 
Discussion of this feature would demand 
more time than is reasonable on this occa- 
sion, and it is sufficient to have indicated 
the existence of influences which stand in 
the way of efficient work for the conserva- 
tion and improvement of public health. 

The state university has been organized 
and developed by the state in order to sup- 
ply that trained knowledge which is essen- 
tial for the comprehension and solution of 
modern problems. Unwilling that all 
knowledge should come to the public 
through private citizens, or that the dis- 
semination of knowledge and the methods 
of its application should be dependent 
upon the liberality of the fortunate indi- 
vidual or in any way hampered by the con- 


1 Address at the dedication of the medical lab- 
oratories at the University of Nebraska. 


SCIENCE 833 


ditions under which private munificence is 
granted and expended, the state itself, that 
is, the common men and women of the com- 
munity working together, have contributed 
each one of their means and according to 
their ability that they may have in their 
midst a center of influence ready and able 
to gather the best knowledge from all 
sources, to assimilate it to their purposes, to 
apply it for their protection and advance- 
ment, and thus to make possible a broader 
and richer and freer and fuller life than 
they working singly could ever attain. 
Every man and every woman in the entire 
commonwealth who has sufficient honor and 
self-respect to pay taxes has contributed to 
the support of the state university as a 
whole, and of every one of its individual de- 
partments. The responsibility that the 
university and every one of its individual 
departments assumes is thus definite and 
grave. It involves the very best possible 
application of funds which represent many 
instances of self-denial and privation on 
the part of individual citizens that it may 
further the interests of every one of those 
citizens in the most efficient manner. This 
is the problem which stands before the 
medical department of the University of 
Nebraska in its new quarters so generously 
provided and admirably adapted for the 
work of medical education, primarily in its 
relation to the state of Nebraska itself, but 
since we are all members of one nation, and 
of one family of nations, in constant, inti- 
mate, and unavoidable contact with each 
other, really also in its relation to the na- 
tion and the entire world. 

Men look at things from different points 
of view. Toiling up the steeps of knowl- 
edge, we reach different coigns of vantage, 
from which we may look out and get a some- 
what imperfect and incomplete view of the 
achievements of the past, and the paths 
that lead on to the higher attainments of 


834 


the future. The view that each one gets is 
imperfect, and there are few of us who feel 
that we have risen high enough to command 
a really broad and comprehensive survey of 
the situation. For my part, it is with great 
diffidence that I express any opinion, espe- 
cially in the presence of the deservedly 
famous scholar and investigator who fol- 
lows me, and who has contributed in many 
ways so definitely and richly to the progress 
of the nation in medical matters. And yet 
there are some elements in the responsibil- 
ity, as I see it, of this institution to the 
community which has founded and is sup- 
porting it, that are unmistakable in their 
appeal to every one. If they appear to you 
so commonplace that you wonder at their 
recital here, may I suggest that the restate- 
ment of fundamental relations is not only 
valuable but indispensable when, on such 
occasions as this, men and women come to- 
gether to do honor to a great institution and 
set the seal of public approval on the facili- 
ties which it has created for work, as well as 
to give inspiration and direction to the in- 
creased influence and opportunity that 
grow out of the greater possibilities in the 
new environment. There is always some 
danger that a new movement loses sight of 
fundamental responsibilities, and in em- 
phasis upon one opportunity forgets to do 
equal justice to the others that surround it 
and rightly expect their appropriate atten- 
tion and emphasis. What are the primary 
duties of this school in its new home? Only 
those laid upon it at its organization, even 
though now in a richer environment they 
acquire,a new and stronger emphasis. 

The first duty that suggests itself in any 
discussion of the state university is that of 
education, and in the minds of many the 
duty is limited to its narrower significance 
of the word, 7. e., to training in set classes 
and courses those who present themselves 
with adequate preparation and fixed pur- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


pose to achieve the special end they seek. 
But many universities have neglected to 
consider that it is neither possible nor desir- 
able for the single institution to give in- 
struction in this narrow sense to each and 
every citizen desiring the training. Many 
of our state universities have hampered 
their usefulness by striving to teach more 
students in more ways than the means at 
their command would justify. They have 
duplicated opportunities of the routine sort 
and have been overwhelmed by masses of 
elementary students whose training added 
little except political strength to the influ- 
ence of the university or to the welfare of 
the state, and only mere commonplace 
finish to the training of the individual. 
Every time the university takes a student 
from another institution, either high school 
or academy, college or technical school, 
before he has legitimately utilized the op- 
portunities which that institution offers for 
his purposes, it has contributed to the dis- 
integration and destruction of the educa- 
tional strength of the community. Every 
time a university admits a poorly trained 
or mentally incompetent student or retains 
in its class-rooms a time-serving, shirking 
idler, indifferent to his opportunities, it 
does a grave injustice to the energetic and 
ambitious workers in its halls, and may 
fairly be charged with misuse of public 
funds. In the mad rush after students, all 
of our institutions alike have added to 
their own weakness rather than to their 
own vigor, and have wasted the resources 
of the people insofar as they have taken 
part in the struggle after mere bigness. 

If it be no proper ideal to gather in num- 
bers at the expense of fitness, it is certainly 
a clear function of the state institution to 
set minimum standards for the entire com- 
monwealth, to indicate what is reasonable 
training in a given field, and to prevent 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


the exploitation of the uninformed by pri- 
vate institutions that pretend to prepare, 
but do not really fit, students for the life 
work which they are aiming to pursue. 
Nowhere is the necessity for establishing 
standards and fixing the conditions of rea- 
sonable preparation for professional work 
more essential than in the medical school. 
The poorly trained engineer fails to achieve 
individual success but usually never reaches 
a stage of independent action in which his 
lack of training becomes a menace to the 
public. The poorly trained lawyer loses 
his client’s case, and the public is warned 
by the evident lack of success on his part 
to avoid seeking his assistance in important 
matters. In so far as the interests of his 
client are interwoven with the interests of 
the community, he may do definite harm to 
the general welfare, but that is a blow to 
prosperity only, and because of the finan- 
cial relation, the public is quicker to see 
and to act in the situation than where more 
subtle interests are threatened. The poorly 
trained doctor, however, not only fails to 
discharge his responsibilities to his patients, 
but is in a very real way a positive menace 
to the entire community. If he fails to 
recognize communicable disease and to take 
definite steps for its isolation, others must 
pay the penalty. The poorly trained man 
may be thoroughly honorable, and may 
strive to the utmost to discharge his own 
obligation, but if he has not the requisite 
knowledge, his most conscientious efforts are 
inadequate to protect the public. Conse- 
quently, every individual in the common- 
wealth is continually and vitally and per- 
sonally concerned in the proper and thor- 
ough training of every man who practises 
the medical profession within its limits. 
The state must get the proper standards 
of medical training from those who as its 
representatives are giving medical educa- 


SCIENCE 


practise within the limits of the state. 


835 


tion in the state university in the name of 
the commonwealth, and the state must hold 
these teachers, its representatives, respon- 
sible that they set the standards of medical 
education carefully, so as to protect all its 
citizens from the consequences of poorly 
trained or inadequately trained or wrongly 
trained practitioners of medicine. Once 
that the medical school of the state univer- 
sity has established this standard and has 
applied it without fear or favor to its own 
students, the authorities of the state in 
legislative and administrative circles must 
for the protection of the commonwealth 
adopt and apply those standards not only 
to the students who receive training at the 
hands of the state, but to all persons who 
desire to enjoy the privileges of medical 
No 
nation could lay claim to membership in the 
group of progressive civilized communities 
that coined its own money on one standard 
and permitted private citizens to circulate 
money based on standards of their own 
choosing; and yet there are apparently in- 
telligent commonwealths in our union that 
have seen one standard set for the educa- 
tion of professional men in their own uni- 
versities, and have permitted private insti- 
tutions to adopt other standards of their 
own making, to grant degrees of all sorts 
without regard for their actual value, and 
to turn loose upon the public professional 
men whose certificates of proficiency are 
no better than wild-cat banknotes. Nor is 
this establishment of standards by the state 
calculated to arouse resentment or opposi- 
tion on the part of those private institu- 
tions which are seeking without regard to 
personal gain to discharge their obligations 
to the public. The very appreciation of 
such obligations and the renunciation of 
personal gain which enters into the legal 
organization of such institutions, make 


836 SCIENCE 


them welcome the careful study of methods 
and standards by the state universities, 
since their own conditions often do not 
permit them to engage extensively in the 
investigation and solution of complicated 
educational problems. 

It would be unfortunate for the common- 
wealth, however, if the entire energies of 
any college in its state university were ex- 
pended upon the establishment of stand- 
ards for proper training, and upon the ap- 
plication of those standards to a limited 
number of students. The state must look 
to the college for direction in those tech- 
nical and professional matters that are en- 
tering more and more every year into the 
organization and development of our com- 
plex civilization. Municipal and state offi- 
cers meet problems that they can not possi- 
bly solve without the advice and assistance 
of expert workers in various lines. There 
is a well-marked tendency to seek such con- 
sulting experts within the limits of the state 
university faculty; and where formerly 
men of no connection with the state or 
responsibility for the problem other than 
that indicated in the acceptance of a fee 
for a professional opinion, were summoned 
from a distance to solve the educational 
or engineering or hygienic problems of the 
community, to-day, states are looking for 
their help in determining the form of legis- 
lation, the principles of education or or- 
ganization, and the methods of applied sci- 
ence in every field, to the universities that 
have been founded and developed at public 
expense. Such a tendency is not only 
natural ‘but inevitable. There should be 
nowhere better trained and better informed 
men in any field than those who are called 
to serve the highest educational institution 
of the state in a particular line of work. 
There are nowhere men freer from bias, 
men more untrammeled by private influ- 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 989 


ence or better calculated to resist insidious 
and insistent pressure, or men more devoid 
of other interests and more thoroughly de- 
voted to the public welfare than those who 
have taken upon themselves the duties of 
teaching in the public university. 

It is hardly necessary to take time to 
apply this principle in detail to the work 
of the medical college. Trained experts 
are nowhere more seriously needed and un- 
fortunately also more difficult to secure 
than in the field of public health with its 
manifold relations to municipal sanitation 
and individual and community hygiene. 
Here it is that the research man justly 
maintains his preeminent position. If the 
water supply of a great city is contami- 
nated, and the health of the entire com- 
munity is threatened, it is the bacteriol- 
ogist to whom municipal authorities rightly 
turn for information as to the precise 
source of the difficulty and advice as to the 
best methods of correcting it. If the ex- 
ploitation of the public by unscrupulous 
purveyors of adulterated foods is to be 
prevented, a campaign must be based on 
the definite evidence which is furnished in 
the laboratory of the chemist. The public 
can not be protected unless it can assemble 
on its side a force of consulting experts and 
professional investigators whose training 
is broad enough and whose standing is high 
enough to enable them to compete success- 
fully with the paid experts who can be sum- 
moned by great corporations and important 
interests and who by their partial exposi- 
tion of the truth becloud the issue and pro- 
tect the wrongdoer at the expense of the 
whole people. The state must have and 
must use the expert staff of its medical 
school in the service of the public. 

There is a third function of the state 
professional school which I consider to be 
equally important, although less generally 


— sss 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


recognized by the average man and woman 
because its meaning is more obscure and its 
relation to the ordinary affairs of life more 
difficult to demonstrate clearly. I mean 
the duty of the school as a center for con- 
tinued research. The relation between 
highly trained men of the research type 
and the proper education of professional 
students is too clear to need extended 
demonstration. Standards can be set and 
applied only by those who have the broad- 
est and strongest command of the profes- 
sional situation. Then, also, the advice on 
technical problems which is to be furnished 
the state in time of need can come only 
from those who have themselves enjoyed 
the most thorough training and have 
demonstrated their ability as original 
workers in their individual fields. It is, 
however, equally essential that the profes- 
sional school should be a center of continued 
experimental work. The discoveries of sci- 
ence that follow one another with such 
rapidity in these days must be tested, ex- 
tended, applied, in order to have the maxi- 
mum value for the race. The ability to test 
such discoveries depends very definitely 
upon acquiring, retaining and exercising 
the research habit. Unless a man keeps on 
investigating, unless he continues to experi- 
ment, he is not in a position to give the 
right value to a new discovery, or to place 
it in its correct relation to the other facts in 
his field, and to interpret it in a thorough 
and practical manner for the benefit of the 
community. The man who has devoted 
himself exclusively to teaching, or exclu- 
sively to the practise of his profession, 
whose entire mental energies are expended 
in carrying out his program of education, 
or in discharging his responsibilities to 
those who seek his advice and counsel, can 
not fully discharge his duties towards the 
state as the member of a professional fac- 


SCIENCE 


837 


ulty. As the delta of the river is gradually 
built up by the continued accumulation of 
myriads of minute particles, so the knowl- 
edge of one generation reaches a higher 
level by minute additions which come to it 
from a multitude of individual sources. If 
knowledge is to advance, and science to be- 
come more useful to the human race, if the 
life of to-morrow is to be richer and more 
varied than that of to-day, if the man of 
the future is to be freer from disease and 
more perfect in physical development, both 
individually and collectively, than the man 
of to-day, then every worker in the field of 
science must contribute at least his little 
part to the accumulation of new facts and 
new relations upon which in ultimate analy- 
sis this advance depends. The teacher who 
is adding to his knowledge only by the read- 
ing of that which has been acquired by 
others, is failing to cultivate a power that 
is of fundamental value to the institution 
and to the commonwealth. The expert who 
is merely repeating the work that he has 
done over and over again, who applies to 
every new situation only the methods and 
results of older experimenters, is not doing 
his part towards the institution he repre- 
sents and the community that claims his 
service. It is not only true that the men 
who have contributed the great advances 
in knowledge have been those who applied 
themselves insistently to independent inves- 
tigation, but also that the inspiring teach- 
ers and the efficient directors of public 
activity have been conspicuous for their 
devotion to research and their contributions 
to knowledge. Medical science is of recent 
erowth. The application of discoveries in 
allied sciences to the cure and prevention 
of disease has yielded splendid results, but 
the work has only just begun and rich op- 
portunities await the coming of new investi- 
gators. The welfare of the race demands 


838 


that the state do its part in cultivating this 
fertile field of research. Whatever private 
institutions may do, the state has no choice. 
The men who are its teachers must also be 
investigators and must contribute their 
share to the extension of knowledge. 

I trust that my discussion thus far has 
not failed to call clearly before your minds 
the three features which I consider to be 
all-important in every university profes- 
sional school. I hope that my brief state- 
ments have suggested to your minds the 
varied functions of the university teacher 
so clearly that you are ready to grant him 
the duties beyond those of the mere peda- 
gogue. Routine teaching may be done 
equally well in any institution. Expert 
analysis and investigation, however, are 
limited to our great universities, because of 
their demands upon space and time and 
money. The state university which fails 
to take account of these duties, which loads 
its faculty members with teaching to such 
an extent that they have no time or energy 
left for other items, is not only doing itself 
a great injustice, but is false to its respon- 
sibilities to the state. Research opportun- 
ities should be provided for its staff, and 
research work should be demanded of each 
member. Provision for laboratory equip- 
ment and space are sometimes included in 
the plan of college organization when the 
specified duties of the instructor leave him 
no time or energy for the prosecution of 
research. Participation in meetings and 
conferences is important and may properly 
be demanded of the scientist in the service 
of the state, but unless due allowance is 
made for such activities in arranging the 
individual work of the teacher, unless he is 
given also some leisure for research, he 
will not contribute to the advancement of 
knowledge or to the protection of the state. 

This, then, is the meaning of the new 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


campus and the new laboratory. This, but 
the first building of a great group, is to be 
dedicated to the service of the state, with 
the fullest sense of the responsibilities 
which that service implies. But other 
buildings must follow to provide adequately 
for other lines of teaching, for it is no little 
work that is inaugurated this year on this 
new campus and in this first laboratory 
building. This institution is to furnish for 
the state of Nebraska to every one of its 
citizens and through them to the whole 
world by its teaching and investigation, 
richer possibilities for human existence. It 
is to establish here in the center of the 
great prairie region standards of medical 
education that will direct the advance in 
medical training, not only within its bor- 
ders, but throughout all the surrounding 
states. It has gathered together here a 
group of trained experts who may reason- 
ably stand unabashed in the company of 
any similar group in the great central west. 
It is to give them opportunity for directing 
public activity, for protecting public inter- 
ests, for averting public disaster. They, as 
scientific men, know their responsibilities 
and appreciate their opportunities. They 
are ready to do their work, they are pre- 
pared to lead the state in achieving these 
greater results. They have already con- 
tributed to the advance of knowledge, they 
are eager to continue that work. They are 
demanding more, not for themselves, but 
that through it they may give more to the 
world. It is fortunate that the foundations 
of the enterprise have been laid in a city 
that has dreamed of other great possibilities 
and is realizing them. Equally propitious 
is the control exercised over its destiny by 
a great state, devoted to education and 
justly proud of its own university. Under 
such conditions, the vision must soon be- 
come a reality and other buildings rise be- 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


side this new structure to extend and multi- 
ply its work and to realize the hopes of 
other workers yet unprovided with ade- 
quate facilities, that here may be developed 
a great institution for the relief of suffer- 
ing and the service of humanity. 

Henry B. Warp 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NATIONAL 
BIRD LAW 

For 125 years, constitutional lawyers and 
laymen were agreed on at least one thing— 
that the national government possesses only 
those powers specifically granted in the con- 
stitution, and those reasonably implied from 
such specific grants. The states possess the 
residue. There had been, it is true, some argu- 
ment as to the interpretation to be given to 
Art. I., See. 8, Par. 1 of the constitution as 
well as to the 9th and 10th amendments. But 
this was wholly academic, and the consensus 
of opinion soon crystallized to the above 
stated proposition. 

Yet during our constitutional life of 125 
years we have seen remarkable changes going 
on in this country. The states were isolated 
and self-sufficient. The stage offered no in- 
ducement to travel from state to state, nor 
the pack horse to trade. To-day, what a revo- 
lution in our economic and social life! Rail- 
roads, steamships, the telegraph and tele- 
phone, along with a thousand other inventions, 
have made us live a different life. Dis- 
tance has been shortened; the United States 
made smaller. One state can no longer satisfy 
our needs, for all states are interdependent. 

Yet more remarkable than all, we live under 
substantially the same constitution. But only 
because it is too difficult to amend, for we 
are to-day confronted with many probiems 
which some think can only be settled satisfac- 
torily by a constitutional amendment. Yet 
that is next to impossible. It will pay us to 
glance at a few of the problems that have 
arisen because of revolutionary changes in our 
ways of living. For almost half a century the 
conflict of divorce laws in the states—some 


SCIENCE 


839 


lenient, others strict—has been the subject of 
continual agitation. The origin of the Ameri- 
can Bar Association and the origin of the 
Commission on Uniform State Laws is but an 
indication of the stir that the diversity in 
divorce laws must have produced. Yet in 
spite of continued attention to this subject 
from 1878, when the American Bar Associa- 
tion was organized, no substantial results have 
been accomplished; this, though the Commis- 
sioners on Uniform State Laws have fought 
for it for twenty-five years, though a national 
conference was held at Washington, and 
though no end of other organizations are 
urging uniformity of divorce laws. After all 
this effort three states have uniform divorce 
acts, and these are not absolutely uniform. 
The very natural result is that public opinion 
is turning to the federal government and ask- 
ing for a national divorce law. But that 
would necessitate a constitutional amendment. 

While not now in the public eye, it was only 
a short time ago that we heard of the evils 
flowing from the corporation laws of some 
states. And no wonder there was criticism 
when some of the states debauched themselves 
to an advertising campaign in order to induce 
incorporation under their laws, the “most 
liberal,” that is the most lax, in the United 
States. Here too uniformity has been at- 
tempted by state action, and as yet not even 
an act has been agreed upon. Very naturally 
again public opinion turns to the national 
branch for relief, demanding either a federal 
incorporation act, a federal license, or any 
form of relief that federal action can give. 
Yet the constitutionality of such a law has 
been questioned. 

In the various states, the progressive ele- 
ment is urging reform on such questions as 
hours of labor, woman and child labor, mini- 
mum wage, protection from machinery, pro- 
tection from trade diseases, in short all the 
problems of modern factory life. What kind 
of opposition is met? A kind that is very 
difficult to reply to—successfully. The manu- 
facturer says: “ Yes, hours of labor should be 
reduced; children should not be employed; we 
ought to take greater precautions to protect 


840 SCIENCE 


our employees; the situation does demand 
relief; but, however much we should desire all 
this, it is impossible if we are to continue in 
this business. We are met with a cold eco- 
nomic fact. Our strongest competitor against 
whom we can just hold our own [and every 
industry has such] lives in the state of X, 
which state is even now more lenient in its 
factory laws. If you accomplish this reform, 
you will ruin us. We could not compete under 
such unfavorable conditions. If you can force 
the state of X to pass similar laws, we 
heartily favor these very necessary reforms.” 
And in state after state, year after year, has 
this type of argument defeated reforms that 
all felt were reasonable and desirable from 
every other standpoint. Some of our most 
progressive states will not listen to such argu- 
ment, but eventually they must. What again 
is the result? The public is looking for a 
national child labor law, a national law for 
women, hoping to accomplish these reforms by 
an unwarranted interpretation of the interstate 
commerce clause. A constitutional amendment 
is necessary. 

In this way the reader could be taken 
through a host of subjects in which a national 
law would solve the situation. Yet in each 
case such a law is either clearly unconstitu- 
tional, or constitutional only through some re- 
markable jugglery which the public to-day 
expects of the court, in view of the difficulty 
of amendment. To-day the commissioners on 
uniform state laws are considering or are 
urging uniformity in such questions as part- 
nership, negotiable instruments, bills of 
lading, warehouse receipts, sales, stock trans- 
fer, workmen’s compensation, taxation, insur- 
ance, carriers, conveyancing, acknowledging 
of instruments, the making and proof of wills 
as well as many other subjects. One might 
speak of the evils of double taxation or of the 
tangling question of situs in taxation; one 
might recall the insurance scandal in New 
York some years ago, the reforms put through 
in some of the states, and the agitation for a 
‘national insurance act; but the instances 
quoted show that quite a delicate situation 
exists. And in every case it is very unlikely 


[N.S. Von. XX XVIII. No. 989 


that anything like real uniformity can be ac- 
complished and permanently so by the volun- 
tary action of the states. So that in each case 
a constitutional amendment would seem to be 
the only remedy, providing of course that the 
original and long-accepted thesis is true, 
namely that Congress possesses only conferred 
powers or powers implied from them. 
Suddenly and almost unnoticed we have pre- 
sented to us what looks like a solution of the 
whole difficulty. It is the theory lying back of 
the national bird law recently passed by Con- 
gress, and just being put into effect by the 
agricultural department, the so-called McLean 
Bird Act, regulating the killing of migratory 
and insectivorous birds. On what theory can 
such a law be constitutional? We shall see. 
Almost daily we hear of the ravages of this 
or that insect. Now it is the San José scale, 
at another time the locust, sometimes the green 
leaf louse, and at another the potato bug. 
Nature has blessed us with an almost countless 
horde of insects which each year are causing 
tremendous damage to our crops. Experts 
have estimated this damage at various 
amounts. Dr. C. L. Marlatt, basing his esti- 
mate on statistics from the Department of 
Agriculture, concludes that an annual damage 
of 800 million dollars results. Mr. Forbush 
in his book, “ Useful Birds,” reaches the same 
conclusion. Whatever the damage may be is 
unimportant here; sufficient for our purpose 
that it is enormous. Likewise the experts have 
demonstrated that each of these ruthless in- 
sects has a natural enemy in the form of this 
or that bird. The claim very naturally follows 
that much of this damage can be avoided by 
encouraging the existence of the type of bird 
that feeds on the ravaging insects. The advo- 
cates of the national law declare that some 
states have failed to pass laws protecting such 
birds. For example one state protects robins 
and blackbirds, while another prefers to give 
to its inhabitants this source of food. These 
birds are migratory. What is the result? 
Protected in one state, and slaughtered in an- 
other. Any state that protects birds does so 
only to the advantage of another state, depriv- 
ing its own citizens of this same source of food. 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


It “cuts its own throat” so to speak, by its 
own conscientiousness. This state will accord- 
ingly wipe out the prohibition, and so every- 
where the law of the state with the most elastic 
conscience, becomes the law of all. One lenient 
state drags down all the others, for the laws 
protecting birds are competitive. So the birds 
die hard, and the hordes of insects go on multi- 
plying and enjoying themselves at our expense. 
Up to this point there has been unanimity of 
opinion. From now we tread on doubtful 
ground. 

Senator McLean, of Connecticut, believes that 
there must be an inherent right to protect one- 
self against this scourge. But where does this 
power lodge, in the federal or in the state 
branch? Senator McLean argues that the ex- 
perience of 125 years, with diverse, spasmodic 
and crazy-quilt state laws has demonstrated 
their failure, and has proven conclusively that 
the power does not rest in the states. Their in- 
ability to efficiently protect birds and the conse- 
quent failure to reduce the insect pest, an ex- 
periment carried on for 125 years, shows that 
they do not possess this power. And some- 
where, he contends, there must be lodged this 
power of self-protection. The states do not 
possess it; experience has so proven. There is 
but one alternative, the national branch. On 
this theory the national bird law was passed. 
The theory might be stated in the following 
form: “ Whenever a particular power can not 
be efficiently exercised by individual state 
action, then that power is lodged in the 
federal branch. There need be no specific 
grant of power in the constitution, nor any 
implication from granted powers. The fact 
that diverse state action has failed proves it 
to be a federal power.” When Senator McLean 
gave to the Senate the reasoning by which to 
uphold the constitutionality of a national bird 
law, to hold for migratory and insectivorous 
birds, the senators had great doubts; but as the 
reform was very necessary they passed the 
bill, shifting thereby a burden and possibly 
public criticism on the court. 

A few excerpts from his speech of January 
14, 1913, will state the legal reasoning by 
which the law is to be upheld. He said: 


SCIENCE 


841 


My contention is that congress has the implied 
power as a natural and necessary attribute of its 
sovereignty to provide for the common defense 
and general welfare of the nation whenever the 
need is general and manifest, and the subject is 
such that no state, acting separately, can protect 
and defend itself against the threatened danger or 
secure to itself those benefits to which it is justly 
entitled as a part of the nation. 

If the state, by exerting its authority, can se- 
cure to its citizens the protection to which it is 
justly and fairly entitled, there will be no need of 
federal interference except as it may be comple- 
mentary and at the request and with the approval 
of the state, but if the need for assistance is mani- 
fest, if the danger is real and general and it is 
not within the power of a single state to protect 
itself and secure the benefits and protection to 
which it is justly entitled, then there is, as it 
seems to me, no escape from the conclusion that 
the common defense and general welfare of the 
people must utterly fail unless the nation can 
come to the rescue. 


Senator Borah declared: 


I do not think that the constitution of the 
United States can be construed in the light of 
the negligence of the states. Simply because the 
states neglect to use their reserved powers consti- 
tutes no reason why the national government 
should assume to exercise unconstitutional powers. 


At another point Senator McLean said: 


I frankly said that I did not myself find au- 
thority for it [the national bird law] in any ex- 
press clause of the constitution, but I thought it 
was one of the implied attitudes of sovereignty, 
based upon the incompetency of any state to ac- 
complish the results desired, and that it is abso- 
lutely necessary that any nation worthy of the 
name shall have this power. 


Senator McLean could cite no decision in 
point on this novel theory. Yet the same 
theory has been urged before and has been 
by some called the Wilson rule of construc- 
tion. In 1785 James Wilson used language 
applicable to our constitution, though the argu- 
ment was then made under the Articles of 
Confederation. He said: 


Though the United States in congress assembled 
derive from the particular states no power, juris- 


842 


diction or right which is not expressly delegated 
by the confederation, it does not then follow that 
the United States in congress have no other pow- 
ers, jurisdictions or rights, than those delegated 
by the particular states. The United States have 
general rights, general powers and general obliga- 
tions, not derived from any particular states taken 
separately; but resulting from the union of the 
whole. To many purposes the United States are 
to be considered as one undivided, independent na- 
tion; and as possessed of all rights, powers and 
properties by the law of nations incident to such. 
Whenever an object occurs, to the direction of 
which no particular state is competent, the man- 
agement of it must, of necessity, belong to the 
United States in congress assembled. There are 
many objects of this extended nature. 


In one of his speeches, after a few compli- 
mentary words for James Wilson, Mr. Roose- 
velt said: 


He developed even before Marshall the doctrine 
(absolutely essential not merely to the efficiency 
but to the existence of this nation) that an in- 
herent power rested in the nation outside of the 
enumerated powers conferred upon it by the con- 
‘stitution, in all cases where the object involved 
‘was beyond the power of the several states, and 
was a power ordinarily exercised by sovereign na- 
tions. . . . Certain judicial decisions have done 
just what Wilson feared; they have, as a matter 
of fact, left vacancies, left blanks between the 
limits of actual national jurisdiction over the 
control of the great business corporations. Aetual 
experience has shown that the states are 
wholly powerless to deal with this subject [con- 
trol of corporations] and any action or decision 
that deprives the nation of the power to deal with 
it simply results in leaving the corporations free 
to work without any effective supervision. 

One might quote no end of decisions and 
texts declaring that Congress has only con- 
ferred and implied powers. Until this act the 
proposition has been regarded as settled. 
Therefore only one very recent case will be 
cited. In the ease of Kansas v. Colorado, 206 
U. S. 46, 1907, the same argument as that 
underlying the bird law was presented, and the 
court by Justice Brewer replied: 

But the proposition that there are legislative 
powers affecting the nation, as a whole, which be- 
long to, although not expressed in, the grant of 
powers, is in direct conflict with the doctrine that 


SCIENCE 


{[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 989 


this is a government of enumerated powers. That 
this is such a government clearly appears from the 
constitution, independently of the amendments, 
for otherwise there would be an instrument grant- 
ing certain specified things made operative to 
grant other and distinct things. 


He then shows it to be conflicting with the 
10th amendment, which declares: 


The powers not delegated to the United States 
by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or 
to the people. 


This means that in the ordinary way—con- 
stitutional amendment—this new power could 
be thrown into the federal sphere, but in no 
other way ean it be accomplished. 

Constitutional thought then would seem to 
be unanimous against the validity of the Mc- 
Lean law, although there is “a” theory on 
which it might be vindicated. Public opinion 
is quite interested in a national bird law, and 
naturally hopes for a favorable decision. 

What will be the effect of a decision declar- 
ing valid this new type of national powers, 
never before exercised. It will mean that 
Congress can legislate on any subject in which 
uniformity is desirable but impossible by 
diverse state action. It will open the way for 
a federal divorce law, a federal marriage law, 
a federal incorporation law, a federal insur- 
ance law, federal laws regulating hours of 
labor and the conditions of labor, federal laws 
on negotiable instruments, bills of lading, 
warehouse receipts, partnership, in fact the 
whole list of subjects which is now being 
urged upon the states for uniform adoption. It 
is conceivable too that after Congress has once 
legislated on such a subject, conditions may 
change, and uniformity become undesirable. 
Would it not follow then that the particular 
power would again be shifted to the states, 
and could not be constitutionally exercised by 
the federal branch? It is apparent that this 
new doctrine would virtually wipe out our 
whole division of powers between the state 
and federal branches, and would erect in its 
place a shifting rule depending on economic 
conditions. It would virtually destroy our con- 
stitution as far as the division of powers is 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


concerned, for there might just as well be no 
constitutional provision on such subjects. The 
courts too would have a delicate task, for they 
must decide whether uniformity is desirable, 
and second whether state action has produced 
an efficient result—both of which would be 
social, economic and political rather than legal 
questions; and on both of these hardly two 
people will agree. One can see the new field of 
legislation that this new theory opens up. It 
would make our constitution as elastic as the 
English constitution as far as the division of 
powers is concerned. It would revolutionize 
our whole constitutional growth. An early 
decision by the Supreme Court of the United 
States is then to be looked forward to with 
great interest both by the public and by stu- 
dents of law and government. 
RaymMonpD THEODORE ZILLMER 


AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION 


Tue thirteenth annual meeting of the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Association will be held at 
New Haven, Conn., on December 29, 30 and 31, 
in acceptance of the invitation of the Philo- 
sophical Department of Yale University. The 
sessions will begin on the afternoon of the 29th. 
The American Psychological Association will 
also meet at New Haven at the same time, and 
there will be one joint session of the two 
Associations. 

The subject for consideration in this joint 
‘session is “The Standpoint and Method of 
Psychology.” At the present time it is still 
uncertain whether this session will be devoted 
wholly to discussion of this subject, or whether 
a varied program will be made from among 
the papers offered, of a few of those that prom- 
‘ise to be of greatest interest. 

By a resolution adopted at its last meeting 
the Philosophical Association is this year com- 
mitted to the discussion of some important 
problem for two sessions. This will give oppor- 
tunity for both the opening papers and a sub- 
sequent adequate consideration of the subject 
-chosen. The question selected for this main 
discussion is the problem of the relation of 
existence and value, including their relation 
‘both as facts and as concepts, and also the 


SCIENCE 


843 


relation of a theory of existence to a theory of 
value. 
E. G. SPauLpIne, 


Secretary 
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 


AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS 


Tue American Society of Zoologists, in 
affiliation with the American Society of 
Naturalists, the American Society of Anato- 
mists and the Federation of American Soci- 
eties for Experimental Biology, will hold a 
joint meeting of its eastern and central 
branches at Philadelphia from December 29 to 
January 1. 

A joint meeting of the two branches of the 
Society is held this year in order that the re- 
port of the “ Committee on organization and 
policy ” may be considered and voted upon. 
This committee, consisting of EK. G. Conklin, 
G. A. Drew and R. G. Harrison, representing 
the Eastern Branch; F. R. Lillie, M. M. Met- 
calf and W. A. Locy, representing the Central 
Branch, and the president of the society, ex 
officio, was appointed at the Princeton meet- 
ing and instructed to report at the meeting 
held in Cleveland. At the Cleveland meeting 
no report was received and the society con- 
tinued the committee. On August 15, 1918, 
a meeting of the committee, called by Pro- 
fessor H. B. Ward, president of the society, 
was held at Woods Hole, at which a constitu- 
tion for the society was outlined and agreed 
upon. At this meeting Drs. Lefevre, Reighard 
and Parker were invited to meet with the com- 
mittee and take part in the deliberations, thus 
filling temporarily the places of members of 
the committee not at Woods Hole. The draft 
of the constitution formulated at this meeting 
was later sent to all the members of the orig- 
inal committee by the chairman, Dr. G. A. 
Drew, and certain changes and additions 
agreed upon have been made. 

Since this meeting falls in eastern territory, 
the eastern branch will act as host, and, as re- 
quired by the constitution, the officers of the 
eastern branch will be responsible for the pro- 
gram and other necessary arrangements. 
Members of both branches should, therefore, 


844 


send titles of papers to the secretary of the 
eastern branch. If possible, abstracts not ex- 
ceeding two hundred words should be for- 
warded at the same time as the titles of papers. 
In no case will abstracts be received later than 
the date of the final adjournment of the com- 
ing meetings. Members are requested to indi- 
cate the group to which their papers belong in 
such a scheme as is here given: (1) Compara- 
tive Anatomy; (2) Embryology; (3) Cytology; 
(4) Genetics; (5) Comparative Physiology; 
(6) Ecology; (7) Miscellaneous Subjects. 
The last session of the Zoologists will be 
held on Thursday, January 1. The meetings 
of the Naturalists are planned for Wednes- 
day, December 31. The Naturalists’ dinner 
will be given on Wednesday evening. 
CASWELL GRAVE, 


Secretary Eastern Branch 
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, 
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 


THE SIGMA XI CONVENTION 


Tue fifteenth convention of the society will 
be held at Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, 
December 30. It is proposed that the delegates 
to the convention have luncheon at one o’clock, 
followed by the meeting for the transaction of 
business. In the evening there will be a 
dinner for members of the society and their 
guests. 

By the rules of the society the convention is 
held at the time and place of the meeting of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science unless otherwise provided for 
by the officers of the society. In view of the 
distance of Atlanta from the larger scientific 
centers, the question was submitted to the 
members of the council. Twenty-nine voted 
to meet at Atlanta, two to hold the meeting 
elsewhere or not at all, and three were 
doubtful. 

There is every reason to believe that a suc- 
cessful meeting for the transaction of busi- 
ness will be held at Atlanta. Members of the 
council who have been influential in the devel- 
opment of the society have expressed their 
intention to be present, and it may be ex- 
pected that the chapters will be adequately 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


represented by their delegates. As the scien- 
tifie programs of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science and the affiliated 
societies will be less crowded than usual, the 
convention will have time to consider the 
important questions that will be brought be- 
fore it. 


DELEGATES TO THE CONVOCATION WEEK 
MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSO- 
CIATION FOR THE ADV ANCE- 
MENT OF SCIENCE 

At the Cleveland meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 
a committee was appointed to address a letter 
to educational institutions, government bu- 
reaus and other agencies engaged in scientific 
research, requesting them to send one or 
more delegates to the annual convocation week 
meetings of the American Association and the 
affiliated societies. This committee, which 
consists of Professor Charles 8. Minot, chair- 
man, Harvard Medical School; Professor J. 
McKeen Cattell, Columbia University, and 
Dr. L. O. Howard, the permanent secretary 
of the association, has addressed to a list of 
institutions the following letter: 

At the meeting of the council of this Association, 
held in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 3, 1913, the 


‘following resolutions were adopted: 


1. Resolved: That the Council of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science re- 
quests the educational institutions, government 
bureaus and other agencies engaged in scientific 
research to send one or more delegates to the an- 
nual convocation week meetings of the Association 
and its affiliated societies, and that when possible 
the traveling expenses of the delegates be paid by 
the institutions which they represent. 

2. Resolved: That a committee of three be ap- 
pointed by the chair to draw up a list of institu- 
tions to which this resolution, together with a suit- 
able letter, shall be sent by the permanent secre- 
tary. 

The undersigned, in accordance with the above 
resolutions, were appointed as the committee called 
for, and we have the honor to invite your institu- 
tion to send one or more delegates to the next 
meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science which will be held at At- 
lanta, Georgia, December 29, 1913, to January 3, 
1914. We believe it will be of substantial benefit 
to your institution to be thus represented at our 
meeting. A considerable number of affiliated na- 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


tional scientific societies will meet together with 
the Association, which thus becomes a national 
congress, at which all the most important work 
and the most important problems of science and 
scientific education are adequately discussed. The 
paying of the expenses of delegates is not an inno- 
vation, as it is already the custom of several insti- 
tutions, and in Europe it is the general custom, 
owing to the belief that the sending of official 
delegates to important scientific meetings is of 
great benefit to the institutions they represent. 


Members of the association are requested 
by the committee to use their influence to 
secure the appointment of delegates from the 
institutions with which they are connected. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Booker T. WASHINGTON, principal of 
the Tuskegee Industrial Institute, Alabama, 
extends a cordial invitation to the members of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and of the affiliated societies 
to visit the institute at the close of the Atlanta 
meeting. 


A portrait of the late Dr. Morris Loeb, 
formerly professor of chemistry at New York 
University, was unveiled in the Gould Mem- 
orial Library at New York University on 
December 4. Mrs. Loeb, who presented the 
portrait, was present at the exercises, and 
Chancellor Elmer E. Brown accepted the gift 
in behalf of the university. Speeches of trib- 
ute to Dr. Loeb’s memory were delivered by 
Dr. Arthur E. Hill, director of the Havemeyer 
chemical laboratory, of New York University, 
and Professor Charles Baskerville, director of 
the laboratory at the College of the City of 
New York. 


Tue Grashof Medal was presented to Mr. 
George Westinghouse at the recent meeting of 
the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers. The medal was awarded to him last 
summer at the joint meeting at Leipzig of the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers 
and the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure. 


On the evening of December 17, the faculty 
of Brown University will give a dinner to Pro- 
fessor John H. Appleton, Newport-Rogers 
professor of chemistry, who this year com- 


SCIENCE 


845 


pletes fifty years of service. Professor Apple- 
ton began teaching at Brown University at the 
unusually early age of nineteen. 


Dr. SHosuKE Sato, professor and dean of 
the Agricultural College of the Tohoku Uni- 
versity, has been designated as exchange pro- 
fessor at the American universities. He was 
a student of agricultural economy at Johns 
Hopkins University and also in Germany from 
1882 to 1886. 


Proressor A. A. Noyes, of the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, will during the 
second semester of the year conduct courses 
and give lectures in chemistry at the Throop 
College of Technology, Pasadena, Cal. 


Magsor F. F. Russetu, formerly professor of 
bacteriology and pathology at the Army Medi- 
eal School, Washington, D. C., has been ap- 
pointed lecturer in tropical medicine at the 
New York Post-Graduate Medical School and 
Hospital. Major E. R. Whitemore, recently 
lecturer in tropical medicine at the Post- 
Graduate Medical School, has been transferred 
to Washington, and is now professor of bac- 
teriology and pathology at the Army Medical 
School. 


Capt. J. F. Smer, of the Medical Corps of 
the United States Army, and Mr. A. H. Jen- 
nings, of the Bureau of Entomology, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, have recently returned 
from the West Indies, where, in association 
with Dr. Louis W. Sambon, of the London 
School of Tropical Medicine, they have been 
investigating pellagra and other tropical dis- 
eases in the interests of the Thompson-Mc- 
Fadden Pellagra Commission of the New York 
Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital. 


M. JEAN PeErRIN, professor of physical 
chemistry at the University of Paris and at 
present exchange professor at Columbia Uni- 
versity, gave an illustrated lecture on Decem- 
ber 4, on “ Brownian Movement and Molecular 
Reality ” at a joint meeting of the Washington 
Academy of Sciences and the Philosophical 
Society of Washington. 


Dr. Max Puanok has been installed as rector 
of the University of Berlin and gave on the 


846 


oceasion an address on “ New Paths of Phys- 
ical Research.” 


Proressor J. Curester Brapiey, of Cornell 
University, addressed the New York Entomo- 
logical Society on December 2 on “ Collecting 
Insects in the Okefenoke Swamp.” Professor 
Bradley was one of several Cornell zoologists 
who began a biological reconnoissance of the 
Okefenoke Swamp in southeastern Georgia 
in the summer of 1912. He again visited the 
swamp during the past summer, and in com- 
pany with Dr. J. G. Needham will return for 
a short stay next month. A preliminary ac- 
count of the features of the swamp in connec- 
tion with a report on the ornithology of the 
expedition was published by Dr. A. H. Wright 
and Mr. F, H. Harper in the Auk for October, 
1913. 


Proressor H. OC. Jones, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, delivered an illustrated lec- 
ture on “ Radium and Its Properties” Tues- 
day evening, December 2, before the Natural 
History Society of Harrisburg, Pa. 


Mrs. Curistine LAapp-FRANKLIN held a con- 
ference on Color-Vision on December 6 at the 
Brooklyn Academy of Music. 


AN interesting program is already assured 
in connection with Section E, Geology and 
Geography, of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, at the approach- 
ing meeting in Atlanta. The mineral re- 
sources of the south will be fully presented by 
means of papers, maps and mineral exhibits 
by the geologists of the southern states. The 
program also includes papers of general geo- 
logical interest. The titles and abstracts of 
papers to be read before Section E should be 
sent at once to Professor George F. Kay, 
Iowa City, Iowa. 


THE power schooner Mary Sachs, one of the 
boats of Mr. Vilhjalmar Stefansson’s Canadian 
Arctic exploring expedition, has been wrecked 
in the ice off the Arctic coast of Alaska. The 
ice crushed the schooner and all the provisions 
and scientific instruments were lost. The 
Mary Sachs was purchased at Nome by Mr. 
Stefansson for use of the southern party of the 
Canadian expedition, which also has the power 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 989 


schooner Alaska. Dr. R. M. Anderson, com- 
manding the southern party, is aboard the 
Alaska, and Mr. Kenneth Chipman, the geolo- 
gist, was placed in command of the Mary 
Sachs. The last previous report received 
from the expedition was carried by messenger 
to Circle City, Alaska, arriving there Novem- 
ber 10. The messenger reported the Mary 
Sachs and the Alaska ice-bound at Collinson 
Point, Alaska, one hundred miles west of the 
international boundary. The Mary Sachs was 
a gasoline schooner of 350 tons gross register. 
She carried a crew of three men. The south- 
ern party was to have made a scientific explora- 
tion of Victoria Land and Banks Land, while 
Mr. Stefansson on the Karluk explored the 
unmapped region in Beauford Sea. 


Tue American National Red Cross an- 
nounces the receipt of gifts of $100,000 each 
from Mr. Jacob H. Schiff and Mr. James A. 
Serymser, and of $2,000 from Mrs. Whitelaw 
Reid. The gift from Mr. Scrymser is to be 
added to the fund for the purchase of land in 
Washington on which the government is to 
erect a building for the Red Cross as a me- 
morial to the women of the Civil War. Con- 
gress has already appropriated the sum of 
$400,000 to cover the cost of constructing the 
building, and the Red Cross has offered to 
raise the $300,000 necessary for the purchase 
of the land. 


CLosER union between the state board of 
health and Ohio State University and its de- 
partments of instruction is contemplated in 
the proposal to move the state laboratories to 
the university campus. <A detention hospital 
for the wards of the state will also be built 
there and public health conserved by univer- 
sity service. The proposition was endorsed at 
a recent meeting by the board of administra- 
tion, the state university trustees and Gover- 
nor Cox. It is believed that the plan will 
reduce the expense of operating the state 
board of health laboratories, afford practical 
work for students in the preparation of serums 
and the making of experiments, and enlarge 
the efficiency of the state in its relation to 
public health. Governor Cox also endorses 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


the proposal to move the state library to the 
campus. 


Tue daily life of the ancient cliff dwellers 
is exhibited in the new permanent “ South- 
western Indian Hall” just added to the mu- 
seum of anthropology of the University of 
California, in San Francisco. Two other 
phases of aboriginal life are abundantly illus- 
trated in the same new hall—the town-dwelling 
carts, crafts, rites and industries of the Pueblo 
Indians, and the life of war and the chase led 
by the nomadic tribes of the Southwest, such 
as the wild Apaches, Navajos, Pimas, Papagos 
nd Walapais. The museum is open free to 
the public daily except Monday, with free lec- 
tures every Sunday at 3. It has four other 
large permanent exhibition halls—Egyptian, 
Greek, Peruvian and Californian—besides 
‘smaller unit collections. The collections of 
this museum of anthropology are said to be 
-worth from three to five million dollars. They 
are the gift to the university of Mrs. Phoebe 
A. Hearst. The department of anthropology 
is extending its usefulness by field investiga- 
tions of Indian languages and customs, by 
‘correspondence courses in anthropology, and 
‘by sending out to any school that desires 
traveling loan collections illustrating life 
-among the Indians. 


At the meeting of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia, held the 2d inst., 
the following was unanimously adopted: 


WHEREAS, The academy has been informed by 
‘the council of the receipt and adoption of a final 
Teport on the centenary celebration and the dis- 
«charge of the committee having charge of it, 

Resolved, That the academy, approving of the ac- 
tion of the council, desires to express its obligation 
to the committee and to record on the minutes 
its thanks for the entirely adequate and satisfac- 
‘tory discharge of its duties, resulting in a record of 
-achievement which can not fail to be an incentive 
to those who will celebrate the second centenary of 
the academy in 2012. 


Buuuetin 539 of the Harvard College Ob- 
servatory, signed by Dr. Edward C. Pickering, 
the director, states that Titan, the brightest 
-satellite of Saturn, has been found to be vari- 
able from a discussion of observations taken on 


SCIENCE 


847 


60 nights by the late Oliver C. Wendell. The 
measurements were made with the 15-inch 
equatorial as described in H.A. 69, Part 1. 
The light varies regularly from 8.53 to 8.77, 
when reduced to mean opposition. The aver- 
age deviation of twelve groups from a smooth 
curve is + 0.023. The period as in the case 
of the eighth satellite, Japetus, is the same as 
that of revolution. Accordingly, it is probably 
due, in both cases, to one side of the satellite 
being darker than the other. Titan is fainter 
than its mean brightness for only about one 
third of the time. The minimum occurs near 
the times of superior conjunction. From 
similar observations, on 96 nights, Japetus was 
found to vary from 10.40 to 12.18. The maxi- 
mum brightness occurs very near the western 
elongation. 


THE study of protective coatings for iron 
and steel, begun by the American Society for 
Testing Materials in 1903 and continued un- 
brokenly and with increasing effectiveness to 
the present time, is described in detail in the 
reports of Committee E (now Committee 
D-1), now published in combined form in a 
single volume by the American Society for 
Testing Materials. During the first few years 
of the committee’s work, it had more or less to 
feel its ground, but as soon as definite lines of 
work became clear to it, this work was taken 
up and pushed as vigorously as possible, con- 
sistent with the exercise of conservative judg- 
ment. The first constructive work the com- 
mittee undertook was in the application of 
nineteen different paints on the Havre de 
Grace bridge in 1906. Since then a great deal 
of work has been accomplished in the study 
of white paints, the influence of pigments 
upon corrosion, linseed oil, soya bean oil, 
China wood oil, turpentine, definitions of 
terms used in paint specifications, ete. 
There is probably no book which con- 
tains within its covers so much orig- 
inal work on the subject of paints. Com- 
mittee D-1, approximately made up, as it is, 
half of representatives of producing interests, 
and half of representatives of consuming in- 
terests, constitutes a body of investigators, 
unhampered as to any line of investigation it 


848 


may take up, but conservative as to the con- 
clusions it draws. The volume is arranged 
chronologically, and the contents give full in- 
formation as to where the reports of the vari- 
ous subcommittees appear. These reports con- 
tain numerous tables giving analyses and 
classifications of paint materials. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


At the meeting of the National Association 
of State Universities, which was held recently 
in Washington, D. C., a committee was ap- 
pointed to draw up plans and policies to be 
submitted to congress for its approval. A bill 
will be presented asking for $500,000 as the 
first step in the organization. 


A FuND of $500,000, which the Knights of 
Columbus of this country have been collecting 
for more than two years for the Catholic Uni- 
versity at Washington, has been completed. 
The gift, it is understood, will be presented 
to the institution some time during the 
Christmas holidays. 


THE board of regents of the University of 
California has announced the completion of 
the additional fund of $600,000 for the erec- 
tion of the hospital building which is to be a 
part of the College of Medicine of the univer- 
sity. It is stated that the principal donations 
to the fund are from Mr. and Mrs. William H. 
Crocker, Templeton Crocker and Mrs. C. B. 
Alexander, New York, who contributed $150,- 
000, and Mr. John Keith who also gave $150,- 
000. A committee has been appointed to 
administer the fund and supervise the erection 
of the building. 

Tue library of the late Dr. Ernest Ziegler, 
professor of pathology at Frieburg, founder of 
the Beztrage zur Pathologische Anatomie and 
author of the well-known text-book on pathol- 
ogy, was presented formally to the medical 
department of the University of Pittsburgh on 
December 4. The donor is Mr. Richard B. 
Mellon of Pittsburgh. 

Facu.ty promotions at Oberlin for the com- 
ing year include: Robert A. Budington, asso- 
ciate professor of zoology, to be professor of 
zoology and head of the department; Dr. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


George R. M. Wells, instructor in psychology, 
to be associate professor; Dr. S. P. Nichols, as 
associate professor of zoology. New appoint- 
ments include: Dr. Charles G. Rodgers, to be 
professor of zoology. Dr. Rodgers’s academic 
record is as follows: A.B., Syracuse Univer- 
sity, 1897; A.M., Syracuse, 1899; Ph.D., 
California, 1904; instructor in zoology, Syra- 
cuse, 1899-1902; assistant professor, 1905-07; 
associate professor, 1907-11, and professor 
since 1911. 

New members of the staff of instruction 
of the Throop College of Technology 
are Franklin Thomas, B.E., Iowa, associate 
professor of civil engineering, and Howard J. 
Lucas, B.A., Ohio State University, M.A., 
Chicago, instructor in chemistry in place of 
Charles A. Brautlecht, resigned. Professor 
Thomas has done graduate work at McGill 
University and has been a member of the 
engineering staff at Michigan. He has also 
had practical experience. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
MORE DATA ON THE HISTORY OF THE DOLLAR MARK 


PRIVATE correspondence carried on since the 
publication of my article on the evolution of 
the dollar mark in the Popular Science 
Monthly for December, 1912, has brought to 
my attention some new material and a few 
minor corrections, which seem worthy of pub- 
lication. I may say at the outset that the new 
material does not modify the conclusion I had 
reached, viz., that the modern dollar mark de- 
scended from p’, the Spanish-American ab- 
breviation for “pesos.” As a first correction, 
my former statement that in Argentina, $ is 
placed after the numerals, thus 65  shwuld be 
modified by inserting “usually” or “fre- 
quently.” In the newspaper La Prensa, pub- 
lished in Buenos Aires, the $ usually follows 
the numerals in the short advertisements, but 
usually precedes the numerals when they are 
arranged in columns. Again, I said that the $ 
occurred in the Hawaiian edition of 1845 of 
Warren Colburn’s “ Mental Arithmetic,” but 
the corresponding secretary of the Hawaiian 
Historical Society kindly informs me that the 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


edition of 1835 contains the $ and that there 
was a still earlier edition which he had not 
seen. I had stated that, in 1802, William A. 
Washington used the $; Mr. E. Tobitt, of the 
Omaha Public Library, informs me that an 
original ledger of George Washington himself, 
owned by the library, contains the $ fre- 
quently. The earliest date of the ledger is 
January 1, 1799. It would be interesting to 
receive reports about older Washington ledgers 
on this point. 

Of value, by way of corroboration of our 
conclusions, is the following quotation from a 
letter of Professor H. E. Bolton, of the Uni- 
versity of California. He says: 

I see that your conclusion is just what mine was, 
with the difference that yours is based upon wide 
research, in different languages, while mine was 
based upon incidental observations in connection 
with work on Spanish manuscripts. 

Most interesting information relating to the 
early use of the dollar mark is contained in a 
letter which I received recently from Mr. 
Augustus H. Fiske, of Cambridge, Mass. Mr. 
Fiske points out that the modern dollar mark 
oceurs in a diary of Ezra L’Hommedieu for 
the year 1776. This date is two years earlier 
than the earliest occurrence of the modern dol- 
lar mark that is mentioned in my article in 
the Popular Science Monthly. Mr. L’Hom- 
medieu was a native of Southold, Long Is- 
land. After graduating from Yale he prac- 
tised law in New York City. He was a mem- 
ber of the New York Provincial Assembly 
which, on July 10, 1776, styled itself the Con- 
vention of the Representatives of the State of 
New York. During a portion of his service 
he kept a diary stating what took place in the 
assembly. This is still in the possession of 
his descendants. The first date mentioned in 
the diary is June 10, 1776. It ends abruptly 
on December 5, 1776. 

Before August 21, 1776, most of the sums 
of money mentioned in the diary are expressed 
in pounds and shillings. When dollars are 
mentioned, the word “ dollars” is written out 
in full. On August 21 occurs the first use of 
the dollar mark in the diary (see tracing 1). 
I quote the following from Mr. Fiske’s letter: 


SCIENCE 


849 


The item reads, Treasurer to advance to Capt. 
Wisner $580 for bounty. On P. M. Aug. 24th. 
Hugh Doyle is to receive 8 dollars. Here the word 
is spelled out once more. Meanwhile English 
money continues in other items. Under date of 
A, M. Aug. 28th. the treasurer is to advance $10 
for removing military stores from N. Y. Here we 
have the second occurrence of the $ sign (trac- 
ing 2). 

During the next few weeks appropriations in 
dollars become more frequent, though the English 
money still predominates and the dollars are still 
spelled out. On A. M. Octr. 2d, a loan of $100,000 
is obtained from the Continental Congress (trac- 
ing 3), and on Oct. 3d and 4th the same sum is re- 
ferred to in a similar way (tracings 4 and 5). On 
the latter date the treasurer is also to pay 
$6412 2/3 bounty money to the rangers (tracing 
6). The $ sign now appears more frequently. On 
Octr 11th both A. M. and P. M. it appears in ref- 
erence to the loan of $100,000 and an advance of 
$200 to the troops of Orange County (tracings 7 
and 8); and the $100,000 again appears on Octr. 
14th A. M. (tracing 9). 

Meanwhile references to English money con- 
tinue, but only one to dollars, written out, on A. M. 
Oct 15th. That same day $10,000 was appropri- 
ated to buy clothing for the troops (tracing 10), 
and the next morning $100 was given to encourage 
the manufacture of flax (tracing 11). 

The next two weeks contain fourteen items of 


oe LE 
one 
J 7 ff 


English money and it is not till P. M. Octr. 31st 
that Uriah Mitchell applies for cash on account of 
wages as a daily rider and received $100 on ac- 
count (tracing 12). The appropriation was ap- 
proved the next morning and referred to as $100 
(tracing 13). English money is now referred to 
until P. M. Nov. 9th when E. Benson Esqr., is to 


850 


apply to the General Court of New Hampshire for 
$1000 (tracing 14). Thereafter until the end of 
the book the money is all in English pounds. 

We see in the above the gradual substitution of 
the conventional $ sign for the spelled word. The 
spelling out of the word becomes less and less fre- 
quent as the record proceeds. If we examine the 
tracings of the signs, we find that the first eleven 
have the S crossed by only one line. The last three 
have the double line as it is used at the present 
day. 

Frortan Cagort 

COLORADO COLLEGE, 

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. 


A NON-CHROMATIC REGION IN THE SPECTRUM 
FOR BEES 


To THE Epiror oF Science: The brilliant 
work of Professor K. v. Frisch, of Munich, on 
the color sense of bees (which follows upon his 
very ingenious investigation of the color sense 
of fishes and of crabs) seems to have been 
strangely overlooked in this country, where 
more confidence is placed in the very insufii- 
cient (from the point of view of logic) con- 
clusions of Hess than they deserve. v. Frisch 
carried on his experiments on bees in the open 
air, in the close vicinity of an aviary; he 
found that a single day’s training was sufii- 
cient to enable many hundreds of bees to form 
the association: Whatever is blue is sweet, 
whatever is gray (of any one of thirty-two 
different shades) is not sweet. In the same 
way they were able to learn, later, that yellow 
indicates sweetness; no amount of training, 
however (they were tried steadily for ten suc- 
cessive days), could teach them to distinguish 
between red and black. Training for green 
had to be postponed for another year, on ac- 
count of the oncoming of the cold and rainy 
weather of autumn, which rendered the bees 
too sluggish to carry on the work. 

Professor vy. Frisch’s results are so striking, 
especially the proof of the total blindness to 
red of his bees (shown already by Washburn 
and by Watson in the case of higher animals), 
and his method (which I do not give here) 
was so good—so convincing and so little con- 
sumptive of time—that I was anxious to have 
him, when the weather permitted, put to the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989) 


test a question which had been in my mind for 
some time, namely, whether, when animals are 
insensitive to red, there can not be found a 
certain blue-green (its complementary color) 
to which they are also insensitive—whether 
they have not, in other words, a dichromatic: 
(yellow and blue) color system only. I there- 
fore wrote to Professor v. Frisch some three 
weeks ago on this point, and I have now re- 
ceived a reply from him. He writes me that 
he has already tried the experiment, and that 
my Vermuthung is justified. There is a com- 
pletely non-chromatic region for the bee in 
that part of the color-spectrum which corre- 
sponds to blue-green for the normal eye: no 
amount of training enabled the bees to pick 
out this color from the series of grays, al- 
though, as I have said, a single day sufficed to 
train them to alight, in hundreds, on yellow, or 
on blue, and to leave the grays entirely un- 
visited. This, combined with the fact that the 
point of maximum brightness for bees is. 
shifted well towards the green (the circum- 
stance which led Hess to the erroneous con- 
clusion that bees, as well as all other inverte- 
brates together with fishes, are insensitive to 
chroma—that they have achromatic vision 
only) shows in fact that their vision is 
dichromatie instead of tetrachromatic, that 
their colors are yellow and blue, and that 
their vision resembles in type the protanopic 
form of red-green blindness. 

That this quite extraordinary fact—the 
non-specific quality to bees (as well as to 
fishes) of the blue-greens—has not hitherto 
been discovered by the investigators of the 
color sense of animals is easy to understand, 
for, since one can not readily try all the colors 
of the rainbow, one naturally tries first the 
“unitary ” colors, red, green, yellow and blue, 
instead of the “ color-blends,’ blue-green, 
yellow-green, red-yellow and red-blue (the two 
last are popularly but most unscientifically 
called orange and purple, respectively). One 
forgets, what ought to be a perfectly familiar 
fact, and would be were it not for the innu- 
merable color-illusions which the Hering 
color-theory forces upon its adherents, that 
though the red-green blind individual never 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


gets the sensation green, it is not the chloro- 
genic light-rays (7. e., those which produce for 
us the pure green sensation) that are achro- 
matic to him, but that it is exactly the “ blue- 
green ”-producing light-ray region to which he 
is wholly chroma-blind. This is a hard saying 
for the adherent of the Hering theory: one of 
the many logical voltes-face which he is 
obliged to perform, in order to follow his 
leader, is to believe at one moment that red 
and green are complementary colors (which 
every kindergarten child knows they are not), 
and to admit at the next moment that the mid- 
spectrum region which gives an “ achroma”- 
sensation to the partially color-blind is not 
green but blue-green. This latter fact de- 
mands (and receives) countless most compli- 
cated purely ad hoc hypotheses by way of 
explanation on the part of the adherents of 
Hering (or so many of them as have recog- 
nized its damaging character).2. In my color 
theory? this fact is a matter of course—it is 
one of the facts which the theory was devised 
for the purpose of taking account of. 

Our shockingly inadequate color-language 
does not readily permit us to state—and hence 
still less to remember—that objective light- 
rays of a given periodicity are not in them- 
selves, e. g., “green,” but only a cause of a 
green sensation, in a normal eye, after their 
effect on the retina has been transmitted to the 
cortex. What looks pure* green to a person 
with normal vision will look pure yellow to 
the partially color blind, with equal justifica- 
tion—a fact which is quite destructive to the 


1 Hering himself has explained to me that color 
does not mean much, because colors vary so with 
the illumination! 

2See G. E. Miiller in the Zeitschrift fiir Psy- 
chologie, Bd. XIV., and passim, 

8 See Baldwin’s ‘‘Dictionary of Philosophy and 
Psychology,’’ Art. Vision, and the ‘‘ Psychology’’ 
of Professor Calkins, who has now relegated both 
Helmholtz and Hering to an appendix. My theory 
has lately been appropriated by F. Schenck. v. 
Briicke, Znirlb. f. Physiologie, 20, No. 23. 

4That one can perfectly well form this judg- 
ment ‘‘imitary color,’’ ‘‘color-blend,’’ has lately 
been shown by Westphal, Ztsch. f. Psychol. (1), 
44, p. 182, 1909. 


SCIENCE 


851 


Hering theory. We have here good proof that 
it is important to have a reasonable color- 
theory in the back of one’s mind, or at least 
not to have an unreasonable one. Those who 
maintain that color-theories are, in the present 
stage of our knowledge, of no consequence are 
those who are nevertheless, subconsciously, 
fully dominated by the Hering theory. They 
will tell you, for example, that the brizhtness 
of the most brilliant of reds is wholly due to 
its whiteness, quite as if they were making, 
not a wildly improbable theoretical statement, 
but a plain statement of fact. One of them 
said to me lately, “But I can not think of 
red and green as anything but complementary 
colors!” No physicist, of course, can give a 
moment’s attention to a theory which flies in 
the face of fact to this extent. On the other 
hand, the open-mindedness to psychological 
considerations which the physicist is sure to 
develop some time is already evidenced in a 
phrase lately dropped by Robert Wood (in his 
wonderful book on “Physical Optics”); he 
speaks of an even red and green light-mixture 
as producing “subjective yellow.” This is 
probably the first time that any physicist has 
ever found occasion to admit that though red, 
green and blue spectral lights, if mixed, will 
furnish matches for all the intervening colors 
of the spectrum, it still needs to be explained 
that the series matched by the red-greens con- 
tains, for sensation, no trace of red-greenness. 
Helmholtz himself said that the yellowness of 
red-green, and the whiteness of red-green-blue 
were quite immaterial circumstances. 

J. B. and M. L. Watson, reporting on their 
work on the specific light response of some ro- 
dents, in which they seemed to find that the rat 
does not discriminate between red and green, 
nor between blue and yellow, say: “ To the ad- 
herents of color theories the denial of a response 
based upon wave-length, in the case of red and 
green, and in the case of blue and yellow, is 
the equivalent of denying the possibility of a 
response on the basis of wave-length anywhere 
in the animal’s spectrum.” But this view is 
an indication that all theories look alike to 
them. On my theory, which was devised for 
the purpose of taking account of the facts of 


852 


color vision, it is exactly an even blue-green, 
which looks to the yellow-blue visioned individ- 
ual achromatic. In this case, of course, there 
was no occasion for trying blue-green,,.since the 
rats could not be shown to have any color 
sense at all—a result which there are several 
reasons for having anticipated. Nevertheless, 
it remains true—what v. Frisch’s discovery 
confirms—that you can not, as a matter of 
fact (nor in my theory), draw simple infer- 
ences from the unitary colors to the color- 
blends. 

Professor v. Frisch has sent me specimens 
of the blue-greens to the chroma-quality of 
which his bees are insensitive; I should be glad 
to share them with any one who can proceed 
to test the blue-green sense of any animals 
which are already known to be blind to red. 

CuristINE Lapp-FRANKLIN 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 

November 7, 1913 


NOTES ON A CHESTNUT-TREE INSECT 


WHILE in the employ of the Pennsylvania 
Chestnut Tree Blight Commission, last win- 
ter, my attention was called to numerous bur- 
rows almost always present in the bark of the 
chestnut tree, particularly in the smooth- 
barked trees. These are the burrows that 
Metcalf and Collins referred to in the U. S. 
Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 467, as the work of 
Agrilus bilineatus. As we were sure the bur- 
rows were not made by this species, the com- 
mission force referred to the insect maker as 
the Bast Miner. Not much was accomplished 
on the study of this insect until the spring 
season advanced. Then much effort was di- 
rected to the solving of the life-history of this 
insect and what relation it bore to Endothia 
parasitica. When the work stopped in July, 
the life-history was nearing completion, and 
a number of experiments were in progress 
which would have given some interesting re- 
sults. A detailed account of the description 
of the larva and its work, ete., was prepared 
for publication, but the only adult obtained 
was injured irreparably and probably can not 
be named. Because the adult insect emerged 
after July 1 (the time of my leaving Penn- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


sylvania), it has been impossible to work out 
the egg-laying habits. The larve hibernate 
in the burrows in either the second or third 
instar. During the winter months they are 
inactive, but, as soon as spring opens, activity 
commences. When finished, the burrow is not 
very extensive, the longest not being more than 
six inches and extending longitudinally. In 
width, it extends only over a very short dis- 
tance. 

While the insect is living within the trees, 
the burrow can not be detected externally. 
After the emergence of the larve, however, 
the bark swells over the burrow, often crack- 
ing and making a conspicuous wound. The 
larvee leave the trees during the first part of 
June through minute exit holes, dropping to 
the soil, in which they spin a seed-pod-like 
cocoon, characteristic of some of the Micro- 
lepidoptera. 

Under insectary conditions, the adult insect 
emerges during August. The injured speci- 
men was sent to Mr. W. D. Kearfott, but of 
course could not be named. 

The number of exit holes made by these in- 
sect larve is enormous in any given area of 
chestnut forest and as these holes are made 
just at the time of year that the blight spores 
are very abundant, and conditions generally 
are favorable for their development, it is be- 
lieved that this species of insect has an im- 
portant bearing upon the spread of Hndothia 
parasitica. 

A. G. Rueees 

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, 

November 10, 1913 


A CONNECTING TYPE? 


AN illustration of how completely a student 
may become confused in a written examina- 
tion is shown in the accompanying figure, 
which is an exact tracing, somewhat reduced, 
of the figure drawn by a freshman in an ex- 
amination in elementary zoology. 

The question was to make a sketch, from 
memory, of course, of the anatomy of Amphi- 
oxus, as seen in lateral view. 

At first glance the sketch appears to be a 
fairly good representation of a lateral view of 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


a grasshopper; but more careful examination 
will show that there are various parts of 
Amphioxus mixed into the grasshopper in a 
most remarkable way. These structures are 
so inconspicuous in themselves that they might 
have escaped notice if they had not been so 
plainly indexed, and if the question had been 
upon the anatomy of the grasshopper instead 
of the other animal. 


_ SCIENCE 


853 


the book is not dominated by the conception 
that, notwithstanding details, there is a clear 
path of: advancement in biological thought. 
The preface, and his estimate of some of the 
more prominent men, indicate that the author 
had this conception in mind, but it is not 
clearly carried out. The observations of 
capital importance are not separated from 
those of subordinate interest, nor are the chief 


That the figure was not drawn as a joke 
seems evident from the fact that the student 
failed to pass the examination, and would 
not, of course, take the chance of having one 
question thrown out completely. Perhaps the 
joke is on the instructor, after all. 

A. M. Reese 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Early Naturalists: Their Lives and Work 
(1530-1789). By L. C. Mtatt, D.Se., F.R.S. 
London, Macmillan & Co. 1912. 

This book, by a practical naturalist of honor- 
able attainment in the field of research, is a 
useful book of reference. It has the merit of 
being written from a thorough examination of 
the original sources and is a work of great 
industry and patience. It covers the period 
from 1530 to 1789 during which the sciences of 
organic nature were in the process of making. 
Many of the contributions of the time were 
mixed, and, taken together, they are more in 
the nature of vague foreshadowings of what 
was to come rather than specific additions to 
any science that had already taken definite 
form. This circumstance makes it most diffi- 
cult to convey to the general reader a unified 
picture of progress, and it is to be said that 


results of investigation sufficiently emphasized 
to exalt them above those of secondary signifi- 
cance. 

In its method the book is analytical rather 
than synthetic, and does not exhibit the selec- 
tive and combining power that is necessary 
to convert the details into a lucid story of 
progress. Dr. Miall gives, with thoroughness 
and accuracy, summaries of the researches of 
the naturalists of the period and of their 
views on a variety of questions. His volume 
is a compendious reference rather than an 
illuminating treatment of tendencies and cur- 
rents of thought, and seems, to the reviewer, 
to be of greater service to the naturalist than 
to the general reader. 

His section on “The Minute Anatomists ” 
is the most interesting and the best assimilated 
part of the book. Here, the author writes with 
an evident command of the subject, as might 
be presumed from his familiarity with insect 
anatomy, as well as his excellent account of 
Malpighi, Swammerdam and other devotees of 
minute anatomy, in Miall and Denny’s “ The 
Cockroach.” 

The title “The New Biology” for the first 
section of the book is suggestive and inviting, 
but it does not appear to be a happily chosen 


854 


title for the period covered—from 1530 to 
about 1603. The reader is likely to dissent 
from the inference that the work of Brunfels, 
Fuchs, Gesner and others constitutes the “ new 
biology ” which was more properly the product 
of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, his 
account of the naturalists of this period is very 
interesting. In the works of Brunfels and 
Fuchs we find recognition of the practical 
utility of affinities for the systematic arrange- 
ment of plants, as well as sketches from nature 
published before the appearance of the 
“Fabrica” of Vesalius. This is notable, for 
there was little objective treatment of science 
at this time, and few sketches from nature 
before those prepared under Vesalius, the 
drawings of Leonardo da Vinci on anatomy 
being the most notable exceptions. 

There are some omissions not readily ac- 
counted for. For illustration, one misses refer- 
ence to the work and the great influence of 
Vesalius, Harvey, Spallanzani, and the 
Hunters. These men lived in the period under 
consideration and, judged in the light of their 
influence on the developing science of biology, 
they were founders in as large a sense as any 
others mentioned. The work of Vesalius 
served to open the field of morphological 
studies, and that of Harvey to introduce ex- 
perimental observation into biological science. 
While Vesalius might possibly be ruled out, on 
the ground that his observations were not 
broadly morphological but applied chiefly to 
the human body, this is not the case of Harvey, 
who was not only physiologist but comparative 
anatomist and observer in embryology as well. 
Harvey is incidentally mentioned in connec- 
tion with the embryological work of Malpighi, 
but his influence was great enough to make 
him worthy of separate treatment. Spallan- 
zani and John Hunter were naturalists in a 
broad sense and deserving of representation. 
Probably Haller should also have some mention. 

There are in the book many evidences of 
ripe scholarship and extensive learning, with 
an unusually limited number of mistakes. In 
the section on “ Early Studies in Comparative 
Anatomy ” it is probably an error to designate 
the Essay on Comparative Anatomy of Alex- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 989 


ander Munro primus as the earliest formal 
treatment on the subject. The “ Zootomia 
Democrite ” of Severinus, published a century 
earlier (1645), is a more likely competitor for 
this distinction. 

It is to be regretted that there are no illus- 
trations in the volume. Portraits of the more 
notable observers and illustrations selected 
from their numerous plates would have added 
greatly to the interest of the book. 

The reviewer has read the volume with inter- 
est, and while venturing to point out some of 
its limitations, he is at the same time sensible 
of its merits. 


Wm. A. Locy 


The Chemistry of Plant and Animal Iife. By 
Harry Snyper, B.S. Third Revised Edition. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. Pp. 
xxii-+ 388. Price $1.50. 

The scope of this little volume is in some 
respects even wider, in others considerably 
narrower, than its title would lead one to ex- 
pect. Of the two parts into which it is di- 
vided the first, comprising about two fifths of 
the text, constitutes a brief introductory 
course in general chemistry, presenting in ele- 
mentary fashion the fundamental concepts and 
laws of the science, and reviewing those ele- 
ments and simple compounds that from an 
agricultural standpoint are the most impor- 
tant. The second deals with certain selected 
phases of biochemical science, such as the 
characteristic organic compounds of plants 
and animals, the chemistry of plant growth, 
the composition of cereals and coarse fodders, 
the chemistry of digestion and nutrition, and 
the rational feeding of animals and men. 
Nearly every chapter contains, besides its ex- 
pository paragraphs, a number of appropriate 
problems and laboratory exercises. The whole 
“js the outgrowth of instruction in chemistry 
given in the school of agriculture of the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota.” 

The book is, of course, hardly more than a 
primer, and from a primer much that is in- 
teresting and even important must be rigidly 
excluded. On the other hand, the process of 
elimination may be pushed too far; and the 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


reviewer may be permitted to doubt whether 
the most elementary treatment of the chemis- 
try of life can, for instance, afford to neglect 
such substances as the amino-acids, or to omit 
from its vocabulary the word “ metabolism.” 
The fact that amino-acids appear sometimes 
to be vaguely referred to among the “ amides” 
does not diminish the seriousness of the first 
defect; nor is the second excused by the au- 
thor’s peculiar use of the word “ digestion.” 
Digestion, it would seem, is employed to sig- 
nify not merely the preparation of food for its 
absorption, but also its subsequent fate within 
the organism. When this has been grasped it 
is possible to understand such remarkable 
statements as that “in order that digestion 
may proceed in a normal way, a liberal sup- 
ply of air is necessary to oxidize the nutri- 
ents,” or that when carbohydrates are “ com- 
pletely digested, carbon dioxide and water are 
the final products,” or that “during ... di- 
gestion, heat is produced in proportion to the 
calories contained in the food . . . digested.” 

In discussing the “ Nitrogenous Compounds 
of Plants” the author retains the term 
“ proteid,” now generally abandoned by Eng- 
lish-speaking chemists. He classifies casein 
as an “albuminate,” vitellin as a “ globulin- 
like body,” nuclein and mucin as “ albumin- 
oids.” The system of protein nomenclature 
adopted by the American Society of Biological 
Chemists and the American Physiological 
Society receives, indeed, no recognition what- 
ever. The doctrine of ferments and fermenta- 
tion is another theme that might with advan- 
tage have been cast in a more modern form. 
The concept of a ferment does not to-day 
include such things as the “ tubercular organ- 
ism,” and the once important distinction be- 
tween “organized” and “soluble” ferments 
has now little more than a historical interest. 
It is to be regretted that a “revised edition ” 
should perpetuate terminologies and methods 
of presentation that, to say the least, are obso- 
lescent. 

Tf the weight of these criticisms be allowed 
to depend to some extent upon the individual 
point of view, it is otherwise with the actual 
misstatements that are occasionally encoun- 


SCIENCE 


855 


tered. Some of these, to be sure, are mere 
slips, as when nitrogen is said to constitute 
“93 per cent.” of the atmosphere; others argue 
chiefly a lack of precision, as when carbon is 
said to be “present in plant and animal bod- 
ies in larger amounts than any other element.” 
But there are several positive blunders. Wax 
is stated to contain “an ethyl radical in place 
of the glycerol radical” of fat. The globulin 
of wheat is called “edestin.” Meat is de- 
scribed as containing 0.07 to 0.32 per cent. of 
an “amide,” which bears the name of “ kera- 
tin.” It is obvious enough what substance is 
being spoken of; but the name is not appar- 
ently a simple misprint, for it is thrice em- 
ployed in one paragraph, and is to be found 
unaltered in the index. 

In spite of the blemishes noted, the book, as 
a whole, is capable of filling a useful place, 
and there are many sections which deserve 
ungrudging commendation. This is especially 
true of the chapters dealing with the various 
important food crops, and with their applica- 
tion to the scientific feeding of animals and 
men. Here the author, speaking often as a 
first-hand authority, makes a discriminating 
selection of essential facts, and presents them 
in a manner at once accurate, lucid and inter- 
esting. Many tables of useful data are in- 
corporated, and excellent diagrams illustrate 
graphically the comparative composition of 
important foods. 

The reviewer can not approve the construc- 
tion of a sentence like the following: “Iron 

. readily undergoes oxidation and rusting, 
due to the joint action of oxygen and water, 
and results in the production of a basic oxid 
of iron.” Fortunately such lapses are infre- 
quent, and the style of the book is in the main 
straightforward and readable. 

ANDREW HUNTER 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


Household Bacteriology. By Estette D. 
Bucuanan, M.S., Recently Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Botany, Iowa State College, and 
Rosert EarLte Bucuanan, Ph.D., Professor 
of Bacteriology, Iowa State College and 
Bacteriologist of the Iowa Agricultural 


856 


The Macmillan Com- 
xv +536 pp., index. 


Experiment Station. 
pany. Cloth, 8vo. 
$2.25 net. 

During the last decade, the science of house- 
hold bacteriology has made very wonderful 
progress as an independent study and as a 
result we feel to-day a very clear and constant 
demand for suitable text-books and manuals 
for use in this new but important field of 
bacteriology. 

The book as presented by the Buchanans 
consists of a neatly bound volume of 536 pages 
clearly but simply written. The text is pro- 
fusely illustrated by original drawings and 
photographs which add greatly to the attrac- 
tiveness and usefulness of the book. 

“The volume has been divided somewhat 
arbitrarily into five sections,” by the authors. 
The first three chapters are of an introductory 
nature and cover the general topic of bacterio- 
logical technique. In Section II. more empha- 
sis ought to have been laid on standard meth- 
ods for the preparation of culture media and 
more space should have been allotted to the 
discussion of the cultural characteristics of the 
yeasts and molds. 

Section IV. is given over to fermentation or 
zymotechnique, as it is called by the authors, 
and is the best chapter of the book. This sec- 
tion consists of 114 pages and covers the sub- 
ject of enzymes and their fermentative activ- 
ities and is characterized by its clear descrip- 
tions and explanations of this most complex 
but interesting subject. The book closes with 
a section entitled ‘“ Microorganisms and 
Health,” consisting of a general discussion of 
the theory of disease followed by a detailed 
description of the pathogenic bacteria yeasts 
and molds. The chapters of this section deal- 
ing with the examination of air, water and 
food might have been elaborated upon and 
formed into a new section. The volume is 
supplemented by an appendix containing a key 
(87 pages) to the families and genera of the 
common molds which is fully illustrated and 
must be very useful as a ready means of iden- 
tifying the common molds of the laboratory. 

The main criticism of this volume lies in the 
title “ Household Bacteriology.” It is inade- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


quate for two reasons. The book in its present 
form is too broad to be called a bacteriology 
and should have been called a microbiology or 
by some other suitable title. The authors have 
realized this narrowness of title by using the 
term microorganism in the heading of every 
section. Then again this volume is merely a 
general bacteriology whose title has been ex- 
tended to cover the field of household bacteri- 
ology. With the exception of the poor choice 
of title, the volume is well written and well 
adapted for courses in general bacteriology. 


WiuiiamM W. Browne 
THE COLLEGE OF THE City oF NEW YorRK 


Elements of Water Bacteriology. By Pro- 
fessor S. C. Prescott and Professor C. E. A. 
WINSLOW. 

Prescott and Winslow’s “ Water Bacteriol- 
ogy ” is the best known book on the subject in 
America, and it may also be added that it is 
the best book. This third edition has been 
entirely rewritten and very much enlarged. 
The authors state that the revision has been 
made necessary by the newer ideas on the effect 
of temperature upon the viability of bacteria 
in water, the new methods of isolation of 
specific pathogenic organisms, and the recent 
recommendations of the Committee on Stand- 
ard Methods of Water Analysis of the Amer- 
ican Public Health Association. The authors 
do not approve of the recent recommendation 
of this committee to replace the 20 deg. gela- 
tine count by the 37 deg. agar count. This 
recommendation has received unfavorable com- 
ment at the hands of many American bacteri- 
ologists, and has resulted in producing an un- 
fortunate condition of confusion. The authors 
hold that both the 20 deg. gelatine count and 
the 37 deg. agar count should be used, and this 
idea was approved by the Laboratory Section 
of the American Public Health Association in 
1912. 

The authors also take issue with the Stand- 
ard Methods Committee on the subject of the 
test for B. colt The discussion is too long 
to be referred to in this review, but it is one of 
great interest and importance to every bacteri- 
ologist and sanitary engineer, and should be 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


carefully studied. In general, it may be said 
that the authors hold that fermentation of 
lactose broth, or lactose bile, may be regarded 
as a sufficient working test for organisms of 
intestinal origin. If this idea is carried out 
it will greatly simplify the routine procedure 
in the examination of water. The work of 
the English bacteriologists is discussed at 
length, particularly that of Houston in Lon- 
don and Clemesha in India. 

A new chapter has been added to the book on 
the bacteriological examination of shell-fish, 
and it includes the recommendation of the 
Committee on Standard Methods for the Bac- 
teriological Examination of Shell-fish of the 
American Public Health Association. The 
appendix describes the preparation of culture 
media, and contains an excellent list of refer- 
ences. 

Grorcr C. WHIPPLE 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE ON CHESTNUT 
FRUITS! 


Since the chestnut bark disease has been so 
widely studied by the many investigators who 
have given attention to it within the last few 
years, numerous articles have been published 
ealling attention to the various ways by which 
the infection is known definitely to be spread 
from place to place, as well as of some meth- 
ods that have been assumed to contribute to its 
spread. The most prominent of those thus far 
mentioned have been due to the transportation 
of spores through the agencies of wind, rain, 
insects, birds, rodents, man, ete., or to the 
transportation of various fruiting and vege- 
tative parts, or fragments of the fungus, by 
means of infected cordwood, poles, ties, bark, 
grafting scions, nursery stock, etc. So far as 
the writer knows, no one has called special 
attention to the danger of the disease being 
transmitted by means of infected chestnut 
fruits, yet infected nuts at times undoubtedly 
are capable of spreading the disease, as will be 
realized from what follows, which describes 
one case which has come to our notice. 

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of 
Agriculture. 


SCIENCE 


857 


In September, 1912, Professor R. Kent 
Beattie, Dr. T. C. Merrill and the writer 
found numerous nuts and burs, which had 
been lying on the ground in Laneaster county, 
Pennsylvania, for several months, upon which 
were many reddish brown pustules, in a buff 
or yellowish mycelium. These looked very 
much like the pyenidial pustules and myce- 
lium of Endothia parasitica. Portions of the 
diseased fruits were inoculated by the writer 
into the bark of a grafted Paragon chestnut 
tree, while for comparison some inoculations 
were made at the same time from a typical 
canker. The infected nuts were collected on 
September 4, 1912, and the infected bark was 
collected and the inoculations made on the 
following day. The records and results of 
these inoculations are given below. 

The limb selected for inoculation was 
healthy-looking, apparently free from disease, 
from one to two inches in diameter, but on a 


. tree that was already diseased on some other 


limbs. Eighteen cuts through the bark were 
made with a sterile knife-blade, except as 
noted below in the case of two cuts. For con- 
venience in referring to these cuts they have 
been numbered consecutively from 1 to 18. 
Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 18, 14, 17 and 18 
were checks, all uninoculated in the ordinary 
sense, though cuts 13 and 14 were made with 
the knife-blade after it had been used to cut 
some of the infected bark to be inserted in cuts 
15 and 16. 

Cuts 3 and 4 were inoculated with pieces of 
the mycelium-covered shell of the nut after the 
pustules had been cut away; cuts 9 and 10 were 
inoculated with pieces of the shell to which 
pustules were still attached; and cuts 15 and 
16 were inoculated with pieces of bark from a 
disease lesion on the bark of an American 
chestnut tree. 

On July 22, 1913 (about ten and one half 
months after the inoculations were made), the 
inoculations and checks were reexamined and 
records made of their condition. Cuts 1 and 2 
were uninfected. Cut 3 likewise was unin- 
fected. Cut 4 had developed a characteristic 
lesion about 4 inches long. Cut 5 was sur- 


858 


rounded by disease, apparently from two con- 
fluent lesions, one of which started about mid- 
way between cuts 4 and 5, but on the opposite 
side of the limb, while the other started near 
cut 5 and on the same side of the limb. Judg- 
ing only from the size of these lesions, they 
must have originated soon after the inocula- 
tions were made. There was no evidence that 
any infection had started at cut 5. Cut 6 was 
uninfected. Cuts 7 and 8 showed sunken 
areas but no fans, pustules, nor other symp- 
toms of the disease. Cut 9 had developed a 
girdling lesion 7 inches long with very many 
pustules. Cut 10 had developed a lesion 44 
inches long and 3 inches wide. Cuts 11, 12, 
13 and 14 were uninfected. Cuts 15 and 16 
had produced confluent girdling lesions aggre- 
gating 11 inches in length. This probably 
indicated that each cut had produced a lesion 
about 6 inches in length, as the cuts were 
about 5 inches apart. Cuts 17 and 18 were 
uninfected. 

The results of these inoculations may briefly 
be summarized as follows: 

2 inoculations from typical canker on bark, 
both successful. 

2 inoculations from pustules on nut, both 
successful. 

2 inoculations from mycelium on nut, one 
successful. 

10 checks cut with sterile knife, none infected. 

2 checks cut with contaminated knife, none 
infected. 

These inoculations indicate that the dis- 
ease was present on or in the nuts and burs 
collected. Although the latter were not used 
in the inoculations, the nuts and burs were 
covered with the same fungus, judging only 
from an examination with a hand lens; and, 
moreover, the nuts and burs were in contact 
when collected. 

Perhaps nuts infected in this manner are 
not likely often to reach the market, and pre- 
sumably would be unsalable either for seed 
purposes or for eating if they did reach it. 
In the latter case an additional source of 
danger would be created by discarding the 
diseased nuts, perhaps in a new locality far 
distant from the place where they were grown. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 989 


In any event, the possibility of the disease at 
times being disseminated through great dis- 
tances in this manner can not be overlooked 
in summing up the evidence bearing on this 
phase of investigation. 
J. FRANKLIN CoLLiIns 
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATION IN FOREST 
PATHOLOGY, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 
PROVIDENCE, R. I., 
October 20, 1913 


INTERGLACIAL MOLLUSKS FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 


Mr. W. H. Over, of the University of South 
Dakota Museum, recently submitted for 
study a most interesting collection of inter- 
glacial mollusks. The material, consisting of 
wood, cones, shells, ete., in muck, were found 
in a well 20 feet below the surface, two or 
three miles north of Grandview, in Douglas 
County, South Dakota. 

Professor James E. Todd thus refers to 
this material : 


An Ancient Tamarack Swamp.—Near Grand- 
view, in the southeast quarter of sec. 33, T. 100, 
R. 64, were found traces of more recent occupa- 
tion of the region by trees. In a well which had 
been dug on the edge of a basin near a branch of 
Andes Creek at the depth of 20 feet was found a 
layer of muck several inches in thickness, in which 
were pieces of wood with numerous fresh-water 
shells of nearly a dozen species. But the most re- 
markable thing was the stem of a hemlock or 
tamarack about 10 inches in diameter lying across 
the well, and in the muck were numerous cones 
evidently of the same species. Overlying this trace 
of a tamarack swamp was mud of various colors 
and consistency, evidently washed from the sur- 
rounding hillsides. That it should be so deeply 
buried was chiefly explained by its connection with 
the channel of Andes Creek. This was conclusive 
evidence that the region had been occupied more 
or less by timber since the ice had covered the re- 
gion, possibly while the second moraine was in 
process of formation. Similar finds are reported 
from wells several miles west of that place. 


The overlying till here is Wisconsin, which 
varies greatly in thickness. The surface is 
yellow clay underlain by blue clay. The 


1 Bull, 158, U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 121, 1899, 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


former is Wisconsin while the latter is appar- 
ently Kansan. Professor Todd evidently cor- 
relates the deposit with the later Wisconsin 
when he says: 

This was conclusive evidence that the region had 
been occupied more or less by timber since the ice 
had covered the regions, possibly while the second 
moraine was in process of formation. 

The late work of the Iowa geologists, Cal- 
vin, Shimek and others, indicates that the 
underlying blue clay was laid down by the 
Kansan ice sheet, and hence the fossil remains 
must be regarded as post-Kansan and pre- 
Wisconsin. 

From this new angle of view the fossils be- 
come of great interest. The mollusks were 
submitted by Professor Todd to Professor R. 
Ellsworth Call, who recognized the following 
species.” 

Limnophysa palustris Say. 
Limnophysa decidiosa Say. 
Gyraulus parvus Say. 
Valvata sincera Say. 
Segmentina armigera Say. 


But five species are here recorded, although 
Professor Todd refers to “nearly a dozen 
species.” 

In the material submitted by Mr. Over, 
which is a part of the original lot, fifteen spe- 
cies are recognized, as noted below: 

Pisidium compressum Prime. 
Pisidium variabile Prime. 
Pisidium medianum Sterki. 
Valvata tricarinata Say. 
Valvata lewisit Currier. 
Succinea avara Say. 

Physa sp. (immature). 

Galba palustris Miill. 

Lymnea stagnalis appressa Say. 
Planorbis trivolvis Say. 
Planorbis bicarinatus Say. 
Planorbis bicarinatus striatus Baker. 
Planorbis deflectus Say. 
Planorbis parvus Say. 
Planorbis exacuous Say. 


Two species, Segmentina armigera and 
Limnophysa (Galba) decidiosa, mentioned by 
Call, were not detected in the material re- 

2 Op. cit., p. 121, footnote. 
ture is used. 


The old momencla- 


SCIENCE 


859 


cently examined. Thirteen species are like- 
wise included which were not mentioned by 
Call, possibly because the material did not con- 
tain them. Valvata sincera as identified by 
Call also proves to be Valvata lewisit. 

The fauna is thus seen to have been large 
and varied. The deposit was evidently the bed 
of a large lake or river, and could not have 
been a tamarack swamp as stated by Professor 
Todd, because mollusks such as Valvata tri- 
carinata and V. lewisii do not inhabit such a 
station. The tamarack log and cones men- 
tioned probably floated from the shore and be- 
came buried in the mud. That this fauna 
lived in or near the present Andes Creek is 
not at all possible, because such an assemblage 
of life would scarcely be found in this kind of 
a habitat. 

With just which interglacial stage this biota 
is to be correlated is not yet clear. If it imme- 
diately preceded the Wisconsin, which seems 
probable, it may be Peorian (post-Iowan) ; or 
if it became extinct before this stage it may be 
the equivalent of the Sangamon (post-IIli- 
noian) ; if it is to be classed as post-Kansan, as 
it lies upon the Kansan till, it must be cor- 
related with the Yarmouth stage. In the ab- 
sence of equivalent loess deposits it is difficult, 
if not impossible, to place this deposit in its 
true position in the paleontologic column. A 
restudy of the Grandview deposits from the 
modern, multiple glacial standpoint would 
assist greatly, doubtless, in solving this 
problem. 

My thanks are due to Dr. Bryant Walker 
and Dr. Victor Sterki for kind assistance in 
the determination of doubtful material. 


Frank C. BAKER 
THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


THE Indiana Academy of Sciences and the Indi- 
ana Conservation Association met in joint session 
in Indianapolis, October 24-25. Some of the im- 
portant papers were as follows: 

President Donaldson Bodine’s address on ‘‘ How 
to Increase the Efficiency of the Academy.’’ 

‘“The Flood of March, 1913.’’ 

At Terre Haute, Charles R. Dryer. 
At Fort Wayne, L. C. Ward. 


860 


On the Ohio River in Southeastern Indiana, 
Glen Culbertson. 

On East and West Forks of White River, H. 
P. Bybee. 

“«The Selective Action of Gentian Violet in the 
Bacteriological Analysis,’? C. M. Hilliard. 

‘¢The Vertical Distribution of Plankton in Win- 
ona Lake,’’ Glenwood Henry. 

‘CA Test of Indiana Varieties of Wheat Seed for 
Internal Fungous Infection,’’ George N. Hoffer. 

‘CA Simple Apparatus for the Study of Photo- 
tropic Responses in Seedlings,’’ George N. Hoffer. 

““Mosses of Monroe County, Indiana, II.,’’ Mil- 
dred Nothnagel. 

‘¢Observations on the Aquatic Plant Life in 
White River Following the Spring Flood of 
1913,’’? Paul Weatherwax. 

‘The Occurrence of Aphanomyces phycophytes 
upon the Campus of Indiana University,’’ Paul 
Weatherwax. 

“‘Food and Feeding Habits of Unio,’’ William 
Ray Allen. 

‘Oral Respiration in Amphiuma and Crypto- 
branchus,’’ H. L. Bruner. 

‘¢Respiration and Smell in Amphibians,’’ H. L. 
Bruner. 

“General Outline of Trip of 1913 for the Pur- 
pose of Collecting the Fish Fauna of Colombia, 
S. A.,’’ Charles E. Wilson. 

‘*& Topographic Map of the Terre Haute Area,’’ 
Charles R. Dryer. 

“*Center of Area and Center of Population of 
Indiana,’’? W. A. Cogshall. 

‘‘On the Shrinkage of Photographic Paper,’’ 
R. R. Ramsey. 

‘“A Preliminary Account of an Elaborate Study 
of the Disintegration of Matter,’’ A. L. Foley. 

‘<Boiling and Condensing Points of Aleohol- 
water Mixtures,’’ P. N. Evans. 

“«Race Suicide,’’ Robert Hessler. 

‘CA Psychologist’s Investigation in the Field of 
Crime among Adolescents,’’ R. B. von KleinSmid. 

‘“ Agricultural Work in Southern Indiana,’’ C. 
G. Phillips. 

‘“‘The Germination of Arisaema dracontinus.’’ 
Lantern. F. L. Pickett. 

‘<The Prothallium of Camptosorus rhizophyllus.’’ 
Lantern. F. L. Pickett. 

‘‘Trish Potato Seab as Affected by Fertilizers 
Containing Sulphates and Chlorides.’’ Lantern. 
8. D. Conner. 

‘Newly Discovered Phenomena Connected with 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


the Electric Discharge in Air.’’ 
Foley. 

“‘The Relation of the Country Life Movement 
to Conservation,’’ Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith. 

“«The Conservation of Indiana Soils and Crops,’’ 
Mr. D. F. Maish. 

“<The Present Status of Agricultural Education 
in Indiana,’’ Professor George I. Christie. 

‘CA Sanitary Survey of Indiana Rivers,’’ Dr. 
Jay Craven. 

“<The Relation of the Lakes of Northern Indi- 
ana to Problems of Flood Control,’’ Dr. Will Scott. 

‘“Municipal Forestry in Indiana,’’ Hon. Charles 
Warren Fairbanks. 

“‘First Steps in Indiana Forestry,’’ Professor 
Stanley Coulter. 

‘“Taxation of Forest Lands,’’? Professor H. W. 
Anderson. 

‘«Worests and Floods,’’? Professor F. M. An- 
drews. 

‘Prevention of Infant Mortality as a Factor in 
Conservation,’’ Dr. J. N. Hurty. 

‘¢The Analysis of an Oceupation,’’ Professor M. 
E. Haggerty. 

‘«Sehool Hygiene as a Factor in the Conserva- 
tion of Human Life,’’ Dr. O. B. Nesbit. 

‘*County Tuberculosis Hospitals as a Factor in 
the Conservation of Human Life,’’ Dr. James Y. 
Welborn. 

‘‘Playgrounds and Recreation Centers as Fac- 
tors in the Conservation of Human Life,’’ Dr. W. 
A. Gekler. 

‘¢Publie Toilet Facilities, Drinking Fountains 
and, Publie Spitting in Relation to the Conserva- 
tion of Human Life,’’ Professor C. M. Hilliard. 

‘‘Possible Dangers from Drilling for Oil and 
Gas in Coal Measures,’’ Professor Edward Barrett. 

“*Power Economy and the Utilization of Waste 
in the Quarry Industry,’’ Mr. G. C. Manee. 


Lantern. A, L. 


A. J. BIGNEY, 
Secretary 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tue American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 
societies named below will meet at Atlanta, 
Ga., during convocation week, beginning on 
December 29, 1913. 


American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Professor Edmund B. Wilson, 


DECEMBER 12, 1913] 


Columbia University; retiring president, Professor 
Edward ©. Pickering, Harvard College Observa- 
tory; permanent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; gen- 
eral secretary, Professor Harry W. Springsteen, 
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; secre- 
tary of the council, Professor William A. Wors- 
ham, Jr., State College of Agriculture, Athens, Ga. 


Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.—Vice- 
president, Dr. Frank Schlesinger, Allegheny Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


Section B—Physics.——Vice-president, Professor 
Alfred D. Cole, Ohio State University; secretary, 
Dr. W. J. Humphreys, Mount Weather, Va. 


Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Dr. Carl 
L. Alsberg, Bureau of Chemistry; secretary, Dr. 
John Johnston, Geophysical Laboratory, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Dr. O. P. Hood, U. 8. Bureau of 
Mines; secretary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, 
Columbia University, New York City. 


Section E—Geology and Geography.—V ice-presi- 
dent, J. S. Diller, U. S. Geological Survey; secre- 
tary, Professor George F. Kay, University of Iowa. 


Section F—Zoology.—Vice-president, Dr. Alfred 
G. Mayer, Carnegie Institution of Washington; 
secretary, Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts Col- 
lege, Mass. 

Section G—Botany—vVice-president, Professor 
Henry C. Cowles, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. 


Section H—Anthropology and Psychology— 
Vice-president, Professor Walter B. Pillsbury, 
University of Michigan; acting secretary, Dr. EH. K. 
Strong, Jr., Columbia University, New York City. 


Section I—Social and Economic Science.—Vice- 
president, Judson G. Wall, Tax Commissioner, New 
York City; secretary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 
Church St., New Haven, Conn. 


Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Theodore Hough, 
University of Virginia; secretary, Dr. Donald R. 
Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, 
Md. 


Section L—Education.—Vice-president, Dr. Phi- 
lander P. Claxton, Commission of Education, Wash- 


SCIENCE 


861 


ington, D. C.; secretary, Dr. Stuart A. Courtis, 
Liggett School, Detroit, Mich. 


The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America—December 29-January 3. President, 
Professor EH. C. Pickering, Harvard College Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Philip Fox, Dear- 
born Observatory, Evanston, Ill. 


The American Physical Society—December 29- 
January 3. President, Professor B. O. Peirce, 
Harvard University; secretary, Professor A. D. 
Cole, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 


The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences.—Between 
December 30. President, Professor C. R. Mann, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Dr. Wm. A. 
Hedrick, Washington, D. C. 


The Entomological Society of America.—De- 
cember 30-31. President, Dr. C. J. S. Bethune, 
Ontario Agricultural College; secretary, Professor 
Alexander D. MacGillivray, 603 West Michigan 
Ave., Urbana, Ill. 


The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists—December 31—-January 2. President, 
Professor P. J. Parrott, Geneva, N. Y.; secretary, 
A. F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 


The Botanical Society of America.—December 
30-January 2. President, Professor D. H. Camp- 
bell, Stanford University; secretary, Dr. George T. 
Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 


The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 30-January 2. President, F. C. Stewart, 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y.; 
secretary, Dr. C. L. Shear, Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 


The American Microscopical Society—December 
30. Secretary, T. W. Galloway, James Millikin 
University, Decatur, Il. 


American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors—December 29. President, HE. L. 
Worsham, Atlanta, Ga.; secretary, J. G. Saunders, 
Madison, Wis. 


The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology——December 31—January 1. President, 
Professor H. J. Pearce, Gainesville, Ga.; secretary, 
Professor W. C. Ruediger, George Washington 
University, Washington, D. C. 


The Sigma Xi Convention.—December 30. Presi- 
dent, Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Uni- 
versity; recording secretary, Professor Dayton C. 


862 


Miller, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity.— 
December 30. President, Professor J. I. Tracey, 
Yale University; secretary, Professor H. E. Howe, 
Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va. 


PHILADELPHIA 

The American Society of Naturalists —December 
31. President, Professor Ross G. Harrison, Yale 
University; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

The American Society of Zoologists—December 
30—January 1. Hastern Branch: President, Dr. A. 
G. Mayer, Tortugas, Fla.; secretary, Professor J. 
H. Gerould, Dartmouth College. Central Branch 
December 29—January 1: president, Professor H. 
B. Ward, University of Nebraska; secretary, Pro- 
fessor W. C. Curtis, University of Missouri, Co- 
lumbia, Mo. 

The American Physiological Society—December 
29-31. President, Dr. S. J. Meltzer, Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, New York City; 
secretary, Professor A. J. Carlson, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Ross G. Harri- 
son, Yale University; secretary, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, 1330 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

The American Society of Biological Chemists.— 
December 29-31. President, Professor A. B. Ma- 
callum, University of Toronto; secretary, Pro- 
fessor Philip A. Shaffer, 1806 Locust St., St. Louis, 
Mo. 

The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics—December 30-31. President, Dr. 
Torald. Sollmann, Western Reserve University 
Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 


NEW YORK CITY 

The American Mathematical Society.—December 
30-31. ‘President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th Street, New York City. 
Chicago,: December 26, 27, secretary of Chicago 
meeting, Professor H. E. Slaught, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

The American Anthropological Association— 
December 29-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 


SCIENCE 


University of Chicago; 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 989 


George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. ta 

The American Folk-Lore Society—December 31. 
President, John A. Lomax, University of Texas; 
secretary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 Brattle St., 
Cambridge, Mass. 

PRINCETON 

The Geological Society of America.—December 
30-January 1. President, Professor Eugene A. 
Smith, University of Alabama; secretary, Dr. Hd- 
mund Otis Hovey, American Museum of Natural 
History, New York City. 

The Association of American Geographers.— 
Probably meets at Princeton but official informa- 
tion has not been received. 

The Paleontological Society—December 31- 
January 1. President, Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 
Smithsonian Institution; secretary, Dr. R. 8. Bass- 
ler, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. 


NEW HAVEN 

The American Psychological Association.—De- 
cember 30-January 1. President, Professor How- 
ard C. Warren, Princeton University; secretary, 
W. Van Dyke Bingham, Dartmouth College, Han- 
over, N. H. 

The American Philosophical Association.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor E. B. MeGil- 
vary, University of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor 
E. G. Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


MINNEAPOLIS 

The American Economic Association.—December 
27-30. President, Professor David Kinley, Uni- 
versity of Illinois; secretary, Professor T. N. 
Carver, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

The American Sociological Society— December 
27-30. President, Professor Albion W. Small, 
secretary, Scott EH. W. 
Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 

The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion.— December 30-31. President, Professor W. 
W. Willoughby, Princeton University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 East 23d St., New York 
City. : 

MONTREAL 

The Society of American Bacteriologists.—De- 
cember 31—January 2. President, Professor C. E. 
A. Winslow, College of the City of New York; sec- 
retary, Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 


fe oClENCE 


SINGLE CopiEs, 15 Cts. 


MAW) BEeEEs Fripay, DecemBer 19, 1913 Pe ee Oe 


VoL, XXXVIII. No. 990 


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SCLENCE 


—————————— SS 


Fripay, DecemBer 19, 1913 


CONTENTS 
On the Nature of Mathematical and Scientific 


Demonstration: Proressor R. D. Car- 

MT CEUAR Gamrerensrsi cis sieletete cisicvelsyehciaraicleicietorseraere 863 
Recollections of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace: 

ProFessor T. D. A. COCKERELL .......... 871 
Scientific Notes and News ............+---- 877 
University and Educational News ........... 880 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


More Paleolithic Art: PROFESSOR GEORGE 
GRANT MacCurDy. On Interference Colors 
in Clouds: Dr. Ropert H. GoppaRD. Origin 
of Mutations: PRorEssor R. A. EMERSON. 
How Oryctes rhinoceros uses its Horns: R. 
W. Doane. Science and the Newspaper: 
PROFESSOR FRANCIS E. NipHER. The In- 
dustrial Fellowships at Pittsburgh: J. F. 


SNIELT s/s Srvey nich ae tarege ria oh aieac: ara) cia sabenouoneieve 881 
Scientific Books :— 

Willstaetter and Stoll’s Untersuchungen 

tiber Chlorophyll: E. K. Wilson on the 

Principles of Stock-breeding: H. H. Laueu- 

LIN. Herbert on Evolution: J. P. McM. .. 884 
Special Articles :— 

On Fundamental Methods of Orientation 

and ‘‘Imaginary Maps’’: Prorrssor C. C. 

EDROW BRIDGE re rsvepersreerars cuales cfete ose stotelonarctentels 888 
The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

ISOCUCTLES Nasr yehINCL siepetstlene eee Toe ee ae et 897 


Societies and Academies :— 


The Botanical Society of Washington: P. 
L. RicKER. The Philosophical Society of 
the University of Virginia: L. G. Hoxton. 899 


MES. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should besent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
- on-Hudson, N. Y. 


ON THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICAL AND 
SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRATION1 


In the development of every science 
there is a growth of method as well as of 
results. We are accustomed to give close 
attention to the latter, and frequently we 
reorganize them into connected and logical 
wholes so that every student may conveni- 
ently view them in their entirety and in 
their proper relations to one another. In 
determining the method by which the mat- 
ter shall thus be organized we are generally 
guided by considerations of convenience 
in exposition. 

In much of our teaching, likewise, the 
selection and arrangement of material is de- 
termined primarily by a desire to arrive at 
results in the most expeditious manner 
possible. 

One effect of this controlling emphasis, 
both in lecturing and in the writing of 
books, is that many of us never come to a 
proper appreciation of the labor which has 
been expended in perfecting our tools of 
investigation and never have a vital con- 
ception of the character of the important 
problem of method. Such a person usually 
will be able to employ only the tools which 
are presented to him by others. He will 
not be able to devise a new method to 
meet the needs of the new problem which 
arises in his own work. 

Now the most important steps forward 
are made by the introduction of new 
methods of advancement. It is obvious 
that the person most likely to discover the 


1An address delivered on the evening of Oc- 
tober 6, 1913, to ‘‘The Euclidean Circle,’’ an or- 
ganization among the graduate and undergraduate 
students of mathematics in Indiana University. 


864 


new method is the one who understands 
best the fundamental ideas on which the 
methods of his subject are based and the 
relation of these ideas and methods to cor- 
responding ones in allied fields of study. 

It is, therefore, important to the stu- 
dent of every science to analyze the growth 
of method in his science and to ascertain 
the fundamental basis on which it has de- 
veloped. This analysis requires a wider 
grasp of the subject than the student can 
possess in the early years of his labor. 
But he can appreciate, to a large extent, 
the results of such an analysis and profit 
by a knowledge of them, if they are pre- 
sented by some one of a fuller experience 
than himself. 

It is my purpose this evening to present 
to you the outcome of such an analysis of 
the nature of mathematical and of scien- 
tific demonstration. 

A method which was considered useful 
and legitimate in one generation has often 
been discarded in the next. Sometimes it 
has been replaced by another which was 
merely more powerful and at least equally 
convenient. At other times it has been 
found to be not a legitimate method; and 
it has been necessary to abandon it be- 
cause investigators could no longer be sure 
of results obtained by means of it. This 
has been true both of mathematics and of 
experimental science, but less frequently 
of the former than of the latter. 

For a mathematical method a first requi- 
site is that the mind shall assert with the 
strongest emphasis that the method is legiti- 
mate. We shall say nothing about how 
this conviction may have arisen: we shall 
first demand of it only that it shall be a 
profound and universal conviction of the 
human mind. 

I shall illustrate what I mean here by 
an example. Let us take the principle or 
method of mathematical induction. It is 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


convenient to consider a particular case of 
its use. Suppose that we wish to demon- 
strate the binomial theorem, 

(a+ b)™ = an + nar + ... + nabr + bn, 
for every positive integer exponent n. 
Our method of procedure is as follows: 
We first observe that the theorem is true 
for n equal to 1. The next step is to 
prove that if it is true for n equal to k, 
where k is any positive integer, it is like- 
wise true for n equal to k+1; and we 
shall suppose now that this step has been 
made by the necessary argumentation. 
Now we know that the theorem is true for 
n equal to 1; from the result last men- 
tioned we conclude further that the theo- 
rem is true for » equal to 2. Since it is: 
true for n equal to 2 we may apply our 
previous result again and conclude that is 
is true for n equal to 3. Likewise we pro- 
ceed to the case when 7 is equal to 4; and’ 
so on. 

Now, if one analyzes the principle on 
which this argument is based, the conclu- 
sion comes home to him with a compelling 
force; and he can not fail to have confidence 
in it. He has verified the theorem per- 
haps in only a few cases; but he has no 
fear that a case will ever be found to con-. 
tradict it. 

The first requirement of a mathematical 
method, as I have said, is that it shall pos- 
sess Just this property of compelling con- 
fidence in the conclusions reached by its 
means. The ground of this compelling 
power in the method the mathematician 
(as such) does not seek to find; that is a 
problem for the philosophers. 

But such credentials as those mentioned, 
however good they may appear to be, are 
never accepted by the mathematician as 
entirely satisfactory. He does not, indeed, 
dispute their legitimacy. But, through 
much experience, he has found that meth- 
ods exist concerning which the uninitiated. 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


mind asserts emphatically that they are 
valid, whereas he knows cases in which they 
lead to inconsistent results. 

Therefore these credentials are treated 
by the mathematician as affording him 
only a means of making a first choice of 
methods to be examined. They are still to 
be subjected to tests in the laboratory of 
the mind. 

You may ask: To what sort of test may 
one conceivably subject a method which 
the mind approves with as much confidence 
as it does that of mathematical induction, 
for instance? There seems to be just one 
such test available. Does it always lead to 
consistent results? I do not say true re- 
sults; for there is no one to determine 
whether the results are true. If several 
methods are involved at once, it is to be 
demanded of them also that the results ob- 
tained by means of any of them shall be 
consistent with those obtained from others. 

Effectively, what the mathematician does, 
then, is to select a number of methods in 
the intuitional way which I have indicated 
and then to subject them to the most exact- 
ing requirements in the way of consistency 
of results obtained by their use—results 
exact in their nature and deduced from 
exact data and covering a wide range of 
thought. 

The only methods which he retains after 
these extended tests are those which have 
never been known to lead to a contradic- 
tion at any time in the history of human 
thought. One other analysis must finally 
be made before they can be admitted into 
the privileged circle of mathematical 
methods. It must be ascertained of a 
given method whether it is perfectly pre- 
cise in its nature in the sense that no two 
persons of intelligence have a different 
opinion as to what the method is. There 
is no disagreement, for instance, among 


SCIENCE 


865 


thinkers concerning the definition of mathe- 
matical induction. 

Once the mathematician has selected 
some methods which he is willing to em- 
ploy, he uses them in argument in the 
coldest and most formal way. In making 
discoveries intuition plays a most impor- 
tant role and is a precious guide which he 
can not dispense with. But when he states 
his proofs he does it in terms which are 
entirely free from intuition. Further, he 
is careful to make sure that he has used no 
methods except those which have already 
successfully passed his most searching 
scrutiny. Through sore experience he has 
learned that safety lies in no other direc- 
tion. 

But this is not all. Every new use of his 
methods gives rise to the possibility at least 
that a contradiction has crept in through 
some argument which has never before led 
into such error; and this possibility must 
be examined—certainly in all cases where 
the research opens up anew field of thought, 
if not also in the more common investiga- 
tions. 

It is due to this extreme carefulness on 
the part of the mathematician that we have 
so strong a feeling of certainty in his con- 
clusions. But if we analyze this feeling 
with care we shall find, unexpectedly per- 
haps to most of us, that it is due after all 
to our experience with the methods em- 
ployed, since under the most severe tests 
they have never led us into contradiction. 
(They are the only methods which possess 
this latter property. ) 

If you will recall what I said about the 
way in which the mathematician has 
selected his tools of investigation, you will 
see why he can never be absolutely sure 
that he has employed a proper procedure in 
argument. At no stage in the development 
of his method was there an absolute crite- 
rion according to which a method was to be 


866 


retained. He proceeded entirely by exclu- 
sion. First, all conceivable methods which 
did not come up to a certain standard were 
put aside. Those that remained were sub- 
jected to further tests, one after another, 
and some of them were found to be unsatis- 
factory. Those left over were finally re- 
tained because they had the negative recom- 
mendation of never having been caught in 
an act of deception. 

What shall we say then of the certainty 
of mathematical doctrine at the present 
day? To answer this question, let us ob- 
serve that, in all preceding generations, 
methods in mathematics have been used 
with confidence which, in the experience of 
a later day, were found to be not legiti- 
mate; they have been discarded, sometimes 
after generations of confident use. It is not 
likely that men have heretofore always 
made mistakes of this kind and that we 
have suddenly come upon an age in which 
mathematical methods are certain in the 
absolute sense. 

We are then forced to the conclusion, 
however unwelcome it may be, that the cer- 
tainty of mathematics is after all not abso- 
lute, but is relative. To be sure, it is the 
most profound certainty which the mind 
has been able to achieve in any of its proc- 
esses; but it is not absolute. The mathe- 
matician starts from exact data; he reasons 
by methods which have never been known 
to lead to error; and his conclusions are 
necessary in the sense, and only in the 
sense, that no one now living can point to a 
flaw in the processes: by which he has 
derived them. 

When we find ourselves forced to this 
result, our first feeling is probably one of 
disappointment. But a deeper analysis of 
the matter will bring us to a different atti- 
tude. It gives us a new sense of the prob- 
lem which lies before us in the development 
of mathematical thought. We have not 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


merely to seek new results; but we have 
also the larger problem of method to inspire 
our activity and to lead us perhaps to 
fundamental achievement. 

It is conceivable that methods may be 
devised by means of which we shall attain 
to well-nigh perfect certainty. Let us sup- 
pose that we have found a method of argu- 
ment, or a principle A, which has this 
property, namely: In whatever way we 
start from a principle not in accord with 
it we shall be led into results which are 
themselves mutually contradictory. Now 
suppose that principle A is itself not a 
legitimate one. Then there is a legitimate 
principle B not in accord with it. From 
this new principle we can get mutually 
contradictory results. That is, principle B 
is both legitimate and not legitimate. This 
being a contradiction in itself, we conclude 
that the hypothesis from which it is deduced 
is false. Therefore principle A is legiti- 
mate. I say that it is conceivable that such 
principles A will some day be discovered; 
but they have not yet been found. 

In an earlier day, and of course without 
the aid of such principles as I have just 
mentioned, men apparently had come to a 
feeling of absolute certainty about the accu- 
racy of mathematical conclusions. Those 
fundamental methods’ of argumentation, of 
which I spoke in the outset, they conceived 
to belong to a class of innate or inherent 
ideas which had been put in the mind of 
man by the Creator. The initial hypoth- 
eses and basic notions of a mathematical 
discipline they thought of as belonging to 
the same category. If these innate ideas 
did not have all the elements of absolute 
certainty, there could be only one conclu- 
sion: the Creator had deliberately deceived 
man. Since they considered this to be abso- 
lutely impossible, they had complete con- 
fidence in the certainty of mathematical 
results. 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


This is merely one example of the usual 
dependence of the ancients on the authority 
of abstract reason. By this means they 
sought absolute certainty in scientific as 
well as in mathematical and philosophical 
thought. A brief account of their general 
point of view in regard to this matter will 
serve to connect the two topics which I have 
asked you to associate together this evening ; 
for it is in the ancient time that the two 
methods are most closely related. 

It is convenient to speak of the position 
of Plato. This philosopher refers, with a 
touch of contempt, to one who gives his life 
to the investigation of nature, feeling that 
such a person was concerned with the visi- 
ble universe alone and was immersed in its 
phenomena. These, whether past or pres- 
ent or to come, admit of no stability and 
therefore of no certainty. ‘‘These things,’’ 
he says, ‘‘have no absolute first principle 
and can never be the objects of reason and 
pure science.’’ Plato believed that the 
senses are deceptive and could never lead 
to the discovery of truth. The only way to 
develop science was to look within and find 
there the fundamental principles on which 
it should be based; and then to develop 
logically the consequences of these prin- 
ciples. 

But I shall not take up your time with 
an analysis of these old opinions, however 
much they may have influenced or retarded 
science in times past. Neither shall I pause 
to indicate how the old Greek science, such 
as it was, came into a place of authority, 
dominating the thought of many genera- 
tions and giving rise to a fearful intellec- 
tual stagnation. I prefer to come to the 
time when the development of scientific 
method began to recover men from their 
stupor and to kindle a new intellectual 
light and fervor. 

Let me direct your attention to the 
Italian philosopher Bernardino Telesio 


SCIENCE 


867 


(1509-1588) as the great figure who marks 
the period of transition from authority and 
reason to experiment and individual re- 
sponsibility. He was the forerunner of all 
subsequent empiricism, scientific and philo- 
sophical, sowing the seeds from which 
sprang the scientific methods of Campanello 
and Bruno, of Francis Bacon and Descartes 
and the scientists of our day. He aban- 
doned completely the purely intellectual 
sphere of the ancient Greeks and other 
thinkers prior to his time and proposed an 
inquiry into the data given by the senses. 
He held that from these data all true 
knowledge really comes. 

The work of Telesio, therefore, marks the 
fundamental revolution in scientific thought 
by which we pass over from the ancient to 
the modern methods. He was successful in 
showing that from Aristotle the appeal lay 
to nature; and he made possible the day 
when men would no longer treat the ipse 
dixit of the Stagirite philosopher as the 
final authority in matters of science. 

It is true that Telesio had been preceded 
almost three centuries by Roger Bacon 
(1214 ?-1294?), a modern thinker in the 
middle ages, whose conceptions of science 
were more just and clear than those at a 
date four centuries after his birth. But 
this Bacon was a man born out of time, too 
far in advance of his age to be appreciated 
by it; and consequently he had but little 
influence on the growth of scientific method. 
The balance has now been restored in his 
favor, so far as the judgment of historians 
is concerned; but that leaves untouched the 
facts of effective scientific progress. 

Telesio had several followers, or perhaps 
we should say fellow pioneers, in the same 
field. Among these Francis Bacon probably 
stands out as the most prominent of all. He 
said of himself that he ‘‘rang the bell 
which called the wits together.’’ But his 
contributions to the stock of actual scien- 


868 


tific knowledge were practically inconsider- 
able. His great merit lay in his making 
men see that science was in fundamental 
need of a new method. The method he sug- 
gested was not adopted; but his analysis of 
the need was the signal for the search 
which has ended in modern science. 

IT need not take you further through the 
long history. It is sufficient to my purpose 
to point out that primitive man first devel- 
oped by experience a way of his own for 
observing and fixing in mind external phe- 
nomena, that the Greeks seized upon their 
own and their predecessors’ observations 
and sublimed experience into theory, that 
Telesio and Bacon and others taught man- 
kind the insufficieney of Greek methods and 
the need of new ones, and that modern 
science came into being and fulness of 
stature through generations of workers who 
sought to put, and succeeded in putting, 
the new ideas into the form of effective tools 
of advancement. 

From this brief historical account it is 
seen that the method of experimental sci- 
ence has itself grown through experiment. 
The style of argument employed by Plato, 
for instance, has been entirely superseded 
by another and better. Man had to learn 
by the experience of failure how to ascer- 
tain the true relations of phenomena. In 
other words, there was no ‘‘preestablished 
harmony’’ between the mind and the phe- 
nomena it had to interpret of such char- 
acter as to lead the former to a ready ex- 
planation of the latter. 

Our progres in this respect has been over 
a hard and long and rough road. We go 
a very short distance, relatively, into our 
past to find the time when methods were 
uniformly employed in science which are 
now known to be quite untrustworthy. 
What is the bearing of this fact on our con- 
fidence in the conclusions of science? In 
order to answer this question properly we 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


shall have to analyze briefly the general 
nature of scientific investigation as at 
present practised. 

In the first place, scientific demonstra- 
tion starts from data which involve the 
ever-present inexactness which is due to 
experimental error. In the nature of things 
it is impossible that the argumentation 
should ever have an exact basis to rest 
upon; and consequently all conclusions 
must again be tested by a direct appeal to 
phenomena. In another important respect 
also the method is essentially different from 
that employed in mathematics. Here intui- 
tion is a fundamental guide in argument 
as well as in discovery; and a ‘‘proof’’ 
whose leading elements are grounded in 
intuition is accepted with a confidence at 
least equal to that which is accorded to one 
characterized by mathematical precision 
and rigor. 

One result.of this inexact basis and espe- 
cially of this loose method of argumenta- 
tion is that the conclusions reached often 
are primarily of the nature of inference 
from examples. They have little or none 
of the compelling property which attaches 
to mathematical conclusions. 

In other words, scientific (as opposed to 
mathematical) truth is not necessary truth. 
It is in the nature of things that the experi- 
mental scientist can not give us absolute 
truth. This is no criticism of his work; it 
is not his province to give us absolute truth 
—even if such a thing were supposed to 
exist. 

What then is the purpose of the experi- 
mental scientist? Huis provinee is to enable 
us to get around among the phenomena of 
the external world, to predict what will 
happen under a given set of circumstances. 
He will accomplish this end by studying 
the relations among phenomena. He does 
not need to know their ultimate explana- 
tion; it is sufficient if he can find the essen- 


' DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


_ tial threads of interconnection among them. 
Therefore he does not seek absolute cer- 
tainty in his theories, at least when he 
realizes the fundamental limitations of his 
methods; but he understands his theories 
rather as the most convenient means by 
which he may summarize for himself and 
others the actually observed interrelations 
1 nature. 

Now, let us suppose that an experimental 
scientist attempts to attain absolute cer- 
tainty in his conclusions, and enquire as to 
the kind of difficulty which he will en- 
counter. 

An analysis of the matter shows, first of 
all, that he must make one fundamental 
assumption—that involved in the hypoth- 
esis of the uniformity of nature. If phe- 
nomena have no laws it is futile to ascribe 
laws to them; and therefore a first requisite 
for the existence of experimental science is 
the supposition that laws exist. It must be 
assumed that the universe will not suddenly 
depart to-morrow from its previous way of 
behaving; it must not be a thing of caprice. 

But what ground have J for believing 


that to-morrow will not put forth a set of — 


phenomena totally different from those 
which I have observed before? None at all, 
except what comes through my belief in the 

uniformity of nature. It is clear that this 
is not the way by which the principle is to 
be established. In fact, we can go further 
and say with confidence that there is no 
absolute certainty, but only a high degree 
of probability, that nature is uniform. 

There is also another fundamental as- 
sumption at the basis of experimental 
sclence—one that is curiously related to the 
mind that has made the assumption. 

A fundamental property of mind is mem- 
ory; without it mind can not exist in its 
usual state. What one does to-day is 
colored, modified, perhaps determined by 
one’s memory of past acts. No experiment 


SCIENCE 


869 


on a thinking subject can be performed for 
the second time; for the presence of memory 
in the second event is a factor of determin- 
ing importance and can not be left out of 
account. 

And yet mind, of which this is a char- 
acteristic and fundamental property, has 
chosen to assume that matter is without 
memory. If I desire to experiment with a 
falling stone, I need not enquire whether 
the stone has gone through the same experi- 
ence before. In other words, I assume that 
the stone has no memory of its previous 
existence; and consequently its previous 
history will not affect my present experi- 
ment. 

If it is true that experimental science is 
so shot through with basie assumptions, 
what is to be said of our confidence in its 
results? What measure of certainty 
attaches to them and how do we come to 
that certainty? Clearly, the evidence must 
be indirect; but it need not on that account 
be less trustworthy. 

We may arrive at one phase of this evi- 
dence by noticing what change has taken 
place in man’s relation to natural phe- 
nomena since the dawn of the modern era in 
scientific investigation. It is patent to 
every one that there has been an immense 
gain in control; man has harnessed the 
forces of the world and is using them for 
his purpose. A thousand and one new in- 
struments of power and pleasure attest to 
his more profound understanding of the 
relations among phenomena. For hundreds 
of miles he can transfer the immense power 
of Niagara along a slender wire, and then 
use it to run his machinery and light his 
cities and warm his houses. In every con- 
ceivable direction he is making progress 
decade by decade; and the momentum of his 
progress increases as the years pass. 

But even this is not the chief reason for 
believing that he is essentially right in his 


870 SCIENCE 


interpretation of the relations of phenom- 
ena. His strongest ground of confidence is 
in the multiplicity and the accuracy of his 
predictions—predictions which he verifies 
by further tests in the laboratory. 

Probably the severest test of a physical 
theory is the requirement that it predict 
accurately a phenomenon which has not yet 
been observed; and this is a test to which 
theory is constantly subjected—and it 
comes out successful. This is the ground 
of our confidence in physical theories. It 
is this which lends the strongest possible 
eredence to such a general hypothesis, for 
Anstance, as that of the uniformity of 
mature. 

This ultimate test of prediction finds its 
most extensive exemplification in the results 
obtained by the apparatus of abstract 
mathematical ideas. From a few funda- 
mental laws, as for instance those of static 
electricity, an immense body of doctrine is 
built up by the processes of mathematical 
analysis. The results so obtained are exact 
and are stated with careful precision. Not- 
withstanding their great variety and the 
absolute precision with which they are 
stated, they are found to be always in ac- 
cord with new experiment however the con- 
ditions may be varied. It is this which fur- 
nishes our strongest ground of confidence 
in physical theory; it is not the argumenta- 
tion or inference by which the theory was 
first discovered or created. 

The success of this prediction through 
mathematical or other argumentation is so 
great that we can not escape the conclu- 
sion that science is on the right track; im- 
provements will come, to be sure, but we 
have certainly made some fundamental 
progress. In fact, the ground for this con- 
clusion is so strong that the burden of 
proof must rest on whoever disputes its 
validity. If our theories are essentially 
erroneous, it requires careful explanation 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


to understand why our attempt to put them . 


in mathematical language has issued in 
such a remarkable success in the way of 
relating and predicting phenomena. 

Even though we are still left face to face 
with the conclusion that there is no abso- 
lute certainty in our scientific theories, we 
see nevertheless that our ground of confi- 
dence in them is such as to justify our lay- 
ing out our life and its activity as if they 
were so. We shall accept them as our guide 
in getting around among external phe- 
nomena. And we can do this even with 
more confidence than we can plan those 
things which depend on our own acts. 
Indeed there is much greater certainty 
attaching to the prediction of physical phe- 
nomena than to the prediction of our own 
acts; and what more could one reasonably 
demand of science? 

Now of the two methods which we have 
considered, the mathematical and the 
experimental-scientific, which is the better? 
You will probably expect me to say that 
the mathematical method is the better; but 
I do not say it. Neither is the better; the 
question is meaningless. Each method is 
of profound importance and each is suited 
to its proper purposes; each will be im- 
proved as time passes and will be carried 
over more and more into all fields of 
thought and conduct; and each will con- 
tinue to add new conquests to human 
achievement. But we shall not say that 
one is better than the other. 

Most of you to whom I have spoken this 
evening are at the threshold of life. The 
future lies before you. You will doubtless 
choose some definite work to do in it. Would 
you like to have a part in promoting those 
fundamental ends of human development 
which may be secured through the use of 
one or the other of these great methods of 
advancement ? 

But what is it to have a part in using 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


and perfecting these tools, the two chief 
means by which mankind is making prog- 
ress in our day? What sort of work is it? 
It is hard; it is no child’s play; it is the 
work of maturity and strong purpose. The 
material rewards are few; probably not 
many of your generation will appreciate 
your labors, and most of you perhaps will 
not be heard of after your day. But you 
will leave mankind a heritage of profit 
forever, you will hasten the day when all 
men will know that their chief benefactors 
are those who delve into the secrets of 
nature and reveal them to their fellows. 
Does that work appeal to you? 
R. D. CARMICHAEL 


RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. ALFRED RUSSEL 
WALLACE 

It is impossible for any man to discuss ade- 
quately the life work of Alfred Russel Wallace. 
His activities covered such a long period, and 
were so varied, that no one living is in a posi- 
tion to critically appreciate more than a part 
of them. We are very much interested, of 
course, and have our opinions; but we need not 
pretend to any final or complete judgment. 
All must agree that a great and significant 
career has just been closed, but its full meas- 
ure will probably never be known to any single 
man. 

On the other hand, it may be possible to 
gain a clear idea of the character and aims of 
Dr. Wallace; and for our purposes this is per- 
haps the more important thing, since his 
guiding principles may also become ours, 
while the work he did is his alone. I once 
asked him about the origin of his interest in 
biology, and in the course of his reply! he said: 
“ As to my interest in biology, . . . I doubt if 
I had or have any special aptitude for it, but I 
have a natural love for classification and an 
inherent desire to explain things; also a great 
love of beauty of form and color.” Again, in 
writing to the biology students of the Univer- 
sity of Colorado, he said :? 

- 1 Popular Science Monthly, April, 1903, p. 517. 

2 ScrENCE, March 29, 1912, p. 487. 


SCIENCE 


871 


The wonders of nature have been the delight 
and solace of my life. ... From the day when I 
first saw a bee-orchis in ignorant astonishment .. . 
nature has afforded me an ever-increasing rapture, 
and the attempt to solve some of her myriad prob- 
lems an ever-growing sense of mystery and awe. 


This is the spirit of the amateur, using that 
word in its best and true sense. When Wal- 
lace had been long in the Malay Archipelago, 
a relative wrote urging him to return, and in 
his reply he gave the reasons why he could not 
do so, and said: 


So far from being angry at being called an en- 
thusiast (as you seem to suppose), it is my pride 
and glory to be worthy to be so called. Who ever 
did anything good or great who was not an en- 
thusiast? 


This was his attitude to the end of his life, 
and only those who have some measure of the 
same feeling can understand it. The worldly 
wisdom of a professional threading his way 
through the maze of opportunity to one of the 
prizes of life was wholly foreign to his nature; 
he was, instead, the “ irresponsible enthusiast,” 
keenly anxious to see and know, loving nature 
and man, always wishing to communicate to 
others some of the pleasure and knowledge he 
had gained. To some his frequent advocacy 
of unpopular causes suggested perfect indiffer- 
ence to public opinion, and a total disregard of 
ordinary prudence. Whether, in this or that 
matter, we believe him to have been right or 
wrong, we must admire a man who always had 
the courage of his convictions; and so far from 
being indifferent to the feelings and opinions 
of others, his sympathetic nature and longing 
for fellowship caused him to so zealously ex- 
pound what he believed would be helpful to 
other men. 

I had of course revelled in “The Malay 
Archipelago” when a boy, but my first 
personal relations with Dr. Wallace arose from 
a letter I wrote him after reading his “ Dar- 
winism,” then (early in 1890) recently pub- 
lished. The book delighted me, but I found a 
number of little matters to criticize and dis- 
cuss, and with the impetuosity of youth, pro- 
ceeded to write to the author, and also send a 
letter on some of the points to Nature. I have 


872 SCIENCE 


possibly not yet reached years of discretion, 
but in the perspective of time I can see with 
confusion that what I regarded as worthy zeal 
might well have been characterized by others 
as confounded impudence. In the face of this, 
the tolerance and kindness of Dr. Wallace’s 
reply is wholly characteristic: 


I am very much obliged to you for your letter 
containing so many valuable emendations and sug- 
gestions on my ‘‘Darwinism.’’ They will be very 
useful to me in preparing another edition. Living 
in the country with but few books, I have often 
been unable to obtain the latest information, but 
for the purpose of the argument, the facts of a few 
years back are often as good as those of to-day— 
which in their turn will be modified a few years 
hence. You refer to there being five species of 
Aquilegia in Colorado. But have they not each 
their station, two seldom occurring together? Dur- 
ing a week’s botanizing in July in Colorado I only 
saw two species, caerulea and brevistyla,—each in 
their own area. Though the Andrenidae are not 
usually gaily colored, yet they are not wmconspicu- 
ous. The Chrysididae are, I should think, colored 
so brilliantly, partly, perhaps, to simulate stinging 
species, and partly to prevent their being taken 
for fruits or seeds when rolled up. They are very 
hard, and like many hard beetles, are colored as a 
warning of inedibility. In the Rocky Mountains 
I think there is a real scarcity of Monocotyledons, 
especially bulbous Liliaceae and Amaryllids, and 
Orchises. This struck me as being the case. You 
appear to have so much knowledge of details in so 
many branches of natural history, and also to have 
thought so much on many of the more recondite 
problems, that I shall be much pleased to receive 
any further remarks or corrections on any other 
portions of my book. 


This letter, written to a very young and 
quite unknown man in the wilds of Colorado, 
who had merely communicated a list of more 
or less trifling criticisms, can only be explained 
as an instance of Dr. Wallace’s eagerness to 
help and encourage beginners. It did not 
occur to him to question the propriety of the 
criticisms, he did not write as a superior to an 
inferior; he only saw what seemed to him a 
spark of biological enthusiasm, which should 
by all means be kindled into flame. Many 
years later, when I was at his house, he pro- 


3 Letter, February 10, 1890. 


[N.S. Vout. XXXVIITI. No. 996 


duced with the greatest delight some letters 
from a young man who had gone to South 
America and was getting his first glimpses of 
the tropical forest. What discoveries he might 
make! What joy he must have on seeing the 
things described in the letters, such things as 
Dr. Wallace himself had seen in Brazil so 
long ago! 

It is comparatively easy for many of us to 
teach, as we do in schools. No doubt we com- 
municate the “essentials” of our subjects in 
a fairly competent manner; but would that we 
had in this country more grand old men with 
the will and right to bless the succeeding gen- 
erations as they come. 

Some letters of August and September, 
1890, refer to a suggestion of mine that a col- 
lection of all the recorded facts bearing on 
evolution should be made. 


The proposal you make of a collection of all the 
recorded facts bearing upon the various problems 
of Darwinism is a very good one. Such a body of 
facts would be most valuable to naturalists, but I 
question whether it would pay for its publication. 
I feel sure my publishers would not agree to 
‘“weight’’ my book with such a mass of additional 
matter. The only thing, therefore, would be to 
publish the materials separately, as Darwin did 
in his ‘‘ Animals and Plants under Domestication. ’’ 
I hope you will do this yourself, as you have evi- 
dently a taste for this kind of work... . It would, 
however, be a tremendous task, as it would in- 
volve wading through the whole literature of nat- 
ural history for the last twenty years. 


In a second letter: 


If half a dozen workers could be found to under- 
take the work of collection I should think the 
Royal Society would give funds for the publica- 
tion, as the work would be realy a supplement to 
Darwin’s works, and might be suggested as a 
Literary Memorial to him. 


The project was never even on the way to 
be carried out, owing to various circumstances. 
I believe it might even now be begun, and that 
it would be well worth while. For example, 
we have no good collection of data concerning 
the relations between specific characters and 
locality, or on the relative frequency of varia- 
tion in different species, and a number of other 


ble eee 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


equally interesting topics. One constantly 
reads good papers on experimental work, 
which suffer from the almost total ignorance 
of the authors concerning the variability and 
different specific characters of the genera they 
are dealing with. Not only could much that is 
valuable be obtained from the literature, but 
the museums are full of materials which on 
examination would yield a rich harvest. 

Dr. Wallace was greatly impressed with the 
waste of opportunity in our museums, and not 
very long ago (Sept. 30, 1909) wrote urging 
that something should be done. 


If you can find time I wish you would write to 
““Nature’’—or if at more length to the ‘‘Fort- 
nightly Review’’—on a matter of great impor- 
tance to the philosophical study of biology. Our 
vast accumulations of plants at Kew, and of in- 
sects at the Natural History Museum contain a 
mass of most valuable geographical and statistical 
information, quite lost, useless and unknown, 
owing to the absurd system of devoting all the 
time and energies of the staff of curators, ete., to 
describing new species or small groups here and 
there, or publishing a few enormous and very 
costly works like Sharpe’s Catalogue of Birds, 
—which, though intrinsically of great value, are 
lost to the mass of workers owing to cost and 
bulk. Thiselton-Dyar wrote me lately that he 
“groans over the masses of material which lie use- 
less and unknown at Kew.’’ I have urged the 
last and present Directors of the Natural History 
Museum to devote their influence to making a 
simple Catalogue of the Museum contents, be- 
ginning with the richest and most popular families 
or sub-orders of insects—Longicorns, Carabidae, 
Cicindelidae, Lamellicornes, ete., also Diurnal 
Lepidoptera. This catalogue or list, could be 
made by intelligent clerks only, by going over the 
cabinets or cases, in systematic order, and enter- 
ing every specific name (or sp. noy.) and the 
numbers of the specimens in the Museum from 
each separate locality. The clerk or clerks would 
be under the general supervision of the Curator of 
the special department. From this manuscript 
list, a card-catalogue should be set up and stereo- 
typed; there being a card for each species and 
named variety, and in the case of all wide- 
spread species, separate cards for each Continent 
or each considerable Country. By printing several 
sets of these cards, a card-catalogue for any sub- 
family or genus, or for any geographical region 


SCIENCE 


873 


or country, could be made up at a low price, and 
would be invaluable to all private collectors, as tell- 
ing them at once what is in the B. M., and where 
from, while the number of specimens would be 
some guide to the abundance or rarity of the spe- 
cies. JI am immensely impressed with the value of 
the plan of Card Catalogues, so much used in 
America, but I suppose almost unknown here ex- 
cept for Libraries. I have no time or strength to 
go into this subject properly. .. . 

Dr. Wallace had not seen some of the more 
recently published works, in which such infor- 
mation as he desired had actually been given; 
but it was and is true that all large museums 
might do much more for the advancement of 
biological science, were they to fully utilize 
the materials at their command. The greatest 
objection to catalogues compiled in the manner 
suggested is that the determinations of speci- 
mens are frequently unreliable, so that expert 
revision of the several groups would be neces- 
sary in the first place. This means more cura- 
tors, and therefore more expense. It is however 
a very wasteful policy, which would wreck any 
private business, to keep up a large museum at 
enormous cost, and then cut off the funds at the 
point of providing an adequate staff to take 
care of the contents. It is as though a large 
department store were furnished with every- 
thing except enough clerks and salesmen to at- 
tend to the customers. Several curators of the 
U.S. National Museum, to whom I put the 
question, concurred in the opinion that 5 per 
cent. added to the total cost of running the 
put into expert curators, would 
double the scientific output. In addition to 
taxonomic workers, museums ought also to 
have men with broad interests like those of Dr. 
Wallace, whose business it would be to survey 
and expound the facts relating to geographical 
distribution, variation, etc., obtainable from 
the collections. Thus at the British Museum, 
Hampson’s great work on the moths of the 
world might be made the basis for many inter- 
esting generalizations, which would interest 
and instruct many who could not obtain or 
read the original severely taxonomic volumes. 

In October, 1890, after I had returned to 
England, Dr. Wallace wrote that he was about 


museum, 


874 SCIENCE 


to prepare a new edition of his “Island Life,” 
and asked me to help secure the information 
necessary to bring it up to date. I of course 
gladly agreed to do this, and was supplied with 
the loose sheets of the first edition, which I 
carried to the British Museum (Natural His- 
tory) and the library of the Zoological Society, 
comparing the chapters with recent literature, 
and especially consulting different naturalists 
on their specialties. This not only proved 
extremely interesting work, but it gave me an 
introduction to many men I had wished to 
meet, and especially brought me into constant 
communication with Dr. Wallace himself. All 
who were approached courteously gave the 
best aid in their power; but one chapter, that 
on the British Islands, proved quite a bone of 
contention. Dr. Wallace had given lists of 
animals and plants peculiar to those islands, 
enumerating all the species and varieties which 
appeared not to have been recorded from else- 
where. He argued that while no doubt these 
lists required amendment, yet it was probably 
true that we possessed a considerable series of 
endemic forms. Almost without exception, 
the naturalists of that time expressed great 
scepticism on this point, while some freely 
ridiculed the whole idea. Even when furnish- 
ing data, they hastened to say that they were 
probably of no value. Since that time, careful 
collections have been made by British natural- 
ists on the continent, and much work of vari- 
ous kinds has been undertaken which bears 
directly upon the question of an endemic ele- 
ment in the British fauna. The result has 
been to reveal an amount of divergence far in 
excess of Dr. Wallace’s expectations; so much 
so, that when a few years ago I mentioned to 
him the recent results of mammalogists, he 
was not himself prepared to go so far, but said 
they surely must be splitting hairs. 

Early in 1891 I went down to Parkstone 
and had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. and 
Mrs. Wallace. For about a week I spent a 
large part of each day at Dr. Wallace’s house 
and sometimes went for walks with him. I 
now regret that I kept no notes of the conver- 
gations, but I recall that we discussed all the 
debatable biological and sociological questions 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


of the day. More especially, we talked about 
the inheritance of acquired characters, and 
tried to postulate crucial experiments to prove 
the matter one way or the other. We found it 
extremely difficult to even imagine an experi- 
ment which should be above all possible criti- 
cism. There was also much to be said about 
geographical distribution; and just at that 
time I had published some remarks on alpine 
plants in Nature, which had ealled forth ad- 
verse criticism, to which I replied while at Dr. 
Wallace’s house. I remember that he encour- 
aged me to go forward in this matter, and not 
mind if people said I was out of my proper 
department. He believed in, and of course 
illustrated by his own conduct, the right of any 
man to study what he chose, and not be 
limited in his intellectual activities because 
his colleagues had labelled him this or that. 

After my return home we continued to dis- 
cuss the inheritance of acquired characters 
through the mails, especially since at that time 
Dr. Romanes and others had on foot a project 
for an experimental station. The following is 
from a letter of February 7, 1891: 


Your former letter (of Feb. 2) giving Romanes’ 
reply to you, set me going and I immediately 
wrote to Galton. I enclose his reply, which please 
return when you are writing next. I then sat 
down and sketched a series of a dozen sets of ex: 
periments to test the two questions of ‘‘heredity 
of acquired characters’’ and the ‘‘amount of ster- 
ility in the hybrids between closely allied species,’’ 
—and also a few to test the questions of instinct 
in nest building, and the ‘‘homing’’ power of 
dogs, cats, ete. These I am now sending to him 
and shall then receive his objections to them as 
affording tests. In the mean time will you try and 
formulate a few experiments which would serve as 
crucial tests of the question of the ‘‘heredity of 
individually acquired characters?’’? You may hit 
on some that will meet the objections he will prob- 
ably make to mine. I do not think there will be 
any difficulty in getting good observers in paid 
servants under the supervision of a committee. 


On February 13 Dr. Wallace reported the 
receipt of a long letter from Galton, criticizing 
some of the suggested experiments. The letter 
continues: 


3 
A 
4 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


I suggested some experiments something like 
yours, and many others. I do not quite agree 
with you that if acquired characters are inherited, 
they might only be so very rarely. If inherited 
(to be of any use in the theory of evolution, and 
that is the whole question) they ought to be in- 
herited as frequently as other characters are in- 
herited, that is, I presume, in about half the off- 
spring. If only one in 100 exhibited the character 
how could you possibly say it was not a normal 
variation in that individual? Only by the very 
frequent inheritance could you prove that there 
was any inheritance at all! I think you will see 
this. But it is too elaborate a question to discuss 
in letters. 


On February 18, however, he discussed the 
matter at greater length: 


As you are a student of variation I thought you 
would see my point without explanation. Now I 
will explain. The following three points I con- 
sider to be proved by overwhelming evidence, a 
summary of which is given in ‘‘Darwinism,’’ 
Chap. III. 

1, All increasing or dominant species (and it is 
from these that new species arise) vary consider- 
ably, in all their parts, organs and faculties, in 
every generation. 

2. The amount of this variation is so large that 
when only 20 to 50 adults are compared it reaches 
from 10 to 20 per cent. of the mean value of such 
characters as can be accurately measured. 

3. The proportion of individuals which vary con- 
siderably is large, reaching to one fourth, or one 
third of the whole number compared. In other 
words, the curve of variation is low... . 

Hence it follows that whatever character is in- 
creased or diminished in individuals by the effect 
of the environment, a similar increase or diminu- 
tion will occur by genetic variation, in each genera- 
tion, and in certainly 5 or 10 per cent. of the in- 
dividuals dealt with. Hence your supposition that 
in the check lots no such modification would occur 
as in those exposed to special conditions is almost 
an impossible one; and an effect produced on one 
or even on five or 10 per cent. by special conditions 
would be imperceptible, because similar effects 
would occur through normal variation and often 
to a much greater amount. Hence I said, that to 
be clear and decisive the effect produced by the 
conditions should be inherited by a large propor- 
tion of the offspring. You may say that the effects 
of conditions would be additional to the normal ef- 
fects of variation. True. And if largely inherited 


SCIENCE 


875 


they would soon show it, but if as you first sup- 
posed only one per cent., that would be entirely 
swamped by the irregularities of normal variation 
and inheritance. You must remember too that ex- 
periments on a very large scale, and with check ex- 
periments on an equally large scale, and all carried 
on for many years, would require a very large es- 
tablishment and ample funds not likely to be ob- 
tained. Again, the whole raison d’étre of this en- 
quiry is to decide whether inheritance of ac- 
quired characters is of any importance in the 
origin of species. To be of importance it must 
rank in generality with variation, otherwise 
it is entirely superfluous, even if it exists, and 
variation could do perfectly well without it. 
Yet again, either there is a fundamental cause 
of such inheritance or there is not. If there 
is,—if such inheritance is a law of nature, why 
should it not rank with the inheritance of genetic 
variations?—which are, I presume, to the extent 
of about one half? If it was only one per cent., it 
might be a fluke! It would require innumerable 
experiments to prove it was anything else. 


I have given this discussion partly to show 
that even in those days there was much talk of 
experimental work, and that the necessity for 
such work was fully appreciated. Dr. Romanes 
prepared a statement, which was widely cir- 
culated, urging that an experimental station 
should be established at Oxford or Cambridge,* 
but the funds were not forthcoming. We 
thought at one time that Oxford would rise to 
the occasion, but she failed to do so, and it was 
long after that Cambridge established a chair 
of genetics. 

During the winter I unsuccessfully com- 
peted for a position in the Marine Biological 
Station at Plymouth, and Dr. Wallace kindly 
interested himself on my behalf. When, in 
April, I was appointed curator of the museum 
of the Institute of Jamaica, I had reason to 
believe that Dr. Wallace had a good deal to do 
with the matter, since he evidently knew all 
about it before I told him. He wrote me a 
charming letter of congratulation: 

How you will revel in the land Molluscs, and 
how you will punish the poor slugs who have 
hitherto been unregarded by collectors! ... 


4‘‘Hife and Letters of George John Romanes,’’ 
second ed. (1896), p. 269. 


876 SCIENCE 


You will also be able to have a garden, and to be 
within easy reach of the higher ranges of moun- 
tains where hosts of new insects and molluses re- 
main for you to discover! As you will treat the 
poor niggers as ‘‘men and brothers,’’ you will 
have no difficulty in getting any servants you re- 
Quine ahs 


In the following year Dr. Wallace himself 
thought of visiting Jamaica, and wrote: 


Should you see any nice little cot to let in some 
nice place in the mountains, with plenty of rock 
and forest near by, let us know, and if we can let 
our house here for 6 months we may possibly 
come and be renovated by the glorious sun of 
Jamaica. 


In 1893, after I had gone to New Mexico, 
Dr. Wallace wrote (Sept. 10): 


I and wife went to the Lakes for a month in 
July and August,—our first visit there. I was de- 
lighted both with the scenery and the glacial phe- 
nomena. The mountains are very precipitous, 
with fine bold outlines and grand precipices, and 
their summits, at 3,000 feet, quite as grand ex- 
amples of mountain structure and: of denudation 
as 12,000 or 14,000 feet peaks in the Rockies! 


The years passed by, bringing good and ill 
fortune, and it was not until June, 1904, that 
I again saw Dr. Wallace. He had moved from 
Parkstone to Broadstone, where he had built 
a house in an ideal spot, surrounded by a beau- 
tiful garden, and with a small greenhouse 
annexed. Adjacent to the garden is a sort of 
miniature forest; “this,” he said, “we call 
the tulgey wood.” Every morning he went out 
early, to see what flowers had opened, and to 
pick the strawberries. His enthusiasm over 
the flowers was unbounded; as he himself said, 
the passage of years had increased instead of 
dulling his love of natural beauty. We were 
shown the new hybrid roses, and especially the 
rockeries, where many beautiful alpines were 
growing to perfection. One day we all went 
to Corfe Castle, and Dr. Wallace, in spite of 
his age, was able to climb the hill on which 
that ruin stands, and examine every part of it. 

In subsequent years my wife and I fre- 
quently heard about the garden, sometimes 
from Dr., sometimes from Mrs. Wallace. They 
sent us seeds of Anchusa and old-fashioned 


[N.S. Vout. XXXVIII. No. 990 


English pinks, which have done very well in 
our garden at Boulder; we sent Rosa stellata 
and the new red sunflower, both of which were 
first grown in England by the Wallaces. On 
June 26, 1911, soon after the publication of 
“The World of Life,” Dr. Wallace wrote: 


After the hard labor of my book, and the flood 
of correspondence about it, chiefly from admirers, 
—I am taking relaxation in a new rock and bog 
garden, which I have been making, and especially 
in growing as many as I can of the lovely genus 
Primula, especially the fine new species recently 
discovered in the mountains of China and the 
Himalayas. These I am growing as much as pos- 
sible from seed, as their beauty is only shown in 
groups or masses; and I have already got alto- 
gether about 40 species (chiefly presents from 
Kew, Edinburgh, Dublin, ete.). I am very anxious 
to get your very remarkable and fine Primula 
Rusbyt from New Mexico, and in the hope that 
your university may have a botanical garden, or 
that some of your botanists may grow it; I shall 
greatly prize some seed gathered and posted in a 
letter as soon as the capsules are mature. Seed of 
the Californian P. suffruticosa and the Coloradan 
P. Parry will also be very welcome, as well as of 
any other American species, if such there are. 


P. rusbyi I had never obtained at any time; 
the allusion to my species was probably due to 
some recollection of the equally fine R. ellisiae, 
which it was impossible to procure. We did, 
however, obtain some roots of P. parryi, and 
Dr. Wallace wrote: 

I have received a very nice little parcel of fine 
roots of the handsome Primula Parryi, which I 
saw growing luxuriantly near Kelso’s cabin, be- 
low Gray’s Peak, at 11,500 feet, and which I hope 
to see in flower again next spring, as I have given 
it a place where it can get its roots in water, as 
it did there, on the margin of the stream.® 

In the same letter he says: 

About two months back was much surprised and 
pleased to have a visit from Miss Eastwood, my 
companion in our trip to Gray’s Peak and Grizzly 
Gulch, in July, 1887, where we saw the American 
Alpine flora at the snow-line in perfection. 


Then again: 


Answering letters, reading the papers, mags. 
and books, with a lot of novels fills up my time, 


5 Litt., December 17, 1911. 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


with attention to my Alpines and seedling Primu- 
las, though I have promised to write an important 
article, when I feel up to it, ‘‘On the Influence of 
the Environment on Morals.’’ We are having the 
dullest, dampest and dreariest winter I remember, 
after the hottest summer! ... The political and 
foreign situation is now most interesting with us, 
and I am glad to have lived to see such a hopeful 
dawn. 


The last time I saw Dr. Wallace was imme- 
diately after the Darwin Celebration at Cam- 
bridge in 1909. I was the first to give him the 
details concerning it, and vividly remember 
how interested he was, and how heartily he 
laughed over some of the funny incidents, 
which may-not as yet be told in print. One of 
Dr. Wallace’s most prominent characteristics 
was his keen sense of humor, and his enjoy- 
ment of a good story. At the banquet at Cam- 
bridge those present united in sending him a 
telegram expressing their sense of his great 
part in the event they were celebrating, and 
their regret that he could not be present. This 
was not delivered until the next morning, and 
Dr. Wallace was concerned lest it should have 
been thought that he delayed in sending a 
reply. I was able to assure him that we knew 
at the time that it was too late for delivery 
that day. 

As recently as February 3, 1913, Mrs. Wal- 
lace wrote: 

Dr. Wallace is very well and busy, writing as 
hard as ever; he has just passed 90, and feels 
like 50. 


Much later in the year (July 1) we heard 
from my brother that he was “ splendidly well,” 
and not many months after, the sad news ap- 
peared in the daily papers. In one of his 
letters he said that except for the infirmities 
natural to old age he felt quite as keen as he 
had ever done in his youth, and thought this a 
good sign for the persistence of personality 
after death. This keenness never waned to the 
end, and who shall say that this eager spirit 
has not still some place in the realm of being? 


T. D. A. CocKERELL 


SCIENCE 


877 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue Nobel prizes in the sciences have been 
awarded to Professor H. K. Onnes, of the 
University of Leiden, in physics; to Professor 
Alfred Werner, of the University of Zurich, 
in chemistry, and to Professor Charles Richet, 
of the University of Paris, in medicine. 


At the anniversary meeting of the Royal 
Society Sir William Crookes was elected 
president to succeed Sir Archibald Geikie. 
Other officers were elected and prizes were 
conferred as already announced in SCIENCE. 
At the annual dinner the principal toast, “ The 
Royal Society,” was proposed by Mr. Page, 
the American ambassador. The retiring presi- 
dent announced a gift of £5,000 for physical 
research from Sir James Caird. 


Dr. J. H. Comstock, for thirty-nine years 
instructor and professor of entomology at 
Cornell University, will retire from the active 
duties of his chair at the close of the present 
academic year. 


Dr. Herman M. Bices has retired as chief 
medical officer of the Department of Health of 
the City of New York, having rendered dis- 
tinguished service to the city in that office. 


Prorressor CLEVELAND ABBE, the distin- 
guished meteorologist of the U. S. Weather 
Bureau, celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday 
on December 4. 


Tue gold medal of the Apothecaries Society, 
London, has been awarded to Mr. J. E. Hart- 
ing, in recognition of his services in prepar- 
ing and editing the catalogue of the library in 
Apothecaries’ Hall. 


THE portrait of Professor Horace Lamb, 
F.R.S., was presented on November 27 by sub- 
seribers to the University of Manchester, 
where he has filled the chair of mathematics 
since 1885, and is now senior professor. The 
portrait of Professor Lamb was painted by his 
son, Mr. Henry Lamb. The presentation was 
made by Professor Tout and Professor Ruther- 
ford. 


Dr. Cuartes S. Minor has been elected an 


honorary member of the Anatomical Society 
of Great Britain and Ireland. 


878 


At a special meeting of the Royal Spanish 
Society of Natural Science held in Madrid on 
November 28, Dr. W. J. Holland, the director 
of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, was 
elected an honorary member to fill the vacancy 
in the list of honorary members created by the 
death of Lord Avebury. At the same meeting 
Mr. Arthur 8. Coggeshall, of Pittsburgh, was 
elected a corresponding member of the society. 

Proressor R. W. Woon, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, who is spending the year 
abroad, is engaged in research work in the 
laboratories of the Sorbonne and the Ecole 
Normal Superieur (Paris) in collaboration 
with Hemsalech, Dunoyer and Ribaud. His 
address is 14 Ave. Charles Floquet, Paris. 

At the annual meeting of the Entomo- 
logical Society of Washington, held on Decem- 
ber 4, 19138, the following officers were elected: 
President, W. D. Hunter; First Vice-presi- 
dent, A. N. Caudell; Second Vice-president, 
E. R. Sasscer; Hditor, W. D. Hunter; Corre- 
sponding Secretary-Treasurer, S. A. Rohwer 
(U.S. National Museum, Washington, D. C.); 
Additional Members of the Executive Com- 
mitee, Dr. L. O. Howard and Messrs. EH. A. 
Schwarz and August Busck. These officers 
will be installed at the first meeting in Janu- 
ary. 

Mr. N. Cunurrs, B.A., Trinity College, has 
been appointed assistant to the superintendent 
of the Museum of Zoology of Cambridge Uni- 
versity. 

Dr. Sepastian ALBRECHT has been appointed 
astronomer at the Dudley Observatory, 
Albany. 

E. J. McCaustianp, professor of municipal 
and highway engineering at the University of 
Washington, Seattle, has been appointed by 
the county commissioners as consulting engi- 
neer for King County. In conjunction with 
the state highway commissioner Mr. Mc- 
Caustland will act as adviser to the county 
engineer in the expenditure of three million 
dollars for permanent highways. 

At the regular fall meeting of the Chicago 
chapter of the Sigma Xi held on December 
first, the society was addressed by Professor 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


Jacques Loeb, of the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research, who spoke on “ Recent Ex- 
periments in Artificial Parthenogenesis.” 


Durine the week of December 1-6. Pro- 
fessor Lafayette B. Mendel, of the Sheffield 
Scientific School of Yale University, gave ad- 
dresses on “ Viewpoints in the Study of 
Growth” and “Food Fads” before chapters 
of the Sigma Xi society at the University of 
Kansas, University of Missouri and Washing- 
ton University in St. Louis. 


Proressor Doucntas W. JoHNson delivered 
the following series of illustrated lectures on 
“The Interpretation of American Scenery ” 
before the Institute of Arts and Sciences of 
Columbia University on Saturday evenings 
during the month of November: The Scenery 
of American Rivers; Shoreline Scenery of the 
Atlantic Coast; The Sculpture of Mountains 
by Glaciers, and the Scenery of the Grand 
Cafion District. 


On the evening of November 14, Professor 
W. W. Atwood, of Harvard University, pre- 
sented an illustrated lecture to the Geographic 
Society of Chicago on “The Ascent of Un- 
compagre and a Trip through the San Juan 
Mountains of Colorado.” 


Proressor ArtHuR H. BiLancuarpD, of Co- 
lumbia University, on December 6, delivered 
an illustrated lecture on “Modern Develop- 
ments in Highway Engineering,” before the 
Drexel Institute of Philadelphia. . 


Dr. WoLFcance OstwaLD, Privatdozent at the 
University of Leipzig, editor of the Kolloid- 
Zeitschrift and the Kolloidchemische Bethefte, 
and known for his many scientific contribu- 
tions to biology and chemistry, has been in- 
vited by the Cincinnati branch of the Ameri- 
can Chemical Society and the Cincinnati Re- 
search Society to give a series of five lectures 
on colloid-chemistry in the University of Cin- 
cinnati during the week of January 5 to 10. 
The lectures embrace a discussion of the gen- 
eral properties of colloids with scientific and 
technical applications. In the week of Jan- 
uary 12 to 17 these lectures will be repeated at 
the University of Illinois; January 19 to 24 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


at Columbia, January 26 to 31 at Johns Hop- 
kins; February 2 to 7 at the University of 
Chicago. 

Tur Huxley lecture at Birmingham Univer- 
sity for this year is to be delivered by Sir Ar- 
thur Evans, F.R.S., who has chosen as his 
subject “The Ages of Minos.” 

Tue Swiney lectures on geology in connec- 
tion with the British Museum (Natural His- 
tory) are being given this year by Dr. T. J. 
Jehu, his subject being “ The Natural History 
of Minerals and Ores.” 


Proressor ALFRED G. Compton, former head 
of the physics department at the College of 
the City of New York, who retired in Decem- 
ber, 1911, after serving on the faculty of the 
college for fifty-eight years, died on Decem- 
ber 12, aged seventy-eight years. 


Dr. James MacAtister, for twenty-two 
years president of the Drexel Institute at 
Philadelphia, and previously superintendent 
of public schools, died on December 11, at the 
age of seventy-three years. 


Proressor Dr. ANTON FRC, one of the most 
distinguished of the paleontologists of Europe, 
died in Prague on the fifteenth of November, 
in the eighty-first year of his age. Professor 
Frié’s greatest contributions were to the Per- 
mian fauna of Bohemia, especially the Am- 
phibia and fishes, and also the insects. He has 
- also left a permanent record in his direction 
of the beautiful natural history museum at 
Prague which is in many respects the most 
perfect of its kind in Europe. He was a man 
of very great energy and a voluminous writer. 
His published works include many large vol- 
umes which will become classics in paleonto- 
logical literature. 


Proressor Icmno Coccut, of Florence, known 
for his work in stratigraphical geology, the 
first president of the committee directing the 
Geological Survey of Italy, has died at the 
age of seventy-five years. 

THE foundation-stone was laid on November 
23 at Frankfurt-on-Maine of the new zoolog- 
ical institute of the Senckenberg Natural His- 
tory Museum which the Senckenberg Society 


SCIENCE 


879 


will ultimately place at the disposal of the fu- 
ture University of Frankfurt. 

Tur thirty-first German Congress of Inter- 
nal Medicine will be held at Wiesbaden, 
April 20-23, under the presidency of Pro- 
fessor von Romberg, of Munich. The chief 
subject proposed for discussion is the nature 
and treatment of insomnia. The reporters are 
Drs. Gaupp, of Tiibingen; Goldscheider, of 
Berlin, and Faust, of Wiirzburg. 

THE committee charged with the local ar- 
rangements for the recent visit to Birming- 
ham of the British Association has held its 
final meeting. It was reported that the num- 
ber of persons taking tickets for the meeting 
was 2,635, compared with 2,504 at the Dundee 
meeting last year and 2,453 at the Birming~ 
ham meeting in 1886. The extent to which 
the artisan classes availed themselves of the 
popular science lectures made them a notable 
feature of the meeting. The Finance Com- 
mittee recommended that an unexpended bal- 
ance of £2,313 be returned to the contributors 
proportionately. 

A prize of one hundred dollars is offered for 
the best paper on “The Availability of Pear- 
son’s Formule for Psychophysics.” The rules 
for the solution of this problem have been 
formulated in general terms by William 
Brown. It is now required (1) to make their 
formulation specific, and (2) to show how they 
work out in actual practise. Papers in com- 
petition for this prize will be received not 
later than December 31, 1914, by Professor E. 
B. Titchener, Cornell Heights, Ithaca, N. Y. 
Such papers are to be marked only with a 
motto, and are to be accompanied by a sealed 
envelope, marked with the same motto, and 
containing the name and address of the writer. 
The prize will be awarded by a committee con- 
sisting of Professors William Brown, E. B. 
Titehener and F. M. Urban. The committee 
will make known the name of the successful 
competitor on July 1, 1915. 

Particutars of the Pierre J. and Edouard 
Van Beneden prize of 2,800 franes are quoted 
in Nature. The prize is to be awarded every 
three years to the Belgian or foreign author 


880 


or authors of the best original work of em- 
bryology or cytology written or published dur- 
ing the three years preceding the date on 
which competing theses must be received. For 
the first competition this date is December 31, 
1915. The manuscript works may be signed 
or anonymous, and the French, German, or 
English language may be employed. Authors 
should send their contributions to the perma- 
nent secretary of the academy, Palais des 
Académies, Brussels, inscribed “Concours 
pour le Prix Pierre-J. et Edouard Van Bene- 
den.” 

Presipent Witson, in his annual address to 
members of Congress, referred to the United 
States Bureau of Mines in the following 
manner: “Our Bureau of Mines ought to be 
equipped and empowered to render even more 
effectual service than it renders now in im- 
proving the conditions of mine labor and mak- 
ing the mines more economically productive 
-as well as more safe. This is an all-important 
part of the work of conservation; and the 
‘conservation of human life and energy lies 
‘even nearer to our interest than the preserva- 
tion from waste of our material resources.” 


Tue British home secretary has appointed 
a committee to inquire what action has been 
taken under the Wild Birds Protection Acts 
for the protection of wild birds and to consider 
whether any amendments of the law or im- 
provements in its administration are required. 
The members of the committee are: The Hon. 
E. S. Montagu, M.P., under-secretary of state 
for India (chairman); Lord Lueas, parlia- 
mentary secretary to the board of agriculture; 
Mr. Frank Elliott, of the home office; Mr. E. 
G. B. Meade-Waldo, Mr. W. R. Ogilive Grant 
and Mr. Hugh S. Gladstone. The secretary 
to the committee is Mr. H. R. Scott, of the 
home office. 

Tue annual inspection trip of the depart- 
ment of electrical engineering of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois took place November 23-26. 
The trip was under the charge of Professors 
E. B. Paine, Morgan Brooks, E. H. Waldo 
and J. M. Bryant. The party was divided 
into two sections. One section visited the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 990 


Keokuk water power plant, while the other 
visited the industries around Joliet, Illinois. 
The sections met in Chicago, where the trip 
was concluded. Features of the trip were the 
inspection of the parts of the Commonwealth 
Edison system in Chicago, the Hawthorne 
works of the Western Electric Company and 
the Illinois Steel Works. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


ANNOUNCEMENT is made at Yale University 
that the new biological laboratories are to be 
called the ‘“ Osborn Memorial Laboratories.” 
The funds, amounting to half a million 
dollars, were provided for in the will of the 
late Mrs. Miriam A. Osborn. The laboratories 
accommodate the departments of zoology, com- 
parative anatomy and botany. 


Recunations for admission to the military 
academy at West Point have been modified so 
that without lowering the entrance require- 
ments prospective cadets may be matriculated 
by substituting equivalents for some of the 
units of study hitherto insisted upon. Here- 
after a candidate for admission may be ex- 
cused from mental examination upon pre- 
sentation of certificate that he is a regularly 
enrolled student in good standing in a uni- 
versity, college or technological school, the 
entrance requirements of which include pro- 
ficiency in mathematics and English as out- 
lined by the college entrance examination 
board, or a certificate that he has graduated 
from a preparatory school meeting the require- 
ments of that board, or a certificate that he 
has passed fourteen units of the entrance 
examinations required by the board requiring 
mathematics, English and history. 


ReEcoMMENDATION has been made to the Ar- 
gentine Congress to send to America for two 
years’ study at government expense two pro- 
fessors from each faculty of each national 
university. 


Mrs. Etta Frace Youne has resigned as 
superintendent of Schools of the City of Chi- 
cago because certain members of the board 
voted against her re-election. It is now said 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


that these members of the board have resigned 
and that Mrs. Young may accept the election. 


Dr. Livineston Farrand, professor of an- 
thropology in Columbia University, has been 
elected president of the University of Colorado. 


Presipent Tuomas F. Kane, of the Univer- 
sity of Washington, was removed from office 
on December 12 by the board of regents, who 
unanimously adopted a resolution declaring 
the office vacant. The action was the climax 
of an agitation that has lasted three years, in 
which a majority of the faculty and students 
are said to have aligned themselves against 
President Kane. 


AMONG new appointments at the University 
of Montana are: N. J. Lennes, Ph.D. (Chi- 
eago), instructor in Columbia University for 
the past three years, to be head of the depart- 
ment of mathematics, and A. George Heil- 
man, M.D. (Pennsylvania), to be instructor in 
biology and physiology. 

Dr. W. T. Gorpvon has been appointed lec- 
turer and head of the geological department 
at King’s College, London, in succession to 
Dr. T. F. Sibly, appointed professor of geol- 
ogy at the University of South Wales, Cardiff. 


Dr. G. Owen, lecturer in physics at Liver- 
pool University, has been appointed professor 
of physics at Auckland University College, 
New Zealand. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
MORE PALEOLITHIC ART 

By degrees paleolithic stations are being re- 
discovered. The large rock shelter of La 
Colombiére, valley of the Ain, some thirty 
miles southwest of Geneva, is an example. 
Known since 1875 it had been only superfi- 
cially explored. The important discoveries of 
Dr. Lucien Mayet, of the University of Lyons, 
and M. Jean Pissot, of Poncin, date from 
October, 1918; and were first announced 
through the Paris Academy of Sciences on 
October 20. The trench they dug revealed in 
section: (1) neolithic at the top; (2) a Magda- 
Jenian horizon, the upper section of which with 
the neolithic had been disturbed by earlier in- 


SCIENCE 881 


vestigators; (3) a layer of fine sand with 
débris from the overhanging rock, one meter 
thick, in which no relics were found, represent- 
ing a long period of non-habitation by man; 
(4) Aurignacian layer with fossil remains of 
the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer and 
horse. Here also was a workshop left by 
Aurignacian man, flint tools and rare engrav- 
ings characteristic of the epoch. 

The principal find is a large fragment of 
mammoth bone on which are engraved human 
figures; a head and upper part of the body 
including an out-stretched arm and hand; 
likewise a figure with head and feet missing, 
probably a female. Both these engravings are 
in profile, the view easiest to master by a 
primitive artist working in outline. Fairly 
good examples of the human form in the round 
and in relief dating back to the Aurignacian 
epoch are already known. Engraved figures 
are rare and so far as the head is concerned 
are little more than caricatures. The exam- 
ple from La Colombiére is no exception in this 
respect and curiously enough resembles cer- 
tain engraved human heads previously re- 
ported, one from the cavern of Font-de-Gaume 
(Dordogne), one from the Grotte des Fées 
(Gironde), and others from Les Combarelles 
(Dordogne) and Marsoulas (Haute-Garonne). 
In the Aurignacian layer were also found 
pebbles with engraved figures of the bison, 
Felis, horse, and wild sheep. When it is re- 
called that four fifths of all Quaternary en- 
gravings are animal figures, the bison and 
horse predominating, the importance of these 
two human figures from La Colombiére at 
once becomes evident. 


Grorce Grant MacCurpy 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


ON INTERFERENCE COLORS IN CLOUDS 


Tue writer has, for some time, noticed cer- 
tain colors in clouds as they pass near the 
sun, and more careful observation indicates 
that an interesting effect is present which 
may not hitherto have been described. If 
the clouds within an angle of 15°, or so, 
from the sun are examined carefully, the 
sun, itself, being hidden by the corner of a 


882 


building or the roof of a piazza, certain parts 
of thin clouds, or edges of thick clouds, will 
usually be seen tinged with red or green, the 
colors often appearing together with red pre- 
dominating. Occasionally the tint will be 
straw-color or purple. The effect may be seen 
at any time during the day, preferably when 
the sun is at a considerable elevation above 
the horizon. The colors are seldom intense, 
but are, nevertheless, very beautiful. They 
may be distinguished, when faint, by com- 
paring them with any white cloud at an angle 
of 80° or 40° from the sun. 

As the clouds in question are very brilliant, 
one’s eyes have to become accustomed to the 
glare before the colors can be seen. Hence it 
is better to use smoked glass or dark glasses.1 
A smoked glass plate, on which the density of 
the smoke deposit varies from one edge to the 
other, is very convenient, as the best density 
for any particular cloud may quickly be 
found. 

The following facts indicate that the mech- 
anism of the effect is totally different from 
that by which the rainbow is produced. The 
colors appear in irregular patches of various 
sizes, and not in ares of circles concentric with 
the sun. In fact, two small clouds may be 
close together, one being colored while the 
other is pure white. The red and green do 
not always appear together, the red occurring 
alone more frequently than the green. The 
same portion of cloud will frequently change 
from one color to the other. 

It seems most reasonable to attribute these 
colors to.interference. To make this clear, 
consider what must happen when white light 
passes through a water drop or ice crystal. At 
the surface where the light emerges, the ray 
will be divided, part passing through, and 
part being reflected back, to be reflected from 
the upper, or incident, surface of the drop, 
thence passing out through the lower surface. 
This second part will afford interference with 
the part of the ray that passed through un- 

1A solution of a substance, having transmission 
bands in the red and green only, would be best for 
observing the colors most frequently seen, namely, 
red and green. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


reflected, for a certain wave-length, provided 
a sufficient difference of phase, between the 
two parts of the ray, has been introduced. 
Owing to the shape of the drop, or particle, 
only one particular ray will, after undergoing 
this division, have both these parts sent in the 
direction of an observer on the ground (just 
as in the rainbow, each drop behaves like a 
prism, to an observer, but only for light that 
passes through one particular plane). IU, 
further, we suppose that there are many drops 
of very closely the same diameter, then an 
observer should see light of the same color as 
that transmitted through a thin film, e. g., a 
soap film or thin mica, of a thickness equal to 
this diameter. 

Certain evidence supports the above expla- 
nation. The phenomenon is especially promi- 
nent in clouds that are increasing or decreas- 
ing in density. For example, in one partic- 
ular cloud that was observed, which was 
increasing in size, the edge was first red, then 
green, then gray. Further, a cloud was oc- 
casionally seen with the red and green ar- 
ranged in three or four alternate bands, strik- 
ingly suggestive of Newton’s rings, or the 
fringes produced by an interferometer. 

If the explanation here given is correct, 
these colors, besides of interest as being pos- 
sibly the only sky colors produced by inter- 
ference, may also be of some meteorological 
importance, namely; in giving an idea of the 
degree of homogeneity of size of drops in por- 
tions of thin clouds, by the intensity of the 
color; of the extent of these portions, by the 
area occupied by the color, and of the size of 
the drops, by the particular color present. 
Perhaps more information could be obtained 
by a spectroscopic method, whereby the 
spectrum of a small portion of cloud would 
show dark bands, corresponding to the wave- 
lengths removed from the light by interfer- 
ence. Rosert H. Gopparp 

WORCESTER, MASS., 

November 2, 1913 


ORIGIN OF MUTATIONS 


GaTEs, in a personal letter, has kindly called 
my attention to a misstatement contained in 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


my note! regarding the possible origin of 
mutations in somatic cells, in which I er- 
roneously credited to Davis? the suggestion 
that. triploid (semi-gigas) mutants of @no- 
thera are to be accounted for through the pro- 
duction of occasional diploid gametes by an 
extra fission of chromosomes. Obviously, as 
Gates points out, Davis’s suggestion of dip- 
loid gametes could not have been offered as 
an explanation of triploid mutants, for the 
‘reason that the triploid condition in @no- 
thera was not known in 1911. MDavis’s sug- 
gestion was offered to account for the tetra- 
ploid condition of gigas mutants. The sug- 
gestion that tetraploid mutants may arise 
through a double fission of chromosomes in 
some mitosis soon after fertilization should 
have been credited to Gates. I am grateful 
to Gates for setting me right in these matters. 
: R. A. EMErson 
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


HOW ORYCTES RHINOCEROS, A DYNASTID BEETLE, 
USES ITS HORN 


Many beetles, particularly in the family 
Dynastide, have more or less conspicuous 
horns or processes on their head or prothorax. 
These often assume fantastic shapes’and enor- 
mous proportions. Sometimes they occur on 
both sexes, but more often they are found only 
on the male or at least reach their greatest 
development there. In the latter case they 
have been looked upon by some as characters 
that may have been developed through sexual 
selection, the assumption being that males so 
ornamented were more attractive to the 
females or in some other way were more likely 
to be able to mate and thus perpetuate their 
kind. While such a theory may not be very 
satisfactory without more detailed observations 
or experiments to prove its soundness, we 
know of no other that is any more acceptable. 

Many of the horns and projections are of 
such a size and character that it is hard to 
conceive of their being of any possible use to 
the insect in its struggle for food, or with its 

1 Amer. Nat., 47: 375, 1913. 

2 Annals of Botany, 25: 959, 1911. 

3 Archiv f. Zellforsch., 3: 525, 1909. 


SCIENCE 


883 


enemies. Possibly some of them are of no use 
in this way, but while studying the rhinoceros 
beetles, Oryctes rhinoceros, in Samoa last sum- 
mer, I had an opportunity to watch these 
insects making a very evident and profitable 
use of the horn on their heads. The horn is 
present on both sexes and is usually longer on 
the male than on the female, but many males 
may be found with very short horns and many 
females with long horns, so that the sexes can 
not be separated by this character. The horns 
vary in length from 1.5 mm. to 10 mm., 6 or 7 
mm. being about the average length. The 
beetles feed on the growing heart in the crown 
of the coconut trees. They usually enter the 
trees close to the base of a leaf, crawling down 
as far as they can between the tree and leaf- 
stem before beginning to bore. The spiny legs 
enable the beetle to brace itself firmly before it 
begins literally to root its way into the web- 
like sheath through which it usually has to 
pass before it reaches the hard wood. In doing 
this the head is lowered and the horn thus 
thrust forward. The horn becomes imbedded 
in the tissue of the plant and when it is raised 
serves as an anchor to hold the insect while it 
pulls or pushes its body forward with its legs, 
or while it tears the tissue of the plant with its 
heavy mandibles. The insect will always root 
and push its way as deep as it can before it 
begins to bore. The amount of power it can 
develop while trying to force its way between 
the bases of two leaves or in other tight places 
is truly remarkable. 

Thus, in this instance at least, we see that 
this horn is of direct use in aiding the insect 
to reach its food. 

R. W. Doane 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 

September, 1913 


SCIENCE AND THE NEWSPAPER 


WHILE recently giving a discussion of the 
inclined plane, an idea which was new to me 
suddenly presented itself. The equation as- 
serts that the force required to make a mass 
slide up the plane would under certain condi- 
tions be made less, by making the plane 


884 


steeper. A student reporter thought it to be 
his duty to announce to the newspaper world 
that a new law of physics had been discovered, 
and the importance of the discovery seems to 
have increased with each successive announce- 
ment. 

This experience reminds me of a similar 
one which happened to me years ago. At the 
time when reporters everywhere were rushing 
to physics laboratories in order to learn some- 
thing of X-rays, a reporter came to me. He 
found me experimenting with Hertz waves. 
By means of a large double-convex lens of 
wax, the waves were being brought to a focus 
upon a photographic plate enclosed in a 
wrapping of black paper. For several weeks 
I had been trying to produce a shadow picture 
upon the plate. The reporter seemed inter- 
ested, and he seemed to have some intelligence. 
He could appreciate the evidence that the lens 
caused a refraction of the rays. Although he 
was informed in the most emphatic manner 
that this was not a refraction of X-rays, the 
public announement was made that I had suc- 
ceeded where others had failed, in the refrac- 
tion of X-rays. 

It seems to be impossible to quench a dis- 
turbance of this kind when it has once been 
emitted from a news-agency. Scientific read- 
ers have probably had enough of such experi- 
ence to see the importance of keeping, in an 
accessible place, a few grains of salt. 


Francis E. Niuer 


THE INDUSTRIAL FELLOWSHIPS AT PITTSBURGH 


To THe Eprror or Science: The industrial 
fellowship project, originated in the University 
of Kansas by Professor Robert K. Duncan and 
now in flourishing operation under his direction 
in the University of Pittsburgh under the name 
of the “Mellon Institute of Industrial Re- 
search and School of Specific Industries,” has 
been more than once subjected to the criticism 
which found a place in an otherwise favorable 
reference in the presidential address of Mr. 
Arthur D. Little to the American Chemical 
Society at its recent meeting at Rochester :1 


1 SclENcE, November 7, 1913, p. 652. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 990 


While some doubt may reasonably be expressed 
as to the possibility of close individual supervision 
of so many widely varying projects, the results ob- 
tained thus far seem entirely satisfactory to those 
behind the movement. 


When first made this criticism had, I think, 
some validity. But to any one who has come 
into touch with the Mellon Institute, even as 
a visitor, it must be evident that the difficulty 
has been squarely met by “those behind the 
movement.” The endowment of the fellow- 
ships is now so liberal as to permit of the em- 
ployment of investigators of experience, who 
do not require “close individual supervision.” 
In consequence, the relations of the Director 
and the Fellows are rather comparable to those 
of a university president and his corps of pro- 
fessors and instructors than to those of a uni- 
versity professor and his class of graduate stu- 
dents. Furthermore, the director is now 
assisted in the work of supervision by an asso- 
ciate director and an assistant director. Thus 
the services of three advisers are at the com- 
mand of each Fellow, who may, moreover, 
obtain help from his colleagues without 
divulging the secrets of his own research. 

If one acquainted with the project merely as 
an onlooker might venture an opinion upon 
the qualifications most essential to the success 
of the director of such an institute, it would 
be that a wide and sound general knowledge 
of scientific principles, a broad sympathy en- 
abling one to appreciate the widely differing 
viewpoints of business men and of investi- 
gators and inventors, an active but disciplined 
scientific imagination and a strong, firm will 
are of more importance than an encyclopedic 
acquaintance with details. J. F. SNELL 

MAcDONALD COLLEGE 

QUEBEC, CANADA, 
November 18, 1913 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Untersuchungen ueber Chlorophyll. Methoden 
und Ergebnisse von RicHarD WILLSTAETTER 
und ArrHur Strout. Ein Bd., pp. 424, mit 
16 Text-figuren und 11 Tafeln. Verlag von 
Julius Springer, Berlin. 1913. M. 18.00, 
geb M. 20.50. 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


If the well-known saying of Goethe “ Denn 
eben wo es an Begriften fehlt, da stellt ein 
Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein” applied in 
the past to any group of phytochemical sub- 
stances, its application to plant pigments was 
certainly justifiable. Such designations as 
“the green coloring matter of leaves,” or “the 
blue coloring matter of flowers” are not as 
euphonious as chlorophyll and anthocyanin, but 
it is doubtful if they would have done as much 
harm. These words of Greek origin certainly 
enjoyed the advantage of brevity as well as of 
euphony, but they also carried with them some- 
thing of a notion that they stood for more or 
less definite chemical compounds about. which 
we flattered ourselves that we knew something, 
although this knowledge had not crystallized 
into structural formulas, the chemical short- 
hand expression of their properties. Plant 
physiologists were not the only sinners in this 
direction, but chemical literature is almost 
equally replete with illustrations of such mis- 
leading use. 

To any one who is at all acquainted with the 
ehemical literature on plant pigments, the re- 
searches of Willstaetter and his colaborers, as 
they have made their appearance in the 
Annalen since 1906, have come as a great 
relief. It is equally a relief, though of a 
different kind, to have the results, as laid 
down in these twenty-two Abhandlungen, to- 
gether with more recent ones, coordinated to a 
“cemeinsames Ganzes.” If we have admired 
Willstaetter’s experimental researches, we are 
more grateful for his literary labors that have 
made available to us the results of his labors 
in the laboratory. 

Even a partial review of the contents of this 
monograph would lead too far for a non- 
technical journal like Sctencr. Suffice it to 
point out that all aspects of the subject, it 
would seem, are treated in such a manner that 
the person who desires to inform himself in 
a general way can use the book to advantage 
as well as the investigator who is particularly 
interested in this special field. Plant physiolo- 
gists as well as chemists will find the volume 


SCIENCE 885 


replete with useful information as well as 
interest. 

We have here another illustration of Ger- 
man “ Gruendlichkeit” that is not impaired 
by specialization and detail, but that has ac- 
complished the best because of special effort 
on the one hand and because of the application 
of a wide general knowledge to a restricted 
problem on the other hand. It reminds one of 
Berzelius’s letter to Woehler in which the 
older Swedish chemist pats his young German 
friend on the back, as it were, when, in words 
that one would scarcely look for to a chemist, 
he makes light of the more or less accidental 
discovery of a new element by Sefstroem—a 
discovery that had just escaped Woehler—as 
compared with the brilliant and far-reaching 
researches of the man to whom is commonly 
attributed the first organic “ synthesis.” 

If the Germans have felt the necessity of 
supplementing the research activities, that 
have so long been characteristic of the scien- 
tific institutes of their universities, by the 
Kaiser Wilhelm Foundation, this contribution 
from the “Kaiser Wilhelm-Institut fuer 
Chemie ” may well serve as a good omen of the 
excellent results that may be expected in the 
future from this new institution devoted to 
scientific research. 

If the knowledge that we now have to deal 
with definite chemical substances when we 
speak of the “ Abbau ” products of chlorophyll 
and its partial synthesis, affords a feeling of 
satisfaction, the excellent microphotographic 
views of the erystals of these substances assist 
in strengthening the feeling that our present 
knowledge, as elucidated by Willstaetter, rests 
on a good foundation. EK. K. 


The Principles of Stock-breeding. By JAamrs 
Witson, M.A., B.Sc., Professor of Agricul- 
ture in the Royal College of Science for 
Ireland, Dublin, author of “ The Evolution 
of British Cattle and the Fashioning of 
Breeds.” Published in 1912 by Vinton and 
Company, Ltd., 8 Bream’s Buildings, Chan- 
cery Lane, E. C., London. 8vo. Pp. vi- 
146. 


This book is an exposition of the recently 


886 SCIENCE 


discovered principles of heredity, and an at- 
tempt to demonstrate their utility in practical 
stock-breeding operations, with especial refer- 
ence to the economic production of milk and 
butter. In the first chapters Professor Wilson 
develops, in a manner that should interest both 
the student of heredity and the practical 
breeder, the history of the theory of stock- 
breeding, beginning with the old theories, 
which he designates: “like begets like,” “ in- 
breeding,” “ pedigree” and “ evolution.” Con- 
cerning these theories he says, “They have 
been tried in Britain for varying periods of 
time: like begets like for centuries, inbreed- 
ing for nearly a century and a half, and pedi- 
gree for nearly a century. Evolution has been 
in stock-breeders’ minds vaguely for nearly a 
half century.” He describes the rise of each of 
these notions, and tells how each in turn was 
adopted by the practical breeders and how 
each in turn was found to possess exceptions 
and shortcomings which the breeder was 
bound to recognize. He then points out the 
manner in which the aggravating exceptions 
to these accepted principles led to further in- 
vestigations, and finally to the discovery of 
other principles at first accepted all too inclu- 
sively, only to be subjected to the same puri- 
fying process. 

The history of the making of the breeds of 
British cattle is always a fascinating story, 
and Professor Wilson, through his wide ac- 
quaintance with the history of breeding, de- 
scribes the inestimable service rendered to live- 
stock interests through the operations, largely 
by the process of inbreeding, first of all by 
Bakewell with many breeds, then by Hugh 
Watson with Angus cattle, and Cruickshank 
with Shorthorns, and by Sir George Macpher- 
son Grant with Aberdeen-Angus cattle. The 
greatness of the English breeders is demon- 
strated,by their willingness to try out all theo- 
ries that promised utility. They threshed out 
the grain from the chaff; not only did they 
try out the old theories just mentioned, but 
they tried out with equal avidity “reversion,” 
“maternal impression,” “accident and muti- 
lation” and “telegony.” The fact that. these 
latter theories yielded no “fruit” did not 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


daunt the British breeder, and he is now in 
the midst of trying out Mendelism. If the 
principles of Mendelism, when applied to 
practical breeding, can yield half as much as 
the older inbreeding operations, then Pro- 
fessor Wilson’s appeal and advice will prove to 
have been wholesome and good. 

There is in this book a vigorous protest 
against pedigree breeding in the old sense, 
and a continual appeal for breeding for traits 
which can be controlled by the applications of 
Mendelian principles. The author contends 
that the herd-books and stud-books are the 
tyrants that keep modern breeds stationary; 
that fashion, as much as utility, seems to rule 
the older breeds, the one exception being the 
thoroughbred horse, which is continually being 
put to the best of tests, namely, the track, and 
winners and breeders of winners are in de- 
mand regardless of family tradition. He 
prophesies that one of the principal lines of 
development of stock-breeding in the future 
will be the transferring of traits of utility 
from one breed to another, and is optimistic as 
to the possibilities of such a process. 

The author describes the instances wherein 
traits of domestic animals appear to behave 
in Mendelian fashion, and he attempts to give 
practical advice as to the proper method of 
breeding for what he is pleased to call the 
three economic factors, namely, size, yield and 
quality. 

In reference to the first, size, it appears that 
the first cross between cattle of a small and a 
large breed will give, quite uniformly, an in- 
termediate-sized animal, but it is not clear 
whether such animals when bred together will 
throw offspring which segregate back to the 
two grandparental sizes. He protests against 
the method of breeding the half-breed off- 
spring back to one of the pure breeds, claim- 
ing, quite properly it appears, that the correct 
way to secure new combinations is to breed 
the F, hybrids together. He protests also 
against too close an adherence to the theory of 
fancy points, holding that there is not always 
the high correlation between fashionable points 
and utility that many breeders seem to feel 
exists. 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


In discussing the second factor, the quality 
of milk yield, the author describes an experi- 
ment conducted by Count Ahlefeldt, wherein 
Red Danish cattle, with an average yield of 
3.42 per cent. milk, were crossed with Jerseys 
averaging a yield of 5.22 per cent. milk. The 
hybrid offspring averaged a yield of 4.15 per 
cent. These cross-bred animals were bred back 
to the parental Jerseys. The author points 
out that if quality of yield behaves in Men- 
delian fashion, one half of the animals, re- 
gardless of their other traits, would yield milk 
of Jersey quality, and one half of them would 
yield the cross-breed quality. Analyzing the 
table given by the author, we find that of the 
15 offspring of such matings 7 yielded 4.7 per 
eent. or richer milk, and 8 yielded below this 
quality. If the types of offspring from the 
Cross by Red Danish, and Cross by Cross ma- 
tings approximate as closely to the Mendelian 
expectation as the Cross by Jersey mating just 
described, and the matings are extensively 
made, then, even though yield may be goy- 
erned by a host of unit traits, they would ap- 
pear, for practical purposes, to move in syn- 
chronism, and the practical breeder would 
have a working principle of value. One would 
suspect, however, that such a complex thing 
as quality would shatter in the subsequent in- 
breeding of hybrids. More data are required. 

The author points out that yield of butter is 
not a fair basis for breeding selection, because 
butter yield is dependent upon two factors, 
namely, quality and quantity of milk. Each 
one of these factors should be taken as a basis 
for selection, and a combination of high qual- 
ity and high yield sought by Mendelian meth- 
ods. He sees no sound reason why high qual- 
ity and great quantity of yield should be 
mutually exclusive; he believes they can be 
combined by Mendelizing. 

If any adverse criticism were to be rendered, 
it must be said that throughout the book the 
author disregards the exceptions to the rule 
when describing the heredity of an animal 
characteristic which appears to approximate 
Mendelian expectation. For instance, con- 
tinual reference is made to color inheritance 
in Shorthorn cattle, assuming the case exactly 


SCIENCE 


887 


parallel to that of the Andalusian fowl, 
wherein the first generation hybrid is a blend 
and segregation occurs in the second genera- 
tion according to Mendelian formula. Whereas 
it has been found that Shorthorn coat color is 
neither one unit nor a single group of units, 
but behaves in heredity as two units, or unit 
groups, the areas for the white hairs in the 
roan behaving as one unit, and the areas for 
the red as another. Moreover, a red mated 
with a red does not always produce a red, al- 
though it generally does so. If the whole coat 
color were a single unit, behaving in Mendel- 
jan fashion, then red by red would produce 
only red. To a well-known exception of this 
sort the author should not be blind; to him, as 
he so clearly points out in reference to the 
older studies and theories, it should point 
toward future studies and discoveries, each 
with its gold and dross. It would seem 
more reasonable continually to urge the 
analysis of gross somatic characteristics 
into heritable units which, without excep- 
tion, behave according to rule. However, a 
rule that works nine times out of ten is a good 
one for the practical man to follow, and to him 
is an instrument of inestimable value, al- 
though to the theorist the one exception is the 
thing that commands his interest and work. 

To summarize, the book is a special plea for 
the practical application of the Mendelian 
principles to animal breeding, and as such, 
the case is better established than in any other 
practical breeder’s guide with which the re- 
viewer is acquainted. In general, it recog- 
nizes the limitations of the present knowledge 
of Mendelian traits in domestic animals, and 
in a wholesome manner urges further investi- 
gation, as well as the courageous application 
of current theories by practical breeders. 

The author’s style is literary, his English 
clear, and his argument is easy to follow. 

H. H. Laveumn 


EUGENICS RECORD OFFICE, 
Co~p Spring Harsor, Lone IsuaND 


The First Principles of Evolution. By S. 
Herpert. London, A. & OC. Black; New 
York, The Macmillan Co. 1913. : 


888 


Notwithstanding the large number of books 
that have already been published on evolution, 
the author of the above work believes that 
there is still a need for another which will pre- 
sent the subject, not as a theory that is on 
trial, but as an established principle in terms 
of which men must be taught to think. The 
popular tendency to regard evolution and Dar- 
winism as synonymous terms is the result of 
the historical development of the theory 
largely on the basis of facts derived from or- 
ganic nature, and its wider application as a 
philosophical principle has been thereby ob- 
secured. To correct this misconception the 
earlier chapters of the present work are de- 
voted to an exposition of cosmic, geological 
and atomic evolution, this last leading to a 
brief and rather inadequate consideration of 
the origin of life, whence there is a natural 
transition to the discussion of organic evolu- 
tion. Unfortunately, however, for the broader 
conception which the author seeks to empha- 
size, this last and more familiar side of the 
subject is given more than three times the 
amount of space granted inorganic evolution 
and this is all the more regrettable since the 
treatment of organic evolution does not com- 
pare altogether favorably with that to be found 
in other familiar works which naturally sug- 
gest themselves, especially since the illustra- 
tions are merely reproductions of well-known 
figures from Darwin, Wallace, Weismann and 
especially Romanes. Credit must be given, 
however, for a clear and concise statement of 
the various theories that have been advanced 
as an explanation for organic evolution, Dar- 
winism and Neo-Darwinism, Lamarckism and 
Neo-Lamarckism, mutations, orthogenesis, 
entelechies, Bathmism and even the meta- 
physical subtleties of Bergson being briefly 
expounded and criticized. 

The last hundred pages of the book are de- 
voted to what the author terms superorganic 
evolution, under which heading are discussed 
mental, moral and social evolution, sufficient 
being said upon each of these topics to give 
the reader a fair idea of the trend of modern 
thought in connection with questions of the 
utmost importance to society. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 990: 


The book is one that may be sincerely recom- 
mended. Like an earlier work by Dr. Herbert, 
“The First Principles of Heredity,” it is the 
outcome of a series of lectures delivered to 
popular audiences, and, while clear and con- 
cise in statement, it is excellent reading. A 
well-selected bibliography is appended and also 
a glossary of unavoidable technical terms. 


J. P. McM. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ON FUNDAMENTAL METHODS OF ORIENTATION AND: 
“IMAGINARY MAPS ” 


Tue following paper presents a study of the 
reasons why civilized man is so apt to lose his 
bearings in unfamiliar regions. This question 
of orientation apparently has been neglected 
heretofore. 

In an investigation of the “sense of direc- 
tion ” or the “sense of locality,” it is important 
to classify the fundamental methods of orienta- 
tion employed by living creatures. There ap- 
pear to be two radically different methods; one 
used by civilized man, the other chiefly by liv- 
ing creatures of a lower order. The former, 
which employs the points of the compass, is 
acquired artificially by education. It is pro- 
posed to call this the ego-centric method. 
The latter is used not only by birds, beasts, fish,. 
insects, ete., but also, in all probability, by 
young children and by a large proportion of 
mankind living in an uncivilized state. In 
this system of orientation the points of the 
compass play little, if any, part, and it may 
be designated as the domi-centric method. 
The selection of these terms by the author 
will be explained below. 

The Ego-centric Method of Orientation.— 
Civilized man, by artificial training, has be- 
come accustomed to orient himself by the four 
points of the compass: north, east, south and 
west; and indeed wherever he may be, he 
usually finds his way by this method, except 
in the neighborhood of his dwelling place. In 
the immediate vicinity of the home the orien- 
tation nearly always relates to the home as a 
center of reference, irrespective of the points 
of the compass, and in this limited region the 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


method of orientation is largely domi-centric. 

The orientation reference points in the ego- 
centric method are points on the horizon cor- 
responding to the directions N., E., S. and W. 
Lines from these points always intersect at 
the ego, the intersection moving with the ego; 
hence the basis for the term given to this sys- 
tem of orientation. 


Fie. 1. Ego-centriec Method of Orientation. 


SCIENCE 


Unfemiliar Region 


889 


pass as such, or of the extent of the world, 
know only the region which they have trav- 
ersed. Thus it follows that from the time 
these creatures come into existence their move- 
ments, instead of being referred to points of 
the compass, relate to the place where they 
began their existence, and hence in early life 
their knowledge of space must necessarily be 


LgeceniPic PMeliod 
GF AWverlalion 


In the unfamiliar region the reference points are ob- 


jects or points on the horizon corresponding to the direction N., E., S. or W. 


It is, of course, well known that when a man 
is wandering through any maze-like region, 
such as a primeval forest, the compass gives 
the direction from the man toward the north, 
or more strictly, the north magnetic pole, and 
to all other parts of the compass, but not the 
direction to the man’s starting point; thus the 
ego-centric method is not a system per se 
which will direct the individual to his home. 
This system of orientation, therefore, (a) leads 
man to think of space in relation to the cardi- 
nal points of the compass; (b) it can be used 
to direct an individual home only when the 
path which he has passed over is known. 
The method is illustrated by Fig. 1. 

The Domi-Centric Method of Orientation — 
All living creatures, other than civilized man, 
having no knowledge of the points of the com- 


related to the place of birth. This system of 
orientation, centering at the home and irre- 
spective of the points of compass, has been 
ealled the domi-centric method, and is illus- 
trated by Fig. 2. The Esquimaux, Indians, 
ete., evidently have a method of orientation 
which is not definitely in any one class, but is 
rather a combination of the two methods al- 
ready mentioned. 

If the home of any animal is changed for a 
considerable period of time to a region away 
from its former habitation, thenceforth all 
movements will be referred to the last prin- 
cipal reference point, or home. 
the domi-center has changed. 

It is well here to emphasize the entirely 
different mental concept of civilized human 
beings, on the one hand, and of other living 


In this case 


890 


creatures, on the other, relating to space on 
the earth’s surface. The former look outward 
towards the horizon, the latter look backward 
toward their starting point. To the first no 
opportunity is offered for expertness through 
experience, to the second is given an oppor- 
tunity for a reflex mechanism. In the ego- 
centric method, it is as if the man were 
attached to the four cardinal points of the 
compass by elastic threads of indefinite lengths, 
which present no basis whatever (lines or 
angles) for a trigonometric figure that relates 
to the home. 


Dome Method of Orentélion 


Fie. 2. 
point, or home. 
a definite reaction relating to the home. 


In the case of insects, birds, mammals, etc., 
which orient themselves domi-centrically, it is 
as if the living creature were attached to its 
home by ‘one very strong elastic thread of 
definite length. Hence, in this case, all 
changes of position of the creatures can be 
referred at any moment, to definite distances 
and angles, forming a simple trigonometric 
figure which gives the direction to the home. 

In the two types of orientation methods, the 
use of one, the ego-centric system, actually is 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


responsible at times for man’s confusion when 
attempting to find his way, as will be shown. 
In the other, the domi-centrie system of orien- 
tation, experience continually leads an animal 
to greater expertness in finding its way home, 
and the conditions are present for a reflex 
mechanism. 

The Imaginary Orientation Map.—There is 
a feature of the ego-centric method of orienta- 
tion which seems to show that the use 
of this system leads to loss of bearings. 
It is found that either through loose early 
education or through later impressions persons 


fe 
ne ee 
— 


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ae 
_ 
~--. 
— 
-_~. 
~~. 


—7; 
/ 
/ 
/ 
H 
/ 
/ 
/ 
Unfamiliar Region i 
/ 
/ 
$ 
/ 
/ 
— 
~ 
SS 
NX 
NN. 
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ee: 
a 
aa 
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As 


Domi-centrie Method of Orientation. The chief reference point is always the starting 
Around about are usually many minor reference points; familiar objects which give 


are apt to acquire erroneous ideas of the direc- 
tions toward very distant places of the earth, 
frequently becoming gradually accustomed to 
think of the points of the compass which corre- 
spond to these distant places with a large 
error of direction, amounting in some cases 
to as much as 180°, or diametrically opposite 
to the correct location. This leads to the con- 
ception of a mental image of an orientation 
map that is entirely imaginary, and erroneous. 
This imaginary orientation map appears to be 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


similar to, if not actually connected with, punc- 
tuation, the visualization process. It will be 
found by questioning various individuals, that 
the orientation of many persons for very far 
distant points, as they usually think of these 
places, is in error to the extent of 30°, 90° or 
even 180° (or half circle). Fig. 3 is a diagram 
drawn to illustrate what is meant by an 
“imaginary map.” In this figure the solid 
lines represent the map as it actually is. The 
dotted lines represent the map as the subject 
is accustomed to think of it. An important 


fact in this connection has been found, namely, 
that those individuals who have “ imaginary 


s 
E 
a 
o 
& 
Ee 


Fig. 3. 


SCIENCE 


Diagram to Explain the Imaginary Orientation Map. 
points of the compass, and is the map which the subject knows to be correct. 


891 


been attempted. A few of the more common 
types will be given which will help to empha- 
size the fact that this so-called imaginary map 
which accompanies the “ego-centric” or car- 
dinal point method of orientation unquestion- 
ably contributes to the difficulty that man 
experiences in finding his way home in an 
unfamiliar region. 

Various Types of Imaginary Maps.—The 
common types are described below. A com- 
plete classification would be difficult since the 
types must grade into one another, but most 
of those mentioned appear to be common 
forms. 


The solid lines indicate the 
The dotted lines indi- 


cate the map as the subject is accustomed to think of it when far distant places are casually thought of. 


maps,” are readily confused in regard to local- 
ity, are apt to become lost in the forests, and 
usually are subject to confusion as to direc- 
tion when emerging from theaters, subways, 
ete. On the other hand, those individuals who 
through careful early education or from travel 
are accustomed to think of far distant places 
in the proper directions, are much less apt to 
be confused in regard to locality. This is 
readily evident from the accompanying sta- 
tistics. An extensive analysis of the precise 
forms of the erroneous conceptions with respect 
to the direction toward distant places has not 


The types will be classed as individuals. 

Type A.—Those persons who have an 
“imaginary map” of fairly consistent “ devia- 
tion” from the correct direction for the entire 
circuit of the compass. (A common type.) 
The “ deviation” refers to very distant places, 
and in this class amounts to from 20° to 180°. 
It is the angle between the true directions of 
distant places and the directions that the sub- 
ject casually thinks these places lie in. 

Type B.—Those who have different “ imagi- 
nary maps” in different localities. The fol- 
lowing example of an actual case will illustrate 


892 


this type, which should include different parts 
of a large city as well as different localities in 
the country. 

The map of E. F. H. represents a note- 
worthy case of Type B, but probably not un- 
common. His average deviation (for distant 
places) at 116th Street in the City of New 
York is 156° west, the average variation of 
the mean of one set of observations of four 
distant places being only 5°. At 42d Street in 
the same city, his imaginary map is about 90° 
wrong, that is, the deviation is 90°, and at 
14th Street the imaginary map disappears. 
Likewise his orientation is 90° wrong at Tor- 
onto, Canada, correct at Chicago, and nearly 
correct in country districts away from cities. 
Mr. E. F. H. is almost always confused as to 
the direction toward his home when coming 
out of theaters and often when coming out of 
subways. 

Type C—Those who imagine north as 
directly in front of them. Thus the deviation 
of the imaginary map is determined entirely 
by the direction in which they may be facing, 
the east being at the right hand, the west left 
hand. The imaginary map is consistent, that 
is, all places have nearly the correct relation 
to the north, and turns with the subject. 
(Common type.) 

Type D.—Those to whom all distant points 
lie either toward the west or toward the east. 
For example both Madrid and San Francisco 
appear to lie to the west from an individual of 
this class residing in New York City. (Two 
well-defined cases.) 

Type H.—Those who think of far distant 
points in approximately the correct direction, 
but to whom distant countries appear rotated. 
For example, to one individual while England 
appears in approximately the correct direc- 
tion from New York, the entire British Islands 
are rotated about 180°; both the English 
Channel and France appearing to lie to the 
north of the British Isles. (One case.) 

Type F.—Those who have an imaginary 
map that differs consistently about 20-40 
degrees from the correct one, apparently due 
to the influence of the direction of certain 
rivers and streets which for one reason and 
another have had a marked orientation influ- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 990 


ence on the subject. (Several cases.) It is 
possible that this is the same as type A, yet 
the cause of the confusion appears to be 
different. 

Type G—Those having an imaginary map 
that always makes certain streets in every city 
exactly north and south, others exactly east 
and west, with all diagonal streets 45°, as if 
lying northeast and southwest, or northwest 
and southeast. (Several cases.) 

Another type is that of a person who has 
had an imaginary map, but who has gradually 
overcome it by education. In one case the 
subject had an imaginary map for four years 
while at college. At the present time in 
various cities, he is usually confused when 
coming out of theaters, etc., and it is possible 
that the former imaginary map is still latent 
and is frequently a source of confusion. 
There are other features of imaginary maps 
that do not so directly bear on the question of 
orientation. For example, there is one indi- 
vidual who always thinks of, or visualizes 
Europe as if it were but 20 to 40 miles off the 
Atlantic coast. Then, of course, the majority 
of people think of distant places as points on a 
plane, no allowance being made for the curva- 
ture of the earth. 

Explanation and Importance of Imaginary 
Maps.—All of the above types, A—G, are taken 
from actual cases, the subjects being as a rule 
of very high type of intellectuality, university 
professors, graduate students, etc. The expla- 
nation which seems to be the most plausible 
one to account for this so-called “ imaginary 
map,” is the persistence of early erroneous im- 
pressions concerning the direction of far dis- 
tant places with respect to the home, the mis- 
taken ideas arising from various causes. These 
impressions apparently take a firm hold during 
childhood. The matter is of some importance, 
since it accounts in a measure for the readiness 
of man to be confused with respect to a new 
environment, and to become “lost” in the 
woods or in any maze-like surrounding. An 
example of a practical bearing is as follows: 
The matter has a pertinent relation to the 
training of children who are to become soldiers, 
especially in countries where standing armies 
are maintained. In times of war, it is not im- 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


probable that the loss of more than one battle 
has been due to the utter confusion of officers 
or of small bodies of troops with respect to 
points of compass, due to the concentration of 
attention on the enemy in the height of action 
or during maneuvers at night. 


Fig. 4. Type A. Imaginary Map. The amount 
of deviation is the same amount under all condi- 
tions, and in all places. 


Fie. 6. Type C. Imaginary Map. The map de- 
pends on which way the subject is facing. 


Tf it is desirable to correct this very common 
defect in orientation training, it would appear 
necessary that children should be seated at 
school in a special manner when studying 


SCIENCE 


893 


geography, with the cardinal points of the 
compass marked in the room, and the maps in 
the books properly orientated, and the imagin- 
ary maps systematically corrected in childhood. 

The proportion of people who have so-called 
“imaginary maps” is astonishingly large, 


Fic. 5. Type B. Imaginary Map. The amount 
of deviation may vary with the place in which the 
subject happens to be. 


Fig. 7. 
places appear to be west (or east) of north. 


Type D. Imaginary Map. All distant 


being of the order of thirty to fifty per cent., 
if not a much higher ratio; hence the matter 
is one of general interest. 

The object of the presentation of these facts 


894 


is to show that children of civilized parents, 
through accidental faults in early education 
arising from the faculty of vivid imagination, 
and owing to the misuse of the “ ego-centric” 
or cardinal point method of orientation, build 
up persistent impressions quite erroneous, 
which later on in life unconsciously affect their 
judgment when attempting to find their way in 
unfamiliar regions and lead to utter confusion 
with respect to the way home. Examples of 
this effect are common. 

In the tests made by the author it is in- 
teresting to note that almost every subject 
who had an “imaginary map” for far dis- 
tant places, gave the direction from New 
York towards Albany, N. Y., nearly correct. 
Albany is about 90 miles from New York. 
This indicates that the education gradually 
fixes in thought the correct direction toward 
places, finally overshadowing the influence of 
the “imaginary map.” The position of the 
Hudson River with respect to New York prob- 
ably is an important factor in correctly fixing 
this particular direction. 

It must be distinctly understood that the di- 
rections in “imaginary maps” are not as the 
subject knows the directions to be, but merely 
where they always imagine them as being in 
the ordinary process of thinking, and in all 
cases referred to in the present discussion the 
subject having an imaginary map, knew the 
correct directions approximately. The “ imag- 
inary map” is thus superimposed on the real 
map, or it may be said that the subject has 
two maps; one approximately correct, the 
other entirely imaginary. . 

Statistical Data—Some statistics are given 
in Tables I. to V. The subjects on whose 
orientation data the tables are based were all 
persons of university training. Table I. con- 
tains ten cases of imaginary maps as deter- 
mined by the directions towards four far dis- 
tant places. Four of these maps are given 
diagrammatically in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7, repre- 
senting different types which have been classi- 
fied as A, B, C and D, respectively. In Table 
II. is given the mean error and average varia- 
tion of the observations recorded in Table I. 

Table III. contains ten cases of subjects 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


having no imaginary maps and includes the 
angular deviation from the correct directions. 
It is seen that there may be very large errors 
in some cases in locating the direction 
towards the places selected for the test. All 
the subjects in Table III. had but one orienta- 
tion map, however, while those in Table I. have 
two. 

In Table IV. the mean error and average 
variation of the observations in Table III. are 
given in a manner similar to Table II. 

It seemed desirable to select at random ten 
subjects not having imaginary maps, and then 
to determine their orientation accuracy in 
each case by asking them to locate the direc- 
tions towards the cardinal points of the com- 
pass. This was done, and it was found that 
astonishingly large errors were recorded in 
a few cases, as shown in Table V. The aver- 
age error was 30°, and the mean of these errors 
with respect to north was 22.6° clockwise 
(eastward). All but two showed a decided 
clockwise error, which was accounted for by 
reason of the prevailing idea that the chief 
avenues in New York lie approximately north 
and south. Actually they lie 29 degrees (clock- 
wise) from the meridian, that is, the azimuth 
of the longitudinal streets of Manhattan is 
N. 29° E. 

In the tables the record in degrees given was 
based on but one observation. By a special 
test it was found that the deviation readings 
always varied a few degrees; some consider- 
ably more; therefore, the readings given in 
the tables should be understood to indicate 
the approximate deviation angle only. 

In a few cases errors were made due to mag- 
netic disturbances of the compass when 
checking up the charts, but these have no sig- 
nificance in the article, therefore, they are at 
present disregarded. 

The method of obtaining the data relating 
to “imaginary maps” was as follows: A cir- 
cular piece of paper was placed before a sub- 
ject, who was requested to mark on the disk 
the directions from the center of the disk, New 
York, N. Y., to the North Pole, London, San 
Francisco and Panama, as these places ap- 
peared to him. The magnetic north was then 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


TABLE I 
Deviation of Subjects Having Imaginary Maps 


Deviation from Correct 
Name _ Place Located Losation Type 


J. C. H.1..|North Pole | 154° counter-clockwise| A 


London 70° counter-clockwise 
Panama 86° counter-clockwise 
San Fran- 31° counter-clockwise 
cisco 
J.™M......./North Pole | 110° clockwise A 
London 126° clockwise 
Panama 134° clockwise 
San Fran- | 111° clockwise 
cisco 
C. G. §.2..;North Pole} 42° clockwise A 
London 82° clockwise 
Panama 29° clockwise 
San Fran- 21° clockwise 
cisco 


C. C. T.1..|North Pole | 138° counter-clockwise| A 


London 126° counter-clockwise 
Panama 134° counter-clockwise 
San Fran- | 150° counter-clockwise 
cisco 
R. C.1......| North Pole | 117° clockwise A 
London 156° clockwise 
Panama 121° clockwise 
San Fran- | 107° clockwise 
cisco 
B.R. R.1..;North Pole} 79° clockwise A 
London 117° clockwise 
Panama 108° clockwise 
San Fran- | 78° clockwise 
cisco 


ELF. H.!.|North Pole | 149° counter-clockwise| B 


London 153° counter-clockwise 
Panama 165° counter-clockwise 
San Fran- | 157° counter-clockwise 
cisco 
W. A. H.!/North Pole | 175° clockwise (6 
London 139° counter-clockwise 
Panama 149° counter-clockwise 


San Fran- | 177° clockwise 
cisco 


P. C.1....../North Pole| 49° counter-clockwise| C 


London 11° clockwise 
Panama 93° counter-clockwise 
San Fran- | 124° counter-clockwise 
cisco 
Vale eca000 North Pole| 26° clockwise D 
London 106° counter-clockwise 
Panama 1° clockwise 
San Fran- 8° clockwise 
cisco 
R.R.1......|North Pole} 21° clockwise AH 
London 151° clockwise (per- 
Panama 60° clockwise haps 
San Fran- | 26° clockwise type 
cisco D) 


SCIENCE 895 


obtained by a compass and marked on the disk. 
The true north was ascertained later. 

The correct direction from New York, N. Y., 
to the distant points above mentioned was ob- 
tained from one of the staff of the American 
Geographical Society who made the necessary 
calculations. They were as follows: 


North Pole ..... OF 07 

WOU Gesogco0e 51°10’ (51° 10’ east of north). 
Panama ........ 190° 20’ (10° 20’ west of south). 
San Francisco ...281° 25’ (78° 35’ west of north). 
Albany, N. Y. .. 4°59’ (4° 59’ east of north). 


The percentage of individuals having the 
so-called imaginary map can only be decided 
by extensive data on the subject, but in order 
to learn the approximate ratio in a certain 
class, twenty-seven persons, taken at random, 
were questioned. The results were as follows: 


Total number of persons (males) consulted.... 27 
Those having ‘‘imaginary maps’’............ 16 
Those having no ‘‘imaginary maps’’.......... 8 
Cases that were uncertain................... 3 


Of the 16 having “imaginary maps” 
14 were more or less confused when coming 
out of theaters, subways, etc. 

Of the 8 having no “imaginary maps,” 7 
were not confused when coming from theater 
and had in general a good “sense of direc- 
tion.” (These ratios are similar to those in 
Tables I. and III.). 

According to these figures, the number of 
persons in 27 having “imaginary maps” was 
about 59 per cent. These statistics are far too 
few on which to base any general conclusions 
other than the prevalence and importance of 
this curious so-called “imaginary map.” 

Certain physiological effects connected with 
this matter are of interest; Yves Delage has 
touched upon the subject in his “Essay on 
the Constitution of Ideas.” He states that 
when he is “turned around” or confused in 
regard to direction, he feels a sensation of ill- 
ness at the moment of rectification of his no- 
tions. 


1 Subject is confused as to directions on coming 
out of theaters and subways. 

2 Subject is not usually confused as to directions 
on coming out of theaters and subways. 


896 SCIENOE 


Henri de Varigny in the “ Revue des Sci- 
ences” of the Journal des Débats (Paris, 
April 17, 1913), discussmg the above essay, 
states that under the same circumstances he 
has an impression like a slight vertigo, the 
feeling being localized clearly at the base of 
the skull. 

The work in this investigation has been 
aided by a grant by the New York Academy 
of Sciences from the Esther Herman Fund. 


TABLE II 
Average Error and Variation in the Case of those 
\ Subjects Having Imaginary Maps 
21 A 
Name Mes nErnoy ol rere Variation Type 
rom Mean 

J.C. 85° counter-clockwise! Oana 
J.M | 120° clockwise 10° A 
CuGs co)’ Gat? clockwise 20° A 
(CHO | 187° counter-clock wise Go || eal 
R. C., Jr......) 125° clockwise WHO Al 
IBS Rey Rien | 96° clockwise Nae oz 
E. F. H.......) 156° counter-clockwise| 5° B 
Wie An EIR ee 160° 8 1 Ge ¢C 
IPG sai eeaes 69° 3 39° @ 
dJo. IDksscccesteed| SOY 35° D 
ARR fesecesctrs 64° clockwise 43° | vee 


Column 2 gives the average angle between the 
true directions of distant places and the directions 
in which the subject thinks these places lie. 

Column 3 indicates the inconstancy of this angu- 
lar displacement or deviation. 


TABLE III 
Deviation of Subjects who have No Imaginary 
Maps 
Deviation from 
Name Place Located Correct Location 
lal, Cb odo North Pole ? (chart confused). 
London 5° clockwise. 
Panama 11° clockwise. 


San Francisco 23° counter-clockwise. 


E. L. K.4.. North Pole 0° 
; London 21° clockwise. 
Panama 10° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 20° counter-clockwise. 


J. H. M.4..North Pole 6° clockwise. 
London 31° clockwise. 
Panama 18° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 16° counter-clockwise. 


3 Some errors clockwise, others counter-clockwise. 
See Table I. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 990 


E. F. K.4.. North Pole 14° clockwise. 
London 48° clockwise. 
Panama 4° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 14° clockwise. 


W. 4H. G.5.. North Pole 14° clockwise. 
London 41° clockwise. 
Panama 6° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 14° clockwise. 


H. W. W.4 North Pole 28° clockwise. 
London 32° clockwise. 
Panama 26° clockwise. 


San Francisco 18° clockwise. 


H. M. R.4. . North Pole 8° counter-clockwise. 
London 4° clockwise. 
Panama 36° counter-clockwise. 
San Franciseo 31° counter-clockwise. 

F. B.S ....North Pole, 8° clockwise. 
London 17° clockwise. 
Panama 4° clockwise. 
San Francisco 14° counter-clockwise. 

W. A. D...North Pole 34° clockwise. 
London 48° clockwise. 
Panama 2° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 16° clockwise. 


J. C. G.4.. North Pole 4° counter-clockwise. 
London 8° clockwise. 
Panama 13° counter-clockwise. 


San Francisco 20° counter-clockwise. 


TABLE IV 
Average Error and Variation in the Case of Those 
Subjects Having No Imaginary Maps 
Mean Errorof Average Varia- 


Four Places tion rom 
Name Located Mean 
1 EC adabosocogee 13°6 Ca 
1M Wilkes oraloasus 13°6 8° 
ye ELM ae dren 18°6 > 
ID OB UIC cb galciano 19°6 12° 
WAVE Gane ci 19°68 Ui 
TELS AWW NV Stehcts cenit 26° clockwise 4° 
Tei Whe Iitpie oo 4 h.aalo 20°6 14° 
Bare niee nnn ie sd ts 11°6 5y> 
TW Ae ate eas ere 25°6 16° 
Bes Oh Emo nese aeeeo 11°6 5° 


4 Subject is not usually confused as to directions 
on coming out of theaters and subways. 

5 Subject is confused as to directions on coming 
out of theaters and subways. 

6 Some errors clockwise, others counter-clockwise. 
See Table III. 


a 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


TABLE V 

Errors in Locating the Cardinal Points of the 
Compass in the Case of Subjects Having 

No Imaginary Maps 


Mean De- 
Viation 
or Error 


Deviation from Correct 
Direction 


North) 5° clockwise 
37° clockwise 
34° clockwise 
18° clockwise 


° 
South 24 


West 


North 
East 
South 
West 


31° counter-clockwise 
34° counter-clockwise 
29° counter-clockwise 
31° counter-clockwise 


31° 


-| North} 8° counter-clockwise 
East 8° counter-clockwise me 
South} 7° counter-clockwise 
West | 3° counter-clockwise 


.| North 
East 
South 
West 


North 
East 
South 
West 


34° clockwise 
34° clockwise 
31° clockwise 
25° clockwise 


31° 


25° clockwise 
19° clockwise 
22° clockwise 
23° clockwise 


North} 12° clockwise 
East 5° clockwise 
South | 19° clockwise 
West | 22° clockwise 


North 
East 
South 
West 


19° clockwise 
24° clockwise 99° 
20° clockwise 
25° clockwise 


North 
East 
South 
West 


79° clockwise 
84° clockwise 
88° clockwise 
84° clockwise 


North 
East 
South 
West 


.| North} 11° clockwise 
East | 14° clockwise 9° 
South} 2° clockwise 
West | 10° clockwise 


52° clockwise 
57° clockwise 
59° clockwise 
57° clockwise 


56° 


C. OC. TRowBripGE 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tue American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 


SCIENCE 


897 


societies named below will meet at Atlanta, 
Ga., during convocation week, beginning on 
December 29, 1913. 


American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Professor Edmund B. Wilson, 
Columbia University; retiring president, Professor 
Edward ©. Pickering, Harvard College Observa- 
tory; permanent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; gen- 
eral secretary, Professor Harry W. Springsteen, 
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; secre- 
tary of the council, Professor William A. Wors- 
ham, Jr., State College of Agriculture, Athens, Ga. 


Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.—Vice- 
president, Dr. Frank Schlesinger, Allegheny Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


Section B—Physics.—Vice-president, Professor 
Alfred D. Cole, Ohio State University; secretary, 
Dr. W. J. Humphreys, Mount Weather, Va. 


Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Dr. Carl 
L. Alsberg, Bureau of Chemistry; secretary, Dr. 
John Johnston, Geophysical Laboratory, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 


Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Dr. O. P. Hood, U. S. Bureau of 
Mines; secretary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, 
Columbia University, New York City. 


Section E—Geology and Geography.—V ice-presi- 
dent, J. S. Diller, U. S. Geological Survey; secre- 
tary, Professor George F. Kay, University of Iowa. 


Section F—Zoology.—Vice-president, Dr. Alfred 
G. Mayer, Carnegie Institution of Washington; 
secretary, Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts Col- 
lege, Mass. 


Section G—Botany.—Vice-president, Professor 
Henry C. Cowles, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. 


Section H—Anthropology and  Psychology.— 
Vice-president, Professor Walter B. Pillsbury, 
University of Michigan; acting secretary, Dr. HE. K. 
Strong, Jr., Columbia University, New York City. 


Section I—Social and Economic Science.—Vice- 
president, Judson G. Wall, Tax Commissioner, New 
York City; secretary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 
Church St., New Haven, Conn. 


Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Theodore Hough, 


898 


University of Virginia; secretary, Dr. Donald R. 
Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, 
Md. 


Section L—Education.—Vice-president, Dr. Phi- 
lander P. Claxton, Commissioner of Education, 
Washington, D. C.; secretary, Dr. Stuart A. 
Courtis, Liggett School, Detroit, Mich. 


The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America.—December 29-January 3. President, 
Professor E. C. Pickering, Harvard College Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Philip Fox, Dear- 
born Observatory, Evanston, Ill. 


The American Physical Society—December 29- 
January 3. President, Professor B. O. Peirce, 
Harvard University; secretary, Professor A. D. 
Cole, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 


The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences.—Between 
December 30. President, Professor C. R. Mann, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Dr. Wm. A. 
Hedrick, Washington, D. C. 


The Entomological Society of America.—De- 
cember 30-31. President, Dr. C. J. S. Bethune, 
Ontario Agricultural College; secretary, Professor 
Alexander D. MacGillivray, 603 West Michigan 
Ave., Urbana, Ill. 


The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists.—December 31—January 2. President, 
Professor P. J. Parrott, Geneva, N. Y.; secretary, 
A. F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 


The Botanical Society of America.—December 
30-January 2. President, Professor D. H. Camp- 
bell, Stanford University; secretary, Dr. George T. 
Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 


The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 30-January 2. President, F. C. Stewart, 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y.; 
secretary, Dr. C. L. Shear, Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 


The American Microscopical Society—December 
30. Secretary, T. W. Galloway, James Millikin 
University, Decatur, Il. 


American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors—December 29. President, E. L. 
Worsham, Atlanta, Ga.; secretary, J. G. Saunders, 
Madison, Wis. 


The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology—December 31-January 1. President, 
Professor H. J. Pearce, Gainesville, Ga.; secretary, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Von. XXXVIII. No. 990 


Professor W. C. Ruediger, George Washington 
University, Washington, D. C. 


The Sigma Xi Convention.—December 30. Presi- 
dent, Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Uni- 
versity; recording secretary, Professor Dayton C. 
Miller, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, 
Ohio. 


Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity.— 
December 30. President, Professor J. I. Tracey, 
Yale University; secretary, Professor H. E. Howe, 
Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va. 


PHILADELPHIA 


The American Society of Naturalists—December 
31. President, Professor Ross G. Harrison, Yale 
University; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


The American Society of Zoologists—December 
30-January 1. Hastern Branch: President, Dr. 
Raymond Pearl, Maine Agricultural Experiment 
Station; secretary, Dr. Caswell Grave, The Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Central 
Branch—December 29-January 1: president, Pro- 
fessor H. B. Ward, University of Nebraska; secre- 
tary, Professor W. C. Curtis, University of Mis- 
souri, Columbia, Mo. 


The American Physiological Society.—December 
29-31. President, Dr. S. J. Meltzer, Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, New York City; 
secretary, Professor A. J. Carlson, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Ross G. Harri- 
son, Yale University; secretary, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, 1330 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, Mich. 


The American Society of Biological Chemists.— 
December 29-31. President, Professor A. B. Ma- 
callum, University of Toronto; secretary, Pro- 
fessor Philip A. Shaffer, 1806 Locust St., St. Louis, 
Mo. 


The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics—December 30-31. President, Dr. 
Torald Sollmann, Western Reserve University 
Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 


NEW YORK CITY 


The American Mathematical Society—December 
30-31. President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 


DECEMBER 19, 1913] 


versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th Street, New York City. 
Chicago, December 26, 27, secretary of Chicago 
meeting, Professor H. E. Slaught, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

The American Anthropological Association.— 
December 29-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

The American Folk-Lore Society—December 31. 
President, John A. Lomax, University of Texas; 
secretary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 Brattle St., 
Cambridge, Mass. 

PRINCETON 

The Geological Society of America.—December 
30-January 1. President, Professor Eugene A. 
Smith, University of Alabama; secretary, Dr. Hd- 
mund Otis Hovey, American Museum of Natural 
History, New York City. 

The Association of American Geographers.— 
Probably meets at Princeton but official informa- 
tion has not been received. 

The Paleontological Society—December 31- 
January 1. President, Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 
Smithsonian Institution; secretary, Dr. R. S. Bass- 
ler, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. 


NEW HAVEN 

The American Psychological Association.—De- 
cember 30-January 1. President, Professor How- 
ard C. Warren, Princeton University; secretary, 
W. Van Dyke Bingham, Dartmouth College, Han- 
over, N. H. 

The American Philosophical Association—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor E. B. MeGil- 
vary, University of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor 
E. G. Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


MINNEAPOLIS 

The American Economic Association—December 
27-30. President, Professor David Kinley, Uni- 
versity of Illinois; secretary, Professor T. N. 
Carver, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

The American Sociological Society—December 
27-30. President, Professor Albion W. Small, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Scott E. W. 
Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Il. 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 


The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion. December 30-31. President, Professor W. 


SCIENCE 


599 


W. Willoughby, Princeton University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 East 23d St., New York 
City. 
MONTREAL 

The Society of American Bacteriologists.—De- 
cember 31—January 2. President, Professor C. E. 
A. Winslow, College of the City of New York; sec- 
retary, Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


THE thirteenth annual meeting of the Botanical 
Society of Washington was held in the committee 
room of the Bureau of Plant Industry on October 
17, 1913, at 1:30 P.M., with seventeen members 
present. The customary reports were presented 
and approved and the following officers elected 
for the ensuing year: President, C. L. Shear; 
Vice-president, A. 8. Hitchcock; Recording Secre- 
tary, C. E. Chambliss; Corresponding Secretary, 
P. L. Ricker; Treasurer, H. H. Bartlett. Mr. F. 
L. Lewton was nominated as Vice-president from 
the society for the Washington Academy of Sci- 
ences. 

The ninetieth regular meeting of the Botanical 
Society of Washington was held in the assembly 
hall of the Cosmos Club on Monday, October 6, 
1913, at 8 P.M., with forty-two members and seven- 
teen guests present, including the following distin- 
guished European botanists: Frau Dr. Brockmann- 
Jerosch, Ziirich; Dr. Edward Riibel, Ziirich; Pro- 
fessor Carl Schroter, Ziirich; Professor C. von 
Tubeuf, Miinich. 

The program consisted of brief informal re- 
marks, as follows: 

An address of welcome to the guests of the so- 
ciety, by President Stockberger. 

‘¢Citrus Plants of the World and their Impor- 
tance and Use in Connection with Citrus Cultures 
and Citrus Breeding,’’ by Mr. Walter T. Swingle. 

‘CA Brief Summary of the Results of Twenty 
Years’ Work with Mistletoe,’’ by Professor C. von 
Tubeuf. 

Professor Carl Schroter of Ztirich translated 
Profesor Tubeuf’s address into English. 

‘Plant Introduction Work of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry,’’ by Mr. David Fairchild. 

“‘Impressions Received during the American 
International Phytogeographic Excursions,’’ by 
Professor Carl Schroter. 

““Nodule Production and Nitrogen Fixation by 
Plants other than Leguminose,’’ by Dr. Carl 
Kellerman. 


900 


‘<The Chestnut Blight Disease,’’? by Dr. Haven 
Metcalf. 

‘¢Photographs of Buckthorn Acacias,’’? by Mr. 
W. E. Safford. 

The ninety-first regular meeting of the Botanical 
Society of Washington was held in the assembly 
room of the Cosmos Club at 8 0’ clock P.M., Tues- 
day, November 4, 1913, with forty-six members 
and five guests present. 

Dr. Harry B. Humphreys and Messrs. G. C. 
Husmann and K. J. J. Lotsy were elected to mem- 
bership. 

The action of the retiring executive committee 
relative to giving a dinner in honor of the seven- 
tieth birthday of Dr. Edward L. Greene was called 
to the attention of the Society by the President, 
and a committee was appointed to arrange the de- 
tails. 

The following scientific program was presented: 


Abbreviations used in the Citation of Botanical 
Literature: Proressor A. S. HircHcock. 
Professor Hitchcock pointed out the different 

methods used for abbreviating citations, the ex- 
treme contraction on the one hand, such as 
“‘O B Z’’ (Oesterreichische Botanische Zeit- 
schrift), and on the other the elaborate citations 
used by some authors in the Pflanzenreich. Ab- 
breviations should be brief as possible consistent 
with clearness, but should follow a definite system. 
The speaker described the system followed in ab- 
breviating citations used in the Contributions from 
the U. S. National Herbarium. The record of au- 
thorized abbreviations of authors and titles is in- 
dexed in a card catalogue. Authors consult this 
record when preparing manuscript for publication, 
thus aiding the editor in securing uniformity. 


Non-parasitic Foliage Injury: Mr. Cart P. Harr- 

LEY. 

Notes were given on the effects of drouth and 
storm on leaves of ornamental trees at Washing- 
ton, D. C., for the past season. June and July 
were hot and dry, with but 35 per cent. of normal 
rainfall. Norway maple, especially in street 
planting, suffered most from drouth, the margins 
of leaves being killed; in the worst cases whole 
leaves except parts immediately adjoining the 
veins died. Most other trees, including Acer rub- 
rum, escaped serious leaf injury. A northeast 
storm with hail and a 66-mile wind at the end of 
July injured many species, especially sugar maple 
and American basswood. The storm injury to 
maple resulted in the death of large parts of 
leaves at the margins and between the veins, with- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVII. No. 990 


out laceration or other external indication of me- 
chanical injury. These storm-injured maple 
leaves could be distinguished from those hurt by 
drouth only by their limitation to parts of trees 
especially exposed to the northeast storm. 


Pitfalls in Plant Pathology: Dr. H. W. WouLEN- 

WEBER (with lantern). 

A revision of the hundreds of species of Fusa- 
rim in literature has led the writer to believe 
that the genus Fusariwm contains only 30 to 50 
different forms. To convince himself of this fact 
he intends to compare his pure culture strains with 
species of the important exsiceata collections of 
the old world. 

A sharp criticism was given to mycologists who 
send unreliable specimens to the international 
‘“Pilzecentrale’’? in Amsterdam. Many errors are 
caused by the earlier opinion that Fusaria, as a 
rule, are adapted to one particular host.1 


Sections of a Fossil Wood from Asphalt Lake 
near Los Angeles, Cal. (specimens): Dr. ALBERT 
MANN. 

Thin sections of the petrified wood were exhib- 
ited under a microscope which showed fungus 
hyphe. Brief notes were given as to the apparent 
method of the growth of the fungus and the pos- 
sible identification of the tree was discussed. 

P. L. RIcKER, 
Corresponding Secretary 


THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, UNIVERSITY OF VIR- 
GINIA, MATHEMATICAL AND SCIENTIFIC 
SECTION 


THE first: meeting of the session of 1913-14 of 
the Mathematical and Scientific Section was held 
October 20. 

The following officers were elected to serve for 
the session: Chairman, Professor W. 8. Rodman; 
Secretary, Professor L. G. Hoxton; Publication 
Committee, Professor W. H. Echols, Professor Thos. 
L. Watson, Professor Wm. A. Kepner. 

Professor W. H. Echols read a paper ‘‘On the 
Expansion of a Function in Terms of Rational 
Functions. ’’ 

Professor S. A. Mitchell presented a report of 
work done on an eclipse expedition to Spain. 


L. G. Hoxton, 
Secretary 
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 
1Lantern slides were shown to illustrate the 
difficulties the taxonomist meets, and these were 
explained and discussed. 


CIENCE 


NEW SERIES SINGLE Copins, 15 CTs. 
VoL. XXXVIII. No. 991 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1913 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


Cambridge University Press, England 


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By G. S. GRAHAM-SMITH, M.D. $3.50 net 


The first volume of the Public Health Series 


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edge now available in many branches of the subject. They are written by experts, 
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nected with the various themes or in their application and administration. They 
include the latest scientific and practical information offered in a manner which is 
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. 71. Natural Sources of Energy. A. H. Grsson. 

72. The Fertility of the Soil. E. J. Russet. 

73. The Life Story of Insects. G. H. Carpenrnr. 
74. The Flea. H. Russert. 

75. Pearls. W. J. Daxin. 

76. Naval Warfare. J. R. THursriexp. 

77. The Beautiful. Vernon Ler. 

78. The Peoples of India. J. D. Anprrson. 

79. The Evolution of New Japan. J. H. Lonerorp. 
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NEW YORK LONDON 


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27-29 West 23d Street Strand 


SS 


Fray, DECEMBER 26, 1913 


CONTENTS 


Henri Poincaré as a Mathematical Physicist : 


PROFESSOR ARTHUR GORDON WEBSTER .... 901 
University Organization: Prorrssor J. B. 

JORNGION oocevadosloocdooonogqgonucgDDG 908 
The Fur-Seal Census for 1913: GEORGE ARCHI- 

DA) GNC Schoo oboaou so dedeuoondaudooNb 918 
Edwin Klebs: Dr. F. H. GARRISON .......... 920 
Scientific Notes and News ........-.....-.-- 921 
Unwersity and Educational News ........... 924 
Discussion and Correspondence :-— 

A New Type of Bacterial Disease: Dr. ER- 

win F. SmitH. The Manus of Trachodont 

Dinosaurs: BaRNUM Brown. Agrodogma- 

tology: EL MEAD WILCOX ................ 9-6 
Scientific Books :— 

Jelliffe and White’s Nervous and Mental 

Disease Monograph Series: Dr. R. 8. Woop- 

wortH. Loeb on the Venom of Heloderma: 

Dr. JOHN VAN DENBURGH .............. 927 
Special Articles :— 

Anatomy as a Means of Diagnosis of Spon- 

taneous Plant Hybrids: R. HoupEN ...... 932 
The Ohio Academy of Science: PROFESSOR Ep- 

VVARD Wels IRIE CHB nstenanetap taieta lov elia-ReteteLiersnctci eves 933 
The American Physical Society: PROFESSOR 

Av AD) SM OOIUE) tars ehee ep tusrtee corona wteiie recto srce ieee 936 
The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

SOCAN hacotice cBdnpoD ona oo oor mea aca 936 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y. 


HENRI POINCARE AS A MATHEMATICAL 
PHY SICIST1 

Wuen I was asked by the secretary to 
contribute a paper of general interest be- 
fore this section I was overwhelmed with 
the sense of my inability to do so, but when 
he suggested that I should take as a sub- 
ject the work of Henri Poincaré as a mathe- 
matical physicist, I consented, because, 
however slight might be my capability, 
the subject was a most congenial one. The 
great Frenchman whose untimely death 
at the age of 58 the whole scientific world 
deplores was a man of extraordinary ver- 
satility, while his productiveness is meas- 
ured by the fact that the total number of 
separate contributions from his pen reaches 
nearly the sum of a thousand. France has 
always known how to honor her great men, 
even if she does not understand them, and 
the impression produced by the death of 
Poincaré on the whole country was pro- 
found. The news was communicated to me 
in London at the celebration of the Royal 
Society by his friend and distinguished 
colleague, Bmile Picard, who in a voice 
choked with emotion pronounced the words, 
“*Poinearé est mort!’’ 

While there can be no doubt that the 
greatest work of Poincaré consisted in his 
work in pure analysis, we must not forget 
that for ten years he filled the chair of 
mathematical physics of the Faculté des 
Sciences. During this time he touched 
every conceivable part of the subject and it 
may be truly said that he touched nothing 
that he did not adorn. Fourteen volumes 

1 Read before Section A of the American As- 


sociation for the Advancement of Science, De- 
cember 31, 1912. 


902 


of published lectures attest his skill as a 
teacher, the names of which I will not take 
your time to rehearse, merely remarking 
that in addition to the usual treatments of 
electricity, optics, the conduction of heat, 
thermodynamies, capillarity, elasticity and 
hydrodynamics there are several volumes 
on the modern subjects of electrical oscilla- 
tions and the interrelations of electricity 
and optics. 

The work of the mathematical physicist 
is of two sorts, according as the emphasis 
is laid on the word physics or on the word 
mathematical. In the latter case the in- 
vestigator concentrates his attention upon 
the attempt to demonstrate that certain 
problems have solutions, furnishing so- 
called existence theorems. In the former 
the attempt is made to find the solutions, 
assuming that they exist, in a form suit- 
able for numerical computation. Poincaré 
did both, and, although capable of the 
highest flights into abstract mathematics, 
was by no means insensible to the needs of 
the practical man, meaning by that not 
only the physicist, but even the telegraph 
engineer. This is attested by the number 
of articles that he wrote on the theory of 
telegraphy, both with and without wires, 
as well as by the courses of lectures that he 
gave at the higher professional school of 
posts and telegraphs. It is certainly a 
very rare thing for a pure mathematician 
of the highest ability to write an article on 
the theory of the telephone receiver, yet 
this was done by Poinearé, while in a paper 
on the propagation of current in the vari- 
able period on a line furnished with a re- 
ceiver he attacked an almost untouched 
field of very great mathematical impor- 
tance in the theory of differential equa- 
tions. 

What is particularly striking in all of 
Poinearé’s writings is not so much the 
clearness of exposition or the elegance of 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 991 


arrangement, for his lectures possess many 
of the faults of lectures published by stu- 
dents and his short articles are often ex- 
tremely difficult reading, but rather the re- 
markable directness with which he pro- 
ceeds to his results and the extraordinary 
command of every resource of pure mathe- 
matics, particularly of Cauchy’s theory of 
the functions of a complex variable. I 
know of but one other author whose re- 
sources in function-theory seem to be at 
all comparable with those of Poincaré, I 
mean Professor Sommerfeld, who seems to 
be able to communicate his powers in that 
line to his students. The heart of mathe- 
matical physics is, without doubt, composed 
of partial differential equations, and in 
this subject Poincaré was, of course, a 
master. It is in connection with the defi- 
nite integrals appearing in their solutions 
that there is great opportunity for the ap- 
plication of function-theory. The great art 
in mathematical physics is that of making 
approximations and it is here that Poin- 
caré was particularly strong. It is fre- 
quently not so difficult to obtain the solu- 
tion of the differential equation as to inter- 
pret its physical meaning. In this matter 
Poincaré reminds us of his great country- 
man Cauchy. 

I shall not attempt to make an analysis 
of the articles of Poincaré, many of which 
I have great difficulty in following and 
many of which could be far better treated 
by others here present. I shall merely 
undertake to give a slight idea of the con- 
tents of those which have particularly im- 
pressed me. I presume his contributions 
of most far-reaching importance from a 
mathematical point of view are his articles 
on the equations of mathematical physics, 
of which he wrote three. This is a subject 
which has received an enormous amount of 
attention during the last twenty-five years 
and it may be undoubtedly said that in 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


this work Poincaré’s contributions were 
fundamental. His first article ‘‘Sur les 
Equations aux Dérivées Partielles de la 
Physique Mathématique’’ appeared in the 
American Journal of Mathematics in 1890. 
The equations of mathematical physics are 
all very similar and may be practically 
all reduced to three or four. Of these the 
equation of Laplace, 
OV Vi 62Vi 
Gat) ay?) aa? A 

is the most important. The so-called boun- 
dary problem of finding a solution of La- 
place’s equation, valid for a certain region 
of space, that shall take prescribed values 
at the surface bounding this space is known 
as Dirichlet’s problem. Of this the prob- 
lem of the distribution of electricity on the 
surface of a conductor is a particular case, 
the function given on the surface reducing 
to a constant. 

The latter example is a case of the out- 
side problem, where in addition we have 
the condition that the desired function 
must vanish at infinity. The demonstra- 
tion of the existence of such a function 
given by Riemann and depending upon the 
application of the calculus of variations to 
the definite integral 

a 2 2 TANG: 

SSI UGE) + (Gp) + Ge) ] anne 
is lacking in rigor and the attempt to re- 
place it has engaged the attention of some 
of the greatest mathematicians. In the 
present paper Poincaré gives a new method 
ci great universality for proving the so- 
called Dirichlet principle. It depends 
upon the fact that the boundary problem 
can be exactly solved for the sphere and 
also upon the theorem discovered by Green 
that a potential function due to attracting 
masses lying within a closed surface may 
be exactly imitated by placing the masses 
in a surface distribution on the surface of 
the sphere. This Poincaré calls the ba- 


SCIENCE 


903 


layage of the sphere, the masses being 
swept out of the interior and deposited on 
the surface. For any surface to be treated 
the space within is filled up by an infinite 
number of spheres such that any point 
within the given surface les in at least one 
of them, and these spheres are swept in a 
certain order so that the process is a con- 
vergent one. The principle of Dirichlet is 
thus established, but a practical method of 
finding the solution is not given. The 
other equation considered in this paper is 
Fourier’s equation for the conduction of 
heat, 
6V 


Oe BIA, 
at @AYV 


In this case the boundary condition is not 
as simple as in Dirichlet’s problem, but we 
have at the surface, 


5V 
5 +hY =0, 


where fi is called the emissivity of the body. 
In this case it is demonstrated by the aid 
of the calculus of variations that the prob- 
lem is possible, the demonstration being 
that of the existence of an infinite series of 
functions U, satisfying the conditions that 
on the surface of the body 


5U, 
én 


+hUn =90 . 


and in its interior 

AUn + knU =0, 
where the numbers k,, k,--- kn are positive 
constants such that 

Ky < hn Kk - - + 
Physically these functions have the prop- 
erty that if the temperature of the body 
at a given instant is distributed according 
to any one of them then this distribution 
will remain unchanged during all subse- 
quent time, merely dying away at an ex- 
ponential rate. It is interesting to notice 
that in the last part of this paper Poincaré 
compares his process to that used by 


904 


Fourier in deducing his equation; namely, 
by supposing the body to be composed of 
a large number of small bodies each radia- 
ting heat to all the others according to the 
law that the amount of heat radiated in a 
given time is proportional to the difference 
of temperature of the two bodies. Thus a 
system of ordinary differential equations 
is arrived at, 


dv; k=n i i 
+ 3S Cu(Vi—Vi) +CiVi=0, t=1,2---n, 
dt k=) 
which is readily solved by putting 
V; = Uie—*, 


in which ease the differential equations be- 
come algebraic linear equations for the 
quantities Ui, 

AU; = = Cn(Ui — Ux) + C.U;. 


In order to solve them it is necessary that 
the determinant 
C1-—r, —Cr, — Cis, 
OF ||) Cy, Co—r, — Crs, 


should vanish. But we get the same equa- 
tions if we consider the quadratic form 

= TCn. (Vi — Vi)? + DCiV 2, 
which being equated to a constant repre- 
sents an ellipsoid in n-dimensional space. 
The equations for the axes are our linear 
equations. The axes of this ellipsoid being 
all real, all the roots of the determinant A 
are real. The form may then be decom- 
posed into a sum of squares. 

& =h, + AGy ---, where 

bp = Up.U, + UpU2 ---« 
Upon the properties of this quadratic 
form depends the whole theory. When 
the number of particles becomes infinite 
the system of ordinary differential equa- 
tions leads in the limit to Fourier’s partial 
differential equation, and the theorems 
which will arise if the passage to the limit 
is justified lead to Poincaré’s deduction. 
It is to be noticed that this principle had 
been used before by Lord Rayleigh in con- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


nection with the theory of vibrations and 
the possibility of passing to the limit postu- 
lated by him is now known as Rayleigh’s 
principle. More interesting still is the fact 
that to-day this process used by Rayleigh 
and Poincaré has become in the hands of 
Fredholm and Hilbert a rigorous method, 
that of integral equations, which is at pres- 
ent occupying a large part of the atten- 
tion of the mathematical world. 

In his second paper on the same subject 
published in 1894 in the Rendiconti del 
Circolo Mathematico di Palermo, Poincaré 
passes to the consideration of the more gen- 
eral equation 

Au +éiu+f =0, 


where € is a constant and f a given space- 
function. This equation includes not only 
Fourier’s equation but the equation of 
waves 


if we put 

; vw 

g=e™u, E= Ba 
Regions in which f is not zero are called 
sources of heat or sound. Poincaré pro- 
ceeds in this equation to develop wu accord- 
ing to powers of €, as had been done by 
Schwarz, thus obtaining a solution by suc- 
cessive approximations which he proves to 
be convergent. He also proves the funda- 
mental property that a solution of the 
equation is a meromorphic function of the 
parameter € having an infinite number of 

simple poles, that is to say, 
aiU; 


—- where 


= 2 
U E—k; 


AU; + kU; = 0. 


This theorem is also fundamental in the 
theory of integral equations. To speak in 
the language of sound Poincaré demon- 
strates the existence of an infinite number 
of natural vibrations for the air in a cavity 
surrounded by the given surface, the char- 
acteristic numbers k; or values of the poles 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


of the solution giving us their periods, and 
the nature of the function U showing the 
phenomenon of resonance, that is to say, the 
vibration becoming infinite when the im- 
pressed force has the period of one of the 
natural vibrations. The method of Poin- 
earé leads directly to Schmidt’s solution of 
the integral equation. 

In a third paper published in the Acta 
Mathematica in 1897 Poincaré deals with 
what he calls Neumann’s problem, which 
he defines as follows: To find a potential 
of a double layer whose limiting values in- 
side and outside the surface are denoted 
by V and V’, and which satisfies the equa- 
tion at the surface, 

V—W=NNV + VY’) + 28, 


where X is a parameter. If \=—1 this 
reduces to the interior Dirichlet’s problem 
V=® and if A\=1 to the exterior problem 
V’=—®. By means of a development in 
powers of the parameter 2 a solution is ob- 
tained by successive approximations which 
is proved to converge. One of the most im- 
portant results of this paper is the demon- 
stration of the existence of a series of what 
he calls fundamental functions which have 
the property of being potentials of simple 
layers, and 
O25 58" 


bu on 


in terms of which he deems it probable 
that any function on the surface may be 
developed, so that when these functions are 
known Dirichlet’s problem may be solved. 
These reduce for the sphere to spherical 
harmonics and for the ellipsoid to Lamé’s 
functions, and they are the characteristic 
functions belonging to integral equations. 

Let us now turn to a different field. In 
1893 attention was called by Poincaré to 
an equation which has become famous, 
ealled by him the equation of telegraphists. 
This equation 


SCIENCE 


905 


eu du ou 
Oye ce eg ne 
had been introduced before by Kirchhoff 
and Heaviside, but its physical interpreta- 
tion had not been emphasized. If the first 
term is lacking it reduces to Fourier’s 
equation and it had been shown by Sir 
William Thomson in 1855 that signals 
were propagated through a submarine cable 
in accordance with it. If the second and 
third terms are absent the equation re- 
duces to the equation of sound in one di- 
mension and shows the propagation of 
waves unchanged in form with a constant 
velocity. The equation of telegraphists 
may then be expected to combine the prop- 
erties of transmission in waves and heat 
transmission with an infinite velocity. The 
first term arises from the consideration of 
the self-induction of the line neglected by 
Thomson and the second term from the re- 
sistance which can generally not be ne- 
glected. By the simple method of the as- 
sumption that w can be represented as a 
Fourier’s integral, after taking out an ex- 
ponential factor, so that 
e&U CU wy) wi Sa a(q)et*dq, 


Oe (ba? 


Poinearé obtains the solution 
O etax esa sint Vg? — 1 

U pice [2 cos ever —-14+4 =a faa 
which he shows by an application of the 
theory of functions to depend upon a Bes- 
sel function. The remarkable physical re- 
sult is that while the disturbance, like the 
sound wave, is propagated with a finite 
velocity, after it has passed over a given 
point it leaves a residue or trail which 
gradually dies away like heat. In a later 
paper he discussed the effect on the teleg- 
raphist’s equation of terminal conditions of 
a complicated sort necessitated by the em- 
ployment of receiving apparatus. 

Probably the favorite subject in mathe- 


906 


matical physics treated by Poincaré was 
that of electrical waves and oscillations. 
The reason for this is not far to seek. Not 
only are the equations of Maxwell’s theory, 
complicated though they seem to be and 
involving a large number of vectors, ca- 
pable of reduction to one of the forms al- 
ready mentioned, but their solution calls 
for great knowledge of differential equa- 
tions and even in the last few years in the 


hands of Poincaré permits of being treated 


by integral equations. Besides this the ap- 
plications to the subject of wireless teleg- 
raphy are of great practical importance as 
well as theoretical interest. If we write 
Maxwell’s equations in the simplest case, 


_ 6H _ 8G 
Taio Oee: 
aE by fae ee, 
EN ENE 6x | by | be)” 
Anf ae én’ y 
Bie tthe - da , 6B , dy _ 
bz | by | bz)” 
ar (ut 2) = 2-2 3 Z 


where (4, 8, y) denotes the magnetic field, 
4r (f, g, h,) the electric field, u, v, w the 
conduction current, p the electric density, 
Ww the electric scalar potential, (/, G, H) 
the vector-potential, where the vector-po- 
tential is defined by the differential equa- 
tions 

= 06 

bys bz” 

there is still something indeterminate in 
this vector. Maxwell assumes 


which does not lend itself to simplicity, but 
if instead we put, as was later done by 
Lorentz, 

oF 6G , dH , oy 


a ae trina oo 


we get a great simplification. It is notable 
that this was done by Poinearé in 1893 in 
his lectures on electrical oscillations, evi- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 991 


dently quite independently of Lorentz. 
Our equation for the vector-potential then 
reduces to the form 

er 


$2 7 AF = 4ru, 


which shows that if there is no current 
anywhere the vector-potential is propagated 
in waves. The scalar potential also satis- 
fies the equation 


It was shown by Lorentz in 1892 and inde- 
pendently in the same year by Beltrami, 
that this equation, which, in case the first 
term vanishes, reduces to that of Poisson, 
is satisfied by a potential function 
‘dr 
Oi a 

in which, however, p’ represents the value 
of p not at the instant in question but at an 
instant precedent by the time required to 
come from the point of integration with 
the wave-velocity. Such a potential is now 
known as a retarded potential and I may 
be allowed for a moment to digress upon 
the interesting history of this Lorentz-Bel- 
trami equation. Its properties with those 
of the retarded potential are given by 
Poinearé in his lectures in 1893, evidently 
quite independently of Lorentz. It turns 
out, however, that the properties of the 
equation are given in Lord Rayleigh’s 
“Theory of Sound,’’ appearing in 1877. 
This, however, is not its first appearance, 
for we find the same equation in a paper by 
L. Lorenz, of Copenhagen, in 1869, on elas- 
ticity. More remarkable yet in a paper 
presented by Riemann to the Royal Society 
of Gottingen in 1858, but published only in 
1867 after Riemann’s death, we find the 
same identical equation for the electric po- 
tential although deduced from considera- 
tions which are now untenable. It is curi- 
ous to remark that although this equation is 
mentioned by Maxwell in the last chapter 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


of his great work he does not commit him- 
self as to its conclusions, but states that 
Clausius has shown that the hypothesis that 
the potential is propagated like hight does 
not lead to the known laws of electrody- 
namics. Curiously enough, to-day this is 
exactly what we do believe, and it is inter- 
esting to know that such a result was vainly 
sought for by Gauss. 

It is easy to conceive, the equations of 
electrical propagation being so similar to 
those of the propagation of sound waves, 
how the question of fundamental functions 
arises in connection with electrical oscilla- 
tions emitted by a conductor of given form. 
The only case of anything except a linear 
conductor that has been completely treated 
is that of a sphere and of this a treatment 
was given in the same lectures in 1893 by 
Poincaré. One of the most important ques- 
tions in wireless telegraphy has been dur- 
ing the last ten years and still is the expla- 
nation of the possibility of sending Hert- 
zian waves across the Atlantic, a distance 
of perhaps one tenth of the way around the 
earth. The question of diffraction has al- 
ways been an attractive one and in the case 
of electric waves makes great demands 
upon the powers of the mathematician. 
After a number of articles on the subject 
Poincaré in 1909 applies to it the method 
of integral equations, which he continues 
in a lecture on the Wolfskehl foundation at 
Gottingen, and later in a tremendous paper 
in the Palermo Rendiconti. 

The development of Maxwell’s electro- 
magnetic theory that has taken place in the 
last twenty-five years has led to a theory 
that has attracted the greatest interest 
among mathematical physicists and has, in 
fact, become in certain parts of the world 
no less than a mania. I refer to the so- 
called principle of relativity, a name which 
was given to it first, if I am not mistaken, 
by Poincaré. This principle is no less than 


SCIENCE 


907 


a fundamental relation between time and 
space, intended to explain the impossibility 
of determining experimentally whether a 
system, say the earth, is in motion or not. 
In an elaborate paper published in 1905 in 
the Palermo Rendiconti entitled, ‘‘Sur la 
dynamique de 1’électron,’’ he defines the 
principle of relativity by means of what he 
calls the Lorentz transformation. If the 
coordinates and the time receive the follow- 
ing linear transformation, 


eg =kli(e+ed), Uv =kl(t+er), y=ly, 


2 =(z, 


the function «?-+ y?+2?—1,? and the 
equations of electric propagation will re- 
main invariant. From this follows the 
impossibility of determining absolute mo- 
tion. Poincaré then submits the Lorentz 
transformation, which he shows belongs to 
a group, to an examination with regard to 
the principle of least action, which he shows 
holds for the principle of relativity. He 
further shows that by the aid of certain 
hypotheses gravitation can be accounted 
for and shown to be propagated with the 
velocity of light. This is a subject which is 
now very much in the air, but it must be 
said that various writers arrive at conflict- 
ing results. 

From what I have said, it will have been 
seen that Poincaré was exceedingly up-to- 
date and at once made the newest specula- 
tions and theories his own. As the final ex- 
ample of this may be named a theory which 
has created nearly as great a shock as that 
of relativity. I mean the theory of light 
quanta introduced by Planck to account for 
the laws of radiation from a hot body. In 
order to apply the laws of probability to 
electric resonators Planck had felt obliged 
to introduce the hypothesis that energy is 
emitted by resonators not in continuous 
amounts but in amounts depending upon 
certain multiples of a definite quantity 


908 SCIENCE 


known as the quantum. In one of his very 
last papers published in January, 1912, in 
the Journal de Physique, Poincaré submits 
the theory of quanta to a searching exami- 
nation and as a conclusion announces that 
it is impossible to arrive at Planck’s law ex- 
cept under the assumption that resonators 
can acquire or lose energy only in discon- 
tinuous amounts. If this is true we have an 
extraordinary departure from received 
ideas and it will be necessary to suppose 
that natural phenomena do not obey dif- 
ferential equations. 

Enough has been said to show the extra- 
ordinary variety of the subjects treated by 
this commanding intellect in the subject of 
mathematical physics alone. In repeating 
what I stated at the outset that the strik- 
ing quality displayed by Poincaré is his 
extraordinary skill in analysis, I do not 
mean for a moment to imply anything 
against his intense receptivity for all 
physical ideas, for which he had a very 
great penetration. It is true that he some- 
times met severe criticism from physicists. 
In particular Professor Tait made a bitter 
attack on his treatise on thermodynamics, 
but in my opinion Poincaré was well able 
to defend himself. It has sometimes been 
doubted whether he thoroughly appreci- 
ated Maxwell’s ideas as to the theory of 
electricity, but this is of small moment, 
seeing that he so well understood their con- 
sequences. It must be said that Poincaré 
was not one who contributed fundamental 
new ideas to our stock of physical concep- 
tions, such as the ideas put forth by Car- 
not, Kelvin, Maxwell, Lorentz with his 
principle of local time or Planck with his 
quanta. 

I may in conclusion be permitted to state 
my opinion that the best persons to appoint 
to chairs of mathematical physics and those 
most likely to enrich our conceptions are 
those who have themselves had experience 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 991 


indealing with nature with their own 
hands in the laboratory, and who may be 
expected to have more feeling for her modes 
of action than skill in analysis. Thus I be- 
lieve Helmholtz, Kelvin, Maxwell, and Lord 
Rayleigh to have been more important con- 
tributors to mathematical physics than 
Poincaré, but this is not to say that the 
latter was not an intellect of superlative 
greatness. 


ARTHUR GORDON WEBSTER 
CLARK UNIVERSITY 


UNIVERSITY ORGANIZATION1 


THIS subject has become in recent years 
one of intense interest. In most utterances 
on the subject the prominent feature is the 
statement that our universities are un- 
democratic, that they are monarchical insti- 
tutions in a democratic country. This 
criticism takes various forms. When a 
university president speaks, the shortcom- 
ings of the university are due to the fact 
that the governing board are ignorant, 
shallow-minded, arrogant and headstrong; 
that they insist upon deciding matters be- 
yond their knowledge and will not be 
guided by the president. When a univer- 
sity professor speaks it is the university 
presidency which is at fault. Autocracy, 
blindness, willfulness, prejudice, partial- 
ity, lofty-mindedness, oratorical ability, 
money-getting talents, piety and many 
other virtues and vices are ascribed to our 
presidents, but in the minds of nearly all 
writers the presidency is an unsatisfactory 
tool. When an outsider speaks, both 
president and governing board are parts of 
a vicious organization. 

Let us grant that there is much truth in 
this. Boards may be unwise; the presi- 
dency may be unequal to its responsibili- 

1 With especial reference to state universities. 


An address delivered before a body of university 
men at Minneapolis, November 10, 1913. 


—— Oe 


re. 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


ties and opportunities. Yet there is a 
third point of view, a more fundamental 
consideration. In the American univer- 
sity, as in the Russian political system, the 
chief difficulty is not with the autocrat, 
but with the bureaucrat. In my opinion, 
we can not go much farther astray than 
baldly to lay the shortcomings of our uni- 
versities upon the president. As for the 
presidency, it is part of a great system; 
the president is the unfortunate occupant 
of an office. 

Let us see how the matter stands. Any 
large institution such as one of our univer- 
sities, in order to be successful, must have 
general aims or policies, must have an or- 
ganization to carry them out, and must se- 
eure at once the successful operation of 
each of its subdivisions in its own sphere 
and the cooperation of each of these in the 
larger ends of the whole. The president is 
given, nominally at least, the responsibil- 
ity of directing this organization in gen- 
eral and the right, when necessity arises, 
to intervene in the conduct of any of the 
parts in order to make them efficient and 
to adjust their relations with the re- 
mainder of the institution. Can any presi- 
dent do this under present conditions? 

To bring about efficient work for desir- 
able ends in any large institution certain 
things are necessary. First, a knowledge 
of what are the desirable aims or ideals for 
that institution and of how these ideals 
should be adjusted to the conditions of hu- 
man life and to the life of the particular 
community from time to time. Second, a 
knowledge on the part of the executive of 
the workings of all parts of the institution 
and of the abilities of each member of the 
staff. Third, the possession of actual 
power by the executive to secure the co- 
operation of all parts in whatever is for 
the common welfare. This is true no mat- 
ter whether the common welfare is found 


SCIENCE 


909 


in the closest centralization or in the great- 
est freedom of individual action, no matter 
whether the executive is a president or a 
committee or takes some other form. Our 
universities must be organized, must have 
common ends and must exercise executive 
power, if the only end of that power be to 
secure anarchy. It is my purpose to in- 
quire what is wrong with the present or- 
ganization, that our universities should 
work so badly and that individuals should 
suffer so in the process. 

Where does a university get its ideals or 
policies? Necessarily, they become the 
possession of the institution through the 
expression of ideas or opinions by members 
of the faculty and student body and 
through the accumulation of such ideas in 
the form known as traditions. Individ- 
uals in the university, whether president, 
instructors or students, necessarily furnish 
the ideas out of which common aims are 
constructed and in accordance with which 
old aims are adjusted to new conditions. 
Is there at the present time any adequate 
means by which the ideas of individuals 
can be made available for the common 
good? Two illustrations will answer the 
question in part. The head of a university 
department called together his entire staff 
including student assistants to discuss the 
organization of teaching with a view to im- 
proving the arrangement and content of 
the courses of study. The whole matter 
was discussed at two successive meetings, 
the professors talking over various plans 
without coming to any satisfactory conclu- 
sion. Instructors and assistants had been 
asked to think over the matter and at the 
second meeting each one in turn was called 
upon for suggestions. One assistant had 
a plan entirely different from anything 
that had been suggested. He outlined it 
and showed how it would improve the teach- 
ing and bring about a better correlation in 


910 SCIENCE 


the work of the department. The men of 
professorial rank criticized the plan se- 
verely and the young man was made to feel 
that he was presumptuous in proportion 
as his plan was chimerical. After a rather 
long interval a third meeting was called. 
The head of the department announced 
that a plan had been devised, and proceeded 
to outline the identical plan which had 
been proposed by the assistant. It re- 
mained in effect for several years. Ab- 
solutely no hint of credit or recognition 
was ever given to the young man. Again, 
an instructor arose in general faculty 
meeting in an arts college in a state 
university and discussed a pending ques- 
tion at some length and with much cog- 
gency. His friends were filled with ap- 
prehension and one of them finally suc- 
ceeded in signalling to the speaker to de- 
sist. He was afterwards informed by the 
dean that men below the rank of assistant 
professor were not expected to debate 
questions in the faculty. Instances might 
be multiplied to show that great difficulties 
stand in the way of the ideas of young men 
finding expression or receiving considera- 
tion in our universities. It is a well-known 
fact that in many departments the young 
men never know what plans are afoot until 
their duties are assigned them. And yet 
the young men are the only ones who can 
offer any new ideas to their institutions. 
Let it not be thought that the writer has 
any personal interest in this aspect of the 
question. He has passed the time when he 
can expect to produce any new ideas. 
Whatever new ideas he might have con- 
tributed to the universities with which he 
has been connected are lost forever,—unless 
indeed, ear is still given to what he might 
have said years ago. Of course, that is 
precisely what our mode of organization 
means. The university forbids a young 
man to speak until he becomes a professor. 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIIT. No. 991 


Then if he has not forgotten the ideas 
which came to him in the days of his 
youth and enthusiasm, or if the time for 
their application has not long gone by, the 
institution is willing to listen to him. That 
ensures conservatism,—but not progress. 
It means that the university never adjusts 
its ideals to the times but is forever deny- 
ing itself the information which its indi- 
vidual members could supply. 

If the university is slow and inefficient 
in securing information as to what should 
be its aims and policies, what about the 
sources of information for the executive 
as to how those policies are being carried 
out? The president depends for his infor- 
mation first upon the deans of colleges and 
schools, and second, upon the heads of de- 
partments. He depends upon these men 
also for executive functions under his di- 
rection. The president must depend upon 
these men for information, since he can 
not by any possibility know all the details 
by his own observation. Neither can he go 
personally to all individuals for informa- 
tion. In general the president is equally 
under the necessity of following the advice 
of his heads of departments, since other- 
wise he would lose their confidence and his 
only source of information. The president 
instead of being the autocratic monster 
that he is depicted, is in an almost pitiable 
situation. Unless he be a man of alto- 
gether extraordinary energy and strength 
of purpose, he is wholly at the merey of 
his heads of departments. So far as the 
heads of departments are honest, wise and 
possessed of ideals for the common good 
the president is fortunate, and nothing that 
I may say in this talk can be construed as 
a criticism of such men. But heads of de- 
partments are endowed with human na- 
ture, and it is well known that they exhibit 
it in the conduct of their departments. 

In one case a department of chemistry 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


was equipped with a great amount of ex- 
pensive glassware and analytical appa- 
ratus of which the head of the department 
did not know the uses, while the students’ 
tables were almost devoid of ordinary rea- 
gent bottles. The younger men in the de- 
partment were unable for a long time to 
secure the ordinary equipment needed. In 
other cases men who were drawing full pro- 
fessors’ salaries have taken their time for 
outside professional work or for dealing 
in real estate, coal or gas, neglecting their 
teaching and imposing extra work on the 
instructors to the detriment of both in- 
structors and students. A head of depart- 
ment may carry on for years policies which 
are not approved by a single member of 
his staff; may absent himself from all teach- 
ing whatever; may neglect to do any re- 
search work or contribute anything to the 
advancement of his science; may pursue 
constantly a policy of selfish material ag- 
grandizement for which the department 
suffers both in the esteem of the university 
and in the decrease of scientific work 
which the members of staff can do; may 
deliberately sacrifice the interests of the 
students to his personal ambitions, and may 
in these ways cause constant friction and 
great waste of energy throughout the col- 
lege—all this while maintaining a pre- 
tense, or even a belief, that he is a most 
public-spirited and useful member of the 
faculty. The head may conduct his de- 
partment in such a way as to make re- 
search impossible and even drive men out 
of his department because they do research, 
all the while that he himself talks of the 
importance of research. Heads may ap- 
point to high positions men who have given 
no evidence whatever of their qualifica- 
tions for the work proposed. Heads of de- 
partments and deans have been known to 
use their offices to secure advancement for 
their personal friends and are able to side- 


SCIENCE 911 


track valuable proposals for the common 
good which threaten to compete with their 
own interests. 

The head of a department enjoys a re- 
markable liberty in the conduct of his de- 
partment and in the performance of his 
individual duties. He may suppress the 
individualism of his staff members, ignore 
any suggestions which they may make, 
and dismiss them if they insist upon 
their ideas. He may falsify the reports 
as to the teaching and other work done 
by himself and by members of his 
staff. If subordinate members of the staff 
have different ideas as to the conduct 
of the departments they are vigorously 
overruled by the head, and if any 
question of bad policy or of injustice is 
brought to the stage of investigation by 
the president, that officer is governed by 
the principle that all matters of testimony 
must be construed by him in a light as fav- 
orable as possible to the head of the de- 
partment. The president is bound to do 
this because he is dependent upon his 
heads of departments for information, ad- 
vice and executive assistance. The ‘‘heads 
of departments’’ thus become a system 
which involves the president and from the 
toils of which he can not easily extricate 
himself. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge that in some departments no member 
of staff is asked for his opinions or is en- 
couraged to hold or express independent 
views, that younger members of the faculty 
commonly dare not express themselves pub- 
licly or go to the president or dean in mat- 
ters in which they differ from the heads 
of their departments, and that generally 
the department head assumes that the de- 
cision of any question resides with the ‘‘re- 
sponsible head,’’ regardless of the views of 
his subordinates. There is no way in which 
the members of staff can influence the pol- 
icy of their department, there is no chan- 


912 


nel by which the facts can be brought 
effectively to the notice of the president or 
governing board, and there is no assur- 
ance in our present form of organization 
that the welfare of the staff or their opin- 
ions as to the welfare of the university, 
would receive consideration if opposed to 
the desires of the department head. All 
this is expressed in common university 
parlance by saying that the head regards 
the department as his personal property 
and the members of staff as his hired men. 

I believe that a truer statement of the 
case is this. Some years ago each subject 
was taught by a single professor. The 
growth in the number of students made it 
necessary to appoint new instructors to as- 
sist the professor. At first these assistants 
were very subordinate in years and experi- 
ence and it was only natural that the re- 
sponsibility for the work of the depart- 
ment should remain with the professor. 
With further growth of the institution the 
department staff has come to include sev- 
eral instructors and professors, each of 
whom has a primary interest and respon- 
sibility in the welfare of the department 
and of the institution. Instead of this 
being recognized, the full powers of the 
department have been left in the hands of 
the original head. ‘These heads have in 
consequence come into control of the 
sources of information to the executive, 
have jealously guarded their great powers, 
and are able to direct departmental and 
university policies through holding the 
president in ignorance and their subordi- 
nates in contempt. In other words, univer- 
sity control has come to be vested in a 
system of zresponsible heads of depart- 
ments. This was what was meant in the 
beginning by saying that the difficulty lies 
not with the autocrat, but with the bureau- 
erat. More than one well-meaning univer- 
sity president has recognized the situation, 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. VoL. XX XVIII. No. 991 


admitted his powerlessness at critical peri- 
ods and has sought to extricate himself and 
his university by having recourse to private 
interviews and by the appointment of ad- 
visory committees. 

Tf the only evils of this system were that 
it entails upon the president great difficul- 
ties of university management and results 
in the misdirection of department affairs 
and the waste of material resources, it 
would not be so intolerable. Its more seri- 
ous effects are that it lowers the efficiency 
and the moral and spiritual tone of the 
whole institution, that it wastes the time 
and energy of whole staffs in order that 
the head may take his ease or satisfy his 
ambitions. Moreover, taking away from 
faculty members the responsibility for the 
conception and execution of university 
policies is the best possible way to break 
down the practical efficiency of these men 
and to reduce the college professor by a 
process of natural selection to the imprac- 
tical, inexperienced hireling that he is pop- 
ularly supposed to be. Whether this is in 
part the cause of the wretched teaching 
which is done in our universities and of 
the lack of standards of work and of char- 
acter for the student, I leave you to judge. 

There is a second unfortunate feature 
in our university organization to which I 
will give only brief attention. This is the 
prominence of the colleges and schools and 
the sharp boundaries between them. The 
colleges are not based upon any natural 
subdivision of knowledge, but upon prac- 
tical or technical grounds. Hach college 
has in view the esteem of its own profes- 
sion and has little sympathy with other 
colleges which make up the university. 
The very existence of the colleges creates 
special interests and produces strife which 
is in no way related to the welfare of the 
student or the general public. Teaching 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


and equipment—apparatus, supplies, li- 
brary—are duplicated, the natural rela- 
tions of fields of knowledge are subordi- 
nated to the practical application of 
specific facts and laws, college walls and 
college interests intervene to prevent the 
student from following co-related subjects 
in which he is interested, professional in- 
terests and professional ideals begin early 
to narrow the student’s vision and to sub- 
stitute professional tradition and practise 
for sound judgment and an open mind. 
All this is unfortunate. The professions 
should foster but not confine their appren- 
tices. A student preparing for profes- 
sional work should have the advantage of 
the traditions and practises prevailing in 
the profession, but those traditions and 
practices should not constitute limitations 
on his opportunities, his enterprise or his 
initiative. 

A third evil tendency in our universities 
is the growing complexity of administrative 
organization. Good results can not be 
secured by relying chiefly on a system of 
checks and safeguards. These can not re- 
place capability, honesty and a genuine in- 
terest in the university’s welfare. Checks 
and safeguards can at best only prevent 
some abuses, while they certainly place ob- 
stacles in the way of men who would do 
honest work. It is of doubtful value to set 
a sheep dog to keep cats from killing young 
chickens—especially when the main busi- 
ness of the university is not to raise either 
sheep or chickens but to rear men. There 
is a constant danger that good men will be 
obliged to kotow to administrative officials 
who ought to be servants but who proclaim 
themselves masters. To appoint capable 
men and to place confidence in their con- 
cordant judgment would at once prevent 
the abuses and secure the desirable ends. 


SCIENCE 


913 


FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH UNI- 

VERSITY ORGANIZATION SHOULD REST 

The functions of a university are three. 
First, to bring together teachers and stu- 
dents under such conditions that the whole 
field of knowledge is opened to the student 
and he is offered competent and reliable 
advice and assistance in his studies. The 
second function arises from the responsi- 
bility for the competent direction of the 
student’s work. The university must exam- 
ine the foundations of its authority by 
making original investigations to test, cor- 
rect and enlarge the existing body of knowl- 
edge. No institution which neglects to pros- 
ecute research in as many fields as prac- 
tical conditions permit, is worthy of the 
name of university. The third function of 
a@ university is to make its store of knowl- 
edge practically available to its community 
and patrons and to stimulate in the mem- 
bers of the community an interest in the 
further acquisition of knowledge. 

The university is thus concerned with 
knowledge and its applications. University 
organization exists for the purpose of secur- 
ing suitable conditions for research and 
teaching, for the acquisition and the appli- 
cation of knowledge. Certain of the condi- 
tions of successful work in a university may 
be laid down without argument. First, 
that each individual instructor or student 
should enjoy freedom and bear responsi- 
bility in his work, 7. e., he should be judged 
by his achievements. Second, the recogni- 
tion of the facts that dealing with knowl- 
edge is the central function of the univer- 
sity; that all organization must contribute 
to this end; that the teacher, the student 
and the research worker are the sole per- 
sons of primary value in the university; 
that all administrative officers are accessory 
machinery; that all organization should 
spring from those primarily engaged in the 


914 SCIENCE 


university’s work; and that all authority 
should rest with these and with the com- 
munity which supports the institution. 
This organic relation of the actual workers 
to the university government is at once a 
natural right and the foundation of that 
personal interest and enthusiasm which are 
necessary to successful endeavor. Note 
that I do not say that the instructor and 
research worker should be made to feel 
that he has an interest in the university 
organization and a part in university 
policies through his advice and so forth, 
but that the teacher and research worker 
is in the nature of things the actual source 
of authority in the university, conditioned 
only by the relations of the university to 
its community. 

What, now, is the proper form of uni- 
versity organization, and how can it be ap- 
proached in our state universities ? 

The governing board should represent 
both the community served and the univer- 
sity. The people of the state furnish the 
financial and spiritual support for the uni- 
versity and receive the benefits of its work. 
The support can be withheld whenever the 
returns are unsatisfactory. The interests 
of the people do not require to be protected 
by the governing board. The members of 
the university faculties contribute their 
lives, and receive in return a living wage. 
It is only with the greatest difficulty that 
they can withdraw their investment in the 
enterprise. They furnish also the plans of 
work and the expert direction. The nature 
of the work is such that it is essential that 
the staff should have a free hand in exe- 
euting its plans and should be responsible 
to the people for its achievements. It 
seems clear that a governing board com- 
posed of three members appointed by the 
governor from the state at large, three 
members elected by university faculties 
from their own number, and the president, 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


would at least not err on the side of giving 
too great autonomy to the university. It is 
clear that complete autonomy would carry 
with it the danger of losing touch with the 
university’s constituency, while the pres- 
ence of an equal representation from the 
university and the state would free the 
faculty permanently from the stigma of 
control by ‘‘non-scholar trustees.’’ Those 
present well know, however, that boards of 
the existing type may show an excellent 
spirit and judgment. 

The internal organization of the univer- 
sity should have reference solely to effi- 
ciency in teaching and research. The or- 
ganization should be created by the mem- 
bers of the staff by virtue of their sovereign 
powers within the institution. The first 
natural subdivision of the university is that 
into departments based upon the relations 
of the fields of knowledge. The process of 
subdivision of subjects and creation of new 
departments has gone too far and must be 
reversed. Under the old order of things the 
only way for a man of parts to gain recog- 
nition and influence which he was capable 
of using, was to become the head of a de- 
partment or the dean of a college. This 
accounts for the creation of many new de- 
partments and schools for which there was 
no need. Administration could be simpli- 
fied, duplication of work, apparatus, books 
and supplies could be avoided, and a closer 
correlation and a better spirit and more 
stimulus to scholarly work could be secured 
by the creation of larger departments based 
on close relationship of subject-matter. 

The staff of such large departments 
might number ten, twenty or more men. 
In the nature of things the organization 
within such a department is based upon 
the personal interest of each member of 
the staff in the success and welfare of the 
department, and its object should be to 
place the resources of the department in 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


the fullest degree at the command of the 
student and to facilitate research. These 
things can be secured only where there is 
harmony among the staff and where the 
ideas of the staff are carried out in the ad- 
ministration of the department. Harmony 
of ideals and executive representation can 
be secured only by the election both of new 
members of the staff and of the administra- 
tive head of the department. New members 
of staff should be nominated to the presi- 
dent by those who will be their colleagues 
and who are best able to judge of their fit- 
ness for their places. The president will 
of course actively share the responsibility 
of appointments. Promotions should be 
recommended by the chairman and ap- 
proved by a university committee on pro- 
motions. 

All important business should be done in 
staff meetings. The chairman should ad- 
minister department affairs according to 
the decisions and by the authority of the 
staff and should represent the staff in rela- 
tions with other departments. Within the 
department there should’ be the greatest 
practicable freedom of the individual in 
teaching and research, together with pub- 
licity of results. Subdivision of the field 
covered by the department, organization 
and assignment of work would be done in 
staff conference. Publicity regarding the 
number of elective students, percentage of 
students passed and failed, average grades 
given, research work accomplished, and so 
forth, would furnish opportunity for com- 
parison, friendly rivalry, self-criticism and 
improvement of the work of each teacher. 
The first step toward improvement of or- 
ganization of state universities would be 
the organization of department staffs to 
bear the responsibilities and to direct the 
work of the department through an elected 
chairman. The second step would be the 


SCIENCE 


915 


eradual combination of smaller into larger 
departments. 

The next important step would be the 
breaking down of the boundaries between 
colleges on the side of teaching and inves- 
tigation, making each student perfectly 
free to study where and what he will, sub- 
ject only to the regulations of departments 
and to the means of gaining his own ends. 
Some ‘present schools and colleges would 
take again their proper places as depart- 
ments, the others would be dissolved. 

So far as the present colleges serve a 
useful purpose their place would be taken 
by faculties for the supervision of pro- 
fessional and degree courses. Each such 
faculty should be made up of representa- 
tives of all departments which may offer 
work toward the given degree, such repre- 
sentatives to act under instructions from 
the staffs of their respective departments. 
These faculties should prescribe require- 
ments for entrance and for graduation but 
should have no control of finances or of ap- 
pointments. They should exercise only an 
advisory function in regard to the election 
of studies or the student’s use of his time. 
Any faculty might, if it was deemed advis- 
able, prescribe final examinations over the 
whole course of study, or the presentation 
of a thesis, and so forth. Thus we should 
have an A.B. faculty, an LL.B. faculty, an 
M.D. faculty, and so on, each safeguarding 
the traditions which surround its degree or 
the standards which should be upheld in 
the profession, but each giving full oppor- 
tunity to the various departments to place 
before the student new materials, methods 
and ideals; and giving to the student oppor- 
tunity to try his powers and extend his 
acquaintance beyond the usual limits laid 
down by the traditions of his degree or his 
chosen profession. This mode of organiza- 
tion would also make it as easy as possible 
for the student to change his course in case 


916 


he found that his choice of a profession was 
unsuited to his individual talents. 

In such an organization the university 
senate might have somewhat enlarged 
powers and more detailed duties. The ad- 
ministrative functions now exercised by the 
faculties and deans of colleges would in 
part vanish, in larger part be transferred 
to the several departmental staffs and in 
part devolve upon the senate either in the 
first instance or through reference from 
departments. The senate would continue 
to be a court of appeal in cases of dispute 
between faculties or departments. The 
establishment of new degrees or degree- 
courses would require action of the senate, 
and sweeping changes in any curriculum 
or the membership of any faculty should 
have the approval of the senate. For 
example, the university could not estab- 
lish a new school of naval architecture 
or of mental healing or of colonial 
administration each leading to its spe- 
cial degree, without the sanction of a 
body representing the whole university. 
Neither could the faculty of arts radically 
change the character of the course leading 
to the A.B. degree, either by the ingestion 
or the extrusion of a large group of depart- 
ments, without such action being subject to 
review by the university senate. More need 
not be said on this phase of the subject. It 
seems clear that with the greater freedom 
of action on the part of students and de- 
partments, with special faculties laying 
down regulations for the various degree- 
courses, with the elimination of rivalries 
and strife growing directly out of the or- 
ganization by colleges, the problems of in- 
ternal correlation and control would be 
ereatly simplified and could readily be 
cared for in a senate organized very much 
as ours is at present. 

Simplification in university work and 
administration is the erying need next to 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 991 


independence and responsibility of the 
members of the faculty. The endless red 
tape of business administration could be 
largely done away with by the logical ecom- 
pletion of the budget system. The budget 
having been made by the governing board, 
each department should be perfectly free 
to expend its own quota of funds by vote of 
its staff without supervision or approval of 
anybody—and should be held responsible 
for the results secured from year to year. 
Nobody can know so well how money should 
be expended as the staff who are to use 
the things purchased, no one knows so well 
where to get things or how to get them 
promptly when needed, none feels so di- 
rectly and keenly the effects of misuse of 
money, none will so carefully guard its 
resources as the department itself. The 
dangers of duplication will be set aside by 
the better correlation of departments al- 
ready suggested. In establishing common 
storerooms, purchasing agents and the like, 
the first and chief step should be to ask of 
the members of the staff throughout the 
university, how can the administration help 
you in your work through such agencies as 
these, instead of thinking how these agen- 
cies can remove from the departments 
the ultimate control of their work. Time 
and money may be wasted at a frightful 
rate through fear to place responsibility 
and confidence where they belong—a fear 
which is well-founded on our present system 
of irresponsible heads of departments. 
Simplification in the administration of 
teaching would be favored by the dissolu- 
tion of the colleges and the setting free of 
the elective system under a few simple regu- 
lations as to the combination of elementary 
and advanced courses and of major and 
cognate work which would be necessary for 
an academic degree, and as to the pre- 
seribed curriculum in a professional course. 
What is needed is fewer regulations and 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


better teaching; fewer snap courses, fewer 
substitutions and special dispensations ; less 
care for the poor student and more food for 
the good student; less interest in sending 
forth graduates and more measuring up of 
students against standards of honesty, in- 
dustry and self-judgment. 

Finally, the presidency. Shall the presi- 
dent be elected by the faculty? Shall his 
actions be subject to review by the senate? 
Shall he have a veto power over the senate? 
Shall his duties be limited to those of a 
gentleman, orator and representative of uni- 
versity culture, or to those of the business 
agent andmanager? The discussion of these 
questions seems to the writer to be of minor 
importance. With such a governing board 
and such an internal organization as has 
been briefly outlined, it can scarcely be 
doubted that the president will be represen- 
tative of his faculty or that he could secure 
intelligent action from the board. Nor 
would it be difficult for the president to be 
a leader in whatever ways he was fitted for 
leadership or in whatever matters leader- 
ship was required. It seems to me that the 
presidency should be controlled by un- 
written rather than by written laws. What 
is essential is that the university have a 
strong executive; strong in the discovery 
and application of right principles, strong 
in his reliance upon the consent and the 
support of the governed and strong in the 
execution of their ideals. The remedy for 
our evils is not to object to a strong execu- 
tive, but to remove the necessity for an arbi- 
trary executive; not to cry out for anarchy, 
but to introduce self-government. 

Allow me to recapitulate. Our univer- 
sities are laboring under a bureaucratic 
form of government in which the initiative 
rests chiefly with the heads of departments, 
in which there is a constant struggle for 
power among the bureau heads, in which 
these same heads are the chief source of in- 


SCIENCE 


917 


formation and advice to the executive, in 
which most of the faculty have no voice in 
framing policies, and in which—at its 
worst—the student is concerned only to be 
counted and the public only to be milked. 
The extreme of degradation is reached 
when research is wholly neglected and 
teaching is regarded as only the excuse 
for material aggrandizement. The bad 
state of affairs which we see every now 
and then in this or that department or 
college in all our universities can not be re- 
garded as the free choice of any average 
group of men. I can not conceive of any 
of these things being voted by members of 
a staff. These conditions are the result of 
the arbitrary power placed in the hands of 
single men without check or publicity. 
Such a system always breeds dishonesty 
and crime. The remedy is to recognize the 
primary interest of every member of the 
staff and to establish representative govern- 
ment in the university. On the whole and 
in the long run the combined judgment of 
the members of the staff of any department 
is sure to be better than that of any indi- 
vidual. Self-government stimulates indi- 
vidual initiative and calls forth ideas for 
the common good. The enjoyment of 
freedom and responsibility will make of 
our faculty morally strong and practically 
efficient men, and will call into the profes- 
sion capable men, men robust in intellect 
and imagination, instead of the weaklings 
who now barter their souls for shelter from 
the perils of a competitive business world. 
It may be true in a legal sense that the 
state through the board of regents now 
hires the members of the university faculty. 
But men to do university work can not be 
hired. Those of the faculties who now do 
university work do it not because they are 
paid living wages, but because they love the 
work. It has been one of the great fallacies 
of human history to suppose that workmen 


918 SCIENCE 


ean be hired. When you hire or enslave a 
man you secure only mechanical service. 
The world’s work can not be done by hired 
muscle alone, but requires personal interest, 
moral character and entire manhood. 
Slaves survive in their pyramids, their 
temples and their papyri, where their mas- 
ters have perished. The successful and pro- 
gressive civilizations of to-day are founded 
on the freedom and self-satisfaction of the 
individual. The most acute problems of 
modern society arise out of the hiring of 
men to do work which they would much 
prefer to do for themselves and would do 
better for themselves. These things bear 
their lessons for universities, if we will 
heed them. Freedom of speech and com- 
plete self-government are necessary to the 
best interests of a university. A whole 
staff is together more capable than any 
one man. Suppression of staff members 
who speak without authority of the head is 
the suppression of truth and initiative. It 
has resulted and must result in the selection 
of weak men for the faculty and in narrow- 
ness, bigotry and provincialism in the insti- 
tution. Self-government will draw strong 
men into the faculty, will stimulate initia- 
tive, will make possible and encourage pro- 
eressive administration, and will bring to 
mental endeavor on the part of both stu- 
dent and teacher the freshness of the morn- 
ing air, the pursuit of a goal of one’s own 
choosing, and satisfaction in the achieve- 
ment of one’s ideals. 


J. B. JOHNSTON 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 


THE FUR-SEAL CENSUS FOR 1913 


In the summer of 1912, for the first time, a 
complete enumeration of the breeding stock of 
the fur-seal herd of the Pribilof Islands was 
made. Prior to that season estimates of the 
herd were based upon a full count of harems, 
to which an average harem, obtained by count- 
ing individual animals upon a part of the 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 991 


breeding ground, was applied. The rookeries 
counted were naturally the smaller and more 
scattered ones and the average harem derived 
from them did not fairly represent the larger 
rookeries. The importance of the annual 
estimates, however, lay in the measure of de- 
cline which they afforded, and for this pur- 
pose they were as useful as exact counts would 
have been. 

The treaty of July 7, 1911, suspended 
pelagic sealing, the cause of the herd’s de- 
cline, and it was natural to expect a cessation 
of decline and the beginning of growth toward 
recovery. The exact condition of the breeding 
stock at its lowest point became, therefore, in 
1912, a consideration of the greatest impor- 
tance. A count of all the breeding families, 
which was in effect a count of the breeding 
males, was easily made, but the females come 
and go in the sea and are never all on the land 
at one time. They furthermore could not be 
counted accurately, if they were all present, as 
they can not be herded or driven. Their direct 
enumeration, therefore, is an impracticable 
thing. The young pups, however, are timid 
of the water during the first month or six 
weeks of their lives and do not go into it. 
After the breeding season is over, that is, early 
in August, the mothers can be driven off and 
the young herded and handled like sheep. As 
each pup represents a mother, the problem 
became merely one of counting all the pups. 
This was accomplished and an account of the 
work for 1912 was given in the December 27 
issue of SCIENCE. 

As the census of 1912 was important to give 
exact information regarding the breeding stock 
at its lowest point, so a repetition of this 
census in 1913 became important to establish 
a measure of increase or expansion in this 
breeding stock. The total number of pups 
found in 1912 was 81,984. For the season of 
1913 the total was 92,269, a gain of 124 per 
cent. The normal annual gain of the herd 
arises from the accession of young three-year- 
old females coming upon the rookeries each 
season to bear their first pups. The theoretical 
rate of gain, as deduced from the quota of 
three-year-old males, taken in recent years, 


—— 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


should be about 25 per cent. The breeding life 
of the female is about 10 years. Approxi- 
mately 10 per cent. of the adult stock of 
females disappear in each winter migration 
through natural termination of life, and the 
net gain of the herd should be about 15 per 
cent. That the gain of 1912 is 123 per cent. 
instead of 15 is explained by the fact that the 
increment of three-year-old females for the 
past season was derived from the birthrate of 
1910, when pelagic sealing was still in opera- 
tion and pups in considerable numbers died 
unborn with their mothers or starved to death 
on the rookeries later because of the death of 
their mothers. In short the season of 1913 
has not been quite normal. The season of 1914 
should show normal conditions because its 
increment of gain will come from the birth- 
rate of 1911, the first season under exemption 
from pelagic sealing. If the count of pups is 
repeated for that season, the normal rate of 
gain will be established. 

All elements in the 
not be measured by counts. The bachelor 
seals of four years and under, and the 
young females of two years and under, 
come and go from the sea in an irregular 
fashion which makes counting impossible. A 
basis of reasonably accurate estimate for these 
classes of animals, however, rests in the data 
arising from the quota of killable seals, and 
counts of animals rejected at the killings as 
too small or too large. Utilizing this form of 
estimate to supplement the counts of bulls, 
cows and pups, the appended completed census 
of the fur-seal herd is obtained, the figures for 
both 1912 and 1913 being given for purposes 
of comparison. 

The stock of breeding and reserve bulls in 
1913 shows an increase adequate to meet the 
needs of the expanding herd. The relation of 
the two sexes on the breeding grounds has in 
this season been more nearly ideal than at any 
time in the past 17 years. Could present con- 
ditions remain undisturbed, accurate informa- 
tion regarding the herd’s future condition 
would be certain. Unfortunately this is not 
to be. The suspension of land killing, incor- 
porated in the law of August 24, 1912, will 


fur-seal census can 


SCIENCE 


919 


break the present equilibrium and throw all 
factors of the problem into new confusion, by 
swamping the breeding grounds with an over- 
stock of idle bulls. The real effect of the sus- 
pension is not at present visible, except in that 
the hauling grounds were in 1913 filled with 
superfluous young males, the killing of which 
was prevented by law. Ten thousand of these 


FUR SEAL CENSUS 


Class of Animals Baslsiof 1912 1913 
Enumeration 
Breeding bulls Count 1,358) 1,403 
Breeding cows Count 81,984] 92,269 
Reserve bulls—young | Count 199 259 
Reserve bulls—adult | Count 113 105 
Pups Count 81,984] 92,269 
Bachelors—4-year-olds | Count and 100) 2,000 
estimate 
Bachelors—3-year-olds | Count and} 2,000} 10,000 
estimate 
Bachelors—2-year-olds | Count and} 11,000} 15,000 
estimate 
Bachelors—l-year-olds | Estimate | 13,000) 20,000 
voung cows—2-year- | Estimate 11,000} 15,000 
olds 
Young cows—l-year- | Estimate 13,000} 20,000 
olds 
Totals | 215,788 | 268,305 


animals (with skins worth $350,000 to $400,- 
000), were left to grow up as useless fighting 
bulls, and this condition is to be multiplied 
through four more seasons. Its consequences 
ten years hence will prove a veritable calamity 
to the herd. 

Leaving aside this discouraging feature of 
the situation, however, it is a source of genuine 
gratification that the suspension of pelagic 
sealing, accomplished by the treaty of 1911, 
has been so immediate and salutary in its 
effect. Not merely has the decline on the 
Pribilof Island rookeries—persistent through 
30 years—been stayed, but the breeding herd 
has taken on arapid growth. Its initial stock of 
92,000 breeding females makes a splendid 
nucleus and will compound at an annual rate 
of 15 per cent. 

GrorGE ARCHIBALD CLARK 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CAL., 

November 29, 1913 


920 


EDWIN KLEBS (1834-1913) 


Wirn the death of Edwin Klebs at Bern, 
Switzerland, on October 25, 1918, there passed 
away the last of the great pioneers of the bac- 
terial theory of infection, a pupil of Virchow, 
a contemporary of Pasteur and, in a very defi- 
nite sense, the inspirer of Koch. JBorn at 
Konigsberg in 1834, Klebs was an East Prus- 
sian and the peculiar effect of his character 
upon his work, a certain discontinuity in the 
latter, was due to the Slavic element in his 
composition. He was a peripatetic all his 
life and, after serving as Virchow’s assistant 
at Berlin (1861-66), he was successively pro- 
fessor of pathology at Bern (1866), Wiirtzburg 
(1872), Prague (1873), Zurich (1882) and 
Chicago (Rush Medical College, 1896), after 
which he lived in retirement at Dortmund and 
Bern. During all this time he was a promi- 
nent worker in all branches of pathology and 
in the truest sense a precursor in the bacterial 
theory of disease. Indeed, his greatest service 
to medicine was, perhaps, the important influ- 
ence he exerted upon the pathologists of his 
time, leading them away from the solidist 
theories of Virchow and winning them over to 
the view that post-mortem findings are only 
end results and that infectious diseases are 
caused by microorganisms and their chemical 
products. Koch himself admitted, in a private 
letter, that he owed much to Klebs, who had 
been the actual path-breaker in many of the 
new fields followed by the younger men. Up 
to 1876, Klebs was the leading protagonist of 
the modern theory of specific infections 
(Pasteur did not begin to work in anthrax 
until about 1880), and, by actual priority of 
publication, he preceded Koch in the study of 
bacterial wound infections (1871) and in the 
technique of growing bacterial cultures in 
special media (hens’ eggs in the first instance). 
During his Wiirzburg period, his idea of ob- 
taining pure cultures of pathogenic micro- 
organisms was actually laughed at as an idle 
dream. Long before Pasteur and Joubert, he 
showed that the blood of anthrax is not patho- 
genic after filtration (1871); in other words 
that the virus of the disease is non-filterable. 
From this idea, it was but a step for Loeffler to 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


reason and to prove that diseases may be 
caused by “ filterable viruses” (1898). Klebs 
saw the typhoid bacillus before Eberth (1881), 
the diphtheria bacillus before Loeffler (1883), 
investigated the tubercle bacilli of cold-blooded 
animals and their therapeutic possibilities be- 
fore Friedmann (1900), inoculated monkeys 
with syphilis before Metchnikoff (1878), first 
investigated the bacteriology of gun-shot 
wounds (1872), first produced bovine infection 
of Perlsucht by feeding with milk (1873), first 
investigated the infectious nature of endo- 
carditis (1878), and made the first exhaustive 
study of acromegaly (1884). Meanwhile, his 
two pathological treatises of 1869-76 and 
1887-89 were acknowledged masterpieces in 
the older field of descriptive or morphological 
pathology, of which he was the leading expo- 
nent after Rokitansky and Virchow and in 
which Chiari is one of the few surviving work- 
ers. Klebs’s definite abandonment of the solid- 
ist or “end result” pathology dates from his 
discourses of 1878 and 1882, which are defi- 
nitely contra-Virchow, although nothing could 
be more courteous and reasonable than his 
attitude in joining issue with his old teacher 
and friend. In bringing the weak-kneed over 
to the modern view, his propagandism was of 
the broadest and most impersonal character. 
After 1876-8, Klebs’s work was definitely over- 
shadowed by Koch’s great papers on anthrax 
and the traumatic infectious diseases, and his 
influence began to wane. Jt may be asked, 
why did this remarkable man not reap the 
fruits of his brilliant labors? Why is he not 
better known to-day? Some may find the an- 
swer in Lord Woolsey’s dictum that “he alone 
is a good general who follows up his victories.” 
But this reproach can not entirely be cast up 
to Klebs. His work was constantly inter- 
rupted by such occurrences as the revolution in 
Prague and the intrigues and internecine 
wrangles which sometimes go on among uni- 
versity professors. His temperament was rest- 
less, sensitive, impulsive and combative, and, 
being wrapped up in the original ideas which 
were always coming to him, he had a tendency 
to leave work of an important character to his 
assistants, which was not to his advantage. 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


Some of his ideas about infection, e. g., his 
“bacillus malariz,” his “ microzoon septicum ” 
(wound infections), his “ monadines” (rheu- 
matic affections), turned out to be wrong, and 
where he struck into some good lead, as in 
diphtheria or typhoid, he was perhaps for this 
very reason little inclined to follow it up. 
Yet, all in all, Klebs was one of the most orig- 
inal spirits in modern medicine, a man who 
paid dearly for his unshakable confidence in 
humanity and his tendency to fight in the 
open, an opponent who soon forgot differences 
with his fellows and never cherished ill-will. 
He will remain where Osler has placed him as 
a great pioneer. He had a prophetic vision 
into the future and a fine historic sense, look- 
ing, as Wordsworth said of the poet, “before 
and after.” His discourse on the history of 
medicine, delivered at Bern in 1868, may be 
likened to the little book of Stopford Brooke 
on Engish literature, as being the most de- 
lightful primer of the subject (as dissociated 
from surgery and the specialties) ever written. 
It deserves to be translated. Klebs was a 
founder and co-editor of the Correspondenz- 
blatt fiir schweizerische Aerzte (1871), the 
Prager medicinische Wochenschrift (1876), 
and he was, with Naunyn and Buchheim, a 
founder and for many years co-editor of the 
important Archiv fiir experimentelle Pathol- 
ogie und Pharmakologie (1872). Naunyn, the 
distinguished clinician of Strassburg, who was 
Klebs’s colleague at Bern, refers to him in the 
following terms: 


Ein langes Leben reich an Arbeit und an Un- 
ruhe. Wie er es sich selbst geschaffen, so hat er 
es hingenommen, ohne sich beugen zu lassen, ein 
aufrechter Mann bis an seinen Tod. Uns, seinen 
Freunden aus alter Zeit, sind sein offener Sinn, 
sein sprihender, anregender Geist, sein warmes 
Herz eine liebe, dankbare Erinnerung. 


F. H. Garrison 


ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
THE annual meeting of the Physical Society 
will be held in Atlanta, Ga., December 29- 
January 3, the society meeting in joint session 
with Section B of the American Association 


SCIENCE 


921 


for the Advancement of Science. The place 
of meeting will probably be the Georgia School 
of Technology. The program of ordinary 
technical papers will be in charge of the Phys- 
ical Society, but two, or perhaps three, sessions 
will be in charge of Section B. These will be 
devoted to papers of general scientific interest, 
relating especially to some of the larger prob- 
lems of geophysics. The program of the meet- 
ing will include the address of the president 
of the Physical Society, Professor B. O. 
Peirce, and that of the retiring vice-president 
of Section B, Professor A. G. Webster. 


M. Paut Or tet, of Brussels, sécretaire de la 
Union des Congréses Internationales, who rep- 
resented the Union at the Dundee meeting of 
the British Association for the Advancement 
of Science, will be present at the Atlanta meet- 
ing of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science and will address the as- 
sociation on the subject of the international 
organization of scientific activities. 


Tue meeting of the Paleontological Society 
at Princeton will include a symposium on 
“The Close of the Cretaceous and Opening of 
Eocene in North America” with an introduc- 
tion by Professor H. F. Osborn and Messrs. 
F. H. Knowlton, T, W. Stanton, W. J. Sin- 
clair and Barnum Brown leading the dis- 
cussion. 


For the Australian meeting of the British 
Association in August next year, under the 
presidency of Professor W. Bateson, F.R.S., 
the following presidents of sections have been 
appointed: 

Section A (Mathematics and Physics), Professor 

F. T. Trouton. 

Section B (Chemistry), Professor W. J. Pope. 

Section C (Geology), Sir T. H. Holland. 

Section D (Zoology), Professor A. Dendy. 

Section E (Geography), Sir C. P. Lucas. 

Section F (Economics), Professor E. C. K. Gon- 
ner. 

Section G (Engineering), Professor E. G. Coker. 

Section H (Anthropology), Sir Everard im Thurn. 

Section I (Physiology), Professor C. J. Martin. 

Section K (Botany), Professor F. O. Bower. 

Section L (Educational Science), Professor J. 

Perry. 

Section M (Agriculture), Mr. A. D. Hall. 


922 


Art the annual meeting of the New York 
Academy of Sciences on December 15, Dr. 
George F. Kunz was elected president. Vice- 
presidents for the sections were elected as fol- 
lows: Professor Charles P. Berkey, Professor 
Raymond ©. Osburn, Professor Charles 
Baskerville and Dr. Clark Wissler. 


Dr. R. R. Gates has been awarded the 
Huxley gold medal and prize for research in 
biology at the Royal College of Science, 
London. 

THE special board for biology and geology 
at Cambridge University has adjudged the 
Walsingham medal for 1913 to Mr. Franklin 
Kidd, B.A., fellow of St. John’s, for his essay 
entitled “On the Action of Carbon Dioxide in 
the Moist Seed in Maturing, Resting, and 
Germinating Conditions.” 

Mr. H. S. Jones, B.A., now one of the chief 
assistants at the Royal Observatory, Green- 
wich, has been elected to a fellowship at Jesus 
College, Cambridge. 


Dr. W. Dawson Jounston has resigned the 
librarianship of Columbia University to be- 
come librarian of the St. Paul Public Library. 


Proressor A. W. WuitnNey, of the Univer- 
sity of California, has resigned to accept a 
position in the state board of insurance. 


Proressor CHARLES RicHMoND HENDERSON, 
head of the department of practical sociology 
in the University of Chicago, has been made 
chairman of the educational committee on 
Chicago philanthropy, which was recently 
organized to keep the public informed of the 
needs of the city’s poor. 


Proressor Crara A. Briss, of the depart- 
ment of chemistry of Wells College, has been 
granted leave of absence for the year, and Miss 
Minnie A. Graham, formerly professor of 
chemistry at Lake Erie College, is substituting 
for her as‘ head of the department. 


Tur magnetic survey vessel, Carnegie, has 
returned to Brooklyn, thus completing the cir- 
cumnavigation cruise begun in June, 1910, 
and covering a distance of over 70,000 miles. 
The vessel has been throughout under the com- 
mand of W. J. Peters, and her work has been 
to determine the magnetic elements at sea in 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XVIII. No. 991 


fulfillment of the plan of a general magnetic 
survey of the globe under the direction of the 
department of terrestrial magnetism of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. 


A MAGNETIC expedition covering a greater 
part of the District of Patricia, Canada, was 
undertaken this summer by the department of 
terrestrial magnetism and brought to a suc- 
cessful conclusion under the charge of Dr. H. 
M. W. Edmonds, assisted by Observer D. M. 
Wise. A particularly interesting and im- 
portant feature of this field work was the 
proximity of the line of observations to the 
supposed region of maximum total intensity 
first disclosed by Lefroy in 1845. The party 
left Washington May 16, 1913, and returned 
at the end of October. The main part of the 
work comprised the canoe route of approxi- 
mately 2,000 miles, of which over 500 miles 
was over an unsheltered open coast along 
Hudson Bay and James Bay from Fort Severn 
to Fort Albany. Complete magnetic observa- 
tions were secured at 38 different points. 

Tue annual lecture before the Carnegie In- 
stitution of Washington was given on Decem- 
ber 16, in the assembly room of the Adminis- 
tration Building on “ Measurement of En- 
vironie Components and Their Biologic 
Effects ” by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, director of 
the Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona. 


Tue department of anthropology of the 
American Museum of Natural History, New 
York City, offers a course of four lectures deal- 
ing with the social and religious customs and 
beliefs of primitive peoples. On January 8 
and 15, Dr. Robert H. Lowie will lecture on 
“Social Organization,” and on January 22 
and 29 Dr. Pliny E. Goddard will lecture on 
“Religious Observances” and “ Religious 
Beliefs.” 

Proressor W. W. Atwoop, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, presented on November 29 to the 
Chaos Club, an organization composed of the 
members of the science faculties of the Uni- 
versities of Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern . 
and Chicago, an account of his recent dis- 
covery of glacial material of Eocene age in 
the San Juan Mountains of southwestern 
Colorado. This Eocene till is the only evi- 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


dence that has thus far been found in the 
world of a glacial period at that time in the 
history of the earth. 

“Tue Strength and Weakness of Social- 
ism” was the subject of an address by Pro- 
fessor Albion W. Small, head of the depart- 
ment of sociology and anthropology in the 
University of Chicago, delivered on December 
23 in the Fine Arts Theater, Chicago, under 
the auspices of the University Lecture Asso- 
ciation. On January 6, Professor James R. 
Angell, head of the department of psychology, 
will speak in the same place on the subject 
“ Practical Applications of Psychology.” 

Tue family of the late Dr. Alfred Russel 
Wallace having invited Mr. James Marchant, 
of Lochnagar, Edenbridge, Kent, to arrange 
and edit a volume of letters and reminiscences, 
those who have letters or reminiscences are re- 
quested to send them to him. The letters 
would be safely and promptly returned. 


THE twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institut 
Pasteur was celebrated November 13. Speeches 
were made by the president of the republic 
and Dr. Roux, director of the institute. 


Tue descendants of Priestly, the discoverer 
of oxygen, have presented to the University of 
Pennsylvania the chemical balance which was 
used by him in his experiments. 


At the fifth International Congress of 
Mathematicians, held at Cambridge, it was 
decided that the sixth congress should meet at 
Stockholm in 1916. The king of Sweden, who 
has bestowed his patronage upon the congress, 
has decided to honor, by means of a gold medal 
with the likeness of Karl Weierstrass and by a 
sum of 3,000 crowns (about $825) some im- 
portant discovery in the domain of the theory 
of analytical functions. Those who wish to 
compete must send their manuscripts to the 
chief editor of the Acta Mathematica before 
October 31, 1915, the centenary of the birth of 
Karl Weierstrass. 


THE council of the British Association, act- 
ing under authority of the general committee, 
has made the following grants out of the gift 
of £10,000 made to the association for scientific 
purposes by Sir J. K. Caird at the Dundee 


SCIENCE 


923 


meeting of the association last year. (1) £500 
to the committee on radiotelegraphic investi- 
gations. (2) An annual grant of £100 to the 
committee on seismological investigations, 
which is carrying on the work of the late Pro- 
fessor John Milne. (3) An annual grant of 
£100 to the committee appointed to select and 
assist investigators to carry on work at the 
zoological station at Naples. (4) £250 towards 
the cost of the magnetic re-survey of the Brit- 
ish Isles, which has been undertaken by the 
Royal Society and the British Association in 
collaboration. 


Unper the auspices of the international 
commission a congress on the teaching of 
mathematics will be held at Paris, April 1-5, 
1914, in the halls of the Sorbonne. The chief 
subjects of discussion will be the introduction 
of the first notions of the calculus and of prim- 
itive functions in the secondary schools, and 
the teaching of mathematics to engineering 
students. 


AN international conference met in Paris on 
December 10 to discuss the question of a map 
of the world on a millionth scale. General 
Laffon de Ladebat, who is director of the geo- 
graphical service of the French army, wel- 
comed the delegates of the thirty-two countries 
represented on behalf of the government, and 
Colonel Close, the chief English delegate, re- 
plied. The first conference was held in 1909 
in London, and since then specimen sections 
of the map have been prepared. These were 
produced for inspection. The scale proposed 
is equal to 15 miles to the inch. 


Tue International Electrical Congress is to 
be held at San Francisco from September 13 to 
18, 1915, under the auspices of the American 
Institute of Electrical Engineers by authority 
of the International Electrochemical Commis- 
sion, and during the Panama-Pacifie Interna- 
tional Exposition. Dr. C. P. Steinmetz has 
accepted the honorary presidency of the con- 
gress. The deliberations of the congress will 
be divided among twelve sections which will 
deal exclusively with electricity and electrical 
practise. There will probably be about 250 
papers. The first membership invitations will 


924 


be issued in February or March, 1914. Atten- 
tion is drawn to the distinction between this 
Electical Congress and the International Engi- 
neering Congress which will be held at San 
Francisco during the week immediately follow- 
ing the electrical congress. The engineering 
congress is supported by the societies of Civil, 
Mechanical and Marine Engineers and by the 
institutes of Mining and Electrical Engineers, 
as well as by prominent Pacific Coast engi- 
neers who are actively engaged in organizing 
it. This congress will deal with engineering 
in a general sense, electrical engineering sub- 
jects being limited to one of the eleven sec- 
tions which will include about twelve papers, 
treating more particularly applications of 
electricity in engineering work. The meeting 
of the International Electrotechnical Commis- 
sion will be held during the week preceding 
that of the Electrical Congress. 


Tue third volume of the “ Annual Tables of 
Constants and Numerical Data, Chemical, 
Physical and Technological,” published by the 
International Commission of the Seventh and 
Eighth International Congresses of Applied 
Chemistry is now in press and will be issued 
in the first half of 1914. A descriptive circular 
with references to reviews of previous volumes 
may be secured on application to the Univer- 
sity of Chicago Press. The commissioners for 
the United States are: Julius Stieglitz, the 
University of Chicago; Edward OC. Franklin, 
Leland Stanford University; Henry OC. Gale, 
the University of Chicago, and Albert P. 
Mathews, the University of Chicago. 

Becrnnine with January, 1914, the Ameri- 
can Breeders’ Association will be known as the 
American Genetic Association. At the same 
time (starting with Vol. V., No. 1) The Amer- 
ican Breeders’ Magazine will be enlarged in 
size and called The Journal of Heredity. The 
cooperative nature of the association will re- 
main unchanged, and the present scope and 
character of the magazine will be maintained, 
but its quality will be still further improved. 

A BacTERIOLoGICAL club has recently been 
organized at the University of Illinois with a 
membership of fifteen. The organization held 
its first meeting on Monday evening, Decem- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XXXVIITI. No. 991 


ber 8, at which an address was given by Dr. 
Thomas J. Burrill who reviewed the history 
of bacteriological research. Membership in 
this club is open both to faculty and to gradu- 
ate students. Earlier in the year a similar 
society was organized for the purpose of study- 
ing botanical subjects. 

Tue National Physical Laboratory, Ted- 
dington, is in possession of the British radium 
standard, which has been certified by the In- 
ternational Radium Standards Committee 
after comparison with the international 
radium standard now deposited at the Bureau 
International at Sévres. The laboratory is 
prepared to determine the contents of radium 
and mesothorium preparations by comparison 
with the standard. 

Wirnin the last month the University of 
Arizona has installed a Callendar pyrheliom- 
eter with a Leeds and Northrup recording gal- 
vanometer. This type of pyrheliometer con- 
sists of a horizontal surface, measuring the 
vertical component of sky radiation. This 
surface is made up of two platinum resist- 
ance circuits, one blackened, the other bright, 
mounted in a vacuum. These two circuits 
form two sides of a Wheatstone bridge, the 
resistance necessary to balance the bridge 
being recorded on the sheet. The recording 
galvanometer has five ranges, one adjusted to 
this pyrheliometer and the others to various 
forms of resistance thermometers. The in- 
struments were purchased on the income of a 
fund presented by Dr. James Douglas, of 
New York. For standardizing the records, the 
university has also a Smithsonian silver disk 
pyrheliometer. It is designed thus to have a 
permanent record of sky radiation, not only 
for the purpose of getting data regarding solar 
energy in that dry and exceptionally clear 
climate but also for checking any suspected 
large variations in the solar constant. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Aw addition to the resources of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago is the completion of the 
addition to the Ryerson Physical Laboratory, 
and the reconstruction of the other part of 
that building. This work increases the re- 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


sources of the laboratory for research at least 
threefold. The cost of the addition and re- 
construction was about $200,000, and was the 
gift of the president of the university board 
of trustees, Mr. Martin A. Ryerson. 


Four distinct building projects are going 
forward at the Carnegie Institute of Technol- 
ogy, involving an expenditure of approxi- 
mately $750,000. The concrete foundations 
are now ready for the steel work in the central 
building and on the new wing for the Mar- 
garet Morrison Carnegie School for Women. 
The former is to be occupied by the general 
executive offices and a students’ union. Ma- 
chinery Hall, to house the electrical and me- 
chanical engineering departments, is nearing 
completion. The high tower, the last piece of 
work to be done on this structure, will be 
finished within another month. The front sec- 
tion of the school of design building, includ- 
ing the auditorium, the exhibition rooms and 
the sculpture work on the exterior, is also still 
under construction. The following new ap- 
pointments to the faculty of the school of ap- 
plied science were made this year: Thomas G. 
Estep, instructor in mechanical engineering; 
Charles R. Fettke, instructor in geology; S. 
Leslie Miller, instructor in civil engineering; 
Andrew S. Yount, instructor in physical 
chemistry; Charles P. Mills, instructor in 
mathematics, and Donald H. Sweet, instructor 
in physics laboratory. 


Tue trustees of Barnard College, Columbia 
University, announce that Mrs. Clinton 
Ogilvie has promised to contribute $10,000 
toward $1,000,000 now being raised for en- 
dowment. 


Four thousand dollars to the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology for a scholarship pre- 
ferably to aid Jewish students is a bequest of 
the late Louis Weissbein, the Boston architect. 


Tur late Dr. Gavin Paterson Tennent, of 
Glasgow, by his will bequeathed his entire for- 
tune in medical charity. To the University 
of Glasgow he left £25,000, as endowment for 
the faculty of medicine. 


Tuer committee in charge of the Sarah Ber- 
liner Research Fellowship for Women offers 


SCIENCE 


925 


annually a fellowship of the value of one thou- 
sand dollars, available for study and research 
in physics, chemistry or biology, in either 
America or Europe. This fellowship is open 
to women holding the degree of doctor of phi- 
losophy, or to those similarly equipped for the 
work of further research; applications for this 
fellowship must be in the hands of the chair- 
man of the committee, Mrs. Christine Ladd- 
Franklin, 527 Cathedral Parkway, New York, 
by the first of January of each year. 


Proressor Ernest Merrirr, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, has resigned as dean of the graduate 
school, the resignation to take effect in June, 
1914. Professor Merritt will remain at Cor- 
nell, and will devote all his time hereafter to 
the work of the department of physics. 


Tue following promotions have been made 
in the College of the City of New York: Fred- 
erick G. Reynolds to associate professor of 
mathematics. To be assistant professor: R. 
Stevenson in chemistry; M. Philip in mathe- 
maties; A. J. Goldfarb and G. G. Scott in 
natural history. To be instructor: G. M. 
Brett in mathematics; F. Woll in physical in- 
struction. 


Tue following appointments have been 
made in the school of medicine, University of 
Pittsburgh: Dr. J. A. Hagemann, instructor 
in laryngology; Dr. F. V. Lichtenfels, demon- 
strator in laryngology; Dr. August Soffel, in- 
structor in laryngology; Dr. A. P. D’zmura, 
demonstrator in medicine; Dr. G. C. Weil, 
demonstrator in surgery; Dr. E. W. zur Horst, 
demonstrator in medicine; Dr. A. W. Duff, 
demonstrator in otology; Dr. H. H. Permar, 
demonstrator in pathology; Mr. H. N. Malone, 
student assistant in anatomy. Dr. Ellen J. 
Patterson has been promoted from assistant 
professor of laryngology to associate professor. 


Dr. H. M. Surrrer, recently instructor in 
mathematics in Cornell University, has been 
appointed instructor in philosophy in the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota. 


Dr. Gwitym Owen, lecturer on physics at 
Liverpool University, has been appointed pro- 
fessor of physics at Auckland University Col- 
lege, New Zealand. 


926 


Proressor Roemer, of Marburg, has been 
called to Greifswald to conduct the hygienic 
institute as the successor of Professor Loeffler. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
A NEW TYPE OF BACTERIAL DISEASE 


By this title I mean a disease in which the 
bacterial growth first develops conspicuously as 
a thick layer on the surface of the plant, and 
only later penetrates into its interior. 

Rathay’s disease of orchard grass (Dactylis 
glomerata) described by him in 1899 may be 
taken as the type of this kind of disease. In 
1913 I had opportunity to verify Rathay’s 
statements! on material sent to me from Den- 
mark by Professor K¢lpin Ravn, and to make 
pure cultures and further studies of the organ- 
ism which in honor of Rathay, may be known 
as Aplanobacter rathayi n. sp., with the char- 
acters assigned to it by Rathay, and in addi- 
tion the following: 

Nitrates are not reduced; gelatin is finally 
liquefied, but liquefaction is visible only after 

‘ some weeks and progresses very slowly; it does 
not grow in Cohn’s solution; growth starts off 
slowly in milk, but is prolonged with forma- 
tion of a copious chrome yellow precipitate 
and a wide bright yellow rim; litmus milk is 
first slowly blued, but becomes purplish after 
some weeks; it grows so slowly on agar that 
poured plates which appear to be sterile may 
eventually give small yellow colonies. Nearly 
all of Rathay’s statements have been found to 
be correct. This note is here published be- 
cause of delay in the issue of a longer account. 


Erwin F. Siru 


THE MANUS OF TRACHODONT DINOSAURS 


In a recent article in The Ottawa Naturalist, 
Mr. Lawrence M. Lambe has described “ The 
Manus in a Specimen of V’rachodon from the 
Edmonton of Alberta,” illustrated by three 
figures. According to Mr. Lambe’s interpreta- 
tion of the Ottawa skeleton the phalangeal 
formula is as follows: 

1 Sitz. Ber. Wiener Akad., 1 Abt., Bd. CVIIL., 
p. 597. 

1 Vol. XXVII., pp. 21-25, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 
Digit II. with three phalanges, the third bearing 
a hoof. 
Digit III. with three phalanges, the third bearing: 
a hoof. 
Digit IV. with two phalanges, the second bearing 
a hoof. 
Digit V. with two phalanges, the second bearing 
a hoof. 


Whereas in a specimen that I have described’ 
the formula is 


Digit II. with three phalanges, the third bearing 
a hoof. 

Digit III. with three phalanges, the third bearing 
a hoof. 

Digit IV. with three phalanges, the third a vesti- 
gial bone without hoof. 

Digit V. with three phalanges, the third a vesti- 
gial bone without hoof. 


The writer published a description of the 
manus of T’rachodon annectens,? based on the 
first reported specimen in which all of the 
phalanges are present. In this specimen the 
full number of phalanges are not only present 
but each digit is articulated either in the right 
or the left hand and all are encased in a thin 
layer of matrix in which the skin impression 
is preserved. 

In this unerushed specimen the long slender 
metacarpals of digits II., III., and IV. are 
closely appressed as represented in the figure. 
accompanying the above article, a position veri- 
fied by structure and by position in three other 
uncrushed specimens in the American Mu- 
seum, one in the National Museum, and a sixth 
in the collection of the Calgary Natural His- 
tory Society. 

In no specimen of the genus Trachodon 
known to me have more than two hoof bones. 
been found in the manus—those of digits IT. 
and III. The terminal phalanges of digits. 
IV. and V. are, when uncrushed, rounded bony 
nodules, very much reduced and were not 
covered by a hoof or nail. 

If Mr. Lambe’s interpretation is correct we 
have a remarkable specific variation in this 
genus in which a later species, described by me, 
has developed an additional phalanx on each 


2 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXXI., Art. 
X., pp. 105-107, 1912. 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


of the two degenerate digits. But I think the 
evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to war- 
rant his interpretation. The skeleton which I 
have examined is more than two thirds com- 
plete, much crushed, and but few of the 
phalanges are articulated. It seems quite pos- 
sible to interpret the phalangeal formula in 
conformity with other Trachodont skeletons in 
which the phalanges, being not only fully 
articulated but enclosed within the web of the 
skin, are not open to any possibility of error. 

In Plate II. showing what Mr. Lambe con- 
siders the natural position of the elements the 
terminal hoof of IV. is evidently II.? and V.? 
is not a terminal as I have determined by 
examination. 

Barnum Brown 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 
November 20, 1913 


AGRO-DOGMATOLOGY 


Ty Science of October 3, 1913, there appears 
under the title “The Bread Supply” a veri- 
table vegetable cell containing a nucleus in 
the form of a quotation from an address by 
Professor Bolley; some cytoplasm of somewhat 
alkaline reaction provided by Professor Hop- 
kins; chromatophores for which various experi- 
ments are called upon to furnish local color; 
metaplasm containing a conglomeration of 
non-essentials, incidentals and chemical 
dogma; scarcely enough juice to fill even a 
small tonoplast; an impermeable ectoplasm— 
the whole cell suffering from extreme plas- 
molysis resulting from the toxic fumes arising 
from very decadent notions of “plant food.” 

Professor “Hopkins refers with “deep 
respect ” to “the science of biochemistry, as 
the chief means of making plant food avail- 
able.” With such a conception of its nature 
it would be better to refer to biochemistry with 
reverence—an attitude of mind often assumed 
towards the unknown. The biochemist and 
plant physiologist might well say to Professor 
Hopkins, as did the Lord to Moses, “ Put off 
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground.” 

We are told that Jensen devised a method 
for “the destruction of fungous diseases some- 


SCIENCE 


927 


times carried in seed grain.” I do recall that 
Professor Jensen developed the so-called “ hot 
water” method for the destruction of the 
spores of certain fungi known to cause dis- 
eases of certain cereals. When such simple 
facts regarding plant pathology are available 
in even our elementary text-books it is evident 
that “no state in the union can afford ... to 
have the minds of its farmers and land owners 
befogged in relation thereto.” 

In making analyses of commercial fertilizers, 
soils, ores and similar materials the “ analyt- 
ical chemist ” still plays an important réle; he 
may even assist in prolonging human life by 
detecting sodium benzoate in our canned 
tomatoes, but no one seriously expects him to 
fully comprehend, even “two or three cen- 
turies after its discovery,” the relation of the 
plant to its environment. In “belittling” the 
work of the analytical chemist in this connec- 
tion even a hundred columns of words are 
not so effective as a comparison with the actual 
achievements of the biochemist and the plant 
physiologist. 

E. Meap Witcox 

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 

LIncotn, NEB. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph 
Series. Edited by Drs. SmirH Ety JeEt- 
LIFFE and WM. A. Wuitr. Published by 
the Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- 
ease Publishing Company, New York. 

This series, it is announced, “ will consist of 
short monographs, translations and minor text- 
books.” To judge by the rapidity with which the 
successive numbers have appeared and by the 
promptness with which the editions have become 
exhausted, the undertaking is certainly well 
conceived. The first 15 numbers include 
White’s excellent ‘“ Outlines of Psychiatry,” a 
condensed text-book of 300 pages; “ Mental 
Mechanisms” by the same author; Franz’s 
“Handbook of Mental Examination Meth- 
ods,” and two other original papers, the re- 
maining numbers being translations. Of 
these, one of the most important is Kraepe- 
lin’s study of “General Paresis.” There are 


928 SCIENCE 


several translations of works of the “ psycho- 


analytic school,” including Freud’s “Se- 
lected Papers on Hysteria and Other Psycho- 
neuroses” and “Three Contributions to 
Sexual Theory.” The editors of the series, 
being themselves interested in this movement, 
are helping to make the psychoanalytic au- 
thors accessible in English. As the limits of 
this review evidently do not admit of an 
analysis of the whole series of papers, we may 
confine ourselves to a few remarks on Freud 
and his school. The two numbers translated 
from Freud perhaps give as good an insight 
into the core of his doctrine as could be had 
in small compass. It is, however, character- 
istic of this author that cross references are 
very important in getting his meaning. 
Everywhere there are gaps in the argument 
that need to be supplied from some other paper 
or book; in fact, a reading of all Freud’s 
works still leaves the impression of un- 
bridged gaps, jumps in the thought and in- 
completeness of evidence. Quite possibly, 
these deficiencies are inherent in the doctrine 
at its best, but it is at least to be hoped that 
some Freudian with a taste for orderly expo- 
sition should show what can be done towards 
giving this fascinating theory a scientific 
dress. 

The whole scope of the Freudian doctrines 
is very far-reaching, involving a treatment of 
hysteria and other psychoneuroses, a theory 
of the mechanism of these disorders, certain 
significant views on normal as well as patho- 
logical mentality, and even certain strictures 
on the ethics of civilized society. In his psy- 
chology, Freud lays stress on the importance 
of repressed desires, and on the devices by 
which these desires, though relegated to the 
“subconscious,” yet contrive to express them- 
selves in dreams (every dream being a drama- 
tized or. symbolic fulfilment of a repressed 
wish), in witticisms, and in slips of memory 
and similar lapses. He is fond of insisting 
that lapses and apparent irrelevances and 
extravagances of thought or action do not 
occur without a cause—by which he means 
that they do not occur without an emo- 
tional and volitional cause. We forget a 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVII. No. 991 


name because, subconsciously, we wish to 
forget it, we make a slip of the tongue be- 
cause some subconscious wish expresses itself 
in this way, we indulge in witticisms be- 
cause by them we can give expression to 
wishes which social custom forbids us to ex- 
press directly, or which we even do not ac- 
knowledge to ourselves. Now society is spe- 
cially insistent on the repression of sexual 
wishes; and for this reason, and because sex 
is a dominant factor in human make-up and 
because man is driven to “sexualize every- 
thing,” the repressed wishes which express 
themselves in dreams and lapses are chiefly 
and fundamentally of a sexual nature. 
Furthermore, the repression of sex motives 
begins early in childhood, for the child is not 
the sexless creature that he is often supposed 
to be, but is, on the contrary, strongly sexed 
from the very start. In part, his sexual pro- 
clivities are self-centered and do not drive him 
to persons of the opposite sex—an infantile 
condition which persists in some individuals 
in the form of sexual perversions—but in 
part, the polarity of the sexes appears al- 
ready in the young child, so that the boy is 
sexually attracted to the mother and becomes 
in his own mind a rival of the father. These 
sexual proclivities, being socially repressed 
from a very early age, generate submerged 
emotional “complexes” which persist from 
childhood to adult life and form the deepest 
stratum of that subconscious life of desire 
which finds expression in dreams, ete. Thus 
the full analysis of a dream or lapse leads to 
a suppressed wish, to a sex motive, and ulti- 
mately back to the sexual life of childhood. 
Suppression, sex and infantilism are the 
three fundamentals of the Freudian psychol- 
ogy. 

This psychology is readily applied to the 
explanation of hysteria, or rather it grew out 
of a study of hysteria. The “attacks” and 
other abnormal behavior of hysterics are, like 
dreams, the expression of repressed sexual 
wishes dating back to childhood. Often some 
shocking or disappointing experience of a 
sexual nature has been repressed from mem- 
ory, but its “affect ” or emotion remains and 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


invents some substitute for the suppressed 
memories, thus giving rise to the tics, paraly- 
ses, pains, anesthesias and amnesias which 
continually torment the patient, while occa- 
sionally the repressed memories, bursting 
through the barriers of suppression, take con- 
trol of consciousness and produce the “ at- 
tack.” 

The treatment of hysteria is, accordingly, 
to discover the suppressed memories and 
wishes, and satisfy them by “ abreaction.” 
The wish must be dealt with in the full light 
of consciousness. The reaction to it need not 
be the direct accomplishment of the wish in 
its original form, but may be “ sublimated.” 
The reaction may consist in the quasi-sexual 
relation between the (usually female) pa- 
tient and the psychoanalyst, a relation care- 
fully guarded and yet perfectly frank, in 
which sexual wishes are openly acknowledged 
and the memories connected with them are 
ferreted out and rehearsed at length. It is to 
the method adopted for ferreting out the re- 
pressed wishes and memories that the term 
“»sychoanalysis” is most directly applied. 
The plan is to remove the repression as far as 
possible, and let the patient’s thoughts move 
freely, in the hope that they will move towards 
what is repressed. Often a dream of the patient 
is taken as the starting point, and he is asked 
to let his thoughts play freely about the items 
of the dream. This free play of thoughts is 
called “free association”; but since associa- 
tion is seldom, if ever, perfectly free, the proc- 
ess needs to be examined a little more closely 
in order to find out what “control” is exerted 
upon association. The subject is encouraged 
to look for something emotionally significant 
and for something which he is tempted to re- 
press; eventually, his thoughts are steered in 
a sexual direction. The operator, convinced 
beforehand that this is the direction in which 
fruitful results are to be found, more or less 
overtly steers the patient’s thoughts. This 
analysis of the patient’s subconscious wishes 
and memories is a time-consuming process, 
and of late there is an increasing tendency to 
take short-cuts by the use of dream symbol- 
ism. It appears that certain objects dreamed 


SCIENCE 929 


about, gardens, snakes, stairs and a host of 
others, are fixed sexual symbols, and, being 
so interpreted by the operator, enable him to 
make rapid strides at the beginning of his 
analysis. 

The above inadequate account of Freud’s 
teaching scarcely affords a basis for apprais- 
ing its scientific or practical value. At the 
present time, the data are simply not at hand 
for such an appraisal. Current discussion 
of the doctrine has not yet reached the level 
of scientific consideration. The opposition 
has been characterized by derision and indig- 
nation, and the counter-argumentation of the 
Freudians by repartee rather than by evidence. 
From the Freudian point of view, opposition 
is to be expected because men are unwilling 
to admit their own repressed complexes and 
the extent to which their lives are domi- 
nated by sex. This indicates the manner in 
which Freudians handle their opponents, and 
it is certainly not a manner calculated to lead 
to dispassionate consideration. The result is 
that there is not a point in the whole Freudian 
system which can be regarded as either 
proved or disproved. The evidence as pre- 
sented by the Freudians is too full of jumps 
and gaps to be logically convincing, and it 
would seem that those who embrace the doc- 
trine—as several eminent neurological prac- 
titioners, especially in this country, have em- 
braced it—have been not so much convinced 
as converted—that they have adopted Freud- 
ism as a faith, finding it justified by its works, 
and desiring themselves to practise these 
works. In other words, they have found the 
treatment efficacious; and the principal argu- 
ment in favor of the doctrine has been the 
success of the treatment. (It should be said 
that there are decidedly two opinions regard- 
ing the value of the treatment, and the pres- 
ent reviewer is in no position to pass judg- 
ment in this matter.) The weakness of this 
argument is that it would prove the truth of 
many rival systems—animal magnetism, 
Christian Science, “new thought,” divine 
healing, Yoga, osteopathy—each of which 
meets with appreciable success in treating 
hysterical and other neurotic cases. Consid- 


930 


ered as a scientific hypothesis, the doctrine of 
Freud suffers from the disability that it appar- 
ently can not be put to a crucial test; for 
whichever way the test came out, the Freudian 
would find in the result a confirmation of his 
views. For example, a dream is always the 
expression of a repressed wish; but if a par- 
ticular dream that is brought forward seems 
not to be the expression of a wish, it can be 
regarded as expressing the wish that the 
Freudian doctrine be not confirmed, or as ex- 
pressing a subtle and subconscious opposition 
of the patient to the operator. Or, again, the 
open expression of sexual interests by a young 
child is clear evidence in favor of “ infantile 
sexuality,” while the absence of such expres- 
sion is an evidence of “repression.” It is some- 
what disconcerting to find that what is osten- 
sibly a psychological hypothesis, to be tested, 
is in reality a faith to be embraced or re- 
jected. 

The sociological implications of the Freu- 
dian conception are obvious. Nervous dis- 
turbances and much minor mental inefficiency, 
being due to the repression of sexual motives 
which is enjoined by civilization, point the 
way to a reform of society in the direction of 
greater tolerance and freedom for sexual 
impulses. 

Even anthropology is invaded by the psycho- 
analysts. Myth and folklore are regarded by 
them as phenomena analogous in the race to 
the dreams of an individual, and as express- 
ing in symbolic form the repressed wishes of 
the race and especially of the childhood of the 
race. All myths are therefore fundamentally 
sexual. This line of interpretation, originated 
by Freud himself, is represented in the pres- 
ent series by Abraham’s paper on “ Dreams 
and Myths,’ which considers especially the 
story of Prometheus, and endeavors to show 
that in its earliest form it had distinctly a 
sexual meaning, later overlaid by more “ re- 
fined” interpretations. The fire of Prometheus 
is a sex symbol. Abraham’s treatment has 
one or two obvious weaknesses. He fails to 
show that repression of sex matters was so 
strong in the childhood of the race as to create 
a need for symbolic expression—for it must 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


be remembered that the symbol, according to 
Freud, comes into play when direct expres- 
sion is not allowed by the personal or social 
“censor.” This censorship is usually regarded 
as a characteristic—and defect—of civiliza- 
tion, and why then should it be carried away 
back to the origin of myths? Even grant the 
dictum, probably exaggerated, that “man sex- 
ualizes everything,” we need not conclude that 
the sex motive is always repressed, to reappear 
in symbolic form. Fully as plausible would 
be an exactly opposite, though still sexual, 
theory of myths, namely, that primitive man, 
being familiar with reproduction, used it as a 
symbol or paradigm for interpreting other 
natural phenomena, so that the sex idea, in- 
stead of requiring indirect expression in terms 
of fire, ete., itself furnished the means for 
expressing primitive ideas regarding these 
other phenomena. When, for example, the 
early Greeks inquired regarding the “ physis ” 
or generation of the world, they were using 
reproduction as a basis for conceiving world 
processes. Other phenomena were not em- 
ployed as symbols for sex, but sex was used 
as a symbol for other phenomena. 

If all these ramifications of the psycho- 
analytic views were modestly put forward as 
tentative hypotheses, they would awaken 
interest; and if they were thoroughly worked 
out and made as precise and systematic as 
possible, they would deserve serious considera- 
tion; but, as a matter of fact, they are pre- 
sented at once with characteristic sketchiness 
and cock-sureness. It is a little surprising to 
find practical physicians interesting themselves 
in myths and fairy tales. Their reason is 
thus stated in the preliminary announcement 
of The Psychoanalytic Review: A Journal De- 
voted to an Understanding of Human Conduct, 
edited, like the Monograph Series here under 
review, by Drs. White and Jelliffe and pub- 
lished also by The Journal of Nervous and 
Mental Disease, the first number bearing 
date of October, 1913: “ Briefly stated, the 
hypothesis which attempts to fathom the laws 
governing human conduct is the principle that 
has already done service in the field of biology. 
It is the recapitulation hypothesis that ontog- 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


eny is a condensed phylogeny. .. . The mind 
as it is to-day, like the body as it is to-day, 
can only be adequately understood in the light 
of its developmental history throughout the 
ages of the past. ... The fields of compara- 
tive theology and comparative mythology, of 
folklore and fairy tales, are rich in material of 
very practical significance in our present-day 
problems. . . . Mental disease in its destruc- 
tive results brings the individual back to 
primitive and archaic methods of reaction,— 
reactions which may be better understood 
when we have studied the mind of primitive 
man and seen there what they mean.” It is 
‘certainly satisfactory to psychologists and 
anthropologists to find their subjects thus en- 
listing the interest and cooperation of a large 
body of physicians, and the only apprehension 
is that the psychoanalytic method, applied in 
the armchair to the records of primitive man, 
may appear to the working anthropologist as 
‘somewhat lacking in directness and thorough- 
ness. 
R. S. WoopwortH 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


The Venom of Heloderma. By Lro Lozs. 
Few portions of the world where reptiles 
occur at all are without some species of ser- 
pent venomous enough to be dangerous to hu- 
man beings. The nature and mode of action 
of the poison of various serpents has, there- 
fore, been of much practical interest and has 
attracted the serious attention of investiga- 
tors in many lands. Nearly all lizards, on the 
contrary, are harmless. Indeed, the only spe- 
cies known to be venomous are the two kinds 
of Gila monsters found in Mexico and on our 
own southwestern deserts of New Mexico, Ari- 
zona and Nevada. Perhaps because of its 
more purely scientific interest, the venom of 
these lizards has received comparatively little 
study. The only careful investigations have 
been by Mitchell and Reichert, Santesson, 
Van Denburgh and Wight. While these au- 
thors have agreed as to the deadly nature of 
the venom of these lizards they have differed 
in many points as regards its mode of action. 
In a paper of some two hundred and forty- 


SCIENCE 


931 


four pages issued by the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington! one finds a series of articles 
in which are set forth the results of investiga- 
tions of the poison glands and venom of the 
poisonous lizards of the genus Heloderma. 
These articles are by Leo Loeb and a large 
number of collaborators who made use of the 
Laboratory of Experimental Pathology of the 
University of Pennsylvania. 

The anatomy and histology of the poison 
glands are described and it is stated that 
Heloderma horridum has the same anatom- 
ical arrangement as has been described in 
the case of H. suspectum. It is shown that 
pilocarpine increases the flow of venom and 
that transplanted portions of the gland re- 
tain their toxic character. Venom was not 
found in the blood or organs of Heloderma, 
except in the poison glands. It would thus 
appear that the venom is formed in these 
glands, not selected and excreted by them, 
and that there is no internal secretion of 
venom. 

Gila monster venom affects mainly the cen- 
tral nervous system, and death is mainly due 
to paralysis of the respiratory center. There 
is a marked primary fall in blood-pressure of 
vasomotor origin. Diminution in the flow of 
urine is merely the result of the decrease in 
blood-pressure. Structural changes in the 
tissues of the poisoned animal are very slight, 
but extravasations of blood sometimes occur. 

Gila monster venom is stated to cause 
hemolysis only in the presence of some acti- 
vator such as lecithin and certain blood sera. 
It has no cytolytic power except upon the 
erythrocytes. 

Heloderma is immune to its own venom. 
That is not due to the presence of antitoxin 
in its circulation. 

Dr. Alsberg “succeeded in obtaining the 
Heloderma venom in a state in which it no 
longer gave the biuret reaction, thus proving 


1‘<The Venom of Heloderma,’’ by Leo Loeb, 
with the collaboration of Carl L. Alsberg, EHliza- 
beth Cook, Ellen P. Corson White, Moyer S. 
Fleisher, Henry Fox, T. 8. Githens, Samuel Leo- 
pold, M. K. Meyers, M. E. Rehfuss, D. Rivas and 
Lucius Tuttle, Washington, D. C., May 10, 1913. 


932 


that its poisonous principle is a substance 
free from proteid or only secondarily com- 
bined with it.” 

No local effects were observed at the point 
of injection of Gila monster venom, and no 
curare-like action was noted. No marked 
changes in the clotting time of the blood of 
animals under the influence of Heloderma 
poison were found. 

These studies confirm, in the main, the in- 
vestigations of Van Denburgh and Wight. 
Perhaps the principal difference in the two 
series of observations is regarding changes in 
the clotting time of the blood. The present 
investigators report no observed change in 
clotting time, while Van Denburgh, in pig- 
eons subjected to Heloderma venom, found 
the blood firmly clotted in the auricles while 
the heart was still beating, and Van Den- 
burgh and Wight observed that a primary 
shortening in the clotting-time was often fol- 
lowed by a complete loss of coagulability. 

The results set forth in this volume by Leo 
Loeb and his collaborators constitute a valu- 
able addition to our knowledge of reptile poi- 
sons. One can not but feel, however, that 
these results would be more readily available 
if given in much less extended form, nor 
need one be an emotionalist to doubt whether 
these results justify the experimental injec- 
tion of venom into “more than 360 warm- 
blooded animals” in addition to many cold- 
blooded ones. 

JOHN VAN DENBURGH 

San FRANCISCO, CAL. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ANATOMY AS A MEANS OF DIAGNOSIS OF SPON- 
TANEOUS PLANT HYBRIDS 


In the genetical studies, which have assumed 
so large and justly prominent a position in bio- 
logical work during the past few years, exter- 
nal characters have been investigated almost 
exclusively. It has in fact been quite generally 
assumed that plants which resemble one an- 
other externally either belong to the same 
species or are at best only varieties of the 
same species. Nevertheless it is true that the 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


geneticist has often found it necessary, in his 
work, to secure by continued cultivation, 
“pure lines” of the plants he uses in his 
breeding investigations. 

The intention of the present communica- 
tion is to indicate that spontaneous hybrids 
are of extremely common occurrence either 
identical in appearance with recognized species 
or varying so slightly and constantly over wide 
areas from the norm, that they are recognized 
as merely varietal modifications of recognized 
species. They can often nevertheless be clearly 
diagnosed as hybrids by the investigation of 
their internal anatomy both vegetative and 
reproductive. The full data of these obser- 
vations, accompanied by the necessary illus- 
trations, will be published elsewhere. 

It will be convenient to consider first the 
ease of identical external structure covering 
profound differences in internal organization. 
In the course of anatomical experimental 
investigations, carried on in the laboratories of 
plant morphology of Harvard University, on 
some of the lower amentaceous Dicotyledons, 
specially directed towards the elucidation of 
the hitherto unrecognized but highly impor- 
tant relation of wood rays to genetical and 
phylogenetic sequence, material of Betula 
pumila, from the Arnold Arboretum of Har- 
vard University, diagnosed as such both by 
the Arnold Arboretum and the Gray Her- 
barium, showed profound differences in organi- 
zation from wild material of the same species, 
secured from widely separated localities in the 
eastern United States and Canada. Vegeta- 
tively the Arnold Arboretum specimens pre- 
sented striking aggregations of wood rays in 
segments of the woody cylinder, such as are 
characteristic of the more primitive birches 
and alders, and in this respect presented a 
marked contrast to normal B. pumila, where 
rays of this type can not be said to occur. 
These peculiarities suggested its hybrid origin 
and the reproductive structures of the abnor- 
mal material were investigated for evidence 
for or against this hypothesis. Male cones 
examined early in March showed in the sporo- 
genous regions of the anthers large areas of 
abortive spore-mother cells. Late in April it 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


was further observed that even in the case of 
the functional mother cells, that the tetrads 
frequently produced but one normal pollen 
grain, the other three persisting as mere 
vestiges, attached to the germination pores of 
the completely formed grains. In normal 
B. pumila abnormalities of this nature were 
not found. Another interesting feature of the 
development of the microsporangium in the 
material from the Arnold Arboretum was the 
abortion of the mechanical or fibroid layer of 
the anther wall, which in normally developed 
spore sacks is responsible for the dehiscence 
of the anthers. Both these features of the 
stamens of the specimens under discussion, 
viz., the abortive pollen and the degenerate 
anther wall, point unmistakably to their hy- 
brid origin. 

Professor Jack has been good enough to 
supply the history of the plants of B. pumila, 
growing in the Arnold Arboretum. They were 
derived from seed obtained from plants pro- 
pagated at the Arboretum from wild seed of 
the species, secured by Professor Sargent 1n 
Vermont. A few of the group of individuals 
thus obtained were clearly hybrids between 
B. pumila and near growing large trees of B. 
lenta. The peculiarities of ray-structure re- 
ferred to above, namely the aggregation phe- 
nomena, are found in neither B. pumila nor B. 
lenta, and are doubtless the result of the in- 
creased vigor of heterozygosis, as has been 
noted by Professor East and others. It ap- 
pears quite obvious, from the various data 
described here, that the plants of B. pumila 
at the Arboretum, although resembling that 
species absolutely in external form, are in 
reality hybrids, as inferred from their more 
important anatomical features. 

The next illustration of the value of ana- 
tomical data in the diagnosis of hybrids is 
taken from the genus Hquisetum. The species 
of this genus known as #. littorale has long 
been recognized in Europe and this continent 
as a hybrid between FH. arvense and H#. 
limosum. It presents transitional features in 
its external form and internal anatomy be- 
tween these two species and moreover is char- 
acterized by the production of large numbers 


SCIENCE 


933 


of abortive spores, which are generally without 
the “elaters” attached to normal Hquisetum 
spores. The genus Hquwisetum is character- 
ized both in this continent and in Europe by 
the large number of varieties of its species, 
which occur spontaneously (these would prob- 
ably be designated by mutationists of the De 
Vriesian school as “elementary species’’). 
One of these numerous varieties is here taken 
as an illustration of the value of anatomy in 
genetical work. Professor Jeffrey observed in 
material of H. variegatum var. Jesupt, gathered 
on Toronto island, that a large number of the 
spores were abortive and without elaters. A 
detailed anatomical investigation of this mate- 
rial and of other specimens, including the 
type, kindly supplied for this purpose by the 
Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, 
showed that not only are the spores largely 
abortive in EH. variegatum var. Jesupi, but 
that the sporangium wall is also degenerate, 
lacking the mechanical or fibrous layer. The 
aerial and subterranean stem further showed 
a condition of organization intermediate be- 
tween that found in FZ. hiemale and E. varie- 
gatum. E. variegatum var. Jesupi, is conse- 
quently not to be regarded at all as a variety 
or “elementary species,” but as a clear hybrid, 
in all probability between H. hiemale and £. 
variegatum. The writer hopes later to pub- 
lish extended observations on a number of the 
“varieties ” of species of Hquisetum. 

In conclusion it may be pointed out that 
the investigation of the anatomy of recognized 
or crypthybrids is likely to be of great value 
from the genetical standpoint and will in all 
probability lay bare the real foundation in fact 
of the so-called mutation hypothesis of De 
Vries. 

R. Hoipen 

LABORATORIES OF PLANT MORPHOLOGY, 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 


Tue twenty-third annual meeting of the Ohio 
Academy of Science was held at Oberlin College, 
Oberlin, Ohio, on November 27, 28 and 29, under 
the presidency of Professor L. B. Walton, of 
Kenyon College. 


934 


The address of the President was delivered Fri- 
day afternoon, on the subject ‘‘The Evolutionary 
Control of Organisms, and its Significance’’; and 
on Friday evening Professor Dayton C. Miller, of 
Case School of Applied Science, gave an illus- 
trated lecture on ‘‘Sound.’’ 

There was an informal gathering of members 
in the Park Hotel on Thursday evening, and a 
reception in the Men’s Building Friday evening, 
following the lecture. At the dinner Friday 
evening, held in the Park Hotel, the Academy 
was welcomed by President Henry C. King, of 
Oberlin College. 

The arrangements of the local committee were 
very complete, and the meeting was in every way 
a very successful one. 

The trustees of the research fund announced a 
further gift of $250 from Mr. Emerson E. Me- 
Millin, of New York City, for the encouragement 
of the research work of the academy. During the 
past year grants from the research fund have 
been paid to Clara G. Mark, Alfred Dachnowski, 
Charles Brookover, Freda Detmers and Stephen R. 
Williams. 

Thirty-five members were elected, making the 
total membership of the Academy 239. 

Officers for the ensuing year were elected as 
follows: 

President—Professor 
venna. 

Vice-presidents—(Zoology) Professor Stephen 
R. Williams, Miami University, Oxford; (Botany) 
Professor E. L, Fullmer, Baldwin-Wallace Col- 
lege, Berea; (Geology) Professor N. M. Fenne- 
man, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati; (Phys- 
ies) Professor A. D. Cole, Ohio State University, 
Columbus. 

Secretary—Professor Edward L. Rice, 
Wesleyan University, Delaware. 

Treasurer—Professor J. S. Hine, Ohio State 
University, Columbus. 

Librarian—Professor W. C. Mills, Ohio State 
University, Columbus. 

Executive Committee—Professor Frank Carney, 
Denison University, Granville, and Professor L. B. 
Walton, Kenyon College, Gambier, to serve with 
the president, secretary and treasurer, members 
ex-officio. 

Publication Committee—Professor Charles H. 
Lake, Hamilton, to serve with the hold-over mem- 
bers: Professor J. H. Schaffner, Ohio State Uni- 
versity, Columbus, and Professor ©. G. Shatzer, 
Wittenberg College, Springfield. 

Trustees of Research Fund—Professor M. M. 


T. C. Mendenhall, Ra- 


Ohio 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


Metcalf, Oberlin College, Oberlin, to serve with 
the hold-over members: Professor William R. 
Lazenby, Ohio State University, Columbus, and 
Professor Edward L. Rice, Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, Delaware. 

The complete program follows: 

“*Plum Creek as a Glacial Chronometer,’’ by G. 
Frederick Wright. 

‘‘Hybridization, Variability and Size,’’ by L. 
B. Walton. 

““Marengo Cave,’’? by W. N. Speckman. 

“CA Statistical Study of the Physical Measure- 
ments of a Class of Students,’’ by Carl J. West. 

“‘The Effect of the Eruption of Katmi on 
Vegetation,’’ by Robert F. Griggs. 

“‘The Structure of a Fossil Starfish from the 
Upper Richmond,’’ by Stephen R. Williams. 

““With the International Phytogeographie Ex- 
cursion in America,’’ by A. Dachnowski. 

““Comparison of the Mollusk Faunas of the 
Palearctic and Nearctic Provinces,’’ by V. Sterki. 

“*Plood and Drainage Conditions in Vicinity of 
Bellevue, Ohio,’’? by George D. Hubbard. 

““The Species Concept as Applied to the Genus 
Pyrosoma,’’ by Maynard M. Metcalf. 
‘‘Geographic Influences in the 

Milan, Ohio,’’ by C. G. Shatzer. 

““The Acclimatization of Trees and Shrubs,’’ 
by William R. Lazenby. 

“«The Life History of Zuglena,’’ by Charles G. 
Rogers. 

“« Botanical Observations in Alaska,’’ by Robert 
F. Griggs. 

‘‘Conjugation in Ame@ba,’’ by Ralph E. Hedges. 

‘‘Variation in Scirpus atrovirens and S. 
georgianus,’’ by F. O. Grover. 

““Notes on the Metamorphosis of Two Ascid- 
ians,’’? by R. A. Budington. 

““The Effect of Variation of Intensity and Du- 
ration of Stimuli to Reaction Time,’’ by G. R. 
Wells. 

‘*Pressure Sensation and the Hair Follicle,’’ by 
R. H. Stetson. 

“‘Purther Notes on Embryonic 
Eumeces,’’ by Edward L. Rice. 

“An Addition to the Odonata of Ohio,’’ by 
Rees Philpott. 

“‘The Box-Elder Bug, Leptocoris trivittatus, in 
Ohio,’’ by W. J. Kostir. 

‘“An Occurrence of Atypus milberti Walck, in 
Ohio,’’ by Carl J. Drake. 

“Remarks on the Distribution of Certain Spe- 
cies of Jasside,’’ by Herbert Osborn. 

‘“Observations on the Action of the Heart in 
Mollusea,’’ by V. Sterki. 


History of 


Skull of 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


“¢Chromosomes in Opalina,’’ by Maynard M. 
Metcalf. 

“‘The Cerebral Ganglia of an Embryo Sala- 
mander, Plethodon glutinosus,’’ by W. J. Kostir. 

““Report on the Work done with the Mollusk 
Fauna of Ohio,’’ by V. Sterki. 

““Some Additional Records for Ohio Mammals,’’ 
by James S. Hine. 

““Notes on the Cheese Skipper, Piophila casei,’’ 
by Don C. Mote. 

““The Distribution and Abundance of Some 
Animal Parasites of Ohio Live Stock,’’? by Don 
C. Mote. 

“‘The Ecology of Fishing Point, Pelee Island,’’ 
by Lynds Jones. 

“Migration Phenomena in the Sandusky Re- 
gion,’’ by Lynds Jones. 

‘‘The California Tarweed MIndustry,’’ by 
Charles P. Fox. 

‘CA Provisional Arrangement of the Ascomy- 
cetes of Ohio,’’ by Bruce Fink. 

“‘The Sprouting of the Two Seeds of a Cockle- 
bur,’’ by John H. Schaffner. 

‘‘ Additions to the State Flora, presenting Two 
Species of Isoetacew from Portage County,’’ by 
L. S. Hopkins. 

““Notes on a Typical Ohio Woodlot,’’ by Wil- 
liam R. Lazenby. 

““Heological Varieties as illustrated by Salia 
interior,’’ by John H. Schaffner. 

“Certain Peculiarities of the Botrychia,’’ by 
L. S. Hopkins. 

“(A New Variety of Carex tribuloides, with 
Notes on the Variability of the Species,’’ by F. 
O. Grover. 

““The Behavior of Some Species on the Edges 
of their Ranges,’’ by Robert F. Griggs. 

““The Catalog of Ohio Vascular Plants,’’ by 
John H. Schaffner. 

“CA New Method in Lichen Taxonomy,’’ by 
Bruce Fink. 

‘“ Additional Information on the Ohio Devo- 
nian,’’ by C. R. Stauffer. 

“¢Some Geological Features in the Newark and 
Frazeysburg Quadrangles,’’ by G. F. Lamb. 

“‘The Stratigraphy of the Upper Richmond 
Beds of the Cincinnati,’’ by W. H. Shideler. 

“‘Metamorphism in the Ordovician System of 
Giles County, Va.,’’ by E. P. Rothrock. 

“‘Hvidence of Basining and Folding during 
the Hopaleozoic of the Southern Appalachians,’’ 
by P. H. Cary. 

“*An Ancient Finger Lake in Ohio with Tilted 
Shorelines,’’ by George D. Hubbard. 

““Unconformity and Basal Conglomerates of 


SCIENCE 


935 


the Mississipian Age in the Wooster Quadrangle,’” 
by G. F. Lamb. 

“Methods of Mapping the Shorelines of Pro- 
Glacial Lakes,’’ by Frank Carney. 

“An Eroded Channel in the Cleveland Forma- 
tion,’’? by W. G. Burroughs. 

‘“‘The Transparency of Various Substances for 
Infra-Red Radiation obtained by Focal Isolation,’” 
by Alfred D. Cole. 

“‘Note on the Electrical 
Glass,’’ by Robert F. Earhart. 

“The Villari Reversal Effect in Ferro-Magnetic 
Substances,’ by S. R. Williams. 

“On the Longitudinal Thermo-Magnetie Poten- 
tial Difference,’’ by A. W. Smith. 

““The Spectrum of Silicon in the Carbon Are,’” 
by C. D. Coons. 

‘On the Vibrations of a Lecher System using 
a Lecher Oscillator,’’? by F. C. Blake and Charles 
Sheard. 

“The Wiedemann Effect in Monel and Nichrome 
Wires,’’ by H. H. Reighley. 

Symposium: The Quantum Theory of Matter and 
Energy. 
I. ‘‘The Quantum Theory applied to Black 
Body Radiation,’’ by E. J. Moore. 
II. ‘‘The Quantum Theory applied to the De- 
termination of the Specific Heat of 
Solid Bodies,’’ by Charles Sheard. 
IIl. ‘‘The Quantum Theory ‘applied to Photo- 
electric and Thermionic Emission,’’ by 
S. J. M. Allen. 
IV. Title to be announced, by Clark W. 
Chamberlain. 
V. General Discussion. 


Conductivity of 


DEMONSTRATIONS 


Rare Minerals from Rhodesia, by George D. 
Hubbard. 

Alaskan Plants, by Robert F. Griggs. 

Specimens illustrating California Tarweed In- 
dustry, by Charles P. Fox. 

Specimens of Mollusca, by V. Sterki. 

Ohio Odonata, by Rees Philpott. 

Chromosomes of Opalina, by Maynard M. Met- 
calf, 

Herbarium Specimens of Scirpus and Carex, by 
F, O. Grover. 

Model of Embryonie Skull of Zumeces, by Ed- 
ward L. Rice. Epwarp L. RIcE, 

OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Secretary 

DELAWARE, OHIO, 
December 3, 1913 


936 


THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY 


THE regular Thanksgiving meeting of the Phys- 
ical Society was held in Ryerson Physical Labora- 
tory, University of Chicago, on Friday and Satur- 
day, November 28 and 29, 1913. The program 
was as follows: 


Friday Afternoon 


‘¢Quantum Theory and Radiation,’’ by C. E. 
Mendenhall. 

‘*Quantum Theory and Photoelectric Effect,’’ 
by R. A. Millikan. 

‘*Quantum Theory and Statistical Mechanics,’’ 
by Max Mason. 

‘¢Quantum Theory and Atomic Structure,’’ by 
Jacob Kunz. 

‘‘Quantum Theory and Specific Heats,’’ by A. 
C. Lunn. 


Saturday 


‘‘The Relation between Photo-potentials and 
Frequency,’’? by W. H. Kadesch. 

‘CA Study of Contact P.D.’s between Metal 
Surfaces Prepared in Vacuo; the Effect of Ultra- 
violet Light upon these P.D.’s; and the Mutual 
Relation between Positive Potential and Contact 
P.D.’s,’’ by Albert E. Henning. 

‘‘Anomalous Temperature Effects upon Mag- 
netized Steel,’’ by N. H. Williams. 

‘¢Eixperimental Determination of the Earth’s 
Rigidity,’’ by A. A. Michelson. 

‘© New Maximum in the Wave-length sensibil- 
ity Curves of Selenium,’’ by F. C. Brown and L. 
P. Sieg. 

‘Evidence of a Diurnally Reversing Convec- 
tional Circulation of the Atmosphere Over the 
Upper Peninsula of Michigan,’’ by Eric R. Miller. 
(By title.) 

‘<Polarization of Long-wave Infra-red Radia- 
tion by Wire Gratings,’’ by A. D. Cole. 

“Glow Discharge in a Magnetic Field,’’ by R. 
¥F. Earhart. 

‘‘A Polarization. Spectrophotometer Using the 
Brace Prism,’’ by Harvey B. Lemon. 

‘¢Certain Experiments in Sound Diffraction,’’ 
by G. W. Stewart and Harold Stiles. 

‘‘Hffect of Space Charge and Residual Gases on 
the Thermionie Current in High Vacuum,’’ by 
Irving Langmuir. 

‘¢ Arrival Curves with Artificial Long Lines,’’ 
by Carl Kinsley. 

‘‘An Attempt at an Electromagnetic Emission 
Theory of Light,’’ by Jacob Kunz. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVITIT. No, 991 


‘“Theory and Use of the Molecular Gauge,’’ by 
Saul Dushman. 

“CA Modified Method of Measuring e/m and v 
for Cathode Rays,’’ by L. T. Jones. 

“(An Experimental Determination of the Cor- 
rection to the Law of Stokes for Falling Bodies, 
and of the Value of the Elementary Charge e,’’ 
by John Y. Lee. 

‘On the Coefficient of Slip Between a Gas and 
a Liquid or Solid,’’ by R. A. Millikan. 

“*Note on the Electron Atmospheres (?),’’ by 
Carl R. England. 

‘“Vapor Pressure of Molybdenum and Pilati- 
num,’’ by Irving Langmuir. 

“‘Disappearance of Gas or Clean-up Effect in 
Vacuum Tubes,’’ by Irving Langmuir. 

““& New Principle in the Application of Selen- 
ium to Photometry,’’ by F. C. Brown and L. P. 
Sieg. 

“‘Determination of e/m from Measurements of 
Thermionic Currents,’’? by Saul Dushman. 

“‘Rate of Decay of Phosphorescence at Low 
Temperatures,’’? by E. H. Kennard. 

“‘Determination of the Sun’s Temperature,’’ 
by G. A. Shook. 

“<The Theory of Photoelectric and Photochem- 
ical Effects,’? by O. W. Richardson. 

“¢Photoelectrie Potentials of Cathode Films,’’ 
by P. H. Dike. 

“‘The Temperature Coefficient of Young’s 
Modulus of an Iron Wire,’’ by H. L. Dodge. 

‘“‘The Temperature Distribution in an Incan- 
descent Lamp Filament near a Cooling Junction,’’ 
by A. G. Worthing. 

‘‘Wurther Experiments on Magnetization by 
Angular Acceleration,’’ by S. J. Barnett. 

‘Production of Gases in Vacuum Tubes,’’ by 
G. Winchester. 

‘*A Precision Relay,’’ by Carl Kinsley. 

‘¢A Thermopile of Bismuth-alloy,’? by W. W. 
Coblentz. (By title.) 

A. D. Coz, 
Secretary 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tur American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 
societies named below will meet at Atlanta, 
Ga., during convocation week, beginning on 
December 29, 1918. 


DECEMBER 26, 1913] 


American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Professor Hdmund B. Wilson, 
Columbia University; retiring president, Professor 
Edward ©. Pickering, Harvard College Observa- 
tory; permanent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; gen- 
eral secretary, Professor Harry W. Springsteen, 
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; secre- 
tary of the council, Professor William A. Wors- 
ham, Jr., State College of Agriculture, Athens, Ga. 

Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.—Vice- 
president, Dr. Frank Schlesinger, Allegheny Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

Section B—Physics——Vice-president, Professor 
Alfred D. Cole, Ohio State University; secretary, 
Dr. W. J. Humphreys, Mount Weather, Va. 

Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Dr. Carl 
L. Alsberg, Bureau of Chemistry; secretary, Dr. 
John Johnston, Geophysical Laboratory, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Dr. O. P. Hood, U. 8. Bureau of 
Mines; secretary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, 
Columbia University, New York City. 

Section E—Geology and Geography.—Vice-presi- 
dent, J. S. Diller, U. S. Geological Survey; secre- 
tary, Professor George F. Kay, University of Iowa. 

Section F—Zoology.—Vice-president, Dr. Alfred 
G. Mayer, Carnegie Institution of Washington; 
secretary, Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts Col- 
lege, Mass. 

Section G—Botany.—Vice-president, Professor 
Henry C. Cowles, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. 

Section H—Anthropology and Psychology.— 
Vice-president, Professor Walter B. Pillsbury, 
University of Michigan; acting secretary, Dr. H. K. 
Strong, Jr., Columbia University, New York City. 

Section I—Social and Economic Science.—Vice- 
president, Judson G. Wall, Tax Commissioner, New 
York City; secretary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 
Church St., New Haven, Conn. 

Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Theodore Hough, 
University of Virginia; secretary, Dr. Donald R. 
Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, 
Md. 

Section L—Education.—Vice-president, Dr. Phi- 
Jander P. Claxton, Commissioner of Education, 


SCIENCE 93 


Washington, D. C.; secretary, Dr. Stuart A. 
Courtis, Liggett School, Detroit, Mich. 

The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America.—December 29-January 3. President, 
Professor E. C. Pickering, Harvard College Ob- 
servatory; secretary, Professor Philip Fox, Dear- 
born Observatory, Evanston, Il. 

The American Physical Society—December 29- 
January 3. President, Professor B. O. Peirce, 
Harvard University; secretary, Professor A. D. 
Cole, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 

The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences.—De- 
cember 30. President, Professor C. R. Mann, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Dr. Wm. A. 
Hedrick, Washington, D. C. 

The Entomological Society of America—De- 
cember 30-31. President, Dr. C. J. S. Bethune, 
Ontario Agricultural College; secretary, Professor 
Alexander D. MacGillivray, 603 West Michigan 
Ave., Urbana, Ill. 

The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists—December 31—January 2. President, 
Professor P. J. Parrott, Geneva, N. Y.; secretary, 
A. F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

The Botanical Society of America—December 
30-January 2. President, Professor D. H. Camp- 
bell, Stanford University; secretary, Dr. George T. 
Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 

The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 30-January 2. President, F. C. Stewart, 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y.; 
secretary, Dr. C. L. Shear, Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 

The American Microscopical Society—December 
30. Secretary, T. W. Galloway, James Millikin 
University, Decatur, Ill. 

American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors.—December 29. President, E. L. 
Worsham, Atlanta, Ga.; secretary, J. G. Saunders, 
Madison, Wis. 

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology.—December 31-January 1. President, 
Professor H. J. Pearce, Gainesville, Ga.; secretary, 
Professor W. C. Ruediger, George Washington 
University, Washington, D. C. 

The Sigma Xi Convention.—December 30. Presi- 
dent, Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Uni- 
versity; recording secretary, Professor Dayton C. 
Miller, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, 
Ohio. 


938 


Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity. 
December 30. President, Professor J. I. Tracey, 
Yale University; secretary, Professor H. E. Howe, 
Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va. 


PHILADELPHIA 

The American Society of Naturalists—December 

31. President, Professor Ross G. Harrison, Yale 

University; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


The American Society of Zoologists—December 
30-January 1. Hastern Branch: President, Dr. 
Raymond Pearl, Maine Agricultural Experiment 
Station; secretary, Dr. Caswell Grave, The Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Central 
Branch—December 29-January 1: president, Pro- 
fessor H. B. Ward, University of Nebraska; secre- 
tary, Professor W. C. Curtis, University of Mis- 
souri, Columbia, Mo. 


The American Physiological Society—December 
29-31. President, Dr. S. J. Meltzer, Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, New York City; 
secretary, Professor A. J. Carlson, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Ross G. Harri- 
son, Yale University; secretary, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, 1330 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, Mich. 


The American Society of Biological Chemists.— 
December 29-31. President, Professor A. B. Ma- 
callum, University of Toronto; secretary, Pro- 
fessor Philip A. Shaffer, 1806 Locust St., St. Louis, 
Mo. 


The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics—December 30-31. President, Dr. 
Torald Sollmann, Western Reserve University 
Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 


NEW YORK CITY 


The American Mathematical Society—December 
30-31. President, Professor H. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th Street, New York City. 
Chicago, December 26, 27, secretary of Chicago 
meeting, Professor H. E. Slaught, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

The American Anthropological Association.— 
December 29-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XXXVIII. No. 991 


George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

The American Folk-Lore Society——December 31. 
President, John A. Lomax, University of Texas; 
secretary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 Brattle St., 
Cambridge, Mass. 

PRINCETON 

The Geological Society of America.—December 
30-January 1. President, Professor Eugene A. 
Smith, University of Alabama; secretary, Dr. Ed- 
mund Otis Hovey, American Museum of Natural 
History, New York City. 

The Association of American Geographers.— 
Probably meets at Princeton but official informa- 
tion has not been received. 

The Paleontological Society—December 31- 
January 1. President, Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 
Smithsonian Institution; secretary, Dr. R. 8. Bass- 
ler, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. 


NEW HAVEN 

The American Psychological Association.—De- 
cember 30—January 1. President, Professor How- 
ard C. Warren, Princeton University; secretary, 
W. Van Dyke Bingham, Dartmouth College, Han- 
over, N. H. 

The American Philosophical Association—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor E. B. MecGil- 
vary, University of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor 
E. G. Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


MINNEAPOLIS 

The American Economic Association—December 
27-30. President, Professor David Kinley, Uni- 
versity of Illinois; secretary, Professor T. N. 
Carver, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

The American Sociological Society. December 
27-30. President, Professor Albion W. Small, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Scott EH. W. 
Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


WASHINGTON, D. C. 


The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion.— December 30-31. President, Professor W. 
W. Willoughby, Princeton University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 East 23d St., New York 
City. 

MONTREAL 

The Society of American Bacteriologists.—De- 
cember 31—January 2. President, Professor C. E. 
A. Winslow, College of the City of New York; sec- 
retary, Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 


SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


Cornell University Medical College 


E I. Graduates of approved Colleges or 
trance Scientific Schools, or 

Requirements II. Seniors in such Colleges on_con- 
dition the candidate presents the Bach- 
elor’s degree before seeking admission to 
the second year in medicine; or 

III. Those presenting the full equiva- 
lent of the above as determined by exam- 
ination. 

IV. All candidates must present evi- 
dence of having pursued major courses 
in general inorganic chemistry, with 
qualitative analysis, Physics and Biology, 
covering at least a year’s instruction with 
laboratory work in each subject. 

Graded to take advantage of advanced 
entrance requirements. First year de- 
voted to Organic and _ Physiological 
Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology. 
Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Pathol- 
ogy begun in the second year and labora- 
tory Pharmacology completed. Didactic 
and laboratory instruction in all clinical 
subjects completed in the early part of the 
fourth year and followed by 21 consecu- 
tive weeks of all day bedside instruction 
in hospital wards. 

Sessron opens the last Wednesday in 

September and closes the second week in 
June. ‘ 
Class divided into sections of 5 to 10 
students each for clinical instruction in 
dispensary and hospital. Systematic 
daily conferences with teachers at the 
bedside and in the laboratory form the 
main plan of instruction. 

The first year in medicine may be taken 
either at New York City or at Ithaca, later 
years only at New York City. 


For further particulars apply to the 


DEAN, CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE 
28th Street and First Avenue NEW YORK CITY 


Curriculum 


Tnstruction 


HARVARD 
MEDICAL SCHOOL 


Course for the Degree of M.D. 4 fourvear course 
Percnsinnstin anaes) cashew NUE ees 19 OHENGtO holders 
of a bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or scientific 
school, who have had sufficient training in chemistry, physics, 
and zoology, and to persons who have had two years of 
college work, including one year in the pre-medical sciences, 
provided they stand in the first third of their class. The 
studies of the fourth year are wholly elective; they include 
laboratory subjects, general medicine and surgery and the 
special clinical branches. The school year extends from the 
Monday before the last Wednesday in September to the Thurs- 
day before the last Wednesday in June. 


Course for the Degree of Dr. P.H. Graduates in 


medicine and 
other properly qualified persons may become candidates for 
the degree of Doctor of Public Health. 


Graduate School of Medicine 


Graduate Instruction ona University Basis 


Courses 


are given throughout the year in all clinical and 
laboratory subjects. 


will be as thorough and scientific as in the 
Medical School proper. Elementary and ad- 
Research courses for qualified students. 


Instruction 
vanced courses. 


are admitted at any time and for any length 
Students 2° 00" 


FOR INFORMATION ADDRESS 


Harvard Medical School Boston, Mass. 


Syracuse University College of Medicine 


Two years of a recognized course in arts 
or in science in a registered college or 
School of Science, which must include 
Latin, German, Physics, Chemistry and 
Biology. Six and seven years’ combina- 
tion courses are recognized. 


Entrance 
Requirements 


are spent in mastering by 
methods the sciences 
clinical medicine. 


laboratory 
fundamental to 


The First Two 
Years 


he Thir is systematic and clinical and is devoted 
The Third Year to the study of the natural history of 


Course disease, to diagnosis and to therapeutics. 
In this year the systematic courses in 
Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics are 

completed. 
The Fourth is clinical. Students spend the entire 
Year Course forenoon throughout the year as clinical 


clerks in hospitals under careful supervi- 
sion. The clinical clerk takes the history, 
makes the physical examination and the 
laboratory examinations, arrives at a di- 
agnosis which he must defend, outlines 
the treatment under his instructor and 
observes and records the resu ts. In case of 
operation or of autopsy he follows the spe- 
cimen and identifies its pathological na- 
ture. Two general hospitals, one special 
hospital and the municipal hospitals and 
laboratories are open to our students. The 
practical course in Hygiene and Preven- 
tive Medicine, carried on in the municipal 
laboratories and hospital and in Public 
Health Field Work, occupies one-sixth of 
the mornings. The afternoons are spent 
in the College Dispensary and in clinical 
work in medical and surgical specialties 
and in conferences. 


Address the Secretary of the College, 
307 Orange Street SYRACUSE, N. Y. 


THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 
TULANE UNIVERSITY 


OF LOUISIANA 


DEGREES IN MEDICINE 

DEGREES IN PUBLIC HEALTH 
DEGREES IN TROPICAL MEDICINE 
DEGREES IN DENTISTRY 


DEGREES IN PHARMACY 
CERTIFICATES FOR GRADUATE WORK 


Equipment complete in all Departments. Clinical 


opportunities unexcelled 


SUMMER SCHOOL OF MEDIC:!NE JUNE TO OCTOBER 


Opportunities for research afforded at all times of 
the year 


ALL SCHGOLS GPEN OCTOBER | 
Address 


Tulane College of Medicine 


P. O. Drawer 261 
New Orleans, Louisiana 


vi SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


i768 School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania 1914 


The One Hundred Forty-Ninth Annual Session of this institution will open September 25, 1914, and continue 
until June 16, 1915. 


REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION: Candidates must have successfully completed work equivalent to that prescribed 
for the Freshman and Sophomore Classes in colleges recognized by this University, which must include collegiate courses 
in Physics, General Biology or Zoology and Chemistry (Qualitative Analysis is required; Organic Chemistry is recom- 
mended), together with appropriate laboratory exercises in each of these subjects, and two languages other than English 
(one of which must be French or German). For detailed informatiom send for catalogue. Certificates from recognized 
colleges covering these requirements will be accepted in place of an examination. 


UNDERGRADUATE COURSE: The course of instruction extends over four annual sessions, the work so graded 
that the first and second years are largely occupied by the fundamental medical subjects, The third and fourth years are 
largely devoted to the practical branches, prominence being given to clinical instruction, and the classes sub-divided into 
small groups so that the individual students are brought into particularly close and personal relations with the instructors 
and with the patients, at the bedside and in the operating room. It is strongly recommended that after graduation further 
hospital work be undertaken by the members of the class; and more than 90 percent. attain by competitive examination 


or by appointment positions as internes in hospitals in this city or elsewhere. 


The Pennsylvania Bureau of Medical Edu- 


cation and Licensure will hereafter require of applicants for license, a year spent in an approved hospital. 


POST-GRADUATE WORK; (1) Any 


taduate possessing a baccalaureate degree may pursue work in Anatomy. 


Physiology, Physiological-Chemistry, Bacteriology, Pathology, Neuropathology, Pharmacology, Research Medicine an 


Mental Diseases with view of obtaining the higher degrees of 


Master of Arts or Science and of Doctor of Philosophy in 


the Graduate School of the University. For information address Dean of Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania. 
(2) Courses in Public Health (inaugurated in 1906), leading to diploma (Doctor of Public Hygiene, Dr. P.H.) are open 
to gr. 


uates in Medicine. 
mology, Chemistry, Sanitary Engincering, 


The subjects Gomprehendes in the course are: Bacteriology, Medical Protozoology and Ento- 
anitary Architecture, Meat and Milk Inspection, School Inspection, Vital 


Statistics, Sanitary Legislation, and Personal and General Hygiene. 


The full course extends over one academic year. 
suitable preliminary qualifications. 


Special subjects in the course may be taken by any one possessing 
For details address Director of Laboratory of Hygiene. 


(3) From the opening of each term to about February 1 courses in Tropical Medicine are open to graduates in medicine 
comprehending instruction in Medical Climatology and Geography, Hygiene of Tropics and of Ships, Tropical Medicine, 


Bacteriology, Protozoology, Entomology, Helminthology, and General 


Diseases, and Surgery of Tropical Affections. 


edical Zoology, Pathology, Skin Diseases, Eye 


(4) During the academic session special courses in any of the branches of the medical curriculum are open to graduates 


of this or other regular schools of Medicine, both in the clinical subjects and in laboratory studies. 


The excellent hospital 


facilities offered by the University Hospital, the neighboring Philadelphia General Hospital and other institutions with 
which the members of the staff of instruction are connected, guarantee exceptional opportunities for clinical observation 


TUITION FEE: Undergraduate study, $200 annually ; fees for special courses on application. For detailed informa~ 
DEAN OF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 


tion or catalogue address 


UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


PHILADELPHIA, PA 


RAEETEDALe F 


University of Alabama 
School of Medicine 


Mobile, Alabama 


Entrance Requirement, 

The minimum requirement for admission is 
one year of college work in Physics, Chemistry, 
Biology, and Modern Languages, in addition 
to the usual four year high school course. Be- 
ginning Jan. 1st, 1915, two years of college 
work will be required. 

Course of Instruction. Four years graded 
course, first two years in well equipped labora- 
tories, under full time instructors ; last two 
years devoted to hospital clinics and section 
work in medicine, surgery and the specialties. 


Fees. $150.00 per session. 


The Department of Pharmacy offers a standard 
two years course leading to the degree of Ph.G, 


For copy of the annual announcement and any 
desired information, address 
Dr. Eugene D. Bondurant, Dean 
School of Medicine 


St. Anthony and Lawrence Sts., 
MOBILE, ALA. 


Washington University Medical 
School 


REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION 
Candidates for entrance are required to have completed 
at least two full years of college work which must include 
English, German, and instruction with laboratory work in 
Physics, Chemistry and Biology. 


INSTRUCTION 

Instruction begins Thursday, September 25, 1913, and 
ends Thursday, June 11, 1914. 

Clinical instruction is given in the Washington Univer- 
sity Hospital, controlled by Washington University, in the 
Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, in the Mullanphy Hospital 
and in the dispensaries connected with these institutions. 
During the session of 1913-14 the Medical School will move 
to its new buildings immediately adjacent to the Barnes 
Hospital and the St. Louis Children’s Hospital which are 
affiliated with the Medical School. 


COURSES LEADING TO ACADEMIC 
DEGREES 


Students in Washington University may pursue study 
in the fundamental medical sciences leading to the degree 
of A.M., and Ph.D. 


GRADUATE INSTRUCTION 


Summer courses for physicians in medicine, surgery, 
obstetrics, various specialties, pathology, bacteriology, and 
metabolic chemistry, are given from June 2d to July 2d. 


TUITION 
The tuition fee for undergraduate medical students is 
$150 per annum. 
The catalogue of the Medical School may be obtained 
by application to the 


Dean of the Washington University 
Medical School, 


1806 Locust Street Saint Louis, Missouri 


SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS iii 


New Edition Rewritten and Enlarged of 


Alternating Currents and 
Alternating Current 
Machinery 


By DUGALD C. JACKSON, 


Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 


and JOHN PRICE JACKSON, 


Dean of the School of Engineering in the Pennsylvania State College 


In this edition are maintained the well-known features of the earlier book in which were worked 
out the characteristics of electric circuits, their self-induction, electrostatic capacity, reactance and 
impedance, and the solutions of alternating current flow in electric circuits in series and parallel. 
More attention is paid to the transient state in electric circuits than was the case in the original 
edition. A considerable amount of related matter has been introduced in respect to vectors, complex 
quantities, and Fourier’s series which the authors believe will be useful to students and engineers. 
The treatment of power and power factor has been given great attention, and a full chapter is now 
allotted to the hysteresis and eddy current losses which are developed in the iron cores of electrical 
machinery. More space and more complete treatment have been assigned to synchronous machines 
and to asynchronous motors and generators. The treatment of the self-inductance and mutual induc- 
tance of line circuits and skin effect in electric conductors which was found in the old book has been 
extended, and it has been supplemented by a treatment of the electrostatic capacity of lines and the in- 
fluences of distributed resistance, inductance and capacity. 

In all these features as wellas in others the book has been brought up to the requirements of 
present day teaching. The book covers the ground that is needed to give a fairly complete course in 
the essential elements of alternating currents and their applications to machinery. It is longer 
than will be needed in the courses in many of the engineering schools, but chapters may be selected so 
as to meet the requirements of each school. 

The authors have endeavored to make the phraseology simple and to illustrate the applications 
of the principles by examples drawn from the best practice in the art. As in the first edition, original 
methods have been introduced in various instances to gain simple paths to results, every effort being 
made to present a full physical conception of phenomena to the reader’s mind. The mathematics 
used are merely logical means for accomplishing the end, and are by no means to be considered from 
any other standpoint. F 

The value of this book as a text for juniors and seniors is greatly enhanced by the fact that 
it will also be of constant use to them after their graduation. 

It is a volume which the practicing engineer will find indispensable as a reference book for use 
at his desk—not as an ornament for his dusty bookshelves. 

“T have looked this book over very carefully and do not hesitate to say that it is, in my opinion, 
decidedly one of the best textbooks I have seen on Alternating Currents and Alternating Current 
Machines. It covers in a rather mathematical way the problems which engineers meet with and the 
subject matter is arranged in a way which makes the book most readable and instructive.” —Professor 
ERNST J. BERG, formerly of the University of Illinois, now of Union College. 

“‘T regard it as the most complete and satisfactory treatise upon the subject that has ever been 
published.”—Professor L. P. DICKINSON, Rhode Island State College. 

“T am glad to see the old clearness of statement and logical arrangement of material again.” 

“It is a remarkable compendium of engineering theory and data, and cannot help serving both 
students and practical engineers.” 

“‘ The substance and arrangement appeal to me as entirely satisfactory.”’ 

That these typical comments represent the general impression regarding this book is evidenced 
by the fact that in spite of the late date of publication, it has already been adopted for use as a text in 
nearly a score of the most important engineering institutions. 


Cloth, ix+968 pages. illustrated. $5.50 net. 


vase? THE MACMILLAN COMPANY cceesnx 


lV SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


UNIVERSITY OF GALIFORNIA 
PUBLICATIONS 


The University of California issues publications in 


ELEMENTS OF 
GEOLOGY 


the following series among others : i By William Harmon Norton 
American Archaeology Pathology f 461 pages, illustrated, $1.40 
and Ethnology Philosophy i 
Botany Physiology f A very clear presentation of the most im- 
Economics Psychology portant facts of geology. The illustrations 
Geology Zoology { are admirable.—C. H. Hitchcock, Emeritus 


Professor of Geology, Dartmouth College. ; 
Memoirs of the University of California a y ED 9 Bes 
Bulletin and Publications of the Lick Observatory 

Publications ofthe Academy of Pacific Coast History 


ELEMENTARY JPEDISUCALS 


: RECENT TITLES ! GEOGRAPHY  ([- - = Davis 
Study of a New Form of Juglans californica Watson, b: H 
ESB OBR COGS ery arte SNES RAAT AO a $ .50 | § _ 401 pages, illustrated, 281.25 | t 
Horses of Rancho La Brea, by John C. Merriam......... SW aes 
New Anchitherline Horses from the Tertiary of the i phe ont erietac ery SomenEaey, textbook 
Great Basin Area, by John C, Merriam........ee.c......- 15 | q in p ysical geography yet published. Cer- 
On Some Californian Schizopoda, by H. J. Hansen...... 0 | | tainly in its treatment of the land it has not 
Fourth Taxonomic Report on the Copepoda of the San i been. surpassed, unless, Perhaps, by the au- 
Diego Region, by Calvin O. Esterly... 15 | thor’s larger work, Physical Geography. 
The Behavior of Leeches with Special Renan to its } —The Nation. 
Modifiability, by Wilson Gee ............ccc.ccceecceeeeeesceeeee 1.00 | 4 
A study of 2 Collection of Geese Oi aig canadensis | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY e Sea 
roup from the San Joaquin Valley, California, by fl 
TEESE SWARET IS haat oe CIE a Cea RRS 30 | fl Davis and Snyder 
Nocturnal Wanderings of the California Pocket Go- i 428 pages, illustrated, $1.25 
pher; by Harold¥@5Bryanti cee -05 | § 


The Reptiles of the San Jacinto Area of Southern 
California, by Sarah R. Atsatt. 


Complete list of titles and prices will besenton ation 


THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, perkeley Califernia 


GINN & COMPANY 


Boston New York Chicago Lendon® 
Atlanta. Dallas Columbus 
San Francisco 


The new medium sized Zeiss Stand III with complete substage apparatus, Abbe il- 
Juminating apparatus and condenser of 1.30 N A., has proven very popular as a mod- 
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Send for Zeiss catalogue Mikro 261 


ARTHUR H. THOMAS COMPANY 
MICROSCOPES, LAZORATORY APPARATUS 
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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


Vil 


SCIENCE 


A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


Entered in the post-office at Lancaster, Pa., as second class matter 
Publisbed every Friday by 


THE SCIENCE PRESS 


LANCASTER, PA. GARRISON, N. Y. 
SUB-STATION 84: NEW YORK 


Journal of the Washington 
Academy of Sciences 
Now in its Third Year of publication 


Editors : 
F.L.Ransome C.S. Scofield F.E. Wright 


Appears semi-monthly with about 600 pages a year. 
Aims to give a prompt and complete record of the 
scientific work in Washington, in the form of original 
papers, authors’ abstracts, and the Proceedings of the 
fifteen Washington scientific societies. Subscription, 
$6.00 a year, postpaid. Sample copies sent on request. 
Address, Treasurer, Washington Academy of Sciences, 
Washington, U.S A. 
European Agents: 

William Wesley & Son, 28 Essex St., Strand, London, and 
Mayer & Miiller, Prince Louis Ferdinand Str., Berlin. 


University of Pittsburgh 
The School of Medicine 


The candidate for enrollment must have com- 
pleted the regulation high school course and two 
years of work ina recognized college. The essential 
college work comprises courses in Chemistry (Inor- 
ganic and Organic) Physics, Biology and German or 
French. 


The School of Medicine in connection with the 
College of the University offers a six-year course 
(degrees of B.S. and M.D. in six years) for which 
the entrance requirements are four years of recog- 
nized high school work, or its equivalent. 

A thoroughly equipped new laboratory building 
has been erected upon the University campus. Clin- 
ical work is given to small sections in affiliated Pitts- 
burgh Hospitals. Required work includes residence 
in Maternity Hospital, with board and room 
furnished. 

Twenty-ninth Annual Session begins September 
28th. 


For bulletin and information, address, 


Thomas Shaw Arbuthnot, M.D., ean) 


Grant Boulevard, Pittsburgh, Pa. 


Rush Medical College 


IN AFFILIATION WITH 
The University of Chicago 


Curriculum.—The fundamental branches (Anatomy, Physiol- 
ogy, Bacteriology, etc.) are taught in the Departments of 
Science at the Hull Biological Laboratories, University of 
Chicago. The courses of two (or three) clinical years are 
given in Rush Medical College and in the Presbyterian, 
the Cook County, the Children’s Memorial, the Hospital 
for Destitute Crippled Children, and other hospitals. 

Hospital Year.—A fifth year, consisting of service as an interne 
under supervision in an approved hospital, or of advanced 
work in one of the departments leads to the degree of 
M.D., cum laude and will be prerequisite for graduation 
for students entering the summer quarter, 1914, or there- 
after. 

Summer Quarter.—The college year is divided into four 
quarters, three of which constitute an annual session. 
The summer quarter, in the climate of Chicago, is advan- 
tageous for work. 

Elective System.—A considerable freedom of choice of courses 
and instructors is open to the student. This is not de- 
signed, however, to encourage the student to fit himself 
for any special line of practice, but for its pedagogical 
advantage. 

Graduate Courses.—Advanced and research courses are offered 
in all departments. Students by attending summer 
quarters and prolonging their residence at the University 
of Chicago in advanced work may secure the degree of 
A.M., 8.M., or Ph.D., from the University. 

Prize Scholarship.—Six prize scholarships—three in the first two 
years and three in the last two (clinical) years—are 
awarded to college graduates for theses embodying orig- 
inal research. ae 


The Winter Quarter commences January 2, 1914. 1 
TUITION— $60.00 per quarter, no laboratory fees. 


Complete and detailed information may be secured by addressing 


THE MEDICAL DEAN 
CHICAGO, ILL. 


College of Medicine and Surgery 


MINIMUM ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS 
Two full years of college work including two years of 
chemistry and one year each of physics, biology and 
modern language. 

COURSES OF STUDY 
SEVEN YEAR COURSE leading to the degrees of B.A. 
and M.D. Three years in College of Science, Litera- 
ture and the Arts or the equivalent, and four years in 
medicine. Other academic colleges of equal standing 
may affiliate on the same terms. 
SIX YEAR COURSE leading to degrees B.S. and M.D. 
The work of the two academic years is prescribed. 
SIX YEAR COURSE leading to degree of M.D. Work 
of two academic years elective except the above mini- 
mum requirements, 

OBLIGATORY HOSPITAL YEAR 
Beginning with the class entering in 1911, a fifth year 
spent in interne hospital service in approved institu- 
tions will be required for graduation, with entrance 
requirements as stated above. 

EQUIPMENT 
The College at present occupies seven fully equipped 
buildings and enjoys all the hospital and dispensary 
facilities which are afforded by the Twin Cities with a 
population of over 500,000. | The University Hospital 
facilities are greatly increased by the completion of the 
Elliot Memorial Hospital. The new Institute of Anat- 
omy and new Millard Hall buildings will be occupied 
in June, 1912. 

GRADUATE WORK 
Students may elect studies in the laboratory depart- 
ments as majors or minors for the degrees of M.A., 
M.S., Ph.D., or Sc.D. Opportunity is given to gradu- 
ates in medicine to review the regular courses, or to 
take advanced work. 

TUITION—$150 per annum. 
For bulletin containing full information, address 


F. F. WESBROOK, M.D., Dean 
Minneapolis Minnesota 


viii SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


Just Published 


BY 


AMADEUS W. GRABAU, S.M.,8.D. 


PROFESSOR OF PALAEONTOLOGY IN 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


Large Octayo, 1150 pages, with 264 illustrations in the text. 
Cloth bound, price, $7.50. 


Send for descriptive circular 


A. G. SEILER & CO. 
PUBLISHERS 


1224 Amsterdam Avenue NEW YORK, N. Y. 


HEREDITY AND SEX 


By THOMAS HUNT MORGAN,:Ph.D. 
Professor of Experimental Zoology, Columbia University 


12mo, cloth, pp. ix.+ 282. TIllustrated.* 
Price, $1.75 net; by mail, $1.90. 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 


Lemcke and Buechner, Agents 
30-32 West 27th Street NEW YORK CITY 


MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
WOODS HOLE, MASS. 
Buwicgical Material 4 
1. Zoology. Preserved maverisl of all typesof animals 
for class work and for the museum. 2 
2. Embryology. Stages of some invertebrates, fishes (in- 
eluding Acanthias, Amia and Lepidosteus), Amphibia, and 
some mammals. i 
8. Botany. Preserved material of Algae, Fungi, Liver- 
worts, and Mosses. Price lists furnished on application to 
GEORGE M. GRAY, Curator, Woods Hole, Mass. 


ELEVENTH EDITION 
THE MICROSCOPE, 


an introduction to Microscopic Methods and to Histology, by 
Srmon HENRY GaGE of Cornell University. The 11th edition 
has eight pages of new matter and corrections, otherwise it is 
like the 10th ed. Price $2.00 postpaid. 


COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO., Ithaca, N. Yo. 


Storage 
Datteries 


By special arrangement with the factory, we 
act as college sales agents for the 


“Chloride Accumulator” 


and 


“Exide” Batteries 


These may be furnished in stationary or port- 
able form, with any number of cells desired, 
and with a current of from } ampere up toany 
maximum desired. As they deliver a steady 
current and potential, they will be found very 
useful for laboratory work. The portable 
forms are provided with a neat wooden carry- 
ing case. 


For full particulars, write for Catalog 766. 


JAMES G. BIDDLE 


1211-13 Arch Street 
PHILADELPHIA 


When in Philadelphia be sure to visit our Permanent 
Exhibit of Scientific Instruments. 


SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


1x 


OUR 1913 CATALOG 
Contains many new instruments, all 
new illustrations, lowest prices and 
valuable information of interest to every 
science instructor. Send us your name 
and address and we will send you a free 


copy. 


SANE «© Sales Dep’t 


Carcaco Apparatus Co., Caicaco. ILL. 


ROMEIKE’S 
PRESS CLIPPINGS 


are now an absolute necessity for every scientific man. 
By methodical searching through the most important 
papers and periodicals published in this country and 
abroad we are able to supply you at short notice with 
information on any subject which perhaps you would 
be unable to find yourself in libraries or reference 
books after spending days or even weeks at sucha 
task. Write for further information. 


HENRY ROMEIKE, Inc. 
06-110 Seventh Avenue New York City 


Formation of Coal Beds 


By JOHN J. STEVENSON 
Emer. Professor of Geology, New York University. 


Reprinted, with index, from Proc. Amer. 


Phil. Soc. 1911-1913. 
8vo., cloth, pp. vii+ 530. Price, $3.50 net. 


G. E. Stechert and Company, 
151-155 West 25th Street, New York City 


PROVIDENT TEACHERS’ AGENCY 
120 Tremont Street BOSTON, MASS. 


We enroll and we recommend teachers and officers 
for public and private schools, for normal and tech- 
nical schools, and for colleges and universities. 
Vacancies now for immediate service and for 1914- 
15. Director, JAMES LEE LOVE, formerly of 
Harvard Faculty. 


The Ernemann 


Micro Kino 
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Motion Picture Camera 
For taking Serial Photographs of 
living micro-organisms 
using regular (standard) size film 


Adaptable to any good microphotographie 
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Ordinary motion pictures car be made with 
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For Research Work 
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[Motion Picture Cameras 
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Circulsr on apparatus illustrated, and the 
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x SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


SCIENCE AND EDUCATION 


A series of volumes for the promotion of scientific research and educational progress 
Edited by J. McKEEN CATTELL 


Volume I. The Foundations of Science. Including Science and Hypothesis; The Value 
of Science; Science and Method, by H. POINCARE 


Authorized English translation by Professor George Bruce Halsted with a preface by the author and an in- 
troduction by Professor Josiah Royce. Published December, 1918. Pages xii+558. Price, $3.50 net. 


Volume If. [ledical Research and Education 
By Ricuarp M. Prarcs, The University of Pennsylvania; Witt1am H. Wetcu, W. H. Howe1t, FRANKLIN 
P. Matz, Lewrettys F. Barker, The Johns Hopkins University; Caarues 8. Minot, W. B. Cannon, 
W. T. Counciuman, THEOBALD Smit, Harvard University ; G. N. Stewart, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity ; C. M. Jackson, E. P. Lyon, University of Minnesota; James B. Herrick, Rush Medical 
College ; Jonn M. Dopvson, University of Chicago; C. R. Barprrn, University of Wisconsin; W. 
Opnitts, Stanford University ; S. J. Mrtrzpr, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research; JAMES 
Ewina, Cornell University Medical College; W. W. Kren, Jefferson Medical College ; Henry H. 
Downapson, Wistar Institute of Anatomy ; The late CHartes A. Herter, Columbia University ; The 
late Henry P. Bownitcu, Harvard University. 
Published October, 1913. Pages vit686. Price, §3.00 net. 


Volume III. University Control 
By J. McKeen Cattery. Together with a series of Two Hundred and Ninety-nine Unsigned Letters 
by Leading Men of Science holding Academic Positions and Articles by JosrpH JastrRow, GEoRGE T. 
Lapp, Joun J. Stevenson, J. E. Creieuton, J. McKeen Catreti, Grorce M. Srrarron, Stewart 
Paton, Jonn Jay CHAPMAN, JAMES P, MunroE and Jacosp GouLp ScHURMAN. 
Published March, 1913. Pages x+484. Price, $3.00 net. 


THE SCIENCE PRESS 


GARRISON, N. Y. LANCASTER, PA. 
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